Warhammer Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader - turn-based Warhammer 40k RPG from Owlcat Games - Void Shadows DLC coming August 8th

[Sweeper]

Which begs the question - why spend time and resources on content that very few people like just to make the game longer? I can't figure out the logic behind making the development process longer and more expensive just to make the game as a whole worse.

That's the special Owlcat touch, by the time you're halfway done with the game you'll want it to be over.

 

[Lyre Mors]

There's no incentive. Their games sell well and the mainstream reception is good. Yet another reminder that nobody cares about codex opinions (unfortunately?).

The general sentiment is actually pretty much in alignment with the Codex on this - game takes a massive nosedive in quality after Chapter 2.

Yeah, that's my general understanding. It's not even just the codex this time. There's fairly widespread criticism going on about not only the drop in quality after the first two chapters, but the problems with lack of difficulty throughout.

 

[Tyranicon]

There's no incentive. Their games sell well and the mainstream reception is good. Yet another reminder that nobody cares about codex opinions (unfortunately?).

The general sentiment is actually pretty much in alignment with the Codex on this - game takes a massive nosedive in quality after Chapter 2.

Yeah, that's my general understanding. It's not even just the codex this time. There's fairly widespread criticism going on about not only the drop in quality after the first two chapters, but the problems with lack of difficulty throughout.

The difference between mainstream and codex opinion basically comes down to "Should I pay money for this game?"

One answer is a probably a resounding "fuck no" from a lot of people.

Whereas the other is:

Of course, keep in mind that 77% isn't exactly a good score. You generally want to be at least 80% or above.

But it's probably nowhere near the codex score.

 

[Lambach]

Of course, keep in mind that 77% isn't exactly a good score. You generally want to be at least 80% or above.

But it's probably nowhere near the codex score.

A Positive Review:

This game is broken in many ways.
I mean, you break it yourself with some outrageous characters that win every encounter in the first turn, making combat encounters a joke.

The story also breaks into the later act, in the kind of way where you're walking along a bridge and it's all crumbled to ruins into an unexpected exit.

And despite all that, and its numerous bugs where quests or triggers did not deploy properly, I could not put the game down until I had played it to completion.
For every thing that's off, there's things that just click and work. The setting is very well made; Proper Warhammer 40k.
And despite combat being broken, being overpowered is fun and you feel really clever about yourself.

He might've rated the game positively, but he criticizes it for very similar reasons most people in this Thread do.

EDIT: Also, this might be the first positive review I've ever seen that starts with "This game is broken".

 

[Desiderius]

So most people here hate Act 3, and everything after that is unfinished?

So the game is just Act 1 + 2?

This belongs in the BG3 thred

 

[Desiderius]

You'd think by game three they would have learned that about themselves. Takes only a minor amount of self-awarenes.

There's no incentive. Their games sell well and the mainstream reception is good. Yet another reminder that nobody cares about codex opinions (unfortunately?).

There's a huge vacuum in upper-AA RPGs. Now that Larian is basically full AAA, there's not too many (are there any?) there to compete with Owlcat. And they've developed a fanbase that really likes their games.

At this point, it's what you'd expect getting one of their games.

They keep ironing out the bugs though (and implementing missing features long after release). You just have to wait a year to play the games.

Suits want new product on a regular basis, and as far as I can tell everything has to go through Mishulin creating a bottleneck. Plus they miss Avellone's editing.

 

[Harthwain]

Which begs the question - why spend time and resources on content that very few people like just to make the game longer? I can't figure out the logic behind making the development process longer and more expensive just to make the game as a whole worse.

Because they are enthusiastic/passionate, but at the same time lack realism as to what they can accomplish with what they have. They wanted Rogue Trader to be epic encapsulation of the Warhammer 40,000 setting. That's why you have (almost) everything in it: Eldars, Dark Eldars, Chaos Space Marines, Space Marine, Inquisition, Necrons, Genestealers, Adeptus Mechanicus...

I think the only things we didn't see are Tau, Orcs and "proper" Tyranids.

Whereas the other is:

I'd bet a majority of the positive reviews are from people who didn't even reach Chapter 3 (less than 30% completed Chapter 2, according to achievements).

Of course, keep in mind that 77% isn't exactly a good score. You generally want to be at least 80% or above.

Are you joking? 77% for the game this broken is an excellent score.

 

[Togukawa]

It's a broken game, but to be fair chapter 2 is some of the most fun I've had with an rpg in ages.

What's baffling to me is that you could probably cut the entirety of act 3, and it wouldn't change a thing in the overall story.

Bg3 falls apart narratively in the last act, but RT first goes on a miserable multi hour tangent, gets back to where it left off, and *then* falls apart.

Still, first two chapters, well worth the price of admission.

 

[Cryomancer]

Yes, but the drop in quality after chapter 2 is not the major problem of this game. I really hated this ruleset.

I just hope that after this game, next OwlCat game will be a TT adaptation again, don`t need to be pf1e, can be a retroclone, gurps, vampire:the requiem, anything but not their own system. Even D&D 5e and PF2e would be a improvement over this. Their system in this game combined the gamey nonsense of 4e with the bloat of epic 3.5e.

Bg3 falls apart narratively in the last act

There is a huge difference. BG3 chapter 1/2 are much bigger than this game...

 

[Reinhardt]

rt >bg3. at least in rt i could do good things instead of ghey and boring things.

 

[Camel]

RT's Metacritic score isn't stellar and lower than the WotR's 83%.

 

[InD_ImaginE]

There's no incentive. Their games sell well and the mainstream reception is good. Yet another reminder that nobody cares about codex opinions (unfortunately?).

The general sentiment is actually pretty much in alignment with the Codex on this - game takes a massive nosedive in quality after Chapter 2.

Which begs the question - why spend time and resources on content that very few people like just to make the game longer? I can't figure out the logic behind making the development process longer and more expensive just to make the game as a whole worse.

The first two Chapters take around 40-ish hours or so to complete, which is a perfectly fine length for a CRPG. The entire main story of the game could've easily been told in those 40 hours and without tedious filler content like Commoragh. That entire Chapter serves almost no purpose in the overarching narrative. In fact, the entire subplot about the Drukhari

Spoiler

and Xavier's alliance with them

could be completely removed from the game and it wouldn't suffer for it in the slightest. The only reason they're there is because someone in Owlcat is thirsting for Le Goth Space Elves.

Even if they want to make an 80 - 100 h epic game, it's just that their resource prioritization is lacking. Everything is front loaded in the first half whereas the later half feels half-baked and shows lack of resources to finish them.

Assuming the same dev time in hours, they could've tried to make quality of the chapters more even. Say expanding Chapter 4/5 instead of frontloading content in Chapter 2.

This style of development feels like doing a project in university, actually having fun writing first 30% of the report and then realize "Oh shit deadline is in 1 week" and rushed the rest of the 70% as soon as possible and make a broken mess by the end of it.

 

[Donald Gordon Lord]

There's a huge vacuum in upper-AA RPGs. Now that Larian is basically full AAA, there's not too many (are there any?) there to compete with Owlcat. And they've developed a fanbase that really likes their games.

Harebrained (Shadowrun) is still kicking around, and Mechanicus 2 just got announced.

Creative Storm w/ Sector Unknown maybe.

 

[Axel_am]

You'd think by game three they would have learned that about themselves. Takes only a minor amount of self-awarenes.

They probably don't have enough time to develop said self-awareness. I mean to do so they'd need to play the games they make and clearly everybody in the office is too busy fixing bugs all the time.

 

[Nikanuur]

An individual can be a witty, resourceful, and often even kind creature.
People, on the other hand, tend to be pretty stupid, shallow assholes.
Unfortunately, we don't usually get products from individuals for (the groups of...) individuals. We mostly get products for people.

 

[InD_ImaginE]

There's a huge vacuum in upper-AA RPGs. Now that Larian is basically full AAA, there's not too many (are there any?) there to compete with Owlcat. And they've developed a fanbase that really likes their games.

Harebrained (Shadowrun) is still kicking around, and Mechanicus 2 just got announced.

Creative Storm w/ Sector Unknown maybe.

Didnt HBS die after their India Jones TB game flopped?

 

[Lyre Mors]

Didnt HBS die after their India Jones TB game flopped?

Hopefully.

 

[Fedora Master]

There's no incentive. Their games sell well and the mainstream reception is good. Yet another reminder that nobody cares about codex opinions (unfortunately?).

The general sentiment is actually pretty much in alignment with the Codex on this - game takes a massive nosedive in quality after Chapter 2.

Yeah, that's my general understanding. It's not even just the codex this time. There's fairly widespread criticism going on about not only the drop in quality after the first two chapters, but the problems with lack of difficulty throughout.

The difference between mainstream and codex opinion basically comes down to "Should I pay money for this game?"

One answer is a probably a resounding "fuck no" from a lot of people.

Whereas the other is:

View attachment 50109

Of course, keep in mind that 77% isn't exactly a good score. You generally want to be at least 80% or above.

But it's probably nowhere near the codex score.

I guarantee those 77% never made it to Ch3 in the first place.

 

[Tyranicon]

Didnt HBS die after their India Jones TB game flopped?

From the wiki:

So they're still alive, and as their website proudly proclaims, they're indies again. But no idea on their financials and future prospects since Paradox owns their catalog.

I don't think they're strong competition for Owlcat, even if they get back into RPGs.

 

[Tyrr]

"mutual agreement to go separate ways"
A nice way of saying 'throwing them out while keeping all their stuff'.

 

[Major_Blackhart]

So I played this three times. I agree on multiple fronts that chapter 3 is too damn short and very very closed in, while Chapter 4 is just not finished.

Do I still like it? Yes. Will I get the dlc? Definitely. It was a fun romp overall and the chance to play as a true devotee of the God emperor is awesome.

 

[Lyre Mors]

So I played this three times.

Dang, that's a lot of value. What a uniquely positive take.

 

[jf8350143]

The story for rogue trader is fine. The problem about chapter 4 is lack of content, not the story itself. It rushes to the end so fast you barely have time to process what's happening. If they add more exploration and more middle parts to the story it would work.

Chapter 5 is really bad, it should be just one planet and a final boss, they definately intended it to be longer than it currently is but ran out of time and resources.


Still one of the better RPGs comes out lately.

 

[Akka]

So most people here hate Act 3, and everything after that is unfinished?

So the game is just Act 1 + 2?

Didn't hate act 3, actually liked it.
But yeah, after that it's beta test zone. Even when I waited for more than six months before buying the game to give them time to fix the issues. Though the writing quality taking a nosedive is worse than the bugs actually.

 

[Barbarian]

Is this playable yet? Worth a shot?