I just posted my full review of the game over at DIYGamer - http://www.diygamer.com/2011/09/kodp-ios-review/ - Not attempting to poach folks here, but I attempt to explain exactly what this game is, because it is utterly unique. Never played anything like it before or since, so it requires quite a bit of writing. It really is a blend of strategy/management and Choose Your Own Adventure. You need to explore the surrounding lands, establish diplomatic ties with neighbors, form a larger government and research new and lost magics, and the rituals to perform them.
@Arta Tx for posting the PC videos- they give quite a good impression what to expect here. On the A Sharp web site you can still download a 'Guided Tour' like a kind of demo for the first year of gameplay, both for Mac and Windows. I was reminded of hours playing Romance of the Three Kingdoms on my Amiga way back- but there's also a good part Civ in it. Seems a nice and deep game. Pity, I'd love to play that on my iPad. But, as there is really a LOT of text in this game, this will be most probably a dealbreaker for me.
This game is amazing. Playing it on my iPad and having no problems to speak of. Is there any way to turn off the tutorial?
I think the tutorial is mandatory on your first play, but isn't very long. Once it's over, you don't have to do it again, and your next game can start with whatever settings you like.
If they just made a universal version with the same exact images but with appropriately scaled and formatted text, I'd think that would be quite sufficient. I think the game looks quite interesting, but I'm really leery to plunge into something so text-heavy on my 3GS now that I have an iPad 2.
Here's my big fear... I know the game claims some 500+ random event/decision points, I have to wonder about the replayability of such events. Take image #1 of the game. I'm willing to bet that the basic facts of this encounter would always be the same, right? I mean can this encounter have widely divergent facts behind it (on one play through the mother is criminally insane and best not allowed in your clan but on another play through she is powerful shaman that would greatly bless your clan by adding her). So while I like how the game weaves a detailed story as opposed to simply being an interactive spreadsheet of stats, I fear many of these encounters won't be that replayable once encountered in a previous run. Please tell me this isn't the case!
The replayability of the individual events may not be great, but there's a ton of them and my bet is that it will still last you far longer than the majority of iOS games before you've seen them all. Plus you're likely to want to try out different things with the same events as from what I've seen so far there's no simple right or wrong with most of them, and plenty of pros and cons that can make the choices difficult.
What you may not realize is that Lord Gek is not satisfied with the mere illusion of randomness and chance like us "normal" folk. His ideal game would actually consist entirely of procedurally generated procedural generators seeded with chaos itself.
Yeah, each event (and there are a ton of them) has multiple positive or negative outcomes. Sometimes, even picking the 'wrong' option can work out well - during a few hero quests, my characters clearly had high enough stats to just improvise their way through the myths, rather than just following them verbatim. Likewise, sometimes even picking the 'best' option can result in a catastrophic failure, as there's always a chance that the characters involved will screw something up. A lot of the story events can even spiral out into smaller plot arcs, with characters returning years later with additional problems, or with gifts and rewards for your earlier assistance. Even when you know how something should play out, it doesn't always mean that's how it'll go down this time.
You could play the next closest thing to this: Fabled Lands II Gold which has around 800 events, many of which are random (i.e. Random Event! X Y or Z happens.) The game (FL) plays very differently depending on what class you choose. I'm still downloading KoDP, but it looks like it will be similar, with some Civ-type management thrown in for good measure.
I'll admit, I was a bit horrified, because one of the very first text screens you see is this hideous blocky text (from the tutorial I think). However, while it might not be ideal, it also isn't tragic. I get headaches pretty easily if text is blurry, but I played for hours last night and had no trouble. I really wish they had reconfigured the UI for iPad and kept the same art. As others have said, I think it could have been done. But that isn't going to stop me from playing.
With KoDP you are representing an entire group of people, not just your own interests, which changes how you approach things. Furthermore, the number of events in KoDP is far greater than in Fabled Lands on a practical level because those hundreds of events in FL are divided across bunches of different locations and there are only a handful of things that can happen in any one place. Then there's the fact that so many events in Fabled Lands are exploitable in so ridiculous a fashion by having them repeat endlessly. I'm not worried about this issue with respect to KoDP. The game has been around for over a decade and I haven't heard this as a major complaint that I recall.
I wonder how much changes they made to this ios version compared to the old desktop version. While the reviews sold me on this, it isn't the price that is the main factor here but the fact that I will be reading tons of stuff on a small screen. If there aren't much that I will miss out, I will probably get the desktop version instead.
As I said in the review, one feature of the PC version - a visual town overview each year - was lost. In it's place are a tutorial, a hero-quest hint system and a couple dozen new events.
There were also some changes to make to streamline gameplay, if I'm not mistaken. For instance, I think you used to have to specify how much planting to do, and I know there were some simplifications made to how the various types of cattle were handled and/or displayed.
Just a reminder that there's a demo available for the PC/Mac versions on the developers' website, which lets you play through one year of the game: you can either follow the "tour" and play as the game directs you, or make your own decisions and see how things turn out. It's worth turning the tour guide on at least once for explanations of some of the more detail-oriented strategic bits and pieces. Although the main series of multiple-choice events for the demo is scripted and not random, the year can still play out quite differently depending on your responses to those events and your management choices in-between, and you may or may not see other scenes based on whether or not you choose to follow the tour's instructions. One of the best things about the game is the way the game always tends to feel like it is scripted without being so, and that even when events are random and/or based on your specific actions and responses, the outcome always tends to feel like that's the way it was supposed to happen. Rare is the game in which losing a battle is something you just accept without reloading and trying again.
Bought ! It's absolutely fantastic. Although I've only played for a short time this reeks of pure unadulterated quality. I have a feeling I'm falling in love again .....
