Preceding this DLC's massive free update (which quite literally doubled the content) is the most hilarious developer blog I've ever seen.
If you don't want to read it, it's about 1.5k words of the studio's VP saying "We're sorry. We fucked it up. We utterly cunted it. Just absolutely buggered it. Total fumble. Forgive us. Please. Here's free stuff."
The crux of the controversy leading to said apology was centered on price: Shadows of Change cost £20, about the same as an entire race pack, and added... A pittance. Some lords of questionable quality, units that were lovely but added rather haphazardly, and the odd hero.
Now, I'm something of a Total Warhammer shill. I haven't thought any DLC was 'overpriced' and enjoyed all of it, but SoC was indeed overpriced. It was a £7 DLC masquerading as half the price of the base game, and while I do think the "CA BETRAYED US!" sentiment was a bit cringe, I can understand why it became a hot button issue. Especially after Pharaoh, brr.
So with the new update, is it worth it?
I'd say so.
Perhaps the best part of SoC 2.0 is that the content added is now equalized for each faction. Everyone gets five units, a legendary lord, a legendary hero, a generic lord, and a generic hero. No more weird gaps, it's now a fair amount for each of the three factions. Oh, and the hags - Mother Ostankya included - get their titular lore
And I gotta say: I was expecting cheap reskins in the new content, but to my surprise the new stuff looks utterly fantastic. Given CA's prior stingy behaviour, it was insane to find out the new Cathayan legendary hero was a giant terracotta warrior with wings that'd be right at home in some of the more outlandish Gundam series'. Even the humble Kislevite Warriors look great, really conveying the class divide between the mighty Kossars and themselves; barely armored Ungol peasants who're nonetheless devoted to their queen. Their inclusion came with a dev note admitting that they've accepted not every addition has to be a headliner.
Even the Chaos Lord of Tzeentch and Exalted Hero are wholly unique, when everyone including myself accepted that they'd probably just be reskins of the existing units for the other Chaos Gods.
That said, I do have some minor gripes that are carried over from 1.0.
Namely, the start positions for Yuan Bo (Lustria/Warhammer South America) and Mother Ostankya (Naggaroth/Warhammer USA) are a little odd. The last DLC, Chaos Dwarves, had almost everyone starting on the far eastern side of the map and I guess CA didn't want the new Lords to start so close to familiar territory? But the core of these two characters, respectively, are their surveilance state and fierce protection of Kislev's wilderness, so not being anywhere near there is baffling. Fortunately, mods fix this with impunity.
The Changeling is also a total nuisance when playing as the Empire or Drycha, as they're genuinely unkillable (due to not possessing any settlements) and cannot meaningfully be dealt with. They're not that strong and the AI has continually been unable to actually play them well, so they're like an endlessly buzzing fly to swat.
And lastly... Look, this is a really Reddit complaint, but it bugs me that the Akshina Ambushers are Mother Ostankya's signature infantry unit when they're canonically the Tzarina's secret police. It's like if they added Daffy Duck and he had a ton of rabbit units. They're also blisteringly overpowered. Asur Sisters of Avalorn invited some Asrai Shades to one of Alarielle's freaky LSD orgies and the end result was these bastards that are entirely capable of crushing an enemy backline before they can react.
Even so, I think SoC is in a good place now, and what it signals for Thrones of Decay is promising. Truthfully, I don't give a flying fuck about Tzeentch, Cathay or Kislev, so the promise of the same content amount/quality but for three factions I adore is alluring.
7/10 I'm glad Jeremy Ang Jones gets to be in a game that isn't violently misogynistic.
If you don't want to read it, it's about 1.5k words of the studio's VP saying "We're sorry. We fucked it up. We utterly cunted it. Just absolutely buggered it. Total fumble. Forgive us. Please. Here's free stuff."
The crux of the controversy leading to said apology was centered on price: Shadows of Change cost £20, about the same as an entire race pack, and added... A pittance. Some lords of questionable quality, units that were lovely but added rather haphazardly, and the odd hero.
Now, I'm something of a Total Warhammer shill. I haven't thought any DLC was 'overpriced' and enjoyed all of it, but SoC was indeed overpriced. It was a £7 DLC masquerading as half the price of the base game, and while I do think the "CA BETRAYED US!" sentiment was a bit cringe, I can understand why it became a hot button issue. Especially after Pharaoh, brr.
So with the new update, is it worth it?
I'd say so.
Perhaps the best part of SoC 2.0 is that the content added is now equalized for each faction. Everyone gets five units, a legendary lord, a legendary hero, a generic lord, and a generic hero. No more weird gaps, it's now a fair amount for each of the three factions. Oh, and the hags - Mother Ostankya included - get their titular lore
And I gotta say: I was expecting cheap reskins in the new content, but to my surprise the new stuff looks utterly fantastic. Given CA's prior stingy behaviour, it was insane to find out the new Cathayan legendary hero was a giant terracotta warrior with wings that'd be right at home in some of the more outlandish Gundam series'. Even the humble Kislevite Warriors look great, really conveying the class divide between the mighty Kossars and themselves; barely armored Ungol peasants who're nonetheless devoted to their queen. Their inclusion came with a dev note admitting that they've accepted not every addition has to be a headliner.
Even the Chaos Lord of Tzeentch and Exalted Hero are wholly unique, when everyone including myself accepted that they'd probably just be reskins of the existing units for the other Chaos Gods.
That said, I do have some minor gripes that are carried over from 1.0.
Namely, the start positions for Yuan Bo (Lustria/Warhammer South America) and Mother Ostankya (Naggaroth/Warhammer USA) are a little odd. The last DLC, Chaos Dwarves, had almost everyone starting on the far eastern side of the map and I guess CA didn't want the new Lords to start so close to familiar territory? But the core of these two characters, respectively, are their surveilance state and fierce protection of Kislev's wilderness, so not being anywhere near there is baffling. Fortunately, mods fix this with impunity.
The Changeling is also a total nuisance when playing as the Empire or Drycha, as they're genuinely unkillable (due to not possessing any settlements) and cannot meaningfully be dealt with. They're not that strong and the AI has continually been unable to actually play them well, so they're like an endlessly buzzing fly to swat.
And lastly... Look, this is a really Reddit complaint, but it bugs me that the Akshina Ambushers are Mother Ostankya's signature infantry unit when they're canonically the Tzarina's secret police. It's like if they added Daffy Duck and he had a ton of rabbit units. They're also blisteringly overpowered. Asur Sisters of Avalorn invited some Asrai Shades to one of Alarielle's freaky LSD orgies and the end result was these bastards that are entirely capable of crushing an enemy backline before they can react.
Even so, I think SoC is in a good place now, and what it signals for Thrones of Decay is promising. Truthfully, I don't give a flying fuck about Tzeentch, Cathay or Kislev, so the promise of the same content amount/quality but for three factions I adore is alluring.
7/10 I'm glad Jeremy Ang Jones gets to be in a game that isn't violently misogynistic.
4 Comments
@curse I think 3 is a fine entry point. Some would say 2, but 3 has so many little accruements like settlement trading/cribbing units from your allies/war coordination that I can't go back. 3's combined map just has infinitely better faction placement which means most races don't fight the same faction for 6 hours.
As for buying... The gimmick of 2 and 3 is that everything you own from past games just carries over to the next at no added charge. 3's store page lists all the DLC that transfers, it goes on sale a lot, and owning 1 and/or 2 gives you all of their default factions in the third game for free. There's a million mods for 3 that can buff out any issues you might have, and if you ever want MORE then there's an endlessly talented and frankly professional scene of custom content out there to dig your teeth into.
Re: DLC - This isn't Paradox, there aren't any major mechanical reworks or overhauls in the DLCs. The DLCs are simply more; More stuff the faction you like or more factions. Simple as.
As for buying... The gimmick of 2 and 3 is that everything you own from past games just carries over to the next at no added charge. 3's store page lists all the DLC that transfers, it goes on sale a lot, and owning 1 and/or 2 gives you all of their default factions in the third game for free. There's a million mods for 3 that can buff out any issues you might have, and if you ever want MORE then there's an endlessly talented and frankly professional scene of custom content out there to dig your teeth into.
Re: DLC - This isn't Paradox, there aren't any major mechanical reworks or overhauls in the DLCs. The DLCs are simply more; More stuff the faction you like or more factions. Simple as.
super helpful and thorough, thank you. I didn't think it'd be a paradox situation, but I can't help but be cagey when I don't know what I'm lookin at. I'll probably check out 3 sometime and see where that takes me
@curse You're welcome! o7 Despite the game's rough spots, I do think it's more gem than flaw as far as flawed gems go. It's my 5th most played Steam game of all time for a reason, and my account has both 900~ games and is 13 years old.
curse
2 months ago
all I really want is to play ogre kingdoms and have an experience that doesn't feel compromised and I've never been certain about whether that's a non-issue or something where I'll need a gamefaqs walkthrough to figure out