Seven Dragon Saga - Matt Chat Interview

Matt Barton interviews David Shelley, and Laura Bowen about their new game Seven Dragon Saga. He also has news about his upcoming Gold Box Special episode.

The Gold Box games are making a comeback--at least, if David Shelley, Laura Bowen, and other SSI veterans have their way. Their company, TSI, will soon be launching a Kickstarter to fund their "Seven Dragon Saga," a martial arts themed CRPG with good ol' turn-based combat. In this interview, Dave and Laura discuss and answer questions about the game. I end by quizzing these masters on their own games (thanks to a trivia card I found in my Pools of Darkness box!)

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More information.

So when do we get to go back to Dragonlance? I'd desperately love to see a reincarnation of the Krynn Series...this time not bulky and horrible...

*hides*

I'm not sure how well martial arts fits in with gold box games but any attempt to recreate them is a step in the right direction.

ManWhoJaped said:

I'm not sure how well martial arts fits in with gold box games but any attempt to recreate them is a step in the right direction.

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I'm a bit concerned that this mish-mosh of Asian, African, and traditional European style fantasy that they're going for will end up being sort of a clusterfuck. However, the monk class does seem to fit well enough into NWN / ToEE / BG2 so I see no reason it can't work here. It all depends on how well they develop the world's lore so everything "makes sense". Making an original fantasy role-playing setting that is interesting isn't exactly easy, which probably explains why most of my favorite CRPGs are based on tabletop settings that had lore that has been developed over many years. Part of me still wishes they would've just gone for a completely Japanese or Chinese-influenced setting as we haven't seen many RPGs based on that. I guess we'll hopefully find out more about their ideas in a few weeks when they launch their Kickstarter.

I think a mixture of fantasy and martial arts could work, if done right. I recently played Jade Empire, and it they use the ideas there or similar ones in a tactical sense, it could not only work, but be brilliant. In any case, anything remotely resembling a return of the gold box games will be very welcome into my gaming world!!

daveyd said:

I'm a bit concerned that this mish-mosh of Asian, African, and traditional European style fantasy that they're going for will end up being sort of a clusterfuck. However, the monk class does seem to fit well enough into NWN / ToEE / BG2 so I see no reason it can't work here. It all depends on how well they develop the world's lore so everything "makes sense". Making an original fantasy role-playing setting that is interesting isn't exactly easy, which probably explains why most of my favorite CRPGs are based on tabletop settings that had lore that has been developed over many years. Part of me still wishes they would've just gone for a completely Japanese or Chinese-influenced setting as we haven't seen many RPGs based on that. I guess we'll hopefully find out more about their ideas in a few weeks when they launch their Kickstarter.

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Well, the magic system for D&D is pretty highly tuned and complicated. That is another thing I imagine that this will lack. Somehow I'd like to have something like that in there though.

It always seems like game devs like to get carried away with the setting, but mostly I don't care about setting unless it's something very original. For a fantasy game I don't like anything too crazy, just make a regular medieval setting of some kind.

I don't think they are going to win anyone over this way. Work on the basics first, before going off on a tangent.

Former SSI folks making a spiritual successor to the Gold Box games? They almost assuredly have my money.

Edit: Has anyone else ever noticed how dangerously close Matt Chat's intro music comes to ripping off Beck's Mixed Bizness?

That's a fantastic little interview which answers some of my questions, thanks for posting Couch.

It would have been both nostalgic and extra-uber-cool however if Matt had have dropped a question regarding "Dave's Challenge" and whether we can expect to see a repeat of such a concept.

With regards to the fusion of Martial Arts within the setting; I don't think it's something in and of itself to be greatly concerned about. Other long running franchises such as Wizardry and Might and Magic blended science fiction and other cross-cultural influences in the past with arguably some success. Also considering the personal P&P basis of what TSI is creating, I think it's reasonably safe to assume that it will be well grounded in established lore.

Aubrielle said:

So when do we get to go back to Dragonlance? I'd desperately love to see a reincarnation of the Krynn Series…this time not bulky and horrible…
*hides*

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Hey, where'd you go? It's safe to come out. Don't worry, I won't incur the wrath of Ember or Khisanth upon ye.

I can agree somewhat with your sentiment. Heroes of the Lance was a great disappointment to me when it came out. Here I was hoping for another AD&D oriented party based tactical RPG and what we got was a consolised quasi-real time hack and slash arcade game, albeit with the companions. Ahh well, at least we saw the stats for the companions! Plus the sombre opening music theme was nice.
Try in all earnesty as I did, I never did beat that game nor Dragons of Flame which I didn't play all that much to be honest.

However, The "Krynn trilogy" (Champions, Death Knights and Dark Queen) are wonderful games. They well and truly share the game-play legacy which Seven Dragon Saga is seeking to restore and recreate in a modern sense.

Capt. Huggy Face said:

Former SSI folks making a spiritual successor to the Gold Box games? They almost assuredly have my money.

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I posted over ten news-bits about this game already in the last few months. It seems no one reads the news on the site, and that makes me a sad potato.

So in-case anyone else missed them here are the links.

Link - http://www.rpgwatch.com/show/news?ref=0&id=726
Link - http://www.rpgwatch.com/show/news?ref=2&id=524

Pessimeister said:

That's a fantastic little interview which answers some of my questions, thanks for posting Couch.

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Thanks I thought it was interesting also.

Hopefully Matt gets the 25,000 subscribers needed for the Gold Box Special episode.

You see, this special won’t get made unless (or, hopefully, until!) I reach 25,000 subscribers on YouTube. I need to grow the show for various reasons, but the main one is attracting a steady stream of designers and other professionals to be my guests. The bigger my audience, the more likely I am hear to a big fat “YES!” to my requests to have them on. Matt Chat has its fans, but, sadly, the numbers just aren’t as appealing as they could be.

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Actually Captain the sid theme in Matt's intro is a remix/cover of Rob Hubbard's great "Thalamusik" or "Sanxion" tune. This was made in '86 so I don't think there's any danger of anything being ripped off. Beck was '99 anyway. 'Tis an awesome tune!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=It7yJh-NwPY

Edit: I just checked for when the remix was made - it's 2001, so a Beck influence isn't entirely out of the question now. Funny stuff.

Couchpotato said:

I posted over ten news-bits about this game already in the last few months. It seems no one reads the news on the site, and that makes me sad.

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I noticed. I believe I commented in one of those threads.

Thanks for posting it.

I get all my gaming news from RPG Watch!

Pessimeister said:

Actually Captain the sid theme in Matt's intro is a remix/cover of Rob Hubbard's great "Thalamusik" or "Sanxion" tune. This was made in '86 so I don't think there's any danger of anything being ripped off. Beck was '99 anyway.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=It7yJh-NwPY

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Heh, OK. I'm no copyright lawyer, thank God. Doesn't bother me. Just always reminds me of that song, which isn't a bad thing.

It doesn't matter if the theme is Asian/African/European since they had African and Middle Eastern themes in some of the games by SSI like Dark Sun and Al Quadim: The Genie's Curse.

Pessimeister said:

However, The "Krynn trilogy" (Champions, Dark Knights and Dark Queen) are wonderful games. They well and truly share the game-play legacy which Seven Dragon Saga is seeking to restore and recreate in a modern sense.

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You know, I will say one thing. Frustrating as those games were, at least we got to see the Companions on the screen. It's more than some fandoms get, and we Dragonlance fans were fortunate for that representation, at least.