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Warlords Battlecry III Preview
Derek dela Fuente
25/05/2004
TVG chats to Steve Fawkner, CEO & Lead Designer at Infinite Interactive to give us the details on Warlords Battlecry III...
Astute gamers will remember that Warlords BattleCry II was released by Ubsoft, which continued to build on the brand from the original release way back in 2000 from Mattel. Due in June is the third instalment, along with many internal changes and boasting a new art team - the core of the original design and programming team remains identical to the one that completed every other title in the Warlords franchise. TotalVideoGames spoke with Steve Fawkner, CEO & Lead Designer at Infinite Interactive in Australia, to find out about the new direction and ideas on their latest creation.
Set once again in the land of Etheria, Warlords Battlecry III transports players into the ever-changing continent known as Keshan, where allies become enemies and provinces are disrupted, captured, and ruled through the ceaseless struggle for dominance and control. However, something has changed and a new race threatens all who had once ruled before them. The destiny of the players is left open-ended, as they must decide which path to choose and the method needed to hunt down and banish this creature from the realms of the land.
As a brand builds, many changes are made some blatantly obvious whilst others are so subtle that only the fanatical gamer will detect them but the learning progress for the team is always ongoing, as Steven explained in identifying 3 areas of Warlords Battlecry II that needed a serious update.
âThe first was the hero development system. The old one was certainly good and very detailed, but it had a very hardcore appeal and could be a little daunting the first time you were presented with all the options available; what we aimed to do with our new system was to make it more accessible for beginner players, but at the same time give it more depth for the hardcore fans. This was a solution that could only have come about from a long evolutionary process, and in implementing something as simple as allowing heroes to level-up during a battle, changed the very nature of the gameplay.â
âThe second area was the campaign. Warlords Battlecry II contained a risk-style campaign that was certainly a lot of fun, but was missing any story elements or any motivation beyond simple conquest (and the acquisition of an Orb of Etheria if you completed all 64 maps). The new campaign has a main storyline and also a whole host of sub-quests that the player can become involved in; it is much more RPG-like and now that it is complete, it reminds me of a Final Fantasy Tactics type of campaign.â
âThe final area that needed an overhaul was the magic item system. To gauge the importance of a system like this, just think of Diablo II â“ it was central to the addictiveness of the entire game. Warlords Battlecry IIIâs item system is now very similar; there are hundreds of uniquely interesting items with unusual powers and individual histories â“ some of them can even be combined into sets for extra effect.â
âOf course, we also wanted to add âMore Stuffâ⦠more races, hero classes, spells, etcâ¦â
The background story to the game is an intersting one and players will soon become immersed in the game via its strong graphics and emphasis on sound and visuals.
The Selentine Empire (an extremely large and greedy group of humans from the coast of eastern Etheria) has recently discovered a new continent in the south, named Keshan. Unfortunately, for the peaceful snakelike inhabitants of Keshan (the Ssrathi), the Selentines have begun killing them for their gold. This has prompted huge Selentine merchant vessels to begin landing on Keshan â“ raiding and murdering entire Ssrathi villages.
The Ssrathi have sent an envoy to the north, seeking help from any other races they might encounter, however this has some rather unintended and drastic consequences, and something is let loose into the world that is very dangerous.
The whole story ties in with the Warlords IV story of the weakening of the fabric between the mortal realm and the realm of daemons, though itâs certainly not necessary to have played Warlords IV to understand what is going on.
There will also be many other familiar elements for Warlords fans, such as the active role that all of the 4 horsemen (the four daemon lords: death, war, famine and plague) take in this story.
The team has added 5 new races for a total of 16 unique races in the game, and now have almost all of the cultures of Etheria covered.
The Humans in Warlords Battlecry III have been split into 2 broad groups â“ Empires and Knights. There are 3 chief Empires in Etheria â“ Selentia, Lysea and Al-Diraq. All of them are very wealthy and trade heavily with their neighbours, allowing access to all types of skills, spells and troops that other races may not get.
The Knights rely heavily on their cavalry. Upgrades are expensive for the Knights, but a fully upgraded charging group of Knight Lords is almost unstoppable.
The Empire is another group of humans with access to good trade skills and who are also able to recruit mercenaries from the other 15 races.
The Ssrathi are a group of snakemen from the southern continent of Keshan. They train and ride Dinosaurs and have early access to a good spellcaster, the Snakepriest, with powerful fire magic.
The Plaguelords are servants of Antharg, the Lord of Plague. Their main strengths are in the diseases they can inflict upon their foes. The more Plaguepiles that these creatures build upon the map, the stronger their diseases become.
Finally, the Swarm is a group of insectoid creatures, servants of Melkor, the Lord of Famine. They have all types of bugs and scorpionmen that can be built, along with the ability to drain resources from enemy mines.
Being innovative isnât the be all and end all for the team especially when the game already has strong empathy with the fans!
âWith Warlords Battlecry III we only aimed for mild innovation⦠nothing too radical or we believe it would have disappointed long time fans of the series. Our biggest innovation is most certainly the way weâve blended the RPG hero with the RTS gameplay â“ I donât believe any other game has actually done this so smoothly.â
Steve continued with an overview of the single-player campaign.
âThe single-player campaign throws the player into the middle of a chaotic situation. As mentioned above, the Selentine Empire is invading the recently-discovered jungle continent of Keshan, and the retaliation of Keshanâs inhabitants, the Ssrathi, has had an unintended effect.â
âThe player can be any race â“ even a Ssrathi â“ and the story will unfold a little differently every time.â
âOf course the main story is just the icing on the cake with the Warlords Battlecry III campaign â“ there are literally dozens of sub-quests that the player will become embroiled in along the way, because although you could attempt to complete the story straight through, it is almost certain that help will be required from some of the other races of Etheria, and they all have their own goals and agendas that need to be satisfied.â
âIn the course of a campaign, I donât think any of us has ever managed to unite all of Etheria under the one banner⦠most often we have to choose our allies to complement our own weaknesses.â
If you feel that coming late into the Battlecry world could hold you at a disadvantage then you do not need to worry as Steve suggested that Warlords Battlecry III is possibly the best introduction to the world of Etheria since the 1997 turn-based game âWarlords III: Reign of Heroesâ, and it is certainly the most accessible of the Battlecry games. I would encourage anybody interested in the series to jump right in with Battlecry III.
Because their story has been structured so that the player can legitimately be any one of the 16 races, it is very easy for a player to pick a side they are interested in and then learn about them as the story and sub-quests unfold.
With in-depth gameplay focus on the technology aspect of the game has also been well implemented and now have a separate technology team working at Infinite Interactive; they are full time developing their new 3d engine. Steve added that not all of their work will be apparent in Warlords Battlecry III, since they are primarily still running on a 2d engine. However itâs worth looking out for their new particle system though, since the effects are much prettier than the previous games. Also, the terrain and buildings can be displayed much larger and with much greater detail now.
The team is passionate about all strategy games, both turn-based and real-time and it is highly probable that Warlords V & Warlords Battlecry IV will both eventually be done!
