I'm still amazed, that the main interest is the portfolio of matingpartners ^^



RPG's sure have changed since the 90's ^^

Lol well I think is because I also make dating sims. So people coming to my site are more sensible to that aspect than the average gamer. I think I heard someone saying that they're playing my RPG also for the gameplay though!!

Then why don't you inplement stuff that you get a sa reward for completing the game or a certain number of romances?



Like different outfits (sexy?) for elenor/saren or some npc's? ^^ or secret romance scenes at the end of the game?



This would encourage multiple playthroughs

I'm still amazed, that the main interest is the portfolio of matingpartners ^^



RPG's sure have changed since the 90's ^^

its not about the changing in the rpg, its about tthe first games from winterwolves

since they were dating sim the majority of the audience like this aspect of the game, its not good or bad just different

I never judged it ^^ it is just interesting how some things change. (Sadly I am so old that I have played games in 8 bit )



And romancing is not just important with winterwolves games. i.E. Bioware games are heavy on romancing too and they have been sucessfull with this aproach to the community.



I think that players have a different relation to their characters nowadays than in the games of old. The work companies like Blizzard put into customization options of caracters and their companions is another example. Gamers actually pay for having some individual looks (--> Jack, maybe you can implement an outfit package for some extra money )



I am eager to see what our beloved games will be in the future.

I never judged it ^^ it is just interesting how some things change. (Sadly I am so old that I have played games in 8 bit )



And romancing is not just important with winterwolves games. i.E. Bioware games are heavy on romancing too and they have been sucessfull with this aproach to the community.



I think that players have a different relation to their characters nowadays than in the games of old. The work companies like Blizzard put into customization options of caracters and their companions is another example. Gamers actually pay for having some individual looks (--> Jack, maybe you can implement an outfit package for some extra money )



I am eager to see what our beloved games will be in the future.

sorry i didnt want to say that you were judging, i just wrote that so people woundt thougth that i was judging them

and my frist contact with video game was with a master system

and plz outifit dlc are the worse thing that coul happen to winterwolves, why they could not be packed with the main game?

My first RPG ever was on the C64, from the AD&D SSI series. There was an enemy called "Winter Wolves"...

Personally I play all kind of RPGs but I really prefer if there's romance. If there isn't, is not necessarily a bad game bu feels like something is missing to me.

About DLC I don't have the "tech" to implement low-cost DLC (the fees would eat all the money basically) , and to be honest I'm not particularly enthusiast about them as player even if I know many companies do that now. I'd rather release expansions like I did before with a bunch of content instead.

I'm still amazed, that the main interest is the portfolio of matingpartners ^^



RPG's sure have changed since the 90's ^^

I actually have a theory as to why this is. Granted, it may be partially because Jack does dating sims and such too, but I think it's more about giving the player more reasons to care. I mean, most rpg plots have been done to death or have parts that echo elements that have been seen in games before (Like, even if it's just a cave setting for a dungeon you'll generally get that 'it's been done' feel). No matter how original you try to be, there is going to be some comparison these days. That being said, I need a reason to get me past those feelings. If I'm going to play a game through to the end I generally have to care about what I'm doing and saving the world (or any grand, overused reason) just isn't enough for me anymore. Character relationships give me that extra reason. It makes your party members more than just people that help me advance the plots. It makes them your friends, lovers, or enemies (if they give you that option)-- people that you care about one way or the other. It also makes player's feel like it's their game since they got to chose who they ended up with and since there are options it makes the game really re-playable.



Games like Catherine, Witcher 2, Persona 4, Dragon Age, Princess Debut (this game totally rocks so don't judge me), Harvest Moon, Fire Emblem, etc. would not be the same without relationship options (Okay, maybe Witcher 2 would work without it since most of they're pretty much one night stands, but then you wouldn't know what a manwhore Geralt can be). The walking dead game plays with relationships really well too. It's not a dating sim (maybe a child raising sim though. lols) by any means, but it does change how characters react to you and provides enough variety to warrant more playthroughs despite the fact that it's a pretty linear game. It branches a bit, but the end is always roughly the same. And yet, you don't care. I know by the end I felt proud of my Lee. I had a personal connection to him and all of the relationships he developed over the course of his story. Lee remains very dear to me because of this.



Granted, there are a lot of games that don't give you those options and still manage to be fun. I love Legend of Heroes: Trails in the sky even though it doesn't let you decide who to pair Estelle up with because the characters are so likable and there are a lot of sidequests (not stupid ones like fetching and collectible quests thankfully) that help you get further into the characters since they offer a bunch of new and fun dialogue that are totally optional. Suikoden is a lot of fun too. You get options, but not really dating options. The fun from these games comes from the three types of battles, the ability to recruit 108 people, and upgrading your base. I guess my point is, as long as there is something there that rewards the player for doing optional side stuff it doesn't have to be choice of romantic relationships.



On a side note, I also like romance options because I almost always hate the main girl type (the sweet, gentle, stupidly optimistic, naive, hates violence, more important than everyone else for some reason, can't do anything herself so you always end up rescuing her -- even though they pretend that she's so independent -- type) games automatically try to pair the main character up with in games with no options. It really sucks when I like the main character. I'm always like whhhhy?





Aaaaanyway, I feel like I might have gone off topic and rambled. I hope that my point is in there somewhere.



More on topic: Them centaurs are smexy! :D

Yes some good points in there. I personally was disappointed when in Walking Dead I discovered that you really couldn't get a "real relationship" in the game. But was still good of course.

Actually I just realized one thing: that right now the main focus is on romances also because I didn't post anything else about the game (for spoilerish reasons!). So when all you got is a very vague idea of the story, no gameplay/work in progress screenshot/game rules discussion, I think is rather obvious that the main interest will be the romances

In PS2 subforum for example there's also more discussion about the rules and other aspects of the game since we revealed more stuff about those things.

You have many good points there Hyena. I want to add that in my opinion games like Dragon Age, the witcher 2 (oh i loved it) gave you the illusion of having the freedom to manipulate the world around you. You could interact with nearly everything, change the story to your liking and play the relationship to your companions as you liked. That's what makes the difference to older games, where you just follow a given plot until the end (and are relieved if it is over). That was the major point why I diskil(ed) JRPG's, since you can usually just grind along a fixed path.



Of course players want to get a deeper relationship to their companions if the character design is good and complex so you can explore his/her/its personality instead of exploring a landscape



And yea, DLC suck, was just a joke of me to add it there



Maybe Jack can implement some minigames where you can barter your hard earned money like centaur-polo or something like that

I was going to write a long, in-depth post about how awesome romance options are and how they create even greater depth in already well-developed characters, as well as the greater appeal they appear hold to female players (and, perhaps more recently, with gay/bisexual players as representation improves), but by this point I think I'd just be re-hashing what's already been said.



Instead, I'll explain the obvious reason why the attractive creatures are not romanceable - they're busy romancing each other.



http://i42.tinypic.com/amlnl.png" style="max-width:100%">



(Apologies for terrible art - I didn't feel like spending more than ten minutes to make a not all that entertaining joke. Feel free to imagine a male equivalent.)

Haha nice image!!

My first RPG ever was on the C64, from the AD&D SSI series. There was an enemy called "Winter Wolves"...

Ohh, ohh, ohhhhh, OHHHH! My first "real" CRPG was also a C64 AD&D SSI game. Mine was the very first one, Pool of Radiance.

I don't remember the name but I think was that one too. Not sure though! Thinking better maybe it was "The Bard's Tale" though. My memories of those times are a bit blurry since was only 13-14 years old

It might have been one of the sequels. Winter Wolves sounds more like they would be in the frozen wastes of "Secret of the Silver Blades." I don't remember the details, but that is mostly because I played all the SSI gold box games, so they blur together a bit.

Ah yes! I think it was exactly that one

Remember, I don't like to tease. You brought this down to yourself, asking me to post previews even if the game doesn't even have a release date yet!

http://24.media.tumblr.com/7714e8a5cf0cc48b623d29fd2aa5eb5e/tumblr_mn1as1YLQn1qhts2bo1_400.jpg" style="max-width:100%">

...yes Karen's hair is wrong color, colorist is fixing it. What is happening!?!? OMG oh noes, etc etc.

(also is always nice to take a peek at Karen's amazonic breasts )

Oh noes, what is happening to Loren?! Don't tell me she has fallen ill and the only cure is a flower that grows high up in the mountains and that it only grows once every five years... and only one exists



Keep posting teases ;3 You know we love 'em.

Pfuit that would be a plot too banal! in reality the antidote is mother's milk that's why Karen is crying, Loren's teeth are much bigger now.

OK I WAS JOKING, if that wasn't clear I will post the teasers but give no explanation of what they means

Awwww that makes me want to comfort Karen :3



@ Svanhildr/Sven yea it is too banal, you forgot the evil biting ram in front of this flower. It has evil enchanted horns too, that always hit your sensitive area around the waist :D