Dragonshard Interview, Part One

RPG Vault has published the first installment to a new Dragonshard interview, in which lead designer Jasen Torres offers some information about the game's setting, RPG elements, story, and more. An excerpt:
Q: To what extent does Dragonshard incorporate RPG-like elements, and how attractive do you expect it to be for hardcore fans of that genre?

A: I think Dragonshard will be attractive to everyone! Everyone should buy it at least once. Sometimes, owning multiple copies makes the experience even more enjoyable - I can't explain why! Okay, I'm just being silly.

Dragonshard is still an RTS game, so it isn't going to replace those hardcore RPGs on everyone's favorites list as the new hardcore RPG. But it is a fantastic RTS game that has lots of RPG elements, so I think that makes it attractive to any type of gamer that likes RTS games or RPGs. I suppose if a hardcore RPG fan is looking only for a hardcore RPG, they might be disappointed. However, if they are looking for an RTS with lots of RPG elements, I think the game will suit them extremely well.

The game's primary RPG elements are the ancient city of Qalatesh (the underworld / dungeon that the player gets to explore) and the quest system. The quest system allows the player to uncover all sorts of bonus quests in each chapter than can potentially help them with their main quest. These are things the player doesn't have to do, but can. So, even if you have to uncover some secret area in the underworld for your main quest, there are lots of things you can run into and uncover along the way. To me, that is a major RPG feature. And it's pretty cool, because you can get a potion as a reward that will help you beat some huge Hydra, or uncover a secret passage that lets you sneak behind your enemies' base.