Game News inXile admit that Torment stretch goal content has been cut, including companions

[Infinitron]

https://forums.inxile-entertainment.com/viewtopic.php?f=32&t=17049&start=20#p179453

Hey everyone, thanks for sharing your thoughts. However, you don't need to be too concerned. You've seen many of our stretch goals so far, and others, like the Ascension, the Labyrinth and its added elements, expanded epilogues, deeper companions, etc. will show up too.

The main one that I haven't seen mentioned, but should address, is crafting. During development, it became very clear that a traditional crafting system wasn't meshing. We had some early design done, but everything ended up feeling like an MMO-style system, and that just didn't fit Torment's gameplay. Instead, we repurposed those resources, adding significantly more and better Cyphers and Artifacts to the game. We also added some elements that are thematically in line with crafting, like surgical procedures, companion armor upgrades, and essences.

I think what this helps illustrate is that game development is never a straight line to the end. Building an RPG this big is a huge endeavor on both creative and technical levels. This sometimes means ideas don't work out the way we expected, and sometimes new ideas will appear and be so compelling we can't help but add them. When content changes, that doesn't mean we're just yanking it out and tossing it on the floor - in all cases it means that we're using those same efforts to improve other parts of the game, or adding brand-new things entirely.

Our focus with Torment has always been on quality, and we know we'd be doing you guys a disservice if it was any other way.

 

[Pirata Alma Negra]

The same shit as always "Believe us, don't ask questions and give more money". InXile is chasing its tail.

 

[DrDigej]

 

[Mustawd]

Even it turns out to be good I'll be wondering how much better it might have been if a lot of the contents and stretch goals hadn't been cut.

Implying there won't be a TToN DC

 

[Charles Eli Cheese]

Don't worry they will make a kickfinisher where they beg for another million to finish the game.

They already did this, didn't they?

Seriously? Must have been while I was away. And here I thought people would call me a "troll" and a "shitposter" for suggesting they'd go so low

It is sad how quickly inxile has declined.

 

[Lady_Error]

Keeping stretch goals that turn out to be bad for the game (like in PoE) isn't better than cutting them and focusing on things that work better.

 

[Nazrim Eldrak]

While Director's Cut seems like an easy solution for many issues, how are they going to spin this?

Good question, but they managed it once, so why not again?

Better ask for a refund if you backed WL3 or BT4, it's possible InXile will not deliver either of these titles.

Too much panic and speculation! Lets wait and see their next move!

 

[Fairfax]

"Thematically in line with crafting".

So crafting is gone and he's confirming "the Labyrinth and extra features", and expanded epilogue. (Ascension wasn't a stretch goal)

Castoff’s Labyrinth: Alternative Exit to Another Part of the Ninth World: A secret portal within the Labyrinth that takes you back to your body but leaves you someplace different than where you left. Will you take it? At this Stretch Goal, the Labyrinth reveals secrets that will allow you to access a new area in the living world, one you wouldn’t have been able to access otherwise. (At deeper Fathoms, more of these portals may exist in the crevasses of your mind.)

Lacunae Not everyone in the Labyrinth has a living counterpart. Lacunae are figments of your mind that represent parts of yourself (or do they?). Through conversing with a Lacuna, you’ll discover puzzles and quests, and might even enhance your own abilities. As we delve to deeper fathoms, you’ll be able to find more Lacunae with whom to interact.

Castoff’s Labyrinth Secret Meres: Meres are added to the Castoff’s Labyrinth, these Meres (dependent upon the Fathoms) are hidden within the Labyrinth and are accessible only from your own mind.

Expansive Epilogue: We take our satisfying conclusion even further and tie up loose ends throughout the game for many other aspects: regions, cults, factions, etc. The epilogue will be presented through text, combined with 2D art for some elements.

Weird that he didn't mention the stronghold, which was the highest stretch goal.

 

[Somberlain]

Hey everyone, thanks for sharing your thoughts. However, you don't need to be too concerned. You've seen many of our stretch goals so far, and others, like the Ascension, the Labyrinth and its added elements, expanded epilogues, deeper companions, etc. will show up too.

The main one that I haven't seen mentioned, but should address, is crafting. During development, it became very clear that a traditional crafting system wasn't meshing. We had some early design done, but everything ended up feeling like an MMO-style system, and that just didn't fit Torment's gameplay. Instead, we repurposed those resources, adding significantly more and better Cyphers and Artifacts to the game. We also added some elements that are thematically in line with crafting, like surgical procedures, companion armor upgrades, and essences.

I think what this helps illustrate is that game development is never a straight line to the end. Building an RPG this big is a huge endeavor on both creative and technical levels. This sometimes means ideas don't work out the way we expected, and sometimes new ideas will appear and be so compelling we can't help but add them. When content changes, that doesn't mean we're just yanking it out and tossing it on the floor - in all cases it means that we're using those same efforts to improve other parts of the game, or adding brand-new things entirely.

Our focus with Torment has always been on quality, and we know we'd be doing you guys a disservice if it was any other way.

 

[FeelTheRads]

"Thematically in line with crafting".

Like, how being able to rest in certain places is thematically in line with having a stronghold. Essentially the same thing.

 

[Charles Eli Cheese]

Keeping stretch goals that turn out to be bad for the game (like in PoE) isn't better than cutting them and focusing on things that work better.

Yeah crafting is going to ruin muh game, take that shit out.

 

[Excidium II]

crash and burn

 

[Hando]

Why doesn't anyone know how to make a good game anymore?

 

[Somberlain]

Torment ending up shit is thematically in line with inXile's previous track record.

 

[Brayko]

I think Fargo should have switched careers after Interplay.

But then again we asked for it.

 

[Morality Games]

The entire project seems to have been mismanaged from the beginning till the end. 5 millions backer raised funds, Wasteland 2 income, Techland money and then still this cuts. This is like if Trump would allocate 20 billions for the wall and in the end the it would result in building a 1 meter fence on the mexican border. The inXile employees seem not to be that productive.

https://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/InXile-Entertainment-Reviews-E31350.htm

I can only imagine that they started adding a non disclosure in the contract to explain years of radio silence of reviews, but this guy worked there while they were developing Wasteland 2:

Recommends
Neutral Outlook
No opinion of CEO

I worked at InXile Entertainment full-time (More than a year)

Pros

Very positive atmosphere, great location, producers are encouraged to get feedback on design choices from everyone. Willing to promote from within, which is rare for the industry. This is not a good place if you're looking long-term, but as a 1-2 year position, it's worth it.

Cons

Disorganized in how they execute their projects. Very large communication gap between upper management and the engineers/artists, which sometimes translated into offhanded comments turning into week-long or even month-long blind alleys distracting important team members from the primary project. There was also a philosophical clash between the Leads' expectations of team members and HRs' expectations of team members … Show More

Advice to Management

The main thing that I hope has been learned is that having focused, clear project goals is vital to keeping everyone on the same page during development. Especially once you get toward feature-lock and engineers are pushing hard for their pet feature to get included, having a solid design bible at hand can save the project from grinding to a halt.

 

[Fairfax]

The entire project seems to have been mismanaged from the beginning till the end. 5 millions backer raised funds, Wasteland 2 income, Techland money and then still this cuts. This is like if Trump would allocate 20 billions for the wall and in the end the it would result in building a 1 meter fence on the mexican border. The inXile employees seem not to be that productive.

https://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/InXile-Entertainment-Reviews-E31350.htm

I can only imagine that they started adding a non disclosure in the contract to explain years of radio silence of reviews, but this guy worked there while they were developing Wasteland 2:

Recommends
Neutral Outlook
No opinion of CEO

I worked at InXile Entertainment full-time (More than a year)

Pros

Very positive atmosphere, great location, producers are encouraged to get feedback on design choices from everyone. Willing to promote from within, which is rare for the industry. This is not a good place if you're looking long-term, but as a 1-2 year position, it's worth it.

Cons

Disorganized in how they execute their projects. Very large communication gap between upper management and the engineers/artists, which sometimes translated into offhanded comments turning into week-long or even month-long blind alleys distracting important team members from the primary project. There was also a philosophical clash between the Leads' expectations of team members and HRs' expectations of team members … Show More

Advice to Management

The main thing that I hope has been learned is that having focused, clear project goals is vital to keeping everyone on the same page during development. Especially once you get toward feature-lock and engineers are pushing hard for their pet feature to get included, having a solid design bible at hand can save the project from grinding to a halt.

The review are all anonymous, it's more like they're not large enough and the people who were laid off recently didn't bother.

 

[Klarion]

This is me:

And this is you, the backer of TTON:

 

[twincast]

Nice the Labyrinth at least made it in (to whatever extent), and what little I played of the beta was okay, but... reduced party size to a popamole foursome, dropped the one good part of the Cypher System, i.e. the health mechanic, focused on edgy Bloom over marvelous Oasis (to the point we'll probably barely see ten square - or rather cubic as it were - feet of what is supposed to be a major metropolis encircled by leagues and leagues of desert), cut The Toy which was the companion I was by far looking forward to the most,... (Don't care one way or the other about crafting, though.)

Add to that the console cash grab and the ungrateful asshattery in recentish months, and, well, at this point I'm caught between and . No more excitement, no more disappointment. I already payed for it, so I guess I'll play the director's cut someday, but this clusterfuck has certainly cemented me never backing a game by inXile (or whatever Fargo's next video game company may be) again.

 

[Lurker King]

Reading through Fairfax's list just reminds one how carried away they got with some of those stretch goals. It all starts to blend into a mélange of pocket planes, portals and new areas and features, all to be packed with reactivity. It was the height of KS mania of course, but I guess it just shows how even supposed veterans of the industry can get carried away like novices and misjudge what it would take to implement all that.

No, they were carried away for announcing the awful numenera system without a clue. These stretch goals only shows how Fargo had the instinct to milk players. These features are perfect to fuel the hype.

 

[Hando]

He should rename to Brian Gofar,so people know what to do when they see his games

 

[DeepOcean]

Curst had a ton of content cut on Planescape Torment too but the rest of the game was so great that compensated for it. I'm more worried with the lukewarm reception some people in the codex had with the beta, with is actually in the game.

 

[Lady_Error]

The entire project seems to have been mismanaged from the beginning till the end. 5 millions backer raised funds, Wasteland 2 income, Techland money and then still this cuts. This is like if Trump would allocate 20 billions for the wall and in the end the it would result in building a 1 meter fence on the mexican border. The inXile employees seem not to be that productive.

https://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/InXile-Entertainment-Reviews-E31350.htm

I can only imagine that they started adding a non disclosure in the contract to explain years of radio silence of reviews, but this guy worked there while they were developing Wasteland 2:

Recommends
Neutral Outlook
No opinion of CEO

I worked at InXile Entertainment full-time (More than a year)

Pros

Very positive atmosphere, great location, producers are encouraged to get feedback on design choices from everyone. Willing to promote from within, which is rare for the industry. This is not a good place if you're looking long-term, but as a 1-2 year position, it's worth it.

Cons

Disorganized in how they execute their projects. Very large communication gap between upper management and the engineers/artists, which sometimes translated into offhanded comments turning into week-long or even month-long blind alleys distracting important team members from the primary project. There was also a philosophical clash between the Leads' expectations of team members and HRs' expectations of team members … Show More

Advice to Management

The main thing that I hope has been learned is that having focused, clear project goals is vital to keeping everyone on the same page during development. Especially once you get toward feature-lock and engineers are pushing hard for their pet feature to get included, having a solid design bible at hand can save the project from grinding to a halt.

Those reviews of inXile all talk about upper management not being involved with the development enough, so that it ends up being a scattered mess. If Fargo is too lazy to do it himself, should at least hire someone who can do it for him.

 

[Lurker King]

They have no credibility left. (...) It will be naive to believe the codex is the only one feeling pissed right now.

Meh. You should tell that to all those positive previews and thousand of poor bastards who will buy the game on release.

 

[Rivmusique]

Aww, the water city was actually something that I was really looking forward to. I really dig water-based areas. Oh well, plenty in Deadfire, I'm sure.