Codex questions for Otherside's Underworld Ascendant

[Zombra]

• Will the player character have legs?

This is actually a big fucking question for me. After Deadly Shadows (2004, for chrissake), any FP game with no legs is stupid, dumb, dummy, dumb.

 

[Infinitron]

Ask them more about their inspirations. Do they intend to take cues from post-Looking Glass immersive sims such as Deus Ex, Dishonored, etc? Oh, and Arx of course.

In particular, will their character system possibly take inspiration from those games? For example, a Deus Ex like progression mechanic (skills but no stats, no combat XP, upgrades that you need to find in the world, etc)

 

[Tigranes]

VD's questions please.

 

[Infinitron]

mindx2 Ask them how many former Looking Glass guys are involved with this, what their roles are, what they've been up to in general, etc.

Maybe politely suggest that they should brand themselves as LOOKING GLASS REBORN to get more attention.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

My primary question:

Since Otherside Entertainment has stated that they have access to the Underworld 1 & 2 source codes, can we expect them to do anything with it? For example, release patches that allow players to play the games natively on modern operating systems? Fix the most glaring hardware/performance issues? Release an editor?

Because any of the above would make great PR.

My "way at the back of the line" question:

Will Rawstag return? (Hello Rodriguez! )

 

[Infinitron]

mindx2 OK, this isn't about the game itself, but it'd be cool if you could ask them to go into more detail about various attempts to make Underworld 3 over the years. Including attempts by other companies, if they know anything about those.

EDIT: Also, this is really unrelated, but you could ask Paul Neurath about his company's role in the Neverwinter Nights: Shadows of Undrentide expansion pack.

 

[Infinitron]

mindx2 Lorefaggotry! Try to get as many tidbits as you can about the game's story, setting, etc.

 

[LESS T_T]

"Why did you changed the title Ascension to Ascendant?"

 

[CyberP]

• Will the player character have legs?

This is actually a big fucking question for me. After Deadly Shadows (2004, for chrissake), any FP game with no legs is stupid, dumb, dummy, dumb.

Actually, Arx Fatalis came before that, and, surprisingly, Halo was the first to have lower-body awareness..

In particular, will their character system possibly take inspiration from those games? For example, a Deus Ex like progression mechanic (skills but no stats, no combat XP, upgrades that you need to find in the world, etc)

SS onwards they threw away the combat xp nonsense. Arx brought it back but enemies never infinitely respawned so it wasn't quite so bad (still hurt ghosters though).

I have one question, really.

Where the hell have you been for the last 10 years?

This, I'd really like to know what the big names have been up to.

It is documented. The answer is mostly popamole. Neurath was creative director at Zynga for a while. Can't blame em though, their intelligent, uncompromising games were mostly commercial failures. At least Neurath never took those games and made them considerably dumber (Invisible War, Bioshock, Dishonored etc)...but now...we shall see.

I have no questions. I'm waiting for them to prove they still have the balls and the brains.

 

[Durante]

While third person is unsuited for this kind of game, if they do co-op (a strech goal) they already need to model/animate the player character, which would be the vast majority of the cost of such a feature.

Good point. Of course, if they do reach that goal the budget is slightly less shoestring.

 

[TheGreatOne]

Neurath was creative director at Zynga for a while.

Jesus christ, that's like Mozart becoming a producer for Souljaboy. Yet you never hear a word from the "games are art" crowd when it comes to these things. One of the Thief designers has worked the past decade on shovelware movie tie in games like Kung Fu panda.

 

[CyberP]

Neurath was creative director at Zynga for a while.

Jesus christ, that's like Mozart becoming a producer for Souljaboy. Yet you never hear a word from the "games are art" crowd when it comes to these things. One of the Thief designers has worked the past decade on shovelware movie tie in games like Kung Fu panda.

Seriously though, it is our fellow gamers and the industry that forced them down that path. If LGS were wildly successful the industry as we know it today would be considerably different I'm guessing.

 

[:Flash:]

• Will the player character have legs?

This is actually a big fucking question for me. After Deadly Shadows (2004, for chrissake), any FP game with no legs is stupid, dumb, dummy, dumb.

Actually, Arx Fatalis came before that, and, surprisingly, Halo was the first to have lower-body awareness..

Nope, that was Montezuma's Return (1997)

[/random video game trivia]

 

[tuluse]

A lot of more recent games that are inspired by Deus Ex (and thus UU indirectly), claim to let you choose either stealthy or combat solutions to obstacles. However, in practice the mechanics tend to make the player choose a single style and stick to it throughout the game. How do you intend to make sure the various options the player has to move past an obstacle are encouraged throughout the game?

 

[Zep Zepo]

Ask for a breakdown of how they intend to spend/spread out the kickstarter funds.

Zep--

 

[CyberP]

Ok, I got one:

So you have "moved away from D&D-style stats and appear to have replaced them with what is likely a more simplistic skills & perks combination. What is the reasoning behind this decision?

Basically can we have more details on the skills & perks systems.

 

[Invictus]

Would love to know more about the magic system, will it use the rune based approach of UU, the Arx casting system or the awesome button system of the TES games? I would like the original "spell crafting" system a lot but might be a little too old school for some

 

[DawnrazorDCLXVI]

1) How much of a survival Sim is tied into gameplay, such as food, fire, and water. Urgency is the keyword. I am hoping for a source of tension.

2) How do they intend to address standard fantasy tropes. Are we talking originality, or just clichéd fantasy!? I am hoping for some tentacled monstrosities, ala Lovecraft, or at least a mindflayer or so thrown in, as to escape from generic fantasy.

3) Color me skeptical with EA involved, but how much "streamlining," ie dumbing it down, do they intend to do?? Mandatory quest markers can ruin anything, as the recent Thief proved, with its X-marks-the-spot for dummies with rope arrow.

 

[mindx2]

Good questions everyone... keep them coming.

 

[Zombra]

Will the player character have legs?

Sorry to get these questions answered before you can put together an interview mx2, but I couldn't help posting on the forum. Tim's reply:

Our priority is on a simulated world with consistent natural rules. So in general, player movement will be under the control of the physics system, not animation.

The prototype build has visible legs (you just don't see them in any of the shots in our video). That animation is slaved to movement, not vice versa.

 

[mindx2]

Will the player character have legs?

Sorry to get these questions answered before you can put together an interview mx2, but I couldn't help posting on the forum. Tim's reply:

Our priority is on a simulated world with consistent natural rules. So in general, player movement will be under the control of the physics system, not animation.

The prototype build has visible legs (you just don't see them in any of the shots in our video). That animation is slaved to movement, not vice versa.

HEY! Don't steal my thunder man...

Spoiler

... nah, it's all good. There's plenty for them to still talk about and hopefully show...

 

[Zombra]

You should ask about legs anyway, just to show 'em it's important. And grill 'em harder on stealth even though they already gave a nice blurb about it. Get 'em!

 

[Infinitron]

You know, there might be a bit of discomfort in the room when mindx2 starts asking about limbs.

 

[mindx2]

You know, there might be a bit of discomfort in the room when mindx2 starts asking about limbs.

I was thinking the exact same thing... "Hey, Otherside, will you allow me to see my legs in the game?... What's wrong, you can't code short limb physics?!! YOUR GAME IS ABELIST PROPAGANDA!! Wait till I tell all my Tumblr friends!!!!! Your KS is sooooo gonna fail!!!"... or something along those lines...

 

[DeepOcean]

Ask them:
How are you going to balance the different play styles, so it feels enjoyable to play as a thief, a warrior and a mage?
Are there items devoted to help stealth and exploration like the different arrows on Thief?
Are the spells limited to the traditional HP damaging offensive spells/buffing/debuffing/summoning or there are spells that work on a different way like force walls, manipulate enviroment like conjuring oil patches, wards, traps and etc.?
How is melee going to work? Do they plan to implement a more player based skill system or a character based skill system? How are they going to add some nuance on it and it doesn't get repetitive?
If a mage meets another spellcaster, how is the fight going to play out? Are they going to exchange offensive spells until the HP reaches zero or there is some tactic to it like you having to defeat their defenses before harming them?
Is there locational damage on this game? Like headshots and you hitting different parts of the body with different effects like you hitting the enemies on the legs and making them falling?
Is there a spell crafting system like you making a fireball that charms people or something crazy like that or are the spells fixed?
Do the warrior have active skills? I'm personally crazy for someone to get that system of Metal Gear Revengeance of slowing down time and planning strikes on an action RPG.