In a world divided between Nature and Technology, towns are built up following the Way their inhabitants chose. Check out here 2 new Concept Arts of buildings in a Nature village.
Amazing. I guess the "divided between nature and technology" part was to be taken literally. Homogeneous "towns" are the best way to represent social conflict and cultural strife, more than ever in a setting defined by a philosophical schizm of such proportions that is the main attractive of the game's world. And no wonder the steampunk potential is so absent in both the trailer and the screenshots: village sized industrial centers who waste what little resources and production they can manage to have with a population on the lower realm of the three digits on huge and complex mechanized steel gates are the way to assure nature remain dominant through mere economy.
The companions are comrades-in-arms who help the player more or less efficiently in the quest. Their effectiveness is directly bound to the relationship gauge between the player and his companion. The higher the gauge the more effective the companion is in combat. The player therefore should build good relationships with his companions during the quest and dialogues. The diversity of these companions and their assertive personalities can make managing these relationships quite demanding.
What, if well implemented, would mean: "The hero hurt my feelings and so i am going to fight like a noob against this big steam dragon thingy that seeks my death with boiling rage." A very realistic and smart design choice, indeed. An entire party of sword wielding Emos. A dream made true.
And what about those little warriors in the trailer fighting cthulhu-lite sized monsters with their cute mechanized axes? It is rumored a rudimentary predecessor of the gattling gun was invented but censored by some king or another in feudal times, far before the steampunk ages. One would guess a society undergoing industrial revolution would at least have muskets, and that if the so-called inventors had the ingenuity of a mushroom. They can build steam dragons, a variety of bizarre robots, and they are fighting with pointy sticks? At least they have crazy steampunk goblins. That's kosher.
But no gizmos, no guns, no tesla, steam-robots made of wood (ain't that smart?), a world undergoing industrialization (poor things, they do not know what they are getting into) where philosophical homogeneous villages are the higher manifestation of a thriving and conflicted civilization, a producer whose name gang rapes both one of my favorite characters and one of my favorite books with the sheer stupidity of their already released games, and hot red haired elf chicks?
Weee. I am really exited about this one.
