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So far in these Sneak Previews we have discussed Roger Steel's background and seen him in, uh, action, if that's the right word. However, the heart of any Winter Wolves game lies in the relationships formed between the characters you'll meet as you progress through the adventure.

In this respect, we hope Roger Steel won't disappoint. As well as an international cast of colourful characters roaming across some pretty exotic locations, the game will also implement what we hope to be an interesting and very replayable relationship system.

As you know, players will be guiding either Ann or Arthur Trevelyan in search of their kidnapped sibling. For various reasons, at the point of the kidnapping, the atmosphere between brother and sister has become rather strained and the crisis takes place at a low point at their relationship. Things can only get better right?

Well, maybe. As the remaining sibling embarks on their quest they will enlist the help of a varied cast of characters, each with their own motives for joining the party. Regrettably, none of the motives have much to do with the milk of human kindness and altruism. So not only will Ann or Arthur have to figure out what happened to their brother or sister, for maximum party effectiveness they will have to interact with and coordinate a disparate group of strangers ... each of whom is pursuing their individual agenda and have their own preferences or prejudices regarding their companions.

Through conversations, conducted in the evenings and quiet moments in their travels, the player will have an opportunity to get to know their companions, figure out their quirks and desires, and try to build or maintain friendships while perhaps conducting a romance or two on the side. The goal is to give those who let the chips fall where they may, or even purposefully cause dissension in the ranks, a quite different experience from those who strive to lead a united party, whether or not romance is part of the adventure.

now you are just being mean
you say there will be a varied cast of characters, but said nothing about them =(

Haha please don't be angry the sneak previews is something we decided to do even if we knew that in the beginning there wasn't much to show. Mostly to keep update of the progress...
In this specific case, about the characters, I told him to wait to introduce them because I want to have the lineart or at least the sketches. Is more cool to talk about a character and look also at the picture, rather than text only.

ValHallen wrote:now you are just being mean
you say there will be a varied cast of characters, but said nothing about them =(

Sorry about that. I try to keep the Sneak Previews from being a wall of text and also, as Jack said, we would like to introduce characters alongside their artwork. However, I'm thinking that next week I might introduce you to the four friends at the heart of the story and their relationship to each other ...

Uh, I just realized that's more teasing. More apologies. I can be a bit of a bastard at times.

so whar are you saing in the sneak preview is that we cant have all ou party members with us by the end of the game, since helping one of them might annoy another ans that person will leave the party? so we should think careful about our decisions because they can make someone betray us?
if it is what you want to say, well it will be awesome

Yes in practice you'll have to do real "party management". In my other RPGs, even if you pissed someone, they consequences weren't too bad. With this game we want to try something new. There will still be the possibility to have an ending where everyone (or almost!) is together, but at certain points of the story you'll have to make "tough choices" and pick your side, befriending some people and making others angry

jack1974 wrote:Yes in practice you'll have to do real "party management". In my other RPGs, even if you pissed someone, they consequences weren't too bad. With this game we want to try something new. There will still be the possibility to have an ending where everyone (or almost!) is together, but at certain points of the story you'll have to make "tough choices" and pick your side, befriending some people and making others angry

i hope we will lose at least one or two members, since if there is a perfect ending, the majority of the players will have that ending and will not try the others

I never said that the perfect ending will be EASY to get

Sounds like my kind of game (even more!) I love games ( I know it's not quite the same) where you have to pick and choose which members to get and no way can you get them all but a party where you can't keep them all sounds good too

Sounds like LOADS of replay value. :O

Do you get the opportunity to pick/choose your character's personality, or is it more a decision-making process that you do? (ie: being friendly/joking/stern, like in Loren, or more 'I make the big decisions, but other than that, my personality stays the same') kind of deal, like in... uh, can't think of any good examples on that last one, really. (Maybe the Scheherezade game?)