Knights of Pen and Paper 2 Preview

I was a big fan of Knights of Pen and Paper, so you can expect I was excited for another game to be released as a “sequel”. The second game in the franchise of Pixel-art, Turn-based D&D style gameplay, following a group of players and their Dungeon Master in a world of fantasy and dice rolling is developed by Paradox Interactive. Let’s get this Preview on the roll!

Story

The game starts off with a previous player, with a level 99 character fighting a major boss Tarasque, fighting it pretty easily. The DM then notices the player is using a 2^nd edition character and wants to play a 1^st edition campaign, annoying the player and making him leave, leaving the DM to get new players and that is where you come in.

After making 2 characters for your party you are transported into the world of Paperos, in Spawn Village you are taught how to play the game, the dangers that inhabit it and are given a few quests. Killing rat traps, clearing a dungeon and travelling through forests are the adventures the preview build offered, ending with getting to the major city.

There wasn’t much of the story in the preview build but it seemed that a clash of editions had the game in a bit of a disaster. 2^nd edition characters being more powerful than 1^st and altering the nearby monsters and characters. The Paper Knights seem to be the ones behind it and we are told a few pieces of information about them.

The Preview only gave me around 1 hour of the game, with around 6 areas to explore, with 1 being a secret area you can only find with a random encounter failure. You are free to pick up story quests, or take on side-quests for items, character classes, gold and experience. Returning to areas will see them have new enemies, dungeons having new layouts and items to be found regarding the quests you take on.

Gameplay

Improving on the first game, Knights of Pen and Paper 2 still uses the turn-based fighting mechanics of old RPG games. You click a skill or ability; attacking, defending or using items, then select who it will be used on. Body, Senses and Mind are the 3 stats that each character has, Body used for damage, sense used for critical hits and mind for magic, as well as being used as saving throws against effects and interacting with the world.

As you fight enemies you will get experience, that will split between the amount of players you have and they will level up according to their own levels and experience pools. Once a character levels up they get more health and man as well as a skill point to put into 1 of 4 skills, from a row attack or stat damage to healing and buffing magic. Characters can also equip weapons, armour and items to increase their stats, weapons and armour can also be upgraded in towns with scrolls and charms to increase their base stats and give them improved effects.

You move around by clicking on areas of the map, where your characters will then travel to, with a roll to determine if they get ambushed. In the new area you can choose between resting for hp and mp, fighting monsters, investigating for items or doing quests. While in a dungeon you will have a generated map that you will have to explore, fighting monsters, finding items and fountains of health till you eventually find stairs and reach the end-boss.

Overall Thoughts and Feelings

The music in Knights of Pen and Paper 2 is spot on, the retro tracks fit each scene and add to the old-school feel of the game as a whole. I didn’t find one point where the music failed, I sometimes even found myself just listening to the music for a while as I entered a new area as it caught me off guard how well it was produced.

Overall this is a great progression on the first game, the mechanics have been improved and the graphics have taken a jump whilst not getting rid of its retro style. Battles have been sped up a bit, though I still feel they need a speed-up button for when you’re fighting monsters with a lot of health that are more of an obstacle then a hard fight. Creating my own equipment through synthesis is very satisfying and gives the random items you find a much needed purpose in your bag and safe.

There wasn’t much in the way of Room improvements or gold buying in the preview build, so I didn’t get to see how deep that went. If it sticks with the old game’s style of the improvements then I think it will do well. The only thing I could buy was a new table for the players and some items that gave health and mana after every battle, along with the Warlock class, the Ninja class was unlocked through a quest in the game itself.