Etherlords Preview

Introduction to a Turn-based Strategy

Well folks, we seemed to have stepped in an age that finally offers a wider variety of game genres and, naturally, more extensive and intricate gameplay. Etherlords takes a leap outside the borders of traditional turn-based strategies. When it was first announced it showed quite an impressive array of graphic features and even then, it appeared to be a promising game. The story of Etherlords takes place in the Ether Universe - The tongues of flame, torrents of water, the vault of heaven and the stone crust, all creatures intelligent and stupid - here everything is made of Ether. Everything springs from it and returns to it after death. Ether knows no barriers. Ether is everywhere. And its flow is life itself - the life of the Ether Universe. The main flow of Ether comes from the center of the Universe. It dazzles like the fresh snow - this is why it is called White Ether. Those who can curb it will be granted great power. But very few manage to achieve that. White Ether only exists for a brief, elusive moment. Now and then, its full-flowing river splits into four currents. These currents are not as powerful, but they endure much longer. They are called Ether of Chaos, Ether of Motion, Ether of Vitality and Ether of Synthesis. The Ether of Chaos is scarlet like blood. The Ether of Motion is blue like skies. The Ether of Vitality is green like a freshly unfolded leaf. And the Ether of Synthesis is black like scorched stones. These Ethers form the basis of everything existing in this Universe. When the flow of the ethers is smooth and measured, they emit pure energy; but when their pace quickens, ether whirlwinds form and give birth to matter. With inexorable regularity the four multicolored flows of energy rush to join each other and become White Ether again. And where they mix their kaleidoscope of streams in an impetuous whirlwind, the World of the Lords begins.

Etherlords is, basically, a turn-based strategy, which is going to present players with a diversity of tactical options. The entire game is focused on magic and spell casting abilities you have to use against your enemy. Your units are lead by Heroes that play an important role in the game especially in the sense of combat; for it is their abilities and skills that will determine the outcome of the battle. Once the hero beats a few enemies, he receives an amount of experience, which will later improve both his health and his existing battle skills. There will be 64 heroes for you to lead and of 4 different races. These four races are: Chaots, Kinets, Vitals, and Synthets.

The interesting thing here is that some of the races can form alliances with others, while some remain uncompromisingly devoted to their own ways and principles. Once you've picked yourself a race, you face many challenges, missions, and battle scenarios (about twenty, to be more specific). As for the objectives in the game, players will be faced with miscellaneous tasks that need to be completed. Objectives vary from obtaining a particular object and simply wiping out the opponents castles, to destroying a certain hostile unit. Still, your main purpose during the entire game is to protect your castle. The castle is where players get tasks and it also represents the player's power over the territory it is built on.

As for the gameplay (as you've probably realized by now), the game's awfully similar to Heroes of Might and Magic. However, the creators of Etherlords revealed recently that their game differs from 3DO's famous turn-based strategy in several aspects. Fundamentally, the game mixes the features of magic combat portrayed in collectable card games with strategic resource management. In the area of magic expertise, you are not restricted to waiting for the strongest units to come to your spell book and the spell casting doesn't have a pre-defined system through which it functions - it's more like finding the right spell combination that is crucial to a successful battle. Besides that, Etherlords has dissimilar approach to the gameplay strategy; while Heroes is a more of a base game, Ehterlords centers on the territorial influence throughout the game. The players fight to gain power over the region and that automatically bares a great impact on their economy. Whoever controls more territory, gets more resources and a better chance of survival.

I Put A Spell On You...

In this game spells are the weapon you'll be using most often against the foe. You'll discover that there are three types of spells to cast: summoning, enchantments, and sorcery. Summoning happens to be rather powerful, and in Etherlords you'll discover that every race has it's own set of creatures you can summon (there are thirty kinds of monsters to be summoned, each with their own distinct abilities and characteristics). Next in line, we have more, shall we say, regular and familiar classes of spells, which resemble the ones seen in the 'Heroes of Might and Magic' games, and demonstrate a simple method of reducing your opponent's energy with diverse charms; some with prolonged effects and some with temporary influence. These can last for many battles unless they are disenchanted with a counter-spell. And last but not the least, the sorcery spells that may instantaneously harm its prey and often appear in the forms of life-drawing incantations, or, contrariwise, life-extending.

Naturally, the players can also expect to find many mysterious artifacts that will allow casting unique spells (which cannot be acquired in shops or on the map, but only from the bodies of defeated enemies). To close this subject, you'll be mighty pleased to know that there is going to be over 300 spells including summoning, instants, enchantments, and rituals. For all of those spells you're gonna need runes that can be acquired at certain spots on the map, or bought at the shops (located in castles). Obtaining runes, however, doesn't come cheap.

This, sure enough, brings us to the resources that the units utilize for the spell casting. To begin with, the resources are scattered across the map and can be picked up at any time, or they can be looted from dead opponents. So, once you've gathered some of these resources, you may buy spells and runes. There are seven types of resources and all of them are essential to your existence. The most significant resource is the substance "ether", which can be gathered all round the map. 'Ether' is vital for your hero-characters, it is used for the maintenance of your castle, and it gives you the ability to cast "global spells" - these spells can give you great chance of reducing the enemy numbers. They also last a reasonable length of time, consequently protecting your castle for a series of moves. What's more you may use them in combat at any time, provided that you have the necessary amount of resource.

Before the player enters the combat mode it is possible to reach an agreement (form an alliance) with your rival. Whilst the turn-based combat is in progress the player has a variety of tactical choices before him. For instance, the player can be confronted with the decision of how he may wish to spend his remaining ether: he might want to use it to launch a devastating global-spell, or he may want to save it for a new hero. Also, the selection of the right spell when it is purchased (or found) can have a great influence on the battle. Combining the spells in the correct fashion is another key to winning a battle. Graphics and the Inspiration At first, one may notice that the game has a slight resemblance to Blizzard's upcoming strategy Warcraft III. Also, I've deduced that some of the 3D units models look kind of like they came straight out of the "Oddworld' games. Still, that was just my weird opinion, since the game-designers claim to have drawn most of the inspiration from Quake III, plus from some modern comics, pop-art, and so on.

The 3D engine is set to allow up to 50 000 polygons per frame and with those Quake III-inspired high-res textures, I think we are definitely looking at a game with awesome graphics. Etherlords is going to feature a lot of different environments with their unique stylish architecture and distinguished races that inhabit those parts. In addition, every character, monster, and hero has an individual animation system, which also applies to the great choice of spells you may see throughout the game. Overall, we'll be treated with some tasty special animation effects, striking surroundings, high-detailed models, and we'll be able to view it all with free 3D camera positioning. This camera can be zoomed, unzoomed, rotated and scrolled, or, if you prefer, you may set a computer-controlled camera that responds according to the action on the screen.

A Few Closing Words

...And so once again Nival hangs on to its rather thorough attitude towards game development, such as the one we've witnessed in their previous titles (Evil Islands being one of the best). In a nutshell, a comprehensive approach to every game aspect leads us to believe that Etherlords will be one heck of a game once it appears on the competitive gaming market. (Sigh) I just have to wait for the damn thing to come out in the autumn.