TenTonHammer.com - Taking MMO Gamers to the Next Level!

The Art of Recreating an Epic

Quests, Gameplay, and the History of a Legend

Funcom, as they have told many publications in the past, is a story-driven company; all of their games are focused upon the story of the characters inside. That being said, it’s clearly evident that Age of Conan is going to have thoroughly integrated story elements in the actual gameplay.

Thor pointed out that each of the quests that were available were tied into other quests. “Each of the quests in this region, and in all the regions in the game, will be tied into other quests. We are a story driven game but we want there to be interconnectivity within the world that the players exist in.”

While the quests were really well done, I was interested in how much of the lore was actually used to create the game. Howard’s books, of course, were on the list, but other authors like Robert Jordan and the Marvel comic book series all took different spins on the raging barbarian. “We have 12 people working on the quests full-time,” Jorgen answered, “and I know that at least the keep lore people have read every book. Each book they go through, they look at the elements inside the novel and select things that they may or may not use.”

“If you’ve read any of the new Penguin books or Dark Horse comics, you’ll actually be able to meet up with the individuals you see from the comics,” he continued.

Thor continued that train of thought. “Yeah, there are certain areas where you’ll pick up a quest and go, ‘I recognize this area!’, because you’ve seen it in the comics.”

As we explored one of the Stygian lands, both developers made a note that this area alone had approximately 100-110 hours of gameplay in it, and was the level 20-40 area for Stygians. “And all the other races have similar situations; where they’ll have a hundred or so hours of gameplay available to them in their various areas. The characters don’t have to travel before level 40 if they don’t want to, allowing each race to have different initial experiences beyond the typical grind.”

 While quests and story may be all well and good, many of us in the room were worried about our power-leveling friends who would stop at nothing to reach max level. “We’ve been working on a master and apprentice system for Age of Conan that will allow you to play with your friends no matter the level. We also have the PvP system, which works on tiers rather than standard levels so you will still be able to play with your friend even if you don’t have as much time.”

In the end, Funcom is devoted to making Age of Conan as close to the history that Howard devised as possible. They want to create a dark, gritty, nasty world where men and women both struggle to stay alive. I believe these things will be apparent the first time any new Conan user starts up his client and begins the long trek down his “journey into darkness.”

Return to the Age of Conan GDC preview page!

Ten Ton Hammer is your unofficial source for all Age of Conan news!