Skills and Weapon Question

[SasamisGuard]

im just curious as to two things as with most apoloplytic games use firearms mainly
what we'll be using? Magic,Technology,Martial Weapons (Swords,Maces and such),Firearms

also since the same team worked on TQ will it be the same dual class system, a character specific skilllset such in Torchlight,highly customizable like Fate or a mix of specific skills and customization as in Sacred 2

i found out about this game from wildorbs forums and it looks intresting. im always up for mindless hacking and slashing...helps relieve stress :)

[medierra]

Hi, welcome to the forum

The game has a post-apocalyptic theme but it is set a supernatural one and the world is themed after the Victorian time period of Earth circa 1700-1800. Players will be able to use firearms, swords and other melee weapons, shields / magical focus items, and a diverse range of skills.

We are indeed carrying on the dual-class system.

[SlayerII]

Hows about 2-handed weapons? Missed them at tq:(
In this time such weapons where used.Polearms for example.

[Llama8]

Slayer, they've said that there won't be two-handed weapons in the initial game, but they should be able to add them in fairly easily in an expansion.

Medierra, you do know that Victoria reigned from 1837-1901? 1700-1800 would cover the reigns of Anne (1702-1714), George I (1714-1727), George II (1727-1760) & George III (1760-1801). So either you're aiming for a more Georgian time period, or you're going for 1800-1900...
:p

[SlayerII]

He even said after the victorian, so it would be world war 1:rolleyes:

[medierra]

Ah yeah, I use "Victorian" loosely as a term to help convey the look of the game since I think many people are familiar with it and it instantly conjures up certain imagery. However, we're drawing from a larger expanse of history as inspiration for our world. Really I guess you could say we're borrowing ideas and imagery from a range more like 1650ish-1920ish. Some aspects of human culture and technology on Cairn are more primitive than the Victorian period on Earth, some aspects are a little more advanced. So it is sort a mishmash of Colonial New England to WW1 era culture / technology / architecture / clothing.

Guns, for example, will be a little more advanced as we didn't want to just lock ourselves into the really early firearms. Some of the guns will be a little more WW1 style. Yet, at the same time, we've got some pretty brutal looking swords. Part of the thinking behind swords is that they may not have been in as much use prior to the apocalypse but afterwards became a much more useful weapon. A lot of the early swords in the game were designed with the idea that people were just taking scrap-metal pieces from metal signs or panels or wherever they could get it and sharpening it into blades and sticking handles on it. Likewise with armor. The first armor set we made started out as an overcoat and then in subsequent tiers you see metal plates being sewn onto it and eventually these big pauldrons with metal pieces that look like they came off something else. The big blocky sword in some of the new screenshots is an early unique called "The Magistrate's Censor" which actually has the words "magistrate" on the blade along with chipped red paint and looks like it was crudely fashioned out of an old metal sign or something. It silences enemies. ;)

I don't think we'll have any gas-powered engines in the world and I don't think there will be much evidence of electricity either. If there is anything electrical it would probably be some kind of crazy Tesla style machine - maybe the teleporters...

[Roros]

Will we be seeing any completely original made-up type firearms or are they mostly based on stuff you'd see in the real world?

I like big, chunky guns in games. I sometimes feel that those based on real ones tend to look a bit flimsy.

[Llama8]

Sounds like it's everything from the Stewarts to Edwardian (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwardian_era) then. If you don't want to go for internal combustian engine tech (though that would still fit in with that timeline (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_internal_combustion_engine)) you could always go for steam engine/steampunk tech.

Edit: Ooooo, does that mean we might get Vickers (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vickers_machine_gun)/Maxim (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maxim_gun)-type guns? Possibly fitted on to a steampunk-type mech? :D As a high level summons maybe?

[medierra]

Will we be seeing any completely original made-up type firearms or are they mostly based on stuff you'd see in the real world?

I like big, chunky guns in games. I sometimes feel that those based on real ones tend to look a bit flimsy.

I agree - when you accurately model real guns, especially older ones, they often come out looking really insubstantial. This is especially true for a top-down perspective. We will be basing most of our guns off real-world designs but then beefing them up and taking other liberties to scale up the "badassness" to appropriate levels. They won't be over-the-top Doom style weapons but they won't be skinny colonial rifles either. Some happy middle-ground.

[medierra]

Edit: Ooooo, does that mean we might get Vickers (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vickers_machine_gun)/Maxim (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maxim_gun)-type guns? Possibly fitted on to a steampunk-type mech? :D As a high level summons maybe?

There may be some gatling-style unique guns. We don't really think steam-punk fits our current vision for the world though so you won't see any steampunk mechs or robots or anything of that sort. I feel like steampunk is something you have to go all or nothing on and it would seem very out of place in Grim Dawn, despite being set in a time period similar to most steampunk style games / movies.

[Llama8]

We don't really think steam-punk fits our current vision for the world though so you won't see any steampunk mechs or robots or anything of that sort.

Bang goes my idea for an Engineer class then (several mechanical/steampowered pets/devices)...
:(

Edit: What about a steampowered melee weapon (slow but high damage, kinda like a chainsaw or something) then?

[medierra]

Bang goes my idea for an Engineer class then (several mechanical/steampowered pets/devices)...
:(

Edit: What about a steampowered melee weapon (slow but high damage, kinda like a chainsaw or something) then?

Well, we do have a demolition class, which is sort of similar to a military shooter style engineer class. No mechanical pets though... Plenty of grenado, sachel charge, and shotgun action though! Oh man... I need to make a video of exploding zombies soon... the gibbing we've got going on right now in the game right now is ridiculously fun. We just got dismemberment working last night but it needs a little more polish! :D

Chainsaw... oooh... you might be able to sell me on this! :p

[The Old Farmer]

If a society had access to teleporters then the development of engines either steam or internal combustion would in all likelihood not happen. Why have a train or truck to move goods or people if you have a portal system. All sorts of communities would arise centered around the local portal.
If access to a magical energy source were available then this would in all probably result in this power rather than electrical.
So the possibility of magic powered chain swords is this some thing we could look forward to?

[Llama8]

No mechanical pets though...
You sure you don't want any mechanical pets? I've had the following idea:

Parasitic Automata: A small automata that attaches itself to the nearest enemy of the engineer & causes damage with a basic, albeit sharp, melee weapon. Since the device is small, there is only a small chance for other enemies to detect it & be able to attack it. If it is attacked it will be destroyed fairly quickly due to it's fragility.
Higher level synergies could include: replacing the knife with a drill/chainsaw (increased damage to target & gore/mess), multiple weapons (can do damage to nearby monsters, but increases the chance they will attack it) & a self-destruct device (when destroyed, or after it's duration it explodes doing AoE damage).

Chainsaw... oooh... you might be able to sell me on this! :p
You know you want a chainsaw, just imagine the viscera fountaining up from the impact (possibly as a critical hit animation) on a fleshy target (like a zombie).

If a society had access to teleporters then the development of engines either steam or internal combustion would in all likelihood not happen. Why have a train or truck to move goods or people if you have a portal system. All sorts of communities would arise centered around the local portal.
True, but we don't know where the teleporters arise in the game world timeline, they could be post-invasion, or an outcome of a Tesla-like mad scientist experimenting with things he/she shouldn't.

[medierra]

If access to a magical energy source were available then this would in all probably result in this power rather than electrical.
So the possibility of magic powered chain swords is this some thing we could look forward to?

Our concept of magic in Grim Dawn is a little different than the sort of high-magic of other fantasy games. Magic is a darker and more chaotic power. Traditional magic in the world is inspired more by folklore, witchcraft, shamanism, superstition. It is more mystical and based around the use of occult objects, wards, summoning of supernatural entities. The other type of magic is based on "aether" which is energy drawn through the veil between realities from the realm of the Aetherials. It is a much more recent occurrence and, though some humans can manipulate it, it is rather chaotic. Aether is more of a living energy and can't really be used with any precision to interact with inert materials. So there won't really be any "techno-magical" devices.

We want to keep the world gritty, brutal, and somewhat primal despite taking place in a more advanced time period. Although there aren't any current plans for combustion-powered vehicles, I think a crude, smoky, gas-powered chainsaw would be more appealing to me than a high-fantasy techno-magic chainsaw or a steampunk design that bordered too much on sci-fi. I'm not against steam powered machinery necessarily but I want it to be crude and clunky and not cross over into the realm of sci-fi that a lot of steampunk stuff does.

[shawnmck]

How about some type of powered fist (glove-type melee weapon) that is either pneumatic or electric (or variations of the two) in nature ?
Mybe it can be upgraded too....say for example you get some blocky looking glove that just does blunt force damage, & it can be retro-fitted with an item or device that does electricity damage, fire damage, pneumatic (extra blunt force), or etc.

There is just so much you can do with the time period.

[Llama8]

I think a crude, smoky, gas-powered chainsaw would be more appealing to me

An Orc-tech (rather than Space Marine) chainsaw belching black smoke as it chews into it's targets...

[shawnmck]

Kind of an un-related question, but......

Are there going to be vampires & werewolves too ?

You can't have a victorian themed game (sort of) without vampires, wherewolves.
Zombies are already there, so I won't ask about them.
;)

[SlayerII]

.... chainsaw ...

chainsaws!chainsaws!:)We want chainsaws!

[medierra]

Kind of an un-related question, but......

Are there going to be vampires & werewolves too ?

You can't have a victorian themed game (sort of) without vampires, wherewolves.
Zombies are already there, so I won't ask about them.
;)

I wouldn't count them out... we talked about them possibly being other races in the game that are native to Cairn and once were enemies of mankind but could become potential allies against the greater threat posed by the otherworldly races. We brainstormed an idea where by killing one vs. the other and doing certain quests you could gain faction and ultimately unlock new quests / rewards with either the vampires or werewolves

[Darkruin]

Have you released info on all 5 classes yet? I'm really excited about both caster types and the demolition class! It looks like you have range attacks covered but i was wondering if there will be a healer/buff type class and also what type of melee class/classes there will be.

[SlayerII]

a healer class? thats a arpg, there is no need for an healer class. Buy a mmorpg if you like healer classes:rolleyes:

[ASYLUM101]

a healer class? thats a arpg, there is no need for an healer class. Buy a mmorpg if you like healer classes:rolleyes:

Hey man, did you even play TQ? Nature was a pretty decent healer class. Even defense and dream were pretty capable of healing and aiding survival(rally and ToC) I'm hoping for a caster class that can heal, not a dedicated healer. A dedicated healer might get boring, but something like a cleric would be fun. Holy/Unholy strikes, Smiting, undead banishment, blessings, healings... i think it'd fit in perfectly.

[Darkruin]

Yes that's what i was thinking...maybe a Prophet class that had holy damage/buffs/healing maybe in a later expansion. I am guessing the final 2 classes will both be melee to balance out the initial release...im hopin Soldier and Assassin type classes. I would also love to see a bow user in a later expansion!

[SlayerII]

Hey man, did you even play TQ? Nature was a pretty decent healer class. Even defense and dream were pretty capable of healing and aiding survival(rally and ToC) .

But non of this classes is a healer class:rolleyes:
Natue was a pet mastery. And many focus on "reduce enemy life%".
Defense was a ... erm... "how to use shield offensive" mastery;) and a bit about staying alive.
And dream was just.. overkill... but no healing. Just incrase life regen a bit.

And in the end a class focused on supporting and healing dont work in a arpg. Casue arpg are often played alone;)

Dond mind me wrong, a class which have a healing skill would be fine, but not a class focused on it.

[Llama8]

A healer/support class might be more viable in TQ/GD (assuming they're still going with dual class characters, which I think Medierra's said is the case), since you could pick the healer/support class & one that can actually kill stuff. ;)

[TheRani]

But non of this classes is a healer class:rolleyes:
Natue was a pet mastery. And many focus on "reduce enemy life%".
Defense was a ... erm... "how to use shield offensive" mastery;) and a bit about staying alive.
And dream was just.. overkill... but no healing. Just incrase life regen a bit.

And in the end a class focused on supporting and healing dont work in a arpg. Casue arpg are often played alone;)

Dond mind me wrong, a class which have a healing skill would be fine, but not a class focused on it.

Heck, even Spirit characters could heal themselves with Life Drain/Cascade if they wanted to go that route. I like the way healing was handled in TQ. Multiple masteries had some means of healing, but nobody was just a one-trick pony. They all had some way to fight.

[myrmidon]

it all depends on what you want it to be. nature is not a pet mastery. and its is not a healing class. its what you want it to be. it all depends on what you likes and your builds.