Warlords IV: Heroes of Etheria Interview

Article Index

Eschalon: Book II

Publisher:Ubisoft
Developer:Infinite Interactive
Release Date:2003-05-11
Genre:
  • Role-Playing,Strategy
Platforms: Theme: Perspective:
  • Third-Person,Top-Down
Buy this Game: Amazon ebay
GB: What role will a player's primary Warlord have in the game compared to a regular hero?

Steve: Your Warlord is important. He stays in the capital and cannot move out. He is very tough, which means that capitals can be very difficult to capture. The Warlord also learns and casts spells.

Players should try to make sure their Warlord stays alive, since if he is dead, not only are their heavy morale penalties to the side, but no more spells may be cast.



GB: Exactly how customizable will heroes be? Will hero advancement be based on a leveling system?

Steve: Heroes (and ALL units) level up during play. Every time they gain a level, a hero can choose to improve one of his two special abilities, his combat rating, or his life points.


GB: As in previous Warlords games, will players be able to acquire artifacts that can be utilized by heroes? Can you give us some examples of the more powerful items?

Steve: Oh yes! We have over 100 unique magical items. Beware of any hero who is fully kitted-out. They can be very nasty!


GB: Tell us a little bit about the ten races that will be available in Warlords IV and what advantages/disadvantages each may have.

Steve: I could write a book about the 10 races each one has quite different strengths and weaknesses. There are Knights, Empire, Dwarves, Ogres, Orcs, Undead, Dark Elves, Daemons, Dragons and Elves.

Just an example. the Elves can produce archers at twice the rate of any other side and they are very fast, but they have no Siege weapons to aid in attacking enemy cities. The Dwarves on the other hand are very slow, but also very good at stacking their cities full of tough little Dwarves to protect them from invasion.



GB: How many different maps do you intend to have available to players in the initial release of Warlords IV? Any particular areas that you feel really make the game shine?

Steve: The campaign has 32 maps. 10 of these form the core storyline, while the rest make up lots of little side-quests.


GB: Finally, what do you feel gives Warlords IV its appeal and sets it apart from the other strategy/role-playing games currently available?

Steve: The best thing about Warlords IV is that it is quite different from the other turn-based strategy games out there. The nicely-paced STS combat and persistent Warlords are something that nobody has really done in a TBS yet. We've all been working on it very hard for the last 6 months, and I see everybody in the office is still playing it for fun that's always a good sign!


We'd like to issue our thanks to everyone at Infinite Interactive, especially Steve, for taking the time to answer our questions!