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A real ring to itIf you’re wondering about how the game’s look and feel came about, it was Square Enix who originally got in touch with PlatintumGames and asked them to create a high fantasy setting for them. “When we began work on development, there was a lot of dark fantasy around,” says Ehara. “That’s still true of the current market. I thought that being able to play in a world that felt more like Lord Of The Rings would make the game stand out.”
“There were a lot of things that we needed to think up and test out,” he says. “And it’s true that this process did take some time.” Previously, Saito said the team would “throw in everything” they came up with during development. “That was pretty much the approach at PlatinumGames,” he continues, “but when working on a live service game, I believe the fundamental way you think about the game changes. What do we need to include to make sure that players can play for the long term? What do players want? These are the kinds of questions that arise.”
While Saito and his team set about trying to answer those questions, publisher Square Enix did their best to keep the game out of the limelight. “While PlatinumGames were experimenting with things, we stopped promoting the game,” Ehara admits, “which meant that there was a longer than expected period of time during which players were under the false impression that it would be a single player game. Looking back, this is something we could have handled better.”
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“Opinion [about the art style] was pretty divided at the time of the beta tests,” he says. “It’s true that during the beta tests, the filter had a slightly lower level of polish and leaned more strongly towards an artistic depiction, which meant that screenshots looked better than the game in action. We’ve balanced the game to make it easier to play, incorporating feedback from players in the beta tests and adding new features.”
While Ed will be following up with some more detailed impressions of the final game very soon, the closed beta, at least, certainly had a lot to keep track of during the heat of battle. If parsing all the flashy effects of your own four-strong arsenal of weapons wasn’t enough, try dealing with 16 of them when you’ve got three other co-op pals in tow.
“To ensure good visibility for the player, we’ve done things like split the effects into several types, cutting down on them in some situations,” Saito continues. “However, it may be difficult to see everything that’s going on at all times – sometimes you may want to unleash your full power, but you’ll find you should have been paying attention to something else, or there may be times when friend and foe are on top of each other, making it tricky to see things clearly.”
“You may eventually end up with weapons that emerge as your favourites, but as you’re progressing through the game, there will constantly be equipment dropping with new power levels,” he says. “This will force you to change your equipment, creating a new style of build. Rather than being a pain, however, I’d hope that players will think of this as providing new discoveries, and that they’ll change things up for the different types of quest.”
