The idea for the game was made back in 2013, as Ooyama and several of his friends where getting annoyed with many of the current MMORPG's and the flaws they found in them. Among the things that made them grow tired of current games was that it was impossible to truly take sovereignty of areas AND defend them while not online, and that almost all games are (in one way or another) instanced,, that there where no truly openworld games out there.
The approach to solving these issues lead across several different gameengines, before it was decided to use the BigWorld engine. With it's flexibility and power, it was the best choice for the task at hand,, afterall, to create the world in the game there was a need for a gameengine that could handle up to 5000x2000 square kilometres interlinked space.
Another point in solving the issues was the defense side; this was done by allowing the players to hire npc's, not only once they had sovereignty of an area, but already before that. To make sure that such an act whould not automatically become an "i win" button, measures where taken to balance the npc-hirelings out so that teamwork and cooperation whould still be the driving factor.
Finally, a thing that had annoyed Ooyama in many fantasy rpg's was that in the mountsystems there was a general idea that if you fought a dragon, it could breathe fire, but the moment that you caught one as a mount it inherently lost that ability. In EoB that is NOT the case, though you will have to get in range of hostile archers/catapults and the like before YOU can hit,, making you a strong fighter, but also a target,, and let us be honest; IF your dragon panics with you on the back, that MIGHT get ouchy!
As the world is intended to become quite massive, there will be a strong playerpart in populating it as the starting empires will be centered in the middle so to speak. This, along with the fact that there is no linear questlines, will make the game more driven by the players own explorations and decisions than of a mere grinderapproach. Those two things, along with the unique characteridentification system built into the game, should make for a both beautyfull, scary, and intense expirience to any player.
With the aproximately 10-million square kilometres of landmass planned for the gameworld, which will be named Shandoz, along with sailable seas (yes, you get to play captain aswell if you so desire) there will be a lot of different places to seek out and explore. This is where it is important to know what the meaning of MMORPG is, as you WILL need to be in groups to travel the outskirts of the world safely. On the edge of the world, there be not only monster,, but also titanic demigods. Some may be benevolent, but others will and can smash you with one blow of their hands if you're alone and intrude. So by all means, explore the world,, but,, remember,, it is not always for the fainthearted.
All in all, we're hoping for you to enjoy the game once we launch, and till then maybe follow us on facebook too. On the facebookpage you can also find miscellaneous links to related things, such as Gamerpod where we plan streams regarding the game, aswell as our patreon-page (yes we're a small underfunded company, so go and look and see what benefits you get from becoming a patron).
Best regards,
and in the hope to see you in Shandoz,