Seven Dragon Saga to give cross-game character transfers
If you ever wanted to make an RPG fan feel old, mention Wizardry, Ultima and Bard’s Tale in a single press release. Well done, Tactical Simulations Interactive (TSI). But it’s not just about the name of the games – it’s about an old idea they were involved in too.
TSI are proposing something called “Gateway”, which will be a means of transferring characters between games. We’re not talking the heroes of one game moving straight into its sequel – as was standard in the old Gold Box AD&D games that were made by many TSI staff back as SSI – but side-stepping between different companies’ titles. TSI’s own Seven Dragon Saga will naturally be part of the process, but have already gained the support of inXile and Harebrained Schemes, adding Torment: Tides of Numenera and Shadowrun: Hong Kong to the initial list of games.
The reference to the older games – beyond being an emotional hook for gamers like myself – is how there was a degree of cross-game party transferring between Wizardry 1 to 3, Ultima 3 and 4, and the Bard’s Tale series (admittedly, mostly into Bard’s Tale); it was an unusual concept then, and seems even more unusual now.
Of course, how it might work – and whether it should – will be interesting debates. Will different games with different systems still catch nuances in a certain build? Do you become emotionally attached to a character you’ve played through one game with and want to keep them, like a pen and paper character moving through campaigns? Is creating regular fresh characters a minor art form, or will this allow you to create a masterpiece to last the ages?
Some of the initial answers suggest it can vary from game to game – some may simply take the basics of name, gender and race; while others will transfer classes and skills too, with Gateway simply providing a selection of details to ease transfer. The destination game will simply pick which pieces it wants from a player character buffet.
I still have more questions than answers to be honest; but as a concept it is definitely interesting, and worth keeping an eye on – if only to see which other studios and games might end up being involved.