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Questions For Tactica Online Q&A Series
Dana
Member Posts: 2,415
Hello all,
Every other Friday, the folks at Imaginary Numbers will be answering four of our questions. I would like to gather a portion of these questions from you the fans. Feel free to post your questions here.
Also, be aware, that Tactica developers will be here to follow the ongoing discussions.
Dana Massey
Formerly of MMORPG.com
Currently Lead Designer for Bit Trap Studios
Comments
I have read the great interview on Tactica Online (TO) and here is my question: <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
Because this is a turn-based strategy MMO, I am very interested in TO. Games like Final Fantasy Tactics (Playstation) and Front Mission 4 really made me look forward to playing more games like this. My question is how will movement be in TO? I examined one screenshot were it seemed like the player dragged a path for the character and the path was shown by green dots. If that is how character movement go, is there a limit to movements you can make? Kind of like how in some turn-based strategy games, there are squares and a number of squares you can move into based on experience and/or gear?
-In memory of Laura "Taera" Genender. Passed away on Aug/13/08-
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RISING DRAGOON ~AION US ONLINE LEGION for Elyos
I'd like to know how advanced the options will be for character appearance. It would be rather lame to have a lot of 5 man squads that all have people that are very similar in appearance. So things like height, weight, sex, age, facial hair, head hair, special scars, tattoos, etc. that players can modify would be nice.
The concept of turn based strategy in an mmorpg is exciting. I'm a big fan of chess and go. Strategy games are lots of fun. Hack and slash becomes boring even in pvp. Although from what I learned from the Q&A it seems like your characters never receive new skills or abilities, or equipment, and the player just has to master using them in the most effective way possible to overcome enemies. Does this mean the storyline is going to be really awesome? Something worthy of a great novel even? I'll tell you what I'm most tired of in mmorpg's and it's the lack of a good story. Something immersive and fun. Perhaps if people hired talented writers to develop story arcs for their games.
It is pathos we lack, and this lack of pathos makes the worlds we explore quite stale.
http://www.mmorpg.com/blogs/Antioche
BundyTheRipper
We know there are three factions: science, magic, and divine. Will teams only consist of units and skills from one of those 3? Will a player be able to switch at will between the three. This week I'm supporting magic, but next week I will play a divine team. - sort of found the answer in an interview:
"Some players may prefer using the lore of magic, resulting in their victories supporting the cause of the mystics - and their losses detracting from it. Some may prefer the research of science, some the doctrine of faith, and some a combination of all three. Who you are is up to you."
The question still remains, who do you support if you use a combination of all three.
Silicor
Most turn based games on the market are limited to 1:1 player battles, does Tactica Online breakaway from this tradition and allow multiplayer combats?
Silicor
I've sent in the questions for Q&A #2. Two of the above were included.
Looking forward to more!
Dana Massey
Formerly of MMORPG.com
Currently Lead Designer for Bit Trap Studios
How much can you customize your squad?
How big impact does equipment have? (usable items, weapons, armor etc)
Character development, will it be the same for all players with the difference that higher level means higher stats?
Well I finally decided to join the website, been coming here for about a year and never thought I really needed an account until now. I wanted to know a little about this game I have played tactic based games for well over 12 years now, guess a lot of you played final fantasy tactics and such which is a great game and had a great story but I started back on the sega genesis with the shining force series and vandal hearts on PS was a good one as well.
But anyways too my question, its quite simple, now this game from what I can tell so far, I am still perusing there website, that there will be the map travelling and such and the whole game is rendered in 3d which is cool, but when it comes to the actual battles, is terrain going to be a factor, would my archers do more damage and be more accurate if they were standing on high ledges and such. Will there be different formations for the melee troops, I know having them charge against Archers is good but if you group them close with shields they should take less damage on the charge provided they block the shots. And I'm guessing with the science ages there may also be gunpowder, is it possible to have mortors or siege engines, I would just like to more about the units that I will be able to use and the tactical advantages and disadvantages, now that is a lot to ask in a question of course but just the jist of it would be good to know.
Thanks for your time, I'll check on this later to see if there is anything else I would like to add.
I can't say 'Thank-you' enough to the devs of Tactica for breaking away from the mold and daring to do something different. Major love to a production such as this, as tactical combat has always been a pet favourite of mine, as have MMO's, but all MMO's of late have become 'stale'.
My question is related to 'meaningful PvP', by that I mean, will we have player ran / controlled cities or capture points? Will there be quests that each of the factions come at from opposing angles? Such as perhaps the followers of faith wishing to protect a 'holy' relic, those of the magic path wish to use it as a spell focus, while those of the science wish to discover what makes it tick, etc. In short, will there be more to PvP than a simple 'because-you-can' mentality?
An alternative question is post-release content updates. Purely expansion pack driven? Asheron's Call style free updates every month (yay)? Or more NCSoft style once in a blue moon?
Just to let you know, I've sent #3 over the fence. Q&A #2 will run tomorrow with two fan questions. Q&A 3 also has two more fan questions.
Keep them coming!
Dana Massey
Formerly of MMORPG.com
Currently Lead Designer for Bit Trap Studios
Naithin, we hope everyone feels the same way! I've left your other question for the Q&A, but this was one I wanted to cover too.
Regular expansion sets are important to Tactica Online. They're how we'll keep gameplay fresh, and they're how we move the story forward, not to mention how we avoid having to charge a monthly subscription fee. We're not yet ready to announce how frequent they'll be, but it's likely there will be more than one a year, and they'll include a huge amount of content.
That doesn't mean updates will be restricted to expansion sets - story updates, mission sets, and skill tweaks are all likely to be done more frequently.
Another quick answer for your question, Silicor: A mission can have lots of people in it, though there becomes a point, usually around half a dozen squads - which could mean anywhere from 6 to 30 players - at which turns simply take too long. There's nothing to say that just because a particular mission started with two people that no one else can ever join, either.
Luke
Some more questions from the Tactica Masters forums:
whwestman - We are starving for good turn-based rpg's out here. Any chance of a single player or offline version of Tactica?
Silicor - Is there a cost to making new characters and is there any limit to the number of characters you can have?
Silicor - Will there be npcs in the missions and if so, have you started work on the AI
Silicor - Are there plans to track statistics by player and by character like number of kills, number of deaths, number of missions played....
Silicor - How much luck is involved in the combat?
Silicor
Will we have a "King"? Or will victory/defeat be detemined by one side completely annihilating the other? By "King", I mean will one of our characters be the leader, and if he or she falls I will lose the battle. If there is a leader will he or she be a unique class? If there is a leader but he or she won't be a unique class will the leader be the first character I create, or will I be able to choose who the leader of my group is?
This question also brings up another question. How will death be handled? If my soldier dies in battle do I lose him or her permanently, and I'll have to go buy a new soldier to replace him or her? Or will it be a sorta "Civil War Re-inactment" where during the battle the soldier will die but once the battle is over we all get up and have a beer? Or will it be something similar to Shattered Galaxies where after the battle the dead soldier will be "wounded", and I wont be able to use that character again unless I go to a "medic" and have him healed, or there will be a recovery period of like a rl hour or something?
How will I keep track of my friends.
Also, can I take 3 guys from my squad, and say my buddy takes 3 from his squad, can we go battle together? If so, how are the "rewards" split between players?
Also for loosing battles, will you loose items? money?
Those are pretty short questions, if anyone wants to spice them up i would be happy !
I love tactics games. I just bought stella dues. Ive always wanted an online version. I cant wait !
You gotta love an Online Tactics game where you have to be smart and adaptive instead of just having no life
I'm sure that more then a few of the current MMO crowd is fed up with the Grind and ready to just have fun from day one...
There are more great questions than the bi-weekly Q&A's can handle, and I don't want them to fall by the wayside, so here are a couple more responses.
Silicor, no immediate plans for a single player offline version.
There will be NPCs in missions, but not as opponents. They'll be targets, allies, and obstacles, and because they won't be participating in combat directly their behavior will be scripted rather than managed by a broader AI.
Statistics will be available on everything - kills, wins, missions, titles earnt, experience spent, etc. You won't be able to see it all for other players, but you will be able to see much of it, and it will help you research opponents for big tournaments.
JelloB2000, equipment has a big impact on what sort of squad you might want to build, but not in terms of how powerful you are. Rather, some types of equipment let you focus in particular areas more than would otherwise be possible, allowing squad designs that are very skewed towards a particular style of play, while other types of equipment give you entirely new types of actions, most of which are very combo-intensive. For example, traps that have different effects depending on the actions you've taken just before they're triggered (which can get interesting when you don't control when they're triggered).
Level and class is a full discussion in itself, which might be best left for a Q&A, but quickly, there's only the barest relationship between the amount of experience a character has had spent upon them and their stats. Think of experience as a way to customize your characters, not make them more powerful. What's going to make them more powerful is the way you combine their skills, and the combos you can pull off in combat.
Keep the questions coming, it's great to see the areas that particularly interest people (and the areas we need to be clearer in explaining!).
Luke
How will the terrain effect combat?
Silicor found a passage in the interviews that answered my death question; however, I haven't heard anything about my "King" question.
Also, something has confused me for a while now. You've said that you'll be a skill-based game. But, your screenshots show classes (Paladin, Dervish, and Cleric).
Will this be like UO and AC where the skill determines what class you are?
Or, will the class be a starting template of skills?
Or, will it be similar to AO where the class determines how well a character can learn a skill or not?
Example: say a Paladin is an expert in Melee Fighting so the melee skills will cost less XP than normal to train, whereas, being unfamiliar with ranged combat, he or she will spend more XP than normal to train a ranged weapon.
Will the class of the character determine whether or not he or she can use skills in a particular field.
Example: Will the clash between Science and Religion make it so that my Cleric will refuse to use any "heretical" equipment and in learning such heretical views; thus, Clerics can't use skills in the Science field?
More questions from Tactica Masters:
(submitted by Silicor)
Can you give us an overview of how quests and missions will move the story forward. Also if there will be choices each player makes that will impact their future game experience. For example: choosing to support the church in Mission A against science will give you a higher church faction rating and more church missions, but hurt your science rating.
(submitted by Silicor)
Will there be money in game and if so, how will it be earned?
Every mmorpg out there has some form of currency, but I have seen no mention of money in Tactical Online. It seems like there should be money if players can buy items.
(submitted by Majidah)
This might be digging too deep into the game too early, but will there be some forms of psychology in the game, e.g. fear and bravery, fuge and berserk. The discussion of morale and leadership benefits in the "king" thread put me in mind of this.
These psych effects could also be the basis of the sort of "crowd control" abilities common to other pvp games.
(submitted by Silicor)
Are units visible to your opponent before they are spotted, or can players see everything that is on the board?
Silicor
I'm wondering how the faction battles will influence the Story as a whole...There would have to be some kind of balencing factor to prevent one side from dominating while still giving winners a sence of making progress.
I'm also concerned that there will be no AI battles...I am slight worried that having battles require another real player might limit your ability to play when you want esp since this is a slightly new game concept....perhaps you could have some kind of practice mode or area to try out new tactics and combos against AI oppenents.
Im concerned with some of the inherent technological issues.
How much will lag affect the gameplay?
What happens if a player disconnects during a combat encounter?
How scalable will the graphics be? (With graphic-lag in mind)
Are the Offical Forums coming up sometime in June? I was told May, but I'm hoping that you guys are still somewhat on your timetable and are planning on getting them up this month....
On the overview page:
"Building and refining the capabilities of your team is an important element of Tactica Online, similar to designing a deck in a collectible card game. "
I hope this will not mean that the expansions are distributed like collectible card games. Where you have to buy more packs to be competitive on a high level.