A GREAT looking new RPG: Lionheart!

[Imran Siddiqui]

http://gamespot.com/gamespot/stories...870111,00.html

(hopefully this Gamespot article will last for a while )

Based on the Fallout 'SPECIAL' Engine.

Basically a 16th Century Europe with magic. With historical characters and events . Coolness!

Some quotes from the article:

As if this unusual premise weren't intriguing enough, Lionheart will also feature the SPECIAL (strength, perception, endurance, charisma, intelligence, agility, luck) character system

You will be able to choose from the following races: human, sylvant, feralkin, and demokin.

you will have a more difficult time speaking with the Inquisition if you are not a pure-blooded human--especially if you're a feralkin--but these disadvantages are balanced with other abilities.

We are going to be using other statistics to determine your mana statistics. The current model to determine mana uses your perception and charisma stats--perception allows you to attune yourself to the spirit, while charisma allows you to better impose your will on the spirit to tap its magical energy--although we are also considering tying endurance into the mana formula.

Lionheart will have "classical European" monsters in place, rather than any inspired by independent works of literature like Tolkien's novels.

The game revolves around you and your character, so you will not have a permanent party of characters. You will be able to recruit non-player characters to join with you for some quests.

And the coolest:

There will be many historical figures in the game, ranging from some very recognizable figures to others of medium to minor historical significance.

One example of someone you could meet from real history is the Duke of Medina Sidonia, the historical commander of the Spanish Armada. If you join the Inquisition and earn the trust of the Inquisitors, you could gain an audience with the Grand Inquisitor himself. In addition to da Vinci and Galileo, you will also be able to meet Machiavelli, the Italian philosopher, and Cervantes, the Spanish author. All these characters are being scripted to reflect their historical personalities in some ways, but they will also be different because of the alternate timeline. The introduction of magic into the world has allowed some of these historical figures to live longer than their real historical counterparts. Also, there are some historical figures you can meet that will give you quests or join you for a time on your journey.

and:

Dialogue will also play an important role in the game. Like previous Black Isle RPGs, you will have the chance to drive the story with your character and choose your own path. It will be possible to pick dialogue options that will let you choose an evil path, a good path, or a path somewhere in between.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Here is the BlackIsle website for it:

http://lionheart.blackisle.com/

[Imran Siddiqui]

HOLY ****! HOLY ****! From the FAQ:

Lionheart's temporary name was in fact Fallout Fantasy. So it was quite amusing to us when it was rumored to be a hack-n-slash PS2 game set in a post apocolyptic world with spells. It was called Fallout Fantasy just because that was a simple title that implied it used the SPECIAL system in a medieval setting. The presidential naming system was put in place by JE and only refers to titles developed in-house

So this is Fallout 3 (kinda)

[Urban Ranger]

You're a dirty spammer Imran

[Lemmy]

hmm, i know i should have made a thread when i first heard about this game...

oh yeah -->

[Grumbold]

Nice to see Fallout Fantasy isn't an eastern style RPG after all. Shame they're still determined to get away from turn based combat, but it still looks impressive.

[Apocalypse]

Lionheart is still making many people mad. They want Fallout 3. I'd really want Fallout 3. Unfortunantly, Interplay doesn't think there is a market for it and isn't willing to risk making one.

[Lemmy]

Not only do the fans want fallout 3, but also the creators want fallout 3, oh well, maybe after lionheart, when more people are familiar with the SPECIAL system, and now they can also try out realtime combat in combination with SPECIAL, and see how and if works.

[Apocalypse]

I've been reading the Lionheart message boards. I found something shockingly true:

TB people are happy because that is what the system was designed for. RT people are happy because they would not know right from wrong if it slapped in on the face.

Ok, I don't agree with it completely, but it is usually true.

[Grumbold]

Problem is Fallout 1 and 2 didn't sell in sufficient quantity for Fallout 3 to be a "no brainer" despite all the accolades they won (being buggy on release probably didnt help.) I don't know if Fallout: Tactics did anything to change that. Until the beancounters reckon Fallout3 is a sound prospect I guess the fans and the developers who know how good it is will just have to wait. I keep my Mark II Power Armor clean, polished and fully serviced in anticipation.

[Footie Mad]

Originally posted by Apocalypse

Ok, I don't agree with it completely, but it is usually true.

Why not allow the player to choose RT or TB? Would it be to much of an effort from the creators?

[Lemmy]

there is a big difference between RT and TB, you can implement TB with a single thread, while for RT you'll most likely need multiple threads. Now that they've already chosen for RT, and the game is half finished (i think), it's a big change to also allow TB.

[Apocalypse]

Interplay doesn't want to spend any resources whatsever in TB. I actually like RT combat in X-COM Apocalypse better, but I would hate to see combat in Fallout or Jagged Alliance in Real Time.

[Grumbold]

I didnt fine comb the review but I would have hoped that they had learned from FO:T that the mixed modes kept everyone satisfied. Its much better than spacebarring every two picoseconds like you have to do in Baldurs Gate 2 when your peeps are proving hard to control in a massive battle.

[Apocalypse]

Many people I talked too seem very disappointed with the TB combat in FO:T. It was barely tested before the game was shipped.

[Grumbold]

In what way disappointed? The action costs and such were lifted almost totally from the Fallout RPG's except you got to control your whole squad. I found it perfect for playing sniper in a way that realtime just could not allow.

[Apocalypse]

I forget why. Something I bugs I think.

[Scouse Gits]

Unless I am getting seriously confused "Pool of Radiance" has both RT and TB combat - there is a 'speed' slider in the options and at one extreme you get true TB gaming

Lionheart sounds kewl - but I'd rather have fallout 3

SG[1]

[Imran Siddiqui]

Well, actually I think I'd rather have this .

Fallout 3 is cool and all, but what is the story going to be now? I mean the three head designers packed up and left and formed Troika Games. They want to do something new.

I like this historical RPG . And Real Time Combat with pausing was pretty good in Planescape: Torment.



And yes, I'm a dirty spammer .

[Apocalypse]

Another problem with Lionheart is that it won't have Fallout's problem solving. In both Fallouts, it was possible to get through the game without your character having to fight. In Lionheart, that won't be an option. Fighting will be required in quite a few places. The combat/storyline ratio is between Icewind Dale and Baldur's Gate, though it is closer to BG than IWD. This is really disappointing for me. This game had potential to be better than Fallout.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Well, I don't mind having to fight. The combat/storyline ratio is WAAAAY higher than BG. BG, you basically had to fight everything. Lionheart isn't that bad at all.

[Tuberski]

Does anyone know or remember David "Zeb" Cook?

He was on the production team of Fallout 2.

He also created the pen and paper RPG Gamma World. If they expanded on this premise,like they did a little in FO2, Fallout 3 could be awesome.

[Apocalypse]

Imran, JE said that analogy. He is making the game. I'm not talking about the ways to get out of fights, I'm talking about the amount of time spent fighting versus the amount of time spent reading the storyline.

[Imran Siddiqui]

I think he was talking about BG2, then I'd agree.

I see nothing wrong with that. This isn't Planescape... there is fighting.

[Apocalypse]

It'd still be better if he was using Fallout in his analogies. Black Isle is trying to distance Lionheart from Fallout except for the SPECIAL system.

[Grumbold]

Imran I got the distinct impression the Troikies left because the projects they were going to be assigned to weren't Fallout 3 or anything similar. Since they didn't have the copyright they had to do something else. Mind you, I'm glad they did because Arcanum itself is a favourite of mine despite some of the limitations forced upon them by tight resources.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Grumbold, I disagree. I mean, Sid, Brian, and co. didn't leave because Microprose wasn't going to allow them to do Civ3. They left because they wanted more control over the process. That is WHY programmers leave, and it was the same for the Troikies.

And Apoc, that is the reason they don't mention Fallout. Because most of the original team left. They don't want to measure up to that game when they don't have the people in the department that worked on it. On the other had, some of the design team has worked on BG.

[Lemmy]

from www.nma-fallout.com

Chris Parker: There are really only two major changes to the SPECIAL system for this game, the addition of magic and the move to real time. Going from turn-based to real time has actually been fairly smooth - after those many hours of debate, of course. We retain Action Points - these were used in Fallout to determine how many things you could do during your turn in combat - and use them to determine how quickly your character acts. Finally, every action has been given a cost in time so that you will be able to use a small fast weapon more often than a large powerful one. These changes allowed the system to get ported to real-time in what we feel is an accurate and balanced fashion.

kinda sounds like that RT thingie from FOT to me..

[Kassiopeia]

Sounds great.

It's just this talk about Fallout Fantasy and Lionheart brings to my mind an entirely different RPG...

[Lemmy]

an interview with one of the designers here:
http://www.rpgplanet.com/lionheart/f...terview1.shtml

...And the evil ending is very different from the good ending. I felt guilty writing it because it's so bad. Which is good, I suppose. ...