KickStarter Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pre-Release Thread [GAME RELEASED, GO TO NEW THREAD]

[Infinitron]

New page, finally. I have a leak about drama inside Owlcats related to the lead narrative designer. It's all based on an anonymous source.

The lead narrative designer of Pathfinder: Kingmaker is upset because he wasn't recognized for his position during the kickstarter campaign and marketing. He believes the company is trying to mislead people into believing Chris Avellone is the head writer to boost sales. They refused to put his bio on the Owlcats website with the rest of the lead developers, mislead journalists to believe that Chris Avellone was the lead writer, and the studio head even told him not to advertise that he was the lead narrative designer onl;ine.

The issue has caused a lot of tension and resentment between him and the management.

It'd be hilarious if this was true because I've been saying that Owlcat were doing this since the Kickstarter.

And when we talked to Chris Avellone during the campaign, he seemed to deny it and said that the other writers weren't a secret...

 

[Roguey]

They aren't "good for what they are", they are good. And yes, people will still replay them in 20 years, exactly how they are replaying them now, 20 years after their release. None of these "Renaissance" RPGs will be, they are basically forgotten 2 weeks after they release, let alone in 20 years. Their respective threads are ghost-towns, even on here.

24 hour peaks
BG:EE https://steamcharts.com/app/228280 647
BG2:EE https://steamcharts.com/app/257350 543
PST:EE https://steamcharts.com/app/466300 106
Fallout https://steamcharts.com/app/38400 201
Fallout 2 https://steamcharts.com/app/38410 234
Wasteland 2 OC and DC https://steamcharts.com/app/240760 https://steamcharts.com/app/404730 355
Pillars https://steamcharts.com/app/291650 1432
D:OS Classic and EE https://steamcharts.com/app/230230 https://steamcharts.com/app/373420 1489
Punchline: Torment: ToN https://steamcharts.com/app/272270 59

All those Renaissance RPGs, which are years old now, are still doing fine, and PoE and D:OS in particular are doing better than decades old games. Wasteland 2 may not be beating the BGs, but it's still doing better than the original Fallouts. The only real loser here is Colin McDumb.

You run a blog??

Can't blame you for not knowing about it, she's incredibly modest about it.

 

[Strange Fellow]

Wow, that TTON number is just sad.

 

[fantadomat]

Roguey did you just compared the player base of three year old game to that of a twenty years old?! The fuck man,are you for real?! I am pretty sure that BG2 would even beat PoE if you include GoG(for both games) and all the non digital copies that.

PS:ROLF for numanuma :D

 

[Sacred82]

"Chris Avellone"

"lead writer"


does not compute since... quite a while

 

[Lacrymas]

Not only a 20-year-old game, that still has around half of the players of a 3-year-old one, but also the EE of a dubious quality that many older players reject and might not even have in their Steam library.

 

[Strange Fellow]

Yes, I have to admit that these numbers support Lacrymas' case more than they do mine. However I do believe that once the initial rush of release sales is over, the number of players will go down quickly until it reaches an equilibrium of sorts, where it will remain relatively stable for a long time. Maybe steamcharts has the functionality to tell us, I dunno.

Edit: It does, and the TLDR is that it pretty much confirms my theory. How long these tails are, though, we don't know. Time will tell, I suppose.

 

[Roguey]

Not only a 20-year-old game, that still has around half of the players of a 3-year-old one, but also the EE of a dubious quality that many older players reject and might not even have in their Steam library.

Yeah, well, these are the only numbers we have and hardly anyone buys boxed copies any more. We're certainly not going to be comparing pirates to pirates.

 

[Lilura]

Roguey , your posts are witty and funny. You should start a blog so that I can crush you. :D

 

[Safav Hamon]

It'd be hilarious if this was true because I've been saying that Owlcat were doing this since the Kickstarter.

And when we talked to Chris Avellone during the campaign, he seemed to deny it and said that the other writers weren't a secret...

There's no mention of the lead narrative designer anywhere. Not on the website, not on the kickstarter, not in interviews. The first time I even heard his name mentioned was from a post by Chris Avellone on this website. I wonder if they'll even put his name in the credits.

 

[Aim1ess]

They aren't "good for what they are", they are good. And yes, people will still replay them in 20 years, exactly how they are replaying them now, 20 years after their release. None of these "Renaissance" RPGs will be, they are basically forgotten 2 weeks after they release, let alone in 20 years. Their respective threads are ghost-towns, even on here.

24 hour peaks
BG:EE https://steamcharts.com/app/228280 647
BG2:EE https://steamcharts.com/app/257350 543
PST:EE https://steamcharts.com/app/466300 106
Fallout https://steamcharts.com/app/38400 201
Fallout 2 https://steamcharts.com/app/38410 234
Wasteland 2 OC and DC https://steamcharts.com/app/240760 https://steamcharts.com/app/404730 355
Pillars https://steamcharts.com/app/291650 1432
D:OS Classic and EE https://steamcharts.com/app/230230 https://steamcharts.com/app/373420 1489
Punchline: Torment: ToN https://steamcharts.com/app/272270 59

All those Renaissance RPGs, which are years old now, are still doing fine, and PoE and D:OS in particular are doing better than decades old games. Wasteland 2 may not be beating the BGs, but it's still doing better than the original Fallouts. The only real loser here is Colin McDumb.

You run a blog??

Can't blame you for not knowing about it, she's incredibly modest about it.

Funny seeing the relatively constant trend of April-May being the lowpoint and an explosion in June. Possibly studying for finals and schools out? Seems like early may would be a terrible time to release a game, all that money on marketing down the drain while no one is playing RPGs, while early June/very very late May or September would be the time to catch people's attention.

 

[imweasel]

It's a shining example of adding character to the companions with minimal tools. An ability that is severely lacking recently. It also shows restraint and understanding of what is important in the game you are making. BG1 benefited tremendously from this.

Ask Josh Sawyer why his writing team is so bad.

There aren't any good writers in the gaming industry. Good writers write novels and bad writers write for video games. Chris Avellone being a notable exception.

Gamers always request "muh good writing", but all they ever get is a swamp of horseshit that they have to wade through to find the few good morsels. As you indicated, we should request minimalist writing instead: Keep it short and succinct like in Baldur's Gate, Fallout or Dragonfall and use other narrative tools to improve story telling and make it impactful as possible.

That all said, who is the most memorable and beloved character in Divinity: Original Sin? The cheese vendor - and the guy only had like two lines. He obviously wasn't a fantastic character, but it also proves that you don't need much to make a character memorable or interesting.

 

[fantadomat]

Roguey , your posts are witty and funny. You should start a blog so that I can crush you. :D

You are aiming for a cheap victory Lilura,should challenge Safav and his inside leaks and deep knowledge of games.

 

[Bocian]

Yeah, well, these are the only numbers we have and hardly anyone buys boxed copies any more.

Most of people who play Fallouts, Baldurs etc. own them in boxed copies. Agreed, not many buy them right now, but any fan already has these titles for years. I think you can easily double or triple these steam numbers, to also take GOG copies into account.

 

[Lilura]

You are aiming for a cheap victory Lilura,should challenge Safav and his inside leaks and deep knowledge of games.

I challenge anyone, fullstop.

I've put this out before, looking for a worthy lone-wolf competitor: If you're such a good writer, if you know so much about the Renaissance, then start blogging: you will be crushed by my King Content.

Do you know how boring it is being at the top, looking down like an eagle? I need competition in order to become better.

But instead of squaring up and taking on the challenge, they go quiet or fall into a fit of butthurt and rage. Reddit is hilarious in this respect.

 

[laclongquan]

I see what you did there, lady, and I am not falling for it.

This is no longer puberty to act on provokeishun from gurlz. hell, it's not even adolescent.

 

[rashiakas]

Who are you again?

 

[Anomander Rake]

It'd be hilarious if this was true because I've been saying that Owlcat were doing this since the Kickstarter.

And when we talked to Chris Avellone during the campaign, he seemed to deny it and said that the other writers weren't a secret...

So where is the truth? It will be the difference between buying the game or not

 

[Thonius]

Huh I ques I missed it... they removed romance option for companions. And you cannot chose name for capital city and flag... and no pick-pocketing....they are cutting features left and right to fit in release window.

 

[Lacrymas]

Oh, no! How will I function if I can't romance the companions or name my capital city?!

 

[Cael]

I see what you did there, lady, and I am not falling for it.

This is no longer puberty to act on provokeishun from gurlz. hell, it's not even adolescent.

Not so much from a girl, but from a child. You never respond positively to "neener neener!" from a spoilt brat and at most you give the kid a swift Gibbs smack before telling its parents that they fail at teach their kid and they are a complete embarassment to their family.

 

[Dodo1610]

It'd be hilarious if this was true because I've been saying that Owlcat were doing this since the Kickstarter.

And when we talked to Chris Avellone during the campaign, he seemed to deny it and said that the other writers weren't a secret...

So where is the truth? It will be the difference between buying the game or not

He was never mentined as the lead writer, his role was mostly advisory. He looked over the writing and helped to create the main narrative. I do not see how this is deceptive maybe the journalists didn't get the right info and made his role bigger then it is.

 

[Thonius]

Oh, no! How will I function if I can't romance the companions or name my capital city?!

It's more about cutting out features... don't care bout romance but pickpocketing is a nice feature

 

[fantadomat]

You are aiming for a cheap victory Lilura,should challenge Safav and his inside leaks and deep knowledge of games.

I challenge anyone, fullstop.

I've put this out before, looking for a worthy lone-wolf competitor: If you're such a good writer, if you know so much about the Renaissance, then start blogging: you will be crushed by my King Content.

Do you know how boring it is being at the top, looking down like an eagle? I need competition in order to become better.

But instead of squaring up and taking on the challenge, they go quiet or fall into a fit of butthurt and rage. Reddit is hilarious in this respect.

Maybe in the future i will start a "Cooking with rpgs" blog,it most certainly will run your in to dust,after all it is me and for cooking . But for now i am satisfied to just pock you from time to time.

Oh, no! How will I function if I can't romance the companions or name my capital city?!

LoL why would you tolerate any of the shit characters if you can't rip their ass apart?! No fucking slave orgies,what a decline.

 

[Lacrymas]

Oh, no! How will I function if I can't romance the companions or name my capital city?!

It's more about cutting out features... don't care bout romance but pickpocketing is a nice feature

At least they know what to cut. If and when the cutting time starts, cutting fluff like romances and cosmetics like naming your city is much preferable to anything else.