Decline Sword Coast Legends - RIP n-Space!

[Licaon_Kter]

Just some spoiled children who felt it was inconvenient to write down their mail-adress... There's no limits to what some people can have themselves complain about with this game...

Yeah like once you start Steam in OFFLINE mode to bypass that you can't actually play the game since they used up their time on the account system instead of the freaking game?

 

[sstacks]

SCL NEWS UPDATE (CP3 AND RAGE OF DEMONS)

From https://swordcoast.com/content/scl-news-update-cp3-and-rage-demons


Since the launch of Sword Coast Legends on October 20, 2015, we’ve released two Community Update Packs on schedule. These community packs were entirely free and consisted of highly requested features, such as: playable drow elves, companion skill trees, hundreds of new placeable objects, additional monster abilities, character respecs, and much more (info here). Some elements of CP3, such as the introduction of mod support, were actually introduced earlier than expected.


When we published our State of the Game back in late October our intent was to release another free community update pack in December of 2015. December has come and gone, so where is CP3? At this point, CP3 is currently on hold while the team focuses on the Rage of Demons expansion, which now includes some bits we had originally thought to package with CP3.


We understand that people will be disappointed by this decision, but Rage of Demons is quite large and boasts a brand new adventure complete with new areas to explore, new placeable objects, a new playable race (Tieflings), new creatures, new bosses, new spells, a new playable Warlock class, WASD movement and much, much more.


Apologies for any frustration or confusion this has caused. Development is fluid! Know that the best is yet to come for SCL. We can’t wait to share what we’re working on in 2016!

Attached are the first public screens of Rage of Demons!

(see link above for screenies... here's a tease)

 

[Zorba the Hutt]

These guys are really in comedy gold territory now. It's way past disappointment for many who followed the project. Commit to tile-by-tile editing and branching dialogue (among the most requested features since the game was first announced) then have a news blackout as the Dec target date came and went... then this "we've moved onto the DLC instead" announcement? Lol. Here's someone who did stick it out and sums it up:

 

[vonAchdorf]

Community Pack 3: December

• Official introduction of mod support, including
• Tile based level editor
• Branching dialog editor
• Adjustable game systems, ex: round timer, loot tables, etc.
• Community facing development of these features to begin immediately
• Option to disable monster level scaling in DM campaigns
• Bug fixes and additional community feedback items as time allows

Will they release this update?

Community Pack 1 and 2 released on scheduled time, so I'm guessing they will.

You guessed wrong.

 

[Immortal]

So after being fucked sideways for 6 months straight, Khalid finally decides enough is enough?
The amount of masochism a fanboy can endure is almost commendable.. almost.

 

[Zorba the Hutt]

Good old toroks, the SCL shill. At least I'm finally on someone's ignore list now...

 

[Mortmal]

This may have come out for PC first, and they may have tried to be edgy in their appeal to PC master race, but this game is console territory.

On consoles i played dark souls and dragon dogma in the last years , strange journey , etrian odissey dark spire, persona and i forget many more .I think dark spire is more close to AD&D 2e than anything D&d released lately. I game since 1982 or so, got countless excellent hardcore rpg gaming experience on consoles.

It's not console territory , its cash grab and scam territory.

 

[pippin]

So after being fucked sideways for 6 months straight, Khalid finally decides enough is enough?
The amount of masochism a fanboy can endure is almost commendable.. almost.

That guy was really larping Khalid, then.

 

[Morality Games]

We still have the delayed PS and Xbone releases to go before the game can be officially declared dead. Something that stinks so strongly of console design often makes the bulk of its sales on there.

The fact that their pre-orders aren't registering in the financial news isn't a good sign for them, though.

EDIT: In case anyone was wondering about the consoliness - 4-players co-op, enclosed areas, PUG design, shallow-ized power list all available on screen, flashy effects, simplified Player demands for combat control. Can't get any more console-oriented than that.

This may have come out for PC first, and they may have tried to be edgy in their appeal to PC master race, but this game is console territory.

There isn't much of a chance if D:OS didn't sell well on consoles with its couch co-op and WoW Graphics. Unity RPGs just aren't well received on that medium.

Spoiler

Granted, D:OS seems to have sold alright on consoles -- VGChart indicates 160,000 physical sales, and I keep seeing it on the retail shelves

 

[Volourn]

160k sales is rather poor. That ain't 'alright'.

 

[Morality Games]

160k sales is rather poor. That ain't 'alright'.

Console splits 50% with digital sales though, so actual unit sales would be around 300,000.

 

[Jimmious]

My comment about this game is that I fail to understand why devs think that people that like AD&D want a real time, DOTA style version of it.
And they keep trying to sell that.
When AD&D is a pure nerdy TB system. Why?

 

[Zorba the Hutt]

Despite their repeated claims about how much they loved D&D and played PnP all the time, their claim to fame was working on DAO. When a lot of the initial feedback was the combat felt more like a mix of DAO and MMO systems than D&D, Dan O'Leary said it was "always clear that we would continue the evolution of D&D games begun with DAO". This obviously hadn't been "clear" to many people as DAO wasn't a D&D game.

Some have speculated that they were actually making a DAO clone from the start and got the D&D licence to slap on it quite late in development. But perhaps they just thought that DAO was way better than D&D and would attract more sales in the current market. Apparently this latest announcement (priority to the DLC not the features they had promised to add) came from "consultation with Digital Extremes (their publisher) and WOTC (who have a timetable to release Rage of Demons across multiple platforms)" so it's all a bit of a clusterfuck and certainly nowhere near the success that they were probably expecting. I saw a post where someone pointed out the Rage of Demons DLC was the last thing they were contractually required to provide (to WOTC and to buyers) so hurriedly moving on to this could be a sign that they are going to draw a line under the whole thing as soon as they can. Guess we'll see.

 

[Aoyagi]

My comment about this game is that I fail to understand why devs think that people that like AD&D want a real time, DOTA style version of it.
And they keep trying to sell that.
When AD&D is a pure nerdy TB system. Why?

They wanted to use the Forgotten Realms universe and AD&D probably comes with it. A very simplified D&D is the easy way to make the combat (etc.) system.

 

[Jimmious]

My comment about this game is that I fail to understand why devs think that people that like AD&D want a real time, DOTA style version of it.
And they keep trying to sell that.
When AD&D is a pure nerdy TB system. Why?

They wanted to use the Forgotten Realms universe and AD&D probably comes with it. A very simplified D&D is the easy way to make the combat (etc.) system.

I mean why not go the Dragon Age route and just make your world, your rules and systems? Why did it work for them so well(I liked DA:O btw and I'm sure they all sold well even if the two last sucked balls)?
At least BG had all the tricks of AD&D even in this pseudo-real time thing.

 

[Aoyagi]

I mean why not go the Dragon Age route and just make your world, your rules and systems? Why did it work for them so well(I liked DA:O btw and I'm sure they all sold well even if the two last sucked balls)?
At least BG had all the tricks of AD&D even in this pseudo-real time thing.

SCL reeks with low budget. I imagine making a whole new world is bloody expensive and not as safe as using an already popular universe. *cough*Fallout*cough*

 

[Jimmious]

I mean why not go the Dragon Age route and just make your world, your rules and systems? Why did it work for them so well(I liked DA:O btw and I'm sure they all sold well even if the two last sucked balls)?
At least BG had all the tricks of AD&D even in this pseudo-real time thing.

SCL reeks with low budget. I imagine making a whole new world is bloody expensive and not as safe as using an already popular universe. *cough*Fallout*cough*

Let's just hope that Bethesda won't realise that they could also destroy the 3rd Baldurs Gate after Fallout if they really wanted it..

 

[Spectacle]

My comment about this game is that I fail to understand why devs think that people that like AD&D want a real time, DOTA style version of it.
And they keep trying to sell that.
When AD&D is a pure nerdy TB system. Why?

They wanted to use the Forgotten Realms universe and AD&D probably comes with it. A very simplified D&D is the easy way to make the combat (etc.) system.

I mean why not go the Dragon Age route and just make your world, your rules and systems? Why did it work for them so well(I liked DA:O btw and I'm sure they all sold well even if the two last sucked balls)?
At least BG had all the tricks of AD&D even in this pseudo-real time thing.

They probably expected that the D&D license would get them a lot of attention and lead to considerably higher sales. They forgot to take into account that D&D fans would want a D&D game.

 

[DramaticPopcorn]

My comment about this game is that I fail to understand why devs think that people that like AD&D want a real time, DOTA style version of it.
And they keep trying to sell that.
When AD&D is a pure nerdy TB system. Why?

They wanted to use the Forgotten Realms universe and AD&D probably comes with it. A very simplified D&D is the easy way to make the combat (etc.) system.

I mean why not go the Dragon Age route and just make your world, your rules and systems? Why did it work for them so well(I liked DA:O btw and I'm sure they all sold well even if the two last sucked balls)?
At least BG had all the tricks of AD&D even in this pseudo-real time thing.

They probably expected that the D&D license would get them a lot of attention and lead to considerably higher sales. They forgot to take into account that D&D fans would want a D&D game.

Except, there are plenty of DnD fans who play NWN1 & 2.

The turn based or real-time wouldn't matter much. In fact, it's better that they went for RT, because that way encounter and area design is way easier that way.
As long as they could provide meaningful character progression, it would satisfy your average DnD nerd,

 

[sstacks]

So, there are people that like this game but it's obvious from both sales and online criticism that it hasn't hit that crucial breakthrough point for gamers and RPG gamers in general.

Their best hope is to get the tile editor, branching dialog editor and other mod support in before they hit a pull the plug point. Other games have had big success after initial launches that were lackluster.

My personal guess (I have no knowledge) on the focus on ROD over CP 3 is their relationship with Wizards of the Coast and WotC's goals.

 

[Mustawd]

It seems that the expectations of a D&D cRPG + level editor = NWN in the minds of a lot of people. Nspace really should have made expectations clear, and I think letting the hype build unnecessarily is their biggest headache now. Like you mentioned, there are people having fun with the single player campaign, but there are a ton who seem to have wanted another NWN with a robust engine with actual D&D rules.

It now appears that most of the online community has moved on at the moment. It'll be interesting to see if the new content will do anything to help that. Has to suck for the devs though...I mean their apparent timeline with WOTC is kind of killing their reputation seeing that they promised CP3 back in December.

 

[Telengard]

But they're an indie studio. How do you figure they need 500k?

A 5-person studio with no licensing to pay back and no investors taking first profit, they're looking to do 100,000 (don't have to, but they want to). But this company is tied into a larger company also doing development (who is going to be taking a big cut for their work), they've got the D&D license to pay for, they've got a Hasborean contract, and they're not small themselves. This kind of shit adds up fast. You sign up with investors and D&D and only do 500, all the people draining out your money will get their cut first, and you'll be left holding the empty sack. That's what it means to play with the big boys.

We still have the delayed PS and Xbone releases to go before the game can be officially declared dead. Something that stinks so strongly of console design often makes the bulk of its sales on there.

The fact that their pre-orders aren't registering in the financial news isn't a good sign for them, though.

EDIT: In case anyone was wondering about the consoliness - 4-players co-op, enclosed areas, PUG design, shallow-ized power list all available on screen, flashy effects, simplified Player demands for combat control. Can't get any more console-oriented than that.

This may have come out for PC first, and they may have tried to be edgy in their appeal to PC master race, but this game is console territory.

There isn't much of a chance if D:OS didn't sell well on consoles with its couch co-op and WoW Graphics. Unity RPGs just aren't well received on that medium.

Spoiler

Granted, D:OS seems to have sold alright on consoles -- VGChart indicates 160,000 physical sales, and I keep seeing it on the retail shelves

Also, in addition to the above, we're in couch party-game territory here. They made a game that has isolated, short vignettes - perfect for parties. Consoles and party games often do better than their actual quality would otherwise lend itself to.

 

[Reinhardt]

they were actually making a DAO clone from the start

If it's DAO, then where is my lesbians?

 

[Mustawd]

There can be imperfections during the cloning process. Devs will add them in a later update I hope.

 

[Turjan]

They probably expected that the D&D license would get them a lot of attention and lead to considerably higher sales. They forgot to take into account that D&D fans would want a D&D game.

Except, there are plenty of DnD fans who play NWN1 & 2.

The turn based or real-time wouldn't matter much. In fact, it's better that they went for RT, because that way encounter and area design is way easier that way.
As long as they could provide meaningful character progression, it would satisfy your average DnD nerd,

It has a lot to do with expectations. NWN had the BG games as a pointer at what to expect, which means, not a faithful 1:1 conversion, but something most people saw as "good enough". It was recognizable as sort-of D&D, and nobody went in there blind. The toolset was what won most people over, and I know quite a few DMs that were quite happy with what was offered.

There's a fine line that you don't cross when your expected main audience is the fans of a PnP rule set. This line was also crossed by Daedalic from Blackguards to Blackguards 2. If your expected main audience is outside of this field, you better go for a smooth experience. I don't think SCL caters to any of those audiences.