25-Sep-2006 Funcom explains to CVG why Conan will be "the most mature MMO ever made" Conan (as it's known to its mates) is being billed as mature, brutal and barbaric, all in 7.1 surround audio to make the crunching sound of bone hit home even harder.
It's up to you to try and keep a lid on peace and serenity of the world but things are obviously on the brink of chaos and spiraling out of control. Wouldn't be much fun otherwise, would it?
Here Game Director, Gaute Godager speaks to CVG exclusively about the upcoming massively multiplayer online game based around Robert E. Howard's dark universe.
How closely does the game follow the Conan mythology created by Robert E. Howard and what familiar locations and characters can fans of the books look forward to?
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Godager: I will actually start be being rather bold and say that Age of Conan is most likely the truest depiction of Hyboria ever in any computer game. That might not be saying much, but let me put it this way: We take the lore, Hyboria, extremely seriously! Not only are the bulk of the team avid Conan, and Hyboria, fans - we have lore specialists inside the team and as "consultants" to the team.
We for instance work closely with Mongoose Publishing, the renowned authors of the Pen-and-Paper Conan roleplaying game. As to the details of which characters you can meet, I truly would like to keep some of that under wraps. I can drop a few names, though: Kalanthes - is found in the opening scene of the game, and later you will meet him again. You meet Conan (more on his role below), his wife Xenobia, Valeria and many others.
Naturally, the Arch-Enemy of the story and setting of the MMO is that of the most notorious villain Conan ever encountered, without saying who ;)
As to the locations, you will encounter many of the locations Conan travelled through, fought and ruled through his life. You will hack your way through the lush, warm jungles of the Barachian isles, climb the peaks of Cimmeria and see Conall's Valley sprawl below you, you will climb walls as a thief in the dusty streets of Tarantia, the capital of Aquilonia and you will brave the scorching desert sands of Stygia - the Black Pyramid looming in the distance. There is a lot of mythos and depth here, but we cannot make everything, naturally. 70 odd years of books and comics have left us with a huge task of sifting and preparing for interaction.
I would also like to warn you lore lovers out there. There will be moments where not everything is exactly as you would like it to be, we might have spelled something wrong, omitted or edited something out or chosen one option of the many possible. Even Howard himself held contradictions within his lore, and this is a great place for us to make our Hyboria, our little twists and turns, bringing the world up to the 21st century and see where it develops from there without losing any of the meaning, depth or direction of Howards stories.
Please don't misinterpret me saying this as if we don't take the lore seriously and simply waltz around doing our own thing. Taking it seriously is precisely what we do.
The books are known for their extreme adult nature featuring strong scenes of violence and overt sexuality. How much of this will be transferred over to the game world of Age of Conan?
Godager: Let me start by saying: Conan will be the most mature MMO ever made, and that involves a lot of blood and sensual undertones, even though its not going to be tasteless. The books are many things. They are violent, somewhat sexual, and they are a product of the 1930's.
We are adapting to our times and the MMO media, but we try to keep what is there - in essence, detail and spirit. There will not be any intercourse or hidden "coffee modes" or anything like that, but there will definitively be some "showing of skin".
There will be plenty of violence though, but there are two important things here: a) Conan is a mature game. We aim at that rating and want to make sure it hits that rating. We do not want to become "adult" by accident and end up sold at specialist stores and on grizzly Internet sites with a million pop-ups.
This means we will err on the side of caution in terms of how we display nudity in the game. b) It is up to you what you want to see in terms of violence (fatality deaths) and nudity in the game. We want to make sure these are things you can turn on and off as you want.
We want to adapt the game to the markets. I know it's a thoroughly boring answer, and I know Conan will be a sinister, violent game, but I need to be honest about that the game will vary with marketplace.
Uniquely, Age of Conan incorporates a story-driven single-player component before opening up into the game's MMO world. Why did you decide to design the game this way and can explain how both sections of the game will be integrated?
Godager: We wanted the story driven solo experience to give people a unique introduction to the game and the world. You will actually be playing online at all times. It is not truly a single player game, per se. We may also feature a "coop" mode where people can play this start-up experience together with others if they want to.
It is story-driven and we did this to let players understand and master their gameworld and character before they are thrust into the full, hectic MMO environment.
You will spend your first 5-10 hours or so and 20 levels in this solo experience, only seeing a few other players. Here you will find that your character and its background is intimately tied to that of the King. You will learn the basics of the game, gain access to loads of exciting abilities and equipment and finally be ready to join the larger world.
The storyline is taking place in the Barachian Isles, off the coast of Zingara. You started your life as a slave onboard a galley and got marooned on a beach close to the city of Tortage - a freebooter and pirate village Conan himself visited.
When you are level 20, you can choose to leave the city of Tortage behind on a ship and travel back to your own country: Stygia, Cimmeria or Aquilonia.
The point of the integration is: Not only do you play with your character, that started out in the solo gameplay, all they way to level 80 (or max level) - you also continue on the same storyline. You learn why you are who you are, and why you started your gaming life with your memories wiped clean. Getting back at the person who did it to you is done later, as late as level 80 - that's where it all culminates.
Can you talk us through the character creation system? We've heard that Age of Conan will feature three different races, four archetypes and twenty-three different character classes - could you provide some details on these and explain how a player's character evolves as they progress through the game? What character professions will be available to players and how does each profession's unique abilities affect the game?
Godager: The character creation in Conan is easy to learn and hard to really master. You can choose from 3 races: Aquilonian (This race can best be likened with ancient Rome), Cimmerian (the race of Conan, savages) and Stygian (much like the Egyptians). You start out as nothing more than a slave. Everyone does, but very quickly (within the hour) you choose your archetype class. This is what you play through the solo part of the game as.
Then, at level 20 you choose your class and what we call a prestige class. Your class is a specialization from the four archetypes: Mage, Rogue, Priest and Soldier. So if you choose to become a Mage, you can then at level 20 select if you want to train as a Demonologist (a specialist on demon summoning, making pacts with them - and hopefully survive), Lich (a dark mage that dies, actually embraces death, to gain power), Necromancer (specialist in bringing the dead back and forcing them to do his bidding), Herald of Xotu (a mage that has embraced a pact with a demon god, and become parts demon himself).
I just wanted this example to illustrate several things. A) We embrace the lore in class names and definitions b) if you want to deal with magic, expect to be dark and twisted c) the specializations build on the archetype strengths, but that was just the beginning of their paths, d) Conan offers different types of classes and they are different from what you see in other games.
Every player can also have a prestige class. This is how you relate to your fellow man, your social role. It doesn't matter which class you chose at level 20, everyone can be any prestige class. There are 4 different prestige classes: Lord (specializing in town building and siege combat), Commander (specializing in squads and formations, changing the way we play in groups), Crafter (specializing in creating items and tradeskills) and finally Master (who has a follower that is a permanent member of his / her team - an NPC.)
Will players ever get to meet the brooding Cimmerian himself? What stage of his 'career' is Conan at during the game? Penniless Barbarian wanderer or Warrior King?
Godager: You will indeed meet the Warrior King, because that is his role at this stage. You will not only meet the King, you will learn that your fate is tied intimately to his rule and truly the fate of the whole world. And, if you play your cards right, you might become his helper or even his friend. The game itself takes place after the novel "The Hour of the Dragon".
Age of Conan features an action-based "Real Combat" system with both combo and mounted fighting already revealed. Can you tell us more about the fighting system in the game and explain how it's unique to those usually found in other MMOs?
Godager: The "Real Combat" system is an integrated system to push hands-on action to the player, for the first time in MMO history. The type of combat you see in games like "Dynasty Warriors", "God of War" or "Prince of Persia" has been incorporated with an 80 level character development scheme with hundreds of combos, loads of equipment and monsters.
This Multi-Point-Melee system (where you direct your attacks in 6 different directions to strike the enemy at their vulnerable spots) can be used to create combos and special attacks, doing the truly heroic feats Conan was famous for.
The melee system is only 1 of 4 action legs the core gameplay rests on. The other 3 are 1) first person ranged combat with aiming and triggered release, like in an FPS, 2) Spell-casting with spellweaving (more on that below) and 3) mounted combat where the damage you do is more defined by the momentum of your mount than simply your skills. The faster you ride the more damage you do.
This all integrates into something that is easy to get into, enjoyable and more skill based than what you see in other MMOs. In most massive multiplayer games the combat is ritualistic. You enter combat mode, you do your specials and the rules of the game more than anything else, define if you win or lose.
In Conan where you stand, where you attack, the order of the attacks and how you react to counter attacks from the AI system define if you win or not. What you do matters!
How have you attempted to deal with Magic in the game world?
Godager: First of all, as you saw from above, magic is something we take seriously. We decided early to not have any typical high-fantasy look on our spellcasting.
We also wanted to involve the player more. The "nukers" should do more than watch "aggro management" (in layman terms this means that the mages should try not to cast spells so quickly that monsters hit too much on them) and healers do more than watch their mana bar and life bars of their team. We wanted a lot to invigorate the themes. Thus we did this:
a) We invented spellweaving. Here you gain special effects and bonuses by combining several spells into one super-spell. Note: this is quite dangerous. One spell too much or one flawed roll, and it will backfire. Walk the line, be creative, and be prepared to pay the price. This means that casters, mages and priests alike, will have to think, balance and change their strategy constantly. It is easy to do, but hard to master this more creative form of spell casting.
b) We introduced cone based heals to all priests. This means that you heal the players in front of you in a cone. You have to position yourself -- resting on a hill with a lazy distant overview of the battle will NOT be an option for priests. The Priest classes are also excellent damage doers and you will see them be active parts of the fighting.
c) Everyone can get some soul corruption. This is when you interact with nasty artefacts, overreach on your weaves or do bad things in quests. Doing this will change the way you cast your spells, and their effects. For some this is really bad, like the Priests of Mitra, for others it is a tempting drug. If you are a Herald of Xoti you will perhaps benefit some, but become too corrupted, and I promise you - literally, you will go straight to hell! Summary: Magic is strong, different looking and different feeling. I think we have taken it one step further, certainly one true step towards unfolding Howards grim vision of the destructive and corruptive powers of magic.
Few details have been spilt regarding Age of Conan's PvP gameplay - can you give us some info on this?
Godager: PvP will basically come in 4 forms. First off, if there is enough demand for it, we will set up specific servers with free PvP combat.
Secondly, on the regular servers, we have the Siege PvP where different guilds and super guilds build battle keeps in the desolate regions of Kragsfell in the Border Kingdoms. Then other guilds may lay siege to their castles trying to wrest the areas and the bonuses they yield from their hands.
Thirdly we have PvP mini-games where you are put into smaller play areas to battle it out in team vs team action.
Finally we have the Age of Conan exclusive, drunken brawling. You enable this by going to bars and taverns and drinking yourself into a stupor. You will then be able to attack other drunks in a fun-and-games approach, where you don't use your level, equipment or abilities to fight, only how drunk you are.
From what we know, Age of Conan will feature PvP and PvE siege battles - what will these entail?
Godager: Yes Age of Conan will feature PvP and PvE siege battles. PvP I explained somewhat above. You stake claim to a certain limited amount of areas by building a battlekeep. Here you place buildings and walls in certain prepared areas. Building these cost you resources harvested from the PvP or PvE areas. Thus it is a guild endeavour. When they are built, once every now and then other guilds or super-guilds (where several small guilds are teamed up sharing an area) may slap a "virtual glove" on your gate, demanding the right to fight for the bonuses and resources yielded by the PvP area. A time is agreed upon and the gloves come off. Currently the plan is to make it so that if all buildings are destroyed the attacking team wins, if the time runs out and some buildings still stand, the defending team wins.
Now do not mix this with the PvE siege and village building I am now about to explain. It is similar but not the same. They are done for different reasons, in different places and they won't mix. You and your guild may build villages or towns for crafting, trading and for the inherent bonuses. This is done in the so-called resource and building regions.
The problem for the players is the RTS-like AI found in these areas. The monsters / NPCs in the resource and building regions mine gold too, lumber timber and quarry stone. They also build towns, and if the players don't take the fight to them, they will eventually reach critical size and attack your village.
The best, most enjoyable and profitable thing to do, is naturally taking the fight to them first. Bringing your horses, war mammoths and siege engines and crush your enemy, drive them before you and hear the lamentation of their women.
Regular content updates are a major part of the MMO world. Will Funcom be following this route and how do you hope to expand Age of Conan in the future?
Godager: Yes, there will be content updates and expansion packs in years to follow. Hyboria is massive; we could expand on the world for decades without deploring it. Where we take it, in detail, remains to be seen. It is fair to say that we already have plans to expand into several countries of Hyboria. The problem is not what to do, but where to start...
