Excidium II
Self-Ejected
Why not make everyone DMs.
-
Welcome to rpgcodex.net, a site dedicated to discussing computer based role-playing games in a free and open fashion. We're less strict than other forums, but please refer to the rules.
"This message is awaiting moderator approval": All new users must pass through our moderation queue before they will be able to post normally. Until your account has "passed" your posts will only be visible to yourself (and moderators) until they are approved. Give us a week to get around to approving / deleting / ignoring your mundane opinion on crap before hassling us about it. Once you have passed the moderation period (think of it as a test), you will be able to post normally, just like all the other retards.
Divinity: Original Sin 2 Pre-Release Thread
- Thread starter LESS T_T
- Start date
- Joined
- Jul 26, 2015
- Messages
- 1,361
Why not just play GMOD?
More importantly, where is ForkTong? Is he still at Larian?
If he isn't around Ghent I imagine Swen charged him with responsibilities regarding Larian's recent aggressive expansion (new offices in Ireland, Canada and Russia) but that's just speculation on my part.
LESS T_T
Arcane
- Joined
- Oct 5, 2012
- Messages
- 13,582
Dwelfusius | Were-axlotl of Original Sin 43 minutes ago
when ever is the codex not pissed off
But true, lots of in-depth rpg discussions there
Flums 42 minutes ago
@ people at RPGcodex enraged due to missing voice-over: They seem to be able to write and read (proved by their own comments). Therefore, they have no dyslexia.
Maybe you should propose a voice over for their comments in the forum.The comments to that should be interesting
Creator Larian Studios LLC 21 minutes ago
(Swen here) Well, the Codex represents a great variety of people, so I guess it's only natural some of them get upset from time to time. It's good for balance because they often upset usWe always wanted to fool around with what you could do with roleplaying relationships and linking them to the narrative - exactly how we'll be doing that however is not a decided thing yet. There's many ways that haven't been tried before and if nobody tries out this stuff, no progress will be made. It also speaks for itself that if you want to have strong narrative, relationships are something you want to explore.
As to the voices- I disagree strongly. I think voices add a lot to the immersion (if done well) but I understand there's people for who it breaks the immersion. Luckily there's a voice volume slider
- Joined
- Jul 26, 2015
- Messages
- 1,361
Man, Swen and his flip flopping relationship reasoning is getting painful. It's almost like he can't decide if he 'always wanted' relationships/romances or if he 'never wanted' them.
- Joined
- Nov 20, 2012
- Messages
- 1,654
eh, what?
Ok then.
But on the issue, so called "romance" in games has become a deal breaker for me. The shit biocrap is doing in that area is nauseating enough to induce projectile vomiting. Add to that the unavoidable inclusive crowd and their demands and you have a recipe for utter cringe worthy crap.
If romances in Divinity 2 will be like romances in Dragon Commander, then I want romances. Gimme my undead waifu. (yeah I know that combined with political picks romances were like 1/3 or even 1/2 of social play in DC but still...)
...actually, I never wondered but I wonder now - how is it that writing in D:OS turned out to be so much worse than in DC? Did the team at some point just run out of special ingredient that makes quirky and not serious writing work? Or was it completely different writing team? Or is it just that DC had focused gameplay for writing and talking like a visual novel and D:OS is just too big?
...actually, I never wondered but I wonder now - how is it that writing in D:OS turned out to be so much worse than in DC? Did the team at some point just run out of special ingredient that makes quirky and not serious writing work? Or was it completely different writing team? Or is it just that DC had focused gameplay for writing and talking like a visual novel and D:OS is just too big?
Last edited:
Zorba the Hutt
Arcane
- Joined
- Dec 14, 2012
- Messages
- 1,865,661
What Swen doesn't mention is the next bunch of stretch goals have already been leaked and provide a few tantalising details:
- Joined
- Jul 26, 2015
- Messages
- 1,361
I don't regret my decision to join the codex.
- Joined
- Jun 7, 2012
- Messages
- 3,147
- Joined
- May 29, 2010
- Messages
- 36,547
Ah, one person does everything - how fitting for game development.
Man this guy must love his worlds and characters. Now I wonder how would he work together with other writers, and is he a tyrant or can write together with other people. Really interesting.
Man this guy must love his worlds and characters. Now I wonder how would he work together with other writers, and is he a tyrant or can write together with other people. Really interesting.
Fairfax
Arcane
- Joined
- Jun 17, 2015
- Messages
- 3,518
On the potential effects of the new stretch goals:
The average pledge right before they were announced was $45.52. The day the stretch goals were announced it rose to $45.89. It is currently $46.00.
As individual days:
09/08 - $54.41 (Update #6: add-ons)
09/09 - $44.30
09/10 - $70.92 (Update #7: stretch goals)
09/11 - $49.92
09/12 - $48.53
09/13 - $47.97 (partial)
It is safe to assume that a not insignificant amount of people upgraded their pledges, but the updates happened over 2 days, so it's very hard to tell how many simply purchased add-ons as they became aware of them for their own value, or upgraded their pledges because of the stretch goals.
09/10 also raised $30,638, a 60% increase over 09/09, but only a 15.6% increase over 09/08 (Update #6). After that, the game raised $25,263, which is slightly above the average of the week before the update.
However, yesterday only had $17,424 in pledges, the worst result since the campaign started, although the average was above the $46. It is currently at $12k for today, so no improvement there yet.
As I said before, the effects of stretch goals are still open to interpretation. Mine is that people are increasing their pledges, but the effect is already proving to be short-lived, and the number of new backers is going down along with the daily pledges. The effect was positive, but not as strong as it could've been. The successful examples I usually mention, Torment and Eternity, had boosts that doubled (in some cases almost tripled) the total funds per day for several days in a row. The most notable example was Eternity and its update #20, 6 days before the campaign was over, where they announced the Stronghold and Big City 2 (Twin Elms). The effect was so dramatic that the average on that day reached $99.49 and the usual "final 3-day stretch" actually became a 6 day long final push that raised $1,407,462.
Now, as for D:OS2, I think the DM mode is definitely the kind of ambitious stretch goal a game like this could use, but the other ones..not so much. My take on adding romances as a stretch goal is entirely personal, but objectively speaking, it is still controversial. The uservoice page and the reactions everywhere are proof of that. I think the majority does support the idea, but those who don't - like myself - have fairly strong opinions on it. It should've been announced as a feature right off the bat (and it was planned long before the update, as was clear in the Codex preview article).The dedicated mod tool support should've been either an initial feature (it was available for the first game, after all), or an earlier stretch goal. Same for the mask, to be honest. It's also hard to get excited about the mod tool without seeing it in action. It's the kind of thing that could really use a video showing its capabilities. "Look, here's what you'll be able to do with it", etc.
In comparison, with 20/20 hindsight the PoE Stronghold was obviously terrible, but it could have been a great addition. As for Big City 2, Twin Elms was a considerable portion of the game and very different to the rest.
So for better or worse, it's hard to imagine the game without it. D:OS2 already has a player housing goal which should be reached in 4 days or so, but it's not as ambitious as the Stronghold+Endless Paths and we know little about it.
What's odd to me is how they announced what could be the final set of stretch goals for the game (at this rate, it is unlikely to reach 2.1 million). They could've waited a few more days and posted an update on the Hall of Souls, another devline, or something that explains another aspect of the game. It keeps people talking about the game and brings new players while they wait for the stretch goals to be reached.
They also could've announced 2 stretch goals at a time. First the mod tools and romance, and days later the mask and DM. Considering they've already added new tiers, add-ons and (probably) all of the stretch goals, there aren't many tools left to boost their funding, and the campaign still has 16 days left.
The average pledge right before they were announced was $45.52. The day the stretch goals were announced it rose to $45.89. It is currently $46.00.
As individual days:
09/08 - $54.41 (Update #6: add-ons)
09/09 - $44.30
09/10 - $70.92 (Update #7: stretch goals)
09/11 - $49.92
09/12 - $48.53
09/13 - $47.97 (partial)
It is safe to assume that a not insignificant amount of people upgraded their pledges, but the updates happened over 2 days, so it's very hard to tell how many simply purchased add-ons as they became aware of them for their own value, or upgraded their pledges because of the stretch goals.
09/10 also raised $30,638, a 60% increase over 09/09, but only a 15.6% increase over 09/08 (Update #6). After that, the game raised $25,263, which is slightly above the average of the week before the update.
However, yesterday only had $17,424 in pledges, the worst result since the campaign started, although the average was above the $46. It is currently at $12k for today, so no improvement there yet.
As I said before, the effects of stretch goals are still open to interpretation. Mine is that people are increasing their pledges, but the effect is already proving to be short-lived, and the number of new backers is going down along with the daily pledges. The effect was positive, but not as strong as it could've been. The successful examples I usually mention, Torment and Eternity, had boosts that doubled (in some cases almost tripled) the total funds per day for several days in a row. The most notable example was Eternity and its update #20, 6 days before the campaign was over, where they announced the Stronghold and Big City 2 (Twin Elms). The effect was so dramatic that the average on that day reached $99.49 and the usual "final 3-day stretch" actually became a 6 day long final push that raised $1,407,462.
Now, as for D:OS2, I think the DM mode is definitely the kind of ambitious stretch goal a game like this could use, but the other ones..not so much. My take on adding romances as a stretch goal is entirely personal, but objectively speaking, it is still controversial. The uservoice page and the reactions everywhere are proof of that. I think the majority does support the idea, but those who don't - like myself - have fairly strong opinions on it. It should've been announced as a feature right off the bat (and it was planned long before the update, as was clear in the Codex preview article).The dedicated mod tool support should've been either an initial feature (it was available for the first game, after all), or an earlier stretch goal. Same for the mask, to be honest. It's also hard to get excited about the mod tool without seeing it in action. It's the kind of thing that could really use a video showing its capabilities. "Look, here's what you'll be able to do with it", etc.
In comparison, with 20/20 hindsight the PoE Stronghold was obviously terrible, but it could have been a great addition. As for Big City 2, Twin Elms was a considerable portion of the game and very different to the rest.
It is also where the endgame takes place
What's odd to me is how they announced what could be the final set of stretch goals for the game (at this rate, it is unlikely to reach 2.1 million). They could've waited a few more days and posted an update on the Hall of Souls, another devline, or something that explains another aspect of the game. It keeps people talking about the game and brings new players while they wait for the stretch goals to be reached.
They also could've announced 2 stretch goals at a time. First the mod tools and romance, and days later the mask and DM. Considering they've already added new tiers, add-ons and (probably) all of the stretch goals, there aren't many tools left to boost their funding, and the campaign still has 16 days left.
- Joined
- Jul 26, 2015
- Messages
- 1,361
LESS T_T
Arcane
- Joined
- Oct 5, 2012
- Messages
- 13,582
They've changed the name of Dungeon Master mode to Game Master mode, as DM is trademarked by WotC.
Larian writer Char said:
Not all the time, no! From the writing side, we spend a lot of time in a collaborative writing environment, so our "chatting" is mostly refining and tweaking story and characters
Larian senior level designer Jeff said:
- Joined
- Jan 28, 2011
- Messages
- 99,152
Kirkpatrick
Cipher
- Joined
- Apr 16, 2013
- Messages
- 773
You can always wear anything you find, and race specific armors are not a lot of fun?
Not too fond of that line of thinking.
Not too fond of that line of thinking.
- Joined
- Jan 28, 2011
- Messages
- 99,152
List of fantasy RPGs with race-specific armor:
?
Seems like a weird thing to even bring up.
?
Seems like a weird thing to even bring up.
Kirkpatrick
Cipher
- Joined
- Apr 16, 2013
- Messages
- 773
At least some crafting before use would be nice.
- Joined
- Jun 7, 2012
- Messages
- 3,147
He was thinking Diablo and MMOs.
As an Amazon Associate, rpgcodex.net earns from qualifying purchases.