SureAI's new project: Enderal - The Shards of Order (Mostly about Enderal SE now)

[United Nations]

I'm on the *** star quests right now.

Certain areas are incredible, especially Undercity.

It reminded me of the demo of Dark Messiah of Might and Magic and BGII's Underdark.

Problem is, there's not enough content to go around said areas.

Anything above basic exploration is best left to when you have quests for that map.

I've been experiencing a crazy amount of bugs too, especially with the loading screens.

50% of the time, I don't get a framed concept art, instead I get the floating smoke from Skyrim's start screen.

Even when I do get the right loading screen, you can see a transparent overlay of rising smoke.

A lot of the interaction dialogues are still in German, and the voice acting doesn't always match the subtitles.

I do like the singing bards being in German as well as some of the in game signs, posters, and texts because it gives Enderal character.

I prefer Enderal to Skyrim, but it starts slow and takes a while to get good.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Combat is piss easy compared to Nehrim though.

 

[LizardWizard]

Thank goodness for moving this thread to the proper place. Felt like a filthy slut going into that shit heap of a subforum.

e: New patch with an assload of bug fixes is out

 

[Zewp]

They've been churning out patches really consistently. If a small team of modders can patch their game so quick, why does it take Bethesda months or forever?

 

[revealer]

They've been churning out patches really consistently. If a small team of modders can patch their game so quick, why does it take Bethesda months or forever?

Cause they care.

 

[Liz]

So far what really stands out to me is Ark, considering that Bethbryo/Creation Engine games never managed to sell the concept of a bustling city all that well.

Whiterun for example always felt like a glorified town but Ark with it's many districts and Undercity (on a side note, what happened to slums in Tamriel? Even the Imperial City has no slums for Christ sake) and the fact that the Sun Temple allows for some vertical expansion as well do a lot to sell the idea that Ark is a capital city, rather then a glorified town.

 

[Alienman]

Console limitation man.

 

[United Nations]

So far what really stands out to me is Ark, considering that Bethbryo/Creation Engine games never managed to sell the concept of a bustling city all that well.

Whiterun for example always felt like a glorified town but Ark with it's many districts and Undercity (on a side note, what happened to slums in Tamriel? Even the Imperial City has no slums for Christ sake) and the fact that the Sun Temple allows for some vertical expansion as well do a lot to sell the idea that Ark is a capital city, rather then a glorified town.

I totally agree with you.

This is Enderal's greatest strength: its capital city looks and feels like a capital city, on the level of Athkatla in BGII.

Skyrim and Oblivion could not get their cities down right (especially the capitals) and they lacked the diversity of environments that is so prominent in Enderal.

Enderal seems much larger than it really is because of the extreme climate changes experienced throughout, as well as vertically layered maps instead of one giant landmass as in Skyrim.

Bethesda really enjoys making games that take the quantity over quality approach, of which the end result to gamers everywhere is a complete lack of fun.

Skyrim is a boring, empty tundra that SureAI did away with to create real entertainment out of Skyrim's engine and assets.

 

[Zerth]

Two-hander wielders hit a powerspike after unlocking hawk thrust + tier II/III skaraggian stance, really neat if you are fond of going berserk and steamroll over/hack off every enemy you stumble across through power attacks. Although If you're playing on harder difficulties, you should make sure to one shot or stagger and give the killing blow to your foe before it has a chance to retaliate, the defense reduction from skaraggian stance will make you squishier even if you're wearing heavy armor, sometimes you can't afford to even take a single hit while you have this stance activated.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Two-hander wielders hit a powerspike after unlocking hawk thrust + tier II/III skaraggian stance, really neat if you are fond of going berserk and steamroll over/hack off every enemy you stumble across through power attacks. Although If you're playing on harder difficulties, you should make sure to one shot or stagger and give the killing blow to your foe before it has a chance to retaliate, the defense reduction from skaraggian stance will make you squishier even if you're wearing heavy armor, sometimes you can't afford to even take a single hit while you have this stance activated.

Yeah, plus if you are lucky, you can get hold of a good axe early on, like I did. So far I have not bothered taking points in any other skills, or even wear any fancy armour and it's only mildly hard at times.

 

[United Nations]

Playing battle mage ATM.

Battles at level 3 quests consist of spamming fireballs III, boon IV, magic bow III, summon frost giant I.

Not liking combat at all, it totally blows, but as others have said it's vanilla Skyrim.

Fucked up my Memory trees because I tried to build a character outside of the skills and magic I actually use in-game.

Music is pretty boring IMO.

I wish the Crypt was actually creepy as in Arx Fatalis.

Enderal's Crypt reminds me of Disney's Haunted Mansion, only not as cool.

SureAI could have layered the Crypt and turned it into a massive dungeon.

This is what Arx Fatalis pulled off much better than any other first-person RPG I have every played.

It had like 5 levels or something and the ambient music got creepier the deeper you got.

Also, Enderal's quest design is sort of slapped together.

The main quest and side quests are pretty good, but receiving and completing them seems haphazard and doesn't flow organically.

 

[LizardWizard]

The OST is fucking amazing and better than 99% of anything released these days in the industry IMO. Also, the music does get darker/creepy in tougher areas.

 

[Zerth]

Yeah, plus if you are lucky, you can get hold of a good axe early on, like I did. So far I have not bothered taking points in any other skills, or even wear any fancy armour and it's only mildly hard at times.

RIght now I'm wearing the complete Selna's heavy armor set and playing as a Dark Keeper. I have been wielding Bound Battleaxes since early game and I've noticed that bounded weapons have a higher damage than real ones, weird.

By the way, there's an item loot guide spreadsheet for whoever is interested in looking for something in particular.

 

[Tito Anic]

Just realized Arktwend was released in English.

Worth playing?

Beginning will impress you, later it feels unfinished and there is alot of bugs if i remember correctly.

 

[Liz]

Just realized Arktwend was released in English.

Worth playing?

Beginning will impress you, later it feels unfinished and there is alot of bugs if i remember correctly.

I played it, it doesn't hold a candle compared to the production values of Nehrim and Enderal, their later projects but it is a good experience nonetheless.

 

[Urthor]

So far what really stands out to me is Ark, considering that Bethbryo/Creation Engine games never managed to sell the concept of a bustling city all that well.

Whiterun for example always felt like a glorified town but Ark with it's many districts and Undercity (on a side note, what happened to slums in Tamriel? Even the Imperial City has no slums for Christ sake) and the fact that the Sun Temple allows for some vertical expansion as well do a lot to sell the idea that Ark is a capital city, rather then a glorified town.

I totally agree with you.

This is Enderal's greatest strength: its capital city looks and feels like a capital city, on the level of Athkatla in BGII.

Skyrim and Oblivion could not get their cities down right (especially the capitals) and they lacked the diversity of environments that is so prominent in Enderal.

Enderal seems much larger than it really is because of the extreme climate changes experienced throughout, as well as vertically layered maps instead of one giant landmass as in Skyrim.

Bethesda really enjoys making games that take the quantity over quality approach, of which the end result to gamers everywhere is a complete lack of fun.

Skyrim is a boring, empty tundra that SureAI did away with to create real entertainment out of Skyrim's engine and assets.

You're right about the fast n furious mood swings making the capital city, but the reason that game makers shy away from those kind of capital cities is that whilst they work fantastically on a gameplay level of events, it challengers a gamer's suspension of disbelief to have that kind of swing over a few doorways. It's the big dilemma, do you have a classic D&D influenced hub like Athkatla, where an entirely new ecology, colour palette and NPC species is merely a loading screen away. Or do you stick with Skyrim's "every Nord city is pretty much the same type of Nord city for the entirety of its Nord cityness" and have a level of continuity closer to what you find in real life, where a different architectural style requires driving 6+ hours down a highway and potentially a passport check.

Without a doubt though, D&D hubs work much much better in a gameplay sense, but there's a price to be paid.

They've been churning out patches really consistently. If a small team of modders can patch their game so quick, why does it take Bethesda months or forever?

They've been altering 3 dialogue lines then pushing it out as a patch at 6 o'clock before they go and have dinner day in day out, and have released one small patch with some minor area fixes. Just because they do a successful job of looking busy, doesn't mean they are churning out the workload of titans.

 

[United Nations]

So far what really stands out to me is Ark, considering that Bethbryo/Creation Engine games never managed to sell the concept of a bustling city all that well.

Whiterun for example always felt like a glorified town but Ark with it's many districts and Undercity (on a side note, what happened to slums in Tamriel? Even the Imperial City has no slums for Christ sake) and the fact that the Sun Temple allows for some vertical expansion as well do a lot to sell the idea that Ark is a capital city, rather then a glorified town.

I totally agree with you.

This is Enderal's greatest strength: its capital city looks and feels like a capital city, on the level of Athkatla in BGII.

Skyrim and Oblivion could not get their cities down right (especially the capitals) and they lacked the diversity of environments that is so prominent in Enderal.

Enderal seems much larger than it really is because of the extreme climate changes experienced throughout, as well as vertically layered maps instead of one giant landmass as in Skyrim.

Bethesda really enjoys making games that take the quantity over quality approach, of which the end result to gamers everywhere is a complete lack of fun.

Skyrim is a boring, empty tundra that SureAI did away with to create real entertainment out of Skyrim's engine and assets.

You're right about the fast n furious mood swings making the capital city, but the reason that game makers shy away from those kind of capital cities is that whilst they work fantastically on a gameplay level of events, it challengers a gamer's suspension of disbelief to have that kind of swing over a few doorways. It's the big dilemma, do you have a classic D&D influenced hub like Athkatla, where an entirely new ecology, colour palette and NPC species is merely a loading screen away. Or do you stick with Skyrim's "every Nord city is pretty much the same type of Nord city for the entirety of its Nord cityness" and have a level of continuity closer to what you find in real life, where a different architectural style requires driving 6+ hours down a highway and potentially a passport check.

Without a doubt though, D&D hubs work much much better in a gameplay sense, but there's a price to be paid.

Open world RPG's are called "worlds" for a reason.

IRL, let's take New York City for instance, you have extreme diversity across each of the five boroughs.

Various ethnic groups make up distinct neighborhoods, who speak their own language, make their own food, and maintain their own separate culture.

If I'm playing an RPG, I prefer the capital city to be huge, varied, and distinct.

The architecture in Ark is skyscraper caliber, with towering buildings, subterranean ghetto, and giant, looming, Order temple.

 

[Liz]

Having just finished it, I think the choice at the end is basically how ME3 should have handled the Reapers and the whole 'your extinction is inevitable' thing.

Spoiler

One ending is escape. After you get away from the black guardian you take his advice to take the escape pods up into the star city and wait out the cleansing with your significant other. It's implied since Jaspar/Calia were affected by fate that they might be immortal. Both of you live in the city and hope that in the next cycle you can breed ego out of humanity.

The second ending is sacrifice. You go back to the Sun Temple, destroy the three black stones powering the beacon, and delay the cleansing. Enderal is wiped out, but the other continents such as Qyra or Azareal, are all spared. Your significant other also lives on to spread the news you were told by the black guardian. Your S/O informs you that another beacon is being built in Qyra, which could mean they too are falling for the cycle or it could mean that they will stop the cleansing if your S/O told them what you told him/her.

 

[Anthedon]

An addon is in the works:

Enderal: Forgotten Stories is an expansion-pack/DLC for Enderal. It is being developed mainly by Nicolas Lietzau, one of the project leads and lead writer of the main game, with the support of a small part of the SureAI-team. “Enderal: Forgotten Stories” aims to bring in parts of the story’s content that had to be cut from the initial release, adding 10-20 hours of new quest content, as well as improving several aspects of the main game. Without further ado, here's a small teaser we prepared for you meant to give you an idea of what "Forgotten Stories" will be about:

• Two guild quest-lines: Join the Golden Sickle, Enderal's most influential merchants’ guild and experience an exceptional non-linear story that deals with intrigue and greed. Delve into the secrets behind the Rhalâta, the mysterious cult ruling the Undercity.
  
  
• A story mission revolving around the Sea Of Eventualities and Yuslan Sha'Rim's past
  
  
• A quest shedding light on the Veiled Woman's origins
  
  
• A mission that allows the player to explore in detail the death of a certain character
  
  
• A secret ending for the main-quest
  
  
• New bounty missions
  
  
• Professional localization in both German and English (starring, amongst others, Dave Fennoy from "The Walking Dead" and Lani Minella from "Skyrim")
  
  
• New weapons and sets
  
  
• Several game-play changes and additions, such as hidden talents, rebalanced and overhauled crafting skills, high-level crafting, and enchantment that makes investing in craftsmanship a lot more rewarding.

Assuming the world doesn't end anytime soon, Enderal: Forgotten Stories will be released eventually, just as the main game was. However, I – Nicolas – am currently developing this DLC as a full-time endeavor and am paying for the time invested from my private savings. While the project cannot be supported directly, you can support my work as a writer by donating through PayPal (the upper button on the page)– any donations would be greatly appreciated and will help me cover my basic expenses.

If you cannot donate, you can still support us by spreading the word and/or voting for us at the "Mod Of The Year Awards 2016", the winner of which will be decided on December 21st! Just follow this link and click "Vote", no registration required. A huge thank you to everyone who has supported us thus far!

Will old saves be compatible with "Forgotten Stories" or will I have to start a new game?

Generally speaking, Forgotten Stories will be compatible with old save-games. However, we advise starting a new play-through, particularly for those players desiring to unlock the hidden ending. Forgotten Stories is designed and balanced so that it fits and enhances the main game rather than as a stand-alone.

When will "Forgotten Stories" be released?

2017. Even though we are following a tight schedule, we cannot give a definite release date as of now.

Why isn’t the whole SureAI-team working on this?

Because many members of the core team are now heavily involved in other projects. Enderal - Forgotten Stories was originally intended to be created by me alone, but, thankfully, some other members (and new, external contributors) agreed to help, which takes a lot of weight off my shoulders and even allows us to work on some yet unannounced features which I simply could not have done on my own. This does not mean that SureAI doesn’t exist anymore or is somehow compromised: It simply means that Forgotten Stories is more of a private side-project by me as Enderal’s writer.

But there are still bugs in the main game! Shouldn’t you be fixing them rather than developing new content?

We are. Both me and some of our team are still working on bugfixes daily, and there will be more patches to come.

http://forum.sureai.net/viewtopic.php?f=136&t=11821

 

[Paul_cz]

I wanted to play Enderal, but now it seems it will be better to wait for this expansion? It seems this one is going to be akin to Night of the Raven, enhancing the main game instead of something standalone like Blood and Wine.

 

[anvi]

I played it for a few boring hours, it was shit. It is just more Skyrim, which was shit. Nehrim was better because it changed the combat, but this doesn't change anything and the Skyrim combat is the worst thing I have ever played.

 

[Anthedon]

I wanted to play Enderal, but now it seems it will be better to wait for this expansion? It seems this one is going to be akin to Night of the Raven, enhancing the main game instead of something standalone like Blood and Wine.

Depends on how much a few open plot lines bother you. The addon content is hinted at right now in serveral place, but you can't access it obviously.

And the release of the addon might of course be delayed (a lot).

 

[Deleted Member 16721]

I played about 30 hours so far and find the game phenomenal. It seems to have a higher polish level overall than Nehrim (which is also a fantastic RPG - one of the best in the past 6 years or so), and it's just a really well-done game so far. The world sort of blends TES with Gothic, feels entirely hand-crafted with just as many nooks and crannies as the Gothic games have, as well as a more "meaningful" approach to character building, crafting, loot, etc. It's also got a more "guided" open-world that allows for great exploration, has no level scaling (so you can run into trouble whenever), and is huge with lots of things to see and find. The story has philosophical, metaphysical and psychological undertones, it's unique and well-written and translated.

One quick thing. I would skip the Skyrim Special Edition for now. Why? The graphical updates are pretty minor when you're actually playing it (I play on Ultra @ 4K on a huge TV and I was trying to figure out what exactly was improved from the original...), plus more mods need to come out for the SE, like Requiem, Morrowloot and others. So, I'd just install the old Skyrim and download Enderal instead. Enderal might even look better than Skyrim SE overall as it pushes the 32-bit engine to its limit. In short, Enderal also looks beautiful.

I may write a review for it when I play more. I would highly recommend it if you like the idea of blending Gothic-style principles with a bit of TES. The fact that it's free is simply a no-brainer. Download it now and play it, you'll love it.

 

[Rpgsaurus Rex]

Make sure to download http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/78118/? and the recommended mods it lists. Then add +X carry weight through console to fit your taste, this is the fun way IMO. Vanilla shit is way broken (Alchemy, Enchanting etc useless), the overhaul fixes all that and adds a ton of cool content.

With above, can confirm this game is exploration heaven with some fun gameplay to boot.

 

[LESS T_T]

Now it's coming to Steam: