Freedom Force Interview

ComputerAndVideoGames.com has conducted an interview with Irrational Games’ Ken Levine, asking the developer several questions about Freedom Force and, slightly, about System Shock 2. Here’s a snip:

Q: How do the RPG elements work and how deep do they go?

A: The RPG system is pretty deep. For a start, you have your base character stats that dictate the lowest levels of interaction each character can have with the world. Speed determines how fast they can move, endurance determines the amount of health points, and so on.Additionally, your character can be made of a number of materials, each one of which affects their base resistance to damage. For example, characters made from metal are resistant to crushing and piercing attacks, whereas characters made from fire are highly resistant to heat but vulnerable to cold.

Then you have the character’s attributes. These are the funky things that help flesh your character out. Most attributes will give you an advantage and so cost you character points, but some are actually detrimental and therefore give you back character points to spend elsewhere. There are more than 60 attributes, but included in here are things like Crack Shot (increase your accuracy), Level Headed (become more resistant to Mental and Mystical damage) and Flier (allows you to fly).

Finally you have the powers. Each single-player character has a pair of tiers for their powers that you have to advance them through by spending character points. Each character can have up to ten powers, and most powers can be upgraded to level five (an increase in level can have all sorts of effects, depending on the power type). Powers and attributes are upgraded using character points, which are rewarded to the character each time they get enough experience points to level up. Characters get experience by going on missions. So there should be plenty there for everyone…