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Codex Interview RPG Codex Interview: Legends of Eisenwald, Turn Based Strategy/RPG

Zed

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Tags: Alexander Dergay; Aterdux Entertainment; Kickstarter; Legends of Eisenwald

Legends of Eisenwald by indie developers Aterdux Entertainment is a strategy/RPG hybrid with turn-based tactical combat. Drawing inspiration from titles like Disciples and King's Bounty, it is one of the latest noteworthy games currently running a Kickstarter campaign to have gained the attention of Codexers. There were some questions and concern about the game, however (obviously, this being the Codex after all), so we reached out to Aterdux for an interview. Alexander Dergay, Aterdux CEO, kindly answered our questions. We hope this interview sheds some light on the setting and campaign of Legends of Eisenwald*, its turn-based combat, magic system, and more!

The interview also comes with brand new screenshots.

v0hFj.jpg

What are your favorite strategy RPGs, and how do they influence the concept behind Legends of Eisenwald?

AD: For this we have a quite definite answer – Disciples 2 and King’s Bounty. Not only King’s Bounty: The Legend but also the first one from 1990. That was the game that inspired making Discord Times and it was released 4 years before King’s Bounty: The Legend. We believe that zest of King’s Bounty lies in RPG gameplay on a strategic scale. You lead an army, travel to many distant places but you don’t need to worry about such prosaic things like economy or resource management. You are not a king, you are a knight, a vagabond and it’s great! This romantic feeling is what we aim to reproduce in Legends of Eisenwald.

As for Disciples we love these series mostly because of its unique combat system and as many fans we were very disappointed when Disciples 3 abandoned it. But we decided that we have to fix this situation and not let that unique system die : ) Our combat model is inspired by that particular model. Its rethought and improved version is used in Legends of Eisenwald.

Legends of Eisenwald's combat is turn based, yet at the same time you want to make it fast-paced enough for individual battles not to take too long. How do you strike a balance between complexity and speed of combat? Can you describe the move-and-strike system in more detail?

AD: First of all like in Disciples 2 and Discord Times our units don’t have a feature like “move points”. Close range fighters can attack any enemy if the way to him is not obstructed by another enemy. There is no command like “go and stand there” so for every move you have to attack someone or stay in defense position. Moreover, we aim to balance units’ characteristics to increase the importance of every strike in a battle. For example: you chose to attack one enemy unit and you finish the battle having lost two of yours. You played again, you chose to attack another one and you finish the battle with no losses.

Anyway, we understand that describing our combat system in words is not that convincing. In the next couple of days we plan to present a combat video with detailed commentaries that will show a full picture of battles that await you in Eisenwald.

How non-linear can we expect the campaign to be? Apart from the character class you choose, are there any other ways to impact how the game (and the story) plays out?

AD: Many decisions will influence how a player goes through scenarios. In some cases a player will choose himself which alliance to choose or whom to fight. The quests that he receives will also depend on that. But it all will be within a framework of coherent large campaign. In Legends of Eisenwald we plan to have “hidden” non-linearity where choices in one scenario are reflected in another scenario. For example, you received an item after a battle. You can sell it and get gold or you can use it to finish one of the local quests. But if you decide to keep it, you may find out many new things in the next scenario.​

* Eisenwald is German for "iron forest". Now you know.

Read the full article: RPG Codex Interview: Legends of Eisenwald, Strategy/RPG with turn-based combat
 

Metro

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I wish these guys luck but as much as I enjoyed playing the KB games (including the original and all of the recent iterations), I have to say I'm fairly burnt out on the genre right now. Unfortunately from the pace of their Kickstarter it looks like it might be a longshot.
 

Zed

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I recommend you check out Discord Times to get a better feel of what the game actually plays like (probably). There's a shareware version out there somewhere with 1 hour free game time.
They do mention King's Bounty but I personally felt it's kind of its own thing.
 
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Yeah, they seem great and honest. And game looks to be very promising and interesting. Hope their kickstarter picks up and manages to get at lest 50000$ they aim for. These new king's bouty's are becoming pretty stale and boring. This a welcome addition to the genre.

PS. I dig the low fantasy setting of Darklands with some werewolves, vampires and such medieval monsters, and of course, that they mention our prestigious magazine on their kickstarter page... :obviously: Although they were wrong about the friendly thing, but they will learn soon... :smug:
 

G.O.D

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Sounds great, i'm really excited.
I remember ranting about Disciples' combat system being suitable for RPGs back when i recently joined the Codex, so i'm up for it.
For sure gonna keep this one in mind more then most others.
:thumbsup:
 

hoverdog

dog that is hovering, Wastelands Interactive
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I couldn't adjust to the Disciples battle system at first. However, after some time I got used to it and enjoyed it immensely. I'll pledge some moneys when I have some. Go Беларусь!
images
 

A user named cat

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King's Bounty: TL and Armored Princess were probably the best games I played from the past five years. Ascension To the Throne was similar and worth mentioning too, but damn those overpowered Amazons. Made it too easy if you recruited them or too difficult if you did not.

Anyway, would love to see this get a release and wish them luck.
 

G.O.D

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Project: Eternity Wasteland 2
I'll pledge for sure, 50k isn't that steep, and there is plenty of time left.
Sadly i'll have to pass on Shadowrun, but this project i'll gladly back with my last moneyz.
I'm getting really nostalgic over this.. Disciples is one of my all time favorites in many perspectives.
If it's anything like it, i'm over the moon.

:love:
 

Johannes

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Legends of Eisenwald's combat is turn based, yet at the same time you want to make it fast-paced enough for individual battles not to take too long. How do you strike a balance between complexity and speed of combat? Can you describe the move-and-strike system in more detail?
AD: First of all like in Disciples 2 and Discord Times our units don’t have a feature like “move points”. Close range fighters can attack any enemy if the way to him is not obstructed by another enemy. There is no command like “go and stand there” so for every move you have to attack someone or stay in defense position. Moreover, we aim to balance units’ characteristics to increase the importance of every strike in a battle. For example: you chose to attack one enemy unit and you finish the battle having lost two of yours. You played again, you chose to attack another one and you finish the battle with no losses.​
Anyway, we understand that describing our combat system in words is not that convincing. In the next couple of days we plan to present a combat video with detailed commentaries that will show a full picture of battles that await you in Eisenwald.
Sounds good actuallyy. Cut out the extraneous micromanagement and focus on the overall tactics. Just make the AI good.
 

mondblut

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Cut out the extraneous micromanagement and focus on the overall tactics.

It's pretty funny to see "tactics" and "there is no movement" mentioned in a single paragraph. Then again, Legend of Grimrock boasts of having "tactical battles" too, lol.
 

commie

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Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Divinity: Original Sin 2
I pledged. They are going with a very underused system; I'm getting tired of the HOMM model. I like the authentic medieval looking units. The fact they aren't going with cutesy high fantasy is the biggest draw for me though. How many gay elves or fairy dragons must one see in a game before one has had enough?
 

Mozgoëbstvo

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A kickstarter project looking good, having actually something more to show than a couple of promises, and they seem destined to kickstarter insuccess. Tearjerking stuff.

Unless they manage to pull a Project Takedown. :troll:
 

commie

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Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Divinity: Original Sin 2
I like their modest needs too. Only $50000 to give many eat for proletariat.


In before curry or someone calls the devs "motherfucking cocksucker snake oil merchants peddling reskinned Disciples..." just to exercise their rights of free expression and we never hear from them again. :M
 

Grunker

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It's not that I don't think Curry's raging is idiotic but honestly I don't have much respect for devs that can't take that kind of blatant trolling.
 

mikaelis

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Codex 2013 Codex 2014
It's not that I don't think Curry's raging is idiotic but honestly I don't have much respect for devs that can't take that kind of blatant trolling.

To be fair, usually, they have no idea about rpgcodex at all. In some cases they may think that it is somewhat elitist group of pc oldies and they just try to tackle the problem like in any other forum...



...then they lurk into GD and RetardoLand and... :troll:

On topic: Put your fucking $£PLN in this game! It is only 50k, and not 900k! And it already has combat system, setting, and cool graphix in it! (looks like you don't need 10 mln+ to make a decent looking game after all LOL).

Seriously though, among the other things that I mentioned in the other topic, one of the problem people may seem to have is that they showed to much. It is like: "Yeah.... they almost finished it, so they need to release it anyway. Let's wait and see if it is decent or shit". Another thing is the fact that most of the devs are from Belarus - the country that's been not exactly receiving stellar reviews from the mainstream politicians around the world.

In any case, fight the good fight! I've already aided our medieval BROS from the East.

EDIT: Just listened to the sample music - "Homelands" is amazing, other one also not bad. I think I will raise to 50$ :bravo:

Though, I agree with some opinions that they NEED to improve they tiers! Especially lower ones. Like shifting .pdf concept art book to 25$, adding some novella/comics .pdf book to 50$ tier. Maybe some nice quest guide for 50$ as well, etc. Though I admit that the options are limited in this case (just 6 devs, low budget etc.)
 

majestik12

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Storming castles with a party of five feels kinda stupid. I really wish they made this part more low key. IMO, Something in the vein of Darklands would have been better. Like, a bunch of dudes hanging around and kicking butt. The rest sounds cool, though, and the setting is simply awesome.
 

Aterdux Entertainment

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Hello, everyone, devs are here :) After many sleepless nights (Kickstarter campaign proved to be much more time consuming than we thought) we finally have an opportunity to drop by and say hi and thank you! Your site and forum has been very kind to us and all your opinions and comments are very helpful. And no worries, we can take any kind of trolling :)

mikaelis: you said we showed too much? Damn, I thought we showed too little :) But we feel there is some truth into that, still, we have to release combat video no matter what since most questions we get are about combat.

And we are thinking also about introducing other reward tiers. Mostly we are asked about boxed version but I don't think we can afford that just yet.

On a side note, if anyone has any ideas how we can get to other gaming sites, please let us know - this area is not exactly our greatest expertise.
 
Joined
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Cut out the extraneous micromanagement and focus on the overall tactics.

It's pretty funny to see "tactics" and "there is no movement" mentioned in a single paragraph.
I know, it's basically like taking that godfather of popamole combat, Wizardy VII, then switching it to third person perspective. Disgusting, really. I don't know who they think they're fooling here.
 

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