There seem to be two major controversial issues popping up in response to this article—the non-exclusivity of factions and the action-to-RPG mix of the game—so I'll try to speak to those:
Factions:
The six factions you can join in Reckoning are indeed non-exclusive. Provided you don't decide to run around murdering the quest givers, you can actually join and progress through all six factions. This makes sense narratively because they're not opposed to each other (they have certain relationships with each other that, but none of them are direct enemies of each other). If we had two factions who despised each other, we'd very likely make them exclusive, but since we don't, that doesn't really make sense for us. Apart from the narrative reasons, though, there's the overarching design consideration that we want you to have lots of different interesting storylines that you can pursue without feeling like you have to restart the game in order to see half of them.
That said, there are still exclusive choices that the player will have to make within these faction lines which leave a lasting impact upon your character. For example, you can change the fate of the Warsworn in more than one way. Depending on what course you ultimately set them upon, you may earn a "Twist of Fate," a permanent boost to your character that reflects the way in which you've changed the tapestry of fate.
Action RPG vs. Action Game with RPG Elements:
I'll be very blunt here: Reckoning is an RPG. That's how it's been designed from the start, and although we'd be thrilled to have tons of action gamers play the game (and I think most of them would really enjoy it!), we're first and foremost making this game for RPG fans.
We've taken a lot of inspiration from action games, and we've tried to capture a lot of the elements that make an action game fun and incorporated them into the combat experience of Reckoning. We want this to be a game where a fight with some Boggarts in the woods is something to look forward to rather than an annoying speed bump on the way to your next quest objective. But pouring love into the combat doesn't mean we've ignored the RPG foundations by any means. Reckoning is a game with 9 non-combat skills, 60+ abilities to invest in, character customization (with 4 races and 2 genders), an extensive loot system with hundreds of pieces of unique art, 6 factions to join, a crime system, 3 different crafting systems, and a huge world with literally hundreds of hours of content to explore—I don't think we're in any particular danger of being classified as an action game.
In conclusion: I do solemnly swear by the array of Ultima cloth maps on my wall that Reckoning is an RPG.
Ian S. Frazier
Lead Designer
Big Huge Games
I'll look forward for info about plot, story, side quests, and if there's any C&C in general.
