Game News Underworld Ascendant Released

[BEvers]

Grave allegations are coming to light:



I still remember this particular hit job: https://rpgcodex.net/content.php?id=9788

 

[taxalot]

Oh my.
Thank god this game is off to brilliant reviews.

 

[taxalot]

It's always hilarious people think we are biased against something "because", but the reason is never, ever, explained.

"We are doing so much right the press will hate us ! They hate video games that are actually good."

 

[you know what time it is]

It's sad, and it's not about the game being shit, it's the implication that old favorites were great not because of the names attached to 'em, but in spite of them. Much like with Garriott, Roberts, Schafer etc.

 

[DJOGamer PT]

Yeah, rigth.
We were from the start against a spiritual successor to one of the best RPG's, made by the original devs. And we did everything we could to sabotage it...

And he calls us spergs.

 

[Bohr]

Grave allegations are coming to light:



I still remember this particular hit job: https://rpgcodex.net/content.php?id=9788

At this point I'm just wondering how he voted in the Age of Incline poll...

 

[Zep Zepo]

That guys been fisting one to many razors. No wonder he's so butthurt.

Zep--

 

[Gord]

It's sad, but not because it's shit, but because it implies that old favorites were great not because of the names attached to it, but in spite of them. Much like with Garriott, Roberts, Schafer etc.

Dunno, guys like Garriott and the lot definitely contributed much to what made those games great. But I think that in some cases the technical limitations of the time actually helped them, since it forced them to focus and curb the most insane aspirations. Also, people can burn out eventually.

 

[EnthalpyFlow]

Infinitron TBH, out of yesterday releases warhammer 40k mechanicus:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/673880/Warhammer_40000_Mechanicus/

Is much more deserving of a newspost. Playing it right now and while it's a bit on the easier side of equation (in the early missions, at the very least), at least it's a proper RPG/strategy hybrid and the writing is pretty decent. Much better than the average schlock that gets released under w40k brand nowadays.

I can not wrap my head around the fact that the devs decided that having no miss chance to hit was a good idea... The writing is pretty good though.

 

[Van-d-all]

Trash bin price tag and still discounted at launch. That sure bodes well...

 

[Van-d-all]

It's sad, but not because it's shit, but because it implies that old favorites were great not because of the names attached to it, but in spite of them. Much like with Garriott, Roberts, Schafer etc.

I think, sadly, this proves to be a very true observation. It would seem that majority of big names, were just entrepreneurs that profited the most from the entire development effort. Which in turn, is nothing new if you think about it, since it's always the top brass that gets the recognition, be it military or corporate culture.

 

[Van-d-all]

@Infinitron

~ 21€

 

[Crescent Hawk]

Razorfist is fucking crazy, people here like Witcher? Seriously?
People could see the fucking glaring problems with this game from miles away, Oh I fucking wish we had another Thief but to go that far. I really dont know what is his fucking problem. Especially because he has decent taste.

 

[Hoaxmetal]

people here like Witcher? Seriously?

https://rpgcodex.net/article.php?id=10535

 

[Mustawd]

It's sad, but not because it's shit, but because it implies that old favorites were great not because of the names attached to it, but in spite of them. Much like with Garriott, Roberts, Schafer etc.

I think, sadly, this proves to be a very true observation. It would seem that majority of big names, were just entrepreneurs that profited the most from the entire development effort. Which in turn, is nothing new if you think about it, since it's always the top brass that gets the recognition, be it military or corporate culture.

I dunno. Time does a lot to dull your skills and energy. Old age also tends to make you more conservative and less if a risk taker.

Imagine being a 50 year old man and you’re suddenly single. Are you really gonna be picking up 20 year olds like back in the day? Of course not.

You’ll likely end up picking up divorced alcoholic old ladies at some Chili’s bar and grill.

So it’s definitely a tall order to have any expectations that these old guys have been keeping up with the tech and can recapture that old magic. 9/10 times it just aint happening.

 

[Infinitron]

I think people are missing the point with this discussion. This isn't really an "old developers don't have it anymore" scenario. This is an "old developers did something inexplicably crazy" scenario.

They raised a piddling $860k on Kickstarter and decided to go full steam ahead making a full-featured action-RPG. And over the course of four years apparently never considered dramatically reversing course (like the System Shock 1 remake devs did once they realized they were in over their heads). That's not "conservative".

 

[theSavant]

They raised $860k on Kickstarter and decided to go full retard.

fixed

 

[Mustawd]

This is an "old developers did something inexplicably crazy" scenario.

Oh please. This is a lot less crazy than what the Coles did with Hero U.

These guys seem like they just got bogged down in having to learn how to work with Unity or something and ran out of time and budget. So kinda like the Coles, but instead just decided to ship what they had.

Ehh. I guess that is kinda crazy. At least the Coles shipped a mostly full game. *shrug*

 

[Infinitron]

The Coles were incompetent, but at least the type of game they set out to make wasn't a complete mismatch with their budget. The only reason I ever thought Ascendant was realistic was because I assumed these MIT-educated Looking Glass veterans must have additional funding and a plan. But they didn't - everything was exactly as awful as it appeared on the surface.

 

[Van-d-all]

I simply don't agree. Budgets are a separate, disputable thing. Fargo got $2 mils for W2, and it ended like indie shit.

To me UA, looks actually like a bunch of egocentric people taking upon themselves the enormous task of making a full fledged title, simply because they disregard the work of countless small fry devs they worked with on these titles they are recognized for. It's the case of people looking down on an open space full of code monkeys, saying "bah easy", and then failing miserably when it becomes apparent that actual work means turning those sweet ideas to bulk volume of code output.

And to be clear, I hoped they will succeed. Somehow. But I simply grew up in times when 6 man studios like Sensible Software were a thing.

 

[Crescent Hawk]

Did you ever saw their meetings? The devs were complete shitheads, I especially remember one jaded fat guy being completely obnoxious, he just wanted to be in a big studio and buy a fucking Porsche.

 

[Gord]

They raised a piddling $860k on Kickstarter and decided to go full steam ahead making a full-featured action-RPG. And over the course of four years apparently never considered dramatically reversing course (like the System Shock 1 remake devs did once they realized they were in over their heads). That's not "conservative".

Question is, what would have been the backup-plan? The SS1 remake was supposed to be just that - a remake of SS1, until the devs decided that their original project was beneath them and they wanted to do more than that. And luckily they have gone back to the original plan now (even though they had to learn the hard way).
But here, what else could they have done? The game is already pretty bare-bones, as far as I can tell. Barring large amounts of additional funds, the only other option would have been to make a full stop and admit defeat (although that might have been the cleaner and more sensible option, I guess).

By the way, I've read a few times now, that several members of the team left over the years. Which ones, and is anything known about the details?

 

[Zep Zepo]

because I assumed these MIT-educated Looking Glass veterans

Except..the 2 Blue Sky MIT programmer vets guys didn't work on this game, Doug Church and Dan Schmidt.

Doug Church was listed somewhere as a "creative consultant", but I doubt he gave much, if any, input.

Zep--

 

[J_C]

They raised a piddling $860k on Kickstarter and decided to go full steam ahead making a full-featured action-RPG. And over the course of four years apparently never considered dramatically reversing course (like the System Shock 1 remake devs did once they realized they were in over their heads). That's not "conservative".

Question is, what would have been the backup-plan? The SS1 remake was supposed to be just that - a remake of SS1, until the devs decided that their original project was beneath them and they wanted to do more than that. And luckily they have gone back to the original plan now (even though they had to learn the hard way).
But here, what else could they have done? The game is already pretty bare-bones, as far as I can tell. Barring large amounts of additional funds, the only other option would have been to make a full stop and admit defeat (although that might have been the cleaner and more sensible option, I guess).

By the way, I've read a few times now, that several members of the team left over the years. Which ones, and is anything known about the details?

The problem is that these devs are not humble. They get some money, and they suddenly want to go out of their way to create a big, jawdropping game, which is a huge commercial success. All they had to do was to notice that from 1 million, they can do a bigger indie game, not more. They should have designed a humble, but fun, oldschool game, which reminds people of Ultima underworld. Not this mish-mash of an indie game and a AAA game.

 

[Gord]

The problem is that these devs are not humble. They get some money, and they suddenly want to go out of their way to create a big, jawdropping game, which is a huge commercial success. All they had to do was to notice that from 1 million, they can do a bigger indie game, not more. They should have designed a humble, but fun, oldschool game, which reminds people of Ultima underworld. Not this mish-mash of an indie game and a AAA game.

Yes, one reads the "they should just have done this or that..." a lot in these threads. Like going full indie or full oldschool. But that's, imo, equally as unrealistic as having them make an UU (spiritual) successor with AAA production values on this budget.
Anyway I got the suspicion that any Indie-budget variant of UU-like games would not be that far of from UA in many aspects.