Gauntlet: Seven Sorrows Interview

Gamesplanet has conducted an interview with Midway’s Josh Sawyer, in which the lead designer (and former Black Isle developer) answers several questions about Gauntlet: Seven Sorrows. A snip:

Q: Can you tell us a bit more about the fighting aspect of the game and it’s characters? What are their strengths and weaknesses? Are we able to control multiple characters at once, or do we have to choose one?

A: The combat system in Gauntlet uses weapon styles to develop branching combos. The four face buttons are used for quick attacks, strong attacks, special attacks, and the character’s default missile weapon. Quick attacks are used to interrupt big attacks from enemies and to quickly knock back a small group of targets. Strong attacks are used for covering a large amount of ground or hitting a large area. The special attack button is used to break blocks and perform moves that knock down, knock back, or juggle enemies. Finally, the missile weapon is the “peashooter” weapon that players can use to slow down and soften up enemies. The missile weapon can also be used to keep enemies juggled in the air.

Characters start with a talent in one style and minor abilities in two other styles. For instance, the warrior starts off with many Great Cleave skills and a few Cleave and Great Pierce skills. Each fighting style has its own advantages and disadvantages. Great Cleave is good for clearing out enemies and it has decent reach, but it doesn’t do as much damage and its moves don’t cover as much ground as the ones found in the Great Pierce tree (which is the lancer’s specialty).

A single player always controls a single character. We didn’t want to complicate the control scheme and devote a lot of time toward making what might have only been a “passable” companion AI system.