RPGWatch Feature - Lost Eidolons Interview

Farflame had a chat with Lost Eidolons' Creative Director to learn more about the game of which the Kickstarter ends in less than a day from now.

RPGWatch: Can you describe the depth of your combat system? For example, do you have different attacks or different weapon types countered by different types of armor? Or tactical spells like slow or freeze? Bonus for flanking of enemies? Etc. And skills have limited use in combat, right?

Jin Sang: To address the last question first, there's a limited number of charges that skills and magic have per battle (they recharge automatically between combat). This is intended to prevent players from spamming them and to carefully choose how they want to use these abilities over drawn out encounters. Weapons and armors also have a rock-paper-scissors balance, so certain weapons will be more effective vs. certain armor types. Elemental magic has some extra effects depending on what kind of tiles you cast them on. For example, if you cast fire on bushes, the tile will catch fire and deal additional damage to units standing on top of them. If a poison mist tile is met with fire, it'll trigger an explosion in the area which can heavily damage units within. If water is met with thunder magic, the damage will spread across the entire body of water, etc.


RPGWatch: How do you keep variety in combat encounters? Could you tell us about different combat objectives in Lost Eidolons? Will we see some monsters too, not just human enemies?

Jin Sang: We are creating a variety of combat objectives to keep playing it fresh. Simple goals may include vanquishing a specific enemy unit. Or, you may be tasked with leaving no survivors, to defeat all enemy units. Or you're caught in a dangerous predicament, and the protagonist must remain alive until some number of turns elapses. Another goal might include escorting an NPC to a specific location on the battle map or capturing a specific enemy unit before they can do similar. I'd also like to, under certain conditions, provide a variety of different combat encounters (enemy composition). I hope this can give a rich and diverse tactical experience.

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More information.

Thanks for the interview and I'm glad they got funded.

We made it! Thanks to the generosity of over 900 of you that had faith in a brand new studio with no prior repute, we managed to drum up over $45,000 to realize awesome new features for Lost Eidolons. We were already excited to bring Lost Eidolons to fans of the genre, but now we can allocate the needed resources to make Permadeath happen for the Early Access, and there's still time to reach the first stretch goal to gain the funds to develop the Hell mode difficulty.

By far though, the best part of this campaign was to gain so many supporters that know about our game and our studio. We always had the funds to make the base game, but it was nerving, uncertain, and outright distressing at times knowing that for many of us, we were starting from zero by forming Ocean Drive Studio. It's something that every new studio has to go through. Now not only do we have funds to make a few bonus features, but we have a community of backers and enthusiasts who want to see us succeed in creating amazing game experiences.

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The are also doing dome Live-streams on Twitch.

Livestream #1: Gameplay Commentary Livestream

What: An unedited look at gameplay of Lost Eidolons including combat and outgame with live commentary by Creative Director Jin Sang!
When:

• 6:00 PM PDT, Thursday May 20 (US West)
• 9:00 PM EDT, Thursday May 20 (US East)
• 2:00 AM BST, Friday May 21 (London)
• 10:00 AM KST, Friday May 21 (Korea)

Livestream #2: Campaign Ending Celebration

What: A countdown to the end of the Kickstarter campaign as well as our weekly Town Hall to answer questions about the game and studio! Featuring ODS CEO Jae Kim as a special guest near the end!
When:

• 5:00 AM PDT, Friday May 21 (US West)
• 8:00 AM EDT, Friday May 21 (US East)
• 1:00 PM BST, Friday May 21 (London)
• 9:00 PM KST, Friday May 21 (Korea)

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Link - https://www.twitch.tv/oceandrivestudio

I'm glad they crossed the threshold. I look forward to seeing what comes of this!

I missed this game completely until now and had no idea they had a kickstarter going. What they show seems promising. I hope the game comes to fruition.

Too bad you can't have a female protagonist, could have been fun to play otherwise.

Does the gender really matter to that degree? I mean, if so, perhaps they'd be open to feedback on making some adjustments, yet I think for most folks it's not a big deal. I know it's never mattered to me if the lead guy is a gal or bloke.

Carnifex said:

Does the gender really matter to that degree? I mean, if so, perhaps they'd be open to feedback on making some adjustments, yet I think for most folks it's not a big deal. I know it's never mattered to me if the lead guy is a gal or bloke.

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It matters a little to me, at least in RPGs. It's difficult for me to be immersed as a female character. Luckily a large majority of games has either only a male protagonist or a choice between male/female.

Carnifex said:

Does the gender really matter to that degree? I mean, if so, perhaps they'd be open to feedback on making some adjustments, yet I think for most folks it's not a big deal. I know it's never mattered to me if the lead guy is a gal or bloke.

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Well it matters to me. To me this is pretty much exclusive of videogames, especially RPGs, but if I can't relate to the protagonist, I can't enjoy it. The issue is not only when the protagonist is locked as male, is also the way the whole narrative is written around it in ways that make it tedious and unfun.

As for giving them feedback, sure, but being a 50k Kickstarter is easy to tell the project is what it is, and nothing more. I am likely a minority here anyway.

I can't relate to RPG protagonists because I don't murder people with a sword, or shoot fire out of my hands, or roam the world never eating or sleeping or taking a shit. Whether the protagonist is male or female (or orc or turian) doesn't even get into the top 10 of things I can't relate to.

That is a good thing for you then. Imagine other people feeling differently.

To even suggest that something like gender doesn't or shouldn't matter is narrow-minded to say the least. Most people are going to have a preference. That's why it's called role-playing.

Yea, I can play Lara Croft and enjoy it in the Tomb Raider games, but most of the time when making a character in a rpg, I will choose male (as a man). And I do think that is important for many people, to have a choice of male or female (Hell, or even whatever else they might like) But at least male and female at the minimum should be an option in a classical type rpg where you are making your character from the bottom up, in my opinion.

That said, this game looks like a low budget indie, and so I can understand if they can't do that. And there are some rpgs with predefined characters and no choices regarding the character besides the weapons/combat styles or if they go into magic, but you can't alter the main character much.

Those are tricky, because if someone doesn't find the main character appealing, then they might not buy the game. But on the other hand, they can also work like gangbusters such as the Witcher 3 if the character is rich, well imagined and well designed.

Having gender choice for the sake of it is not good story telling. You have to write a convincing narrative and campaign to go with it which sets it apart and the developers here are on a limited budget. No sense complaining about it.

I never understand people who say they need to relate to the protagonist. Its called a role playing game because you are expected to use some imagination. If you want a 1 to 1 with yourself play something else.

Silver said:

Having gender choice for the sake of it is not good story telling. You have to write a convincing narrative and campaign to go with it which sets it apart and the developers here are on a limited budget. No sense complaining about it.

I never understand people who say they need to relate to the protagonist. Its called a role playing game because you are expected to use some imagination. If you want a 1 to 1 with yourself play something else.

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I see people write this now and then and all it really tells me is people that write this have a rather narrow understanding or what role playing is. Although that viewpoint they have does helps explain why they can't seem to figure out why someone might prefer to relate to the main character they are playing.

Role playing isn't limited to playing only someone who is completely different than oneself. It can also include playing yourself in another role where role doesn't have to be a completely different race, gender, personality, profession, class, and so on. It can be some combination of factors. Seeing oneself as a dark elf but with a similar personality or trying out a dark path that is different from how you normally are. So many different ways to play a role that is hardly limited to having to play someone who is completely different versus partially different.

I certainly can't get into a game if I dislike the main character I am playing or can't even relate to them as an entity/being. I need some form of connection to pull me into the game and bond me with the character.

What those bonds are, what connects someone, varies from person to person. Imagination is great but it isn't the sole ingredient in playing a game either.

What I got out of this post was "I have this narrow definition of what playing a role is and since it doesn't bother me if I don't connect to the protagonist I can't fathom why it would be important to anyone else ... so go play some other game because clearly you aren't fit to play an RPG cause you don't play them the way I do."

Gender rarely bothers me like wolfgrimdark. It mostly depends on if I like the main character. Most of the times I play male it's just the way I play. Anyway old debate.

Probably why mainstream games allow you customize your player character, but that costs more resources and time. A smaller developer wont have the resources.

wolfgrimdark said:

I see people write this now and then and all it really tells me is people that write this have a rather narrow understanding or what role playing is. Although that viewpoint they have does helps explain why they can't seem to figure out why someone might prefer to relate to the main character they are playing.

Role playing isn't limited to playing only someone who is completely different than oneself. It can also include playing yourself in another role where role doesn't have to be a completely different race, gender, personality, profession, class, and so on. It can be some combination of factors. Seeing oneself as a dark elf but with a similar personality or trying out a dark path that is different from how you normally are. So many different ways to play a role that is hardly limited to having to play someone who is completely different versus partially different.

I certainly can't get into a game if I dislike the main character I am playing or can't even relate to them as an entity/being. I need some form of connection to pull me into the game and bond me with the character.

What those bonds are, what connects someone, varies from person to person. Imagination is great but it isn't the sole ingredient in playing a game either.

What I got out of this post was "I have this narrow definition of what playing a role is and since it doesn't bother me if I don't connect to the protagonist I can't fathom why it would be important to anyone else … so go play some other game because clearly you aren't fit to play an RPG cause you don't play them the way I do."

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It seems you've taken my statement to mean rather more than I intended. Yes I know some people can't enjoy games like The Witcher or Lost Eidolons because it involves a set protagonist. I think some people are rather inflexible when it comes to enjoying games like those but what do I know. I'm simply saying take it or leave it as its not likely to change.

Other RPGs do offer more player customisation so saying play something else seems like a good idea to me.

There is a massive factor that everyone who says "You can get into roleplaying a mage who shoots fireballs from her fingertips, an elf or a werecat, but not someone of the opposite gender?" is either ignoring or failing to understand, and it's very simple, so I'm going to try to explain it.

When you enact your suspension of disbelief, when you embrace a fantastic/fictional world and its rules, and dive into it, It's exciting for you to try to fit in that fantastic or fictional setting as a sorceress who can manifest magic without knowing why, or the daughter of the guard's captain who also happens to be part of a pirate crew, all as part of this fictious construct.

This is radically different when dealing with gender, because these are not translated into any fantastic or fictious construct, they exist under the same cultural real world rules that we have in our every day life, and often simplified and exacerbated to insulting levels.

I couldn't play yet another RPG where the main character is in his late teens, and is the obvious alpha male of the party, while the obvious secondary support/archer is the female that will fall in love with him inevitably.

In a videogame, male-female dynamics are simply copy/paste of very basic real life behaviors belonging to a specific culture in the moment of time where the game was developed, and that is extremely dull and boring to me, especially if I have to experience it from a male point of view. Not because I don't have the mental capacity to roleplay a male, but because it's been done ten million times, over and over, and it's exhausting.

I've played male characters in DnD, because then I chose my fantasy, and I take it as such, with my group of friends, in a controlled environment where we make the social dynamics rather than being locked into its pre-written text. Also because while DnD does have settings in which social dynamics are a representation of some real world societies in different regions, some are not, and are actually fun to experiment with - for example, drow or gnoll society.

I'm sure there will be an exception here and there where a videogame with a locked male protagonist isn't written in a way resembling the real world culture when it comes to social dynamics between people of different genders, but as long as the norm is the opposite, I do not enjoy being forced to participate in that façade.

The larger developers or those who want to make most sales and can afford it, understand this, and try to implement character customization of some kind, with a story that can be flexible enough for everyone to find their own fantasy.

Now, a game like Lost Eidolons with a 50k budget, that's less than a yearly salary for a single senior programmer, I can understand that is not an option. So it's fair for the developer to think that the game is not for me and I should simply avoid it, as it is for me to do the same.

But please, dispense with the veiled insults to the intelligence, emotional or otherwise, of people who have different ways to understand and embrace their enjoyment. It is extremely rude and condescending.

Edit after re-reading to fix a couple types and this TL;DR - being a werecat or a fireball-hurling sorceress are fantastic/outworldly concepts that I can enjoy roleplaying now and then, living a different fantasy in each different game. Being a male is a very mundane, common thing that is portrayed in very mundane and and often cliche cultural ways, which is difficult for me get behind, and generally causes disociation between me and my character.

Its hard yakka going against the grain on this forum. As I've said, people are reading things into what are very brief statements and you are tasking me with defending statements I haven't made. If you have imagined I've slighted you all I can tell you is that was not the intention.

I play all kinds of beings in RPGs (races, humans/non-humans, gender, jobs(classes), skills, traits, sexual orientation, etc.). It is part of the fun for me to experiment with different roles.
I often try completely different characters in another playthrough, just to see if it is a different experience. A preset gender or class is not an issue for me, as long they are enough other ways to roleplay your character.
Often a story can be told easier if some things are preset.
And certainly you can avoid costs if you reduce the number of choices for character customization.

HiddenX said:

I play all kinds of beings in RPGs (races, humans/non-humans, gender, jobs(classes), skills, traits, sexual orientation, etc.). It is part of the fun for me to experiment with different roles.
I often try completely different characters in another playthrough, just to see if it is a different experience. A preset gender or class is not an issue for me, as long they are enough other ways to roleplay your character.
Often a story can be told easier if some things are preset.
And certainly you can avoid costs if you reduce the number of choices for character customization.

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If I had enough time to play multiple times I would vary my playthroughs more. But usually I can only play a few hours a week, which means one game at a time and sometimes over several months. Therefore I try to find a character where I feel really immersed, which includes playing a male character, if possible.