We’ve been really excited about Unbended here at Nichegamer, but a severe lack of info (Perhaps due to it being at a very early stage of development) have made it impossible for us to report on it as much as we’ve wanted to. That changes this week as the developers have taken some of the most frequently asked questions on their forums and addressed them in a new and updated FAQ.
The FAQ is long and covers quite a bit, but many things stick out amongst the (Mostly common sense) questions they answered:
On whether there will be a mana system or they will stick to the cool-down system they used in Sacred:
We like regeneration time. It’s almost like real life and in addition, easier to balance. The rules are also more clear to the gamer. So it’ll be more along the lines of regeneration time.
Concerning loot distribution in this age of “everyone gets their own drops”:
In S1 we worked with a “first comes, first serves” concept and we still prefer that. For the dynamic of the game that’s surely a good thing. So you have to choose the right fellow players instead of letting the system regulate everything.
On continuing the tradition of characters having their own starting area:
Yes, that’s how it looks at the moment. Each of the six characters will start from a different area. That isn’t necessarily going to be his home area – the reason for that will be part of each characters individual background story.
Equipment and Legendary sets:
Absolutely. There will be two different kind of sets. Legendary sets that you can find, and those sets that you have to craft yourself. In regard of the sets, it’s essential that they not only suit the character perfectly and thus support his or her skills, but they usually also add new skills. Our sets are supposed to be more than simply power pills.
On the new crafting system they plan to implement:
Ingredients and recipes will always come together as a useful item, but the quality of the results are subject to a mechanism that combines skill and chance. That means, the more proficient you are at the crafting skill, the more exact the result. There are also ingredients that are unknown and that under certain circumstances can produce unpredictable results. We would like to mention here once again: crafting will produce unique items in UNBENDED that can be neither found nor bought.
World size, which has always been impressive in Sacred games:
A length of 7000 Cambrian Miles and a width of approximately 8000 Cambrian Miles ;) We’re still surveying. The world is going to be very large.
And the engine:
We’ll see. It isn’t even decided that one of the known licensed engines will be used. We’re evaluating the technology on the market, but we’re also thinking of our own engine. It’s certainly not something on which the quality of UNBENDED depends; additionally, those known engines don’t necessarily have what we need to perfectly create the world of UNBENDED. In case you didn’t know, we didn’t use an actual engine for S1 and S2, and instead used different middle-ware that we adapted to suit our needs. Such a solution is also possible. Technically, we’re up for that. Lastly, a seamless world is a challenge for engines built for a level structure and a seamless world is something that UNBENDED will definitely have. That isn’t up for discussion.
Last but not least, the dreaded Steam Early Access question everyone has been wondering about:
We have very concrete plans in this area. As soon as we can show something worthwhile, the supporters will get access. It’s not for nothing that the alpha key is part of the supporter packages. But please, don’t expect anything before the end of 2015.
There is also mention of hirelings being available as well as a full hardcore mode and the requisite online multiplayer. The full FAQ covers quite a bit of territory, so if you’ve been wondering what the Unbended devs have been up to, now is your chance.
