Interview with Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising Designer Director – More Info Revealed

The Roman Empire lives and continues to conquer – in the virtual world that is. Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising, the upcoming MMORPG game from Perpetual Entertainment, features classic god/human hybrid heroes of the ancient world circa 300 BC. Each player will  follow his destiny through Epic Quests that spans all levels of gameplay. In time, the player acquires famous weapons and power.  ItÂ’s like that TV reality show “Survivor” but with better actors and plot. The game’s design director, Stieg Hedlund, was interviewed by GameZone on what to expect. “WeÂ’ve really done a great deal of research in both history and myth, but our focus has always been on presenting what weÂ’ve learned in a way that entertains. Certainly people could learn a thing or two about Roman culture from our game, but theyÂ’re guaranteed to have fun doing so,”  he said. “We will be finishing primary development over the next few months and leading to a launch in the fall.”

Read the full interview: The Roman Empire lives and continues to conquer – in the virtual world that is. Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising, the upcoming MMORPG game from Perpetual Entertainment, features classic god/human hybrid heroes of the ancient world circa 300 BC. Each player will  follow his destiny through Epic Quests that spans all levels of gameplay. In time, the player acquires famous weapons and power.  ItÂ’s like that TV reality show “Survivor” but with better actors and plot. The game’s design director, Stieg Hedlund, was interviewed by GameZone on what to expect. “WeÂ’ve really done a great deal of research in both history and myth, but our focus has always been on presenting what weÂ’ve learned in a way that entertains. Certainly people could learn a thing or two about Roman culture from our game, but theyÂ’re guaranteed to have fun doing so,”  he said. “We will be finishing primary development over the next few months and leading to a launch in the fall.”

Read the full interview:

Question: With SOE now publishing this title, have any changes been made to the game itself, or is this pretty much the same title that was at E3 in 2005?

Stieg: I hope itÂ’s not pretty much the same title that was at E3 in 2005, which would have less to do with SOEÂ’s involvement, and more to do with the fact that weÂ’ve been working on it hard, refining the vision and raising the level of quality. IÂ’d say itÂ’s essentially the same game, but a lot better.

Q: As this is based on the Roman era, how authentic to the time frame is the game? Will family have much to do with status within the society?

Stieg: Well our game is a blend of history and mythology, so discussing it terms of authenticity is a bit odd. However, we do enjoy the flavor and detail provided by this backdrop a great deal, and the characters, environments and stories of the game are deeply infused with this material. WeÂ’ve really done a great deal of research in both history and myth, but our focus has always been on presenting what weÂ’ve learned in a way that entertains. Certainly people could learn a thing or two about Roman culture from our game, but theyÂ’re guaranteed to have fun doing so.

As far as family, the character you play has unclear parentage and is a bit set apart from Roman society. Being a heroic scion of the gods tends to do that.

We do have Tribes (our version of Guilds), which actually was what the Romans called their noble families, such as the famous Julii.

Q: How do players begin and how will they attain followers (the NPCs they can lead into battle)?

Stieg: When you begin you have been imprisoned by the followers of the Telchines, a mysterious group of sorcerers who had been banished by the Gods eons since. TheyÂ’re back and have rounded up the heroes of Rome. You have to escape form captivity and take your place as a defender of the Republic.

Some rare minions can be gained as rewards for quests, and others will be more commonly available in cities. As you explore the game world there will be a wide variety of them that you can try to hire.

Q: Speaking of NPC followers – if you are in a battle, and your NPCs die, can they be restored, or do you have to replace them and train the rookies? Do NPCs level?

Stieg: Minions can die, but there are ways to bring them back. We think people will become pretty attached to their minions, and itÂ’d be overly punishing to have permanent death for them; youÂ’d probably also have to always be hunting for minions to take the place of the dead ones, which doesnÂ’t seem fun either.

Therefore, the only way to really “lose” a minion is if you fire him. Minions do level up with the player and gain new abilities as you use them.

Q: Can you recruit different quality followers without having to defeat mythic beasts to earn their loyalty?

Stieg: Minions do have different degrees of power, from the light minions available at lower levels through the heavy minions you can find later. Myth creatures will follow you eventually, but they are rare and you generally will get them only after the completion of fairly strenuous tasks.

Q: Is the mythos in this game strictly Roman or is it a hybrid of Roman and Greek mythology?

Stieg: Roman myth is already a hybrid of Roman and Greek myth — the Romans adopted a great deal of the mythos of Greece, but they really made it their own as well as having a number of native beliefs of their own. Pretty much anything you can think of from Greek myth exists in Roman myth as well (although the name is likely to have changed, as well as various other details about it), and there are other distinctly Roman creatures such as numen (place-spirits).

Q: Do politics and the intrigue of that play a role in the game?

Stieg: When you think Rome, you naturally think political intrigue, so we really embraced that in a lot of our story lines. We brought in a lot of themes that we think will pay off on peopleÂ’s expectations for a game based in Rome and Roman myth.

Q: With a large world, will players only be able to play Romans, or will they be able to take on the roles of other nations that battled against the Roman empire?

Stieg: At launch you will get to play one of several types of heroes of Rome, but in future expansions we plan to allow play as heroes of different nations in opposition to Rome, such as the Carthaginians.

Q: Tell us about the economic model. Will there be crafting in this world, or will armor and weapons be earned, either through combat or by earning the coin to buy from NPC merchants. Will players have to outfit their followers?

Stieg: Players will be able to purchase equipment from merchants in cities and towns, but at higher levels more powerful items will only be available as loot. You can purchase equipment for your minions as well to improve their performance in battle.

Q: When will beta for this game launch and what is the expected release date?

Stieg: We will be finishing primary development over the next few months and moving into ever larger beta testing phases leading to a launch in the fall.