Divinity: Original Sin Pre-Release Thread

[Arkeus]

I am really hoping that Obsidian pimp Original Sin in the upcoming eternity update like they did for Torment, as that particular update is, i think going to be one of the most watched

 

[The Bishop]

I liked it. I thought it was interesting and eye catching. All the other RPGs go for ultra realistic, or grim dark and they end up looking the same.


As for their target market I don't know what that is, because they changed some of the art, because someone complained. I saw similar done to the Wasteland 2 game. They had a very elegant keyword system in place that was unusual, because few if any are using it these days. 95% of people were happy with it and yet they still changed it to suit the complainers.

For me this was shocking. It is like a painter defacing his work, because someone somewhere didn't like it, or an author blacking out passages in his book, because they offend someone in power. IMO artists should never, ever, deface their work to please anyone else. I want to see their artistic vision, untarnished and intact. They should not change it, just because I do not like it. I guess this is one of the downsides of crowd funding.

I understand this viewpoint, but I'm not sure how well it works for a collaborative art process.

The designers and writers are already changing what they do every day based on their co-workers feedback.

Even with a novel, often an editor has a huge say in the final product, and for example removing the final chapter of A Clockwork Orange does improve the book.

But isn't there quite a bit of difference between input from a competent colleague and a random (even if numerous) Joe Public? You can't give useful advise on how to make things better artistically if you're not competent enough to make them right yourself. And most public critics aren't competent. That's not to say that public input is useless. When somebody says that he doesn't like your work he's probably honest about it. It's just that quite often when consumer doesn't like something, he also has no idea why and how to fix it. But it won't stop him from suggesting solutions anyway.

 

[Murk]

made -- sure there was blood/gore, and there were serious quests too -- like deciding who lives/dies with the limited amount of plague cures, but the game definitely didn't take itself as seriously as Dragon Age or even The Witcher (which itself has some humor).

The new style starting with Div 2 is definitely bright high-fantasy.

 

[Infinitron]

Considering their target audience, I'm not sure if it was the most adapted.

Correct me here, if I underestimated the popularity of this kind of graphics.

I liked it. I thought it was interesting and eye catching. All the other RPGs go for ultra realistic, or grim dark and they end up looking the same.


As for their target market I don't know what that is, because they changed some of the art, because someone complained. I saw similar done to the Wasteland 2 game. They had a very elegant keyword system in place that was unusual, because few if any are using it these days. 95% of people were happy with it and yet they still changed it to suit the complainers.

For me this was shocking. It is like a painter defacing his work, because someone somewhere didn't like it, or an author blacking out passages in his book, because they offend someone in power. IMO artists should never, ever, deface their work to please anyone else. I want to see their artistic vision, untarnished and intact. They should not change it, just because I do not like it. I guess this is one of the downsides of crowd funding.

Dude the keyword system is still there and unchanged, they just added a dumb mouseover text for immersionfags

 

[Raapys]

The graphics style is one of the low parts of the game for me. Never been a fan of the Warcraft3/WoW blocky models and cartoony colors style. DD looked a lot better. But yeah, better performance and all that. Probably cheaper to make too.

 

[Jashiin]

Larian might want to focus a lot more on Europe now. Just look to the south. Those french guys are a days drive away from doing a hands on with you, and since you have paypal now, barriers like shortage of creditcards or needing amazon accounts are gone too. This goes for most of europe, milk that paypal advantage.

 

[Davaris]

But isn't there quite a bit of difference between input from a competent colleague and a random (even if numerous) Joe Public? You can't give useful advise on how to make things better artistically if you're not competent enough to make them right yourself. And most public critics aren't competent. That's not to say that public input is useless. When somebody says that he doesn't like your work he's probably honest about it. It's just that quite often when consumer doesn't like something, he also has no idea why and how to fix it. But it won't stop him from suggesting solutions anyway.

Very true. Those people don't get to where they are, without a track record of success. You can give Joe public Unity or some other game maker and they wouldn't have a clue where to begin. You could give them a pencil and paper and ask them to design a game and the result would be pretty much the same.

The main danger I see with crowd funding, is this henpecking of interesting/original designs into mediocrity. I think to avoid it, you must state your design objectives clearly and stick to them no matter what. While you are interested in suggestions, you only want ones that enhance the effect you are going for and suggestions/complaints that diminish your design goals, will be politely rejected.

The other way you can go, is ask Joe public to help design your game for you and do whatever they want. There is nothing wrong with that, as long as you state it clearly.

 

[Roguey]

Larian giving in to feminist pressure is fucking hilarious considering that blog from a couple of months back where his employees were all "herp derp don't censor me." The tune changes when you need money, doesn't it, pigmen? It's boob armor so I still hate it of course.

I love stylized art but OS's is (paradoxically) the bland kind of stylization. Not different enough from WoW, 4e D&D, Kingdoms of Amalur, and a bunch of other fantasy things. Cookie Cutter Stylized Fantasy Art.

The forest deal has me concerned. Are they really going to have thousands of trees in that forest? I'm going to have a difficult time deciding to whom I want to write my lovenote...

 

[Davaris]

Dude the keyword system is still there and unchanged, they just added a dumb mouseover text for immersionfags

People will look at it anyway. The temptation will be strong.

Larian giving in to feminist pressure is fucking hilarious considering that blog from a couple of months back where his employees were all "herp derp don't censor me." The tune changes when you need money, doesn't it, pigmen? It's boob armor so I still hate it of course.

They also gave into boys saying they didn't want to play as a girl. The male/female partnership reinforced everything in the design, from the bright casual game colors (non-gamer women like casual games), to the argument resolution mechanic - women and men in relationships, always have disagreements about something.

To me it looked like a game, where they were trying to convince their girlfriends to play RPGs with them. I thought it was funny and clever.

 

[FeelTheRads]

I sorely miss the old Bitmap Brothers style,

Ah, Bitmap Bros were truly bitmap bros.

 

[Roguey]

They also gave into boys saying they didn't want to play as a girl. The male/demale partnership reinforced everything in the design, from the bright casual game colors (non-gamer women like casual games), to the argument resolution mechanic - women and men in relationships, always have disagreements about something.

To me it looked like a game, where they were trying to convince their girlfriends to play RPGs with them. I thought it was funny and clever.

Ehhhh Divinity 2 and Dragon Commander are full of color as well. That's just their current style. And it's not like men and women can't have disagreements with each other. You could hypothetically roleplay as Laurel and Hardy or Abbott and Costello.

 

[Davaris]

You could hypothetically roleplay as Laurel and Hardy or Abbott and Costello.

You can't tell me this doesn't look like a couple having a disagreement.

And this.

 

[Gragt]

Larian giving in to feminist pressure is fucking hilarious considering that blog from a couple of months back where his employees were all "herp derp don't censor me." The tune changes when you need money, doesn't it, pigmen? It's boob armor so I still hate it of course.

You'll love Dragon Commander.

 

[Roguey]

Larian giving in to feminist pressure is fucking hilarious considering that blog from a couple of months back where his employees were all "herp derp don't censor me." The tune changes when you need money, doesn't it, pigmen? It's boob armor so I still hate it of course.

You'll love Dragon Commander.

Yeah I already said I wasn't going to buy that because of the sexism. But more importantly because I have no interest in RTSes and it was only on my radar back when it could possibly be played as a dragon action game with RTS elements.

 

[Gragt]

You can ignore the RTS parts if you want to.

 

[Roguey]

You can ignore the RTS parts if you want to.

Huh, that's not the impression I got. Vincke said they made it even more of a RTS and it seems unlikely to me that one would be able to ignore such a significant part of the core experience.

 

[Gragt]

Let's say that Dragon Commander surprised me a lot and appears to be much more than a RTS.

 

[Mangoose]

Wait. I just realized... You'll probably be able to romance yourself, if you play single player.

 

[evdk]

Huh, that's not the impression I got. Vincke said they made it even more of a RTS and it seems unlikely to me that one would be able to ignore such a significant part of the core experience.

Now if only somebody here actually played that game... oh wait.

 

[Roguey]

Huh, that's not the impression I got. Vincke said they made it even more of a RTS and it seems unlikely to me that one would be able to ignore such a significant part of the core experience.

Now if only somebody here actually played that game... oh wait.

He didn't play the entire thing.

 

[evdk]

Still probably more informative than cyberstalking and inference.

 

[Tigranes]

I love the Sim/Manage-y aspects of Dragon Commander but am still skeptical that Larian can into RTS, and in particular, the terrible, boring dragon combat in Div2 turned into anything enjoyable. I like Larian too much to write it off though, looking forward to Gragt's preview.

 

[MicoSelva]

I already asked them if they plan to include physical tiers in PayPal donations (only digital ones are available right now). Waiting for the response.

Please let me know when you have a reply. tnx!

This is Swen's reply:

Paypal/physical = big mess. We're having a meeting about it tomorrow to see what we can do.

Sorry about not being able to give you a more decent reply,

I imagine he must be barely making it these days. I wonder how much sleep he's getting.
EDIT: The tomorrow he mentions is today, BTW.

Another EDIT: It seems that reaching the initial goal / Obsidian FB mention / linux&mac support provided a minor spike. Let's hope it stays this way.

 

[:Flash:]

I love the Sim/Manage-y aspects of Dragon Commander but am still skeptical that Larian can into RTS, and in particular, the terrible, boring dragon combat in Div2 turned into anything enjoyable. I like Larian too much to write it off though, looking forward to Gragt's preview.

Larian's first game was an RTS (The L.E.D. Wars). It was mainly played in multiplayer mode back then. I think I'm one of the few people who have a physical copy of that game.
Swen even once mentioned that he was developing an RTS before Dune 2, but then scrapped it because he thought nobody would be interested in it.

 

[MicoSelva]

Wait. I just realized... You'll probably be able to romance yourself, if you play single player.

Yeah, and this apparenly includes bromacing yourself, if you have two guys in your party.

Maybe I should go with a dual-female setup and call the girls Xena and Gabrielle.