Boom's Bits: Blundell Game Informer Interview

[Boom115]

If you don't have 18 minutes to watch the interview, I pulled out the most important bits that I found interesting. Enjoy!

 

Game Informer Interview

 

Boom's Bits

• The story lines are not connected, they are not connected, THEY ARE NOT CONNECTED. I think it is safe to say that Chaos and Aether storylines are not connected and we can focus our theorizing elsewhere.
• There is an individual writer who put together the zombies timeline (unnamed). This person was tasked with knowing every piece of the 10 year saga. Craig Houston and Jason Blundell often have to ask them to verify that their ideas mesh with previous events. 
• Blood of the Dead's main quest will be one of the most involved to date. Also there will be numerous side quests to keep us busy along the way.
• Classified story line and easter eggs are for the more hardcore story line enthusiasts. There will be many "deep cuts" as far as the story line goes. Fortunately we have a forum of information covering this exact topic :).
• For new players adapting to the game play the recommended maps should be played as follows IX, BotD, VoD, and finally Classified due to its tight quarters. The difficulty described here is referring only to game play and not the main quest.
• "We will have more maps release this year then ever before, so stay tunes to the end." Hold up...WHAT?!?!  Is this Chronicles II confirmed? I guess we will wait and see.
• This season will be the first time we have a fully dedicated development through the life of the game. Fixed glitches
• He made a very non-committal remark about the return of Grief mode, but highly suggested that it would make a return.
• Zombies Rush Mode will allow players to compete in a more arcade style. It will drop the players into the maps with all buyable items free to grab and will progress based on kills. There can only be one winner! I'm sure there is a lot more information come on this mode. 
• The chaos story will have no bearing on historical events. Allowing the treyarch team to interject there story in significant events without be burdened with timeline flaws like the aether story line. 
• Understanding why the map is named IX could take us 6-12 months to discover. 

[Inconcievable]

5 hours ago, Boom115 said:

• The story lines are not connected, they are not connected, THEY ARE NOT CONNECTED. I think it is safe to say that Chaos and Aether storylines are not connected and we can focus our theorizing elsewhere.

Honestly, it's amusing enough to me that people aren't willing to accept that fact. It doesn't all need to be connected, and I'm COMPLETELY fine with a new storyline.

 

5 hours ago, Boom115 said:

•  There is an individual writer who put together the zombies timeline (unnamed). This person was tasked with knowing every piece of the 10 year saga. Craig Houston and Jason Blundell often have to ask them to verify that their ideas mesh with previous events. 

Give this person a medal, honestly. A raise. Whatever it is. He deserves it.

...is "Zombies Historian" a viable career? Sign me up! (...and make @MysteryMachineX that job too)

 

5 hours ago, Boom115 said:

•  Blood of the Dead's main quest will be one of the most involved to date. Also there will be numerous side quests to keep us busy along the way.

I mean, you could technically have said the same shit about Mob of the Dead, too. There's plenty of stuff. That said, it's nice to know that it's super involved. I can definitely get behind that, especially if it's good.

 

5 hours ago, Boom115 said:

•  Classified story line and easter eggs are for the more hardcore story line enthusiasts. There will be many "deep cuts" as far as the story line goes. Fortunately we have a forum of information covering this exact topic :).

That's one way to put it.

...Jason's getting me hyped for a map I know nothing about, though! Why do this to me?  

 

5 hours ago, Boom115 said:

•  For new players adapting to the game play the recommended maps should be played as follows IX, BotD, VoD, and finally Classified due to its tight quarters. The difficulty described here is referring only to game play and not the main quest.

With the way we know of Mob and Five, I think calling them easy or hard by proxy alone would be somewhat of an overstatement. That said... if BOTD is so high, that's not very reassuring.

 

5 hours ago, Boom115 said:

•  "We will have more maps release this year then ever before, so stay tunes to the end." Hold up...WHAT?!?!  Is this Chronicles II confirmed? I guess we will wait and see.

I think this is more in reference to the fact that, well... they now have two storylines to balance. The Chaos Storyline's probably gonna get one map per DLC, as will the Aether Storyline. Not that I wouldn't like to see Zombies Chronicles 2: Electric Boogaloo. But, hey, I digress.

 

5 hours ago, Boom115 said:

•  This season will be the first time we have a fully dedicated development through the life of the game. Fixed glitches

With the track history they've got, I'm all for this.

 

5 hours ago, Boom115 said:

•  He made a very non-committal remark about the return of Grief mode, but highly suggested that it would make a return.

I'm more curious how that may work. Honestly, I am. Ultimis v. Primis? Primis v. Victis? Victis v. Ultimis? I'm sure they could do it, it just needs a sensible amount of substance.

 

5 hours ago, Boom115 said:

• Zombies Rush Mode will allow players to compete in a more arcade style. It will drop the players into the maps with all buyable items free to grab and will progress based on kills. There can only be one winner! I'm sure there is a lot more information come on this mode. 

I actually wasn't clear on how that worked... huh. I'm all for that, actually! That sounds fun.

 

5 hours ago, Boom115 said:

•  The chaos story will have no bearing on historical events. Allowing the treyarch team to interject there story in significant events without be burdened with timeline flaws like the aether story line. 

See... this partially irks me, though. Because that doesn't imply it happened, more than it does imply that this is just a dreamworld. Did IX happen, or did it not? Do the vapors act not as a gateway in time, but a gateway to a paradise world for the cult, kind of like The Elder Scrolls' "Mythic Dawn" from Oblivion? For a practically pagan cult to exist but not be widely known like IX shows in the world of Voyage of Despair would require either an expert level of secrecy, or for something to realistically have happened. At the very least, I understand it not screwing with the official history of the world, that's fine, but... make the maps actually stitch together, Treyarch. A story should make good sense, y'know.

 

5 hours ago, Boom115 said:

•  Understanding why the map is named IX could take us 6-12 months to discover. 

...Roman numbers. Cult. Probably important to the cult. Maybe there's nine core leaders. Maybe we gotta kill all nine the leaders.

...if that actually happens, you guys heard it here first.

[anonymous]

16 hours ago, Boom115 said:

There is an individual writer who put together the zombies timeline (unnamed). This person was tasked with knowing every piece of the 10 year saga. Craig Houston and Jason Blundell often have to ask them to verify that their ideas mesh with previous events

I'm glad to hear this. Certain events in the Timeline just didn't seem right (like Der Eisendrache being built in 1292, while the real Hohenwerfen Castle was built earlier) but I guess everything has a reason now. Happy they really have a writer for it, and not someone who worked on this timeline for fun in his/her free time.

10 hours ago, The Meh said:

Give this person a medal, honestly. A raise. Whatever it is. He deserves it.

...is "Zombies Historian" a viable career? Sign me up! (...and make @MysteryMachineX that job too)

 

I also like that thing he said about Classified. That it is for the hardcore story fans. The deep cuts. Man I hope it'll be about some old cospiracies/mythology themes. Makes me hopefull