FE: Wild Lands

from JoeUser Forums

Scrapyard

There hasn’t been a lot of talk of the most obvious game play change in the Elemental universe. We call them Wild Lands.

We got rid of “minor races” in Fallen Enchantress.  We had bigger plans for them. And those bigger plans manifest themselves in the form of wild lands. These are chunks of the world that are still trying to hold on to the pre-cataclysm days.

There’s a bunch of different ones, all that look different and feel different. 

You don’t go into the Wild Lands unless, you know, you want to die.  Badly.  But if you are powerful enough to survive there, it’s filled with amazing stuff. A lot of AI work has been put into running the wild lands and in getting the AI to try to take them on (at this stage, I haven’t had a lot of success with the latter, they’re very dangerous places).

To use classic game mechanic terms, thing of Wild Lands as being like Orion (or Antares). If you can take it’s really awesome. But don’t expect to be able to.

34,327 views 40 replies
Reply #1 from Elemental Forums Top

Hardcore map areas? I like it!  

Reply #2 from Elemental Forums Top

That was always one of the cool parts of MOO.  There was this wonderful planet sitting out there that would give you a decided edge in the game.  The only problem was, once you found it you had to make sure you could handle the Guardian or you lost a lot of valuable resources, but if you waited too long the AI would eventually get it.  I always had the suspicion that the AI got a cheat here, so I'm glad to see you're struggling with keeping it hard for everyone.

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Reply #3 from Elemental Forums Top

Sounds very cool!  I hope the expansion to FE lets us play the Wild Land races. :)

Reply #4 from Elemental Forums Top

They don't work like that. Think of them more as quest areas.

I love those massive statues. The art is really coming along nicely. 

Reply #5 from Elemental Forums Top

My question is will every game have the exact same number of wildlands or will every game be different?  For example, if there are only 5 wildland types, will every map (small, medium, or large) have exactly the same 5 wildland types or is it different than that?

Reply #6 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting Trojasmic, reply 5
My question is will every game have the exact same number of wildlands or will every game be different?  For example, if there are only 5 wildland types, will every map (small, medium, or large) have exactly the same 5 wildland types or is it different than that?

It doesn't really work that way.  It's more akin to there only being one type of Wildlands in a given game typically. I guess if the world size is large enough, there could be 2. 

But with the new system, we're hoping for a lot lot more than 5. Just really depends on how much time we have. They keep making new ones.

Reply #7 from Elemental Forums Top

So what percentage of FE games will we get powerful enough to take on Wild Lands successfully?

Reply #8 from Elemental Forums Top

Hopefully some of the stuff that gets cut out can be added back in via patches later on.

Reply #9 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting StevenAus, reply 7
So what percentage of FE games will we get powerful enough to take on Wild Lands successfully?

Don't know yet.  I'm still trying to get the AI good enough to take them on.  You humans are on your own. 

Reply #10 from Elemental Forums Top

Looks great. Substituting Wildlands for minor races sounds like a great idea.

Also, the more variety the better.

Can't wait for the beta. Getting a little giddy. :P

 

Reply #11 from Elemental Forums Top

Awesome.

Reply #12 from Elemental Forums Top

I agree with most of the posters here. The wild lands sound like an incredibly cool concept. If the execution is as cool as the idea, we're gonna have a classic on our hands.

As an aside, there's one part of Frogboy's post I don't exactly get. The wild lands "are chunks of the world that are still trying to hold on to the pre-cataclysm days." But lore-wise, wouldn't the pre-cataclysm days be days filled with civilization and the dominance of humanity, IE the opposite of "wild lands?" Wouldn't the wild lands be thriving in the cataclysm era and resisting the return of civilization brought on by the kingdoms and empires?

Reply #13 from Elemental Forums Top

This is exactly the kind of content that gives me hope for this game.

Reply #14 from Elemental Forums Top

Ok.. so no new info in this thread, but a new teaser pic which is probably one of the more cooler pics i have seen for FE..

Reply #15 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting Frogboy, reply 6

Quoting Trojasmic, reply 5My question is will every game have the exact same number of wildlands or will every game be different?  For example, if there are only 5 wildland types, will every map (small, medium, or large) have exactly the same 5 wildland types or is it different than that?

It doesn't really work that way.  It's more akin to there only being one type of Wildlands in a given game typically. I guess if the world size is large enough, there could be 2. 

But with the new system, we're hoping for a lot lot more than 5. Just really depends on how much time we have. They keep making new ones.
You refer to them as "types". Does this mean there will be disparate wildlands of identical types on a single map?

You probably don't know much about this yet, but to what degree do you anticipate us being able to effect this stuff with options chosen at game creation?

Reply #16 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting IronKaiser, reply 12
As an aside, there's one part of Frogboy's post I don't exactly get. The wild lands "are chunks of the world that are still trying to hold on to the pre-cataclysm days." But lore-wise, wouldn't the pre-cataclysm days be days filled with civilization and the dominance of humanity, IE the opposite of "wild lands?" Wouldn't the wild lands be thriving in the cataclysm era and resisting the return of civilization brought on by the kingdoms and empires?

Frogboy, what do you say about this?

Reply #17 from Elemental Forums Top

I will put my Elemental lore knowledge to the test, but if I remember correctly, pre-cataclysm mana wasn't confined into the elemental crystals but flowed freely. What Frogboy meant, I guess, is that in the wild lands the mana flows somewhat more freely than in the rest of the world. The guardian/boss of each wild land defend the mana source whatever it takes, trying to hold on to the pre-cataclysm days.

I could be wrong though.

I was kind of hoping that there could be some "minor race" kind of wild lands. Some secluded lost kingdom that doesn't necessarily have a huge boss monster, but a great big city with great defenses and some ancient, valuable technology or artifacts.

Reply #18 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting Cruxador, reply 15
You probably don't know much about this yet, but to what degree do you anticipate us being able to effect this stuff with options chosen at game creation?

 

what's the highest degree, 360? - ya that would suffice

 

Quoting Frogboy, reply 6
But with the new system, we're hoping for a lot lot more than 5. Just really depends on how much time we have. They keep making new ones.

 

Bless you

 

"I was kind of hoping that there could be some "minor race" kind of wild lands. Some secluded lost kingdom that doesn't necessarily have a huge boss monster, but a great big city with great defenses and some ancient, valuable technology or artifacts."

 

Yes please

edit: maybe a way for heros to start there own 'faction' if inclind / by the way the one you've shown looks awsome

 

Reply #19 from Elemental Forums Top

Very cool, I really like the concept. Having an interesting world is top priority imo. WoM failed badly in that respect.

Btw, I demand hi-res screenshots. :borg:

Reply #20 from Elemental Forums Top

:drool:

Reply #21 from Elemental Forums Top

the more wild lands the better, especially on the large & huge map sizes.

harpo

Reply #22 from Elemental Forums Top

This is actually an area of the game where I see the modding tools getting their time to shine. Anyone can make a chunk of land, designate it as "Wildlands", and hook it up to some lightweight XML to get it in-game. There are some rules, but I can't wait to see the unique and fantastic wildlands that players come up with :)  Very exciting stuff!

Reply #24 from Elemental Forums Top

You said that there would only likely be one wild land in a game?  Can we get an option to turn that up?  I play on large maps, so having more would be more funner.  FUNNER!

Reply #25 from Elemental Forums Top

I wonder, will there be a quest or a diplomacy event that triggers a wildland(s) army to issue forth to to attack and destroy (they don't conquer, they destroy) settlements that are too close to them? An event that rarely happens, but when it does bewarned for the army/horde coming forth will be strong and hard to defeat as its minions are strong and its magic powerful. Perhaps finding the sword of extinguish; deadly to fire elementals, causes a fire elemental army to issue forth seeking the sword, to claim it before its holder can discover how to use it against fire elementals.