RPGWatch - Lords of Xulima Interview

Welcome back for another interview on RPGWatch. This time we got in contact with Jesús Arribas of Numantian Games. Let's call it a 'retrospective interview' for Lords of Xulima.

Couchpotato: Seems most professional reviews have mostly been positive, but most talk about Lords of Xulima being too hard. Some of our members have even started threads on our forums saying the same thing. Do you agree with them, and how would you respond to them?

Jesús: We sell Lords of Xulima as a "challenging RPG inspired by the classics". So yes, it is challenging and we love that, otherwise it would be a different game.

With that said, LoX has four difficulty modes which change the level of challenge dramatically. That way, players can choose the one that best fits their play style.

In contrast with the old-school classics, Lords of Xulima is not a difficult game to manage. The interface is really intuitive to use and the gameplay mechanics are very easy to learn.

The difficulty comes from [the fact that] the game does not hold your hand. You have the freedom to do what you want and go everywhere from the beginning. Because of that, you can easily find yourself in trouble. Modern players are more used to thinking that they can do everything without consequences because the game is designed and balanced to prevent any wrong decision they can make.

With Lords of Xulma, we did not try to please millions of players. Instead we made it for those that enjoy this different philosophy of gameplay.

I remember the first time I played one of the those modern RPGs with auto-level monsters and treasures, a quest compass, and thousands of repetitive quests / tasks. I thought, "What? Is the RPG genre ruined forever?" Fortunately now, we have many options thanks to the indie studios. Now we have games for all tastes, and that's awesome.

About the press, we are actually very happy with their reviews. We really thought that they would be much [harsher] with us. Really our main concern is the players' response and comparing the data on Metacritic:

- Lords of Xulima, press score 72, users score 87.

- Dragon Age Inquistion, press score 85, users score 58.

How can the opinion of the press be so different than the players?