Gauntlet: Seven Sorrows

[Child of Flame]

Is it true you guys were just...you know...sadder?

[EnderAndrew]

The narrator's voice sounds pretty serious and food is not part of Seven Sorrows.  Characters absorb the spirits of slain enemies to regain health.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Sounds great on both accounts.

 

Can you give us an example for how one of the vices are supposed to be righted? Are we still just crawling though a dungeon, and then beating a boss ever so many levels, or is there some complexity to righting each of the seven sorrows?

[ShadowPaladin V1.0]

For the moment its on my must buy list. According to Gameplay in 149 days, no idea how accurate that is.

 

It shares its release date with Twilight Princess which is a tad unfortunate.

[Nartwak]

Yeah, a tad.

 

 

[J.E. Sawyer]

Can you give us an example for how one of the vices are supposed to be righted?  Are we still just crawling though a dungeon, and then beating a boss ever so many levels, or is there some complexity to righting each of the seven sorrows?

It's important to remember that this isn't an RPG, it's an action game, so your core mechanics will always be oriented around action. Most of the resolution of problems through gameplay are done through action.

 

For example, one of the sorrows is the emperor's theft of the Eidion Stone, a sacred rock upon which the tribes of the Gwaedmae Flesh Eaters anoint their chieftains. For hundreds of years, the imperial governors who rule over the Flesh Eaters have been invested with their imperial office on the stone. It confuses the superstitious Gwaedmae, with half of them believing that the stone confers the rights of rulership no matter who uses it and the other half believing that the stone must be wrested away from the empire, a new chieftain anointed.

 

Naturally, undoing this sorrow involves the slaughter of hundreds of members of the Imperial Legion and Imperial Guard, as well as dealing with two tribes who support the imperial governor, Ayar Colo. Of course, there are other elements around this sorrow that make it a little more involved, but that's the general idea.

[Cantousent]

"I mean no offense(really, I dont, Im just curious) but doesnt it feel a bit strange to go from BIS to making a pure hack n slash action game without roleplaying elements, like Gauntlet:SS? I would feel kind of backwards "

 

Perhaps Sawyer felt it was an opportunity to try his hand at something different. ...To explore, so to speak. On the other hand, perhaps he didn't have a lot of other options. Was there no space in Obsidian for his trade. After all, why would someone like Avellone, with all of his "street cred," want to make space for a former message board monkey like Sawyer?

 

I'm not going out of my way to be offensive, but I'm willing to be a bit abrasive since this subject is out in the open.

 

On paper, Sawyer has all of the makings of an excellent RPG designer. I suspect, however, that he has more of the makings for a hack and slash designer. That remains to be seen. How well have his hack and slash games done? It seems to me that the vast majority of lead game designers don't have a blockbuster hit under their belt. Sawyer, as far as I know, is part of the vast majority.

 

The thing is, hack and slash might be a perfect genre for Sawyer. Just because a game is "hack and slash" does not mean that it cannot have a good backstory or provide hours of entertainment. After all, regardless of anything else, Icewind Dale remains one of my favorite games.

 

Oh, I'm quite on topic in saying that, if I see it in the store and I hear good things about it, I might give Gauntlet a try.

[metadigital]

I would hope that the commonalities of good game design unite more games than their differences exclude.

 

What I mean is, for example, good writing is paramount for good SF (Fallout) and fantasy (BG) games, just as much as it is for good noir (Max Payne) and thrillers (Alan Wake) ... or even historical RTS (Rome: Total War).

 

[Judas]

I mean no offense(really, I dont, Im just curious) but doesnt it feel a bit strange to go from BIS to making a pure hack n slash action game without roleplaying elements, like Gauntlet:SS? I would feel kind of backwards

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I bet it feels really strange to work hard on a game knowing full-well that it's actually going to be released.

 

My guess is it's probably kind of nice to step away from the whole RPG scene, after all that went down.

 

Not trying to speak for JE, of course.

[metadigital]

I would say it is very satisfying to build something good, regardless of genre or target audience or even product; I would find certain happiness in being an excellent craftsman, even if I were a cobbler.

[ShadowPaladin V1.0]

If your aim is to write a story, then it's easier in a non RPG than it is in an RPG. In a non RPG you dont have to worry about that pesky choice screwing things up.