Elemental: War of Magic – Fallen Enchantress Interview

Stardock designers Derek Paxton and Jon Shafer field another fistful of questions about Elemental’s forthcoming Fallen Enchantress expansion pack in a new interview over at GameZone. RPG elements, technical issues, and the expanded storyline are all on tap:

GZ: Please describe what players can expect once they jump into Fallen Enchantress.

DP: They can expect a game that merges a 4X game and a role-playing game. Many 4X games have adopted some RPG conventions (units that gain experience, etc.), but in Fallen Enchantress those RPG aspects are as effective as more traditional 4X strategies. Instead of building an army, you can invest in champions that you send on quests to level up.

Players can imagine their empire as one that recruits powerful adventurers to defeat monsters, sack cities, and battle enemy armies. They can have their population labor over forges, making armor and weapons for their own armies. They can have an empire based around a single powerful sorcerer, whose will is enforced through magic and powerful spells. They can strive for a more diplomatic path and civilize the wild creatures of the world and tame them for their own use. Or they can have some mix of the above.

JS: We’re expecting to deliver an all-around more polished experience. The graphics have received a nice tune-up, and the interface has been completely reworked. These are just some of the improvements we’ve made that will be most noticeable in the first play-through.

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GZ: As a stand-alone expansion/sequel, there is going to be some new plot and gameplay elements. Can you describe some of the new features to the gameplay?

DP: One of my favorites is the trait system when champions level up. Armies get better hit points, accuracy and spell resistance as they level up, but Champions receive these as well as being able to pick from a selection of random traits each time. These traits could give the champion access to new spells, special abilities or passive bonuses. There are common, uncommon and rare traits. Some special ones may show up infrequently but are great to pick for your champion when they do appear.

JS: I’d say the biggest changes are to combat and the build-up and advancement of your champions. The combat system is completely new. Each unit has its own initiative value, and the higher this number, the more often it can take turns. In War of Magic, each side would move all of their units at once, which meant there was a lot less to consider and often the possibility that the player moving second might be completely crippled before he could do anything. This was particularly bad, since a unit could use 6 movement points either to move or attack 6 times, making high-speed units incredibly hard to counter. The new system is more balanced and just (feels) better.

In terms of advancement, players can now pick specific abilities for champions as they level up rather than choose which stat value to bump up. Players can now cast spells earlier in the game, and the way units are able to unlock new ones is completely new and much more interesting. We wanted to make sure that magic was front-and-center in the game, and we know this was a system that some people weren’t happy with before.