Lo-Fi Games

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2013/05 ... kery-boys/

It seems that the writer Tim Stone wasn't terribly impressed with Kenshi, but perhaps he does see promise in it, although he seems inclined to make a comparison to Mount and Blade. Which is fine, even if I am unsure how his experience would have compared with the Mount and Blade beta as a point of comparison. I suppose Kenshi does seem slightly evocative of some aspects of Mount and Blade, but since Kenshi is very much a unique beast it may suffer from a lack of a familiar comparison.

It's kind of a shame that he didn't manage to include any information about the coming update in the article, but the update and article went live around the same time. Regardless of his seemingly negative impression of the game at this point in development, I'd like to hear more of the Fabulous Bakery Boys wayside boulangerie, hopefully he comes back to the story in the future with additional updates.

In the game development world Kenshi is something of an anomaly, being crafted primarily by a single developer who had to work a 9-5 as well as working to update Kenshi for much of the early development cycle. I see the progress Chris makes may not please people used to larger teams, but I like to think of the progress as the mile eating march of the Roman soldier. While the incorporation of the new art assets has slowed the update cycle a bit the game will have a lot more personality once we get unique uniforms for the various factions, and despite it being less utilitarian than walls or working trade counters, this will mark yet another stride toward the game being feature complete.

Perhaps Tim would be more pleased with the game once he can construct walls to help fend off marauders, and sell his baked goods to passing traders.

after reading i felt like the guy has barely any idea of what he's looking at.
kenshi is nothing like m&b, except that there's people in both, i guess. and fights. that's it.

all the complaining about lack of polishing and features too..meh.

Gotta go with UndefinedM on this one, might be some closures, but still is a lot far from it, and the rather complain of lacking stuff which are uninportant to some, others just nor implemented at the moment.

And he also mention what a lot people need to understand, Kenshi currently has no setting, yet he mention around there i a post apocalyptic place.

I'd like to hope Tim Stone will take another look at Kenshi when a few of the features he wanted are implemented in a few months, while I agree the mount and blade comparison isn't suitable a lot of people tend to make it because there's really nothing else quite like Kenshi. Still, Mount and Blade in 2004 when they started selling and releasing beta versions, versus what came out in 2008, made quite a lot of progress. Even in 2006 I don't imagine the Mount and Blade beta was feature complete, and the husband and wife team is twice the size of LoFi

RPS has a large reader base, and while the initial impression may not have been to Tim's liking I'd like to see Kenshi get more coverage from them in the future. I imagine once you can open your outposts to trading and build some walls to help with defense the tale of the Excalibur Cottage turned Bakery could take on interesting new turns. Who knows, perhaps despite the lack of these things a desire to see the story progress will drive Tim to forge ahead and craft his own armory, and see if he can turn the tides of banditry against the ne'er do wells that assail his previously peaceful farming community.

The website is called Rock Paper Shotgun btw.

I didn't care for the article but then again I didn't read the whole thing yet. Seemed to be expecting more than he was getting, which is sad. I wonder if he spent more time writing the article or playing the game?

UndefinedM wrote:after reading i felt like the guy has barely any idea of what he's looking at.
kenshi is nothing like m&b, except that there's people in both, i guess. and fights. that's it.

all the complaining about lack of polishing and features too..meh.

In the wider spectrum of games, the genre that M&B and kenshi fall into is populated exclusivly by these two games. Of course, they are not the same game and have different strengths and mechanics, but the underlying feel and objectives of the game is pretty similar. You build a party, you go around and fight shit, you can establish bases, you can trade, you can buy gear, supplies, farm with your feifs... the list goes on.

I dont see the sense in being so reactionary, being compared to a game like mount and blade is really a good thing. It markets the game to a specific subset of people who have a much higher chance to like this game, AKA mount and blade players.

I always thought when kenshi was finished it would be alot like Skyrim with multiple heroes. It wouldnt have as good graphics sure but the AI would certainly be better. i can understand how its thought to being like MB as it does have alot of similar aspects while its in Alpha. MB and skyrim are also probably the most two known games in warfare that let you do anything you want (mostly).

Im sure when the game is finished he will do another review, just so his reputation isnt ruined by the greatness of this game

First off, I would like to say Tim Stone failed to mention that this game is still in early alpha. That being said, I am deeply offended by his review and remarks on this game. Everything he complained about has already been discussed at length in the forums as well as some information being available in the interviews with Chris. Anything else has already been planned and is in the works.

I can understand the comparison to Mount and Blade as I have made it myself in the past. I agree with the other posters that this may be due to a lack of comparable games. The only comparison I agree with now for M&B, to some extent, is the combat aspect. The soldiers have stats and can be upgraded, a skilled medic/doctor can save men from otherwise fatal wounds, and the combat is simple yet effective. This statement can apply to both games, although Kenshi is more retroactive. Your decisions can mold your troops into experienced fighters, talented craftsmen, or the always needed pack mules. Either way, nearly every action has a direct benefit or hindrance to the development of your squad.

I thought about making an account on that website to request a retraction for that seemingly half-assed review, but everyone is welcome to their opinions even if they did not do their research. I just hope someone can point Tim Stone here to this forum so he can see how active the community is in making this game a reality. Yes it is unpolished, yes it is missing audio, yes it has many features that need to be added, but as an experienced beta tester I can tell you this is perfectly normal for a game in this early stage of development. If anyone plays an alpha expecting a nearly finished game, they obviously have never played one before.

On behalf of Nightlife Gaming and the loyal community here in the Kenshi forums, I sincerely hope the writer retracts or modifies his review to reflect the information available in the forums here, as well as to reflect the current alpha stage of the game. Thanks for reading everyone, and the continued support for Chris and the Kenshi staff.

Bancheis

Meh, it didn't seem that bad. As a self confessed Kenshi fanboy I still don't really see that much of an issue with the review. To be honest, things are buggy as all hell most of the time. There is a gem of a game underneath the muck and like all gems it needs to be buffed and polished. but you can't write a review harping on about the potential of a game. it needs to be expressed before you can write about it.

Sure it was a poorly researched review by someone who just seemed to miss the point, but he was pretty accurate in some aspects even if we may not want to hear bad things. I do hope that at some stage further down the line that Mr Stone will revisit Kenshi in its glory and have something good to say about it. Until then, we can always go and play the game while Mr Stone can do whatever he finds more interesting than kenshi.

Yeah I understand many of the things he complained about, however he seemed to also complain a lot about features that are planned but not yet implemented.