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Respawn Entertainment opened EA Play with a 15-minute demonstration of Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order. Spectators were able to see the protagonist Cal Kestis, a survivor of Order 66, who gave the Empire the power to massacre Jedis and their padawans, embarked on a mission to liberate the Wookiees who fought for resistance. At first glance, what had happened seemed like a fairly standard fare for a Star Wars action game. Cal climbed and parked around the surroundings, deflected blaster fire with his lightsaber and used his Force abilities to manipulate the Stormtroopers.
However, there was a lot going on under the surface and it turns out that the trouble-free demo did not do justice to the game. Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order is surprisingly cut from the same garment as Bloodborne and Dark Souls by From Software although it may be less coarse, rough and irritating. Director Stig Asmussen often used the phrase "thoughtful fight" to describe the game played by Jedi Fallen Order. Until now, its meaning has not been clear.
After seeing an extended version of the gameplay demo presented at EA Play, we sat down with Asmussen to discuss the game, its influences and details of the experience. We also talk about the origins of the project, the pressure to work on a property as appreciated as Star Wars, and more.
GameSpot: How did you come to this format for the game? Star Wars could be just about anything and often it's an RPG. What was the kind of action that did the good for Fallen Order?
Stig Asmussen: It's a good question. In fact, before working on Star Wars, we were working on a different game, which was essentially based on the same pillars as this game, namely a thoughtful fight, an agile exploration – you know, beyond the human design and metroidvania. And it's something that when we were working on that other game and we demonstrated it, people [at] EA saw it and said, there is something in there that you can easily see the show turn into a Star Wars game. My antecedents are melee action, so when they contacted us and told us, "We really like the game you're working on and want to do at some point, but what do you think of the realization of Star Wars? " we were like, great. And [a lot] from the basic functionality we were building for the other game, most of the fundamentals were able to make the transition. So we always start with "What is the game, how do you feel, how does it play, what are the mechanisms?" before really understanding the story. It turns out that the thing we are working on has translated very well.
This is a really interesting background for the project. On the one hand, as a creator, you are working on something new and you can create it as you wish. But you're also introduced to Star Wars, one of the most popular properties of all time. How did you evaluate doing something new or doing something that people know and love, who is under a lot of pressure?
Well, I've always wanted to work on Star Wars. When I first arrived at Respawn, Vince [Zampella] and I talked about it because it's something that he always wanted to do [too]. We had a close relationship with EA at the time and so we launched an idea. They were interested and we were interested, but not everything was aligned at the time. So when the time has come to make the decision and what we are going to do with it, we have brought to the team: "Hey, we can work on what we have or we can try this other opportunity with Star Wars." The whole team at that time, which has about 12 people, was like, well done, Star Wars. I mean the powers of force and lightsabers are like milk and cookies for us.
Many games have a story with teasing. They bring the identifiable elements to hook people, and although Jedi Fallen Order does have some, it seems that it also appears to me with gaming mechanisms and systems.
Absolutely. But we worked very closely with Lucasfilm and they were great. They are like, "We like the game you do, try to understand how to solve problems [that] Star Wars. "So it's always a conversation that we have, but our designers design very freely when they describe levels, I mean, they have a rough idea of what we're trying to do with the story, but what we're trying to do to incite them to do is to propose something fun and that is in keeping with the parameters of our game. In many cases, our indicators of our game somehow break what Star Wars is, so we have to sit down with Lucasfilm and have this conversation, organize a brainstorming session to determine how to make it work for Star Wars.
So, one of the things you've repeated is the "thoughtful fight". What does it mean to you and what should it say to someone who is considering playing the game?
You do not just go in and blindly go on your enemies. Each enemy has a weakness, perhaps several weaknesses. Each enemy also has a way to exploit the hero. And there are synergies between different types of enemies, so they act in different ways depending on how you combine them. So every time you get into a battle, you really have to weigh how you are going to get in and out guys. We obviously want to have a fantasy of power in the game. As you get stronger, your abilities become bigger. The enemies you found at the beginning will not be a big challenge, but we'll introduce you to new ones. And once you pick them up and combine that with the fact that you now have several types of entities together, and then you have your new Force abilities that you're learning along the way, new skills that you're learning, lightsaber – we encourage the player to do more than just push a button.
What was the seed for this kind of fight? You come from God of War, which has depth and nuances but is mainly played as a masher.
Well, God of War is great because yes, you can crush the game, but there was also no steep curve for experienced players, because you can unlock an incredible number of moves in this game and change the combinations of different ways. . When we started this new combat system, we looked at Wind Waker. We wanted to have a style of Metroidvania, that Wind Waker has a little inside while your skills open doors all over the map.
And we were also looking at Bloodborne and Dark Souls and I immediately said, "I want the game to be targeted by Z." You can turn it on and off, and the game also works fine in free mode. But it was really a bit like we did not want to be as fancy and as accessible as Wind Waker, but Zelda has enemies that you unlock in different ways. So we wanted to have it. It's here that we started thinking about "thoughtful". You have to learn how to use different abilities, you know?
We knew it could not be as damaging as Dark Souls, especially since Star Wars. We needed to find something more accessible. So, yes, that was our touchstone.
In Metroidvanias, the growth of power and the realization of the fantasy of power are much slower. And people who go into Star Wars may want to feel right now like a tough Jedi, right? It does not seem that this slow progression would play well with the Jedi fantasy.
Right. Well, it's possible because of the way our character is built in the story. He is unfinished and he is not polite. But in the end, he has a lightsaber and it's a pretty devastating weapon. And that's another thing that goes along with "a thoughtful fight". When you swing a lightsaber, so that it feels good, many enemies must collapse at once. So you have to find a way to open an enemy. And once the player has done that, then the fantasy of power begins to impose.
Games like Dark Souls and Bloodborne have this difficult process and you are rewarded for overcoming the difficulties. This is a key element of feedback and satisfaction in games. How do you deal with death in Jedi Fallen Order?
It's an interesting question. We certainly can not be as punished as Bloodborne because I think we have to be fair to fans and respect Star Wars fans. These games are great, but we have a much larger audience. We love these parts of these games, so we have to find a way. We are doing a game test and thinking about the difficulty of the system. [is]. I can not really answer that question because it's always something we try. We have something that works and works for a certain group, but we have to find a final solution.
There is a moment when Cal sits down and seems to be meditating. Does this equate to a bonfire or a lantern?
Yes, it's a backup point. We have those scattered throughout the game. He goes in and meditates. And there, you can also access your skill tree.
And the blue and white bar on the screen. Does it mean powers of strength and guard / resistance?
Right. So, the blue bar is your power of strength. Whenever you use a Force ability, it is spent. You rebuild it by swinging your enemies, so you have to be offensive.
It is the inspiration then Bloodborne.
But the white bar is your block and the enemies have the same thing. They have health and they have a block block. So, if you enter and start crying on an enemy and it's blocking all the time, you can break his guard.
And there were moments that looked like a parade, like Sekiro.
Yeah, it's actually funny when I played for the first time at Sekiro, I thought to myself: "It's almost the same control pattern we have." It's very similar. As if I had jumped in and said it sounded like our game but that it was difficult like f ** k. Yes, the parade has a tight window, but I think a lot of people will have it. It's also like that that you divert shots, like blaster shots. If you just hold [the button down] Cal will bounce them in different directions, but you can turn to your enemy by hitting [parry].
So, returning a blaster shot is the part, based on the skills, of a thinking ability that is otherwise quite easy to exploit.
Yes. And whenever an enemy sways, there is a window where, if you touch him, you will be able to knock him down.
How did you feel when playing Sekiro and seeing such similar ideas? This seems to happen often, while people have similar ideas while they are completely isolated from each other.
I went to work and said, "People are going to say that we stole Sekiro's stuff and put it into this game." But we do not have it! I think the other similarity is that you can jump into this game, which makes it much more agile and faster than the other. [From Software games]. Our game is very fast.
How many platforms and puzzles do you want in the game? This is the kind of thing that interests video game fans, but that may be a trap for random fans of Star Wars.
They will not be arbitrary. We use riddles as a kind of cash-craze. We had some pretty tough games in the God of War games, but for this game we do not do difficult things, but they are always smart. The three main pillars are exploration, level design, which includes problem solving and combat. And I would say that the lion's share is probably the fight. Even in combat, this may seem like a headache.
You have a lot of weight on you. You handle Star Wars, so here you go. You have God of War 3 in your name, so there is an expectation of quality. And then it's a Respawn game, a studio that always strikes high.
I do not want to ruin everything!
How do you manage this pressure and these expectations?
Yeah. It is largely based on my team and the incredible support we give ourselves. We all know that we have the weight of the world on our shoulders, so to speak, and I somehow feed on that. You have to somehow. The other thing too is that you can not worry about it all the time. You know, if I make a mistake, if we make a mistake about it, we will learn from it and move on to the next step. But we can not be afraid to fail. So we took risks. I think calculated [ones]. Hope it works.
Do you see a future beyond that for Cal's story? Is this the first chapter of a series?
I do not know if we really decided what to do next, but it's certainly a character we can wear in different places.
Did you play Force Unleashed a lot before creating this?
It was rather interesting because Steam had made a big sale on Star Wars games when the contract was official. It was a pretty little team then and everyone downloaded [them] and played these different Star Wars games. Of course, we played them growing up, but over the years, what you have learned may not have been like before. In the spirit, many of these things ended up informing us of what we are doing in the game.
What do you want people to have the most to gain from what they've seen so far? There are so many people coming to this for different reasons and different things. What do you want them to think when they examine Jedi Fallen Order?
It's a good question. I mean, what I do not want to be distorted here is that it's a linear game. You just saw a lot of the linear gameplay that we would call a Star Wars show, a wow moment. [Editor’s note: Asmussen is referring to an extended gameplay video featuring an AT-AT that was shown behind closed doors.] This is one of the few things like the one you will find in the game that are very scripted and linear. But most of the game is based on the choice of players and the determination of their destination according to their abilities. I would like to make sure everyone has a good impression of what is the experience of the main game of the moment.
Last question: did you play the new God of War and if so, what do you think?
It's fantastic. It's fantastic.
Cory Barlog did you show him or mention before you left?
Well, before leaving Sony, I knew the idea. I thought Kratos being a father was going to be a difficult sell. But Cory was very serious about it and we could see that he had a passion and he knew what he wanted to do with it. And it totally worked. It's great.
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