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This is what Cabal had to say at the Lionheart forums:Magical items
The way I originally imagined magic items was that mages interested in crafting these items would seek out/summon/capture spirits that were barely sentient or possessed a very pliable and low will. It doesn't do well for a fighter to have a strong willed nasty spirit refuse to swing during combat. For the most part, magic swords are magic swords, powered by a low level spirit, like an elemental that is practically mindless. There are some rare items though that might possess more sentience, and we might be planning to have some unique items that could have the ability to communicate.
Random encounters
For Lionheart, we're shooting for a wide spread of random encounters, and they won't all be combat based. Even some of the combat oriented encounters can be avoided by running away or sneaking.
Some of these encounters will be from a purely random table, while others will be based on other factors, like your luck skill, or your faction, or if you've done something specific to a specific character.
I'll give you an example of an encounter that uses the luck stat and faction. You might encounter a merchant in the wilderness who sells trinkets and a few normal weapons. When he introduces himself, if you have a high enough luck, there might be a dialogue option where you would recognize the name and be able to remark that you've heard of some of his famous exploits. This flatters the merchant and he's more willing to show you some of his more exotic items for sale. If you are from the Knights Templar faction and you have a high luck, you might also know that the man's well known exploits are criminal in nature and that his goods are stolen. You can decide whether to punish him or ignore his ignoble past and purchase things from his special stock..
Using shields to bash
This ability to use the shield as a bash has not been implemented yet and I don't know if it's on the main to-do list, so it's probably on the wish-list.
Rating
The publisher ultimately requests what rating a game should aim for based on a whole slew of factors that I am only partially privy to. When a publisher submits to the ESRB, they hope for a specific rating and then the ESRB rates the game. Depending on what comes back, the publisher may have to decide to change things to get a different rating. Things like adult language, blood, affect the rating, and these are usually placed on the box with the rating. . The ESRB sets some pretty specific guidelines to differentiate 'E' from 'T' from 'M'. The more realistic your blood and giblets get, the more mature your game gets.
Obviously, getting the M rating and excluding the teen market takes a chunk away from sales. But there is no reason that Lionheart has to be a gore-spattered fragfest to be a good fantasy rpg. Personally, I don't think there is a strong correlation to the amount of blood you have and the quality of the game (exception FPS and pure combat games). Lionheart will have combat, there will be violence on the level of other fantasy RPGs, and we'll put in appropriate detail to make the game better.
Of course there are other concerns for the ratings, but one of the largest concerns is how violence is displayed graphically, so that's why I mentioned it.. I don't really understand why you're worried about the plot, dialogue, or action being 'watered down' when there has been no mention of plans to do so anywhere.
We are making Lionheart to be the same kind of game that we've been discussing on the boards - it's not a kids game, but it's not going to be overly gory like a FPS. A Teen rating still allows developers leeway with the amount of violence that can be displayed. You will be confronted with plenty of adult situations during the game.
I don't know about you, but I would've been pretty excited about an alternate history game when I was 13. Of course, I'm biased. But I have no idea how many will buy it, who can say. We're just trying to make the best game we can at the moment. At the end of the day, if the censors tell us that something bumps the game to the M, we'll discuss it with Black Isle. Getting this worked up about the rating at this point is too premature.
Teens are faced with adult situations all the time in games - it's up to an independent body like the ESRB to rate the levels of adult material. I think I've mentioned enough examples on the board for you to draw your own conclusions about the maturity level of the game. As I stated, there is no intention to defraud the public about the level of the game's adult content and material. I think that's about all there is to say about this. |
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Lionheart Forum Update
