King’s Bounty: Armored Princess Interview

It’s no secret that we liked King’s Bounty: The Legend. A lot. If you didn’t come away from our “RPG Hybrid of the Year” blurb with a good understanding of why we liked the game so much, then our review of the game should spell it out a little better. Simply put, King’s Bounty is a triumph on many levels.

As such, it really isn’t too surprising that Katauri Interactive is busy working on an expansion pack entitled King’s Bounty: Armored Princess. Despite the fact that the company is located on the opposite side of the Earth and a translator is required for any type of correspondence with them, I managed to grab the attention of project lead Dmitry Gusarov and fire off some questions to him. Up until now, we knew relatively little about Armored Princess. Thanks to Dmitry’s candid answers, though, that’s about to change:

GB: Tell us more about the Lizard race you’re adding and what new units we might expect from them? What talents and other abilities will these units have access to that weren’t already available in the original game?

Dmitry: There will be many new units in King’s Bounty: Armored Princess, such as:

Gorgul: Lizard armed with a spear. It possesses the ability to regenerate, a talent for running, and a special Bloody Madness ability allowing it to damage every unit nearby, including allies. If a Gorgul kills the enemy unit, it receives another turn immediately.

Gorguana: Female Lizard armed with a staff. Possesses special magic abilities, buffs, and debuffs.

Hyterant: Flying creature that can hatch eggs on the battlefield.

Brontor: Slow, but well-armored Lizard, which can dig itself into the ground and strike enemies with spikes.

Tirex: Predator and a very strong attack unit that looks like a tyrannosaur. The leader of Lizards.

Chosha: Worm, attacks from the underground. It creates units and can turn them into adults using its Initiation skill.

Young and adult Gobots. Worms that can creep underground and bite enemies.

GB: You’ve mentioned that KB’s role-playing system will be improved upon in Armored Princess. Can you elaborate on this a bit? What steps have you taken to make the expansion feel even more like an RPG?

Dmitry: You can upgrade your hero to level 50 and beyond now. The hero’s skill tree will be changed and updated. We’ll introduce a reward system giving additional bonuses to the character. You can make contracts as in the original King’s Bounty game, which allows you to gain double rewards for winning a battle and killing enemies. There will be the opportunity to fly on Pegasus.

GB: Will our interactions with spouses and other NPCs in the expansion be similar to what we saw in the original game? Or will you be expanding the dialogue system to allow further choices and potentially even skill-based interactions?

Dmitry: There will be armor-bearers, each of which has a specific temper. Relationships with each of them will vary. We are not going to expand the dialogue system though because we consider that to be sufficient.

Dmitry: There will be some major changes, including playing in the other game world with a new storyline and a female character.

GB: The original game featured three character skill trees – Might, Mind, and Magic. Will you be adding an entirely new skill tree in Armored Princess or will the original trees simply be expanded with additional skills?

Dmitry: We have changed and expanded the existing skill trees.

GB: In the press release, you mentioned contracts, headhunting, and hirelings. Can you give us a few details about each of these new features?

Dmitry: Contracts are a type of quest that can be completed as they were in the original King’s Bounty.

Assistants and mercenaries are all called armor-bearers in our game. You can hire them and get additional slots for weapons and some special bonuses. These replace the slots and bonuses received from wives in The Legend, so there will be no possibility to have children.

GB: How many new items, spells, and other abilities do you intend to add in Armored Princess? Can you share a few examples with us?

Dmitry: There will be 10 new spells, lots of new abilities and talents for different creatures, and about fifty new items. For example, using a Rage control spell you can turn rage into mana and by using the Zlong spell you can summon the clot of death that can flow into a creature and harm it. You can also summon a star which has rays that can kill all the living beings on the battlefield.

GB: Tell us a bit about the medal system being implemented in the expansion pack. How will we earn medals and what sort of bonuses will they grant once earned?

Dmitry: It’s easy to gain medals, you can get them for different gameplay actions. Here are several examples:

The Battle Alchemy Medal will be given for burning and poisoning a certain number of foes, and having it will raise the strength of these attacks. While using the tamed dragon the player gives his Rage to it, for this you can gain the Blind Rage Medal, which gives a bonus to your troops and increases the chance of a critical hit. So, the more you use your tame dragon, the more critical damage you can bring to the enemies.

GB: How difficult will it be to transform our horse into a Pegasus? Will the ability to fly make it easier to evade groups of enemies and perhaps even allow us to move to areas previously only reachable by boat in the original game?

Dmitry: After the hero finishes the appropriate quest he receives the ability to transform the horse into Pegasus. The hero can use this ability to avoid unwanted battles, and to get to previously inaccessible places. It is clear that it gives much more freedom in movement to the player, which he can use at his own wish. It will be also much easier to steal a chest from stronger enemies.

Dmitry: Bosses are all different and interesting each in their own way. The Frog is the easiest boss as he just jumps and attacks, on the other hand the Borer Robot can retreat on the arena, call for battle droids and fire at the stalagtites. Lizard Ktahu can avoid attacks by sinking into the water, the Archdemon can use the sword remotely and destroy the arena, and the Huge Gremlion is able to summon towers on the arena.

GB: Are we still going to have access to Zerock, Sleem, Lina, and Reaper in Armored Princess? Will there be any other uses for Rage in the expansion?

Dmitry: No, they will be replaced by a real pet a tamed dragon called Drago which will not sit in the casket. He will always be represented on the battlefield and act interactively to all of the occurrences happening.

GB: Will Amelie’s tamed dragon gain experience and rise in levels (as we saw with the Spirits of Rage), or will the creature grow in power in a different manner? What abilities will the dragon gain access to as it matures during the game?

Dmitry: The tamed dragon will possess 9 abilities. He will be able to hunt for treasures right on the battlefield, help the hero, build walls, summon ball lightning, beat enemies using various effects, and use massive blows such as Battle madness and Hot lava.

GB: Will the additions and improvements made in Armored Princess be accessible in the original game as well? For example, can Princess Amelie be taken through the original campaign and can we gain access to the new spells, items, and units?

Dmitry: No. I considered that such projects like Armored Princess need their own special game mechanics and character development system. One thing is to transfer the model of the game, and making changes in locations or creating quests when you fly on Pegasus is absolutely another topic. That’s huge work to do.

GB: Many fans have expressed interest in at least a basic editor to be able to extend the replayability even more. Are there any plans for one in the future? If indeed one is in the works, what sort of timeline might we expect for its release?

Dmitry: We are currently discussing that, maybe the editor will be available for every gamer, but we are not sure for now. Actually we are thinking about the way to give it is to advanced players only, ones that can create a good extension. We consider that to be the best option.

GB: Are you still on track for a Q1 2009 release in Russia? Have you started making any plans to publish the expansion in Europe or North America yet? If so, when?

Dmitry: We plan to release Armored Princess in Russia in spring 2009. But the localization for other territories will take some time, so the game will appear there later.

Thanks for your time, Dmitry!