http://www.cardhunter.com/2011/10/the-evolving-art-style-of-card-hunter So, nothing stated that this ISN'T similar to the current pre-adventure screen, just that it is an early concept. I really hope that something like this appears during the preparation for adventure.
Like so many previews, it raises questions completely tangential to the subject discussed. How is "At least 1 Human" enforced? P.S. I think the art direction is spot on.
I'm more interested in the Beloved By Citizens thing. Have I missed this completely, or is this our first glimpse at an achievement system? That was from an early concept as was said...I wonder if that system has survived in any form.
I wonder if "Beloved By Citizens" hints at a factions system, too: after all, who else but citizens would love you? Outlaws? That would mean a rather different set of quests, or at least of outcomes.
Please don't read too much into that text! As Ben said, that was an early concept piece and he was riffing on a bunch of ideas we had at the time. Some of those ideas survived and some didn't.
well we can probably assume the card character art probably hasnt been scrapped and gives us an idea what a heavy set(warrior? knight? berserker?) would look like as well as a heavily armored human(knight? warrior?)
Now, for adventures in Adventures! Always excited to learn more about what we will actually be doing in Card Hunter--and the mechanics of these adventures are proving to be very interesting. Here's my quick take on this update: This appears to indicate we get to chose both 1) our favorite characters, and 2) our favorite gear whenever we go adventuring. So we get a pool of heroes? Coming from a guy who can never just pick one, this is fantastic. So adventures are semi-randomized? And sometimes we will be getting total curveballs? Replay value +10. Or does this mean that adventures are set, but sometimes they are not what the introduction describes them to be? Perhaps it's even more nefarious that way... YES. If any of y'all ever played Torchlight, the introduction of an animal companion/pack mule really made that dungeon crawler for me. Not only does having a guy like Rodolfo here give wonderful gameplay flexibility, it also adds an interesting hint of realism mixed with strategy. Do I bring a lot of different weapons in to try to tackle a tough dungeon, knowing I'm sacrificing the amount of loot I can take out? And in this light, can I leave gear I bring in on the dungeon floor if I happen to find better loot? How much can this little guy carry anyways? Can I upgrade him? Why is he so adorable?
I'm calling my mule Sideboard! Hopefully Ser Mule there can't be a target or else there'll be a lot of weeping and gnashing of teeth if the cutesy little thing gets shredded by the Big Bad. Every time I see a Dev Diary it ramps up the excitement for the game - I may self combust at some point...
I've never played a game with a mule before; I know that games have had them but for whatever reason I never did... It seems kinda silly to charge into combat with all your extra gear weighing you down, but I just accepted it as a convention... I'm not 100% clear whether Rodolfo the Mule is essential or auxiliary -- I'm getting the picture that we will be having a "guild" of adventurers. So the Mushroom Mercenaries are lounging about the break room playing chess and sipping mulled spirits, when suddenly an urgent messenger arrives pleading for aid on behalf of the hapless town of Sunny Meadows. The commander details three burly barbarians to ride off to the rescue, and they immediately spring up and dash to the equipment locker. Now, my question is: does every adventuring company automatically stable a mule to act as the party's inventory manager, or is this something that not every guild will choose to have, saving the costs of mule ownership (feed, mucking the straw) at the expense of having less flexibility and storage on missions?
Yep, you will be able to keep more than three characters and choose which you want to take on any given adventure. To answer the second question - no, adventures are not randomized. What I meant is that you can't rely on the adventure description or what you encounter in, say, the first three battles, to be true of the entire adventure. You might have, for example, an adventure that was difficult because it consisted of nothing but really tough undead or you might have an adventure that had a wide variety of monsters but mixes things up, so you can't tune your decks as finely. Although randomization would be an interesting thing to look at, it's not how we're currently designing the game. I don't want to say puzzle - but we want each adventure to be a well-designed strategic challenge. The random part comes in what loot you get and therefore what tools you have available to overcome that challenge.
A mule belongs to you, the player, and can be used on any adventure. I'm pretty sure that everyone will have one mule, but it's also likely that you'll be able to upgrade that mule as the campaign progresses.
I figured that was the way you were headed. I was just curious, because not having had a mule before, I was perfectly ready to go charging into the dungeons with just my hat. Oh, no, scratch that. That would not make a good picture for my cardboard cutout.
Please let us rename the mule! Captain Squibbles - Lord and Master of Chewing Grass has beckoned me for ages!