Game News Divinity: Original Sin Kickstarter Update #7: Stretchgoals, Music Preview

[Jaesun]

Tags: Divinity: Original Sin

Stretchgoals, Music Preview
Update #7 · Apr 5, 2013

Higher And Higher
We are very proud to announce stretchgoals this early in our campaign. We have 82% of our target pledged, and that wouldn't have been possible without our pledgers. So even if this starts sounding like a broken record: thank you!

We have listened to the community in setting up these stretchgoals. We hope you recognize some of your influence ;-)

In this update:
- Stretchgoals Explained
- A Nice Graphic For Those Stretchgoals
- A Preview of One of Kirill's Songs

Stretchgoals Explained
500K - New Area: Your Homestead on the Shelter Plane At The End Of Time.

We'll implement a new area to which you can travel at all times. An accidental gift by the Imp Historian (you know, the slightly bizarre time traveler that also gives you the Teleporter Pyramids)...

The Shelter Plane At The End Of Time is a barren place at first, and not without its issues, but with the proper care, we're sure you can turn it into a cozy, homely place. You can then recruit NPCs who will perform special services for you, provided they can overcome their initial fear...

Don't forget, this plane exists at the end of time only, and changes according to significant choices you make in the present. Beware the Imp Historian though, he still pays you visits and he's very interested in everything you have and he has his own ideas about interior decoration.

(Well, we told you it would look barren. But really, all it needs is an extreme makeover.)

650K - Talents and Personality Traits

We'll introduce talents that further define your character. These talents help you in combat, in dialogues with NPCs, and in all kinds of other interactions. You get to choose some at character creation, by exploring the world, and occasionally through leveling up.

For instance, Animal Empathy allows you to talk to animals. Slippery Eel allows you to evade attacks of opportunity. Interdimensional Touch lets you send items to far away party members but also to your Homestead on the Shelter Plane At The End Of Time.

Personality traits reflect the choices that you make and may shift during the game, depending on your decisions. These personality traits give your characters benefits and penalties. For instance, a Ruthless character gains certain bonuses in combat but becomes more infamous. A Loyal character receives bonuses when fighting back to back, but gets a penalty when trying to flee.

Not all talents and traits have already been designed and we'll be looking at our backers for input!

(The talent Necromantic Prodigy gives you better control over the undead.)

800K - Henchmen Become Companions.

Companions will have a background, their own story to tell, their own goals and their own personality. The world and its inhabitants will react to them. The companions have their own dynamic story arc and quests. Their fate will change depending on the party's decisions.

Companions will have their own talents and personal traits, and will affect the party's spirit. A high party spirit means that in combat the party is more efficient.
Companions will be able to stay at the Shelter Plane At The End Of Time. Because it's handy to be able to switch sometimes if the situation calls for another approach...

(A companion whose fate seemed to be sealed. Until you came along.)

1M - NPC Schedules, Day/Night Cycles, Weather Systems.

As the ground warms to the rays of the morning sun, NPCs wake up, and start going about their day. When evening falls, they go to their houses, light their candles and fireplaces, then get ready for bed.

The day and night cycles and the moons of Rivellon have an impact on magic and on monsters. The weather changes, and has an impact on the environment and affects magic as well.

(Let's go for a walk, they said. It'll be fun, they said.)

A Nice Graphic For Those Stretchgoals

A Preview of One of Kirill's Songs
As promised, here is an early sketch Kirill came up with for Divinity: Original Sin. (A sketch is a piece of music he recorded all by himself, an idea. This is in no way recorded as it should, unmixed, unmastered and unproduced.)



(Out of respect for Kirill's music, we will not end this update with a silly video. I'm serious.)

 

[VonVentrue]

The $1 million goal feels unattainable at this point, which is a crying shame and a testament to the pathetic mentality of the majority of the crowd participating in the Kickstarter craze. I honestly can't help but draw the conclusion that showing as little as possible, combined with pure reliance on everyone's individual notion of what a finished project should be is the sole logical approach (a blueprint?) to launching a successful campaign.
One cannot blame the elusive "fatigue factor" or "poor timing" for Original Sin's relatively slow pledge rate or the amount of money raised thus far when compared to the performance of this freaking thing, which strikes me as a shameless cash grab and a disaster in the making (I might be mistaken, sure). Why that project smashed through its target and D:OS seems to be struggling is something I honestly cannot fathom or explain otherwise.
There's no justice in this world.

 

[Arkeus]

While Original Sin is going slowly, it does do around 20K a day, so if things don't go badly it will do around 800K without any real spike by the end. With a bit off effort, it can get anywhere between 800K-1.5M

 

[Infinitron]

The $1 million goal feels unattainable at this point, which is a crying shame and a testament to the pathetic mentality of the majority of the crowd participating in the Kickstarter craze. I honestly can't help but draw the conclusion that showing as little as possible, combined with pure reliance on everyone's individual notion of what a finished project should be is the sole logical approach (a blueprint?) to launching a successful campaign.
One cannot blame the elusive "fatigue factor" or "poor timing" for Original Sin's relatively slow pledge rate or the amount of money raised thus far when compared to the performance of this freaking thing, which strikes me as a shameless cash grab and a disaster in the making (I might be mistaken, sure). Why that project smashed through its target and D:OS seems to be struggling is something I honestly cannot fathom or explain otherwise.
There's no justice in this world.

It's entirely about the popularity of the brand, not the degree of preparation or any of that stuff

SotA's gotten lots of pledges from UO players who happen to be used to regularly pulling out cash to pay for games (subscription fees)

 

[sea]

That is some fantastic music. One of the lesser-used and underrated composers out there for sure, I loved his work in past Divinity games. Kind of unusual but also very fitting and distinct for the game.

The $1 million goal feels unattainable at this point, which is a crying shame and a testament to the pathetic mentality of the majority of the crowd participating in the Kickstarter craze. I honestly can't help but draw the conclusion that showing as little as possible, combined with pure reliance on everyone's individual notion of what a finished project should be is the sole logical approach (a blueprint?) to launching a successful campaign.
One cannot blame the elusive "fatigue factor" or "poor timing" for Original Sin's relatively slow pledge rate or the amount of money raised thus far when compared to the performance of this freaking thing, which strikes me as a shameless cash grab and a disaster in the making (I might be mistaken, sure). Why that project smashed through its target and D:OS seems to be struggling is something I honestly cannot fathom or explain otherwise.
There's no justice in this world.

Divinity is not that big a brand. Larian do "okay" but outside the CRPG community they are virtually unknown, and even in the wider CRPG community they tend to be considered second- or third-tier behind several other devs. Obviously that's not necessarily the case, but they certainly don't have legions of fans like Obsidian and inXile (whose popularity even so is a good deal thanks to Black Isle).

 

[Stabwound]

Damn, I hope this hits the goals. The Battle Tower was probably the most fun part of Divinity 2 and that one stretch goal sounds like its similar. The 800k thing to turn henchmen to actual NPCs with personalities is a must have. It's going to be a tragedy if it doesn't at least hit that mark.

$1,000,000 one is awesome too, and would really make it Ultima 7-ish.

I get what you guys are saying about people throwing money at the screen over game ideas like Wasteland and being very stingy with ones like this, but I think a big aspect is that this game is coming out no matter what. Wasteland really rode the "you're our only hope to ever make these kinds of games again!" card as hard as they could. On the other hand, Divinity: OS is seemingly a near-complete game and will be coming out no matter what. It's not like they don't need the money (I'm assuming Swen is being genuine) but even I feel less inclined to pledge toward something that doesn't NEED the money. Wasteland 2 would have never happened without KS.

 

[Humanity has risen!]

He is the single best composer in the industry by far, and is much more skilled at creating fitting atmospheres than someone like Jeremy Soule. DivDiv's soundtrack really has absolutely incredible variety, almost every track has its own entirely separate style, and most of them are incredibly detailed and rich.

And yes, the henchmen NEED personalities. In Divinity 2 the NPCs had practically more character than the characters of all other videogames in history combined together. It would be absolutely delicious.

Also, does the game use any voice acting at all? I remember Swen saying at some point that he thought it was a poor investment for the type of games he made.

 

[AC Sleighter]

One cannot blame the elusive "fatigue factor" or "poor timing" for Original Sin's relatively slow pledge rate or the amount of money raised thus far when compared to the performance of this freaking thing, which strikes me as a shameless cash grab and a disaster in the making (I might be mistaken, sure). Why that project smashed through its target and D:OS seems to be struggling is something I honestly cannot fathom or explain

I wouldnt exactly call shroud of the avatar's performance smashing through anything. It's just over 150% of what was asked and isnt going to approach the success of the big kicksatarters. Given the recognition of Garriott's name and the size of his potential audience, Shroud of the Avatar's funding is almost a failure.

larian has a much smaller audience of people that even know who they are. They also asked for less than half of what garriott did and will probably finish around relatively half of what shroud does.

 

[Humanity has risen!]

Most people don't know what Ultima is these days, while a generation of emotional hipsters grew up with how cool, old-school, edgy and emotionally engaging Planescape and Baldur's Gate were, so this is not surprising.

 

[AC Sleighter]

Most people don't know what Ultima is these days, while a generation of emotional hipsters grew up with how cool, old-school, edgy and emotionally engaging Planescape and Baldur's Gate were, so this is not surprising.

Ultima Online was a much bigger deal than planescape at the same time. No chance do "youngsters" know Torment more than they do Ultima.

 

[Humanity has risen!]

Err no, there were never that many people who played it. Planescape grew popular through hipsters through word of mouth while Ultima Online 's glory period only lasted a few years. And many of the people who are so focused on Ultima come from poorer European countries.

 

[Arkeus]

Ultima Online was a much bigger deal than planescape at the same time. No chance do "youngsters" know Torment more than they do Ultima.

It's been the mainstream thing for every RPG critic to say "Torment, best rpg ever" for the last ten years. Ultima, OTOH, was all but forgotten.

 

[Roguey]

Please don't post the entire update, images and all, as a newspost, thank you.

 

[evdk]

Please don't post the entire update, images and all, as a newspost, thank you.

Browsing via carrier pigeons?

 

[Roguey]

Please don't post the entire update, images and all, as a newspost, thank you.

Browsing via carrier pigeons?

It's not classy. I know people in the past have been reprimanded for making newsposts too long, this counts as that.

 

[markec]

I didn't back Ultima and do not intend to. But I haven't backed Larian yet either, having never played any of the previous Divinity games, there's no nostalgia to reference on. Yes, the product as it stands is impressive, but so much so that I oughta preorder?

I havent played any InXile game, nor any game by Expeditions Conquistador, Legends of Eisenwald or 20 other devs to whose kickstarters I pledged for.

 

[Zed]

Please don't post the entire update, images and all, as a newspost, thank you.

Browsing via carrier pigeons?

It's not classy. I know people in the past have been reprimanded for making newsposts too long, this counts as that.

while I agree (and is one of those who do point it out), no-one on staff cares about it.

 

[General Maxson]

I hope this gets to 1 million. But it will be close. Maybe they shouldn't have laid out all the stretch goals immediately, as it will live a bitter taste if they are not reached.

 

[evdk]

$1.000.000,- COME ON!

 

[A user named cat]

I really can't imagine this game without the elements from the $1m stretch goal. Those are a pretty big deal to not include in an RPG like this when it comes to immersion.

 

[Western]

I didn't back Ultima and do not intend to. But I haven't backed Larian yet either, having never played any of the previous Divinity games, there's no nostalgia to reference on. Yes, the product as it stands is impressive, but so much so that I oughta preorder?

I think you should keep following the updates and as a more concrete picture of the product becomes apparent, deciding one way or the other should be easier, you may also feel your contribution will add something to the game to push it over the line in terms of content or contribute only when a particular feature is in.

 

[The Bishop]

That is some fantastic music. One of the lesser-used and underrated composers out there for sure, I loved his work in past Divinity games. Kind of unusual but also very fitting and distinct for the game.

I agree. The unusual part seems to come from the fact that his music contains unusual amounts of ... music in it. Most of the stuff you get today is just sequenced series of sound effects with very little attention to melody or harmony. Musical music is becoming somewhat rare, that's why Larian games feel very refreshing in that regard.

 

[sea]

That is some fantastic music. One of the lesser-used and underrated composers out there for sure, I loved his work in past Divinity games. Kind of unusual but also very fitting and distinct for the game.

I agree. The unusual part seems to come from the fact that his music contains unusual amounts of ... music in it. Most of the stuff you get today is just sequenced series of sound effects with very little attention to melody or harmony. Musical music is becoming somewhat rare, that's why Larian games feel very refreshing in that regard.

Any examples/specifics?

 

[abnaxus]

I hope this gets to 1 million. But it will be close. Maybe they shouldn't have laid out all the stretch goals immediately, as it will live a bitter taste if they are not reached.

Once the project will be funded, it will slow down. Frankly, I'd be (very pleasantly) surprised if they'd double their goal.

 

[Zed]

I agree with The Bishop, In general, it feels like it's all orchestrated music nowadays, and that retracts from melody and puts emphasis on instrument.
I'm not saying it has to be chiptune music for a melody to shine through, it's just that very few games actually break out into a melody. It's very often the case that there's a main theme and then just ambient tracks.

Take the morgue music from Shadowrun for instance. Clear-cut midi-flute melody. Very prominent. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0jPb-bSsuM)
Compare that to Dishonored (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0jPb-bSsuM). This is music you won't hear when you play the game, because it's so subtle.

Orchestrated music can be insanely good, of course. Take Morrowind for instance (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qH4XH-AEYzo). But like The Bishop says, even here there's a case of a "non-song" and more of a lengthy composition. Besides the theme song, of course. Even I can play that on piano.

It's not necessarily about "Music" vs. Ambiance. It's about clear melody -- more like instrumental music from a rock band, than "epic composition" by "wannabe Hollywood composer #2525".

It's just very refreshing to hear something more resembling an actual song in a game. I really liked the song in the OP.