[What are you Playing Now? Who needs a life anyway?...]

Re: Weird West. I'm done with the bounty hunter. After you're done, the game gives you a review of how you handled the major story beats -- and what gets carried over for the rest of the game. Really interesting.

Pighead next (and this starts really WEIRD).  

Really quite like this game. 

[What are you Playing Now? Who needs a life anyway?...]

3 hours ago, Wormerine said:

Did what seems like "tutorial" section of Weird West. First impressions a very promising indeed.

As for the camera, I've immediately turned it off that the camera automatically zooms out (and thus changes) cam view when you pull a weapon.

I've also only just now noticed that "weapon pulling" can be either a TOGGLE or a HOLD function. Default it is a toggle, that is on PC you right-click to draw a weapon, you right click to put it away (two clicks required).

I've now changed this to the HOLD function. This is just one click: You right click and your character draws the weapon, you release the button and he/she/it(in case of pigman ) puts it away. This feels a lot more fluid to me not merely because of the lesser clicks, but also because when a weapon is DRAWN, you cannot rotate the camera anymore (which is oft useful, as during the dynamic and very fast paced combat, enemies may go "out of sight"). The mouse exclusively controls aiming when a weapn is drawn. So this is also a more fluid way to switch in between those to me. 

[What are you Playing Now? Who needs a life anyway?...]

Yeah I'm not far in, but some camera and AI issues aside, this is pretty much my kinda game. Speaking Desperados 3, the art style in some ways reminds me of that too (coupled with Telltale's Walking Dead). It's pretty pleasant to look at.



Just like in Prey, I went a bit experimental though, and may (or may not) have already spoiled myself a plot twist by killing a (major) at least early game NPC (and from the reaction to that). This was by accident, as I only wanted to test how the game kept track of killing NPCs, but happened upon this specific NPC.  

Still pretty cool that the game allowed me to do that, rather than scripting it so that you couldn't touch this NPC until it served its function in the plot. In Prey I had used the gloo gun to build a gigantic staircase to a place where I wasn't necessarily supposed to go that early, which kind of gave away what the entire situation was all about. 

But it's all still pretty early. Naturally, what I like the most is that the game world isn't but a set piece for plot, but fairly interactive. There's even neat touches recognized, such when you put a bucket outside when it's raining, it's slowly filling up with whater (which gives HP when drinking it). I also had to chuckle upon noticing that when you kill somebody, vultures will show up to nibble on the body.

They've already announced that they plan to release free stuff in the coming weeks (and also fully on expansions of kinds, naturally to be paid for).  

 

[What are you Playing Now? Who needs a life anyway?...]

Thinking about picking up Colantonio's Weird West, which was just released today.

Due to it being heavy on choice and consequence, and different experience based on the (albeit predetermined) characters you get to play throughout,  it's already been compared to classic Fallout, New Vegas and even Bloodlines by various outlets. One section of the game has you playing a character cursed with a pig head -- which means people react "accordingly" (memories of playing a Nosferatu in Bloodlines).

That is, on top of Arkane Studio games, naturally, what with Colantonio being their founder.  His last title there was Prey -- if you ask me, whilst never specifically marketed as such, that was more of an RPG than many selfproclaimed RPG in like the last 10, 15 years (in particular in the AAA space). 

And I'm still not even halfway finished with Wrath Of The Righteous.  

 

 

edit: Bought it. Couldn't resist. Also like to support that guy, he's got the right vision for games.

[Black Geyser: Couriers of Darkness]

42 minutes ago, kanisatha said:

And I'd also point out that I don't think it is at all a coincidence that the initials of this game's name are the same as Baldur's Gate.

I'd only just noticed that thanks to your post (even though I was aware of the game ever since their Kickstarter campaign).  

Still really curious about the exploration though. I don't like to spoil myself, so only watched bits of video on YouTube. But there seems lots of wilderness, which also reminded me lots of BG1 (in a, for me, good way).  

[Black Geyser: Couriers of Darkness]

I've seen a lot of BG1 comparisons already, and combined with some of the gameplay I watched, I wonder whether exploration is at least party some like this (or Kingdom Come Deliverance).

Sort of tired of game worlds as amusement parks or movie set pieces, as it makes everything feel gamey and predictable (you KNOW that once you find a shack in a forest in a "modern" game, that hut will contain an NPC, quest or loot even before entering it, as else nobody would have placed it there, let alone created the art assets).

 

Not concerned about the low/er budget, personally. I think it's rather impressive (and hopeful) that even very tiny teams can create finished games like this -- the staff for the original BG1 was well over 30 at the start, and 50-60 once the game had shipped. 

I'd take a "hit" in production values any time over the vice versa, in particular in an age where AAA RPG development means increasingly streamlining games this much they play just like any action/adventure or looter shooter on the market in an attempt to fit in and attract ever wider audiences, and often times, quests solving themselves outside of inevitable combat. 

[Trying to figure what PoE2 sold less]

Imagine if the movie industry were like this. Imagine if they abandoned ship immediately after the first so-so received project. Imagine they'd never made another Alien after Alien³ -- okay, bad example (even though I went to both Resurrection and Covenant back in their days, and got some enjoyment out of them).  

Personally I also wouldn't mind as much a change of formula. The "kickstarter renaissance" is truly the reason why I've come back to playing RPGs on a larger scale again. As in the never ending quest to reach ever larger audiences, every reasonably sized RPG dev still left on the block seemed to be more occupied in creating action/interactive movie kind of experiences coupled with barebones character progression systems (Bioware et all) and/or open world games with similar (Bethsoft et all). Well okay, and there is/was Germany's Piranha Bytes, still being busy trying to remake Gothic over and over.  

 

However, I've also always held the opinion that the truly next BG won't quite 100% look like it. If a ~25 years old game is your gold standard, you may never surpass it. Deadfire already was a tad less traditional, however in a format in which shipping a hundred thousand copies was considered a success back then already. If that wouldn't have been the case, most of BIS games would have never been made (or even gotten a sequel), as outside of BG1+2, none of these isometric rtwp games were million + sellers.

That's not to say I don't enjoy the isometric party-based rtwp formula. Not at all. Else I wouldn't have bought the new Pathfinder last year. However, if there isn't a similar way to conclude a "Watcher's trilogy" teased by the end of Deadfire: There's likely more ways to keep the spirit of those games intact without necessarily copying that formula down to a T.

Tactical combat doesn't need to be presented isometric.
Nor do branching quests and storylines aiming to somewhat replicate the freedom of a tabletop campaign.
Nor do complex and powerful character systems full of player choice and customization.
Partys have also been done in numerous ways already in formative years.


Take a look at New Vegas -- to me to this day the only AA/A RPG past Troika's demise I've played that actually stays true to the 90s roots, or rather, what studios such as Origin/BIS/ later on Troika et all tried to accomplish. And succeeded in doing so. It's basically oldschool Fallout, just being played from a different perspective (unsure about the Outer Worlds yet, as sources I trust and gameplay I've watched paint is as a game not nearly quite as bright). Unfortunately, despite its strong sales, it's never seen much imitators, let alone Bethesda actually taking lessons from its design (rather, they try to expand their audience even more by now clearly aiming at the FPS crowd also). 

 

[Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous Part 2]

Late-game Kingmaker was a pain in that regard, and it wasn't merely the infamouse House. Luckily the end battle plus the decisions made up for that, but generally it's the area I have the least fondest memories of in Kingmaker. Encounter design doesn't seem to be Owlcat's forte in general, though there are a few highlights. If I hadn't enjoyed Kingmaker, I wouldn't have picked up WOTR though, as some of that seems to be their inherently design philosphy, at least the fairly heavy focus on combat in general. Would really love in-game stats the Pillars and IE games do them, I'd bet compared to Deadfire the amount of enemies you kill is through the roof all throughout.

Like WOTR so far (chapter 2 also). The army management so far seems simple enough whilst not playing itself completely, seems they've trimmed it all down significantly based on Kingmaker feedback. Massive kudos again for taking obvious inspiration of the Realms Of Arkania games when it comes to traveling/camping. They just have to introduce a more Conan-style music for the next time  . (and to think they took it all out for the third in the trilogy back then in particular because US players complained about the thing being too tedious... and that was 1996, when computer games hadn't even made the crossover to mainstream audiences yet) I thought something similar would never come back (the Expedition series takes obvious inspiration here also). 

 

[Desperados 3 Hype Train]

5 hours ago, Wormerine said:

THQ Nordic is the owner of the IP, so I dont know If you will be giving money to the dev team or the publisher. I am glad you enjoyed it though, I loved both of their recent titles. Luckily for you, Mimimi will be self-publishing their next title, so it will be an excellent occasion to show them your support.

Do you think they are self-publishing now because Desperados 3 was considered a disappointment? Couldn't find anything anywhere, except on the German GameStar magazine (an interview behind a Paywall). 

DLC starts nice enough (just finished Part 1), I like that they did new voice-overs as well, even for the guards. The ending was a little tricky, I actually hid on a roof and engaged in a shootout from there rather than being sneaky.  

[Desperados 3 Hype Train]

Man, I'm through now and this game kept on giving until the very end. It's DLC time but the season pass seems to be on discount everywhere except key shops I'm not sure about -- I really want to support this game/dev by buying the season pass at a regular price.  

I'm actually thinking about buying it twice then, once on Steam and once on Gog.  

[Desperados 3 Hype Train]

The game's on sale right now. On Epic you apparently get a 10 bucks voucher if you take the free game.... season pass on sale too.

For me this has been the gaming highlight of the year, I'm in the last mission now. 

Really curious what they're up to next, but then I've got Shadow Tactics yet to play as well. 

[Desperados 3 Hype Train]

Thanks I'll watch some of that speedrunner, though it likely will make me feel like the total newb I kinda am.

I'm now in New Orleans, which is pretty nice. The initial optionally detective work could have been even a bit beefy/longer. Speaking of which, that's an area where I think the genre could be expanded upon, adventure/RPG elements such as dialogue choices proper, investigation puzzles and stuff. Maybe it could then even appeal to a broader audience.

Stealth tactics as such is a very specific thing (not that there's anything bad about that).  

Man this game is nice. The German retail (regular release) also comes packed as if it were a book, with a small art booklet inside. Well worth the buy.


 

[Desperados 3 Hype Train]

Nice game -- the (German?) retail also comes with a nice package, almost book-like, including a small artbook. I didn't play much of neither Commandos nor Desparados back in the day.. as such I'm stuck in mission 6 already.

Speaking of which, those missions are great in size. 

 

As of Mimimi's next project, they've received 2 million Euros in funding from the German government already. 

[Why has PoE2 been sold so badly?]

20 hours ago, xzar_monty said:

What also bothers me a lot is that the game so obviously cheats against the player. 

The enemies are buffed quite a wee bit, but outright cheating would mean the dice are rigged, which they aren't. 

[How would you increase PoE2 sale at this moment ?]

7 hours ago, Boeroer said:

After Josh posted his last answer to a Deadfire question on tumblr (basically saying smth. along the lines of "we know there are fans who love PoE and Deadfire, we hear them and we know that they want a PoE3, but we as a team of developers also have to want to make it" Alec Frey (Producer), Matt Hansen (Artist) and other Obs devs chimed in and said they'd do it.

 

What did they say and where?

[On the road to... Pillars of Eternity 3]

15 hours ago, Wormerine said:

That’s all I wanted to hear. I shall be waiting.

Well, that's basically a confirmation of that it's not dead -- yet. Still far from a confirmation of an actual game ever happening, mind.  

In the meantime, there'll be Black Geyser, which looks suspiciously Pillars-like. Will be interesting how well Wrath Of The Righteous does too. If the latter becomes a hit rather than being hit by the "sequels sell worse syndrome", that may trigger the business side of things at Obs too.

Currently I personally view this as slightly higher a chance as the chance of Alien:Isolation 2 ever happening. The first was equally clearly a passion project with many fans of the IP involved, and they've been toying with the idea of a sequel on the occasion, but the game just about broke even sales-wise (and didn't meet Sega's expectations). At least the team hasn't been disbanded, unlike Isolation's.  Chances might be higher if the option was assessed of scaling things back a bit where possible (smaller project on a smaller budget) -- again, none of the BIS-developed Infinity Engine games ever broke sales records as far as we know and still made their money.

 

 

[On the road to... Pillars of Eternity 3]

https://wccftech.com/third-pillars-of-eternity-game-happen-excited/

A third entry in the Pillars Of Eternity may happen in the future, but only when the developers will be excited for it.

[AVOWED - Obsidian's Skyrim clone set in the Pillars of Eternity setting]

Weirdest thing, just two days ago I had a dream of ending up at Obsidian office somehow (dream logics), and them announcing another Pillars related project via a teaser trailer thing of sorts. Immediately when the trailer went live it seemed obvious what was going on, and I was like "So Faergus got his wish (Skyrim RPG set in Eora)". I don't usually dream about games, or anything like that. Like, at all. 

Though, the longer the trailer went on it hinted at a possibility of an actual party based RPG (closer to Dragon Age) rather than a first person one. I remember talking to Josh about the possibility of an optionally tactical 3d camera, and whether that would be a design challenge and he agreed it was.

Tonight I had a dream where I ended up at either Tim Cain's or Leonard Boyarsky's house (can't remember which), where over dinner they talked about that new Fallout game they had in the oven. I tried to convince them why quest markers are evil, and even the missus (dunno which one it was) got involved in the debate, but then I woke up.

So, if that comes to pass as well, you heard it here first.  

[AVOWED - Obsidian's Skyrim clone set in the Pillars of Eternity setting]

Teaser looks actually fairly "generic" overall, which then again were what they may have been aiming for. There's no actually big reveal, except for the First Person (which tons of game have) and bits of Eora lore. Faergus has been going like "Imagine Skyrim..... in Eora" for years. So far Sawyer's project still sounds the more intriguing one to me.

 

4 hours ago, Wormerine said:

That all sounds great, at least on paper. Looking at specs it seems a bit high for me, but I might give it a go once I finally deal with Pathfinder and see how it runs. 

 

I had completed KCD with an old Core i3 (from 2011ish), basically below the official specs, and it was mostly surprisingly fine. As an open world, and as sort of an AA/A/RPG, it's a lot more interesting a game than the action-adventury Witcher, for instance. Quests are also more open. However, yeah, it may not be for everyone (which is a good thing). I had also spent a good amount of time just hunting in the woods to upgrade my bow skills, which I personally enjoyed.  Speaking of skills, the game too has a skill system proper.

 

[What Are You Playing Now: The New Beginning Thread]

On 6/13/2020 at 7:45 PM, Sven_ said:

Expeditions: Viking

 

In particular with the latter, I'm wondering whether that's a format that would be viable for Josh Sawyer's Dream turn-based historical RPG. Would be interesting to see what their dev budget was... but in either case, that's a pretty good soundtrack and composer for an indie.
 

I've found something about this:

- game was released April 2017
- had a (dev-)estimated bugdet of at least 5 times less than PoE1, if not more
- still hadn't broke even by September 2017 though

https://steamcommunity.com/app/445190/discussions/0/1473096694436181731/

Personally I hadn't been sure what to make of this series in general before trying Viking, but I wish I had tried. Viking is apparently more classic CRPG-like than its predecessor and more narrative- and choice-driven (and they intend to go back to the style of that predecessor). If you're unsure, like I was, it's currently part of a bundle over at Fanatical. The devs, Logic Artists, have been also co-developing Divinity: Fallen Heroes alongside Larian (which is now being put on hold, likely due to BG commitments). Personally I've now bookmarked these guys.

Interesting insight also about getting funds post Tyranny's failure, and what impact higher profile games have:
 

Quote

Pillars and Tyranny are very similar to each other and Tyranny's failure has - unsurprisingly - had clear negative effects on funding for similar projects. There seems to be a general impression among investors and publishers that a sort of genre fatigue is setting in for RPGs.

[What Are You Playing Now: The New Beginning Thread]

Disco Elysium

+

Expeditions: Viking

 

In particular with the latter, I'm wondering whether that's a format that would be viable for Josh Sawyer's Dream turn-based historical RPG. Would be interesting to see what their dev budget was... but in either case, that's a pretty good soundtrack and composer for an indie.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9FkldqiH5Y

 

 

[Why has PoE2 been sold so badly?]

As to managing expectations, inXile sort of went all-in with The Bard's Tale 4 (playing right now) too. According to Fargo, the budget for that one was over ten million Dollars -- for a "blobber" type of game and a sequel to a series once reknown 30 years ago...

There's one thing in common with Obsidian too, which is that their first game/s were a success in Wasteland 2 and PoE. WIth their first projects, things worked out. But what are they trying to prove now? Back in the day, Ultima was considered a hit at over 100,000 units or something and even later on, a couple hundred thousand units of Icewind Dale et all was considered profitable. Games development isn't cheap, in particular not in that area, but... to be honest, now with Microsoft I don't see both of them ever scaling back. 

The core audience is still there, as shown, and it's likely not purely old folk. It's just not grown any much bigger.

[Forgotten Sanctum Upper Bowel Obstruction]

Does anybody know where to get the fungal growth from to combine the cream with?!

 

edit: Never mind, found it.  

[Why has PoE2 been sold so badly?]

I actually think the amount of players who hadn't played those games upon their initial release but came in later to the show would be surprisingly high. E.g. "It's only the old geezers in their 30s and up who play this type of game anymore." May have been worth a poll when the forum was a bit more busy, e.g. by the time of release.

This doesn't merely imply players of the Enhanced Editions, mind. There's likely quite a few of players who've played Pillars as their "first" for instance because it was an Obsidian game, a new RPG to play, etc.
 

[Why has PoE2 been sold so badly?]

30 minutes ago, SchroedsCat said:

You have to pick the youngsters up somewhere. 

Doing VO itself seemed to have helped preciously little though. Doing VO is the same game albeit with a somewhat different coat of presentation paint. This is a good topic though. It would be interesting to see how much players of Pillars, or Pathfinder used to Play the IE games back in the day. It would be also interesting to see how many newcomers these games managed to bring into the fold. 

My guess is, the overlap between IE players and pillars would be somewhat higher, as it was specifically sold first as a "nostalgia thing". That was a strong selling point in the entire Campaign back then. Pathfinder meanwhile, well the Pen&Paper is pretty popular in itself, and Pathfinder was at its Peak when D&D was entering its 4th Edition, so well past Black Isle had folded.

And this goes out to Beamdog, how many newcomers their Enhanced Editions brought in. 

On the topic of Pillars, it is/was in big ways a nostalgia thing. Maybe a third game could wrap it all up, and then let's see where we're going next.