Kingdom Come - The Importance of Historical Accuracy

[Silver]

@monstervine interview Rick Lagnese, community manager for Warhorse Studios, about the importance of historical accuracy in Kingdom Come: Deliverance.

...
Traveling on media tours and speaking with developers, media, and fans, what’s the most memorable thing you recall that people said of Kingdom Come?

Rick: It’s hard to compare this game to others since it’s based on historical accuracy, but it was really cool to watch and to see feedback from journalists and fans. There was one video on a Playstation YouTube channel where they released a video showing off Kingdom Come and our presentation. Even though a lot of people didn’t know about it, they said it was the most passionate presentation they’d ever seen. It’s so cool to hear that, since you can always sell someone on a game, but you really have to believe in my opinion.

When you travel, it’s exhausting. You’re running around to different presentations, you’re thirsty, you need to use the bathroom, stuff like that, but I really got energy from how excited I was to present the game. It’s very exciting, and don’t get me wrong, at the end of the day it’s relieving to be done since you’re tired. But, man, you still want to know what people are thinking, so you’re still looking at YouTube comments and Reddit responses and stuff. It’s amazing.

Always on the clock, haha!

Rick: Always!


What was the inspiration behind making the equipment and settings period-accurate, rather than more fantastical?

Rick: Being that the game is based on history, we wanted to make it historically accurate on every front. We have a full time historian on the team, she, uh keeps us in "Czech", get it? Haha! Feel free to cut that, haha.

I'm definitely keeping that in.

Rick: Oh geez haha! Anyway, we also have painters and sculptors, fencers, mocap workers, everything. It's definitely not just a medieval simulator, but we want to cover everything historically. There's so much attention to detail that even people who aren't huge game fans have shown appreciation for the game, especially in the Czech Republic.

When I was at GDC, someone from the Czech Republic saw the game and said "oh those are our trees! That's our grass!". We used our own engine with the CryENGINE to make it really unique, and it's even 16 km squared. You can find places where historical events happened, and the stories and side-quests tend to lean more towards history.

So what interested you about the medieval setting?

Rick: So some of my favorite movies are Braveheart, The Last Samurai, really anything history-related. When I can find a game that's more realistic than fantasy, it can really draw me in. I love historical European martial arts, which is why that video drew me into the game. History itself is so fascinating to me, because I was never a history buff in school. This stuff got me interested, and I'm a very spiritual guy too, so I really love these kinds of things. So it was really the interesting history and setting that did it.

And Dan Vavra won't compromise on the game. When you have a developer who really sticks to his vision, it really draws you to the game. He wants to make a game according to history, and that's it, and I love it.

[...]

More information.

 

[NewDArt]

Based on the dialogue, they don't care - in the slightest - about historical accuracy or plausible behavior.

Well, that, or they're utterly ignorant about how people talked back then.

 

[Silver]

Based on the dialogue, they don't care - in the slightest - about historical accuracy or plausible behavior.

Well, that, or they're utterly ignorant about how people talked back then.

If characters were speaking ye olde language I'm thinking it would be a harder sell. I don't know what you mean about behaviour - could you expand on that? They don't claim to be 100% historically accurate, gameplay concessions and all that.

 

[NewDArt]

If characters were speaking ye olde language I'm thinking it would be a harder sell. I don't know what you mean about behaviour - could you expand on that? They don't claim to be 100% historically accurate, gameplay concessions and all that.

They don't have to speak that way - but they could hire a writer who at least cared about avoiding teenage level pop-modern dialogue.

I'm not saying anything about what claims they've made. I'm just saying I can't see how they could care about those things, when the writing is that abysmal.

Of course, I've only spent a few hours with the beta - and only had 4-5 conversations within the game. Maybe they're placeholders or something. But it was fully voiced, so...

But I literally cringed at how bad it was.

 

[Silver]

They don't have to speak that way - but they could hire a writer who at least cared about avoiding teenage level pop-modern dialogue.

I'm not saying anything about what claims they've made. I'm just saying I can't see how they could care about those things, when the writing is that abysmal.

Of course, I've only spent a few hours with the beta - and only had 4-5 conversations within the game. Maybe they're placeholders or something. But it was fully voiced, so…

But I literally cringed at how bad it was.

Okay fair enough. I'm not fond of the Buffy light dialogue writing of modern fiction either. Its certainly over played and usually inappropriate to the material. Hopefully the writing goes through an editing pass at some point and gets tightened up.

 

[NewDArt]

I really hope so, because I think the game has potential.

It wouldn't be so bad if the game wasn't so centered around immersion. But everything else about the game seemed to project a desire from the developers to have you lose yourself in the world and the setting.

So I was very surprised to be taken out of the experience so overtly and so soon into it.

 

[Pongo]

I'm not sure Braveheart and the Last Samurai are the best examples if you're making a point about the importance of historical accuracy.

 

[Hastar]

Braveheart was a damn fine movie though.

 

[Morrandir]

They don't have to speak that way - but they could hire a writer who at least cared about avoiding teenage level pop-modern dialogue.

Oh dear… how I hate that kind of style. I didn't know the game has it as I've tried to avoid spoilering. Could you point out where I can find these dialogue examples?

 

[NewDArt]

Oh dear… how I hate that kind of style. I didn't know the game has it as I've tried to avoid spoilering. Could you point out where I can find these dialogue examples?

Well, from memory - the worst example was from the very first dialogue I had after getting the initial quest. There's a small village near the starting area - with some kind of farmer guy who's the father of a son you're looking for.

Not entirely sure, but I THINK that was the guy that gave me the cringe

 

[joxer]

Every peasant being another Shakespeare would hardly qualify as historically accurate.

 

[NewDArt]

Every peasant being another Shakespeare would hardly qualify as historically accurate.

The blue of the cheese would scream null at goblins.

 

[Paul]

The beta is 15 months old with placeholder dialogue, voice acting and animations. Of course all of that goes through changes.

 

[Ripper]

Braveheart was a damn fine movie though.

I used to live round the corner from Smithfield in London, which is the square where Wallace was executed. It is now, perhaps appropriately, London's main butcher's market. There is a spot that always has bunches of thistles left in tribute by visiting Scots.

The movie was kind of nonsense, but I thought that McGoohan (himself a Celt) gave a classic performance as the ruthless Longshanks.

 

[BoboTheMighty]

Ignoring the trolling here, writing is actually rock solid...it more highlights how presentation has to be of high quality in every aspect or one thing can drag everything down.
But they said they're working around the clock on it.
Voice acting also sounds a bit "american" at times, nothing bad as Skyrim, but lacks that european/english accents.
More worry is where's the hype for this game? Could have handled showcasing a bit better, highlighting more to their strengths.

 

[luj1]

teenage level, pop-modern dialogue

abysmal writing

gave me the cringe

That didn't seem to bother you when you crowned MEA as the best in the series. Weird.

 

[NewDArt]

That didn't seem to bother you when you crowned MEA as the best in the series. Weird.

I bet it won't bother you in Kingdom, though, like it did with MEA. Afterall, it's the people who wrote MEA you have a problem with - and you never actually experienced the writing.

I also bet, like with MEA, you won't actually need to play Kingdom to make that call. Heck, you don't even need to meet developers to decide you don't like them.

Being informed and having rational support isn't quite how your opinions roll, is it

Yeah, people who're objective and informed must be something of a puzzle to you. I wish I could say the same about people driven by negativity, but I don't find you weird.

I do pity you but that's hardly useful

 

[joxer]

Cmon, his trolling is usually an apprentice level but you have to admit he nailed it this time.

Seems he doesn't understand is that after we bang okay trilogy, the 4th game attempted at least to move away from being only a space dating sim:

 

[RPGFool]

Cmon, his trolling is usually an apprentice level but you have to admit he nailed it this time.

Seems he doesn't understand is that after we bang okay trilogy, the 4th game attempted at least to move away from being only a space dating sim:

Heh… Remember that dialog from the game and remember wondering whether the game was written for, or by, "hip juvenile" gamers. Similar hip juvenile dialogs are scattered in other locations…

__

 

[joxer]

IMO ME4's problem is not the overall writing quality, but it's inconsitence. The game just didn't know what it wants to be at every moment. Liam's personal quest is a prime example, the whole thing is written as if it belongs to some other game and not ME4.
I'm not saying it's rubbish sidequest, in fact I found it hilarious and fun, but as a whole, ME4 writing felt like throwing mixed m&m's to an audience that wanted only yellows. Or reds.