Frayed Knights 2 - The Wizard War

[HiddenX]

Rampant Coyote gives us some story background information for the Frayed Knight series:

The defining event in the history of Kalderia, the setting for the Frayed Knights series – was the Wizard War. In a nutshell, it was a war that humanity – and their allied races – lost. Even though it was technically considered a win, when warfare wipes out a bigger percentage of the population than the Black Death, it’s not much of a victory. I imagine it as kind of like the Black Death, the Golden Horde, World War I, and the Fall of Rome all combined in about one thirty year period. One year, you have a gleaming civilization with huge cities, and about three decades later there isn’t much more than ruins and some huddled tribes of humans hiding in caves and forests.

The masters of both sides were powerful wizards. The arch-lich Nepharides led one side, and a coalition of the civilized world’s most powerful wizards led the other. At least that’s the story. In reality, a number of the more powerful human wizards chose to side with Nepharides. In Frayed Knights 2: The Khan of Wrath, a good chunk of the game takes place in the deserted remnant of one of the more prestigious sorcerer’s schools prior to the war.

The old school of wizardry began as something of a joke (what doesn’t, in Frayed Knights?), but the backstory evolved and spread to much of the rest of the game. The staff was once a united group of some of the best wizards in the world, and they taught the best and brightest (or at least the wealthiest) young magic-users in the kingdom. Then, as the war grew and threatened to engulf the world, the wizards found themselves divided.

Why would some choose to side with a horrible undead monster like Nepharides? In most cases, simple practicality. Nepharides was going to win, they felt. Only those on the winning side would be able to shape the future. They hoped that by working inside the “belly of the beast” they could bring some sanity to the war. Or at least survive to build a better future.

The growing war and their internal divisions forced them to close the school. They sealed it with spells so that no single wizard among them could break it. There had to be some subset of them working in concert. They vowed that they’d get back together after the war ended, in unity of purpose, to reopen the school which would have been preserved from the ravages of battle.

That never happened. The war lasted longer and was more destructive than any of them had imagined. The school was sealed away for over three hundred years, forgotten. The great city it had once bordered had been leveled and forgotten. [...]

More information.

 

[Drithius]

Love me some lore - or, rather, I love discovering pieces of lore hearkening back to a world with history. Looking forward to FK2, Jay.

 

[Humanity has risen!]

Jay has talent and his heart is in the right place, and he has some clever ideas... but the question is if he has the means to materialize his ambitions.

I'm sorry but Frayed Knights 1 was a very barren game with empty environments, and very repetitive as you always fought the same enemies over and over again. The humor stroke the right balance though, and the design overall good.

The world just needs to feel more vibrant and alive, not like empty fields with a few trees over there and one or two huts with an NPC.

 

[Swann]

Jay has talent and his heart is in the right place, and he has some clever ideas… but the question is if he has the means to materialize his ambitions.

I'm sorry but Frayed Knights 1 was a very barren game with empty environments, and very repetitive as you always fought the same enemies over and over again. The humor stroke the right balance though, and the design overall good.

The world just needs to feel more vibrant and alive, not like empty fields with a few trees over there and one or two huts with an NPC.

Your description of the game is accurate, nevertheless my subjective impression is just the opposite: the personal retro art style of the game is fine and probably a generic 3D art would make the game less appealing for me .
There is only one thing I do not like of FK1: the need to go and come back again and again from city to dungeons.

 

[forgottenlor]

Your description of the game is accurate, nevertheless my subjective impression is just the opposite: the personal retro art style of the game is fine and probably a generic 3D art would make the game less appealing for me .
There is only one thing I do not like of FK1: the need to go and come back again and again from city to dungeons.

That is typical of old school games. I thought the levels were actually designed so that backtracking was minimal (since you could fast travel from any board edge), especially once you got the Rest Stop spell. At least it seems to me no worse than any number of modern old school games, like MMX, Lord of Xulima, Underrail, Wasteland 2, or Pillars of Eternity. I would have liked some more ways to spend the silver that one finds, though. Especially once I got into the second half of the game, it seemed there was little useful to buy except spellstones and thief tools.

 

[Carnifex]

I'm ready to kill some wizards right now!!! I really enjoyed the first game, I bet I'll like this one just as much or even more. It cannot come soon enough.