Little King's Story

Mimi · **Joined:** 27th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 26064

So... That's 5 hours of my life I'm not getting back, and I don't regret giving them to Little King's Story one tiny bit, and I hardly feel like I have scratched the surface.

Did the postman bring this little disk of joy to anyone this morning?

How'd you describe it? It's almost like a combination of Pikmin and Harvest Moon, and is made of ultimate win.

markh · **Joined:** 13th Oct, 2008 **Posts:** 903

Glad it's good. I found some HMV vouchers I forgot about that i'll probably use to get this.

Dimrill · **Posted:** Fri Apr 24, 2009 22:32

I am exceptionally tempted to indulge in this game.

Mimi · **Joined:** 27th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 26064

First thing I said to Craig was "I bet Dimrill would like this". I have no idea why I have that impression, it's just so sprawling - it starts off so small and grows and grows - I haven't even conquered my first kingdom yet, and already my lands are huge!

Below are not really spoilers, just a basic first impression of the run down of what the game is like and about, but thought I'd spoiler it in case anyone wants to come to the game knowing nothing at all.

ZOMG Spoiler! Click here to view!

You start off with 12 citizens, a cow and three chickens as well as three ministers. Your citizens are layabouts and all they can do is dig with their hands. By directing them on the first day you can uncover 'treasure' which is then used to expand your kingdom in terms of construction. Yo can build what are essentially training colleges for professions such as farmers, soldiers, lumberjacks, hunters and hundreds more - by sending your citizens into these buildings they can take on new roles, which can then be used t unblock and build new routes, fight enemies, protect your kingdom, etc, etc.

The fighting is similar to the Pikmin fighting - you basically form your ranks (you can attract more people to your ranks as the game progresses - you start with five of your twelve citizens, I now have 12 of my 36 citizens, but you can pick and chose among your townspeople as you wish - one day taking a teams of builders, lumberjacks and fighters, and the next day hunters and farmers, etc, and you basically direct them to the enemy as you would throw your Pikmin.

You have a suggestion box where yo get fanmail, hatemail, and the occasional suggestion or quest. These usually speak of a large enemy/boss that needs defeating, you will gain adoration and happiness by defeating these bosses (and they are not unfair bosses, I am usually rubbish at that sort of thing but have managed OK - oh, and you can set the difficulty level if you prefer more of a challenge).

There's so much to the game that these are only the most basic of functions, but I do definitely recommend it to anyone. More fun that HMV vouchers, Mark

Dr Lave · **Joined:** 30th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 5979

Wish I hadn't bought Final Fantasy: My life as a KIng, and waited and bought this instead.

But my little eye is watching it. And waiting.

Mimi · **Joined:** 27th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 26064

The game has a great sense of humour, too.

The Rev Kampbell (yes, really) opened a church of soup. Kampbell's soup church.

He concludes any teachings with 'Ramen'.

It's just small, funny touches like that that make it extra-lovely.

JBR · **Joined:** 2nd Jun, 2008 **Posts:** 3304

I wants it. I don't need it, the unplayed pile is still large. But I wants it. Keep us informed, good people.

Agent Starling · **Joined:** 8th Apr, 2008 **Posts:** 1701

This does indeed sound quite lovely, only I don't have a Wii anymore. Any news of a DS version?

@ Mimi: Overall, in general, long term, etc etc - do you reckon you'll play this more or less than Animal Crossing? Or I suppose what I mean is - is it that type of 'play forever' game?

Mimi · **Joined:** 27th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 26064

No, I can't, though let me explain myself better...

Little King's Story has a distinct narrative - though you can wander around at your leisure, at your own pace and basically doing whatever you fancy, you are ultimately working towards a distinct set of goals - to train your people, keep your citizens happy and conquer the as yet undiscovered world, uniting the lands. There is an end target, and though you may decide one day to take an exploration party out, the next day take a scavenger team and another day take some hunters to thwart any enemies, all of these goals are in pursuit of conquering and 'opening' the areas of the map. Much like in the GTA games there are small 'side quests' (I have just been told that the art curator has lost the prize collection of artworks for the new gallery, if I find them on my travels, would I be kind enough to pass them on to him?) so there are plenty of tasks to enjoy, but despite the vastness and variety of the tasks there will, if you play diligently enough, eventually be an 'end'.

With Animal Crossing, though, there isn't such a linear aim. I still play A/C every day. I potter around, I talk to my animals, plant flowers, etc but none of it is aiming towards anything. I guess some people could say that once yo have the biggest house, biggest shop and have the rainbow feather, a full museum and catalogue then you have 'completed' the game, but I don't find myself trying to complete the game in this way. I think I could just play a little each day for the rest of my days and just enjoy it for the sake of it. I don't know why 'goals' aren't important in A/C, and I can imagine why some people might not understand the appeal of the game for that very reason, but it's just satisfying to find and explore the very small world in AC, and even when you do get a relatively large addition to your town in A/C (the lighthouse/windmill, for example) it is purely decorative.

Once all of the lands are conquered, townspeople are happy, paintings recovered (etc, etc... etc) in Little King's Story, I couldn't imagine just 'pottering around' every day for the sake of it if the option was available. If I wanted to play on I'd probably start again from the beginning, though the only game I have played through twice as yet is Luigi's Mansion.

By the way, I have just conquered my first foreign land!

EDIT: playtime 10hrs, 14 mins, in 2 afternoons. Oopsies.

Agent Starling · **Joined:** 8th Apr, 2008 **Posts:** 1701

Thanks for taking the time to answer that properly. I know if I had a Wii I'd be all over this, but yeah, I can see what you mean in comparison to Animal Crossing. I actually traded in my DS version of this some time ago, but certainly, I more than got my money's worth and played it mostly every day for, oh I dunno, 18 months or whatever.

markh · **Joined:** 13th Oct, 2008 **Posts:** 903

I picked this up in the end. Most excellent and relaxing so far, although I was a bot disturbed when one of my farmers got marmalised by a spooky cow!

Does anyone run their Wii through component? Just realised how dog awful my picture looks on scart.

Anonymous X · **Joined:** 30th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 2046

markh wrote:

Does anyone run their Wii through component?

Me! I didn't even use my Wii (bought on launch day) until I'd waited for to find a component cable. :nerd:

Tiq · **Joined:** 3rd Mar, 2009 **Posts:** 133

Bought this yesterday, t'is awesome.

Dimrill · **Posted:** Tue May 05, 2009 18:05

WAIT! HOLD THE FUCKING PHONE HERE PEOPLE!

You're going to love this.

Seriously.

See that person who just posted above, eh?

Look! It's... *chortle*.... AN TIQ!

BWHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!

RuySan · **Joined:** 30th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 3542

All of mimi's life seems to be made of cute little things. I'm sure she's the pink pony from "My little Pony".

But who am i to point fingers when i have to habit of putting koalas, pandas and squirrels on every desktop wallpaper from this company

Tiq · **Joined:** 3rd Mar, 2009 **Posts:** 133

Dimrill wrote:

WAIT! HOLD THE FUCKING PHONE HERE PEOPLE!

You're going to love this.

Seriously.

See that person who just posted above, eh?

Look! It's... *chortle*.... AN TIQ!

BWHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!

......Go sit in the corner and think about what you just did.

Dimrill · **Posted:** Tue May 05, 2009 18:13

Like there's anywhere else to sit in here. Seriously, Grim.. needs to buy some more chairs.

Tiq · **Joined:** 3rd Mar, 2009 **Posts:** 133

Dimrill wrote:

Like there's anywhere else to sit in here. Seriously, Grim.. needs to buy some more chairs.

You can sit on my knee, if you like. :luv:

Mimi · **Joined:** 27th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 26064

Is a component cable the one with red, green, blue and then two or three others for audio? If so, that's how my Wii is connected, too. When I finally got the new TV (after 2 years with a broken TV) I realised how bad the picture was via the scart, I could hardly see anything (the old TV was simply too small for the bad picture to be that noticeable) but when I wanted the lead for something else and resorted to using the scart it was all but unwatchable.

Since we have been in London this past week I have not been able to play Little King's Story :'(

I am looking forward to getting back and spending 6 hours with the game

I think when I left I had to go and see a sunflower about something. RuySan, this game is super cute, though there is a skeleton cow in it, which is a little disturbing

Tiq · **Joined:** 3rd Mar, 2009 **Posts:** 133

That stupid giant frog killed three of my villagers. :'(

Mimi · **Joined:** 27th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 26064

You need a long-range attack for him - I managed to overcome him without losing any of my little friends

I think I have only lost one little guy so far, but he washed up on the shore the next day - a bit bewildered but otherwise unharmed.

Has anyone noticed if the children grow up to become adult villagers at all?

sdg · **Posted:** Thu May 07, 2009 14:29

aww I want this but I have so many other games I need to be playing right now...I might actually try and get this and get Miss SDG addicted to it, then I will be allowed to play xbox whilst she's playing this!!!

I'm quite pleased with this evil genius plan.

Mimi · **Joined:** 27th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 26064

Craig and I can co-exist with this duel console set-up, too. It's a great game, though maybe you'll also like the game and then you'll have the problem of which of you gets to play Little King's Story :smug:

sdg · **Posted:** Thu May 07, 2009 15:18

Mimi wrote:

Craig and I can co-exist with this duel console set-up, too. It's a great game, though maybe you'll also like the game and then you'll have the problem of which of you gets to play Little King's Story :smug:

There is a very real chance that could happen, but it's a win/win situation really since either way, I'll be playing a game! I'm going to have a look and see if it is on goozex yet.

Tiq · **Joined:** 3rd Mar, 2009 **Posts:** 133

jesus... this is really slow to begin with, as it doesn't look like there is much to the game, but after a few hours it really opens up. I just killed the big Oni guy (he destroyed 12 of my villagers in the process) but I'm reaaaaaally enjoying the game now. Could spend the whole day playing, if I wasn't careful.

Mimi · **Joined:** 27th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 26064

I didn't find it slow to begin with, but I was rather in awe of how it opens up, and then you find yourself in this massive world but have still only uncovered a tiny part of the map. It's a bit mind boggling in the most lovely way.

Tiq · **Joined:** 3rd Mar, 2009 **Posts:** 133

Mimi wrote:

I didn't find it slow to begin with, but I was rather in awe of how it opens up, and then you find yourself in this massive world but have still only uncovered a tiny part of the map. It's a bit mind boggling in the most lovely way.

I was a bit underwhelmed at first, as it looked like there wasn't much to do, but the game has really opened up now.

I need to build the shop thing, so I can open this huge purse thing I found... it's massive.

sdg · **Posted:** Thu Mar 04, 2010 16:32

This has just arrived! I got it for £8.93 delivered from Amazon. Damn those pesky household chores stopping me from playing it right now.
Will post thoughts once I've had a shot.

Dimrill · **Posted:** Mon Mar 08, 2010 17:10

The developer for this has filed for bankruptcy.

Zen-Chan · **Joined:** 30th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 326

The best third-party game on the Wii by a million miles.

Be Excellent To Each Other

Little King's Story

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