Torment: Tides of Numenera

[ShadySands]

I'm a little sad we won't hit the stronghold goal but at least the Divinity KS just added it as a stretch goal

[LordCrash]

I think they will include the stronghold anyway and count the 200k from Brian and Steven in the end if there if the funding number is at 4.3M (paypal included).....

 

@ Drowsy Emperor

Yeah, I thought about that, as well. It's a pity that people only look for famous names and nostalgica other than for quality and concept. I don't want to say that Torment's concept is bad and I can't because everything we've seen so far is only written on a page. Not even a combat sytem is announced yet. PE was similar but at least Obsidian has a reputation for good RPGs being made in the last 10 years but inXile? I don't know. Look at Divinity: Original Sin: it has a fully flegded concept and systems integrated and everything works well so far. So why is Torment at over 4M and D:OS at 330k? I don't know, I'm not that good in understanding people....

Edited April 5, 2013 by LordCrash

[Drowsy Emperor]

They just identified a ripe market and are abusing it for all its worth.

 

Gamers who were teenagers or in their early twenties when Infinity engine and Fallout games were popular have watched more than ten years go by without getting to play a game that will tickle those particular needs and building up nostalgia all the while. They probably never will experience games like that again because you can't relive your childhood indulgences twice with the same amount of pleasure. Its not about throwing in a checklist of pieces in a blender and getting your previous experience back.

 

Which is what's being sold here.

 

 

PS: Plus those gamers are people with jobs now and can finance ludicrously expensive kickstarter goals.

Edited April 5, 2013 by Drowsy Emperor

[Keyrock]

I'm quite confident now it will reach the 4.25 million goal.  4.5 million is not out of the question, but I'm not counting on it.

Edited April 5, 2013 by Keyrock

[Blodhemn]

I see they're still suckering people in with what amounts to false advertising.

 

I'm not throwing in a dime until a playable demo or some-such proves these people didn't come back from trash heap of video game history to cash in on every remaining piece of nostalgia.

 

 

Btw I'm the last person on this forum to defend Bioware but the "let's slam the competition (without a single game to our name)" type advertising to draw in the malcontents is cheap cheap cheap. 

 

When your two greatest selling points are:

 

1. We're making a game that's going to be like another game with which it has exactly one english noun in common

2. We're making a game that's not going to be like their games

 

...something starts to stink like Volo's attitude.

I've had those same arguments as well, but hey, the people funding these projects are mostly people who don't have a market catered to them and if they want to support these promises, then that's no different to people preordering the next Bioware game or whatever.

[alanschu]

My only concern is for those (for all kickstarters) that literally mention that they'll have to sacrifice other parts of their life for that month because money will be so tight, because they wanted to contribute $200+.  On the one hand, buyer beware, but if these games aren't as awesome as we'd like them to be....

[Elerond]

I think they will include the stronghold anyway and count the 200k from Brian and Steven in the end if there if the funding number is at 4.3M (paypal included).....

 

@ Drowsy Emperor

Yeah, I thought about that, as well. It's a pity that people only look for famous names and nostalgica other than for quality and concept. I don't want to say that Torment's concept is bad and I can't because everything we've seen so far is only written on a page. Not even a combat sytem is announced yet. PE was similar but at least Obsidian has a reputation for good RPGs being made in the last 10 years but inXile? I don't know. Look at Divinity: Original Sin: it has a fully flegded concept and systems integrated and everything works well so far. So why is Torment at over 4M and D:OS at 330k? I don't know, I'm not that good in understanding people....

 

I think that there couple main reasons why D:OS has harder time to get money than Torment. First it's team don't have anyone that is actually well know inside gaming circles, second their product is in that phase of development where it's hardest to sell, as it's vision, aesthetics and mechanics are locked up and they show their nearly ready product (which probably make some people look project and think it's almost ready it don't need our help), thrid their previous games were more action oriented than what they pitch now, so some of series fans probably don't like this change and new fans don't yet know about the project and the forth reason is that for reason or another D:OS has lot less publicity than Torment.

 

What comes to Torment's combat, I think inXile told quite well what was their target and why they leave overall mechanic to be voted by backers. And what comes to inXiles games, those games that I have played (The Bard tale and Chopperlifter HD) are quite good, especially The Bard's Tale (which is RPG, made in last 10 years). And of course inXile gets some of Obsidian's fame as Obsidian gives them quite much support and promotion.

[lordgizka]

This game is going to have a number of tombstones it has no realistic way to actually have. Guess this'll be mildly amusing down the line.

[Tsuga C]

This game is going to have a number of tombstones it has no realistic way to actually have. Guess this'll be mildly amusing down the line.

 

No realistic way?  I beg to differ. 

[Elerond]

My only concern is for those (for all kickstarters) that literally mention that they'll have to sacrifice other parts of their life for that month because money will be so tight, because they wanted to contribute $200+.  On the one hand, buyer beware, but if these games aren't as awesome as we'd like them to be....

 

My hope is that as backers see how project goes on and what decisions developers dom gives enough time to backers to tell that current direction is good or bad and developers react with changes if backers feel that game is going towards wrong direction.  

[Drowsy Emperor]

 

I see they're still suckering people in with what amounts to false advertising.

 

I'm not throwing in a dime until a playable demo or some-such proves these people didn't come back from trash heap of video game history to cash in on every remaining piece of nostalgia.

 

 

Btw I'm the last person on this forum to defend Bioware but the "let's slam the competition (without a single game to our name)" type advertising to draw in the malcontents is cheap cheap cheap. 

 

When your two greatest selling points are:

 

1. We're making a game that's going to be like another game with which it has exactly one english noun in common

2. We're making a game that's not going to be like their games

 

...something starts to stink like Volo's attitude.

I've had those same arguments as well, but hey, the people funding these projects are mostly people who don't have a market catered to them and if they want to support these promises, then that's no different to people preordering the next Bioware game or whatever.

I've nothing against the people funding the projects or the crowd financing system itself.

 

I disapprove of InXile's greed, marketing tactics and lack of at least one worthwhile game under their belt.

 

They could have just as easily delivered Wasteland 2 first so we can finally eat that pudding, before launching the Torment project.

[Stun]

I didn't back this project. I know I may end up regretting it, and perhaps when it comes out, and gets good reviews I'll still buy it. But aren't we putting a little too much blind faith in Kickstarter and In-exile? I love what they're trying to do and I love everything that these kickstarters represent, but we've yet to actually see the end results of in-exile's first kickstarter game. Perhaps if Wasteland 2 had already come out and we could play it and say: "Yes. It's actually a great game", then This Torment thing would have been an easier sell for me. But as it stands, I'm getting a "used car salesman" vibe from this entire project. They haven't proven themselves, yet their stretch goals are filled with traditional marketing catch-phrases... stuff like "if we reach 3 million, we'll make your choices matter even more!"

 

 

That said, I did gamble and donated $165 for Project Eternity, But that one was a no-brainer. It's a safe bet. Obsidian has already proven itself. They always deliver, Their games always meet the expectations.

Edited April 5, 2013 by Stun

[AwesomeOcelot]

 

 

 

 

Hm, soon PE's kickstarter record will be broken by Torment. Makes my kind of happy and sad at the same time. Happy because I want Torment to be the best possible game, and sad because I always thought of PS:T (spritual successor ->Torment) being BG's (spiritual successor -> PE) little brother......

 

We'll just have to make sure that Project: Eternity 2 (assuming it goes the crowdfunding route) breaks Torment: Tides of Numenera's record.

 

And the record has been broken.

 

/pops open beer

 

 

Well, Feargus has been pretty open on not wanting to use Kickstarter again if it can be avoided, so if all goes well we won't be having another Obsidian Kickstarter.

 

 

He may feel that way after spending so much time on the campaign, responding to people, doing interviews, stuff that is probably not fun, but it might be different in 2015. If a project fits that model, it's the best preorder system there is, I can't see anyone saying no. KickStarter campaigns should get easier, perhaps developers don't need to commit so much time to them even if the total isn't quite as high. I'd like to see what a campaign could do from an established independent if given 6 months of pre-production and prototyping.

[Humanoid]

If it comes to be that Obsidian need to do another Kickstarter project once the bulk of the income from Eternity comes through, I'd rather it tackle something new than just funding a straight sequel. From a pragmatic point of view, a series that can't sustain itself from its own sales (in a situation where the bulk of revenue from sales goes directly to the first party) is harder to justify crowdfunding for than a fresh new concept, which jives with the idea of crowdfunding new ideas which might seem riskier. That's false altruism though because the real reason is that while I enjoyed most of the IE games, it's generally in spite of the engine and not because of it, so continuing to evolve that gameplay path instead of exploring alternatives is somewhat less desirable for my own selfish ends.

[rjshae]

Looks like they just hit $4.1M. Impressive.

 

I've nothing against the people funding the projects or the crowd financing system itself.

 

I disapprove of InXile's greed, marketing tactics and lack of at least one worthwhile game under their belt.

 

They could have just as easily delivered Wasteland 2 first so we can finally eat that pudding, before launching the Torment project.

 

Greed? Marketing tactics? In a commercial business, no less. Companies doing more than one project at a time? Just what is capitalism coming to? At this rate some gaming company is going to want to turn a profit. It's shocking, shocking I say.

[NOK222]

My only concern is for those (for all kickstarters) that literally mention that they'll have to sacrifice other parts of their life for that month because money will be so tight, because they wanted to contribute $200+.  On the one hand, buyer beware, but if these games aren't as awesome as we'd like them to be....

...you can count with us guys, EA, to deliver top notch games. No risk!

 

Sorry Alan, you set yourself up easily.

Edited April 5, 2013 by NKKKK

[Keyrock]

4.25 million reached!

 

Edit:  I gotta say, Obsidian's final countdown video was definitely a lot more fun.  It's all good, though.

Edited April 5, 2013 by Keyrock

[alanschu]

If it comes to be that Obsidian need to do another Kickstarter project once the bulk of the income from Eternity comes through, I'd rather it tackle something new than just funding a straight sequel. From a pragmatic point of view, a series that can't sustain itself from its own sales (in a situation where the bulk of revenue from sales goes directly to the first party) is harder to justify crowdfunding for than a fresh new concept, which jives with the idea of crowdfunding new ideas which might seem riskier. That's false altruism though because the real reason is that while I enjoyed most of the IE games, it's generally in spite of the engine and not because of it, so continuing to evolve that gameplay path instead of exploring alternatives is somewhat less desirable for my own selfish ends.

 

Depends.  I mean, if the contributors are all happy (since I think the assumption is that anyone getting the game as a result of contributing will not be buying the game after release), doing a Kickstarter to do a sequel seems fine to me.

 

In the Rock Paper Shotgun interview, Feargus actually mentions that it's interesting to do more risky things, but with game development you have two aspects that contribute to risk: the size of the budget, and the types of ideas.  To do riskier ideas, he doesn't think a $2 million Kickstarter type of project would garner as much success, and that doing a riskier idea would require a healthy dose of moderation and have "very reasonable expectations."

 

I agree with this sentiment, and it's part of the reason why indie game studios are so valuable.

[Theobeau]

Great that they reached $4.25M !

(with KS and PP pledges right ?)

 

As a backer of WL2, PE and TToN, I'm happy that we are going to be seeing at least three quality cRPGs in 2013-2015.

What's more there are going to be three different and very promising settings (classic post-apocalyptic, high fantasy with a twist, and far flung future techo-magical) and the games will be designed by teams with a storied track record in cRPGs.

 

Given the close relationship between OBS and inXile, I think that both companies will be very happy with the success of the Torment KS.

 

Here to squeezing it to $4.5M in the final hour of the campaign!

Edited April 5, 2013 by Theobeau

[LordCrash]

Man, this party at inXIle is boring......

 

 

But nothing can beat the drunken MCA at the Obsidian wrap up party for PE anyway!

Edited April 5, 2013 by LordCrash

[Keyrock]

Final tally:

 

 

74,388 backers

$4,187,993 

 

+ PayPal (likely 95k-ish)

[Blodhemn]

 I've nothing against the people funding the projects or the crowd financing system itself.

 

I disapprove of InXile's greed, marketing tactics and lack of at least one worthwhile game under their belt.

 

They could have just as easily delivered Wasteland 2 first so we can finally eat that pudding, before launching the Torment project.

Yeah, it's a little weird but the market is there. If people are so willing to fund it then how can you blame the company?

 

I'm not really a fan of the stretch goal thing tho. Keep paying a bit more and more and we promise the game will be longer AND better!! Eh, that's already getting old.

[Bartimaeus]

 

Final tally:

 

 

74,388 backers

$4,187,993 

 

+ PayPal (likely 95k-ish)

 

Earlier today, the Kickstarter page said it was "over 125k" for PayPal.

[duskwind]

I'm not really a fan of the stretch goal thing tho. Keep paying a bit more and more and we promise the game will be longer AND better!! Eh, that's already getting old.

Old or not, it's still true. And half the WL2 team have finished their part of the job, so without Torment they'd have nothing to do for the next half a year.

[alanschu]

 

I'm not really a fan of the stretch goal thing tho. Keep paying a bit more and more and we promise the game will be longer AND better!! Eh, that's already getting old.

Old or not, it's still true. And half the WL2 team have finished their part of the job, so without Torment they'd have nothing to do for the next half a year.

 

Err, I don't think that's related to the stretch goal aspects.