The First Templar - New Website

Alrik writes in to say The First Templar has a new website in German and English. There's been some question in the past on the exact genre of this game and Alrik says Haemimont and Kalypso are now calling it an action/RPG, though I can only see "action/adventure" on the site or the product page. Either way, it does look like a potentially interesting third-person action/adventure/RPG/something.
More information.

Well, further down the page it does say

RPG inspired character development: each has their own skills and skill paths, which the player can develop as they complete missions and explore the game world

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But you do bring up a good point. Why do so many PR releases alway try and entice the RPG gamer? We can't possilbe be the core gaming demographic that we use to be. Far too often these so called RPG element games have very little RPG game play. But they know we would figure that out soon enough so why do they keep trying it? Why RPG gamers?

Strange.

The German-language version of the product page says : "Action RPG with role playing elements". Whatever this means. (Replace "RPG" with "adventure", then it becomes pretty clear, imho. However.)

The wording of the "RPG inspired character development" is essentially the same.

This makes me wonder again what kind of game this exactly going to be ?

Dajjer said:

Why RPG gamers?

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I think this, because you just can't say "shooter" to a sword-fighting game.

I think there is no proper genre name for sword-fighting games yet than "RPG".
Assassin's Greed is a similar example, as far as I know (never played it, and don't plan to.)

Alrik, what is your beef with Assassin's Creed, besides the obvious that it is an action game and requires lots of killing?

Haemimont is a good f'ing developer and I have more than a passing interest in any game they are working on.

It's the "lots of killing" part.

Alrik Fassbauer said:

It's the "lots of killing" part.

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For me its the terrible pc controls and that its a platform game and they lets face play terrible on the pc.

Couchpotato said:

For me its the terrible pc controls and that its a platform game and they lets face play terrible on the pc.

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This one sums it up nicely.

i enjoy video games that don't have killing as well, but there's games you play that have killing even if not so graphic or visceral. both assassin's creed game provide quite a bit of in game reflection both through the games cut scenes as well as the "secrets" of the game that you try to unlock. all of the "real life" ties into conspiricies i thought were quite entertaing and the one which involved Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edision was so fascinating I did a bit of research on it. while I enjoy not action adventure games there are many that are far more shallow than the depth that some gruesome action games provide. assassin's creed is also not the hitman franchise. you're not some cold blooded killer filling out contracts, there are quite a number of morality threads, combined with cultural and religious and historic ones as well. from a global conspiracy standpoint i'd say that this series even does the story part better than Deus Ex:the Conspiracy itself. true the game offers little meaningful choice but the story telling is done by a passionate team. the gameplay is mearly gravy or rather plasma. the motto says its all "nothing is true...everything is permitted". you're an insightful guy Alrik and i challenge you to ponder on that for a while.

does it play terrible or is it terribly played? i've played a number of terrible ports see any capcom game. never found any problem with the assassin's creed game or for that matter any ubisoft published game. can't say as much for ea.

curious said:

i've played a number of terrible ports see any capcom game..

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Heh heh... I still remember how much of a joke Capcom's port of Resident Evil 4 was...

curious said:

Haemimont is a good f'ing developer and I have more than a passing interest in any game they are working on.

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Even though I like some of their past work, I heard that even people working on this First Templar were warning that the game is a piece of sh*t and to stay away.

I've played a small part of Assasin's Creed (the first one). And it is a really, really good game, I find. The premis for the game is exciting, cellular memory, I think it is?
And there's not really that much killing (yet). You have to move silently and stealthily around in the city, try not to be discovered and strike quickly and swiftly.

As the sword-fighting-game, I seem to remember a game called 'die by the sword' who maybe could be classified as one of those? And if we're talking about action rpg (adventure) with rpg elements, then what is STALKER?

Assassin's Creed was good, at least for the first 10-15 hours anyways. The problem is that it became an extremely repetitive game after awhile. I eventually got burned out about 3/4 of the way through. I've heard AC2 is better in that there is more variety to the gameplay.

The First Templar looks fun from the video footage I've seen, although a bit simplistic.

The concept of the first templar sounds great and was very much interested until i saw this one screen shot where i just knew in my gut the game is going to be bad really bad. I could be wrong.

it can be difficult for a developer to jump genres.
jumping from city builders and strategy to an action adventure or even rpg can be quite a daunting leap. i think spellbound and arcania would probably be a great example of this though i haven't played arcania and also jumping into an existing franchise sets that hurdle even higher.

Fact is, we still know too little about The First Templar.

@curious : Noted. History is one of my hobbies, by the way.

I loved Assassin's Creed 2 (on PS3) and any RPGer who likes the open-world exploration aspect should check it out.

I'll keep an eye on this being a medieval history buff....far too few games set during medieval times (non-fantasy).

Only concern is historical accuracy, it looks like they are going for 13th century Europe but there is a beast that looks like an Ogre or something in the trailer?

It also says the game is set in the 13th century where Europe is about to collapse...what does that mean?

Not a big fan of action games but If I can explore around some 13th century locations will definitely keep an eye on it.

Saxon1974 said:

I'll keep an eye on this being a medieval history buff….far too few games set during medieval times (non-fantasy).

Only concern is historical accuracy, it looks like they are going for 13th century Europe but there is a beast that looks like an Ogre or something in the trailer?

It also says the game is set in the 13th century where Europe is about to collapse…what does that mean?

Not a big fan of action games but If I can explore around some 13th century locations will definitely keep an eye on it.

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The black plague was about to hit and kill more than 1/3 of the population.

I am eager to play the game. Checked the website 2 days ago, but that obviously one day too early :-(

The information I gathered sound like a game that is similar to an improved version of Knights of the Temple 2.

http://www.mobygames.com/game/windows/knights-of-the-temple-ii

This was like: "Most of the gameplay (when not exploring cities) revolve around combat and character development. Combat consists of 3D 3rd Person Perspective point of view where you can attack enemies using various skills, abilities and attack combo's. Each of which can be upgraded at any point of the game by spending experience points to the pointed skill, ability or combo.

On character development, there are 3 major areas that may be upgraded: (1) Knightly Abilities; Spiritually oriented gifts of the Templar knight: from healing to other holy abilities. (2) Skill Abilities; These are usually attack-based skills. Various attacking styles to soften and defeat both men and monster. (3) Combo's. The extension of the "attack button". Upgrading the combo section provides additional attack moves. During the course of the game, you can obtain additional weapons and armor (as well as other items), either from the course of a sub-quest or purchasing it from a local trader."