Interview Kult interview all nice and local

[Saint_Proverbius]

Tags: 3D People; Kult: Heretic Kingdoms

We've just posted up <a href="http://www.rpgcodex.com/content.php?id=107">our very own interview</A> with some lead peoples of <A href="http://www.3dpeople.de/">3D People</A> about <a href="http://www.kult.3dpeople.de/">Kult: Heretic Kingdoms</a>. Here's part of it:
<br>
<br>
<blockquote><i>3. Tell us about the world of Kult. I there anything that makes it different from typical fantasy settings? Are multiple races available, or do you play only humans?</i>
<br>
<br>
<b>Richard</b>: The player plays a human character. One of the aspects of the game that hardcore RPG fans will like least is that we&#65533;ve constrained them to a single character&#65533; But this is a narrative-oriented RPG, and that character&#65533;s identity is vital to the story. It will be interesting to see if players who go into the game thinking that this is a limitation, will come out having barely noticed it, for all the other exciting stuff that&#65533;s going on in there.
<br>
<br>
<b>Jan</b>: We wanted something different from our game world, both visually and in terms of the story background. So, we do not have <a href=http://www.kult.3dpeople.de/characters/large/orc.JPG>orcs</a> and elves. Nor do we have some steampunk or fantasy/sci-fi hybrid world, some gimmicked world. We have a solid, believable fantasy creation, populated by believable characters with various individual and racial goals.</blockquote>
<br>
<br>
I like <b>Richard</b>'s reply the best.
<br>
<br>
Oh, and there's the <A href="http://www.rpgcodex.com/screenshot.php?file=kult/Kultbox.jpg">box art</a>:
<br>
<br>
<div align="center"><A href="http://www.rpgcodex.com/screenshot.php?file=kult/Kultbox.jpg"><img src="http://www.rpgcodex.com/images/screenshots/kult/Kultboxtb.jpg" height="150"></a></div>
<br>
<br>
Now you know why she wears a helmet. Helmets are always good ideas.
<br>

 

[Crazy Tuvok]

They have some very cool ideas in there, the attunements especially sound nifty. I also like the design approach of realizing their limitations. If you are not going to implement stealth or diplomacy as fully as combat, don't inlcude it. Nothing worse in an RPG than dumping points or whatever into a skillset that you get to use once or twice because the devs just didn't fully employ the opportunity to use it. Often all this offers is a good box blurb (play as a diplomat! play as warrior!... which almost always means there will be one or two encounters in the beginning where a diplomat will prevail made when delivery of product seemed so far away and they thought they could do it all and then it is fight fight fight). The tight design schema they describe works for me.

Dreamtime could be cool as well.

But I have to say it - real time. Boo.

Still if it is as they say it is it looks to have some potential. (Looks purty too).

 

[taks]

not enough boobies. LOL!
taks

 

[Whipporowill]

Ok, I hadn't read much about Kult previously - but this sounds pretty decent.

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

not enough boobies. LOL!

I was wondering if anyone would notice that.

 

[taks]

of course... i ranted pretty heavily on that topic in other threads. i had no choice but to see it.

the game does sound pretty cool though there are a few sticking points. they've seemingly dumbed down the character development to focus your path (and simplify development) so i'm curious how that plays out. removing non-combat skills seems an odd thing to do. however, that might be countered by this so-called "attunement" system forcing a different type of play than we've seen before. i also agree with tuvok that including such aspects would be bad if they truly don't think they could do it right...

also, the lack of AI in NPCs is bothersome. another game where these guys stand around all day just waiting for the lowlysoontobealmighty PC to come give them purpose. i suppose as a first effort this is understandable, but i don't think i have to like it... it seems to me that simple AI controlling a few paths for travel, occasional vaction, night time sleeping, etc. shouldn't be that hard to implement. plus, they can always hang a sign on the door that reads "gone fishin, be back at 3" or something, right?

taks

 

[Dhruin]

I'm surprised this isn't getting a more negative reaction. No character creation, no non-combat skills, dialogues aren't influenced by skills or stats, combat-driven and linear.

 

[Vault Dweller]

I'm not impressed or interested. Don't know why the others like/tolerate it. I guess it's a case of a long wait for a decent RPG and some wishful thinking.

 

[Crazy Tuvok]

I'm surprised this isn't getting a more negative reaction. No character creation, no non-combat skills, dialogues aren't influenced by skills or stats, combat-driven and linear.

None of which makes for a bad game neccesarily.

I have limited impresions of the game as I have not been payng much attention to it prior to this article but what they are doing could be a whole lot better than plenty of other "RPGs" out there.

No character creation - yes bummer that. But it sounds as if there will be plenty of opportunity via attunements, if it turns out as deep and well put together as they claim, to acheive the same thing as character creation - namely character customization.

As far as as no non-combat skills/dialogue influence - I prefer games that have them, but I loathe games that pretend to have them. In recent RPGs there are not too many that do have them done right. FO series and Arcanum spring to mind as ones that do. Mostly it is purely cosmetic. Even Geneforge an outstanding RPG had only a handful of situations where they were useful, but not enough in my opinion to forgo spending those points on combat skills and related. Divine Divinity had some non-combat skills as I recall but the only one worth a damn was the ability to sneak as the whole game was fight, fight, fight. And other non-combat skills were there to help you in combat but were used out of combat, same difference as a combat skills. A game that lets me brew potions for example is more than likely allowing me to do it so I can brew combat buffs.

A combat based, linear RPG need not be bad and can still qualify as an RPG. If they couple this with a good story and a well thought out deep world and the sophisticated mechanics of character customization then they may be onto something.

The truth is most games including RPGs are linear combat driven affairs. Some suck, some are great. But suckage does not derive directly from the game being linear and combat-oriented

Again I agree that I would like to see the laundry list included of everything that would make for a stellar RPG (some of which you mention above). But the absence of these things is in no way is a death knell, especially when the game has other neat features (attunement, Dreamtime...)

 

[suibhne]

The Attunement system reminds me of Final Fantasy: Tactics, where your abilities (depending on class) are granted by items you loot, earn, or buy. In FF:T, of course, wielding an item will allow you to basically study the associated skill, and you can continue using the skill once it's "Mastered" even while no longer wielding the item - but the systems seem to be similar.

 

[taks]

remember, too, dhruin, the interview didn't say NO character creation... it's just limited character creation. just not nearly as diverse as other crpg games. and certainly not nearly the focus as other games have.

taks