Wanted to let you know that we've kicked off a http://bethblog.com/index.php/2010/09/21/hunted-fan-interview-kicks-off/. Check out the blog post at Bethblog for more details.

Additionally, feel free to post your questions within this thread.

Can you guys, please, provide as much information as possible about the editor?

• A leveling system has been mentioned that’s tied to special abilities, can you explain this in more depth?
  
  
• The equipment listed in the pre-order bonuses appears to be character specific, will this be true of all arms and armor or will some items be interchangeable between Caddoc and E'lara?
  
  
• We know the Crucible allows us to make new levels, will we also be able to make variants of the in-game equipment and enemies? That is, could I make a minotaur with extra health or give him a special ability used by a different opponent?
  
  
• What sort of quest-making options or triggers will the Crucible have?
  
  
• If you have new levels installed and want to enjoy them in coop will this be handled automatically or do you need to send them to your friend first?

This is one of the areas I'm most interested in as well.

I'm also interested in the plot and setting. The main page has a blurb about the story but there's not much else we know and I'm quite curious.

• How capable is E’lara with melee combat and Caddoc with ranged combat? We’ve glimpsed both in the videos but are these viable for general play or just in emergencies?
  
  
• How does the leveling system work? What can we advance? Are new special abilities unlocked at certain levels or points in the story or is there some sort of skill tree system?
  
  
• Will the person who gets the most questions accepted to the fan interview be sent those awesome full size statues of Caddoc and E'lara? :hehe:

Good questions... keep em coming!

Having seen the developer presentation for Hunted at Eurogamer 2010 over the weekend, I can actually shed a bit of light on some of these questions, and then I'll ask some more to add some (member? ) variety to the list.


From what we were shown, it seems that you get at least one skill point with each level-up. There were two different skill trees: Magic, and Weapon, with Caddoc's weapon skills being for melee attacks, and E'lara's for ranged attacks, to fortify their main weapon proficiencies. Both characters are equally skilled with magic, but possesing different spells. One of Caddoc's skills was called Levitate, and caused nearby enemies to be lifted into the air and suspended for E'lara to turn into pin cushions.

It's also worth mentioning that if you are playing the game in single-player mode, then the AI controlled character will use their higher level skills more often than others, essentially allowing you to customize your partner's AI to an extent. So if you like playing as E'lara, but like it when Caddoc uses Levitate, you can pump most of his points into that skill.


I'm not sure how much is written on the main page, but the basic idea for the game was to create a real sense of companionship between the two characters, just as you would expect to find in a traditional fantasy novel about two heroes. The developers mentioned that Apocalyptica was a big inspiration for the story, which is an incredible film set in the Mayan period about slavers who raided forest villages and enslaved their occupants to be sacrificed to the gods at the Mayan temples. The idea was to throw that concept into a fantasy setting, and to experiment with how two adventurers would react to walking into that event. How would it look? How would they help the villagers? Should they even intervene at all?


Although both options are available to each character, only Caddoc has access to melee skills, and E'lara to ranged skills, reinforcing their playstyles and the need to support each other to get the best out of their combat abilities. At one stage E'lara was forced into melee combat with two enemies and called out to Caddoc for help. So they can get by for a while with their alternate weapons, but will need assistance when outnumbered or disadvantaged.

During the Q+A session at the end of the presentation I asked the devs if new weapons and armour could be found to customise appearances as well as skills, and they confirmed that it would be a big part of the game, and that they would look different to the standard armour sets you start with, so no need to ask that question.



Ok, some questions I have after seeing the presentation:

1) Are the animations finalized? The only gripe I have with the game is that they looked a little rough, especially with the hit detection. It seemed that enemies didn't quite react to the directional force of Caddoc's attacks quite right, especially when they had been 'killed' but fell slowly to the floor, and Caddoc launched an extra attack or two just to make sure, which would sail through the collapsing enemy without any effect at all. Will ragdoll physics be applied here?

2) Towards the end of the presentation there was a HUGE monster seen walking in the distance. Will the game feature spectacular oversized boss battles with enemies like these? I imagine that could lead to some unique tactics being required to defeat these monsters.

3) There wasn't a UI during the presentation. At all. It looked awesome, leaving the visual atmosphere completely unhindered. Does this mean we will have to rely on visual cues for health meters? How about magic? Will spells be inexhaustable or dependant on a supply of magic points? I really hope the lack of a UI makes it to the final release.

4) Tied with the first question on animations really. Just a small annoyance, but when Caddoc's shield broke I REALLY wanted him to switch to a two-handed grip rather than just leaving his left hand hanging around during combat. It looked very uncomfortable, and just seemed like something that should be done in a combat situation. I don't need the two-hand grip to increase damage. It just solves the problem of looking awkward.

1. Can we switch between first and third person views?
2. Why was the dicission made to make E'lara's cloths so revealing? I don't like the fact that I will be staring at side boob and side butt the entire time
3. Will different armors correct the clothing issue?
4. What level of interaction will we get with NPCs?
5. How focused on exploring would you say this game is?
6. How large are the levels?

Thanks Darkstorne, particularly the information about their weapon skill tree and the viability of Caddoc/E'lara using Missile/Melee.

Will we be able to do like some games and co-op between PC and Xbox?

Hi there.

The game does not support cross platform play.

We're going to try to answer some of these questions in an upcoming podcast. If you have any more questions, now is a good time to ask.

Will this game use the same Gamebryo engine like some of your other games or a completely new build?

It's not Gamebryo -- Hunted uses the Unreal 3 engine.

I want info on the level creator (Crucible I think) will I be able to use it on the 360 and how does it work.

Im really looking forward to when this interview comes out. I am also very curious about how the level editor will work, and if there is any romance between the two main characters. Also, any idea when this interview will come out?