Larian General Discussion Thread

[LESS T_T]

Let's start with this; these people are writers at Larian:

Jan Van Dosselaer (2007~), working at Gent - Divinity II, Dragon Commander, Original Sin

Sarah Baylus (2013~), working at Gent - Original Sin

Devin John Doyle (2015~), working at Dublin
https://ie.linkedin.com/in/devinjohndoyle

John Corcoran (2015~), working at Dublin
https://www.linkedin.com/pub/john-corcoran/6b/352/360

Stephen Rooney (2015~), working at Dublin
https://ie.linkedin.com/pub/stephen-rooney/23/582/a57

Charlene Putney (2015~), working at Dublin
https://ie.linkedin.com/in/charleneputney

Julien Brun (2015~), working at Quebec
https://ca.linkedin.com/in/jbrun

Kieron Kelly (2015~) working at Dublin
https://ie.linkedin.com/pub/kieron-kelly/67/15b/748


It's interesting that most of writers doesn't have experience in videogame writing before Larian (even Dosselaer). Some of them have fiction and film writing experience, some of them have technical writing experience.

 

[Infinitron]

In before subforum

 

[Athelas]

I'm not sure publicly outing the writers of D:OS is such a good idea.

 

[Doktor Best]

So what is this? A public shaming thread? Larian needs to get some decent writers. If theres one thing that holds them back from being really awesome then its their shallow writing. It always reminds me on some poor mans Terry Pratchett Flick.

 

[Excidium II]

So what is this? A public shaming thread? Larian needs to get some decent writers. If theres one thing that holds them back from being really awesome then its their shallow writing. It always reminds me on some poor mans Terry Pratchett Flick.

You are going to upset a lot of people with that comment

 

[Jedi Exile]

Larian has awesome writers. Too bad Codex is into grimdark shit and cannot really appreciate their awesomeness.

 

[Roguey]

They're okay imo. Not everyone should try to aim high.

I'm not sure publicly outing the writers of D:OS is such a good idea.

It wasn't really a secret.

 

[Excidium II]

Larian has awesome writers.

uh-huh

 

[Crooked Bee]

They're okay imo.

 

[DraQ]

Are there any writers who worked on Divinity II/Divinity II and Dragon Commander, but not on D:OS?

 

[Crooked Bee]

Rhianna Pratchett?

 

[Andnjord]

It seems they have taken the Kool Kodex Kouncil at heart though, all those drunken Irishmen Dublin based writers have been hired after Original Sin was released. Who knows, maybe they might be competent. Not that they have a whole lot of experience (couple of social media employee and one "Joltonline" which redirects to a dead site) but hey, better than having just two guys writing content for a 30 hours cRPG.

Incidentally, were they really only two guys on Original Sin? Surely there must have been a couple of interns/janitor writing stuff.

 

[Tigranes]

Larian has awesome writers. Too bad Codex is into grimdark shit and cannot really appreciate their awesomeness.

It's true, I also find it hard to enjoy the Disney Channel.

 

[DraQ]

Well, I 'd heartily a lot in Divinity II and more than once in DC (overarching story was meh, but some conversations were stellar), but mostly just 'd in D:OS.

 

[Roguey]

There's dark stuff in all their games. In Div2, almost everyone in the first town is slaughtered in the final act.

Incidentally, were they really only two guys on Original Sin? Surely there must have been a couple of interns/janitor writing stuff.

Credits
Lead Writer
Jan Van Dosselaer

Story
Jan Van Dosselaer
Sarah Baylus
Swen Vincke

Dialogs
Jan Van Dosselaer
Sarah Baylus

That's it. From all the comments, I was expecting a snoozefest, and instead got something all right that just needed some editing/script doctoring.

 

[Agesilaus]

The only Larian game I have played is Divinity: Original Sin.

Yeah.

Let's just say I didn't pick up any of their other games.

2 hours was more than enough, I assure you.

 

[prodigydancer]

Larian has awesome writers.

 

[undecaf]

Before deciding that these people are shit and getting new ones, they should probably tell their current writers to write about something else than lighthearted fantasy, and for a game that decidedly aims for a notch or two higher narrative intensity and tone. Divinity is hardly a proper yardstick to tell whether the writer's lousy.

 

[Doktor Best]

Before deciding that these people are shit and getting new ones, they should probably tell their current writers to write about something else than lighthearted fantasy, and for a game that decidedly aims for a notch or two higher narrative intensity and tone. Divinity is hardly a proper yardstick to tell whether the writer's lousy.

Lighthearted fantasy is not the problem in itself, the problem is that the dialogue is too inflated, lacking meaning and often failing to be on point. Youre mostly reading big masses of dialogue text with people talking in a convoluted swollen way so the punchline gets lost somewhere in the middle of it. Thats a big no go for the narrative style they are shooting for. Like i said, look at Terry Pratchetts books if you want to see Larians style done right.

Speaking of which, the Discworld setting would probably be a really nice background setting for a Larian game, if they manage to improve their writing. It would also help alot with publicity since there is a really fucking large fanbase all around the world. There is even a Discworld variation of the GURPS ruleset they could base their work up on.

 

[Infinitron]

 

[imweasel]

Sounds like Larian is going to announce that new project soon.

 

[Jimmious]

 

[Athelas]

 

[Animal]

Another thing that hinders my enjoyment of games is the heavy accented voiceovers. I'm not a native speaker, so hearing NPCs speaking in some (to me) obscure british accent, where they omit syllables and consonants, is a bit of a chore.

D:OS seems to suffer heavily from this.

 

[Jimmious]

Another thing that hinders my enjoyment of games is the heavy accented voiceovers. I'm not a native speaker, so hearing NPCs speaking in some (to me) obscure british accent, where they omit syllables and consonants, is a bit of a chore.

D:OS seems to suffer heavily from this.

Hey dude we are in the process of hyping here, get your complaints somewhere else