Wartales – Customization

The latest developer blog Q&A for Shiro Games’ upcoming mercenary RPG Wartales talks about some of the customization options we’ll have at our disposal while scouring the game’s world for odd jobs, and the impact these options will have on the actual gameplay. Check it out:

Attention Mercenaries!

Welcome to this weeks Q&A with the wartales devs!

Today, we’re talking about the huge variety of gear options at your disposal within the world of Wartales, ranging from your camp, your characters, their specialities, cosmetics and covering a little gameplay ground with how your actions and decisions impact your world, story and more…

Read on to find out more!

How customisable are my mercenaries, what kind of customisation can I expect?

“In Wartales, you play as a group of filthy mercenaries recruited from dirty inns who will do anything to get rich. The first element you can customise is of course the companions and there are many options available to you.

First of all, from a gameplay point of view. Your troop is composed of a number of companions that you can pay, feed and satisfy. In this sense, you can compose the team of your choice. As I said in the combat Q+A, you will be able to choose your companions according to specific gameplay criteria: do you enjoy training animals? Put together a team of beastmasters and wolves! Do you like fire? Then a few bombers will come in handy!

Indeed, the specialisation tree of each class will allow you to define, for each character in the game, a set of skills that will determine its gameplay identity. It is even said that it is possible to expand the specialisation tree of each class with new skills, but you will have to prove yourself first!

The freedom of choice seemed to us to be important and we therefore propose to you to choose alternatively between active and passive skills that really renew the combat experience. Also think about the professions: who will be your blacksmith? Who will be your alchemist? The statistics and game elements related to the professions will also be a source of customisation !”

What kind of cosmetic customisation can I expect in Wartales?

“As with choosing the skills of your companions, you can also choose what they wear. Given the number of characters possible in a troop, we have chosen to limit the equipment to a few pieces so as not to overload the equipment micromanagement. Thus it is possible to equip an armour, a weapon in the right hand, one in the left hand as well as accessories. Note that there are different types of armour, weapons and accessories, that many equipable items bring active or passive skills to the fight to allow more and more customization and allow you to compose the team of your dreams.

Finally, we are making a point of ensuring not an accuracy but rather a historical verisimilitude of the medieval era for two reasons. Firstly, because we want to develop a coherent universe in which nothing is false, but also because we know the player base of medieval aficionados have high expectations in this regard. Numerous historical researches were thus carried out by the different members of the team in order to guarantee the veracity and the verisimilitude of the names of the weapons and armours as well as the composition of the materials and their representation.

Finally, no lousy mercenary is worthy of the name without a fashionable hairstyle. You can also customise your companions cosmetically. Whether it’s a haircut, a beard size or the addition of tattoos or war paint, or the possibility of giving your comrades a nickname, you can visually compose the troop of your like.”

You’ve talked about customising your camp before as well, could you go into some more detail on this?

“While the character is an important aspect of customisation, the camp is also very important. Think of the camp as a portable hub that you take with you everywhere. In a way, your camp is your main character: while your companions may die, your camp lives on. You are a group of nomadic mercenaries, the forest and the wild mountains are your territory. So when you’re tired of robbing the local black pudding sellers all day, you set up camp to rest. You’ll be able to choose which items you put in your camp, from a wide range, as you see fit. We wanted to create a small housing experience in which you arrange your camp according to your preferences. We believe that the camp, the place where you will spend time, should be like you and meet your expectations. In this sense, you can place your camp equipment wherever you want and choose which camp equipment you put down.

The combinations are endless. Then comes the gameplay aspect. First of all, each camp material has its use, whether it is passive (production of a resource during rest), active (crafting table) or requires companions (Albert, your brute, has the soul of an artist and will compose his most beautiful songs with the lute and change the musical theme of the camp!) You will discover camp equipment all over the world according to different themes: from training dummies in arenas to beehives in farms, you will have a wide choice.

Finally, the arrangement of your companions and camp equipment, while aesthetically important, is also gameplay relevant. Friends placed close together can generate happiness, the doctor can heal nearby companions and the bees in your hive can sting nearby companions. Compose and customise your camp by playing with the constraints and advantages of each mechanic so that it can produce exactly what you need. And, of course, every piece of camp equipment can be upgraded.”

How does the customisation in the game impact the gameplay?

“Ah, well basically, the game will not ignore your actions. While the guard will hunt you down for your misdeeds, major criminal organisations will contact you to recruit you. You’ll discover new skills in banditry, hone your stealing skills, carry out assassination missions, be opened up to the underbelly of certain cities and discover some secrets that would be better kept quiet. If you prefer the thrill of exploration and discovery, you’ll become an expert in transcribing stelae, decipher the world’s Codexes, learn new skills in purging plague rats, gain access to new alchemy recipes or open the mysterious gates of Canope! It is important to us that you can do what you want to do and that the game gives you strong answers in return. In a way, these Paths complete the sentence “I would like to be…” and rebuild a progression system with bonuses and perks to obtain, unlocking features, actions, events, automatic content via your progress.”