Wasteland Wasteland 2 Pre-Release Discussion Thread [GAME RELEASED, GO TO NEW THREAD]

[Brayko]

Maybe it's the same thing for some hardcore fans as if your favourite cult punk band goes from an independent label to a major label.

But in this case the independent label used to be a major label..so jokes on them for not seeing it coming.

 

[HiddenX]

Yeah - true punks record music cassettes only - hand made.

 

[Roguey]

Even Harebrained offered refunds. Tsk tsk, Fargo.

 

[imweasel]

Dunno what he is all pissed off about, hopefully not about the distri deal with Deep Silver. It's all cool IMO.



But if that is how he feels, it might be best to just give him his $15 bucks back.



Unless he pledged 10K, then fuck him. Keep it. We need that cash. lol

 

[TwinkieGorilla]

Maybe it's the same thing for some hardcore fans as if your favourite cult punk band goes from an independent label to a major label.

But those people are wrong too. Wrong for breathing, wrong for living.

 

[wesleyclark]

Maybe it's the same thing for some hardcore fans as if your favourite cult punk band goes from an independent label to a major label.

"Harder core than thou for a year or two, then it's time to get a real job."

 

[Crooked Bee]

So how is this distribution deal different from signing a deal with a Steam or GOG for digital distribution? The distributor gets a share of profit but that's that.

 

[J_C]

What's the rage about this deal? God, people are retarded (yeah, I know, news at 11). If inXile wants to distribute the game phisically, they almost HAVE to contract somebody to do so. Distributing physical goods to retailers is not that easy, and developer studios don't really have the connections, resources and the knowledge to do that. It is not about making a few hundred boxes to the kickstarter backers, it's about making tens of thousands of discs, copies, manuals, making contracts with the retailers, transporting to different parts of the world. Do we really want a few hunder thousand dollar from the Kickstarter budget to be used on this? I don't think so.

And I trust Brian when he said that it is a distribution deal only, and they will retain the creative control. It would be a PR disaster to do otherwise.

 

[Morkar Left]

I have the impression that Deep Silver is pretty much laissez-faire as a publisher (I'm not even sure if they even publish) and they seem to be good distributers. Their box copies look appealing with cardboard and quality manuals. At least the X series is like this. It never looked like that they are ripping off Egosoft or something.

So how is this distribution deal different from signing a deal with a Steam or GOG for digital distribution? The distributor gets a share of profit but that's that.

There seem to be a lot of people who aren't able to read or develop some reading comprehension. Or they would be able to read and understand but instead decide that rage is more entertaining for them. Drama baby, Drama!

 

[Roguey]

I have the impression that Deep Silver is pretty much laissez-faire as a publisher (I'm not even sure if they even publish)

As a distrubutor. As a publisher, they're responsible for the Biowarification of Risen 2.

 

[Infinitron]

they're responsible for the Biowarification of Risen 2.

Are they?

 

[Roguey]

they're responsible for the Biowarification of Risen 2.

Are they?

Publisher: Deep Silver

The alternative is that Piranha Bytes decided "All right we're going to say to hell with our current audience and make a more accessible game for consoles with day one disc-locked DLC because that's what we want to make."

 

[Infinitron]

The alternative is that Piranha Bytes decided "All right we're going to say to hell with our current audience and make a more accessible game for consoles with day one disc-locked DLC because that's what we want to make."

So like Bioware?

I wonder if anybody has investigated this. The game's probably gonna be available for five bucks during this Steam sale btw

 

[Lancehead]

The alternative is that Piranha Bytes decided "All right we're going to say to hell with our current audience and make a more accessible game for consoles with day one disc-locked DLC because that's what we want to make."

I haven't played Risen 2, but having played Risen, the alternative wouldn't completely surprise me.

 

[Roguey]

So like Bioware?

That was a reasonable risk because they were already blockbuster-making PC developers.

 

[Morkar Left]

I have the impression that Deep Silver is pretty much laissez-faire as a publisher (I'm not even sure if they even publish)

As a distrubutor. As a publisher, they're responsible for the Biowarification of Risen 2.

Good point, haven't thought about Risen 2. But my impression is that Risen 2 wasn't really viable in another way. I have not enough confidence in PB anymore that they could have made a better game. E.g. turning Risen in a pirate setting was good publisher idea imho (an original brand would have been even better), the execution was lacking by not going far enough (Ship combat? Plundering? Trading?).

 

[Roguey]

Good point, haven't thought about Risen 2. But my impression is that Risen 2 wasn't really viable in another way. I have not enough confidence in PB anymore that they could have made a better game. E.g. turning Risen in a pirate setting was good publisher idea imho (an original brand would have been even better), the execution was lacking by not going far enough (Ship combat? Plundering? Trading?).

The core gameplay was awful, adding more things to do wouldn't have made it better.

They could have made another PC-centric open-area exploration game with better pacing and tweaked-instead-of-completely-redone-for-the-worse combat.

 

[Morkar Left]

My point is I don't think Deep Silver is responsible for the awful combat. They are responsible for the decision to make a pirate game and introducing DLC. Sure, they are responsible too for a console version but given the budget and style every such game is gonna on consoles nowadays. At least for firstworldian development teams.

I blame PB for not making a ship travelling / combat system similar to Pirates! which would have given the game a lot more freedom and diversity without beeing forced to create more landmass. It would have no impact for consoles gameplay, too and I doubt Deep Silver would have anything against it cnsidering the X series.

 

[Vault Dweller]

they're responsible for the Biowarification of Risen 2.

Are they?

To some degree. They weren't interested in making a sequel to Risen, but they wanted to make a game to capitalize on the success of the Pirates of the Caribbean.

 

[sea]

I don't know if I can be too angry at a company like Piranha Bytes for wanting to make money. Especially as game costs go up it makes a lot of sense to have a more mainstream property than Gothic so they can continue making that series but also reach wider audiences and expand the studio. It's not healthy to have a studio whose success hinges entirely on a single brand, from a business perspective.

That said I think the decision to make Risen 2 their pirate game was silly. Risen was basically understood as "Gothic without the license" by the fans and sold/reviewed well on that basis. But then to turn it into a swashbuckling adventure while keeping the same branding? Doesn't work. People outside the core CRPG community have no idea what Gothic is, and due to Risen's poor Xbox port most people who got into the game on consoles don't necessarily have positive memories.

Risen 2 really should have been spun off into yet another franchise - without the trappings of the last game holding it back, and the tenuous connection to another already established brand that wasn't necessarily looked on fondly by the mainstream, Risen 2 could have been a success. Not only would its gameplay likely be better as they wouldn't have to keep the core Gothic gameplay but mash it up awkwardly with a mainstream action game, they also wouldn't be limited by any expectations (positive or negative) fans might have from their previous games. My guess is that Deep Silver wanted to keep the Risen name and characters because sequels usually sell better than the original games (and who knows, maybe Risen 2 did sell better) but for the long term it probably wasn't the best decision for the Risen series; I'd be really surprised if we ever see a Risen 3 at this rate.

 

[Brother None]

I actually think turning Risen into a different setting was one of the right decisions for that game, because Piranha Bytes is getting the Gothic license back anyway. It wouldn't make sense for them to develop two concurrent identical series. But they could've gone for a whole new franchise, that's true. Still, the pirate setting in itself did not feel to me like one of the game's problems.

The DLC was not good, no, nor were the QTEs. But pirates? Can do some interesting things with that. They didn't, for the most part, like ship travelling/battles as Morkar mentions, but they could have. Might be too ambitious for a small studio like that though.

 

[Infinitron]

One hour podcast with Brian Fargo and Nathan Long: http://throughtheaftermath.blogspot.com/2013/07/episode-50.html

Download Episode 50

Welcome back to this very special episode number 50! In it, we're joined by InXile Entertainment's Brian Fargo and Nathan Long.

Brian Fargo is the original founder of Interplay and creator of such classic games as Bard's Tale, Neuromancer, and our favorite: Wasteland.

Nathan Long is an author and screenwriter probably most famous for his series of novels based on the Warhammer universe. He's currently the lead writer on Wasteland 2.

With the sequel in the works, we figured it would be a great time to sit down with Brian and Nathan and discuss their post-apoc influences and the game itself. Not only that, but Brian also throws down an exclusive for us relating to W2's end-game, or at least Brian's version of an end-game.

You can find out more on the game at the official site, follow them on Facebook, and you can even still get in on the Kickstarter rewards and pre-order the game now.

Follow Jonathan here.
Follow Shawn here.

Theme music is The Fourth Tribe by Michael Gordon Shapiro. Used with permission.

 

[Infinitron]

BTW mbpopolano24 is still at it: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/inxile/wasteland-2/comments

Kickstarter was supposed to free us from the 'evil' publishers. Now we are dealing with (some) 'evil' developers. Refunding unhappy people make just sense from a business point of view, that's all. ixLIE can decide to opt me out, or deal with the consequences. Either way, I'll get my money back.

Vault Dweller Did this guy ever pay you money for Age of Decadence?

 

[imweasel]

I'd be really surprised if we ever see a Risen 3 at this rate.

Risen 3: Blazing Oceans, coming to a PC near you.

 

[Lancehead]

Piranha Bytes is getting the Gothic license back anyway.

Really? I didn't know that.
...
Did a search on that; maybe there's some hope left for PB, after all. If they can somehow manage to make Gothic 3 with Risen melee combat.