Warhammer TW Wishlist.
Let's put this here while we wait for a proper Warhammer TW subforum.
So, what do you guys hope is in the upcoming Warhammer TW game? What are your hopes and fears? What features do you absolutelly want to be in?
My personal few (in no particular order):
- Proper implementation of flying units.
- Proper implementation of magic (spells, gods, summons, etc...) (also, epic visuals/particle effects)
- Not just a "re-skin". Don't want a normal TW with a Warhammer models, we have Call of Warhammer for that. A Warhammer game deserves to be built from scratch with its own unique mechanics.
- Unique units that are more than just a big/flashy unit with inflated stats (that meaning unique mechanics, animations, etc. Units should "feel" different and not just the standard soldier with a different 3d model and slightly modified stats). Example of what I mean. A giant with a club should not sit there autoattacking a normal infantryman with 10 attack power instead of 1, he should be sweeping with this club sending several enemy soldiers in the air (think of Sauron in the opening Battle of TLotR: The Fellowship of the Ring). Just check, for instance, how in "Battle for Middle Earth" a Troll feels like a Troll and not an oversized infantryman, and an oliphaunt feels like an oliphaunt and not a big knight... or how heroes like Gandalf would fight launching spells and stuff, besides their activated abilities. How a Nazgul would drop from the sky, grab a couple of horsemen and throw them back to the ground. How the Balrog was so freaking big that he could attack infantry atop walls with his sword. They should definitely take a look at that game. If a mediocre game from 2004 did it, I don't see why CA couldn't.
- Possible RPG elements (some sort of progression and equipment for champions).
- Possible 3d person control of champions (probably will be a discussed feature, but given the Warhammer setting, it would make perfect sense, although definitely not a priority.
- NEW ENGINE (no excuses, just ditch the current one. It won't work and you know it).
- Achieving the feeling of a tabletop pitched battle.
- Some degree of creative freedom when it comes to unit design. Some Warhammer units are REALLY outdated. Don't want to feel like I'm playing a game based on an 80's movie starring David Bowie. Also, making a 3d model with total shape freedom is not the same as designing a 28mm tall miniature with clear size and material limitations (for instance, in Warhammer they tend to oversize weapons and limbs so they don't break, but a exact copy of that design might look bad in-game).
- Gore/brutality adapted to Warhammer standards.
- accentuated imbalance between units (like a giant being able to destroy loads of, say goblins, for himself, or even some units being completely unable to attack others, for instance if you have flying units and the enemy has nothing to counter them, or even some units being invulnerable to certain attacks, like steam tanks to, say, archers). That would make for more interesting counterplay strategies. And if you have no option but to run and hide, then run and hide.
- Avoid the ridiculous location names present in fan-made content (which they got from random places in the world map without caring what those names would inspire in those who actually know them). I'd be completely out of immersion if a band of orcs attacked... say Sitges, which for those who don't know, it's an actual place, and kind of iconic because of hosting a reasonably well known international film festival. Hell... I just noticed they even have Essen there ¬¬. I can get that some of the names more related to medieval history (say Carcasonne, or some of the Aztec names used for the Lizardmen) might make sense... but others are just way too iconic nowdays to allow immersion.
- Asymmetry between factions. Warhammer factions are very different from each other. They don't have to just look different... they have to feel and play different. Anything under Starcraft or Warcraft 3 (without so much care for unit balancing) would be a disappointment.
- Backfiring mechanics.
- Armies of the same faction playing completely different depending on the army setup and the champions.
- Don't neglect small, weak units. Things like goblins are cool as hell and should stay that way. They should have a role other than what peasants fulfil in current total wars.
- Try to avoid photorrealistic graphics. The game should not just be based on a fantasy setting, should feel like a fantasy setting, like an illustration. I think games like Sacrifice, Warcraft 3, American McGee's Alice, or, specially, Trine did a good job on this. Of course Warhammer is grimmer, but you get the idea.
- Army setup/customization should be an important feature in the game.
- If minor factions with no available official references (like Tilea, Estalia or Araby) are to be included, make them fully fledged, with interesting, researched and creative rosters, rather than just giving each a couple of uninspired historical units (like an exact copy of an actual conquistador for Estalia).
- Flying units that can land at will and fight as ground units. Maybe similar to the current mount/dismount feature. (also, they should be able to crash when they die, crushing some troops)
- Changing terrain conditions: be it from spells or from destroyed units. It would be interesting if some mage could create a zone in the terrain that could suck/pull/repel/deny access to/etc other units (or if some shaman could invoke some kind of sand-worm a la Star Wars which would start grabbing and swallowing nearby troops, you could even use your troops higher mass/push capacity to push a enemy unit into this kind of thing).
A good inspiration for this would be the game Sacrifice, in which you have access to powerful spells that range from creating several kinds of walls (impassable, slowing, damaging, etc), invoking an eruption that will knock away all the units on it, or even making a huge hole in the ground making all the units standing on that area to fall into the void below (not to mention the ability to launch an explosive supercow into your enemies, called "Bovine Intervention"). I've pasted some videos down below.
Also, imagine that a really big, say dragon, is killed in the middle of the battle line, it would be interesting if that created an area o impassable (yet maybe destroyable) terrain, providing new cover and/or forcing further flanking manoeuvres). Think of a destroyed tank remaining on the battlefield in Company of Heroes, blocking streets and providing new cover for infantry).- The quality bar of some technical features really needs to be raised and/or adapted. Animations, textures, mass/unit collision... all will be key to achieve the fantasy, the brutality the variety to make battles in Warhammer "feel right". Copy-pasting animations and/or too a small ammount of them would probably be a disaster, textures should (in my opinion) try to emulate to some degree how miniatures look rather than going hyperrealistic, mass and collision will be key to achieve that feeling of variety and asymetry between units, a band of armored orks clashing against some petty goblins should be but also feel devastating and one sided.
_
Now that I think of it, there is yet another game that I would LOVE them to copy for TW in general and Warhammer in particular, and that is XCOM. There are so many features in that game that I'd love to see applied to TW... the meaningful pre-battle setup (composition, equipment), the constant sense of fear, actions actually having real consequences, going into battles not knowing what you are going to find and having to adapt to whatever happens as they develop...
Some inspiration:
- Cool interactions of big units/heros/flying units in Battle for Middle Earth (watch them one by one because they are linked to very specific points in the videos):
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
- How Trine successfully creates an atmospheric Fantasy setting (of course, Warhammer is probably meant to be much darker, less fairy tale like, but you get the idea of how it doesn't feel like just a realistic world with trolls in it):
(WARNING: IMAGE HEAVY)
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:- Several cool spell ideas from the 2000 game Sacrifice:
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
Recount (last updated 11/May) - (It's synthesized, sorry about any mistakes):
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
* A few extra more general TW suggested features and fixes (post #136): http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...1#post14500306
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Originally Posted by riskymonk
) with all kind of crazy stuff. Imagine all that crazy fanatics, skydivers, squigs, shamans overdosing mushrooms.
