Preview RPG Codex Report: Gamescom, Wasteland 2 Preview And More

[Grunker]

Tags: Alexander Dergay; bitComposer; Brian Fargo; Brother None; Chris Keenan; Daniel Eskildsen; InXile Entertainment; Julien Pirou; Limbic Entertainment; Logic Artists; Matt Findley; Michael Hoss; Might & Magic X: Legacy; Stephan Winter; Ubisoft

On July 18, the RPG Codex received an invitation from Limbic Entertainment on behalf of their publisher, Ubisoft. The invitation was for an all expenses paid trip to Gamescom, the gaming convention in Cologne, Germany, and specifically for the Might & Magic Fan Day that was to take place there. The Codex staff members, easily bribed, fought over who was to go. In the end, Grunker came out on top, with JarlFrank tagging along with him for the first day.

During their stay in Germany, they learned more about Might & Magic X, they shook hands with Brian Fargo and watched a gameplay demo of Wasteland 2, and they spoke with the guys from Logic Artists, with Michael Hoss of bitComposer and with Alexander Dergay of Aterdux Entertainment. Here's an article about how it all went down. Have a snippet:

Gamescom is a weird place. It is part business conference, with men and women in nice suits who look like they have never played a game before in their lives but certainly look like they've made money off of them. It is also part developer forum, with game developers showing up en masse to talk to these business people about funding their games, or talk to fans on behalf of their publisher. Lastly, it is part fan meeting, hosting both journalists and “regular” fans who come here to get a sneak peek at new games or talk to their favorite developer.

Officially, we're at Gamescom for the Might & Magic Fan Day. I've been flown in by the dear folks at Ubisoft, who are apparently so desperate for Codex approval that they felt like bribing us with food that you have to stand up to eat, watered down drinks at a party that ends at 12AM, and useless “swag” like Heroes VI artwork and posters. Had we been paid journalists, we would probably have been embarrassed on behalf of our craft to accept it. As simple gamers writing for other gamers, we are mostly annoyed by the prospect of hauling it all back to our various habitats. Our disappointment only grows as it slowly dawns on us that neither Doritos nor other bribes are forthcoming. To drink, we only receive some unlabeled lemonade. Decent, but no Mountain Dew.​

From left to right: Casper Gronemann [Grunker] - Brian Fargo - Frank Sawielijew [JarlFrank] - Thomas Beekers [Brother None]​​

Read the full article: RPG Codex Report: Gamescom, Wasteland 2 Preview And More

 

[Darth Roxor]

In the near future, we will be publishing an article dealing with the overall concept of Gamescom and the journalism it supports. Suffice it to say, our perspective on that is rather unfavorable.

 

[Azael]

Nice little report Grunker. Looking forward to part deux.

 

[dnf]

Where is Thiaf?

 

[CappenVarra]

Well M&M X sounds all right, W2 looks decent (with the possible exception of: mandatory camera rotation, square grid, monochrome inventory management, and details like that), Chaos Chronicles is just , and hopefully Legends of Eisenwald will turn out more tactical than Conquistadors...

And this is the first time I hear somebody complain that a mojito has too much alcohol - crappy ones usually err on the side of weakness

 

[Sam Ecorners]

As the demonstration draws to a close, we begin to realize why Thomas Beekers was hired by inXile. slurp slurp Whenever Fargo or Keenan reply to our questions in ways that are perhaps less than useful to us, Beekers quickly jumps in. He clearly knows that the Codex is primarily interested in gameplay mechanics, and he seems to always be ready with an extension of Keenan and Fargo's replies when they are insufficiently technical. slurp slurp

Look at all of the dick sucking!

 

[Grunker]

And this is the first time I hear somebody complain that a mojito has too much alcohol - crappy ones usually err on the side of weakness

Normally you won't hear me complain over too much alcohol, but the whole point of a Mojito is to strike a balance between mint, sugar and alcohol, and Ubisoft's tasted straight up of rum

As the demonstration draws to a close, we begin to realize why Thomas Beekers was hired by inXile. slurp slurp Whenever Fargo or Keenan reply to our questions in ways that are perhaps less than useful to us, Beekers quickly jumps in. He clearly knows that the Codex is primarily interested in gameplay mechanics, and he seems to always be ready with an extension of Keenan and Fargo's replies when they are insufficiently technical. slurp slurp

Look at all of the dick sucking!

Actually, that's more of a cadeau to their hiring of Beekers, seeing as he knew our profile.

I have no reason to suck Beeker's dick

 

[AstroZombie]

Fargo gets a wild expression on his face, like a rabbit caught in the headlights of a truck, and says: “Wait, these guys are from the RPG Codex? Oh shi-” as he darts rapidly for the exit.

Well played, Mr Fargo, well played.

 

[evdk]

As the demonstration draws to a close, we begin to realize why Thomas Beekers was hired by inXile. slurp slurp Whenever Fargo or Keenan reply to our questions in ways that are perhaps less than useful to us, Beekers quickly jumps in. He clearly knows that the Codex is primarily interested in gameplay mechanics, and he seems to always be ready with an extension of Keenan and Fargo's replies when they are insufficiently technical. slurp slurp

Look at all of the dick sucking!

Why would he suck his dick, it's not like he would actually post more stuff here that way. Grunker's just nice.

 

[Monty]

Enjoyed the article.

Although it was strange reading a Grunker piece without a complaint about not being paid, at least there was some quality criticism of the mojito.

 

[Jim the Dinosaur]

Now, it is no secret that I was skeptical about Wasteland 2's combat system. Having only one or two relevant combat skills for each character severely limits their strategic options, and having few tactical options in combat seems to limit any possibility of tactical depth. It becomes evident during the presentation, however, that Wasteland 2's systems are more complex than they might seem at first. Adding complexity to the character system is an array of Fallout-like traits and perks.

Elaborate on the complexity offered by SPECIAL-like features, Grunker.

Although this is a cool demonstration of an obstacle with multiple methods of bypassing it, we can't help but think that the sheep seem a little arbitrarily positioned. Next to each mine, conveniently placed, is a sheep, just waiting for the right shepherd to come to send it off to sheep heaven on a free mine lift. Hopefully, this arbitrariness is an artifact of this being a demo. Tailor-made skill use opportunities like this seem contrary to the principles of dynamic gameplay, where players need to get creative to find solutions.

Tru dat. The whole demo in general had a weird linear feel to it, snaking from event to event. But maybe they're just being faithful to W1 in that regard, wouldn't know.

 

[Infinitron]

Tru dat. The whole demo in general had a weird linear feel to it, snaking from event to event.

You could make a demo of Fallout that feels linear too. Perhaps the difference here is that these "events" even exist. Fallout didn't have all these ambushes, road blocks, people in distress, etc.

 

[Jim the Dinosaur]

You could make a demo of Fallout that feels linear too. Perhaps the difference here is that these "events" even exist. Fallout didn't have all these ambushes, road blocks, people in distress, etc.

Yeah, that's mostly what I meant, linear was maybe the wrong word.

 

[Castanova]

In hindsight, I will just say thanks for the cool article.

 

[Brother None]

Tru dat. The whole demo in general had a weird linear feel to it, snaking from event to event.

You could make a demo of Fallout that feels linear too. Perhaps the difference here is that these "events" even exist. Fallout didn't have all these ambushes, road blocks, people in distress, etc.

That's more the nature of demoing and practiced runthroughs than the area. You can see the map snaking off to the east beyond the gas station, there's a side-path towards the farm on the ridge, and at the first raider checkpoint you can veer off east to sneak beyond them, at the second there's a narrow mine-laden path in the south-west to avoid that fight. It goes all over the place, but for demo purposes, we had a specific run in mind.

 

[Jim the Dinosaur]

Brother None, can you tell the reason behind (a) switching away from the hex grid, and (b) not allowing for diagonal movement on the new grid?

 

[Vault Dweller]

Very curious about it too.

 

[undecaf]

Same here.

 

[laclongquan]

Good article~

 

[Aterdux Entertainment]

Hey Grunker, thanks again for finding time to meet with me and talk! That was a lot of fun, and was really cool to meet someone from Codex in person. I wish we had more time to chat but yes, Gamescom is really a rush, for developers too.

 

[Shevek]

Great article. I have to agree on the ugly red AP counter - they have to change that.

 

[flabbyjack]

Tuck in your shirts, you hippies

That is quite a beard, JarlFrank

 

[Outlander]

A German named Sawielijew, now I've seen it all.

 

[Kz3r0]

So now we can blackmail Fargo with the evidence of his connection with us, cool.

 

[Maelflux]

Great article - thanks for sharing