Stranger Preview
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After the fight the game transitions to the first actual mission, starring Steiger. There are still tutorial pop-ups, but you're for the most part on your own, hunting around for the other two heroes, Kagar and one we hadn't met yet. At this point you begin to see how Stranger fuses limited open-world aspects, RTS elements, and RPG questing and progression mechanics. Though you're on an RTS-like square map, you're free to go wherever you want. On your way around the map you'll encounter enemies and run into towns of NPCs, some of whom can be hired to help you out. The RTS elements stem from your ability to drag-select your hero and mercs and order them around like you might in, say, Command & Conquer.
So here's how I tackled the stage. Steiger was equipped with a crossbow and had one merc in tow, so I drag-selected them and started moving to the northwest of the map. The village of Yellow Hills was nestled up there, inhabited by some kind of goblin-like people. They told me a wizard by the name of Tummul was making trouble for them, and like any good NPCs, offered to help me in my travels if I'd first help them. I tried to go straight for Tummul, but his surrounding guards turned out to be really powerful, killing the mercenary buddy within a short amount of time and forcing me to retreat. I moved back to the village of Yellow Hills and aggroed small groups of insect creatures that lay just to the south until enough feat points were accumulated to buy a heal spell. To actually trigger the spell, I had to move a few of the green crystals I'd been finding on the bodies of dead enemies from the menu to Steiger. Then I bought a green field affinity ability to double the chances of casting helpful green spells.
