Bad game design: instant kills

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Bad game design: instant kills

Postby simmschn » Sun Apr 10, 2011 5:51 pm

First of all, I really enjoyed playing through most parts of Knights of the Chalice. The implementation of the turn-based battle system is very good, for me it's on the same level as "temple of elemental evel" or "wizardry 8". And the battle ai is simply the best I have ever seen in a game so far. Most battles are designed with care and look to detail, there KoTC is for me a fun game in which weak areas like graphics or interface do not matter.

But... the game suffers in its last parts from very, very, very bad design decisions which actually made me angry. One example: Currently I am in the lower levels of the fire pits, it's a huge cavern and after I have crossed some sort of bridge a fight against some golems and archers begins. I have restarted the battle about 30 times and and in every single time one or more of my party members die before I can make the first move. Is it fun to get shot by instant-kill arrows?? To make things worse my mage gets also shot with constitution lowering arrows to make 100% sure that he will die from the first area attack even if he survives the instant kill arrows.

It's not just this battle, in the last ten bigger fights before I had to restart very often because someone was killed instantly at the beginnig of the fight. Bad luck? Wrong tactics? I really do not think so.....!
For me, it's not fun and currently I don't want to finish the game, I want to throw it in the garbage bin!

If the developer want me to buy the second game, he should include an option to deactivate the instant-kill nonsense.
simmschn
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Bad game design: instant kills

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Re: Bad game design: instant kills

Postby Tiavals » Sun Apr 10, 2011 5:58 pm

Give all of your characters either Cloaks or Resistance +5 or Cloaks of Displacement. Both minimize insta kills.

Also, you can always resurrect dead characters. It isn't a big deal for them to die.
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Re: Bad game design: instant kills

Postby VentilatorOfDoom » Mon Apr 11, 2011 6:13 pm

The fight at the end of the fire pits can be a bitch. In KotC it's a good idea to not only bother with combat tactics but also with longterm strategic decisions concerning character building and equipment.

- Optimize AC and saving throws by any means, spells, equipment etc
- Mass Death Ward (against slaying arrows)
- when the enemy gets a surprise round and you suffer a TPK your equipment needs some upgrades, only your equipment can save you in such situations, consider Cloaks of Displacement, they help a lot.

ps: I don't think it's bad design if once in a while the enemy surprises you.
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