Interview Chaos Chronicles Interview at Dagon's Lair

[Grunker]

Tags: Chaos Chronicles; Coreplay

Dagon's Lair has interviewed the producer of Chaos Chronicles on the subject of the game's world, multiplayer and target audience. The interview is in French, but a translated version is available on the site (scroll down).

We don’t want to re-invent the genre but create a hommage to the good old times. This means: We can make decisions faster than other studios. All we do – if we talk about a feature – is to look at those classics and look how they solved problems or how they included things. And we do it the same way like they did – but with modern graphics. So to speak a little less talky talky but a little more worky worky.

...

We are not going to simplify anything. Players new to the genre at least will be able to survive once they get used to the game mechanics. But to master the game, well, that’s going to be hardcore. You have to use your brain in the battles and during the puzzles. Otherwise you’ll have no chance. The hardcore-mode will be for those who are new to the genre. But we’re also thinking about an insanely hardcore-mode where display hints are not available and such stuff. With less saving-options…​

They also ask whether the game will be like Dragon Age. To find the answer to that question, you will have to read the entire interview.

Spotted @ RPGWatch

 

[felipepepe]

Magic weapons? Yes. Although Chaos Chronicles won’t be an item-spam-machine. If you find a sword with strength +2 it’ll feel like you have just defeated the whole world and you’ll be very glad to have it. D&D-Players will understand this.

But I'm still worried about the multiplayer... I wanna play this alone and feel right.

 

[catfood]

We don’t want the player to be stuck in combat all the time. We want to achieve a balanced mixture out of combat, exploring, adventure, puzzle-solving and character-evolving.

 

[Brayko]

Magic weapons? Yes. Although Chaos Chronicles won’t be an item-spam-machine. If you find a sword with strength +2 it’ll feel like you have just defeated the whole world and you’ll be very glad to have it. D&D-Players will understand this.

But I'm still worried about the multiplayer... I wanna play this alone and feel right.

This. I hope it's more akin to Baldur's Gate multiplayer aka not necessary at all but there regardless.

 

[hoverdog]

the hardcore-mode will be for those who are new to the genre

 

[Rivmusique]

The hardcore-mode will be for those who are new to the genre. But we’re also thinking about an insanely hardcore-mode where display hints are not available and such stuff.

Yeah this is just like the normal = very easy, hard = easy, nightmare = normal, XTREME = hard. Why do they do this?

 

[Grunker]

My guess is so you know what to expect. You select something called 'normal' as an uninitiated, and you're going to expect casual-mode from then on, a la other modern games. Name the normal mode Hardcore and people know to expect difficulty from when they click play.

Just a guess, though.

 

[HobGoblin42]

We have two difficulty levels in Chaos Chronicles:

Normal: the game saves automatically before combats and you can save during encampments/rests (on the worldmap as well as in dungeons). You can revive dead characters in the temple (bring gold!)
Veteran: you can only save your game in cities/villages/encampments. If your party enters a dungeon be sure they will return alive. If one of your character dies (less than -9 Hit Points) it's permanent. But don't worry: you can visit him/her at the local cemetery whenever you want.

I personally liked the Iron Man Mode in Wizardry games, but we decided against it since it's a pretty big technical effort to avoid cheating.

 

[hoverdog]

I never play on full ironman anyways, too many problems with staying alive and random crashes, so that's not a problem for me. If a player wants ironman, he can try to do it by himself. Both difficulty levels seem fine, especially with no quicksave scumming possible - I hope.
How do camps work? I've read your latest devdiary, but one key question still stands: is resting inside a dungeon somehow limited? One of the finest things implemented in Knights of the Chalice was that camping was only possible in specific, safe places (bonfires), so you always (at least on your first playthrough) had to use your spells wisely - you never knew when (or even if) you could recharge your magicks. KoTC, being brutal as it is, often made you roll through the whole dungeon without a single rest. This was a nice change from most newer RPGs (like infinity engine games or NWNs) where resting was accessible anywhere, everywhere, and spamming spells was not restricted in any way.

. But don't worry: you can visit him/her at the local cemetery whenever you want.

 

[kaizoku]

But don't worry: you can visit him/her at the local cemetery whenever you want.

 

[Sitra Achara]

But to master the game, well, that’s going to be hardcore. You have to use your brain in the battles and during the puzzles. Otherwise you’ll have no chance.

Can you elaborate on what 'mastering the game' means? Is it optional content, hard to achieve outcomes, or something else?

 

[HobGoblin42]

Can you elaborate on what 'mastering the game' means? Is it optional content, hard to achieve outcomes, or something else?

The interview wasn't conducted with us but with our producer. The term Mastering isn't really suitable for a RPG, because you don't have any kind of score that reflects your skill or the degree how good you are. There are no different outcomes in Chaos Chronicles beside victory or defeat. So, better ignore this particular statement; beginner players have to give up or to play until they achieve. And beside the two game modes (that you can choose from in the beginning of the game with no later change during the game), we will not offer any kind of difficulty adjustments during the game.

 

[JudasIscariot]

But don't worry: you can visit him/her at the local cemetery whenever you want.

 

[Cynic]

Just found out about this shit. Bros this game looks like it could be awesome. The graphix whore in me is drooling over the engine already. How long until we see some videos!??!