Information Divinity: Original Sin Kickstarter Update #49: Alpha Release Date and Video, Live Stream on Friday

[Crooked Bee]

Tags: Divinity: Original Sin; Larian Studios; Swen Vincke

Larian's latest Divinity: Original Sin Kickstarter update announces the alpha release date and also includes a video of Swen Vincke testing the current build:

When is the Alpha coming?

The date is Tuesday December 17th 2013. The date range is next week. If something goes wrong, it might be December 18th or 19th or who knows, it might even be December 16th, but rest assured that it will be next week, unless of course calamity strikes. The exact hour, well that is still to be decided.

What can I expect?

You can check for yourself in this let’s play video from last Friday in which Swen reviews the state of the alpha. Contains minor spoilers, so consider yourselves warned.



We’ll be releasing a first chunk of the world, good for approximately 10 hours of play, known to the team as The Left Side Of Cyseal. (Which is pronounced by some as "Sigh Seal" while others say "See Zay-All"...)

It’s alpha – that means place holders, rude balancing, some missing features, plenty of bugs etc… But, it’s playable, and you can play quite a lot. But you might also get stuck.

Who can play the alpha?

For the moment, Kickstarter backers only. We might be opening up beta access at a later date for people who preorder, but with 20K backers, we’re sure we’ll know what to do on the short term ​

The update also asks backers eligible for additional rewards (designing an NPC, writing a message in the woods, etc.) to log in to The Larian Vault and fill in the necessary info. Finally, there's going to be a live stream of Swen and David playing the game on Larian's Twitch.tv channel on Friday December 13th, starting at 17:00 CET, 16:00 GMT, 8:00 PST, 11:00 EST. As the update puts it, "David & Swen will be playing the alpha, approve, or disapprove things, and then decide if it's ready or not."

 

[AstroZombie]

I didn't know that intelligence would affect NPC pathfinding, that sounds very nice. My retarded companion will drag his/her ass through every type of dangerous surfaces the game has

 

[clemens]

Looks good. Too bad there isn't any sound in the game yet, apparently. Would have been nice for a first contact with the thing. I guess it's a beta feature... Well, there are at least basic sounds, nice.

 

[Arkeus]

While i LOVE the teleport spell, i am a bit worried about how much easier it will make Kiting.

Forktong?

 

[Sensuki]

Win

 

[SCO]

While i LOVE the teleport spell, i am a bit worried about how much easier it will make Kiting.

Forktong?

Have miscasts (does the game have those?) have the opposite effect of transporting the caster to the target. On the other hand that could be used to break maps... which is a plus imo.

 

[Black]

That video kicks so much assage.

 

[Jack Dandy]

Wait.. so. Me and every single backer get to play the game starting from next week?

This is kind of fucking awesome.

 

[Dieithrio]

Wasn't the alpha going to be open for everyone?

 

[Infinitron]

Wasn't the alpha going to be open for everyone?

Every backer.

 

[IDtenT]

Do Codex backers get keys?

 

[Jedi Exile]

The date is Tuesday December 17th 2013.

Even if it is delayed, it is just around the corner.

 

[Roguey]

The stealth thing was cute. This looks like it'll probably end up being Larian's best game, though that's a low bar to reach and doesn't mean it'll be any good.

I didn't know that intelligence would affect NPC pathfinding, that sounds very nice. My retarded companion will drag his/her ass through every type of dangerous surfaces the game has

It's fucking stupid. "Haha if you don't put points into this stat you have to micromanage all of them one by one." It's like my sig.

 

[tuluse]

It's fucking stupid. "Haha if you don't put points into this stat you have to micromanage all of them one by one." It's like my sig.

It's stupid for companion NPCs, but it could make encounters more interesting.

 

[hiver]

awesome. cant wait to take the thing for a jiggle.

 

[NotAGolfer]

blah ... though that's a low bar to reach ... blubb.

It sure is!

 

[Zeriel]

Any editor access?

 

[AstroZombie]

Any editor access?

I think it was their goal to release the editor alongside the Alpha, I don't know if that is still the case and I'll probably ask about it during their stream on friday.

 

[Haba]

I didn't know that intelligence would affect NPC pathfinding, that sounds very nice. My retarded companion will drag his/her ass through every type of dangerous surfaces the game has

It's fucking stupid. "Haha if you don't put points into this stat you have to micromanage all of them one by one." It's like my sig.

"Haha if you don't put points into this stat you die a lot."
"Haha if you don't put points into this stat can't cast spells."
"Haha if you don't put points into this stat you won't do damage."

or

"Haha if you don't put points into this stat you have to constantly move things out of your inventory."
"Haha if you don't put points into this stat you'll have to constantly rest to regain your mana."

Where is the line, baby?

 

[Zeriel]

If Josh does it, there lies the line.

 

[Davaris]

You know you've crossed the line, when its not fun any more.

 

[Zeriel]

Which makes the line incredibly subjective. Who knew, Roguey is a solipsist.

 

[Raapys]

You know you've crossed the line, when its not fun any more.

Well, it's also not very fun never hitting an enemy since you decided to not put any points into combat skills. Does that mean combat skills should be dropped?

 

[Chaotic_Heretic]

On the topic of fun, i will just quote Volrath who had the opportunity to play DOS for 6hours

Played the alpha in co-op for 6 hours straight. So much... fun. This could turn into something very very special.

 

[Davaris]

You know you've crossed the line, when its not fun any more.

Well, it's also not very fun never hitting an enemy since you decided to not put any points into combat skills. Does that mean combat skills should be dropped?

I understand Sawyer's solution is to have separate pools for combat and non-combat skills. Now that's thinking outside the box.