Ursus Quest: Tree of Life, unlike the previous installment, is NOT about exploring the world, but about exploring a small part of a world. Because of this, the game will be richer and deeper...just not as expansive.
At the beginning of the game, you pick whether you want to play as the male hero (Victor), or the female hero (Zoey). At the next major life event, your character ages one level, and becomes 1 of 4 different adolescent characters, depending on your choices and actions during your 'child' stage. From the adolescent stage, you can become one of 8 different 'adult' characters...again, depending on your actions during the adolecent stage.
Here are the main character trees:
VICTOR
ZOEY
FAME:
In 'Tree of Life', there will be 2 kinds of fame - 'Quest Fame', and 'Overall Fame'.
Quest Fame is only checked by a particular questmaster, so there are 8 variables to check these values...one for each quest path. Upon completing a quest path, your quest fame is tallied, and your reward varies depending on your score.
Overall Fame is a running record of all your actions in the game, and controls several things, primarily NPC attitudes toward you, but other things, as well.
QUEST PATHS:
The meat of the game revolves around interaction with NPC's, eight of which need your help in a bad way...these NPC's are the source of the 8 quest paths...and each of these have 8 subquests within them. These paths can be completed in any order, but each subquest will check to see which set of 'quest tools' you are using (4 levels), and alter your 'quest fame' and 'overall fame' accordingly.
The quest paths are not meant to be linear...you can do them all at once, or one-at-a-time...but in order to get a 'perfect' quest fame score in any 1 quest path, you HAVE to use the highest-level quest tools from the very beginning...which means (usually) avoiding that quest path completely until you have the best tools. Since the tool sets are all found (mostly) scattered within the 8 quest paths, this means that you have to do some other quest paths before you can get a perfect score in another one.
The rewards for completing a quest path vary, but you always get the highest-level quest tools for another quest path. The rewards for completing a quest path with a perfect score vary also, but include things like being able to marry that questmaster, or access to other lands, characters, or items which are exlusively obtained this way.
A general overview of each quest path:
ARTIST Gain fame by making sculptures and portraits of people
THIEF 8 Highest quest tools...8 quests to steal them. It's your karma, dude.
SAINT Atone for your sins by living virtuously
COOK Gain fame by cooking, and make money by opening your own restaurant.
TRADER Learn the ropes of trading, find some rare items along the way, and ultimately open your own chain of trade depots.
ROMANTIC Regardless of your character's gender, you can flirt with ANYBODY (almost) in the game. How well you do can ultimately result in either rejection or marriage, and after a sucessful union, you can either have a child, or adopt one.
ARCHAEOLOGIST Uncover and explore ancient ruins for fun, fortune, and glory!
MUSICIAN Locate and 'gather' your fanbase by playing for them. Become famous when you achieve 'standing room only' at your shows...where you actually perform for your adoring fans!
This is just the beginning of my general overview, but it's a start for now. I'll be posting soon about NPC modes, each quest path in-depth, and include a more detailed explanation of the game mechanics. Plus I plan to keep a running tab of my progress as I go. At this point I've made a good start on a map...basically a town on a small, flat acropolis in the center of a larger area, which is divided into 8 different areas by water, mountains, or other obstacles. I've also made most of the characters, and tested most of the quest event concepts...they all work great. WuHEWww!!
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