Akella opens up about Numen
Feature
Numen has been in development for some time now and the project is shaping up nicely. We get up to date with Akella.
Akella: What we’re trying to achieve is a combat system closer to, for example, World of Warcraft. In most cases the player won’t be able to take the enemy down with just one or two mouse clicks. Enemies have their weaknesses that can be exploited. Some combos and spells can be used only under certain circumstances – but if used correctly, they can have devastating effects.
Hooked Gamers: You describe the game as being somewhere in-between Diablo-alikes and full RPGs in style, an action RPG, in fact. What made you choose this middle road instead of going for a full-blown RPG?
Akella: Well, that’s quite simple to answer. We gave a lot of thought to what we would like Numen to become. What we love about RPG games and what we would like to avoid. How to make it work. And this is what we’ve come up with :). We don’t really believe that it has to be either another Diablo or Oblivion clone. We feel that the “middle road” is just fine for us :)
Akella: There is no skilltree in the game, there are, however, unique talents and abilities that every god offers to their heroes. But for this to acquire the hero first has to make his/her god happy. You can finish the game with just spell, combos and abilities that can be simply “bought” but acquiring and mastering your unique abilities is what will make you a true hero.
Hooked Gamers: So far we have only seen the three characters in their basic garb. Does new armor and clothing become available during the game and does it show when wearing it?
Akella: Glad you asked :) Yes, there are a lot of unique armor and weapon items (some of them are quite extraordinary). All of them are specific models or textures so you’ll definitely have a lot to wear and fight with.
Hooked Gamers: The game will contain some randomly created quests from game to game. How much different can a gamer expect the game to be on the second play-through when compared to the first?
Akella: There are indeed some randomly generated features in Numen, but what affects the player’s experience much more is what god he/she follows (that makes some quests different) and what decisions they make (some can affect the game world quite a lot).
Hooked Gamers: Greek mythology is widely varied and any game based on its rich stories could well turn into an Epic game indeed. How big is the world of Numen and how many hours do you expect the average gamer will need to play through it?
Akella: There are twelve islands (actually there’s one more, but only the brave will find it ;) and over 20 “dungeons”. It can be a bit tricky to guess how many hours it will take to play through the game because of numerous side quests, but you won’t probably beat the game in less than 30 hours.
Hooked Gamers: If there is one thing that you feel is the most important feature that gamers are aware of, which would it be?
Akella: Whoever enters the world of Numen won’t become automatically the single hero that everyone’s been expecting to rise. They will become just one of the nine, each of them doing their best to succeed. There will always be someone who’ll try to take what you believe is rightfully yours. That’s what makes Numen different.