Shouta

Very nice work on the episode. Kohan is a very underrated game and still holds up amazingly well today. A couple of things I want to comment on. - As I recall from my conversations with a few Relic devs from 2003/2004, they were actually big Kohan fans at the time. Whether or not it was a direct influence, I don't know, but it can certainly be felt within the game design choices. In fact, when looking at Dawn of War and Kohan 2, you can see a few similarities in the approach to design, IMO. - In regards to the game's Lore, while I agree that on the surface it's hard to get a sense of what's going on on the surface, it's pretty tightly written in the first game. The various races were a minor part of the story and while analogous to the usual fantasy groups, weren't as blatant. Kohan 2 really magnifies this to the point of ridiculousness. The factions also are deeply connected to the story and both represent philosphy and their style of play. From a marketing standpoint, it's rather dense but it was something very nice when you dove in. - Being a long time Immortal Sovereigns and Ahriman's Gift fan (KIS/KAG respectively), there are some huge reasons why Kohan 2 wasn't well-liked by core Kohan fans. It basically boils down to the game being a "decayed" version of what the first two games were. Many of the elements are present but they aren't done in a manner that creates the same type of gameplay that we had come to expect. It was either a change to an existing element that totally ruined the synergy or totally removing elements that provided depth to the gameplay. It's a pretty long list but, it very much is a matter of gameplay and not just graphics.