Time On Your Hands?

Strategy First showcased a new RPG called The Prince of Qin, in the translation stage currently and due around August. This double mega big whopper of a game promises to take up roughly 300 hours of your free time! The story of how China (the country, not the wrestler) got its name (Qin is pronounced 'Chin') serves as the basis for this game, but after establishing the time period and drawing us into an actual historical setting, Prince of Qin takes some liberties so as to present an alternate telling of a familiar Chinese legend.

Some of the unique things seen were the incredibly detailed environments, and the ability to interact with up to 150 NPCs, poke around in villages, go through houses and just generally make a nuisance of yourself. Imagine Diablo but with towns so detailed and fleshed out that you could go inside houses and visit the people instead of just meeting them at the door every time. Up to 5 characters can join a party, and it seems that Strategy First is aiming for the deepest single-player experience possible, as opposed to driving this as an online RPG or MMP game. Most of the work remaining will be in fine-tuning the translation to be more appropriate for a U.S. audience, but the levels also seemed to need some filling out in terms of characters and action. The battle system appears to be fairly standard, although we're told that commanding your party will be made easier and more intuitive through some shortcut features and 'smart' grouping of characters for attacks and moving around the world. I sometimes think about how much time I spend at work relative to my gaming time, and it's sobering to think that I'd need to take 2 months off to play through this massive RPG! Not that I would complain, but somehow I don't think I'd have a job after I beat the game.