The Lost Heir 2: Forging a Kingdom

Probably the best of the three games in the series for me. The hook of managing a campaign is ever present and just a really cool background for the game. The other two games don't really have anything similar.

I really wish it was longer, with more big combats where you gotta manage your army's time and strategy.

If I'd have any criticism, its that you don't really forge a kingdom! Oh well, its the first steps :p

Very nice, and I can see myself playing through again just to get a slightly different character concept. This is a choose-your-own-adventure game with a good bit of replayability - but really, play all 3 with the DLC or not at all.

This episode needs a savefile from the first game which is quite bad practice... Not very fan of these interactive stories.

The first game in this series was SO FUN, and I was very much looking forward to this one, and it just left me cold. Maybe it was my own fault for trying to play as a bard--there was just NO chance at all to build up any skills to the highest level and toward the end the skill checks were ridiculous. But even that would be tolerable if it weren't for the two very, very long parts where I had an entire army and their petty squabbles to deal with. I swear to god if I read the words "We're running low on food!" one more time I was going to have a fit.

A great continuation from the first one! It's so cool that I can bring the save from the first game and continue right where I left off.

Boy this was a tough one for me to like, it's really nothing like part 1. Most of the game is recruiting and managing your army. BUT there's no customization, just a right way and wrong ways to do things. The biggest problem for me was the lack of adventuring with my companions. Your old companions are still there, but you just don't interact with them much. Instead many new characters are introduced, but they're generic and you don't get to know them very well.
Another big problem is the need to rush through things. There are a number of side quests, but the main story puts timers on things. For example you need to reach your objective by winter, but each side quest will slow you down and cause negative effects. This is a world I want to spend time in and explore I don't want to rush through it.
Also it's very difficult to train a secondary skill, but some things you need a secondary skill to succeed on. A few of my skills go over 100, well most of them are stuck in the useless 20s and 40s.

Final Verdict:
The replay value is good. But I have issues with the mechanics and change in direction from part 1. HOWEVER part 3 makes it worth buying to continue your story.

First, the series as a whole, then the individual story

The series is great. However, their is a warning, the set of games, especially the last one, are harder than most of these type of games. The writing is great, the stats carry over between games, different events can happen based on the stats you have or what classes you choose. However, for your first run, expect to fail. However, there is a lot of replay value in these games and they are very enjoyable.

This second game has your character officially become a commander of an army, in an attempt to unify your lost kingdom. There are more chances for your character to be awesome or lame. There is also greater opportunities to get different classes, build up your previous classes, or even specializing further, by picking an offshoot of your class. The mechanic of managing your army adds new challenges, but I think it makes it much more fun. You will need both a good army and a strong protagonist to be successful, but even if you fail, your story will not end.

A worthy game , like a long session of Dungeons and Dragons with a good (albeit not stellar) gamemaster.  Basically a series of small puzzles, but most have multiple solutions, each of which has plausible effects on subsequent play.  For example, if you lead your army's charge, despite your general's advice to remain safe behind the lines, you not only risk injury to yourself but also hurt your relationship with the general and boost your army's morale, each of which affects how later choices will work out.  NPCs, as that example suggests, are thoroughly  characterised though they don't get so many great lines as in Lost Heir 1.  A lot of the attention is on logistics - no matter how big and strong your army, if you run out of food or time, you fail.   Indeed a larger army needs more food so can be less effective.  Overall it is quite hard to get most of the achievements, which makes multiple play-throughs worthwhile.  
        The "show the numbers" function tells you the effect of your choices on your stats (e.g. Enemy army reduced by 10 to 70/100) and, if you try something and fail, what you needed to succeed.  That is an engaging glimpse behind the curtain if you are more interested an solving problems than in story;  I recommend avoiding it on at least the first play-through.  The problem is it often doesn't work, so you sometimes get numbers when you didn't ask for them and often don't when you did ask for them.  Other minor flaws include some clumsy lifts from Dungeons and Dragons (prestige classes?  Dire crocodiles??). 
     You really should play Lost Heir 1 beforehand, not only to follow the plot but also because choices in the first game affect the second even beyond your stats and inventory.

Went back to replay and remembered all the reasons why I didn't play through multiple times. My review for Lost Heir 3 pretty much chops up this part as well.

Not bad and not good, mostly a pain with the lack of saving and required guessing to waddle through the events.
Choices do matter tho, and choices made in the first one have an impact on your ending in this one, i got a bad ending.
I can only wait until a third game is released and hope that atleast some of the people i care about is still around.

I would say a 5 out of 10 tin stars.

Let me tell you, I had my doubts of this game in the beginning and when I saw it on steam for 4$, I was hesitant.
I had to buy the first one and I didn't wanna spend 8$ on two games I might not like in the end.
I like my gameplay within games and the graphics too, but this game exceeded my expectations and placed a golden pedestal within my heart and mind for one of the best text based rpgs!
I love this game and the second with the heart and love of a true gamer, reader, book writer, and lover of romance and strife within a good story.
So excited for the third, this game is a 5/5. Everything you expected from a text based game, I am not dissatisfied with this game and look forward to the finale in a year.
Enjoy reading and a good story, progression, romance, and/or action? Get. This. Game.

You could play this as a solo game.

But you'd be shooting yourself in the foot by not having any of the relationships, gear, skills, and loot that get carried over from the first game which isn't that long anyway.


Definitely harder than the first one, but your decisions are that much more meaningful.

I honestly cant wait for the third book to come out on steam! it left me on such a cliff hanger again and im aching to get the sequal, i hope my friends survived the attack.

The Lost Heir 2: Forging a Kingdom puts you back in the shoes of the Lost Heir of Daria that you probably played as in The Lost Heir: Fall of Daria. Worry not if you did not buy or play part 1 prior to getting this though, for even if you did not play the first part of the trilogy, it's possible to start with a brand-new character here - though it's worth noting that doing so means you'll start without what bonuses and whatnot you can pick up in TLH1, so it might be a bit of an uphill battle.

The game itself can be divided up into three parts. The first part is where we left off at the end of the first part of the trilogy, with the main character being an adventurer in hiding after his/her confrontation with the villain, so you'll find yourself in a familiar enough spot before things go on to more complicated stuff. The second part is the whole 'Forging a Kingdom' bit, where you must retake your kingdom and strenghten it for the inevitable confrontation with you and your allies on one side and Zusak and his cronies on the other one. The third and last part centers around the military campaign against Zusak and his cronies. While the first part of the game feels familiar enough, the later two will introduce a few new aspects that you must consider carefully if you want to end up victorious. If that makes you feel uneasy because you were more a fan of the adventuring aspect of the first game, then there's no need to worry, as the later two parts offers some adventuring as well, to different degrees.

Unlike the first game, this game has very few artifacts for you to uncover, but there are other things to uncover! Prestige classes that unlocks new and exciting possibilities! Cool mounts that makes even the most expensive warhorse from back in the first game pale in comparison! The companions that we came to know and love in Fall of Daria also makes a return here, with arguable more sparse but also so much more meaningful and worthwhile moments of interaction with them and one or two of them even having a surprise or two in store for you!

The Lost Heir: Forging a Kingdom is a game first and foremostly recommended to those who liked the first part of the trilogy, but also to those who like fantasy and CYOAs like this, with an arguably mostly linear story, but nonetheless full of options for exactly who and what your Player Character is - and who knows where your choices will carry you to the very end...? Very much recommended as far as I'm concerned in any event!

When the author recommends that you play the previous title in the series, it was less a helpful hint than it was a matter of caveat emptor. As the middle chapter of a triology, the stakes are higher and things get worse. Much, much worse. After all, if the protagonist triumps in the second act the third act would be redundant.

Following the events of "The Fall of Daria", it is the tale of how your character comes into his/her own. The excellent writing abides but now the stakes are even higher. Taking back your birthright was never going to be easy and now your fresh-faced youth of 18 has to lead an army regardless of how well such a person would realistically fare. That is not a knock on their age mind you, Alexander of Macedon had accomplished much by the time he was 18. Rather the personality you invested into your character might jive with the idea of them being a leader of men, women, women who dress like men and things that look like men.

One thing I found appetizing is the feeling of real progress for your character. Political power aside, your character can feel seriously formidable at times. Being able to one-shot a giant with a lightning bolt truly contrasts to the time when you struggled to face down a single troll. However the weakness of the system rears its ugly head again and it is even more pronounced this time around. Execerbated by the fact that it is possible to max out your core stats by the middle of the game, many stat checks are very harsh and some are flat out impossible to make. Few are game ending but it is illustrated early on. If you have neither a thief or magician in your party, it is impossible to avoid killing innocent guardsmen when attempting a jailbreak. Unless you are willing to fork over a large some of money. Keeping to the adage any good gamemaster knows, that keeping your characters poor is the root of all adventure, money becomes more useful as a tool of commerce rather than to buy shiny new toys for your character to play with. Sometimes I felt that I was effectively financing my army out of my own pockets since I personally paid for almost half of our provisions during our campaign. I do think that this is a good thing, giving you meaningful means to spend money when your inventory is usually full, still it does feel slightly incongruous that a single adventurer can effectively be the financial lifeline of an army.

Unlike the previous game though, you never get your hands on useful enchanted gear. That was a facet I truly enjoyed in the original title but now, although my character is recognized as royalty, I hardly stumble across anything worthwhile materially. Indeed, acquiring key items in the previous title will make this one much, much easier. Suddenly echoes of Lone Wolf assail me and part of me wonders if the third part will be much the same.

So after 4.5 hours, I'm finna write the review. I thought it was pretty good. People are complaining that the choices are to attoined to what you did in the first one, but I think it's great. That means your choices in the first game actually had meaning and you now are starting to see it. It's not that long, but it's definately not short, and the time adds up when you have three different characters to play through. Worth every penny. (Especially since I got in on sale for a dollar cheaper)

This is a very underrated CYOA game,
the depth of your decisions are rewarding and make sense, the companions are fleshed out well and have a customization option that I've never seen before.
Some things are skill based and are basically impossible if youre playing a specialized class run, and theres a lack of significant description or proper pacing within and between a few arcs, but overall that issue matters less and less on repeat playthroughs when you become more accustomed to the rythym and themes of the writer.
There was clearly a lot of passion in this piece and a noticable attention to retro-fantasy motifs such cloudy monster descriptions and creative, albeit archetypal cultures. To go the whole game without appreciating the size and history of the world is rather difficult, though it does allow enough blank spaces for you to both be surprised at new things and to create your own speculations.
The character interaction in the story is largely optional but highly rewarding due to the narrative focus, with many faces coming in and out of importance and speciality as you push the story forward. The decison to give each companion their own sidequest was an intelligent decision that is enhanced by their hinting at within the first installment, giving each their own gravity and importance. After each is completed, each character makes a distinct shift from traditional dnd class scarecrows to pretty 3-dimensional people, with their own history and hangups and flaws. One such example is a cleric companion whos initial religious tendencies seem surface level and zealotrous, only to be revealed as a result of coping with a pervasive fear of the unknown after a childhood encounter with a vampire.

Overall, give this game a chance.
Its really cheap,
Its well written,
and you'll start to feel things again.

woohoo

Amazing, a few dissapointments here and there but overall fantastic. Cant wait for the final book of the triology

The Game is quite a good game, I say this because I like decison making games, you make your own choices and have to save your friends, I played around 10 minutes and it is very challenging and very fun, as you do not know what is going to happen next. I wish their was graphics though so for this I would rate it 6/10.

I have mixed feelings on this. Don't get me wrong. This game was written very,very,very well by a writer with good reputation and good CYOA games. But I didnt hit me right. I played the first one the COG website and transferred save file to second one after I have been 'encouraged' by the website.

I recapped the first one by replaying since I didnt save at the website. From first one to second, the transition was like 'In your face'. Felt very forceful. My stats from first barely scrapped into second. Just glimpses and once or twice peeking. From an adventure to political war,with sudden surge of new characters that just accepted me as an heir with no reason whatsoever and let me jump straight into getting the throne back, it just did not feel right for me.

My playthrough in Lost Heir 1 seemed like a damn waste of time. Only your stats of weapons are regularly checked. But when somehow there is stat check, it is very harsh. It has almost 3 or 4 stats simultaneously checked with high value nonetheless.

As a standalone title, this is a very good CYOA game but as a sequel, I am hugely disappointed. This is my opinion only, some may actually like it or maybe I just didnt play very well since I tried it to be my own adventure.

4/10 A heir has lost indeed. The heir of a unfullfilling sequel emerged.