The fact is, Stranger is real-time strategy with role playing elements. The action takes place in a fantasy environment.
But we have done our best to satisfy your expectations and tried to abandon the classical scheme you can see in the basic characteristics. First of all, the game world, the environment mentioned above. We have taken usual conceptions to pieces and examined every one of them thoroughly. The pieces we have chosen have been perfectly processed and fit in a new place. We have invented new physical and magical laws. We have bound together the material and spiritual realms, peopled the land, sea and air with whimsical creatures. We have let our imagination go loose and the result is an exciting picture. This picture is true to real life we dare say! Certainly, we have gone further. Every element of the game has been a subject to change from its common presentation. However, Frankenstein was not our target. We aimed to a gradual evolution. We have taken so much time to iterate the game through several lives. We have made our efforts to turn the game into a real piece worth being loaded on your hard discs and becoming part of your life.
But back to the game process itself! One of our goals was to attain complete interactivity. The conventional strategies, depersonalized troops and constrained possibilities of the characters embarrassed us. So we made up our mind to give our characters a free hand and let the player to influence the ongoing game completely. What did we get in the end? Each creature involved was endowed with their own stats and skills, which made them different from the others and provided them with a chance to survive in various situations.
Those abilities vary from the widely used weapons skills to the rare and mysterious incantations and spells that demand a long preparation and skilful application. In addition to the skills and inborn abilities the entire population of the magical world has been equipped and endowed with a possibility of changing it when necessary. This, in turn, resulted in evoking all the possible crafts and monetary economy. The equipment itself has become a resource, an enabler of gaining victory in war in addition to the natural resources such as magical crystals and metal. The equipment can be manufactured and remolded and then be used again. The equipment can also be magically enchanted while crafted. Besides, there are ancient artifacts with power unattainable for the mortal masters.
Crafts and trade demands having an infrastructure that appeared almost immediately. The storage houses and workshops attract hunters for plunder and loot. This caused castles and fortresses to appear. They caused consequently to deploy military garrisons. Mercenaries and hirelings became demanded and many inhabitants of our world set out to gain glory and earn a living. But who rules this show? Those creatures are not eager to emerge! There are rumors of almighty magicians and sorcerers ruling the universe. Perhaps, false!
The plot is as follows: main heroes, there are three of them, are transferred in a magical way into our universe. Their souls and bodies are transformed in compliance with the new world's laws and patterns. They attain various new skills and forget the old ones. But the most important thing – they are rendered totally oblivious of their origin and descent. Only a vague memory of the misdeed and punishment persists. But there is no time for thoughts. They have to fight for survival.
Not all the heroes start their adventure together. They became scattered all over the world. But gradually they found each other and teamed up. Let us skip their first steps in the new world and fly over to some future. We will see the heroes invigorated and experienced, having destroyed several enemies’ outposts and figured things out with the surrounding world. A lack of fortitude and skills of handling the most primitive arms was a big hamper at the early stage. But several first battles hardened the heroes and endowed them with necessary firmness of hand and an ability of quick response. Of course, some occasional allies turned to come their way and helped to fight the common enemy and reach the common goals. Of course, they gained a simple but durable swords and armors. And behold! Here they encountered their first serious problem.
The enemies’ might surpasses all expectations. Our heroes, two of them, take command of a minor unit of ill-equipped and not battle-hardened mercenaries. A head-on clash threatens with a crushing defeat or infamous retreat. It should be avoided! It is time to look for something more serious than just a sword and shield.
Nature and physics of the environment itself should become the means. If a big amount of magical crystals is amassed in one place the space itself begins to obey. Upon kicking around the previous experience and peeping the tricks and gimmicks employed by occasional magical creatures they dare use sorcery in a battle. The first try is not a big hit, the power of the crystals is not enough even for the weakest wizardry driven sensible actions. A big hunt is triggered! Each creature endowed with even a slight magical force in the surrounding forests is found and captured. Gradually the changing of reality can be discerned with an unaided eye. The pillars of beaming light ascend to the sky and the blade is about to spark.
The newly developed tactic looks as follows: the infantry men in their heavy armor are the first to march into the battle. The squad commander conjures up a magical field around him and slows the time stream flowing which enables to deal twice as many blows at the enemies. Another hero skilled in magic accelerates the time flowing around the enemy’s solders to slow down their movements which enabled to withstand their attack and avoid losing the formation. The crossbowmen are the second wave. When the first rank begins to suffer losses then the heroes will change over the field into another color and direct the healing streams of magic force onto the injured warriors. That was the plan. But reality modifies it! The first few seconds were smooth. The magically hasted warriors didn’t have difficulty in breaking through the enemy’s first rank. And then the enemy’s unit commander made his turn! He crushed a heavily armored infantry man by the first strike made with a horrendous hammer and then broke the magical field with his own of another color. And then a downpour of fire rained down on the crossbowmen ranks. A few survived in this chaos.
Magic in this world is a physical property of space. The crystals of three colors are the source of magic. They generate fields of different saturation and color all around. Strong fields are visible from afar. Typically they attract a multitude of magic-sensitive creatures. The nature fields emerge around the underground deposits of crystals, and the artificial ones migrate along with the crystals’ owner, say, a strong wizard or a magical monster. It is naïve to think that anyone can use this magic to their own favor. The skies keep the birds flowing but not everyone can fly. Even the simplest magical actions require a long term education and training. However, education is not always effective.
The thing is that the strong and genuine emotions like rage, wrath, pain or winner’s euphoria are what triggers magic. That’s why wizardry works more often in a battle. The stronger and more experienced the rivals, and the bigger the amount of crystals, the more saturated the streams of magic and more powerful the incantations invoked by wizardry. The magically evoked effect can be controlled by the will of the opposing wizards. A stronger wizard directs the stream of destructive magic onto the enemy, or, provided a positive effect is attained, onto the allies. The fields may have several tints depending upon the amount of respective crystals. Each tint evokes a group of its own effects (incantations). For example, the red one evokes a destructive force of fire; the green one conjures a healing magical force. That's the basics. The other colors produce a more tangled and intricate effects, only a very experienced wizard can discern their minor details.
This world has its own high and mighty that rule there – just like any other world ruled by gold and oil. The rulers are who the most experienced in wizardry and have a bigger amount of magical crystals.
Permanent conflicts are set to redistribute the most vital resource – the crystals. Their production, either underground or on land, runs high risks. Each living creature strives to take hold of them both instinctively or deliberately.
They hunt for each other, and it is often the case when the hunter and prey exchange their roles. The crystals are the currency, money equivalent which measures life and death. Yes, it is cruel, but where have you seen another order? Thus we have a multi polar world. The centers of power attract the best warriors, best craftsmen, cause castles and cities to emerge. But even scattered tribes and clans are the force to be reckoned with. And the heroes are obliged to exercise diplomacy as loners are unable to fight against the whole world. Will they be able to change critically the pace of history, unravel all the mysteries of this world and return back safe – that’s the question! Only you can give the answer!
- Fireglow Games
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