Torment Torment: Tides of Numenera Beta Thread [GAME RELEASED, GO TO NEW THREAD]

[Infinitron]

I think the common factor of much of the cut material (other than the companions) is that inXile had trouble just finishing up all of the game content (dialogue, quests, Crises) and didn't have time to properly "accessorize" it with systemic flourishes like Foci, crafting, etc. You wouldn't want to just throw that stuff in, it has to be integrated.

 

[Iznaliu]

I think the common factor of much of the cut material (other than the companions) is that inXile had trouble just finishing up all of the game content (dialogue, quests, Crises) and didn't have time to properly "accessorize" it with systemic flourishes like Foci, crafting, etc. You wouldn't want to just throw that stuff in, it has to be integrated.

InXile had five years; I think it is time to Xile InXile from any further purchases. This reeks of extreme mismanagement and incompetence.

 

[Infinitron]

Bit less than four years since the Kickstarter, maybe four and a half if you include the pre-Kickstarter preparations that they did?

But sure, inXile aren't as good at this as Obsidian and Larian are. We all hoped they would have gained enough experience and upped their game after Wasteland 2. And they probably have improved, but they're not there yet. Maybe they'll get there with their next games.

 

[t]

I think the common factor of much of the cut material (other than the companions) is that inXile had trouble just finishing up all of the game content (dialogue, quests, Crises) and didn't have time to properly "accessorize" it with systemic flourishes like Foci, crafting, etc. You wouldn't want to just throw that stuff in, it has to be integrated.

InXile had five years; I think it is time to Xile InXile from any further purchases. This reeks of extreme mismanagement and incompetence.

Well, 4, and actually not even that since what April 2013. Guys, please refrain from just piling on insults for the insult sake. We need a well-written, well-documented list of the problems, not just "I don't like inXile therefore everything they do sucks".

 

[Junmarko]

InXile had five years; I think it is time to Xile InXile from any further purchases. This reeks of extreme mismanagement and incompetence.

if only there was some sort of middle ground that could be attained

 

[Darth Roxor]

Apparently inXile takes a while to respond to emails. No news on my refund request from 1st of Feb.

I received a reply within a day when I first contacted them late last month. however, since receiving "confirmation" that my refund had been sent on the 30th of jan (which I never got) I have not gotten a reply to my follow up queries.

I'd be interested to know if anyone who's gotten in touch for a refund since the start of Feb has actually been contacted, let alone actually got their money back.

Yeah it seems I was too hasty with my earlier confirmations.

I requested a refund on 31.01, got a reply on 01.01 with instructions, replied to the reply the same day. Got no further reply and no refund yet.

 

[t]

I've sent two emails over the past week and no response was given. Trying to ping sea on twitter right now.

 

[Cadmus]

Oh, that sucks shit.
Guess this ain't gonna be the new Torment everybody wanted.

 

[Stainless Veteran]

Note that the Foci aren't stretch goals. If they have been cut, they're just garden variety cut content. It's like learning that PS:T had a cut Priest class.

> Priest class
> AD&D 2.0 base classes

 

[Infinitron]

Note that the Foci aren't stretch goals. If they have been cut, they're just garden variety cut content. It's like learning that PS:T had a cut Priest class.

> Priest class
> AD&D 2.0 base classes

Planescape was different.

 

[t]

Shit, that's one ugly head of hair. Weird that I notice it now.

 

[Stainless Veteran]

Note that the Foci aren't stretch goals. If they have been cut, they're just garden variety cut content. It's like learning that PS:T had a cut Priest class.

> Priest class
> AD&D 2.0 base classes

Planescape was different.

Sure, I know that in Planescape tabletop supplement books devotees of the Gods and other concepts were called priests, and there was also the Complete Priest Hand for 2.0e. But I always considered the priest to be a special class, or a subclass of Cleric. Especially since Nameless One was amnesiac, more Generic Cleric class at the character creation would have been more fitting, since he had known jack shit about Planescape pantheon at the beginning.

 

[veevoir]

Shit, that's one ugly head of hair. Weird that I notice it now.

Years on Codex GD politics leads to unhealthy obsession with female hair styles.

 

[Infinitron]

https://af.gog.com/news/twitch_alert_watch_colin_mccomb_play_planescape_torment?as=1649904300

TWITCH ALERT: WATCH COLIN MCCOMB PLAY PLANESCAPE: TORMENT AND TALK ABOUT TIDES OF NUMENERA

Meet the mind behind the legendary RPG and its long-awaited successor.

It's finally happening: Torment: Tides of Numenera, the thematic follow-up to one of the most celebrated RPGs of all time, is just around the corner. There are plenty of things linking these two games together and Colin McComb, the writer and designer heavily involved in both, is here to talk about these connections while revisiting his most acclaimed creation yet.

Starting at 2PM EDT/ 7PM UTC today, Colin will join us on Twitch.tv/gogcom to play some Planescape: Torment, the game that he co-designed with his band of fellow dreamcatchers back at Black Isle Studios. As the Creative Lead in the upcoming Torment: Tides of Numenera, Colin is also the perfect person to provide additional insight into the turn-based RPG that inXile is now developing, fuelled by a wildly successful Kickstarter campaign.

To those who have played and enjoyed the original Planescape: Torment, the spectacular success of its spiritual successor's campaign (it gathered over $4,188,000 in pledges) came as no surprise. After all, this is the RPG that has been topping Best Of lists ever since its 1999 release and remains the best-selling game here on GOG.com. Still considered to be among the most complex, thought-provoking, and multi-layered games ever released, it's also become the subject of countless glowing reviews and retrospectives.

So tune in on Twitch.tv/gogcom today at 2PM EDT/ 7PM UTC to learn more about the Torment saga, while watching Colin McComb revisit Planescape: Torment.

Torment: Tides of Numenera is scheduled for release on February 28th and you can pre-order it now, DRM-free on GOG.com to get Lords of Xulima as a free bonus.

 

[Luckmann]

I think the common factor of much of the cut material (other than the companions) is that inXile had trouble just finishing up all of the game content (dialogue, quests, Crises) and didn't have time to properly "accessorize" it with systemic flourishes like Foci, crafting, etc. You wouldn't want to just throw that stuff in, it has to be integrated.

This is potentially true, but that in itself hardly gives them a pass. This simply explains what happened, not why it happened, and it's certainly no excuse. If they for a fact had such issues finishing up basic core content to the point where they actually couldn't even expand upon it in a meaningful fashion, but merely got the bare-bones down, foregoing mechanics stated as being meant to be in the game, that just means that it's way worse than if they actually just had an idea for extra content but went "Nah, let's cut it, we can't make that work".

For example, I actually find the cutting of the crafting system perfectly understandable, and I can see how the explanation given is actually completely true. In fact, I think it was insane to offer it up during the Kickstarter to begin with, and the whole "Crafting in an immersive RPG will just be MMO crafting by any other name" contributed to the things that held me back from backing to begin with, just like the "promise" of "cinematic dialogues" and "multiplatform" is part of what's holding me back from backing Wasteland 3. So I think that taking a step back and saying "This shit was a bad idea" is fine. That's good.

But being like "We've had such fucking trouble even making the basic game work that we can't integrate a key component of the game universe and the system on which the game is built on, let alone add new options to it" is pretty unforgivable. Getting the core game down shouldn't have been so much of an issue that they had to go in with a hacksaw and start hacking stuff away, whether we're talking about the Codex, more than 3 Foci, or promised stretch-goals. This sort of defense essentially boils down to "What did you expect? They're incompetent. You have to understand that and forgive them for it".

Bit less than four years since the Kickstarter, maybe four and a half if you include the pre-Kickstarter preparations that they did?

But sure, inXile aren't as good at this as Obsidian and Larian are. We all hoped they would have gained enough experience and upped their game after Wasteland 2. And they probably have improved, but they're not there yet. Maybe they'll get there with their next games.

After seeing the Wasteland 3 pitch, I honestly have absolutely no clue how you can say that with a straight face. I feel insulted, and frankly, trolled.

 

[Infinitron]

After seeing the Wasteland 3 pitch, I honestly have absolutely no clue how you can say that with a straight face. I feel insulted, and frankly, trolled.

What's supposed to shock me about the Wasteland 3 pitch? That it has multiplayer and is more mainstream-oriented? Big deal, so are some of the Codex's favorite RPGs. I thought we were talking about how competent they are at development. That's a different thing than the type of game they're developing.

 

[Excidium II]

https://af.gog.com/news/twitch_alert_watch_colin_mccomb_play_planescape_torment?as=1649904300

TWITCH ALERT: WATCH COLIN MCCOMB PLAY PLANESCAPE: TORMENT AND TALK ABOUT TIDES OF NUMENERA

Meet the mind behind the legendary RPG and its long-awaited successor.

It's finally happening: Torment: Tides of Numenera, the thematic follow-up to one of the most celebrated RPGs of all time, is just around the corner. There are plenty of things linking these two games together and Colin McComb, the writer and designer heavily involved in both, is here to talk about these connections while revisiting his most acclaimed creation yet.

Starting at 2PM EDT/ 7PM UTC today, Colin will join us on Twitch.tv/gogcom to play some Planescape: Torment, the game that he co-designed with his band of fellow dreamcatchers back at Black Isle Studios. As the Creative Lead in the upcoming Torment: Tides of Numenera, Colin is also the perfect person to provide additional insight into the turn-based RPG that inXile is now developing, fuelled by a wildly successful Kickstarter campaign.

To those who have played and enjoyed the original Planescape: Torment, the spectacular success of its spiritual successor's campaign (it gathered over $4,188,000 in pledges) came as no surprise. After all, this is the RPG that has been topping Best Of lists ever since its 1999 release and remains the best-selling game here on GOG.com. Still considered to be among the most complex, thought-provoking, and multi-layered games ever released, it's also become the subject of countless glowing reviews and retrospectives.

So tune in on Twitch.tv/gogcom today at 2PM EDT/ 7PM UTC to learn more about the Torment saga, while watching Colin McComb revisit Planescape: Torment.

Torment: Tides of Numenera is scheduled for release on February 28th and you can pre-order it now, DRM-free on GOG.com to get Lords of Xulima as a free bonus.

come spam MAGA in chat

 

[Infinitron]

lol you missed it, Excidium II.

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/120409109

 

[Prime Junta]

Crafting is kind of central to Numenera though. The corebook has a fairly significant bit about the different types of numenera, what can be done with them, and what the skills involved are. The idea is that you're fairly swamped with bits and bobbles of old technology, but it's all completely random; if you want to do something specific, you're expected to jury-rig something together on the spot, or craft an artefact or cypher for the purpose. A couple of the more popular Descriptors and Foci revolve around this -- a Mechanical <something> who Talks to Machines for example. (Something like that anyway, I can't be arsed to look it up.)

Cyphers are the core of the system in fact; they outshine any abilties your characters can have. So much so that the underlying system is called the Cypher System.

So basically it looks more or less like inXile took a PnP system with a somewhat unusual slant, proceeded to remove almost* all of its distinguishing characteristics, and tacked on standard cRPG mechanics (health, your usual defences).

I'm not a huge fan of the system but I understand what it's for, and if people backed T:ToN because they liked what it attempted, they will be justifiably disappointed.

(Cue The Game Analists)

*okay Effort is still in... its one distinguishing characteristic that is IMO fundamentally broken

 

[Don Peste]

Everybody already knows that game has cut content. The news has spread, thanks to us. How about we just wait three weeks until the game is released and find out exactly what then.

Why would we want to have this information on hold? Most people might already know that there is going to be cut content. But there doesn't exist a comprehensive list of what has been cut.

Without all these ugly things happening I would have probably bought the recently announced collector's edition (nah I wouldn't pay a game by Fargo. Or Techland). And you can see people is asking for refunds. So I'm sure most buyers would like to have all the information available before the 28th.

Luckmann The good thing is that, unlike inXile, you can be honest and say "That's all I could find. It might be more, it might be less, but we don't know" because inXile decided to hide this information from his backers.

 

[Infinitron]

Luckmann The good thing is that, unlike inXile, you can be honest and say "That's all I could find. It might be more, it might be less, but we don't know" because inXile decided to hide this information from his backers.

They published a Kickstarter update about the cut stretch goals after our newspost made a bunch of mainstream gaming journalism sites report about them. This is beating a dead horse. It's over, we won, they admitted it, we wait for the game now.

 

[Prime Junta]

It's over, we won, they admitted it, we wait for the game now.

Why are you so keen to shut down the discussion about it?

 

[Alienman]

Infinitron is Fargo?

 

[Don Peste]

Luckmann The good thing is that, unlike inXile, you can be honest and say "That's all I could find. It might be more, it might be less, but we don't know" because inXile decided to hide this information from his backers.

They published a Kickstarter update about the cut stretch goals after our newspost made a bunch of mainstream gaming journalism sites report about them. This is beating a dead horse. It's over, we won, they admitted it, we wait for the game now.

Oblivion is a dead horse. And it's still pretty fun to beat it. But I can't find an actual complete list of Torment cut content.

Yeah at this rate we will probably not find out until months after release, when it's really going to be old news already.
I hope we will at least be able to cross-check cut (and funded) content and DLCs.

 

[Infinitron]

It's over, we won, they admitted it, we wait for the game now.

Why are you so keen to shut down the discussion about it?

I'm not. You can post whatever you want here.

I just feel like I need to push back against the idea that the Codex as a site is going to go brigading against developers beyond posting the facts, which is what I feel like Luckmann is aiming for. Like, imagine if weeks before PoE's release we'd have published a bunch of articles by Sensuki saying based on the beta that the game's combat sucks, it's going to suck, don't buy it. That's something that could have happened with a different set of staff members in charge, and I'm sure lots of people think it should have happened. And you know, maybe that kind of thing has a place, but it's not a line I want to cross.

FYI, this is one of the reasons why Bubbles left the site, so it's something I've thought about.