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

[yes plz]

Yeah, just wait for the Director's Cut. I mean, it won't give you any of the cut content but you will get more shitty voice acting and slightly updated graphics!

 

[janjetina]

Lot of people here appears to be complete noobs concerning game development despite the site having a reputation of hardened veteran.
Quite incredible, everyone and his grandmother know game development is almost always more or less a cluster-fuck where things change greatly from the start to the finish evzn for AAA games.
Now you can tell Inxile should have not commit to add certain features, but experienced as we are, it was quite naive to put too much expectation it.

I'm not disappointed at all InXIle dropped some features which are more like ideals things to do, it's a good thing to have them however in a kickstarter as it show the way to go and give a perspective.
And it's a good thing to drop them as the project evolve to concentrate on the good parts and make the better game possible considering the constraints that we can be sure will arise.

PoE 1 is a good example of features that should have been dropped like the too bland megadungeon and even the whole stronghold thing.
They should have made a 3/4 levels dungeons instead. And drop crafting too to make better itemization
And imo they should have even reduced the size of the Twin Elm to make Definace Bay a real city, not a boring place with too few things to do in each zone.

At the end all i care is the game being good, not if it checked a "to do list" of features that in game development are always dropped partially anyway.

Fuck off. Who gives a shit if game industry is run by immature shitheads who are unable to deliver on set product requirements? They should be held to standards like any other business. If you are unable to meet the requirements (i.e. everything promised in the campaign), communicate it promptly to the backers at the time you become aware of it (hint: this is not a month or two before the release of a product with a multi-year development period).

They were using features that were cut in soliciting money from the backers. They failed to implement those features, therefore using them while soliciting money represented false advertising. Each backer can hold them accountable for that and has a valid basis for refund request. It's a binary choice for a backer: request a refund or bend over.

I'm so glad I got my refund when the Codex blacklist shitstorm happened.

 

[InspectorRumpole]

Guys, this is still a for me, like all other inXile games.

 

[Nazrim Eldrak]

How about this:
1. It was all strategy to cut out the features.
2. When the game comes out non backers will buy it.
3. Than they will add the cuted features as an "DLC"
4. Backers will get it for free
5. The non backers have to pay for the "DLC"

With this they can harness more money and reduce the rage!

 

[GrainWetski]

inXile is pure decline in every way.

 

[Ovplain]

At this point I just hope the next InXile project will have a 'We'll be completely honest with our backers this time' stretch goal.

 

[Roguey]

Come on this retarded beyond measure, you honestly think someone said "hey that second city sounds awesome let me up my pledge so we can get it"

This is in fact what people said in the Kickstarter comments section as the campaign was going.

 

[Your Kindness]

"You mean, those Kickstarter stretch goals? But that was a long time ago!"

 

[Prime Junta]

Just sent this off to support@inxile.net:

Greetings --

I upped my pledge for Torment: Tides of Numenera to $150 largely on the strength of your stretch goals. I was especially excited about crafting, the Oasis of M'Ra Jolios, and the Toy companion.

Since these have now been cut, I respectfully request a refund of $125, bringing me to the minimum "Scholar - All Digital" level.

With best regards,

<redacted>

 

[Hobo Elf]

I know I should feel rage, but I'm sure the game is going to be so shit that I won't even get so far where I could experience any of the cut content.

 

[twincast]

To expand on my prior post:
Party size and health mechanic I would've been annoyed about either way as they are casualtard (or rather removal of the one chance of combat gameplay incline in the latter's case), but while constantly present throughout the game to remind me of this, we're used to those and they are abstract enough for most people not to give a damn.
Oasis and Toy, however, were specific promises that made people (much more so than Bloom and Jack in my case) and breaking these naturally has them raise their pitchforks now, so proper open and clear communication ASAP would really have been key and actually could have dissipated all bad feelings about this among 99% of their audience. FFS Larian had shown them exactly how to do so with day/night cycle and megadungeon in D:OS! (Doesn't make me any less severely displeased with the shafting dwarves received in D:OS2, but I digress.) Utterly inept.

 

[DeepOcean]

I would take a developer with courage that say, "Yeah, we fucked up." than one that come with bullshit like "We cut content but the game will be totally fine people, trust us!", please we aren't idiots and we aren't children, trust is a two way street, if you don't trust your customers with really important information, do you think they will trust you? What you say may even be true and trying to do this content no matter what might actually harm the game like the tons of token features PoE did, for example, but the trust was already broken.

Torment really needs to be an above average game, worse than the cut content is if even after all those sacrifices and broken promises, the end result is another lukewarm by the numbers RPG.

 

[Fairfax]

People underestimate the effects of stretch goals.

See that bump in the middle? 03/21 was the Pat Rothfuss stretch goal announcement, and in the next day it was MCA. The 3 days before raised $73,515 combined, while March 21-23 raised $187,430 (155% increase). The average pledge in the day MCA was announced went up to $64.27 (the total average was $56.30), and the number of backers went up to 1347, while most days had ~600. It was also the day they raised the most money besides the first 4 days and the last 4 days of the campaign. If they had changed their minds about him joining the team, a lot of backers would've been rightfully pissed off, regardless of the challenges of game development or budget issues.

In addition to backers upgrading their pledges, stretch goals can bring a lot of new backers when a project has raised a lot more than it needed in theory. The opposite impression, that the devs don't need the money, has a negative effect, exemplified by the Shenmue 3 and Sony controversy. People also forget extremely obvious cases like Star Citizen. Its huge success wouldn't have happened without the ambitious stretch goals and backers upgrading their ships to reach them.

 

[Azrael the cat]

In two minds. Yeah, I understand why anyone with weirdly specific tastes such that they backed for the stretch goal features would be pissed off.

On the other hand - and this is not shilling specific to Torment or InExile - I'd be in full brofist mode if Fargo had said 'all stretch goals are cancelled, because after being struck on the head by a rock yesterday, I suddenly realised that really specific content promises are fucking retarded, especially stuff like NPCs and locations where the developers should be free to experiment. Why would anyone think that setting in stone specific characters and locations could be a good idea when trying to recreate a game like PS:T, which was only made because it flew under the radar such that the team could do whatever they wanted within the confines of than 'use the IE engine and make a D&D game'. Fuck that's an incredible stupid idea.'

 

[l3loodAngel]

In addition to backers upgrading their pledges, stretch goals can bring a lot of new backers when a project has raised a lot more than it needed in theory. The opposite impression, that the devs don't need the money, has a negative effect, exemplified by the Shenmue 3 and Sony controversy. People also forget extremely obvious cases like Star Citizen. Its huge success wouldn't have happened without the ambitious stretch goals and backers upgrading their ships to reach them.

Oh please. Even Bernie Madoff said: "And I am the one who is doing time?". After seeing Star Citizen. Imo Star Citizen is going to be the greates gaming colapse ever. After it colapses in fire good luck in receiving capital from crowd funding projects.

 

[toro]

I backed Torment with 128$ - that was long ago when I had money to throw away

The thing is: I don't care much about the cut content or the game anymore. Should I ask for a refund !? I don't think so. I knew KS is gambling and I said bye-bye to my money the moment I pledged.

TBH I did want to support inXile at that time but then they released W2, kickstarted W3 and The Bard's Tale, blacklisted codex and Fargo started talking shit.

Now I know that the sane decision is to ask for a refund but that would actually hurt the company which is already in a steep decline. It's also looks like pettiness cause after all it's just a game and it was bound to disappoint.

* Refund policy don't make sense at a basic level cause nobody can work with a budget that can evaporate at any moment.

Maybe just maybe inXile will realize how much they fucked up and then they will turn around. The alternative is that there is no turn around for a dead company.

I'm not sure there is a high road in the entire story but I cannot do it. I prefer to cut my loses and learn something from this. Like never trusting Fargo or pre-ordering an inXile game again.

 

[Shadenuat]

Stretch goals is just marketing trick, how does going from 1 mil to 1.2 mil allows you to add a companion pet or some other shit? Even obsidian, professional company, fucked up with Kaed Nua by making it 15 level stretch goal and eventually it ended up as copy pasted trash mobs on pretty backgrounds.

 

[undecaf]

I prefer to cut my loses and learn something from this. Like never trusting Fargo or pre-ordering an inXile game again.

And in general, not throwing "bigger" monies at any crowdfunding campaign again.

I pledged 270$ for T:ToN. It remains to be seen how much I end up regretting it more than I already do.

 

[Hobo Elf]

Stretch goals is just marketing trick, how does going from 1 mil to 1.2 mil allows you to add a companion pet or some other shit? Even obsidian, professional company, fucked up with Kaed Nua by making it 15 level stretch goal and eventually it ended up as copy pasted trash mobs on pretty backgrounds.

There's a slight difference with the mega dungeon. Lots of floors were added based on facebook likes, which don't add any money to the project. Basically they were counting on imaginary facebook money to somehow shoulder the costs of a huge dungeon.
I can understand why they did it though. They were one foot in the grave and then the KS basically revivified the whole company. They were too overjoyed for their own good. But at least it helped with company morale, even if the mega dungeon did end up being mostly disappointing.

 

[Bigg Boss]

I think a lot of you would be much more happy with these overrated nostalgia-grab RPG's if you didn't spend over $50.

 

[Tacgnol]

In general I've become extremely reluctant to fund crowdfunding projects. If I do, I tend to give the minimal amount.

It's just too risky with how these projects often turn out.

 

[Roguey]

Stretch goals is just marketing trick, how does going from 1 mil to 1.2 mil allows you to add a companion pet or some other shit? Even obsidian, professional company, fucked up with Kaed Nua by making it 15 level stretch goal and eventually it ended up as copy pasted trash mobs on pretty backgrounds.

That was their first. This was inXile's second, they knew what kind of problems they were having with Wasteland 2

 

[Kev Inkline]

I sent out a request for 140 -> 25 a pledge downgrade. I think the only thing holding me back currently is something called endowment effect, but to deal with that you have to ask the question: how much would you be willing to pledge, if you'd know all that you know right now about the project.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endowment_effect

 

[meanwhileInPoland]

this thread is fucking gold mine
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1338749

there is more posts shitting on codex than calling Ineptile out on their bullshit.

You heard it here first guys. Shitty development management and lying to your customers is design decision

 

[PatataFamilia]

I can't say anything for all the other stretchgoals, but Rothfuss did work on Torment. As recently as 2016 Fargo said, "Fargo: We have Patrick Rothfuss, Chris Avellone…"
https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2016/09/01/brian-fargo-torment-wasteland-interview/
In one of his twitch streams Rothfuss talks about writing for torment, I tried searching for it but ugh video.
And there's a comic book set in the universe coming out from him.

Either way, I think he was like Ziets on Pillars. He came in, wrote a piece and left early into development.