Eador: Masters of the Broken World Interview
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ACG: Can heroes be customized, with weapons, armor, and skills, and to what extent?
VT: Absolutely. There are four hero classes to choose, and that's only the beginning. On level 10, a hero must specialize by picking one of the four second-tier classes. For example, a 10th- level Warrior may turn into Berserker, a fighter of great strength able to invoke battle rage or turn into a Dark Knight, taught to animate fallen combatants as undead and employ other necromantic stuff. (We do not condone those, of course. We're claiming that anyone who played a necromancer in Diablo 2 has to be a closet fan of Lady Gaga or, uh, Cradle of Filth).
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ACG: Give examples of how the "good vs. evil" decision dilemma works on the tactical, strategic, and global levels.
VT: On the topmost, Astral level, the karma of our alter ego influences our diplomatic opportunities and the attitude of other Masters towards him. Would we support a necromancer Master in his ambition to destroy all life, or secure the assistance of a more humane ally? This is the kind of decisions to be made on this level. The game features 12 different endings and the player's actions in the Astral strongly influence the final outcome of the game.
The effect of the karma is most obvious on the strategic layer. Some event or another happens pretty much every turn in the provinces we control, and the way we respond to them defines the changes of our character's reputation. Did you refuse to assist the citizens of a province struck by a plague? Get ready for the survivors to rise up in insurrection several turns later. Invading an Orc province as an evil Master? You might actually expect a warm welcome orcs hate those stupid elves and priests as much as you do.
On the tactical level, karma does not reveal itself directly. However, some of the player's actions do affect it beneath the hood. If you rely too much on summoning demons and animating undead, your karma will plummet into the depths of evil, while using the spells of Light may save your karma yet . a bit.
