Conan Exiles - Funcom strikes again

[bylam]

Hey bylam , question I've seen on some FB page...

Any REH publishing experts out fhere? I'm sure there must be. Hoping for a spot of advice please.

REH's work is out of copyright now. So is there anything to prevent me from using his stories?

I had in mind creating and selling a new computer text adventure game based on a Conan story or stories, for old computers, as there's quite a good following for the Retro Computing hobby these days.

A.percentage of any profits would go as a donation to help support an REH-related charity or charities, not that it would be a massive market but every little helps.

I'm in England, by the way.

Any thoughts?

Happen to know the situation with that?

Honestly, it is a weird quagmire of legalese that I don't know very well.

The stories might be in public domain in some countries, but I think Conan as a character is copyrighted due to his continued usage in other works. So reproducing the stories might be legal but not creating new stories with the Conan character.

We pay royalties on our Conan games and share material for approval with Cabinet Entertainment.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conan_the_Barbarian#Copyright_and_trademark_dispute

 

[ricolikesrice]

It's a barren wasteland with shit enemies and shit combat.

...but now that barren wasteland with shit enemies and shit combat will be 70% bigger ... and its all FREE !

Also keep in mind they have an idiot-proof fix regarding the much criticised combat: you will now be able to roll around on the floor to avoid attacks, isnt that ground-breaking awesome ?

(if one of my sons ever asks me what the difference between turn-based combat and real-time combat is i ll tell them turn-based combat is about rolling dices and real-time combat about rolling entire people )


....anyhow, funcom promised the following major content drops before release:

1. new biome(s?)
2. Sorcery/Rituals/Necromancy
3. tameable creatures/mounts/mounted combat
4. indepth settlement & thrall mechanics
5. The Purge PVE Endgame

Unless they are postponing the game till Q12020 i assume that means until Q1-2018 we will now get 1 FREE EXPANSION. EVERY. SINGLE. MONTH.... yay ! considering their additions in the last half year been a little .... uhm .... well .... oh yeah, cool emotes and nice mini-dungeon ! ... i look forward to them making up for it on the path to release !

 

[Werdna's Revenge]

Well this thread bump made me realize that they released a new "free" biome for the game few days ago.



I found it funny how they keep talking about the lore for the creatures while in-game, you will not encounter anything interesting story-wise. It's a barren wasteland with shit enemies and shit combat. Both PvE and PvP are shit since the AI is retarded and gods are THE most pointlessly overpowered things I've ever seen in a game. The new biome will get boring in less than a week for those who love exploring. And why is there no neutral NPC village to take side-quests in?

Basically, like I said before, they should've perfected at least one biome and made it fun before going into Early Access. Now they have few twats left still playing this since they haven't discovered 7 Days to Die or similar games, yet.

Yeah, I really want to love the game, but it's a lot of potential and not as much execution yet. A new biome is cool, but the combat changes will make or break the update. Oh well, I'll check out the new biome at the very least and enjoy it for a few days and then go back to waiting to see what they do next.

 

[ortucis]

It's a shame.

I was really excited for this game and even supported it by buying it at full price (which I don't do with ANY game on Steam). And yeah, like ricolikesrice said, they plan to release the game in 2018 and they haven't even added all gods yet, forget the rest of the biomes (I am guessing they will tie the last two gods into the third biome, probably green forest one).

Someone needs to make a SP action-rpg with Conan license instead of wasting time with MP crap. Mix Rune with Gothic, do that.

 

[fizzelopeguss]

I totally agree and have been arguing with my overlords about this for years.

Just... Get whoever is in charge to fix AOC's subscription price/features already.

I'll happily subscribe, but the value isn't there.

 

[Fedora Master]

The art direction and sound design are good. That's about the only positive thing you can say about the game. The new northern parts of the map are also hilariously imbalanced as far as NPCs go (20+ shots from a tier 1 bow to kill a wolf and crap like that).

 

[ricolikesrice]

so i ve been giving this a second chance with the latest update ( FREE EXPANSION!!!!! ) and here s my thoughts if anyone cares:


pro:

-the graphics and area design are just damn pretty and so are the armors and weapons. hats of to the graphics guys and designers - i really loved exploring the north just for the looks even despite the gameplay.

…

-that’s it for pros.


con:

-despite minor tweaks to AI and combat mechanics both remain still completely awful. You ll have a hard time finding a game with more boring, unchallenging , buggy and flat out badly designed combat than conan exiles whether you look among console action RPGs or MMORPGs.... and yes that includes stuff like Risen 3 or Bethesda games. Combat in these games is really bad, but not as bad as conan exiles…and having combat still this bad after 6 months of early access does not bode well for the future of conan exiles if its supposed to be a game centered around melee combat.

mind you if the game ever gets some of the promised features that make it play more like ARK (i.e. instead of fighting mostly yourself you ll be fighting alongside beasts and slaves ) bad combat could be less of an issue than now, where you simply don’t have anything else to do other than building and fighting.

that brings us to the next big problem however: its been 6 months and out of all the stuff they have promised they have delivered very, very little ….. yet completely lack self awareness in that regard if you follow their streams/posts.

considering the gaming press apparently has their back ( conan exiles got lots of positive press towards release and now with the FREE EXPANSION!!! .... meanwhile somewhat similar games from other developer barely make the headlines )
I m feeling this game might as well be named No Man´s Exiles.

...so many promises, so little to actually show for it: back after early access their roadmap talked about 2-3 major content patches before summer and now get got merely 1 out but that one is boasted about like a huge deal as if they rolled those 2-3 major updates into 1 (they didnt).
You can check out their roadmap yourself but basically their “FREE EXPANSION” covered not even 20% of the features & content they promised, yet it took half the time of the EA phase. With half a year to go until release you can make your bets on how the promised features will
be cancelled, postponed, rushed, castrated or halfassed to meet the deadline.

TLDR: the game s world is really pretty, now 70% bigger and begging for a good game to take place in it ….. but unfortunately so far gameplay outside of building and really bad combat vs awful AI only exists in developer blog promises.

Those promises do however so sound really good (....why I bought this afterall ), so hope dies last that eventually this might become a good game . I really doubt this will happen in 2018 however, no matter whether its officially released by then or not.

 

[Immortal]

This game supports Modding pretty well - but is it already dead?

Are they gonna do anything with it after release? Last I checked I saw really cool ideas with Village management ect..

 

[ricolikesrice]

i m not sure whats the problem with this game - it sold really damn well but apparently funcom doesnt give a shit about it. maybe they decided to use the EA money for other projects ( from the secret world vids it looks like they have quite a few tranny devs so maybe they have to cover medical costs etc.)

their very own version of pete hines ( joel bylos, who even posts here ) promised shittons of cool features back during EA start but not even one of the major ones been implemented thus far - last time i checked they promised mounts to be added shortly after the august map expansion for examples - well so far its november and mounts havent been even mentioned anymore see posts above for all the other cool stuff they promised and never delivered.

....which is weird because unlike say No Mans Sky its not exactly that they are promising stuff that s obviously unrealistic to expect. there are two other remotely similar games in EA right now (Citadel forged with fire and Dark and Light) and both not only have a lot more features and are progressing MUCH, MUCH faster .... they released half a year later and sold far less than Conan Exiles. (mind you i wouldnt recommend either of these games yet )

i think the best you can hope for is mods. Funcom certainly seem to have the gaming press in their bag so releasing No Man s Exiles with 1/5 of the promised features shouldnt stop it from gaining sales and players. Maybe modders can fix it, dunno.

 

[vonAchdorf]

there are two other remotely similar games in EA right now (Citadel forged with fire and Dark and Light) and both not only have a lot more features and are progressing MUCH, MUCH faster .... they released half a year later and sold far less than Conan Exiles.

But do they have a penis slider?

 

[thesheeep]

I would want my slaves to poop at least as often as dinosaurs in ARK.
Who controls the poop, controls the universe.

 

[Immortal]

This game supports Modding pretty well - but is it already dead?

Are they gonna do anything with it after release? Last I checked I saw really cool ideas with Village management ect..

There are about 2000 people playing this game right now. I'd be surprised if they even add everything they promised before any "village management".

I mean, the priority should've been to make the world interesting enough for players of games like 7 Days to Die to stick around. Instead, they spent time wasting on PvP which even the PvP players don't give a shit about anymore. Most people playing games like ARK and 7D2D aren't doing it for PvP, they are PvE players, just like most Call of Duty players never even touch the MP and buy it for SP only (by Activision's own admission).

The thing is, game is kept alive if the publisher wants to. Funcom made their money and profit already, I doubt it this game will be updated for more than a year (with few updates).


While we're at it, village management to do what? Only NPC's that exist are brain dead slaves and priests. Do you expect Funcom to program special "neutral" behaviour state for your slaves to live, eat, shit and work in your village?

Typical Funcom.

 

[Infinitron]

 

[Night Goat]

Is the survival shovelware fad even still going at this point?

 

[Immortal]

"Full Launch Release Coming Soon"

Or in Funcommian language, all future content we promised will now be sold to you as an expansion pack (or 3).
It begins.

INB4 The Cash Shop and Eventual Abandonment of the game.


Which fading game genre fad will Funcom choose next to follow? (2 years too late)
They haven't released a MOBA yet have they?

Defense of the Barbarians.. Heroes of Cimmeria.. League of Conan.

 

[SmartCheetah]

Conan: Battle Royale.

 

[Fedora Master]

Fucking hell I was waiting for at least a few more patches to make the game reasonably playable. This is just bullshit.

 

[Fedora Master]

I tried the game again and... It actually managed to get worse. The heat/cold mechanic is utter bullshit - You run around the desert, die to a random hyena and can't even reach your corpse because you immediately die of heatstroke if you try.

 

[Deflowerer]

Funcom gonna funcom lol.

 

[Fedora Master]

Let's see what the status of the game is, eh?

Changelog

• Player list now shows the correct steam id for all players instead of duplicates of your own
  
• Replaced "Patch Notes" option in main menu with "Help". This will be updated later to point to an updated player manual
• (And some other shit)

 

[Fedora Master]

Okay I think I'm being a little unfair, I reinstalled the latest test version and they actually improved a lot of things ... or at least changed them. The animations are better and you have a proper UI now that isn't a jumbled mess. The combat system has become more arcade-y but that's actually an improvement.

 

[ortucis]

Okay I think I'm being a little unfair, I reinstalled the latest test version and they actually improved a lot of things ... or at least changed them. The animations are better and you have a proper UI now that isn't a jumbled mess. The combat system has become more arcade-y but that's actually an improvement.

Don't praise them.

Instead of spending time adding interesting content to keep it fresh for players, they spent their time focusing on creating new areas and decorations.

Look, there are games with average visuals and shitty animations (Boiling Point), which are still far more fun and interesting to sit through than a game where you are running around collected branches and stone while hitting Rhinos and Crocodiles every few meters, but with good animation (I didn't see any good animation last I played it, but I didn't try it out with a new animation update that was still under development).

Point is, ADD NPC's, ADD STORIES, make the fucking world interesting. I want living breathing towns with traders, busy markets, side quests, stories with interesting characters, etc. I don't want a barren world where I am doing nothing but fighting such imaginary monsters as.. THE WOLVES!

 

[Fedora Master]

Oh I fully understand that, although I think the sandbox approach was chosen specifically so they don't have to work on any of that shit. "Make your own adventure lol" and all that. Open World Crafting Survival is just code for "We can't be assed to make real gameplay".

 

[thesheeep]

Meh, it is called emergent gameplay and has been done successfully by many titles.
You don't need NPCs or stories.
It just has to be done well.

I might check this out in a year on a sale or so. But maybe not.

 

[ortucis]

Meh, it is called emergent gameplay and has been done successfully by many titles.
You don't need NPCs or stories.
It just has to be done well.

I might check this out in a year on a sale or so. But maybe not.

I want the list of all those titles. I wanna know if I've played those amazing emergent titles.

 

[thesheeep]

I want the list of all those titles. I wanna know if I've played those amazing emergent titles.

Well, that's fairly easy, isn't it?

In no order (some are better than others), just what comes to mind right now:
Factorio
Minecraft
RimWorld
Ark (and many of its "clones", like Conan Exiles is, some are good, some are bad, but Ark itself was pretty good)
Empyrion (was still rough a year ago, but man was it great to build my own spaceship starting with just a handful of dirt, then flying to the moon with it and getting shot by some turrets there)
Space Engineers (though I find it boring as hell, some won't play anything else, I guess)
Golf With Your Friends (just checking if you are actually reading this)
Oxygen Not Included
Games like Theme Park/Rollercoaster Tycoon (and its newer clones)/Cities Skylines also live just from their rules, even if some offer a story on the side
Mount & Blade
Dominions
Europa Universalis
Space Pirates And Zombies 2 (don't let the title fool you, it is pretty amazing)
Some Roguelikes to a medium to large extent - especially those like Dwarf Fortress or Cataclysm DDA which have a whole world going on around you.

And I'm sure I forgot far more titles than I mentioned.
All of these aren't good because of some story or some "handplaced content", but simply because of their rules, dynamics and the emergent gameplay that leads to.
As you can see, this isn't even bound to a genre. There are FPS, too, though I must say I found none of those very captivating.