Game News Underworld Ascendant Released

[Grauken]

So that answers DeepOcean's question, you would rather taste shit to see whether your eyes and nose were right, instead of doing the sane thing

Carry onward proud shiteater

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

I need to get a computer I can run these games on. No, I need a screaming machine then maybe I’d compare and become enlightened to see why they’re shit. I guess I’ll just have to wade through forums, opinions, and vid channels.

Those starting arms and voices; that is a bit bleck. If I understand it the silver seed planting is saving or start points? Yeah, that’s stupid. I never liked diablo 2s NO saving and little sense of completion as the areas reset every time you booted the game up. D1 had the completion. I’m not against a few fandoms here and there.

Are all encounters in UA SET or do randoms appear? Are the many puzzle solving methods worth the bother to kill mobs or is it better to just rip n tear their ass the old standard way you’d expect in games.

Too many puzzles?
How glitchy?

Maybe the game is crap but it doesn’t look terrible to just pass time (so far).

 

[Iskramor]

So that answers DeepOceans question, you would rather taste shit to see whether your eyes and nose were right, instead of doing the sane thing

Carry onward proud shiteater

And people know this game is shit just by looking at it... k lol

 

[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.

Why? What happened with the Coles? I though Hero U was pretty decent (I even bought it, although still not played)

The game was finished, so I give them Kudos. But the development was very mismanaged. Just go into the Hero U thread. I don't wanna hijack this thread further on that comment.

 

[oscar]

Hero U is a good game. I haven't played and have no intention to play this but felt the Coles did rather well.

 

[Bumvelcrow]

Hero U is a good game. I haven't played and have no intention to play this but felt the Coles did rather well.

If so that's entirely despite their project management, not because of it.

 

[Gord]

Are all encounters in UA SET or do randoms appear? Are the many puzzle solving methods worth the bother to kill mobs or is it better to just rip n tear their ass the old standard way you’d expect in games.

Too many puzzles?
How glitchy?

Maybe the game is crap but it doesn’t look terrible to just pass time (so far).

There's not really puzzles. There are some traps, some of which you can deactivte by flipping a switch (or shooting it), some of which you can probably block. And there's obstacles to overcome, like locked doors or simply the level geometry. For that you can use a mix of destructible objects (wooden stuff can be burned), stacking of boxes and parkour.
They did a nice enough job with some levels, I guess, and several of them have quite some verticality to them. It's the content which is missing.
Placement of enemies is semi-random. I assume there are spawn points, but what spawns there (or if) is different everytime you enter the level.

It is surely possible to make a (even fun) game around this mission structure in non-persistent levels. However, in UA it feels tacked on, as this is most likely only an attempt to get any kind of content into the game given the lack of time and money.
It's certainly not what I'd expect from a game that originally intended to bring the immersive sim to the next level.

 

[Hapax Legomenon]

10 hours in. I've been trying to find something that at least makes sense in this fucking mess. Nothing. It's completely broken and worthless.

I would rather see UU's legacy completely wiped out and forgotten than to see this abomination associated with it.

Paul Neurath and Warren Spector deserve to hang for this. Kid you not. Not even the most soulless corporations come close to this kind of rank betrayal of trust of your core audience. It's worse than spit in our faces, it's piss. It's like they wanted to make the most senile, retarded, broken, out of touch game, and decided to con thousands of suckers out of their money for it. It's the only way to explain it.

 

[Nifft Batuff]

It's like they wanted to make the most senile, retarded, broken, out of touch game [...]

Yeah, it seems they planned all with cold head from the beginning. The problem is that so far their plan is unintelligible, I mean, I refuse to think is a simple con.

 

[Gord]

No, I think they just never got the funds they hoped for but didn't have the sense (or courage) to back out of it while there was still time.

 

[Viata]

Like 99% of all kickstarter games, the whole point of the kickstarter was to get the attention of some publisher.

 

[Roguey]

In February 2015, OtherSide took the game, renamed Underworld Ascendant, to Kickstarter. OtherSide hoped to raise $600,000 towards development of the game, and the crowdfunding campaign concluded in March 2015 with $860,356 raised. Though successful, the campaign left some goals unfunded such as modding tools and cooperative gameplay.[4][5][7] Recognizing that a demanding RPG such as Underworld Ascendant could not capture a mass-market audience, Neurath limited the game's budget, believing that, "if you’re spending 50 million dollars you need to reach as many people as possible. You can’t experiment."[8]

With a core team of only six, Neurath describes OtherSide as a mini-studio with an "almost tribal culture", where "everybody knows each other really well, they know their strengths and weaknesses and foibles", allowing for close communication and collaboration.[2][3] The team at OtherSide included other Looking Glass Studios veterans, such as Tim Stellmach, Steve Pearsall and Robb Waters. Advisors include Austin Grossman, the lead writer of Ultima Underworld II: Labyrinth of Worlds and Warren Spector, producer of the original Underworld games.[3][4]

After Kickstarter campaign, the game continued to raise funding on its website, going over US$932,000 with an estimated increase of more than US$60,000.[9]

Imagine this with modding tools and co-op.

 

[Gord]

Like 99% of all kickstarter games, the whole point of the kickstarter was to get the attention of some publisher.

Which they failed to find for some time, too. Dunno what they got from 505 in the end, but I doubt it was a much as they hoped.

 

[Viata]

Like 99% of all kickstarter games, the whole point of the kickstarter was to get the attention of some publisher.

Which they failed to find for some time, too. Dunno what they got from 505 in the end, but I doubt it was a much as they hoped.

Not even what 505 should be doing, too. I think this is the only place that people are talking about this game.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

So it feels empty, lifeless, has no direction, and that vibe of just BLEH! Well, that’s sad. There are some effects I noticed that didn’t happen like when the dude chucked stuff into the lava. And if all KS is to garner attention from big time developer, then that’s a shit attitude.

As vid gameplay comes out I’ll watch. It does sound pretty disappointing. Its instances like this that make me glad there are some people who don’t KS, work on a project, then make something that puts a KS to shame.

 

[hello friend]

10 hours in. I've been trying to find something that at least makes sense in this fucking mess. Nothing. It's completely broken and worthless.

I would rather see UU's legacy completely wiped out and forgotten than to see this abomination associated with it.

Paul Neurath and Warren Spector deserve to hang for this. Kid you not. Not even the most soulless corporations come close to this kind of rank betrayal of trust of your core audience. It's worse than spit in our faces, it's piss. It's like they wanted to make the most senile, retarded, broken, out of touch game, and decided to con thousands of suckers out of their money for it. It's the only way to explain it.

It's just a prank bro, chill out

 

[Invictus]

No, I think they just never got the funds they hoped for but didn't have the sense (or courage) to back out of it while there was still time.

They simply were so out of touch with what modern audiences got maybe 10 years ago (physics driven puzzles were soo 2004) and what backers wanted out of an Underworld title that they got lost in stupid things instead of focusing on the important stuff.
A straightforward combat system can be fun if given enough care to have it work (look at Condemned and Dark Mesiah for excellent first person combat systems from 10 years ago)
Good solid dungeon crawling, well designed puzzles and interesting quests were the hallmarks of the Ultima Underworld legacy; this abomination hasn’t got a SINGLE redeeming quality, none of its systems or design show the slightest innovative spirit of those games
Did they do it on purpose?
No I don’t think anybody wanted to make something this mediocre but the lack of ANY focus shows there wasn’t any sort of structure to guide Otherside
I truly hope this scares the shit out of 505 and they really get involved in the upcoming System Shock 3
Edit; just saw a video of Lost in Vivo and that was made by a single guy ffs, imagine if Otherside had taken the same “retro PS1” pixilated look but had designed good dungeons and deep character systems, it could have been distinctive but also kind of charming to have an updated version of the Japanese PS1 Ultima Underworld game... but then again that would have needed some foresight and actual design and managerial skills

 

[Latelistener]

I truly hope this scares the shit out of 505 and they really get involved in the upcoming System Shock 3

It's actually Starbreeze who invested $12 millions into SS3. They should be worrying now if they're smart.

 

[Nifft Batuff]

They simply were so out of touch with what modern audiences got maybe 10 years ago

I have the strange idea that if they were even more out of touch with modern audiences (maybe 20 years ago, i.e. the times of thief, deus ex, etc.) the result would be significantly better...

just saw a video of Lost in Vivo and that was made by a single guy ffs, imagine if Otherside had taken the same “retro PS1” pixilated look but had designed good dungeons and deep character systems, it could have been distinctive but also kind of charming to have an updated version of the Japanese PS1 Ultima Underworld game...

Ah, the serendipity. I just started to play Lost in Vivo yesterday and had the same though. By the way if you like horror games, it seems one of the most interesting (and scaring) game in the last years (I am about an hour in it.)

 

[Nyast]

So starting I saw the arms and yeah they look unfinished. 3 voice choices isn’t much but that’s more than nothing or text.

Err.. ehm.. I hate yo break it to you but.. lol.. how do I say that...

You can choose one of the three voices at character creation, that's right.

However they forgot to put in any voice lines for your character in the game.

Like, you never hear your character talk. Never. Not even once.

So what's the point of choosing your voice ? Your guess is as good as mine.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

But they moan and grunt; there’s that.

Lol, no speaking lines; god that’s just pathetic. So no self dialog like Vaporum. I take it you just can’t hit a key to yell or talk like Classic ULTIMA games? Can’t hear that voice cuss up a storm like a Pirate? That sucks arse.

 

[karnak]

Even the reviewer of that Videogame Social Justice site is still in the denial.

Interesting how GOG, some months before the official launch of the game decided to remove it from the "upcoming titles section" (at least I think the game was once advertised there, but Im not 100% sure). Guess they saw the train wreck before it happened.

 

[MicoSelva]

Wow, past me, you were a really optimistic fellow to have backed this. Also, dumb.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

It’s my birthday so ya’ll buy me a core i9 with latest vidcard and extras so I can experience all these shitastic mind numbing games.

 

[Metro]

Just came back to tell Infinitron I told you so.