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MMOHub Q&A: Kingdom Heroes from Aeria Games

posted by: Daniel Ball Sun 21st Mar 2010

MMOHub's Daniel Ball had a chance to talk about Aeria Game's newest Fantasy MMORPG with their Jr. Project Manager, Jehanzeb Hasan.

DB: The game is set in the interesting era of the Three Kingdoms – what else can you tell us about the world and story behind Kingdom Heroes?

JH: Like most works set in the Three Kingdoms period, video games included, Kingdom Heroes takes some liberties with its source material. The game is based on the earlier sections of Romance of the Three Kingdoms, the same historical novel that the Dynasty Warriors series takes as its inspiration.

Players begin the game as a lowly villager and are quickly conscripted into the service of one of three armies. These armies, of course, are associated with one of the three warring kingdoms – the Wei, the Wu, and the Shu. Each faction has its fair share of legendary generals and heroes, many of whom actually appear in the game world. Additionally, if players are able to track down and defeat some of these major characters, they can capture their essence and transform into that character at key moments.

DB: How many players can participate in an average battle?

JH: There are no limitations on the number of players that can participate in a battle. Because Kingdom Heroes is built around the core feature of the “Kingdom War,” a global recurring player-versus-player (PvP) event that anyone can opt into, large-scale battles involving hundreds of players, NPC troops, mounts, ships, and siege weapons are all part of the norm. Apart from the Kingdom War system, the game also offers instanced battlefields where players can compete against each other in capture-the-flag (CTF) style contests.

DB: What effect will the formations of your army have in combat?

JH: Each troop formation has its distinct advantages and disadvantages and, ideally, you want to focus your strategy around your own character’s strengths and weaknesses. For example, if your main character specializes in ranged or magic-based skills, you may want to recruit NPC soldiers that specialize in melee combat, and push them to the frontlines. Similarly, if you’re a powerful, damage absorbing tank, you may want to scatter your NPC allies behind you and order them to attack from long range. These are simple examples, however – when you add all the variables into the mix, the system can become a lot more complex.

Apart from varying formations, there are numerous NPC unit types, tactical settings (passive, aggressive, etc.), and different soldier sets that you can store and call out depending on your situation.

DB: How important are siege weapons in combat?

JH: They’re pretty essential if you want to conquer a city. How else are you going to bring down a city’s walls and lay siege to an enemy stronghold?

There are around seven different types of transforming siege engines in the game, and each one is capable of doling out heavy amounts of damage. Solo players, even with a full complement of NPC troops at their disposal, will be hard pressed to take one down alone. If you don’t have comparable firepower at your disposal when one rolls around, it’ll take a lot of strategy, cunning, and a little luck to go toe to toe with a siege engine.

The best guilds and the wisest city administrators will be se sure to invest in mounted weapons for their city walls and other defenses, so they’re prepared in case a battalion of siege engines shows up at their gates.

DB: What can you tell us about the ship combat?

JH: It’s pretty amazing. Of all the game features we’ve announced thus far, the player ship system has received the most attention. There are a handful of MMOs out there that include ships in their games, but few, if any, that actually offer cooperative gameplay for multiple players. This sort of thing has been a constant sore spot for gamers, myself included, who’ve played MMOs where ships – whether they’re starships or sailing vessels – are central to the theme. What’s the use of having ships in your game if you aren’t going to allow players to collaborate aboard them?

The ship system really shines during PvP combat. The best ships offer stations for up to eleven players – a navigator, gunners, and repairmen – but even more players can be transported by standing aboard the deck. These players can fire off ranged weapons at enemies, and if the ships get close enough, can even jump onto an enemy vessel.

Additionally, it’s probably worth mentioning that most of the game world is accessible by water, so port cities are extremely valuable. A guild with a formidable navy will have an advantage in capturing and defending these ports.

DB: We’ve heard that cities will be player-controlled, as well as player-defended; how much control will players have over their cities?

JH: We aren’t ready to talk in too much detail about player cities; however, I can tell you that players have a significant amount of control over a variety of city administration features. This includes appointing other players to government positions, constructing and upgrading buildings, managing resources and funds, and levying taxes. Taxes are collected from purchases made from vendors within the city walls, so players have an added incentive to conquer higher-level, more populous and visited cities. The head city minister has the power to adjust this tax rate.

DB: How important is teamwork in Kingdom Heroes?

JH: While there’s a ton of solo content available in the game, Kingdom Heroes is designed to encourage and reward cooperation between players. You see this manifested in every major system – from ships to the kingdom war, to city administration. Groups that work together efficiently, effectively, and execute the best strategies will always come out on top in this game.

DB: To what extent will players be able to customize their characters and their NPC soldiers?

JH: One of the first major changes we requested from our development team was a revamped character creation tool with additional character customization options. Kingdom Heroes will offer different body types for both genders, a variety of faces, hairstyles, hair and skin colors, and additional options.

As far as NPC soldiers are concerned, players can outfit them with different armor and weapons. Soldiers can be given names and also accrue experience independently. As they progress, they can branch off into different specialities. There are at least 30 different unit types in the game – everything from archers to pikemen, swordsmen, mounted units, even wolves and birds of prey.

DB: How will the branching classes and talent trees effect the growth of your character?

JH: As players progress through the game, they accrue points that they can invest in their attributes. Among other things, these attributes include a charisma category that directly affects your character’s leadership score among NPC troops. Other attributes combine to affect various attack and defense ratings.

You can also unlock and learn new skills depending on your class and level progression. As players level up, they choose the areas they want to specialize in by training in particular skills and selecting the advanced class branches they want to progress along. There are four starting classes but around sixteen master classes.

DB: How will players influence the economy in-game?

JH: The game economy in Kingdom Heroes is pretty dynamic. When you add player cities and adjustable vendor taxation into the mix, players have a reason to do business in some player cities over others. There’s also a second currency, apart from gold, in the game – and those are resources like different types of ore, cloth, wood, and skins. These raw materials are essential for upgrades, and drop the same way as gold. Kingdom Heroes also includes an in-depth global auction house that can be accessed via a button on the user interface from anywhere in the game.

We'd like to thank Jehanzeb for this time and also Aeria Games for providing us with these great game details!

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