Overall most helpful review

Posted on: December 1, 2020

THEBATMANRN

Games: 2182 Reviews: 4

Old School Tactical Combat Done Right

I've played this game several times over the years ... and yes, it has great replay value. It's deliberately and delightfully old school, with some nods to the wonderful SSI Gold Box games (esp. Dark Sun: Shattered Lands). Yes, it's a D&D game, using a highly modified and simplified form of the Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 rules, thanks to the Open Game License. While there aren't many classes to choose from, and yes the graphics aren't anything special (it has that birds-eye 2D vibe), this game excels at exactly what it wants to excel at -- fun but incredibly tough tactical combat. Even once you master the interface, which doesn't take too long, you will still find fights tough and somewhat unpredictable. The game AI is smart and even once your characters advance and level up, don't expect them to just walk through battles with ease -- you really need to dig in and plan everything. If you like strategy instead of action, and you don't mind getting furious at times because your best tactics have been thwarted, then you'll love this game. Storyline is fun and uncomplicated. The presentation is charming. It was a labor of love for the one-man developing team -- you can tell this game represents what this developer loves about RPGs and nothing else. It's very stripped down and bare bones, but that's exactly what I love and appreciate about it. Again, this game is very challenging and often tough, even for experienced D&D players (you will likely yell at your computer at times), but it excels at what arguably is most important -- incredibly deep game tactics and strategy. If you like this sort of thing, then support indie developers like this (who care about gameplay, not graphics. And look for KOTC part 2, coming soon!

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Posted on: December 29, 2020

vvar

Verified owner

Games: 908 Reviews: 20

Fun, combat oriented game

This game is good fun as long as you do not expect it to be what it does not aim to be. The gameplay is strictly combat oriented, with a few puzzles thrown in. The dialogues are limited and serve to point the player to the next location. The story is mostly linear, though the world is open and many locations can be visited ahead of their relevance to the story. The party of four has three classes to choose from: knight (fighter), cleric, and wizard. There are three races to choose from: human, half-elf, and mul (half-dwarf). The story is geared towards a lawful good party (well, this is a game about knights). You can expect to take your characters from level 1 to 20. The 3.5 system has been modified and abridged (for example, skills were totally removed). There have been some serious modifications to the magic system (clerics need to learn spells from scrolls or level-ups like wizards do, but both don't have to prepare spells ahead of time). The item selection is limited - there is just one item in the game to fit in the boots slot, one to fit in the belt slot, two types of bracers etc. The spell selection on the other hand is bountiful, and weapons and armor come in variety. The playthrough (with moderate amount of grind) took me about 20 evening sessions. The world map has 14 locations, and each location consists of 1 to 3 floors/maps. The final fights are difficult, but winnable if you know the system well and have maxed out the potential of your party. To enjoy this game you probably should be a person who knows the 3.5 system well and likes to optimize character builds and equipment choices, as well as the grind to stay ahead of the difficulty curve. An interesting touch is the incentive to take item creation feats, which usually are avoided, but in this game shopping opportunities are rare and if you want the optimal set of weapons and armor you have to make them yourself. What is somewhat disappointing is a limited selection of items for some slots.

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Posted on: December 16, 2021

Xaemoon

Games: 551 Reviews: 5

D&D 3e Combat Simulator

Knights of the Chalice makes a pretty good first impression. Its simplistic but effective pixel graphics have a certain charm that lasts throughout the entirety of the game. Despite how complex some of the battles can get, they're always visually clear -- no small feat for a game like this. In the beginning of the game, there's an interesting setup with story, some NPCs to interact with, and a handful of really flavorful encounters. It draws you in right away. But.. there are some issues. For one thing, even though this game is a pretty decent simulator of third edition Dungeons & Dragons, it lacks much of the actual content that made that edition fun. For example, there are only 3 character classes to choose from: Fighter, Wizard, and Cleric. There are 4 character slots in the party, so you'll always have a duplicate class. Spells are limited to only a handful of the most iconic D&D spells. There aren't really a lot of utility or flavor options. In addition, characters have no skills at all. Perhaps the most disappointing thing is that all of those engaging and interesting encounters I mentioned earlier are only in the first part of the game. The roleplaying elements drop off very sharply after that, as if the developer just decided they didn't want to continue making story and characters, so the rest of the game is a pure hack & slash fest. It's hard not to get the impression that the guy who made this game got lazier and lazier as it went on. Battles get absolutely massive and it sort of highlights how silly 3e can get. At higher levels, your 4 characters can rather handily dispatch hordes of very powerful monsters with little tactical thought (and sometimes just cheesy spell usage.) It's not a bad game if you really enjoy old school D&D combat and don't mind limited options and virtually zero story beyond the first act. Oh, and fighting a LOT of the same monster type over and over for the entire second half of the game.

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Posted on: January 25, 2021

NSpace_T

Verified owner

Games: Reviews: 16

Difficult turn based RPG

This one is good to a point. Needs a little more character customization and classes. Some of the battles are a bit difficult until you go and level up. Speaking of which the game doesn't really tell you where to go or to do beyond the first quest. Some quests come up as part of conversations so try speaking with different people (probably named NPC's). The story so far hasn't really been one to write home about. If your a fan of Dungeon and Dragons 3.5 rules or turn based give it a shot, but be prepared for a learning curve. Best thing is most of everthing is explained in the Help with links to other topics, just a lot to take in sometime if you're not familar with D&D rules,

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Posted on: January 4, 2021

Combustionman

Games: 43 Reviews: 3

Great Tactical D&D combat

KotC isn't for everyone. The game can be often unfair so if you don't like a good challenge, you'll probably not enjoy this. Arguably, powergamers can turn it into a cakewalk by exploiting some features but i'm not going to reveal it here. If you can't get enough of tactical combat, you found the perfect game for you, the game, like a sadistic GM, sill throw everything it has at you and sometimes, your party will be wiped out and either you'll reload a previous save or you'll start over. But it's far from impossible, even for a beginner. However, if you're a beginner, you're better be ready to start over a couple of times to get it right. It's extremely fun, few computer RPG pushed the tactical experience this far. Also, the in-game help is even better than Temple of Elemental Evil one (which is quite good already) so you can find answers about everything you want to know. Get ready to explore dark caves, dungeons, ancient towers, deserted cities while getting ambushed by brigands, lizardmen, giant spiders as an appetizer and way more dangerous beings like demons, dragons, frost giants and even a few lichs...

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