Warhammer Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader Pre-Release Thread [GAME RELEASED, GO TO NEW THREAD]

[Vermillion]

Art direction is fine you fucking idiots or does THIS look non-cartoony and 100% srs bsns to you

Generally the average poster's disposition towards the game directly correlates to whether or not they actually were a fan of the Fantasy Flight RPGs.

AHHHH NOOOOO COLORS WHY ISN'T IT BROWN WHAT IS HAPPENING

You have to accept that the vast majority of 40k fans are secondaries due to the ludicrous cash investment required to actually build your army with official models. Most people discussing 40k have likely based their entire conception on either a game that introduced the world to them, or a youtube personality. Naturally that will have a large affect on what "40k should be" to them all the while they ignore it's as much of a kitchen sink universe as Pathfinder, if not more so. You are also arguing with people who have developed an (albeit justified) hateboner Owlcat and haven't even played the Alpha, getting all their information from what gets posted in this thread.

PnP Rogue Trader is most certainly open to fairly light-hearted gameplay experience if the players want to go for that. Of the whole Fantasy Flight Games series of PnP systems, Rogue Trader is the only one in which you can have lets say an Ork who constantly does Orky stuff as a member of the party and it doesnt look completely retarded and out of place. In my experience, people often treated it as a more relaxed game in comparison to highly grimdark and serious Dark Heresy/Only War/Deathwatch or potentially fucked up and assholeish Dark Crusade.

Of course it is entirely possible to have grimdark and serious adventures in Rogue Trader too, I GMed a few and played in more. In any case I dont really see the point in this fascination with the art style being too caroony or w/e. The content of the game is completely fine and the implementation of lore is very good. As someone who at least skimmed through pretty much all the publications that FFG released for their 40K line and used most of the systems heavily for many years I have zero problem with how the game presents itself. I also have no doubt that the devs know the setting very well and know how it works.

The game in general works pretty well considering its alpha (had zero bugs or crashes after some 20 hours), the problems with the game are to most part technical and can be fixed should the devs be willing (ie objective descriptions as I mentioned previously and such things), the game could use a tutorial and better explanation of systems in general, but than again the introductory part of the game is not even in the alpha so far.

The complaints about the visual artstyle is because it's the most visible thing for someone with no knowledge of the game to criticize. I lack the proper context to explain why posters who claim to hate Owlcat have dedicated a significant portion of their time to keep up to date with the latest news and engage in discussions about said game, though I'd assume it's routed in feeling betrayed by the Kingmaker release which was notoriously shitty.

On topic to the game, there have been surprisingly few bugs that I've encountered so far. There have been a few, the flags for your choices on Janus are completely fucked for example and you used to softlock the game if you completed the planets in the wrong order. The balance still feels wrong and it's partially to blame for them turning universal actions and making them class exclusives. For example there's no reason to ever build a leader as anything besides a ballistics character, because they have none of the Fighter options to close the distance or survive once there. The advanced classes only sort of remedy this, and some are clearly better than others, the same with heroic feats. Regarding the writing it's been decent but you can also see how they're justifying you having any party members in a chaos run they're all fucking heretics. I thought it actually comically regarding Heinrix who over the course of two of the main missions somehow gets his soul marked/claimed by two separate chaos entities, very much an Eisenhorn type of Inquisitor/Interrogator in that he's far more radical than he realizes. Finally I'm sure anyone who has played the Alpha has probably realized by now, but Dataminers have basically confirmed that Theodora is a massive fucking heretic.

 

[Infinitron]

https://www.gamebanshee.com/news/12...-rogue-trader-closed-alpha-live-previews.html

WCCFTech:

While still early in development, Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader shows great potential. Creating a compelling yet unique role-playing game set in the world created by Games Workshop is no easy thing to achieve, but Owlcat Games is already proving to be up to the challenge. If the game feels this good to play at this stage, it will be very interesting to see how good it will be when its final release launches in the future.

Polygon:

Aside from its mastery of combat, this alpha shows that Owlcat intimately understands the setting’s quirky approach to storytelling. Rogue Trader is full to bursting with voluminous tracts of lore that slowly, irrevocably reveal a version of humanity poisoned by its own dogma. It’s a compelling read, one that tracks well even alongside Games Workshop’s own Black Library novels. It’s a lot of text, to be sure, but while I would have preferred full voice acting I’m not sure that the writers would have had as much leeway to expand and embellish the narrative in quite the same way if they were paying actors. The copy is strong — especially considering this game is made by an Eastern European team headquartered in Cyprus.

PC Invasion:

But if there’s one thing that the CRPG inherits from the TTRPG, it’s the impeccable sense of style. While it’s boorish to talk about the way items and character models look this early in the development cycle, we can already tell that the developer understands that cyclopean architecture is what makes the Warhammer 40,000 fans drool. Massive stone statues aboard space stations, evil spikes erupting around corrupted power generators, propaganda posters generously papering the walls — it’s all there.

 

[The_Mask]

I'm okay with Owlcat by saving costs by reusing assets. If it sacrifices art direction, that's fine.

 

[Darkozric]

Bruh, even the Golden Throne of Terra where the half-alive corpse of the Emperor is seated is deteriorating into dirt. Let alone some bridge, somewhere. You understand this universe is OLD.

Also this Rogue Traders are obscenely rich meme needs to die. Yes, *some* of them are rich and powerful. But not all of them. Many Rogue Traders command a single derelict ship. Read the fucking rulebook.

 

[Tyranicon]

I'm okay with Owlcat by saving costs by reusing assets. If it sacrifices art direction, that's fine.

I'm going to make a wild assumption here and say that what happened with the artstyle is that Owlcat gave the project to their existing artists, and they ran with it in their own style. Which, coming of no surprise, is similar to their previous games.

There's probably some mixture of laziness and practicality/cost-saving here, and I can respect it if they're loyal to their people and keeping them paid. The writing/copy I've seen so far in the Alpha also seems similar to the Pathfinder games, so probably the same writers too. But codexers who say the writing is improved appear to be right.

I'm very skeptical of this entire project, but that's because I'm jaded from the Pathfinder games.

Stupid time-wasting minigames are annoying though.

 

[The_Mask]

Stupid time-wasting minigames are annoying though.

Are they really annoying, if they're fun and inform the setting and story?

It really depends.

Besides... this feels like the Armored Core thread, where the "soulsfags" are asking if they're going to get the YOU DIED title card. Not really, bro. A studio can make more than 1 genre of games. Or in this case RPGs.

 

[Fedora Master]

if they're fun

 

[Sykar]

Maybe Owlcat needs some advice from the world renowned benzo addict turned coma patient turned brain damaged psychologist Jordy Derperson:

 

[Cyberarmy]

if they're fun

Owlcat is uncapable of doing fun minigames sadly.

 

[Serus]

Art style and graphics in general looks meh to me. As others have said, Pathfinder reused style, wasn't great in Pathfinders, is even worse here. It is not only about grimdark vs whatever. It simply looks a bit cheap and.... boring. As Pathfinder but somehow worse, maybe because you expect something different from a very different setting.
Having said that, game mechanics, encounters, overall gameplay and - because it is Owlcat - quality (or lack of it) and amount of writing plus the amount of sjw nonsense is what matters more to me. People says quality have improved a bit - i'll believe when i'll see it but it sounds promising. The questin is: how much?
The mechanics, encounter design, etc... is still the issue. Unlike some people here, i'm not jumping on the bandwagon of hate towards the character building options in Pathfinder so if they can pull something of similar quality (minus too many classes) then i'll be ok. However worst part of pathfinders were often the samey encounters / poor encounter design. This and mechanics make or break the game - assuming writing and story is at least passable.

 

[The_Mask]

luj1 if you're getting uppity, I'll have you know you've been a known shill for specific games.
And if you get even more uppity, I'll be so kind to remind you that not everyone is rich. Reusing assets is quite okay when you're a Russian immigrant in a Cypriot land, trying to make ends meet.

Or do you care to display your amazing IQ once again, and show us how you'd run a development studio into the ground?

Tell us how the mighty Codex edge lord would maintain a business in the black. We'd love to see that written down, so we may ridicule you. Take the bait, please.

 

[luj1]

I'm okay with Owlcat by saving costs by reusing assets. If it sacrifices art direction, that's fine.

Not like I had any doubt you'd say that.

See, people like you are the reason why RPG decline exists. It exists because you are giving devs a free pass so they can keep fucking us over. You are an apologetic cuck and decline enabler.

@luj1 if you're getting uppity, I'll have you know you've been a known shill for specific games.

First of all, you don't know what shill means.

Secondly, the games I "shill", you debilitated cretin, are those such as Grimoire, Underrail, KotC I-II, Kenshi or Brigand Oaxaca. All of these are largely one-man projects of undeniable quality that have produced cult classics, unlike mediocre AA games or untold billions invested into AAA games.

 

[Reinhardt]

Two DnD games run on the same engine, they look/feel similar

nigger, u fuckin wot. iwd looks MUCH better than bg

 

[luj1]

You get the point nigga.

The first CRPG adaptation of 40k deserves to be approached with artistic respect. It deserves more than reused assets from mediocre Pathfinder fantasy. It suits it as much as a steel helmet suits a rooster.

 

[Reinhardt]

first thing i will do is replace sister portrait.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Grimoire

largely one-man

Incorrect. Grimoire is a one large man project.

 

[Storyfag]

Bruh, even the Golden Throne of Terra where the half-alive corpse of the Emperor is seated is deteriorating into dirt. Let alone some bridge, somewhere. You understand this universe is OLD.

It is not deteriorating into dirt. It's just ever so slowly failing, as its tech is no longer comperhensible and maintainable. Doesn't mean there aren't broom-servitors sweeping floors there, or nice carpets and tapestries.

Also this Rogue Traders are obscenely rich meme needs to die. Yes, *some* of them are rich and powerful. But not all of them. Many Rogue Traders command a single derelict ship. Read the fucking rulebook.

A single derelict ship is something immensely valuable in the setting. Read the fucking rulebook.

 

[luj1]

I did. Some Rogue Traders command fleets, while others command a single decrepit wreck. Having any ship is valuable, but obviously they are not equally rich.

But no one gives a shit about cleaning in a universe which is 40.000 years old.

You are finding excuses for this plastic look in the most inane shit possible such as "broom-wielding servitors". Go kill yourself, faggot.

 

[Reinhardt]

this discuss reminds me modern cinema about medieval - "everyone, even kings, wore black and brown robes smeared with shit!"

 

[rusty_shackleford]

this shit reminds me modern cinema about medieval - "everyone, even kings, wore black and brown robes smeared with shit!"

if it was a game about an ahistorical version of the grimdark past then making a game that's full of bright colors and rounded edges would be shit, yes

 

[ERYFKRAD]

But no one gives a shit about cleaning in a universe which is 40.000 years old

Somebody's techpriest hasn't been reading his litanies of maintenance.

 

[Darkozric]

broom-wielding servitors

Given the cleanliness, I'm surprised they haven't introduced this archetype yet.

 

[luj1]

But no one gives a shit about cleaning in a universe which is 40.000 years old

Somebody's techpriest hasn't been reading his litanies of maintenance.

Techpriest litanies are about repair and worship of the Machine Spirit.

It has nothing to do with cleanliness. What is important in eternal war is *functionality*, not appearance. That is why 40k looks gritty.

Cleanliness is a dumb argument used by dumb people to justify how reused assets from Pathfinder fantasy don't look off in a 40k game.

 

[Storyfag]

I did. Some Rogue Traders command fleets, while others command a single decrepit wreck. Having any ship is valuable, but obviously they are not equally rich.

But no one gives a shit about cleaning in a universe which is 40.000 years old.

You are finding excuses for this plastic look in the most inane shit possible such as "broom-wielding servitors". Go kill yourself, faggot.

I see was right in naming all my planz after ya.

 

[luj1]

Or in other words, you have no argument.

The length you are willing to go to justify this visual butchering of 40k is amazing. You are probably proud of your stupidity.

The same shit was done for Cyberpunk 2077. It was marketed as a cyberpunk setting, but is actually industrial futurism (cars, guns, clothing, lifestyle). It turned out that way because of the strong focus on *design*, rather than on the dark aspects of technology.

And the same shit was done in defense of recent "Lovecraftian" games. Games which are light-hearted parodies of Lovecraft and feel like trivia pop quizzes. Of course normies will magically appear to explain how "it was always this way".

TLDR artistic rape is always sponsored by low standard plebeians