Man of Prey interview

[Brother None]

With Fallout 3 news dying down, we'll once again return to pointing out interesting post-apocalyptic games. And where else would it be coming from but Russia? Tacticular Cancer offers an interview on Man of Prey, a tactical RPG set in post-collapse Russia.<blockquote>Q: Is it set in Russia or will there be other former Soviet state locales?

A: Actually, it is set in a single small town, which used to be a closed city due to a chemical factory producing strategic nuclear resources, and its close neighbourhoods. It is no secret that the city is based on Chelyabinsk-40, now known as Ozersk

Q: Is the game purely tactical? Any strategy layer?

A: There is no strategic layer in the game, but it's not purely tactical either. There are dialogues, optional sidequests, some nonlinear problem-solving tasks and other typical RPG fare. It is not a freeform sandbox like 7.62, but neither a strict sequence of mission briefings and debriefings like in 7.62: Reloaded (although the game is linear in its core).

Q: What sort of RPG elements will we see?

A: Party management, vicious tactical fights and exploration of various dangerous, trapped and loot-filled locales! OK, there are also dialogue trees, sidequests and some "choices and consequences", for people who think RPGs were invented in 1997</blockquote><center> </center>
Link: Man of Prey Buka product page.

 

[Ranne]

Sorry, this doesn't look promising at all. If someone held a gun to my head, I'd rather play Fallout 3.

 

[k1bell]

It looks pretty promising to me.
Might be even more promising if I knew how to read Russian.
But interviews are interviews. I'll prefer to see more information about the game before throwing a judgement around.

 

[Public]

Reminds me of Gorky 17

 

[pexxx]

for people who think RPGs were invented in 1997

I don´t get it.

 

[Public]

for people who think RPGs were invented in 1997

I don´t get it.

Maybe the guy believes the true RPGs were invented before then or after 97?

Edit:

Or maybe he thinks RPGs are mainly about looting and exploring (like in MMORPGs), not about dialogues, choices and consequances?

 

[Ixyroth]

It seems to resemble Silent Storm and UFO:Aftermath/shock/light in terms of gameplay. The premise and quality don't seem to match those two games, however.

 

[Eyenixon]

for people who think RPGs were invented in 1997

I don´t get it.

Maybe the guy believes the true RPGs were invented before then or after 97?

Edit:

Or maybe he thinks RPGs are mainly about looting and exploring (like in MMORPGs), not about dialogues, choices and consequances?

Be careful lest you make yourself look stupid, looting and exploring is what most RPGs were before the revival in the later 90s, choice and consequence wasn't even truly expounded until the release of Ultima IV in 1985, and even then it wasn't the focus, your choices were strictly things such as lose karma and waste time, or hurry up and boost your virtues so you can meditate at the shrines, like earlier Ultimas, it was still entirely about exploring Britannia, killing things, leveling your party, getting better equipment, then tackling the dungeons (which were giant and difficult) to beat the game.

 

[mortiz]

I've seen plenty of these games out of Russia being advertised but I don't recall one reaching a widespread audience. I suppose if you're desperate for a new tactical squad based RPG then it might be worth picking up but the final quality of these products often leaves a lot to be desired. I'm somewhat skeptical about a game coming from a company called "Tacticular Cancer" as well.

 

[iridium_ionizer]

I'm somewhat skeptical about a game coming from a company called "Tacticular Cancer" as well.

That's the name of the gaming site that did the interview. The name of the development company is Apeiron.

There are dialogues, optional sidequests, some nonlinear problem-solving tasks and other typical RPG fare. It is not a freeform sandbox like 7.62, but neither a strict sequence of mission briefings and debriefings like in 7.62: Reloaded (although the game is linear in its core).

I wonder how the non-linear problem-solving tasks and "choices and consequences" are integrated into the game. Does that mean that you proceed from mission to mission but you have the option to make allies and solve problems that will carry over to the next mission?

 

[Ausdoerrt]

Well, I've never heard of these guys before... The game looks like it could turn out decent though. As long as they don't try to emulate "Sanitary Podzemelij" - a buggy, laggy POS that heavily overuses childish cursing - they can do just fine. The first screenshot does not make me very happy in terms of cursing though. I'm also a bit disappointed in the GFX quality as well...

Here's the official game site btw: http://maroder-game.ru/

The setting is very STALKER-esque, and the story is based on a mediocre sci-fi novel, so I'm not getting my hopes up for a good story.

Also, can someone PLEASE explain me why the name of the game was translated "Man of Prey" if the original name is "Marauder"?

 

[Grayswandir]

Quote:
for people who think RPGs were invented in 1997

I don´t get it.
Maybe the guy believes the true RPGs were invented before then or after 97?

Edit:

Or maybe he thinks RPGs are mainly about looting and exploring (like in MMORPGs), not about dialogues, choices and consequances?

Choice and consequence + 97 = Fallout 1...

This guy is a believer, maybe his game will be woth cheking.
I have always thougt that a fallout mod based in russia, with sovietic architecture and a red fallout boy would be a must....

 

[Public]

Be careful lest you make yourself look stupid, looting and exploring is what most RPGs were before the revival in the later 90s

I wasn't talking about the RPGs before or saying what RPGs are about now and what first RPGs were about back then. I was just assuming that he might think that way about RPGs these days- looting and explring are the main core.

Looting, exploring and exp'ing sound like MMORPGs for me, not games like Fallout, Arcanum or Planescape:Torment.

 

[Ravager69]

I hate Russia setting, I just hate it. Not that I hate Russia or it's people, it's not that, but I simply don't like *being* in Russia, even in games.

 

[Eyenixon]

Be careful lest you make yourself look stupid, looting and exploring is what most RPGs were before the revival in the later 90s

I wasn't talking about the RPGs before or saying what RPGs are about now and what first RPGs were about back then. I was just assuming that he might think that way about RPGs these days- looting and explring are the main core.

Looting, exploring and exp'ing sound like MMORPGs for me, not games like Fallout, Arcanum or Planescape:Torment.

He meant that choice & consequence is a modern fad, nearly every RPG or even shooters are touting it as a feature today. It's not always well implemented, but nearly every developer tries to toss it in somehow, Mass Effect, Fallout 3, BioShock, etc.

It is very much a modern thing, in my opinion he just made a snide remark that was quite truthful, choice & consequence really can't be called a prevalent part of the genre, it didn't emerge until late in its lifetime and even then few games utilized it well enough to actually have it considered a memorable feature, and I'm somewhat certain absolutely no game in existence (not even Fallout) has done it well enough to the point that it's actually something really worth caring about beyond being mere scripting.

As I've said multiple times, no game has done it like Ultima IV, the decisions you made stemmed from everything, shopping, what sort of enemies you were fighting, whether or not you named yourself the avatar in conversation, being humble, giving out more money than you owe, or giving less to blind shopkeepers, so on and so forth.

As it is right now, it's just slapping you with a big "YOUR CHOICE HERE" sticker that offers you A, B, or C.
It's nothing to go off about, and the fact that no games have managed to implement it decently enough since 1985 is a telling sign that it's a very overused term.
When I hear "choice & consequence" I immediately begin thinking of other overused industry terms such as "immersion".

The only thing I care about in an RPG now is that it's indepth enough, doesn't insult my intelligence, and provides plentiful customization that truly affects your progress and efficiency in specialized categories.
A game like that hasn't come out for awhile, not since Temple of Elemental Evil to be honest.

 

[d_f_n]

Having played all the titles from Apeiron, i ll try to give you my 2 cents:

All their games (BE5, 7,62mm, 7.62mm reloaded) are based on a system that many of you people here will hate. I personally loved it.
Apeiron calls it SPM (Smart Pause Mode) which is actually a Time Based system or maybe you can say real time with pause.
Every action costs time. Time is measured in 1/100 of sec, so every action takes different amounts of time. I cant describe it very well,but its very realistic. It is the best system i ve seen so far for CQB strategy games.
The camera is free. You can move the camera in any angle you want to and zoom/unzoom till the edges of the map. Again, many of you here will hate it but IMHO after spending a couple of hours to learn how to move the camera, i think you ll agree that it adds to the gameplay.
Their games are non-linear except the 7.62mm Reloaded which you can consider something like Fallout Tactics. They showed much improvement from BE5 to 7.62mm as much as story and RPG elements are concerned. You could join any faction you wanted, doublecross them or just work for yourself. There is action and consequence and most of the quests you can solve at least 2 ways.
The cons: 1. Buggy games (BE5 was saved by fans, 7.62mm had patches but still some bugs are present). 2. Long release times for non-russian versions (We are STILL waiting for 7.62mm, thats why a year ago some fans translated the game to english)

So i would say that there is some decent potential in Marauder. We just have to wait and see.

 

[alec]

Man of Prey is strongly linear and has precious little in the way of replayability

Talk about giving out bad publicity.

Looks mediocre IMO, and seeing it's very unlikely it'll get published outside of Russia, nothing we should be getting really enthusiastic about.

 

[SimpleMinded]

d_f_n, that was a great post. I appreciate someone shedding a lot of light on their work.

 

[Ausdoerrt]

Yeah, thanks d_f_n, it was nice to hear about these guys.

Well, the good thing for me is that I won't have to wait for English release ^____^

 

[marko2te]

d_f_n thx for the info, your comment made me quite interested in this game as in the old ones. I just hope that english version will be released quickly.