E3 2008: King's Bounty: The Legend Late-Game Impressions

By Joe Dodson, GameSpotPosted Jul 17, 2008 1:36 pm PT

We take a look at some of the powers and abilities a fully developed character will wield in King's Bounty.

We recently told you all about the beginning of the upcoming King's Bounty: The Legend, but at E3 2008, we recently got a glimpse at the end of the game and the powers you can expect to wield toward the end of your quest in the kingdom of Darion. We don't want to tell you too much about the units we were using or the quests we were on because you'll definitely want to discover those things for yourself.

As a brief recap, King's Bounty: The Legend represents the resurrection of a strategy/role- playing series known for its turn-based battles, legions of monsters, and epic exploration. The Legend will continue this tradition and build on it with new lands, monsters, and abilities. Several of these new powers depend on something called "Rage." Rage is a point value that builds throughout a given battle, and you can spend these points on devastating abilities.

Provided, that is, you have a rage spirit. A rage spirit is a type of powerful entity (of which there are several), which you will encounter in your travels. If you collect one, it will ask you to complete some quests, and upon doing so, it will ally itself with you, placing its formidable abilities at your disposal. One rage spirit we saw resembled the grim reaper, and when summoned, could cast a black hole on the battlefield. This not only looked cool (a giant, black swirling vortex presided over by a wicked wraith), but it also damaged every enemy on the hexagonal field. It cost all of our rage points, but boy, was it worth it.

We were also able to collect runes we could use to develop our character's talent trees. Because our hero was a paladin, all of his talents and skills had to do with leadership and magic. We also had a huge assortment of equipped items that boosted our stats. Now, your champion doesn't go into battle himself; rather, his attributes provide significant boosts to all the units under his command.

In an interesting twist, our hero was married. His wife was depicted in the upper left-hand corner of the character screen, and she had four bonus-bestowing items of her own--including a baby (+5 to combat experience!). We aren't entirely sure how matrimony or procreation will work in King's Bounty: The Legend when the game finally ships on September 23, but we can't wait to find out.

28 Comments

  • ShiroKitaHoshi

    Posted Dec 31, 2008 5:37 pm PT

    In regards to DRM:
    I've done research at "reclaimyourgame.com" and the official forums for this game. As far as I can tell - the DRM is very limited. It seems to only check for a CD in your drive - of course downloaded games don't have this at all. Users on the forum dubbed the game "customer friendly".

    I can't be certain until the game arrives and I try it out. But I'll leave a review detailing the level of DRM.

  • alt255

    Posted Oct 22, 2008 7:51 pm PT

    Great game....odd that there has been no review from GS thus far.

  • ersia87

    Posted Oct 3, 2008 5:02 pm PT

    Yeah, I just downloaded and played the demo too, only played for one hour though since it's in the middle of the night and I should get some sleep. But I really liked it, it was awsome... The Character managemant and the fights were very similar to those in the heroes franchise, but the map exploring was a bit different, It was kind of a new experience for me so I'll probably buy it when it comes out in Europe The Graphics were great btw!

  • RyuRanVII

    Posted Sep 21, 2008 1:33 pm PT

    PLayed the demo for 4 hour and I'm impressed! The game is awesome, really. One of the best RPGs in years!

  • 24k_Solid_Gold

    Posted Sep 20, 2008 7:06 am PT

    Sounds pretty cool, I'm probably gonna get it.

  • Gelugon_baat

    Posted Aug 24, 2008 4:27 am PT

    I just watched the trailer and I have never seen a trailer so corny that it's practically milking cheese.

  • Gelugon_baat

    Posted Aug 24, 2008 4:20 am PT

    A tsuma? And one that actually confers bonuses? Even her baby does? Next we are going to see an inventory for the little tyke, like a napkin that increases magic defense or special demon-warding diapers.

  • lostn

    Posted Aug 1, 2008 9:08 pm PT

    "Well, nice that the main character has a wife, it's an interesting and fun new twist in a game that I've actually expected to show up sooner in a game. And I mean an actual wife from the beginning, and not one you get while playing the game, like in Fable or the Harvest Moon series."

    Actually, you will be acquiring one through the game. There are several to choose from. You don't start with a wife.

  • arc_salvo

    Posted Jul 29, 2008 3:12 am PT

    Well, nice that the main character has a wife, it's an interesting and fun new twist in a game that I've actually expected to show up sooner in a game. And I mean an actual wife from the beginning, and not one you get while playing the game, like in Fable or the Harvest Moon series.

  • Jackyll87

    Posted Jul 28, 2008 1:41 pm PT

    Need more details and gameplay footage before i pronounce my verdict

  • PieCrusher

    Posted Jul 27, 2008 5:02 pm PT

    Hmm... its either sink or swim... and its probably sink...

  • ognen

    Posted Jul 20, 2008 6:40 am PT

    Pass too

  • zombieman666

    Posted Jul 19, 2008 2:04 pm PT

    Mehh i pass

  • g_max_

    Posted Jul 19, 2008 2:57 am PT

    Err... Having a baby ups your combat experience! Who knew! Makes sense I guess... Those babies can bite!

  • TehFuneral

    Posted Jul 18, 2008 11:13 am PT

    Interesting..

  • Macgyver40

    Posted Jul 18, 2008 11:05 am PT

    why would you want to get married in a game it is to close to real life

  • Plukh

    Posted Jul 18, 2008 4:52 am PT

    Marriage works very simple in this game. You can find several potential wives during your travels (including an enchanted toad and a demoness), whom you can marry if you complete the appropriate quest arc. Each wife gives you certain implicit bonuses, as well as allows you to equip more items (in her special slots).

    Each wife can have up to 4 children, which permanently occupy one of the equipment slots (lame, I know). Each child gives some predetermined bonus (some of which are great, and others are meh).

    Finally, you can divorce your current wife at any time. She takes all your children, some percentage of your gold, and any items she had equipped at the time of the divorce.

    Sadly, you can't marry the only really worthy woman in the game - Lina, rage spirit of ice, a technomage presiding on a frozen throne. Looks really, really cool. She's simply... unbelievably, beautifully done by the game devs...

    P.S. I'd played King's Bounty: The Legend for about 2 months since its release in Russia. If you have any questions - go on and ask, I'll try to answer as best I could.

  • jakeboudville

    Posted Jul 17, 2008 8:37 pm PT

    sounds impressive..i'll keep an eye out on this title

  • Hungry_bunny Site moderator

    Posted Jul 17, 2008 7:56 pm PT

    Sounds interesting, I want to learn a little bit more about it.

  • ChristianKiss

    Posted Jul 17, 2008 6:49 pm PT

    As I said in the last news about this game, I'm almost sure that it will be better than Heroes V. My doubts are only about the matrimony thing. Like Joe Jodson said above, lets wait for September 23. Anyway, I'm already glad to know that the combat is hex-grided, just like Heroes III.

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