Posted on: February 8, 2024

LvDogman

Games: 26 Reviews: 6

It Might Not Be Beginer Friendly

Knights and Merchants might not be beginer friendly for geting into real time strategy (RTS) games or I just don't have patience for this game and I don't like RTS games anymore even though I play J2ME version of some other RTS game in the past. At first I thought tutorial would give all the info (which wouldn't be enough) to make player figure out what to do, but turns out, player needs to manualy open tips or whatever they are called to learn about what to do and games gives those one by one, which I figured out after attempting first mission. So I tried tutorial again. Which seemed too long and thought I learned enough, so I didn't finish it. Then there's situation where I thought I don't have resources nor a way to get those resources to get knights in the first mision. In The Shattered Kingdom that is. The Peasants Rebellion - Didn't know where to start. So with this more or less I thinking it isn't beginer friendly to get into RTS games. Or I just don't have patience, well at least it probably plays in part but it isn't only the reasons. I only found out about fast forwarding out of the game, there's no control option or help in the game. Plus even if I would manage to finish even first mission, after some time I probably would get burnout of RTS game, at least when binge play it, or whatever the term is. Well at least who are already into RTS games than they most likely would like it so they can get it. Maybe having open mind about RTS games beginers would like it.

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Posted on: October 17, 2016

Kot_PhD

Verified owner

Games: 205 Reviews: 20

This title shows how gaming has changed

I had fond memories of Knights and Merchants. I had it when it premiered and spent countless hours mastering it, although I remember barely beating half of the game. I remembered how demanding yet satisfying it was back then. So I decided to give it a shot. And the backfire hurt. The game is difficut, this didn't change, but the satisfaction did. You see, a big part of this game difficulty is how unforgiving it is. You often can't just reload the last battle you lost, you need to go way back, to remodel your whole strategy. Now, that itself is not a great sin, some might say it's a virtue, but the problem is that the game is also terribly time consuming and not really dynamic. It takes a grinding forever to set up your base the way you think you need to, only to find out that you are dramatically underprepared for the opponent's assault. The thing is, gaming has changed and I changed with it. Back in the day, this grind-punishment cycle was just part of the experience. You took on a hellish game like this, spent countless hours on it, tinkering with your strategy, tweaking it this way and that, untill you got something working and you moved on to the next mission. Back then it just felt like a challenge. Today, gaming is way easier and dynamic, which makes Knight and Merchants feel like a chore by comparison. And I don't want that in a game today. I have enough chores in my life, thank you very much. That is not to say that the game is bad. It's not. If you like strategy, if you like a challenge, have a lot of time on your hands and you don't mind the slow progress, you might want to give it a shot. Beware however, if you don't know what old games were like, you might be surprised how modern gaming has spoiled you and made it impossible for you to appreciate this game the way it deserves.

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Posted on: September 18, 2019

valardohaeriz

Verified owner

Games: 758 Reviews: 3

One of the Classics

Such a great, detail-focused game. It's like a hyper-focused version of Anno.

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Posted on: November 6, 2013

Silverhawk170485

Verified owner

Games: 2845 Reviews: 28

Mostly underrated game

Yes this game has it's flaws like a graphic which was even dated when it was released in 2001 and the pathfinding of the units is not so good but if you can look over that you'll get a really nice game. A lot of people compare it with Settlers which is in my opinion wrong . The main reason why a lot of people dislike this game is in my opinion, that they may have red somewhere that this game can be compared with Settlers and start playing it with the wrong expectations. Yes, there is a citybuilding part in this game like in Settlers but there is also a huge focus on the warfaring part. While in Settlers you simply overrun the enemy with the pure amount of you soldiers. In Knights and Merchants you'll find a high tactical gameplay in which you can win a battle with the right tactics even if your troops are outnumbered. There is an importace of knowing the strenghts and weaknesses of you units, how they are postioned, their formation, the terrain they are fighting on and so on. You'll immediately get punished if you try playing it Settlers like. This mixture of Settlers like gameplay and high tactical warfare makes this game unique, which is also beloved by it's fanbase. The fanbase is also very active today in 2013. They are still releasing unofficial patches and are programming a remake of this game. By the way: If you are buying Knights and Merchants on GOG by using the link on the remake webpage, a part of the money goes to the development of the remake.

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Posted on: December 13, 2017

Kazumi724

Verified owner

Games: 1117 Reviews: 1

Nostalgic feeling

When this game released in 1998 i was just 7 years old, now this nostalgic feeling about it. It was year when even Settlers 3 released and to say true i liked this K&M game more. Preffered to use K&M Remake upgrade as this is old game and not really supporting new resolutions and had some problems with running it. Review: KaM is typical 2D RTS, from gameplay perspective i would say influenced by Settlers 2 as its one of few RTS using this road connecting building structure. First time seen in Die Settlers (1993). This game is recreation of Middle Ages around 1200. Geography of game is fictional so you wouldnt find any current cities or mountains. Technology tree is based on buildings connections (you cannot have butcher if you dont have pig farm). When im mentioning buttcher you need to know that everyone will get hungry in this game so you need to have food (Wine, sausage, bread,*fish) for all of them and they will visit INN if they will not eat they will die. *Fish is available only with The Peasant rebellion Now to gameplay: Game is for those who like Strategy and have some time at hand, in this release you have two campaigns 1. The Shattered Kingdoms (20 campaign missions) 2. The Pessant Rebelion (14 campaign missions) Both feels quite good. At the beggining you are quite limited with what you can build in campaign, not to mention specific missions with just soldiers. In those missions you will need to think more tactically and use tactical advantages like higher points for archers etc. with limited accces to them from sides as army you are against is always bigger than yours. From this point of view it is one of the best RTS from 1998/1999. Results of Review: Nostalgia 5/5 Graphic 4/5 - as its quite old game Gameplay 4/5 - based on quite hard missions with soldiers only i didnt like that Story 4/5 - well the story is quite basic but still fun Music 5/5 - It have really great soundtrack that will make you want to have it at least at the beginning

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