Divinity: Original Sin 2 Pre-Release Thread

[Crooked Bee]

Additional publicity + backer engagement + more free moneys. Sounds like a win-win-win to me.

 

[Athelas]

I'm surprised they're not naming the sequel 'Second Sin' or something.

 

[Sjukob]

Someone mentioned that the game wouldn't be the same without Kilrill and now I am sad.

I wonder who will be a composer for D:OS2 , but I doubt that somebody can truly replace Kirill . A real shame , I always liked Divinity music .

 

[Tuco Benedicto Pacifico]

I know it was pretty much the point of it, but that Swen's blog is hyping me to an almost unhealthy degree.

Put simply, if you were to compare what we’re doing to what Bioware did back in the day with Baldur’s Gate and Baldur’s Gate 2, D:OS 2 is to be our Baldur’s Gate 2 — building further on our equivalent of Baldur’s Gate; D:OS.

there’s a small scene in D:OS 2, right at the beginning of the demo that we’ll be showing to press and players at Pax Prime. It’s a small detail, but every time I see it, my heart starts beating faster because of the enormous implications it has for the entire game. It was when I saw this that I felt sure about taking it to Kickstarter. I think other RPG players will recognize what it means for the game and their hearts will start beating faster also.

 

[Bubbles]

I'm surprised they're not naming the sequel 'Second Sin' or something.

Divinity: 2Original2Sin

 

[The Bishop]

While I can't exactly call myself an aficionado of Divinity setting, considering that it has been everything and a kitchen sink kind of setting up to this point, they shouldn't have much problem fitting literally whatever story they want. After a lighthearted story about mass murder, genocide, mutilation, and human harvesting of D:OS, no kind of story is unfitting for Divinity setting.

 

[Zeriel]

I wonder who will be a composer for D:OS2 , but I doubt that somebody can truly replace Kirill . A real shame , I always liked Divinity music .

Honestly, it will probably be better than D:OS. Due to his illness, Kirill did almost no new music for D:OS, so if you had already heard his past work it was hardly inspiring.

 

[Sjukob]

Honestly, it will probably be better than D:OS. Due to his illness, Kirill did almost no new music for D:OS, so if you had already heard his past work it was hardly inspiring.

Yes , I remember that there were a lot of music from previous games in D:OS , but still I liked those few original melodies he made .

 

[HobGoblin42]

Additional publicity + backer engagement + more free moneys. Sounds like a win-win-win to me.

So, soon we'll see 'Dark Souls 4' and 'Call of Duty X' on Kickstarter as well. Because it's a win-win-win.

In fact, for small developers who actually require KS funding to produce their indie game, it's a lose situation. A recent survey about KS said, that especially low and mid-budget campaigns of non-established brands/names are losing more and more backer's support. On the other hand, well known franchises or developer/persons received more KS money than ever before.

Kickstarter became just another sales platform to pre-order games you already know and which could easily be funded by publisher or developers themselves.

 

[Tuco Benedicto Pacifico]

They sold about 1 mio copies of D:OS. For D:OS 2, I don't really see any reasonable fact why they ask for backers (pre-order) money again. They should be able to finance the sequel as whole by themselves.

In fact, for small developers who actually require KS funding to produce their indie game, it's a lose situation.

Contrarily to a weirdly widespread misconception, Kickstarter isn't supposed to be a social welfare structure for developers in dire need.
It's a public pitch system, you propose a project to the audience and if they are interested enough they will fund it. And that's it.

Sure, they did well before... but why should they risk their funds, when they can risk yours?

 

[Cosmo]

Good news, but they seriously need to craft better story arcs, either by ceasing to fall back on lazy tropes, or by pushing them to the breaking point à la Avellone..
Which makes me think that structural solidity, either story or gameplay-wise, has always been their stumbling block. They're aware of the gameplay side of things (EE makes that clear), but i have yet to see any sign of them being aware of their shortcomings in the writing department (moment to moment writing being rather successful on the other hand).

 

[Zeriel]

Contrarily to a weirdly widespread misconception, Kickstarter isn't supposed to be a social welfare structure for developers in dire need.
It's a public pitch system, you propose a project to the audience and if they are interested enough they will fund it. And that's it.

Sure, they did well before... but why should they risk their funds, when they can risk yours?

This is how I've always felt, too. If something isn't right for Kickstarter, then there will be no demand, and it will fail. It's like people have no faith in markets.

 

[HobGoblin42]

Contrarily to a weirdly widespread misconception, Kickstarter isn't supposed to be a social welfare structure for developers in dire need.
It's a public pitch system, you propose a project to the audience and if they are interested enough they will fund it. And that's it.

Sure, they did well before... but why should they risk their funds, when they can risk yours?

From a financial point view, I totally understand Larian. But the question is: why should I risk my money by funding a company that could easily fund a sequel by themselves? Especially if we're talking about a sequel to a game that sold 1 mio copies recently.

Larian could just offer pre-order and early access, what's wrong with that? That wouldn't harm other developers who actually need the kickstarter money to realize new game concepts.

 

[Zeriel]

You shouldn't, if you're not comfortable doing so. It's not like they refuse to offer it for sale if you don't back them via Kickstarter. Hell, if it's anything like D:OS, there will even be early access on Steam. There will be plenty of opportunities to pre-order. Kickstarter is a financial representation of your interest and faith in the company. If you have no faith in them, well shit, stay the fuck away.

 

[Bubbles]

Looks like the first old school project has already been pulled from crowdfunding, possibly due to the D:OS2 announcement. Larian will have to make OS2 extra good to make up for all the great games they're pushed out of the market.

 

[Crooked Bee]

In fact, for small developers who actually require KS funding to produce their indie game, it's a lose situation. A recent survey about KS said, that especially low and mid-budget campaigns of non-established brands/names are losing more and more backer's support.

That makes sense to me. People have grown more wary of unknown devs failing to deliver anything, or at least anything good. So, that kind of situation may be unfair if you're a hard-working indie dev who wants to make his dream game while also paying rent, but on the other hand, why should I, the average KS backer, pledge to some developer I know nothing about? KS used to mean free money for anyone, but now it's only money if you can earn or have earned it.

A small to mid-sized KS from a known developer and/or with a good pitch for a niche product that appeals to a certain group of fans can still succeed. If I'm a blobber fan, I will pledge to a good blobber KS, especially from a developer I'm confident in. This does not really depend on a Dark Souls KS running at the same time, which appeals to Dark Souls, not blobber fans. Naturally, the former are bound to be more numerous, but the latter can fund a game, too, if they find the pitch appealing.

 

[Jimmious]

 

[LESS T_T]

Official announcment: http://larian.com/news/announcing-divinity-original-sin-2/

It is with great excitement that we can announce our most ambitious project ever – Divinity: Original Sin 2!

For a very long time we’ve dreamed of making a certain type of RPG. Something even bigger, better, and more engaging than Divinity: Original Sin. Now it might finally be within our reach. But we can’t reach that dream without your help.

As we made Divinity: Original Sin, our fans and community gave us two things: the freedom to make the game that we wanted to make, and the guidance to make a game that was even better than we planned. Your feedback pushed us in directions we never could have expected, and we’re so grateful for that push. Without the community, Divinity: Original Sin would never have been the success that it was, and now we’re asking for your support and guidance once again.

On the August 26th we’ll be returning to Kickstarter with Divinity: Original Sin 2, but you don’t have to wait until then to have your say. We’ll want a lot of feedback as we progress, but right now we want to know what YOU want from the Kickstarter campaign. So please head over to our Divinity: Original Sin 2 page to suggest what rewards you’d like to see, and vote on the rewards that others have suggested!

We’re very excited for you to get your first glimpse at what we’re creating, but if you’re going to be at PAX Prime at the end of August then we can go one better, We’ll be at booth #6011, where we’ll have a playable prototype for you to get your hands on and experience some of the fantastic new features that we’ve been working on.

Making Divinity: Original Sin with you has been one hell of a ride so far, and we’re happy to say that this ride is only getting started…

Swen Blog:
Still buzzing about our announcement of Divinity: Original Sin 2? Swen is! Check out his latest blog entry for more details on our upcoming game: from how we got here to where we want to go next.

If you don’t want to miss anything, remember to follow us on Twitter, like us on Facebook, and sign up to our mailing list to be the first to know every update. There will be quite a few over the coming weeks!

Official site: http://divinityoriginalsin2.com/
Torment-like Kickstarter suggestion page: http://larian.uservoice.com/forums/313815-kickstarter-pledge-rewards

Anyone from Codex going to PAX Prime?

 

[Infinitron]

PAX Prime is in Seattle. *cough* Jaesun *cough*

 

[MicoSelva]

Larian could just offer pre-order and early access, what's wrong with that? That wouldn't harm other developers who actually need the kickstarter money to realize new game concepts.

Actually, Swen Vincke has been convinced to return to Kickstarter (he planned not to) to give the platform more pubilicity

http://www.lar.net/2014/09/12/thoughts-after-releasing-divinityoriginal-sin-and-what-comes-next/

As I mentioned in this interview, the current thinking is that we shouldn’t go back to Kickstarter. That’s not because we’re ungrateful of the support we received through our Kickstarter community or because all those rewards caused a bit of extra work, but because I think the crowdfunding pool is limited and it should be fished in by those who really need it. Since we now can, I think we should first invest ourselves and then see if we need extra funds to fuel our ambitions. Only then it makes sense to look at crowd funding.

http://www.lar.net/2014/10/01/the-halo-effect/

Not so long ago, in fact, just a few weeks ago when I posted my last blog entry, I said thatKickstarter might not be the right route for our future projects. I argued that it’s a limited pool and that it would be wrong for us to fish in it if our games are earning sufficient money for us to invest in our future projects.

I immediately received a few strong reactions, both publicly but also privately about how I got it all wrong, and that in fact I should steer Larian back to Kickstarter. The reasoning is that successful crowdfunding projects send more people to the crowdfunding scene and that benefits the smaller projects. This is referred to as the “halo effect” and one particular bright person compared it to “a restaurant sitting alone or on a block with many others. They all do better with more traffic”.

 

[Bubbles]

PAX Prime is in Seattle. *cough* Jaesun *cough*

It's already sold out! Hope we have some avid PAXers here, otherwise we won't get a chance to talk to Larian before the KS launches.

 

[Abu Antar]

Ask them to sneak you in. Larian likes the Codex, no?

 

[Cassar]

Controller and consoles in mind day one now. Swen also said how the team over there plays with controllers now, because they like it so much. Good to know.

 

[DraQ]

I bet the lizard dude will be the zany one. You can see the chick next to him being all like "ugh, why is he so zany???"

Given demand for full party chargen and the fact that the first DOS only portrayed the example *core* party on the cover I'm guessing that this time:

• You will create all 4 characters, get 4 characters + RPCs setup or create 1-4 characters and get to fill any possible holes with RPCs, possibly temporarily dismissing some of the created characters.
• You will be able to choose a race for each character you create, including, but not limited to humans, elves and lizards.
• You will be able to play coop with up to 3 other people.

 

[Immortal]

In fact, for small developers who actually require KS funding to produce their indie game, it's a lose situation. A recent survey about KS said, that especially low and mid-budget campaigns of non-established brands/names are losing more and more backer's support. On the other hand, well known franchises or developer/persons received more KS money than ever before.

That makes sense to me. People have grown more wary of unknown devs failing to deliver anything, or at least anything good. So, that kind of situation may be unfair if you're a hard-working indie dev who wants to make his dream game while also paying rent, but on the other hand, why should I, the average KS backer, pledge to some developer I know nothing about? KS used to mean free money for anyone, but now it's only money if you can earn or have earned it.

A small to mid-sized KS from a known developer and/or with a good pitch for a niche product that appeals to a certain group of fans can still succeed. If I'm a blobber fan, I will pledge to a good blobber KS, especially from a developer I'm confident in. This does not really depend on a Dark Souls KS running at the same time, which appeals to Dark Souls, not blobber fans. Naturally, the former are bound to be more numerous, but the latter can fund a game, too, if they find the pitch appealing.

All this can be fixed by coming to KS with your shit together. People are tired of "Random Sperg In his Basement trying to code a MMO by himself"
When you throw your shit on to KS - you better have a solid track record or some solid prototypes showing a working game and some artwork.

I am done funding pipe dreams - if I see you've got a strong base and just need money for assets / to hire on more resources and finish it, great,
but if you come to KS with a cheap video of two hookers with glowing eyes and 4 bioware devs gawking in the corner - fuck off.