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What is Thy Will, M'lord?

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 24 / 26
Date: August 22, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Well it seems up to me to set the record here... There aren't many reviews as of this typing and the game is getting scarce (might be discontinued - stores aren't getting new copies?)... So what's the boggle folks?

Three important points to cover in this review, here they go:

1. Performance? This game, as far as I've experienced, as no bugs. It runs flawlessly, doesn't stutter or pause at all, and the graphics and sound quality are astounding. If you like 3D then Poo-Poo on you: the 2D graphics in this game outshine many 3D games on the market. The major problems that many PC-gamers have that they don't realize are among the following: virus scanning software running in the background, unnecessary background programs in memory, outdated drivers (video, sound, motherboard, etc), or just plain shoddy equipment (the cheapest and best advertised isn't the best quality!)... For the sake of guidance make sure you PC matches or exceeds the minimum requirements: the game developers did a good job of estimating what kind of hardware is needed to run the game smoothly...

2. Gameplay? Moooohahah! Total War - Total what? Knights of Honor (KoH) is on a level that cannot be compared with the current offering of strategy titles - perhaps that is why it hasn't exploded on the scene... KoH is much slower paced than other games (possibly even more time-consuming than Civilization - or at least equal)... But that is its strength: if you don't like to micromanage and don't have the patience to wait several minutes for something, anything, to happen then don't bother with KoH... The user interface, help menus, and in-game events are easy to follow and manipulate. The options for guiding your nation surpass any game I've played recently (again with maybe the exception of the latest Civlization offering)... If you like Civilization and Medieval simulations then KoH has consumed anything available today - play the demo and see for yourself...

3. Enjoyment? Joy doesn't even qualify as a proper description of this game... Again if you like the Medieval eras and you like Civilization, Rise of Nations, and so forth then Joy isn't relevant - you will be obsessed with KoH. The game spans some 3 or 4 centuries with accurate historical politics, nations, and events to boot. The setup of managing your nation is unique and very easy to follow: much of it has to do with quality not quantity (i.e. there are more descriptions and categories then there are numbers and equations)... Replayability is unfathomable: not only do you have the campaign of conquering Europe, but the game includes a 'skirmish' battle mode for just shedding blood...

As an example I'm playing as a Scottish Earl starting in 1000 AD and I'm on my 4th generation of rulers (yes your rulers have heirs and you must guide and protect them to the throne)... I've endured a squabble amongst my knights for the throne, spies overthrowing local governments, and one of my generals has led a crusade against the infidels... And I'm still going: I've only just conquered all of England and some of France... Get the picture?

This game is a gem: get it while you can...

What a great surprise!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: March 03, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I had heard about this game even though it wasn't a major seller, so I took a flyer and bought it from Amazon. Boy am I glad I did! This game is everything Crusader Kings should have been, and is now the best medieval kingdom sim--bar none.

Why is this game so good? First, it's well balanced. It's complex, but, unlike so many recent strategy games, it doesn't confuse needless complexity with FUN. You don't have to run around on wild-goose chases because some governor sent you on a "mission." You build an economy based on various trade goods, but, again unlike so many recent strategy games, this one doesn't force you to keep checking manually to make sure your raw materials are getting to their finishing houses. There are no transport units, no routes to set up from building to building, no little delivery men running into trees and clogging your supply chain. Build structures to produce raw materials, build structures to convert the raw materials to finished goods, and coordinate different towns with different specialties to make sure your overall economy is well-rounded. It's not easy, but it's not frustrating, either. It's FUN. And there's a brilliant cherry on the sundae: when you put together various sets of finished goods, you get what are called "kingdom advances" that afford you great advantages. Out with the old "research" model. (Really, how does one "research" the Age of Discovery?)

Building space in cities is limited, so you have to decide pretty early which are going to become economic powerhouses and which are going to be military powerhouses. And there are special upgrades like cathedrals and universities that require LOTS of advance planning (because they rely on several preliminary structures), so don't expect to have more than one or two universities. And don't think you're going to be able to apply the same building strategy to each city. Personally, I think the available building slots should be correlated with the city's population (not all cities were equal in medieval Europe), but this is a quibble.

Fighting is much better than with most other econ sims, though not quite as detailed as in the Total War series. Still, the emphasis here is on specialization, and again the concept works. Each city produces its own brand of special local troops, as does each kingdom. That means you can spend a lot of time thinking about the best way to assemble a combined-arms juggernaut. Don't try to field a real army without archers.

People complain about the graphics. Please. They're great. When your city grows, you SEE it grow on the map. When a city produces a stone wall, you SEE it on the map. Each city looks different, reflecting the economic and military investment in it (as well as the local architecture). When a commander enters your kingdom, you SEE him riding an armored horse, surrounded by his troops and their heraldic flag. The portraits of your royal family and knights look a little cartoonish, but I've seen worse.

This game is so good that my complaints are almost trivial. "Byzantium" is strangely called "Byzantia." When you take over provinces from enemy kingdoms, sometimes you'll have to face partisans pledging themselves to the German cause (or whatever); this may make some sense as a game feature to slow kingdoms that expand too rapidly, but that kind of nationalism isn't very typical of the European Middle Ages. Finally, the AI is weak, as people have said. The game is not a breeze because there are many rivals to contend with--and if they gang up on you, you could be in trouble. But if you're able to deal with each foe one-on-one, you'll soon discover that you're facing a soft opponent.

Knights of Honor

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: March 10, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Very similiar to the "Total War" series.. but much more fun. The graphics are a bit dated, but the underlying game engine, the mechanics of play make, this one of the best games I have played in years.

One of the side benefits is that the developers did their homework with regard to history. I have become much more appreciative of this era in Europe and the various influences than I had in the past.

Appeal: Intermediate to advanced gamers.
Real Time strength: Medium.
Strategy value: High

Main game emphisis: Astutely manuerving your empire via trade, diplomacy, building and warfare.

I found myself thinking about how to outmaneuver advisaries when I was not playing the game directly. This is one of the few products I will go back to time and time again to play.

I recommend the product

Outstanding game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 7
Date: October 29, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Of the many strategy games populating the game shelf out there, this is by far the best. It's fun, exciting, and interesting. It's intricate in a good way, not endlessly complicated. One would not use "clickfest" to describe this game, although once the game gets going, it can be quite involved. The graphics are plenty adequate, and I've experienced not a single glitch or crash. Bravo!

Addictive, Engaging, Fun

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: August 04, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Knights of Honor is unlike any other real-time strategy game in today's market. For starters, unlike almost every game out there KoH is not a fully 3-D game which in my opinion lends a sort of old school look to the game. Personally I think it looks better than most strategy games out there. The level of detail involved in the game also helps to immerse you into the medieval mood of the game. This would have to be the most realistic simulation of what it was like to be a European ruler circa 1200, you must deal with everything from crusades to spys to keeping a budget for the expenses of your kingdom. Unfortunately the one thing that could have been a lot better is the actual tactical battles. The controls are very clumsy and I felt like I barely had any control of my army. Instead of risking the fact that I will probably screw it up I usually just let my generals fight it out. Other than that there is so much else in the game that it is really inconsequential. Overall Knights of Honor is a great game and I would recomend for anyone who enjoys historical strategy simulations.

Knights of Honor is the perfect blend of strategy, tactics, diplomacy, commerce, and, yes, I did say diplomacy?

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 6
Date: February 14, 2006
Author: Amazon User

After downloading and playing the demo for about 30 minutes, I ran out and purchased Knighs of Honor! My concise review: Wow! How did I miss this game?! Knights of Honor is the perfect blend of strategy, tactics, diplomacy, commerce, and, yes, I did say diplomacy.

Here's my long winded review:

Pros:

- Strategic map is amazing. You can play in three different time periods, each time period has a different map, and you can play as one out of a 100 different historical political powers. The developers say it is all historically accurate, but, I don't know enough about this time period to confirm it. Accurate or not, it's great. Empires will fall, and then reappear if the populace was loyal to them and the new ruler doesn't subjugate or pacify them properly. If you take a kingdom's central province and kill it's ruler, its sons may form independent kingdoms in the other provinces. You can marry the one rebel prince to your daughter and make his princedom a vassal to you, and have your neighboring allies invade the other prince! The options are endless, the map is dynamic, borders change, empires rise and fall, it really is the best strategic map I have ever played on. What's interesting, is, the map is a Rome Total War style map, but in REAL-TIME (don't worry, units move slow on the map), but, you can zoom it out to a Risk style map if you want. Nifty.

- Graphics. Your city may not be rendered in 3d, but, the 2d buildings and terrain are beautiful to behold. The graphics are on par with AOE or CIV3. For those that complain that the units are not 3d or are not detailed...you've become spoiled! The units and buildings and terrain are nicely done and fun to watch. Two years ago the game graphics would have been top notch...now they may be slightly dated, but, graphics are not the main emphasis of this game. It's all about gameplay, and, it works nicely.

- Units and Building options. The game features an very accurate recruiting model, so you can recruit scottish highlanders in scotland, welsh bowman in wales, etc, plus, recruit generic unit types (men-at-arms, archers, etc) in just about every other province. There are dozens of options in the game, but, usually only about 10 different troop types options in one given province. The game is also part city-builder. You don't actually design your city, the game pre-fills the buildings for you (like Medieval Total War), but, you have dozens and dozens of options, that, unlike most strategic games, the building options all actually do something and you really need to weigh all your options. The level of strategy in the city building is just as important as the main map, and adds lots of depth.

- Documentation. The game features an in-game FAQ, unit and building browser, in-game manual, and mouse over definitions, AND, features a great manual and fold-out map/tech tree, that is very well done and in full color.

Cons:

- This may not be a con for some, but, the game is very challenging. I'm playing on easy, and, I'm still having a hard time. I've noticed that on easy other factions are more likely to agree to diplomacy and the AI mostly recruits low-level troop types. However, don't be fooled, the AI will pull you into touch-alliances, make harsh demands, defend you if attacked by a mutual foe, and behave in a very tricky manner, even on easy! So, the con here is learning curve: be patient, though, and learn the game, and, this con is actually a pro, too.

Conclusion: If you are looking for a sweeping, grand-ol' strategy game that I feel is BETTER than Medieval Total War and even more challenging than Rome Total War, set in the Medieval time frame, then this game is a MUST HAVE.

Better than expected.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: November 12, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I won this game by Kingdom Advantage. I can choose to continue on, but I already conquer half of Western Europe and decide to stop at this point.

In my opinion, this game deserves the five stars. I bought this game about two weeks ago, and have been playing on and off since then; actually more on than off - yes, it is additive. I played more on the strategy map than on the battle map. The following are a few of my notes. I hope the notes would get you to get on the game faster, but without giving out to much information that could take out the fun.

* There is more than one way to win this game. To win by military conquest, be prepare to spend lots of time and patient.
* The king has mortal life time but hire knights are not! There are consequences if a prince or princess married to a different kingdom. A kingdom heir does matter.
* Traders, Landlord and Builder (knights in your court) do help and work mostly in the back ground. Used them wisely will improve your game.
* Clergy (another knight) is a very interesting unit - I was confused when he became the pope and discovered that I have some control on most of Europe.
* Spy is also a very interesting unit. For example, I stumble on the pope kingdom. Despite the warning of my spy, I concentrated my force to take him out - one of my heaviest military conquest so far. I lost my best Marshal that helps me conquer almost half of Europe. The Spy helps me to win this battle. Enemy spies also caused me lots of trouble.
* Marshal is the most active knight. I like to see my Calvary Marshal (Marshal that is specialize on cavalry) running across Europe. Seize Marshal is for taking down castle... I won over a better enemy knight by having my Admiral fight him over the open sea. You can customize your Marshal for different role.
* I have not tried to win by diplomacy yet. Diplomacy is also an important factor in the game.
* Plan ahead and build what you need. There is less space to build than the available structures.
* There is limited number of knights on your court at a given time. Again plan ahead depending on your playing style.

Gettin' medieval

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 72 / 72
Date: June 21, 2005
Author: Amazon User

A few weeks ago on a rainy Sunday, I downloaded the "Knights of Honor" demo out of curiosity. After playing the demo for about 15 hours, despite the fact that most of its features were disabled, I KNEW I liked this game.

"Knights of Honor" is a strategy game similar to a game in the "Total War" series. It also has elements of "Heroes of Might and Magic", "Warlords III", and "Master of Orion II" in it, along with a unique dynasty feature.

Many so-called "hardcore" gamers (who really care more about graphics instead of gameplay) may be put off by its use of 2D, rather than 3D, graphics. If you can get beyond that and enjoy the actual gameplay, you'll find a very fun strategy game.

Your goal is to become Ultimate Emperor of Europe: either by conquering all of the 100 or so regions of Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa, or by being voted Ultimate Emperor. You can win by fighting lots of battles, or by making lots of friends diplomatically.

The diplomatic model is simplistic, and would be useless if there were just a few enemy powers. However, since there are dozens of powers, there are lots of entanglements, which makes the diplomatic game surprisingly fun. You might declare war on Sicily, which brings in the Fatimids, but then the Dalmatians decide to attack the Fatimids along with Dacians and Novgorod. You also have to keep an eye on the four different religious factions (Christianity, Islam, Orthodox, and pagan), and you can use religion to manipulate various factions.

You can fight auto-fight battles (a feature sorely missing from many other strategy games) or you can fight them yourself. When you choose to be involved, you see your army and the enemy's on a battlefield. Both sides can call in nearby reinforcements. While battles are not on the scale of a "Total War" game, the scale is reasonably appropriate for the time period. The AI is competent enough, and I find mid-to-late-game battles a decent challenge (although I found an AI exploit that guarantees a bloodless victory against any town that has walls but no ballistae...).

Like HOMM or Warlords 3, KoH has special characters called Knights (of Honor, hehe). The marshals, who command your armies, can learn different skills that enhance their abilities, such as Dread (reduce enemy morale), Healer (reduce casualties after battle), or Sword Mastery (increase rates of units' experience gains). You can also create Knights as Clerics, Merchants, Landlords, Builders, or Spies.

Clerics are useful because they help increase your religious and scholarly resources when they govern a province. They can also convert populations to your religion, and if they become highly experienced, they can become a Pope and call Crusades against other religions or excommunicate leaders from the Church.

Merchants can raise lots of money through your trade agreements with other countries. They can also govern a province and increase income from it.

I haven't really used Landlords or Builders that much (though I've already logged 50+ hours into the game), but I'm sure they have good uses.

Spies are really cool: if one of your spies can get hired by a rival power, you can do lots of things, depending on his profession. For example, as a Marshal, he can cause the army to rebel. If he becomes a Cleric, he can cause a religious revolt or convince the population to secede. It's even possible, with great luck, to get the Spy installed as a puppet king or a Pope!

One unique feature of KoH is the royal dynasty. You can play as long as you have a living king. Your king can use diplomacy to find a wife and you can have heirs. You can use male heirs as Knights or keep them safe in the castle. You can marry your female heirs off to other countries, and they can help your Spies perform espionage on that country. Marriages also affect royal inheritance, so it's possible to make claims on other countries' territories (and vice versa).

If your playing style leans toward building, you'll like how you can build dozens of different types of buildings. You have to be careful of what resources your territories have, and you may trade with others to get them or capture them through battle.

Overall, all of these different elements combine to make an excellent game. Though I gave it a 5-star rating for fun, I knocked off one star from the overall rating because of its 2D graphics, because the multiplayer only lets you play the tactical battles (you can't play the strategic game in multiplayer), and because there are certain problems with the UI and the AI (I'm sure they'll be fixed later in patches).

Retro fun

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 8 / 8
Date: December 15, 2005
Author: Amazon User

very cool game. I remember hearing about months ago and I finally bought it on amazon since i never saw it in stores.

2-D isn't even worth mentioning because the game is so good. Let me preface that by saying... If you like games like Colonization, Fragile Allegiance, Warlords 2, and Stronghold you will really like this game.

It's a blast if you like slow-paced thinking games. At times the action is a little overwhelming since it takes place in real time, but if you think far enough ahead you should have no problems.

It runs good on my slow cpu, I think the graphics are fine, keep in mind this game is the super clone of all the previous games I mentioned. The knights feature is way cool, and the Royal family dynasty is really neat. I got mad when in order to wed my prince so he could have a well founded dynasty I was required to give up land and so forth. I am not sure if the diplomacy is very believeable, but I must say that for the first time in a long time the cpu will actually honor it's alliances in single player and send armies to help you, and get mad at you if you refuse to help them.

I was supposed to be studying for a final and I got sucked into 8 solid hours like it was nothing. Be aware, in order to stay properly focused on winning you will zone out. I do not reccoment this game to anyone who has a clingy wife or sig. other.

I say buy it and treat yourself to some gaming right out of the Christmas past. Very cool esp. if you dug the whole Sid meier Colnonization. It's very familaiar but so much bigger and better.

MUCH better than GalCiv II

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 8 / 8
Date: July 17, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I'm having a wonderful time with this game. Before this, I was playing Galactic Civilizations II, which has gotten a lot more attention from the games press. The strategy model in that game was very simplistic, I thought. Basically, it was just a race against the AI up the technology tree...over and over and over. KOH is very deep, on the other hand, and is much more immersive. The learning curve is a bit steeper, but the time spent learning is well worth it. Replayability is much better, too, than GCII. You can play as any country in historical Europe, and each country is quite different in terms of its strategic pluses and minuses. In GCII, playing as a different race just changes your onscreen character's appearance, and the look of the ships. Otherwise, they're all the same.

One other point, to set the record straight: you CAN control the speed of this game, and you can pause it. For some reason, the developers left this information out of the manual. Very unfortunate, as it has led to a bad rap for a very good game. To speed up/slow down, use the -/+ keys. The asterisk key puts you on full throttle. To pause, hit the Pause key. Hope somebody finds this helpful!

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