Eurogamer: Because you have a real-time combat system, are you worried about lag in the game, and about how network connections will affect that? Most previous RPGs have worked around latency by removing real-time elements; it seems quite brave to say that you're going to change that.

Erling Ellingsen: This is always a difficult question, because what can we say - 'no, it really works! I can show you the code!' *laughs*

The beta feedback has been so positive on that front. Personally, I've never heard about lag interfering with the combat system - and honestly, we wouldn't release this combat system if the technology didn't support it. Again, we're not releasing half-baked stuff.

The code is actually based on Anarchy Online's code-base, so it's something we've been working on for ten years.

Ole Herbjornsen: I think also that if you look at the beta feedback we're getting, we don't hear stuff about it being laggy - it's more about class balance. That means that we've managed to get a certain distance - we've got a product that has come sufficiently far that people can actually play it and give us detailed feedback on the balancing, and not on other issues like lag or technical problems.

Eurogamer: With Conan, are you aiming for casual, WoW type players, or is this something more complex, more suited to dedicated players?

Ole Herbjornsen: I think we're very clear about wanting Conan to have a casual appeal. We don't want to exclude the hardcore players, but they're not the primary focus, in the sense that we're aiming towards a more casual-friendly style of play.

You don't need to grind twenty hours a day to avoid the risk of your friends levelling away from you, or anything like that. That's not the focus of our game. We believe people should have fun as they play, not just grind up as quickly as they can to get to the end game.

Erling Ellingsen: You have both aspects, really. Conan is a very PvP centric game, for instance, which implies that it's a game for very hardcore players - but it isn't. You also have a strong focus on quests, being able to do quests quickly, and on jumping in and doing solo stuff. You don't have to group - the game can be soloed from 1 to 80. There's something for everyone. If you're a really hardcore player, you'll probably spend a lot more time doing the PvP stuff.