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Lords of Xulima II - Random Encounters and The World

by Myrthos, 2017-01-31 12:20:46

Numantian games provide more info on the reasons why the first game was as open or linear as it was and why there were randome encounters, while adding information on how they want to deal with that in Lords of Xumlima II.

There were two types of barriers, ones that were only powerful guardians like the army of the impious princes that protected certain regions. Those barriers weren't impossible to beat without triggering the events that removed them (killing the corresponding prince) if you had a very powerful party. The other barriers were fixed and impossible to beat until you got special items or did specific things. For example, the Ulnalum Guardian that prevented to enter in Varaskel or the Yul statue in Rasmura that protected the bridge access with a halo of darkness.

We set those barriers for two reasons. First the story, the story was more coherent if the main story dialog was played in its natural order. Second, it was to avoid the player from getting lost too soon. In LoX’s earliest version, we first tested with no barriers at all. The testers wasted a lot of time trying to figure out where to go, what areas they could explore or were too dangerous. Ultimately, they became frustrated very quickly. In contrast, with those few barriers the world continues to be very open with lots of things to do, the story flows better, and the player is not overwhelmed by so many options at the very beginning.

Information about

Lords of Xulima II

SP/MP: Single-player
Setting: Fantasy
Genre: RPG
Platform: PC
Release: Cancelled


Details