The MMO You Should Know: Kingdom Under Fire II

Published: November 13, 2014 9:00 AM /

By:


KUFIICropped

Kingdom Under Fire is a RTS series developed by Blueside, the south Korean development company that also helped to bring you Ninety Nine Nights.  Now I will personally say myself, Ninety Nine Nights was not one of my favorite titles, as aside from the very nice graphics at the time, it felt a bit like a Dynasty Warriors clone that just fell short.  This isn't about Ninety Nine Nights, though, this is about Bluesides new project, Kingdom Under Fire II. Blueside used both of these titles as a basis for this game.  When you break KUFII down and ask, "What does it bring to the table that's different?" it's easy to answer.  Hack and slash combat along with RTS elements thrown into an MMORPG.  We've seen point and click, we've seen auto-attacking button mashers, we've seen action combat systems, but now KUFII two is bringing that Dynasty Warrior feel inside the MMO universe.  As a General, you can build and command your army from a distance to overtake the battle field, or come off your high horse into the heat of battle and go straight up Lu Bu on some fools heads.  Add in guild PvP, invading and overtaking territories, raiding against powerful bosses, and a dynamic open world and you have an incredibly expansive and ambitious  game.  These add very unique and interesting elements to the MMORPG world, but I know it will come with it's own set of criticisms.  Anyone who isn't a fan of either of those game styles, I would probably steer clear of this title unless your incessant curiosity gets the best of you and forces you to give it a shot.  It's not like you'd lose anything by doing so, as this game is slated to be free-to-play.  Now, if you're like me and you enjoy RTS games as well as Dynasty Warriors, I don't see how you can possibly let this one slip under your radar. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GZc8kREFGE&list=UUnCPjCxnUEFz7L8EhaA0UbA&index=3 As I said, Blueside is a Korean development company, and in another article I spoke very bluntly about localization hell or the lack of localization from east Asian countries to the west (Link here).  The fantastic part of this game is Blueside has been very adamant about this being localized to the west and we should be able to expect it to be available at launch or shortly after.  Western publishers have already been involved for a while, so I feel confident in saying this is a game we won't have to wait forever to take a crack at. So now a little bit about the story and the meat of the game.  Right now the classes available are the Berserker, Spell Sword, and the Gunslinger.  The Berserker is pretty self explanatory, the spell sword is a fighter mage, and the gunslinger is essentially a swashbuckler who wields a sword in one hand and his gun in the other.  The races are broken down into factions, the Human Alliance which contains races such as Humans, High Elves, and Dwarves.  The Dark Legion will consist of Dark Elves, Half Vampires, Undead, and Orcs.  Last, the Exiles, has a race called Encablossa, who are masters of the dark dimension and look like demonic humanoids.  I'm unsure if there will be more classes released or if there will be sub classing or class progression as your character levels.  All I know is the prospect of customizing, developing, building, and leveling up an army adds a whole new wrinkle. This game looks impressive, and it should as it's been in development for 7+ years.  What began as a single player mesh of N3 (Ninety Nine Nights) and KUF, took a different direction back in 2009 to become an MMO.  Look forward to this game on PC as well as PS4. For more information on this game, visit the KUFII website: http://www.kufii.com/

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