The Lord Of The Rings: Gollum - stealth action game by Daedalic

[HoboForEternity]

I enjoyed pillars of the earth too tbh

 

[ADL]

And with Gollum they were basically asking for it. Did even a single person on the planet seriously think that making a game about fucking Gollum in 2023 was a good idea? This game would have struggled even 2004 with the LotR hype at its peak

After Styx? Why not? A stealth game about Gollum's escape from capture leading up to the events of Fellowship sounds cool as hell on paper.

I never understood the hate this game got prior to release.

 

[Jenkem]

lol it finally killed them: https://www.eurogamer.net/gollum-st...ays-off-25-employees-exiting-game-development

 

[Cat Headed Eagle]

Well, that's the thing. Daedalic did publish some good games, but they also published the equivalent of shovelware by the dozen. Every time they wanted to break free of that, something went bad. Remember Blackguards?

 

[Abu Antar]

And with Gollum they were basically asking for it. Did even a single person on the planet seriously think that making a game about fucking Gollum in 2023 was a good idea? This game would have struggled even 2004 with the LotR hype at its peak

After Styx? Why not? A stealth game about Gollum's escape from capture leading up to the events of Fellowship sounds cool as hell on paper.

I never understood the hate this game got prior to release.

It looked bad from the start.

It only needed to be Styx in a new costume.

Wanna make a stealth game? Play some stealth games.

 

[Tarkleigh]

And with Gollum they were basically asking for it. Did even a single person on the planet seriously think that making a game about fucking Gollum in 2023 was a good idea? This game would have struggled even 2004 with the LotR hype at its peak

After Styx? Why not? A stealth game about Gollum's escape from capture leading up to the events of Fellowship sounds cool as hell on paper.

I never understood the hate this game got prior to release.

I disagree. Gollum was never that popular as a character and LotR is not the big license it was in the past. Combine that with Daedelic's lack of experience when it comes to stealth games and you have a high risk project from the start with little upside.

 

[agris]

I enjoyed pillars of the earth too tbh

Pillars was definitely enjoyable, although not much of a game. More a VN.

Good production value and art though.

 

[Oracscube]

..and final confirmation​

The Lord Of The Rings: Gollum’ Developer Shuts Down After Catastrophic Reception​

German developer Daedalic Entertainment is shutting down its development studio following the catastrophic reception of The Lord of the Rings: Gollum.

 

[AdamReith]

Could be a step towards encouraging niche developers to stay in their fucking niche.

It's so shit watching the studio that's made some decent games ape worthless trash like uncharted.

 

[Blutwurstritter]

Only the development department is closed, some 25 of about 90 employees. Daedalic as publisher is still in business, for now. There will be another Deponia game, which is apparently not affected by the layoffs since its being developed by an external studio.
I liked Blackguards somewhat, but even that game was mediocre at best. Without subventions they probably would have gone bust quite some time ago. Not a big loss to be honest.

 

[Zarniwoop]

lol it finally killed them: https://www.eurogamer.net/gollum-st...ays-off-25-employees-exiting-game-development

They're a game developer. It's not like they're a multinational pharmaceutical and shipbuilding conglomerate that launched a failed venture into game development. If they're "exiting game development", what the fuck else are they going to do?

 

[Mise]

lol it finally killed them: https://www.eurogamer.net/gollum-st...ays-off-25-employees-exiting-game-development

They're a game developer. It's not like they're a multinational pharmaceutical and shipbuilding conglomerate that launched a failed venture into game development. If they're "exiting game development", what the fuck else are they going to do?

They are a game publisher first and foremost. They just stopped in house development(a smaller part of their operation). Nothing really changes for them.

 

[<3sRichardSimmons]

Whatever happened to that Poki guy who was the main creative force behind their early games? I know he left a while back, but did he found another studio? Or just retire?

 

[:Flash:]

Whatever happened to that Poki guy who was the main creative force behind their early games? I know he left a while back, but did he found another studio? Or just retire?

He plays in a band and is not interested in games any more.

 

[ds]

They are a game publisher first and foremost. They just stopped in house development(a smaller part of their operation). Nothing really changes for them.

They were a game developer long before they were a publisher so calling their in house development "a smaller part of their operation", while it might be technically be true now, is somewhat misleading. Daedalic wasn't known for the publishing business but rather for their in house games. Probably only a matter of time until the publishing part will be only brand name for Nacon if it isn't already.

 

[Leinhart]

Probably the best game I have ever played. The gameplay and the graphics are just what I wanted out of a LOTR game.

The devs should be handed any franchise they want.

Go play it right now folks.

 

[Mise]

They are a game publisher first and foremost. They just stopped in house development(a smaller part of their operation). Nothing really changes for them.

They were a game developer long before they were a publisher so calling their in house development "a smaller part of their operation", while it might be technically be true now, is somewhat misleading. Daedalic wasn't known for the publishing business but rather for their in house games. Probably only a matter of time until the publishing part will be only brand name for Nacon if it isn't already.

Not misleading at all, they had 25 employees working on development and 70 on publishing, doesn't matter where they've started when we are talking about the current situation of the company.

 

[ds]

Not misleading at all, they had 25 employees working on development and 70 on publishing, doesn't matter where they've started when we are talking about the current situation of the company.

Their entire publishing business is based on their reputation as a developer just like with any other AA developer that moved into publishing. So yes, it matters. Also, a quarter of the employees either being let go or moved to a different position is hardly a matter of nothing really changing for the company.

 

[Tommy Gun]

A rather dramatic YouTuber, called Mack, has reviewed this game a few weeks ago, with added chat about the state of modern AAA (AA?) games.

 

[:Flash:]

I had a look at the Gollum credits on mobygames and the decision making process for this game becomes ever more baffling.
I said long before release that making a stealth game based on Gollum was a bad idea. But that's not all.
Now, your main creative guys have all left, so you need a restart. What do you do?
You bet the future of your company on a game
- using an expensive license, but with an unlikable character from that license
- in a genre that your company has never worked on
- using an engine that your company has never used before
- Then you have to decide who should lead this project. The obvious answer is
- Some guys who haven't worked on games in 10 years, but who are credited with some TV-show tie-in shovelware games from back then. What a coincidence that they know each other because they have worked on the same games back then.
- Hmm, we have to meet our female quota, so we need two women. Let's randomly choose two girls from our playtesting department who have never done anything else. I bet they aren't that expensive.

 

[Beastro]

I enjoyed pillars of the earth too tbh

Pillars was definitely enjoyable, although not much of a game. More a VN.

Good production value and art though.

No it wasn't.

The entire theme of the game is disappointment and futility in a world devoid of meaning and explaination.

It's an interesting idea in theory to write a book about, but to make a GAME about that is self-defeating. You PLAY games for a reason, not a lack of one.

The companion quests were the worst and became predictable once I clued into the theme. Once you know it you know every one their quests will end in a sad shoulder shrug, be dropped and you move on with the game.

It's like if Super Mario Bros just ended with yet another "Sorry, but the princess is not in this castle".

The only things interesting in the game were talking to Durance, exploring his back story and the idea of a Christ-like deity going to war against the rest of the pantheon a d world because he was the only one who cared about shit, but that makes it sound like they should have made a game around the Saint's War instead.

 

[HoboForEternity]

I enjoyed pillars of the earth too tbh

Pillars was definitely enjoyable, although not much of a game. More a VN.

Good production value and art though.

No it wasn't.

The entire theme of the game is disappointment and futility in a world devoid of meaning and explaination.

It's an interesting idea in theory to write a book about, but to make a GAME about that is self-defeating. You PLAY games for a reason, not a lack of one.

The companion quests were the worst and became predictable once I clued into the theme. Once you know it you know every one their quests will end in a sad shoulder shrug, be dropped and you move on with the game.

It's like if Super Mario Bros just ended with yet another "Sorry, but the princess is not in this castle".

The only things interesting in the game were talking to Durance, exploring his back story and the idea of a Christ-like deity going to war against the rest of the pantheon a d world because he was the only one who cared about shit, but that makes it sound like they should have made a game around the Saint's War instead.

Holy reading comprehension batman

 

[Beastro]

I enjoyed pillars of the earth too tbh

Pillars was definitely enjoyable, although not much of a game. More a VN.

Good production value and art though.

No it wasn't.

The entire theme of the game is disappointment and futility in a world devoid of meaning and explaination.

It's an interesting idea in theory to write a book about, but to make a GAME about that is self-defeating. You PLAY games for a reason, not a lack of one.

The companion quests were the worst and became predictable once I clued into the theme. Once you know it you know every one their quests will end in a sad shoulder shrug, be dropped and you move on with the game.

It's like if Super Mario Bros just ended with yet another "Sorry, but the princess is not in this castle".

The only things interesting in the game were talking to Durance, exploring his back story and the idea of a Christ-like deity going to war against the rest of the pantheon a d world because he was the only one who cared about shit, but that makes it sound like they should have made a game around the Saint's War instead.

Holy reading comprehension batman

Tis not wise to be posting with a bad headache after work~

 

[Lady Error]

They should just go wild with it. Fuck the books - Gollum's in your hands now and he's taking control of this shit. Shiv Frodo and get the ring, blackjack a Nazgûl before stealing his mount, sabotage the goddamn eye of Sauron with blackpowder before setting Gollum up as the new leader of Mordor. Also add stats so that I can pump points in STR and turn Gollum into 150kg of pure muscle.

They should have gone with this.

 

[Konjad]

ChatGPT was used to write Gollum game apology, it’s claimed​

The game is the lowest-rated release of the year

Video Game News
8th Oct 2023 / 11:49 am
Posted by

Jordan Middler​

A.I. program ChatGPT was used to write the apology for the bug-filled Lord of the Rings Gollum game, it’s been claimed.
In interviews with the German gaming outlet GameTwo (spotted by Knoebel), several former Daedalic staff members have spoken for the first time about what went wrong with the critically panned licensed game.
Following the release of Gollum, Daedalic apologized for delivering what it called an “underwhelming experience” with the final game. The company said “[we] deeply regret” that the game did not meet expectations, and pledged to improve it via future updates.
It’s now claimed that the apology was written with the AI software ChatGPT, according to two sources speaking to GameTwo.
It’s also claimed that developer Daedalic had no knowledge of the apology or its content prior to publishing and that it was handled entirely by publisher Nacon.

At the time of publishing, Gollum is the lowest-rated game of the year on both major aggregation sites Metacritic and OpenCritic, with The Guardian labelling it “a derivative, uninteresting and fundamentally broken stealth action adventure that fails to capture anything interesting about Tolkien’s fiction.”
Gollum’s development budget is reported to have been around 15M Euros, a modest sum for a game in the AAA space in 2023.
“There were people working on the game that have been developers for 10,15,20 years, and they’re good, but they can’t do magic because they weren’t given the funds,” said former Daedalic senior developer and technical director, Paul Schulze.
It was also claimed in the video that due to running out of time before the 2023 release, several characters and cutscenes that were meant to be animated were simply hidden from the player.
For example, one scene that was supposed to see Gollum eavesdrop on a conversation between two major characters was recorded, but never animated, so Daedalic had Gollum simply look at a window, and have the audio recording play, never having to show the characters that were speaking.
“You can’t just throw more money at something like that, hang on for another year and then everything will be fine. That’s unrealistic because the game underneath it doesn’t support it,” said Schulze.
It’s also claimed that the argument system, which saw Gollum and Smeagol argue over which option to take in the game was never finished, and a makeshift solution was added shortly before publication. Initially, the mechanic was supposed to replicate similar conversations in the film, which saw the camera change perspective to denote which part of Gollum’s personality was speaking.
When the mechanic was first shown off in the preview phase, a similar presentation was used. However, when the game was eventually released, players simply picked from a few options of simple text, all while Gollum’s lifeless character model floated in the background.

https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/chatgpt-was-used-to-write-gollum-game-apology-its-claimed/