Torment: Tides of Numenera?

[SunBroSolaire]

Yeah, that video was pretty damn impressive. I didn't even back Wasteland 2, not having played or really even heard much about the original. After seeing that, and the follow up about dialogue, it's easily one of the games I'm most excited for in 2013.

 

I understand where people are coming from saying that inXile should wait to release W2, but seriously this is a way better pitch even before seeing the actual pitch video. They have a solid team with Kevin Saunders and Colin McComb plus Mark Morgan and artists who worked on P:T. The Numenera setting is fresh and looks pretty fantastic, and it seems like a good fit for a weird story heavy game. The game is supposed to be light on combat, heavy on philosophy, with game mechanics that reinforce the central themes. Any one of those three points would be enough to win my support. All together, it's a no brainer. Now tack on the fact that they are drawing their inspiration from Planescape: Torment and Mask of The Betrayer, and the apparent quality of Wasteland 2 so far, I think that's a pretty darn exciting project. PLUS the fact that if inXile can get Tides funded, they'll have a oldschool hardcore RPG pipeline set to deliver one of these games about once a year. Asking them to wait for W2 is just... Why? They obviously aren't taking the money and running. Worst case scenario we fund a bad game, and that's the same risk with any Kickstarter. At least this one has some concrete indicators that it will rule.

[BruceVC]

Yeah, that video was pretty damn impressive. I didn't even back Wasteland 2, not having played or really even heard much about the original. After seeing that, and the follow up about dialogue, it's easily one of the games I'm most excited for in 2013.

 

I understand where people are coming from saying that inXile should wait to release W2, but seriously this is a way better pitch even before seeing the actual pitch video. They have a solid team with Kevin Saunders and Colin McComb plus Mark Morgan and artists who worked on P:T. The Numenera setting is fresh and looks pretty fantastic, and it seems like a good fit for a weird story heavy game. The game is supposed to be light on combat, heavy on philosophy, with game mechanics that reinforce the central themes. Any one of those three points would be enough to win my support. All together, it's a no brainer. Now tack on the fact that they are drawing their inspiration from Planescape: Torment and Mask of The Betrayer, and the apparent quality of Wasteland 2 so far, I think that's a pretty darn exciting project. PLUS the fact that if inXile can get Tides funded, they'll have a oldschool hardcore RPG pipeline set to deliver one of these games about once a year. Asking them to wait for W2 is just... Why? They obviously aren't taking the money and running. Worst case scenario we fund a bad game, and that's the same risk with any Kickstarter. At least this one has some concrete indicators that it will rule.

 

 

Well said, thats a good post positioning why we should support Numenera. I find it difficult to fault anything you say

 

 @ Gorth

 

How you sleeping at night? Any guilt ravaged nightmares about not pledging towards Numenera?  After reading the post above you should have some if you don't support this project

[Bester]

He was so vague that I expected something like Fallout, but he delivers something like Wasteland. Can't blame him, but I'm disappointed.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

I still don't like the name, but I am going to pledge to this.

[BruceVC]

I still don't like the name, but I am going to pledge to this.

 

Good decision Kaine, good decision

[Keyrock]

Chris Avellone tells you why you should back this project (starting March 6th):

 

[BruceVC]

Chris Avellone tells you why you should back this project (starting March 6th):

 

 

 

Thats a good find Key, I hope this puts to rest any objection to supporting this project. I hope Alan and Gorth see this video

[Tigranes]

Shamelessly stolen from the Codex:

 

 

There's a long and detailed Torment feature at none other than IGN, in which Kevin Saunders and Colin McComb discuss the game's plot, theme and setting. Here's an excerpt:

 

A billion years from now, the people of Earth live in the era of the Ninth World, an age built upon the vestiges of eight great civilizations before them. The flickering remnants of each once-great society – ancient nanotechnology, the data-web threading between still orbiting satellites, bioengineered monstrosities, creatures transplanted from distant stars, and myriad strange and wondrous devices – make up what people call Numenera.

 

Imagine this future humanity with all of its complexities, and among them a powerful man who spent centuries occupying human bodies and “skipping” from one to the next at will. Now imagine what would happen if one of those inhabited bodies was cast aside in this strange and alien Ninth World and suddenly became conscious, having never lived a day of its own?

 

[...] “Essentially you are waking up, not as somebody who has lived a full life already, but as somebody who has not lived a life at all,” McComb tells IGN. “You are the cast-off shell of somebody who has learned how to skip from body to body over the centuries. This person is escaping a dreadful hunter. He [realizes], “Oh, well, looks like this body’s doomed.” He skips out of it, you fall to earth, you wake up, and you’re not dead. You’re like, “Who the hell am I?”

 

They also talk a bit about the game's roleplaying mechanics:

 

Players will build their own character using an adaptation of the Numenera tabletop rules, which include three different class types: the warrior-like Glaive, the wizard-esque Nanos, or hybrid types called Jacks (as in ‘of all trades’). According to the tabletop game, Glaives can come light or heavy depending on your preference between speed and strength. Nanos harness the Numenera to work miracles, which are called Esoteries. Jacks have a lot of tricks that make them good at many things, but masters of none.

 

There will also be two sets of modifiers: descriptors and focus, which will grant bonuses in a variety of categories. Some descriptors (again, from the tabletop game) are Clever, Tough, Strongwilled or Mystical. Focus varies from crafting illusions to becoming a master of a single weapon.

 

Saunders explains it like this: “You are this specific character, but we will give you flexibility in terms of what class and descriptors and focus that you have. That will evolve throughout the game.”

 

Some of you have expressed concern about this Kickstarter's degree of success. Kevin Saunders addresses this:

 

Judging the potential success of a Planescape: Torment successor in terms of already funded projects like Wasteland 2 and Cook’s Numenera, Torment: Tides of Numenera could see tremendous interest, but the team is ready to scale the final experience to the demand of the audience.

 

Saunders says, “Definitely, the scope of the game overall will depend on how we fund it. In terms of the overall content, we’ve developed the storyline to be very modular. It can scale well regardless of how much we have to work with. In terms of something like the combat system, I would say that the more funding we have, the more free we would be to venture away from the foundation that Wasteland 2 provides. We’d be more likely to consider adapting the Wasteland systems more closely if we had a lower level of funding than if we did exceptionally well.”

 

The article also mentions that the game will feature "real time smart combat". I've been informed that this is a misstatement.

 

UPDATE 2: VentureBeat's Torment newspost doesn't have much information about the game's content. It does, however, contain some hard data about the game's Kickstarter campaign and development plan, straight from the mouth of Brian Fargo himself:

 

Fargo acknowledges the complexities of the game-development process. He has 10 writers and four artists ready to start work on the new Torment. Once InXile receives funding, the team will go into preproduction for about nine months. Then, the full ensemble will roll off of Wasteland 2 and move to Torment. Kevin Saunders is the project manager on the new Torment.

 

Fargo said the company is hoping to raise $1 million. He will match every dollar raised above that, up to $2 million, by throwing in another 10 percent. So if the company raises $2 million, Fargo will throw in $100,000 of his own money.

 

A nine month preproduction phase. That's three months longer than Wasteland 2.

 

UPDATE 3: In Polygon's Torment post, Colin McComb reveals a bit about the game's "Tides" system:

 

"The Tides are our version of the alignment system in D&D, which is perhaps the closest parallel," he said. "There are five of them, but they don't oppose each other directly. It's not like good versus evil. There's much more complicated interactions between them."

 

The Tides system is the developer's way to track the results of player action, which are a de facto demonstration of what's important to them. There is no right or wrong, but rather a series of choices with consequences.

 

"There are forces you are manipulating here, but it's essentially an external manifestation of the choices you have made," McComb said. "If you've decided that your choice is to become a bloodthirsty butcher, people will react to you that way, and your powers within the game will change as well."

 

As an example, McComb offered the Passion Tide, which is color-coded red to give it meaning beyond its one-word description.

 

'When your Passion Tide is strong, it means you're more driven by the things that move you, as opposed to reason or empathy," he said.

 

 

They will continue to update that infodump, link here.

 

The concept / setup sounds perfect to me.

[Labadal]

Sounds good enough. They'll probably get $30 from me.

[entrerix]

yeah, i want WL 2 to be released first, but i guess i understand why it needs to be this way, so i'll pitch in $30 or so. 

[Keyrock]

They'll be getting at least a 30 spot from me, depending on what the tiers look like.

[NOK222]

Sounds good. Since the Uncle Ruckus thing failed, I still have something to gibe. 

Edited March 4, 2013 by NKKKK

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

So the Kickstarter starts Wednesday. Awesome.

Edited March 5, 2013 by KaineParker

[Majek]

Hmm i might give them some money as well, at some point.

[Mamoulian War]

Oh noes, Chris said in video "FRANCHISE" in conjunction with Torment... Twice... And Dream have still not posted anything here... Hopefully you are all right and not got heart attack or something...

[WDeranged]

I keep liking what I hear but I do wish Avellone could get involved, this and the lack of engine info are holding me back.

[WorstUsernameEver]

the lack of engine info are holding me back.

? They've already said they're using Unity and the tech they've built for Wasteland 2. Some graphical aspects are still to be decided and will depend on the funding, and the combat system isn't settled down because they feel agnostic about it, but we know everything there is to know about the engine powering the game.

[WDeranged]

I mean whether they're going with a Wasteland 2 or a Project Eternity approach, a Torment sequel screams to be made in 2D, but that's just my opinion.

[Nordicus]

a Torment sequel screams to be made in 2D, but that's just my opinion.

Especially considering how gorgeous the Numenera art has been.

 

Then again they might surprise us and make this beautiful, bizarre 3D environment for us to rest our eyes on

[WDeranged]

 

a Torment sequel screams to be made in 2D, but that's just my opinion.

Especially considering how gorgeous the Numenera art has been.

 

Then again they might surprise us and make this beautiful, bizarre 3D environment for us to rest our eyes on

 

Precisely, Numenera does have some really lovely, intricate art, maybe they can do this justice in 3D but the poly count would be extreme for a niche game, some examples would be great but I feel way more confident about 2D when it comes to these things.

[Archmage Silver]

The campaign will go live this Wednesday at 6AM PST.

[Dream]

Oh noes, Chris said in video "FRANCHISE" in conjunction with Torment... Twice... And Dream have still not posted anything here... Hopefully you are all right and not got heart attack or something...

Slow day in the middle of nowhere for you, eh?

[Lord of Lost Socks]

PST.

I see what you did there.

[alanschu]

Same here. I haven't played anything of Brian Fargos (that I remember) since the original Bards Tale, so if this gets off the ground before I get to play (and determine I'm happy with) Wasteland 2, then it will be a "retail" purchase rather than a pledge.

 

I'm in kind of the same boat.  I have fundamental reservations about the project, though I also know that part of me will just have to see how it compares (part of my reservation...) to the original.

 

The unfortunate thing is I have no basis for how expensive these games will be upon release, and if it is the difference between $25 and $40+ I'd likely contribute just to save a bit of money.

 

I'll have to play the pledge game by ear, however.

[Tigranes]

I think they plan to sell at $40 or so on release, though I can't remember where I saw it.