Windchaser

The story is told through numerous cutscenes and dialogues during the game, as well as commentary during the loading screens. These comments are made by the character Kerberus in the 1st campaign and Ioan in the 2nd campaign.

Game world

600 years ago the world of Ensai was a highly developed civilization, but at the end of a war the world fire was unleashed, which destroyed much. From the once very advanced technology and culture only ruins and artifacts remain. But a new civilization emerged from the remains. This lives in the belief in the divine twofoldness , which once caused the world fire.

Part of this new civilization are also the guilds, which build flying ships from artefacts and move through the country to do various jobs, to find new artefacts, to accept novices and train them to be warriors as well as to protect the population.

At the beginning of the game a new war for belief in duality has broken out. Reformists want to make changes to the traditions and rituals, but Orthodox oppose it because they fear a new world fire.

1st campaign

One day the farmer's son Ioan moves out to become a novice and join a guild. He soon meets the guild leader Caine and his foster daughter Shara. They quickly recognize Ioan's talent, introduce him to their guild ship, the Windchaser, and accept him into the guild. Ioan is noticed by Kerberus , who secretly accompanies and watches the group.

The guild found it increasingly difficult to maintain a neutral position during the Reformation War. She eventually reaches the village of Leem. There Caines old opponent Saros wants to contact him. Caine is accompanied by Shara, while Ioan is busy guarding the village. Finally, Ioan becomes suspicious, he goes in search of Caine and Shara. He soon finds Shara, she can report that she got into a trap with Caine and he was kidnapped. You will eventually find him in the Saros camp. But the search for Caine was a diversionary maneuver, Saros has destroyed Leem in the meantime and moved on with his troops.

While the guild follows in the footsteps of Saros, Ioan keeps hearing a mysterious voice. Caine believes that the twofoldness itself speaks to Ioan. She gives instructions on how to collect the three parts of an artifact, the Purgatory Key. With this key the purgatory can be found and unleashed, which would end the Reformation War. Caine would like to ask his friend Saladon for help, but Saros has already killed him. You can find Saros in a mountain pass where he and his troops can be defeated by a ruse. But they also block the way to the town of Krainnagh where the last part of the purgatory key is located. The guild therefore has to take a long and arduous detour through the desert. Shara has increasing doubts about the correctness of the mission.

Krainnagh is besieged and the decisive battle is raging when the guild arrives there. The weakened attackers can be repulsed and the purgatory key is completed. It shows a way through the desert into the moon blossom gorge. At Ioan's request, Shara remains at the entrance to the gorge.

While the rest of the group fights their way to the purgatory, Shara decides to follow them. She receives support from the Kerberus, the guardian of the purgatory. He has been watching the guild the entire time and has to prevent the purgatory from being activated. Because Ioan is possessed by a dark power. This had already tried several times before with other host bodies to reach the purgatory, but each time it could be stopped by the Kerberus. Ioan is an exceptionally strong host, so Kerberus needs the help of Shara. Since Ioan and Caine are almost there, Kerberus has to run ahead of her.

Ioan, driven and fanatical by the dark power, is unstoppable, Kerberus is finally defeated, but Caine dies in the process. Finally Ioan arrives at the abyss, the border to an ocean that has been dried up by the world fire, the purgatory. Shara reaches him there. She also tries to stop him, but Ioan does not allow himself to be dissuaded from his mission and unleashes the purgatory.

2nd campaign

Ioan wakes up in a kind of limbo . He realizes that the purgatory has triggered a new world fire and remembers. He would love to see Shara again and undo the events on the edge of the abyss. Finally the voice speaks to him again and explains that it was necessary that he had to see the effects of the purgatory himself, but he gets a second and last chance. This time he has to prevent the purgatory from being unleashed.

The voice sets Ioan back in time in Leem. He keeps all his memories of the past events. This time he can reach Shara and Caine in time and protect them from the trap of Saros. The guild is preparing for his attack on Leem, which can be repelled so successfully.

Again the guild is looking for the parts of the purgatory key with which the purgatory can not only be activated but also destroyed, this time they are supported by Caine's friend Saladon. You can also take the direct route to Krainnagh, but this will get you there earlier and the city is still under heavy siege. The guild must mobilize soldiers scattered in the desert to defeat the besiegers and reach Krainnagh. There she receives the last part of the purgatory key and travels to the Moon Blossom Gorge.

In the ravine, the guild unexpectedly encounters troops from Saros; the dark power has found a new host in him. This time he tries to claim the purgatory. When the guild reaches him, he has already defeated Kerberus, but Saros (and with it the dark power) can be defeated, Ioan destroys the purgatory. As the guild celebrates its victory, Shara is fed up with fighting. Ioan decides to settle down with her.

Still on the edge of the abyss, Ioan hears the mysterious voice again, it reveals that it is not the twofoldness as Ioan had suspected all along, but rather to be the power that was inherent in the purgatory. Since she is now free through the destruction of the purgatory, she wants to destroy the world. She now has to be defeated in three incarnations, with the guild being supported by Kerberus, who has recovered.

After this last battle, the Kerberus retreats into the abyss, where he meets others of his own kind and now, when there is no more purgatory to guard, finds a new destination.

Game mechanics

Windchaser combines elements of role-playing games and real-time tactical games. The player controls groups of characters as well as the Windchaser as a mobile headquarters.

The tasks of the game consist of solving quests . These consist of beating certain opponents, reaching and conquering areas of the map, collecting certain items and other tasks. Some quests have a fixed time limit.

The game is divided into two campaigns with a total of 15 chapters, but there are only seven different maps. The second campaign is only available after you have played through the first one.

Characters

Each character has attributes in the form of life points , damage points and morale points, as well as an active talent, a passive talent and belongs to one of the three fighting styles.

By winning battles, characters gain experience . With enough experience, you will go up a level , which will improve your attributes. The highest level is the sixth level, upon reaching which there is an improvement in the active talent and a permanent bonus for the attributes.

Each character belongs to a class which determines the attributes, talents, fighting style and appearance of the character. A total of 13 classes are available on three levels. The class can be changed free of charge at a training facility. These can be found at certain places on the map, later the Windchaser itself will serve as a training location. If characters have reached at least the fifth level, they can also be trained to a class of higher rank, but they are moved back to the first level. The characters are not tied to a fighting style, this can change when changing classes. The player's characters are not carried over between the chapters.

The heroes Ioan, Shara and Caine are special characters, they have very strong attributes, special talents and cannot be trained, so they are also tied to a fighting style. They are also adopted between the chapters.

Opponents are regular characters. In addition to human opponents such as enemy soldiers or bandits, there are also various wild animals and monsters as opponents. There are also mixed groups of opponents, consisting of monsters and humans.

groups

The player controls up to four groups of five characters each. The opponents are always organized in groups. Battles only take place between groups, even though groups can consist of a single character.

Each group has a character as a leader. If the group is not involved in a fight, its composition can be changed as desired, the characters can also be exchanged between the groups.

Fighting styles

Each character has a style of fighting: focus, discipline and chaos. These influence the fight according to the rock-paper-scissors principle :

Concentrated characters have an advantage over discipline opponents, but are at a disadvantage with chaos opponents. They also have a particularly large number of morale points, but relatively few life points.

Discipline characters have an advantage over chaos opponents, but are at a disadvantage with concentration opponents. They also have a particularly large amount of health, but relatively little damage.

Chaos characters have an advantage over concentration opponents, but are at a disadvantage with discipline opponents. They also have a particularly large amount of damage, but relatively few morale points.

Talents

Each character has an active and a passive talent. These talents are skills that influence combat. For example, you can temporarily improve the attributes, restore health and morale or damage the opponent directly. Some talents only affect the character, others affect the entire group or even all groups involved.

The passive talent is also known as the leader bonus and is only used if the character is a group leader, and it works automatically during the entire fight.

The active talent must be performed manually and only works for a certain time. Then you have to wait before it can be used again ( cooldown ). If a talent is executed while a talent of the same style is still active in the group, this is extended to the execution time of the new talent, this is known as a talent combo. Certain opposing talents can be countered. To do this, the counter talent must be executed while the opposing talent is active, the execution of which is then immediately canceled. Few opponents are able to counter the player's talents.

Struggles

Combat is triggered when a group meets an enemy group. Every second during the battle, the damage points of one group are subtracted from the life and morale points of the other group. The damage is evenly distributed among the characters in the group. If a character has no more life points, he is eliminated from the fight, so he can no longer contribute any damage or morale. If a group has run out of life points, it has been defeated and the fight with this group is over. The course of battles can be greatly influenced by using the talents and items. The group constellation is also essential for this.

If the morale of a group drops to less than half of the initial value, the group is weakened. If an opposing group runs out of morale points, these effects are doubled. The player can withdraw a group early from a fight by fleeing. If necessary, she can participate in the fight again later. If a group of the player runs out of morale points, they automatically flee.

Via a point system, a certain fighting style dominates for each group individually during the fight. This can be changed at will during the fight, the starting direction corresponds to the fighting style of the group leader. If a style has enough points, all group members of the style receive a combat bonus. Carrying out an active talent costs points from one style; these are redistributed to the other styles.

More than two groups can be involved in a fight; the damage is only caused to the group that attacks first. This results in a wide range of options for strategies.

Characters killed in battle return to the Windchaser where they are healed. On the other hand, characters who have fallen in combat will return unless the entire group has been defeated. Wounded characters always regenerate automatically outside of combat.

Items

There are numerous items in the game . This can be achieved mainly by defeating certain opponents, looting hiding spots, digging up with the Windchaser or trading. Items are stored in the windchaser. There they can often be further processed and improved.

Each group can be equipped with an item of equipment and a consumable item, but the equipment cannot be changed during a battle. Consumption items are mainly potions, which, for example, restore life points or morale points of the group, directly subtract life points from the opponent group or also reset talent cooldowns. Equipment items are primarily armor that reduces the damage the group receives, swords that give the group more damage points and amulets that can restore life or morale points in combat.

On many cards there are dealers where you can exchange items. There are also trade items (such as gold and silver bars) which have a high trade value but are otherwise useless.

The Windchaser

The player also controls the guild ship, the eponymous Windchaser. This forms the mobile headquarters which will be expanded and upgraded as the game progresses. The Windchaser can be moved freely across the map to areas that were previously secured by conquering a spying tower.

The guild ship can accommodate and transport characters, while characters are in the windchaser they are quickly healed. With the Windchaser, new characters are also recruited. In addition, items are also stored in it and, in later expansion stages, also processed into higher-quality items. With the last expansion stage, the Windchaser can also directly take over the training of characters.

By solving quests, the Windchaser is expanded by new areas and you receive fame points with which you can unlock new skills of the Windchaser.

The guild ship cannot be destroyed or attacked by opponents, it is almost completely uninvolved in fights.

development

The development of Windchaser had its origins in a thesis from 2005 by students at the Media Design University in Munich. In 2006 they founded Chimera Entertainment . The company received the LARA Start Up Award in 2007 , funded by the Bavarian Ministry of Economic Affairs, and in 2008 the jury's award for the German Developer Award . The game was presented for the first time by publisher dtp entertainment at the Games Convention 2007 . On May 9th, 2008 it appeared in German stores. A demo version was released a short time later. On November 26th, 2008 the game was published in Russia by the publisher Akella . On August 13, 2009, it was released in the United States by Got Game Entertainment .

The game uses the Shark3D engine.

reception

Windchaser received mostly moderate to positive reception from the press.

“The creative team from Chimera Entertainment with Windchaser did not succeed in the really big surprise, but the debut album is impressive. This game deserves special praise for the sophisticated story with its interesting characters - I haven't seen such an unusual story in this genre for a long time. [...] So whether you like the game or not will depend on the combat system - it's best to see it for yourself in the demo. The bottom line is that despite the weaknesses in the area of technology, scenery and character development, we can make a recommendation for all players who primarily want to be tactically challenged and narrative well entertained. "

- 4players

“A lot is new, a lot is good, but not everything is perfectly round. But above all, a game for thinkers and experienced tacticians. And a game with a really great story and believable characters. I personally had a lot of fun with 'Windchaser', even though I had to fight almost every fight several times in the first two missions. The tactical possibilities are clear, but must be used extremely skillfully, because the level of difficulty is not bad. "

- Games world

“Windchaser doesn’t turn the whole RPG genre upside down, it just throws in two or three new ideas. For example, I like the mobile base - but I like the sector capture including new tasks and artifact picking up even better. That motivates a lot! However, I developed a love-hate relationship with the red-green-blue combat system: the rock-paper-scissors principle is basically great, but implemented far too complicated and cumbersome. Honestly, I don't really like the worn-out phrase about the "fresh wind" - but here it fits the eye like the equally empty fist. "

- GameStar

“It's this immaturity in detail that makes playing really exhausting in places. After all, the implementation of the core principle worked really well. The amalgamation of tactics, strategy and some role-playing game elements is quickly addictive and pulls you through the extensive adventure like a steam train. The exciting background story with its numerous twists also makes an essential contribution to this. It doesn't really matter that the game world is dreary and the characters are a little stiff. "

- Eurogamer

literature

Michael Frese: Windchaser: The official solution book. 2008, Game Guide Factory, ISBN 978-3-941002-02-9

Web links

Selection of press reviews from the developer Chimera Entertainment
Windchaser at the developer Chimera Entertainment
Windchaser at the German publisher dtp Entertainment
Windchaser in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Windchaser at MobyGames (English)

Individual evidence

[1] ttp://www.chimera-entertainment.de/media/chimera/Pressemitteilungen/08_06_05_Windchaser_Hochschulprojekt.pdf ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2

[2] ttp://www.dtp-entertainment.com/de/games/game_detail.php?id=1834

[3] ttp://ru.akella.com/game.aspx?id=1979

[4] ttp://www.ign.com/games/windchaser-guilds-of-glory/pc-892450

[5] Review on 4players.de

[6] Review on gameswelt.de

[7] Review on gamestar.de

[8] Review on eurogamer.de