Game looks great, but...

[Killyox]

 

Divinity had actually a lot smaller budget than POE and imo WL2 atm looks good.

Uhm no.  Per the head of Larian themselves Divinity: Original Sin had a budget of around 5 million euro's which is more than 6 million US dollars.  Obsidian had a budget of about 4.5 million USD.  So Larian had at least a million more to play with, combined with the fact that they had their own in house engine to use which saved tons of time and resources which equates directly to money saved for other parts of the game.

 

Wasteland 2's graphics looking good is a matter of opinion so there is nothing wrong disagreeing with me.  That said I think the UI is painfully bad, the environment art is okay, but the character models are flat awful and look straight out of year 2002.

 

 

You're a bit wrong. You're counting Larian's budget with Early Access on steam  vs POE with no Early Access. If you compare KS vs KS then POE had double the amount.

When POE is available at Steam Early Access you can be sure as hell it will make more than D:OS.

 

They recently updated UI. It changed a lot from when I first tried beta. It's better now. Not the most beautiful but it works and is thematically fitting.

 

Char models do look bad indeed.

[Amentep]

 

 

Divinity had actually a lot smaller budget than POE and imo WL2 atm looks good.

Uhm no.  Per the head of Larian themselves Divinity: Original Sin had a budget of around 5 million euro's which is more than 6 million US dollars.  Obsidian had a budget of about 4.5 million USD.  So Larian had at least a million more to play with, combined with the fact that they had their own in house engine to use which saved tons of time and resources which equates directly to money saved for other parts of the game.

 

Wasteland 2's graphics looking good is a matter of opinion so there is nothing wrong disagreeing with me.  That said I think the UI is painfully bad, the environment art is okay, but the character models are flat awful and look straight out of year 2002.

 

 

You're a bit wrong. You're counting Larian's budget with Early Access on steam  vs POE with no Early Access. If you compare KS vs KS then POE had double the amount.

When POE is available at Steam Early Access you can be sure as hell it will make more than D:OS.

 

They recently updated UI. It changed a lot from when I first tried beta. It's better now. Not the most beautiful but it works and is thematically fitting.

 

Char models do look bad indeed.

 

 

Larian had already funded D:OS and was quite clear the kickstarter was to adding stuff to a game they were already committed to funding and completing - as I recall.  The money D:OS raised on Kickstarter was about 19% of the total budget indicated by Larian.

 

Pillars wouldn't exist if the Kickstarter had failed; it is entirely funded from the fans as far as we've been told (I believe Feargus indicated Obs would absorb any overages if they existed on the game).

[neo6874]

When POE is available at Steam Early Access you can be sure as hell it will make more than D:OS.

You might wanna check your sources mate.

 

Far as I understand it, the only "Early Access" is through the Backer Beta (which is only available til the 22nd or so).

[Hassat Hunter]

Uhm no.  Per the head of Larian themselves Divinity: Original Sin had a budget of around 5 million euro's which is more than 6 million US dollars.

I'm not sure where 3 million euro + 1 million dollar turned into 5 million euro. I think you got your conversation rate switched around there... 

Am I the only guy who thinks that the art direction of Divinity is painfully WoW-esque?  It's like looking at Candyland: Online.  Or Diablo 3, which suffered terribly from it's emulation of WoW's aesthetic(especially when compared to Diablo 2).

If D:OS has bad graphics, sign me up for bad graphics. It has some amazing area-design. And like PoE you really never see your characters up close anyway, and the gear did it's work.

Thank goodness PoE takes itself seriously in it's art direction. I think the only other major RPG studio that DOES take it's art direction seriously is CD Projekt Red.

While The Witcher I tried... sadly The Witcher II is generic overfilled with even more generic. Sure, it looks pretty, but I wouldn't go and say it had a great art direction as that it just made a super-detailed high-res super-generic game.

Bit like Oblivion, but prettier. That one was super-generic as well, and I still prefer Morrowind's look over it even if "uglier" due to actually having an art direction.

 

So I guess we'll have to disagree there.

Fortunately, it doesn't seem like BG2 PoE doesn't go the generic route at all, and we're in for some pretty pictures. Good year for RPG-fans...

[Karkarov]

 

Uhm no.  Per the head of Larian themselves Divinity: Original Sin had a budget of around 5 million euro's which is more than 6 million US dollars.

I'm not sure where 3 million euro + 1 million dollar turned into 5 million euro. I think you got your conversation rate switched around there...

I am sure.  It is called fat finger typing and a forum that only lets you mod posts for like 5 minutes after creation or something ;p.

[NWN_babaYaga]

In defense for the witcher... the game setting is medieval europe and no single game came that close to that look. I live in germany and if you have seen old villages, catacombs and castles... it´s authentic as it can get. No mumbo jumbo stuff from japanese or american imagination how it looked here.... on point!

[drake heath]

I thought the Witcher 2 had a great authentically medieval aesthetic, which was what they were trying to do.

 

Which isn't generic fantasy, because hardly any games get the medieval setting right; while the Witcher got pretty close, generic fantasy is like Oblivion, Dragons Dogma or WoW.

Edited August 11, 2014 by drake heath

[Zansatsu]

The reason a lot of games go for a more cartoonish look ala WoW, Diablo3, Swtor, Wild Star is because those games don't look out dated as quickly as the hyper real games.

[Fatback]

Yes I believe the term is stylized.

[Bryy]

 

 

Divinity had actually a lot smaller budget than POE and imo WL2 atm looks good.

Uhm no.  Per the head of Larian themselves Divinity: Original Sin had a budget of around 5 million euro's which is more than 6 million US dollars.  Obsidian had a budget of about 4.5 million USD.  So Larian had at least a million more to play with, combined with the fact that they had their own in house engine to use which saved tons of time and resources which equates directly to money saved for other parts of the game.

 

Wasteland 2's graphics looking good is a matter of opinion so there is nothing wrong disagreeing with me.  That said I think the UI is painfully bad, the environment art is okay, but the character models are flat awful and look straight out of year 2002.

 

 

You're a bit wrong. You're counting Larian's budget with Early Access on steam  vs POE with no Early Access. If you compare KS vs KS then POE had double the amount.

When POE is available at Steam Early Access you can be sure as hell it will make more than D:OS.

 

They recently updated UI. It changed a lot from when I first tried beta. It's better now. Not the most beautiful but it works and is thematically fitting.

 

Char models do look bad indeed.

 

If PoE goes Early Access, none of that will go into development.

[Caerdon]

Why are you guys talking about budgets? It's not about budget, it's about priorities. For example, inXile asked WL2 backers how much resources they should spend on character models and other graphical stuff; the backers got exactly what they asked for, and now an even larger portion of those resources will be spent on writing.

 

If you ask me, PoE is looking good - and in many places much better than I ever hoped for. But is Obsidian focusing enough on gameplay and content? Time will tell. My impression is that they've gotten the balance just right.

[Malekith]

 

 

 

Divinity had actually a lot smaller budget than POE and imo WL2 atm looks good.

Uhm no.  Per the head of Larian themselves Divinity: Original Sin had a budget of around 5 million euro's which is more than 6 million US dollars.  Obsidian had a budget of about 4.5 million USD.  So Larian had at least a million more to play with, combined with the fact that they had their own in house engine to use which saved tons of time and resources which equates directly to money saved for other parts of the game.

 

Wasteland 2's graphics looking good is a matter of opinion so there is nothing wrong disagreeing with me.  That said I think the UI is painfully bad, the environment art is okay, but the character models are flat awful and look straight out of year 2002.

 

 

You're a bit wrong. You're counting Larian's budget with Early Access on steam  vs POE with no Early Access. If you compare KS vs KS then POE had double the amount.

When POE is available at Steam Early Access you can be sure as hell it will make more than D:OS.

 

They recently updated UI. It changed a lot from when I first tried beta. It's better now. Not the most beautiful but it works and is thematically fitting.

 

Char models do look bad indeed.

 

If PoE goes Early Access, none of that will go into development.

 

They will go to the development of the expansion though, so it suits me just fine.

[5anitybane]

Just slipping this into the topic title, "Game looks great, but... it will look even better when we all actually play it."

 

As to the subject at hand, I quite like the presentation of the game. It has an old-school feeling to it, reminiscent of Baldur's Gate 2, but with better visual fidelity because of the power of today's machines. Do I care about graphics? Not really, but they're quite nice for immersion. I'm quite happy still playing text adventures, but being able to see the worlds I roam does have a nice quality to it that I don't quite get imagining the scenery.

Edited August 12, 2014 by 5anitybane

[Allbrother]

Divinity Original Sin I will also bet money had a much much larger budget than Eternity does

 

Actually, its budget was exactly the same as PoE's.

 

Source:

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2014-07-03-divinity-original-sin-larian-studios-fastest-selling-game-ever

 

 

I don't think DOS is any prettier than PoE though. I'd say the character models are just as good in both games and PoE's gorgeous 2d backgrounds don't look any worse than DOS' 3d world.

[Elerond]

They will go to the development of the expansion though, so it suits me just fine.

 

That is true also for profits from regular sales, although early access could work as way to market the game.

 

 

Divinity Original Sin I will also bet money had a much much larger budget than Eternity does

 

Actually, its budget was exactly the same as PoE's.

 

Source:

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2014-07-03-divinity-original-sin-larian-studios-fastest-selling-game-ever

 

 

I don't think DOS is any prettier than PoE though. I'd say the character models are just as good in both games and PoE's gorgeous 2d backgrounds don't look any worse than DOS' 3d world.

 

 

4 million euros is about 5.3 million dollars.

Edited August 12, 2014 by Elerond

[Malekith]

 

 

 

 

 

Divinity had actually a lot smaller budget than POE and imo WL2 atm looks good.

Uhm no.  Per the head of Larian themselves Divinity: Original Sin had a budget of around 5 million euro's which is more than 6 million US dollars.  Obsidian had a budget of about 4.5 million USD.  So Larian had at least a million more to play with, combined with the fact that they had their own in house engine to use which saved tons of time and resources which equates directly to money saved for other parts of the game.

 

Wasteland 2's graphics looking good is a matter of opinion so there is nothing wrong disagreeing with me.  That said I think the UI is painfully bad, the environment art is okay, but the character models are flat awful and look straight out of year 2002.

 

 

You're a bit wrong. You're counting Larian's budget with Early Access on steam  vs POE with no Early Access. If you compare KS vs KS then POE had double the amount.

When POE is available at Steam Early Access you can be sure as hell it will make more than D:OS.

 

They recently updated UI. It changed a lot from when I first tried beta. It's better now. Not the most beautiful but it works and is thematically fitting.

 

Char models do look bad indeed.

 

If PoE goes Early Access, none of that will go into development.

 

They will go to the development of the expansion though, so it suits me just fine.

 

 

That is true also for profits from regular sales.

 

 

Divinity Original Sin I will also bet money had a much much larger budget than Eternity does

 

Actually, its budget was exactly the same as PoE's.

 

Source:

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2014-07-03-divinity-original-sin-larian-studios-fastest-selling-game-ever

 

 

I don't think DOS is any prettier than PoE though. I'd say the character models are just as good in both games and PoE's gorgeous 2d backgrounds don't look any worse than DOS' 3d world.

 

 

4 million euros is about 5.3 million dollars.

 

And Faro said tham W2 had a final budget around 5 M$, and Josh said that PE made several hundreds of thousands $ from Paypal/backer portal, plus money saved from the deal with Paradox. So all 3 games have more or less the same budget, with DOS maybe slightly above (less than half a million $)

Edited August 12, 2014 by Malekith

[archangel979]

Fargo said WL2 total budget was more then double what they got on KS. So it is more then 5 M, more like 6M. WL2 has the biggest budget of the 3 games.

[Malekith]

Fargo said WL2 total budget was more then double what they got on KS. So it is more then 5 M, more like 6M. WL2 has the biggest budget of the 3 games.

Double what they got from kickstarter minus fees. The actual gam's budget was about 2-2.5 M $. Double that and its 5 millions(which is the actual number Fargo said in the last interview)

[archangel979]

Do you have a link to this interview with the exact number?

Edited August 12, 2014 by archangel979

[Malekith]

Do you have a link to this interview with the exact number?

http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/index.php?threads/wasteland-2-publicity-blitz-brian-fargo-and-chris-avellone-interviews.93422/#post-3422831

One of them. I don't remember the exact one, sorry.

[Elerond]

http://www.forbes.com/sites/danielnyegriffiths/2014/08/06/epanelepsis-the-deer-god-wasteland-2-creators-kickstarter/2/

 

 

The final budget of the game, Fargo said, ended closer to $5 million that $3 million – through the Deep Silver deal, through increased sales if InXile’s back catalog, through Steam Early Access revenues and with further contributions of his own money.

[Elerond]

With 500k dollars you can hire 5-10 people to work your game for year, so I wouldn't say that it is meaningless difference.

Edited August 12, 2014 by Elerond

[Karkarov]

With 500k dollars you can hire 5-10 people to work your game for year, so I wouldn't say that it is meaningless difference.

Very significant point right there.  That many man hours can make a huge difference to a final product.

[Quetzalcoatl]

I believe 4 million euro's translates to somewhere around 5.5 million dollars, so D:OS most certainly had a bigger budget than this game. Not to mention Kickstarter fees presumably took 400k (10%) of the original 4 million sum that Project Eternity raised. D:OS also had a longer development time and the benefit of using their own self-developed engine.

[Bryy]

With 500k dollars you can hire 5-10 people to work your game for year, so I wouldn't say that it is meaningless difference.

Seriously. Besides "why do games cost money", "why do people need to be paid" is the next most common complaint.