Game News Torment: Tides of Numenera Released

[Hellion]

It's obviously true, though. Ragequit's review is Greece's way of trying to get back at the westerners for stopping the flow of free moneyz.

And we would have made it too, if it wasn't for those meddling Codexers.

 

[Licaon_Kter]

Gaming Masters review

Pros
Lots of content

Cons
Overwhelming amount of text

 

[deranged]

This pretty decent youtuber doesn't really like it. 'Good but not great, specific set of problems and disappointments too big to overlook in every single department.' Arrr.

Spoiler

Watching his Tyranny review atm, which seems pretty much spot-on.

 

[ArchAngel]

There's your problem. Get a real computer.

I bought it because I'm a programmer and using Terminal is a thousand times better than jury rigging something equivalent on Windows and Linux always gives me weird problems. Last time I tried Linux, I ended up having to write my own I/O scheduler on the kernel.

I'm saving up for a overpowered Windows computer for VR, but since most of my gaming is old cRPG's, I haven't had too much issue with the Macbook as my main platform. I was even able to play Divinity: Original Sin at a reasonable graphical level. But Torment is too much apparently .

Playing PoE at 25 fps is not playing without too much problems. That is shit tier level gaming experience.

 

[cvv]

Played the game for about 2 hrs and I like it so far. Writing is very good, I like the setting and systems seem solid. Can't say how it's gonna go but I was putting off my bed time and now I'm looking forward to play again. That's a good sign but it's till a beginning.

P.S.: Btw haven't read ANYTHING about the game, no previews, no gossip, no Codex threads, going into it completely blind.

 

[Hellion]

Another interesting and quite well-thought-out review I found at "Dark Side of Gaming":

http://www.dsogaming.com/special/reviews/dsogaming-torment-tides-of-numenera-review/

InXile has cut out a great deal of content from the game: planned companions and areas disappeared, a complex focus system that adds flavor and character to customization has been damped down severely, a crafting system has been removed and some localization options have been cancelled. The final release of Torment; Tides of Numenera has been edited severely, leaving out large chunks of organic elements and features. This has always been a part of any iterative development cycle: goals, circumstances and conditions change. In any drawing table, be it for a novel, a movie, a song, a game, you cut things out. Ordinarily, that would not be a problem, but the content missing is noteworthy and, more importantly, tied to many crowdfunding goals. This has created some strong negative feedback and is opening that bad can of worms that no one likes to talk about, crowdfunding and its pitfalls: consumers that feel enabled (or deceived) and creators that have their artistic leeway stifled (or use it to excuse bad resource management).

We will never know what has truly happened but it’s sad to see a very passionate community of gamers being divided and polarized. Among the drama, two factions have formed: skeptics who think that have been somehow cheated and look for shadowy publisher dealings, secret fundings of other projects and evil console conspiracies and romantics who try to look at the whole picture and give inXile the benefit of the doubt. Maybe expectations were set too high, maybe there’s a lesson for all of us in this bizarre tale. Certainly, it’s another red flag for the whole mechanism of crowdfunding, which has to be reevaluated by all parties.

 

[Infinitron]

IGN thinks Obsidian made Tides of Numenera

 

[Infinitron]

Another interesting and quite well-thought-out review I found at "Dark Side of Gaming":

http://www.dsogaming.com/special/reviews/dsogaming-torment-tides-of-numenera-review/

Chris Kouvopoulos

 

[DeepOcean]

Playing it right now, it is really interesting both on good and bad ways, the good ways are that it feels like a Torment game so far, you know like you entering on a tavern and let's say... crazy shit happens like fighting transdimensional entities on your head after getting drunk, lots of stat checks with the effort and Tides system allowing for some interesting interactions. Sagus Cliffs reminds me of Sigil so far and this is a good thing.

The bad part is that you can only choose three classes and there aren't major differences in terms of gameplay from them, you won't see here much of a difference between a Nano and a Glaive as you would see between a mage and a monk on DnD, NumaNuma is really underdeveloped and InXile didn't anything to seriously correct this (however this being an storyfag game, it isn't such a terrible thing). The fights I had so far were uniquely designed what is a good thing.

The other thing I don't like is that the game is too verbose where it didn't need to be, this was sort of a problem on Planescape Torment too but you shouldn't be spending 10 mins reading out of context exposition of past memories to fix a device. It fucks up the flow of the reading on going on so much flashbacks for the most mundane things, on the original Torment, you had flashback memories on rare and important occasions. On NumaNuma, you have descriptive flashbacks at each corner and it is annoying to go back on an out of context past that isn't relevant now at each corner because you needed to fix some device.

Aligern, Callistege and Arritis didn't show up for what they came yet, too soon to make a conclusion about them but I got out of the Mortuary loving Morte and having him on my party all the time, Alligern and Callistege don't have a personality so far, there is alot of static between them but honestly Morte making jokes about the female zombies on the mortuary and you noticing a certain sadness for his condition behind all those jokes was alot more effective. Dunno, maybe I will warm later towards them, there is a whole game to convince me.

Arritis is a quirky companion and a quirky companion can be done extremely well like Morte or really really bad like every single time Bioware tried to make one. Arritis don't annoy me yet but I'm getting worrisome signs.

The story seems alot of epic, dunno where it will go but I hope it isn't the Changing God show with the player on the last seat just reading alot of past backstory of what this guy did. Planescape Torment had a focus on the Nameless one and while the pragmatic encarnation was important, you barely got to know what it did as that was irrelevant, what was important was what you would do, if you would do the same crimes or just redeem all the suffering you caused. The Changing God looks alot like a traditional antagonist so far, dunno if there will be a twist but a good deal of the fun on the original Torment was to uncover YOUR past and not other guy past.

It is fun so far, will keep playing and we will see.

 

[Achiman]

I had a quick go at it this morning before work after it downloaded all night (curse you third world internet) my initial thoughts:
- The splash screen for Inxile sounded like a distorted fart, I don't remember that from Wasteland 2. Is this new?
- Crash-tastic. Game crashed twice in the 1/2 hour I played. Not my favourite crash to desktop, but a new just locks up while loading or in a scene transition. Knew this was going to be buggy at the start though so I can live with that I guess because;
- you can just quicksave pressing f5 after you get control of your character. Am I the only one spergey enough to look at the controls before I start playing?

The actual game, well, they managed (so far) to make PoE models look uglier and it all looks a bit too zoomed in for mine.

Anyway waited 3 years for this shit, so i gotta play it.

 

[Lyre Mors]

Crash-tastic. Game crashed twice in the 1/2 hour I played.

Interesting. I haven't experienced any crashes in the 7 hours I've been playing it. What kind of CPU and GPU do you have?

 

[duanth123]

Why has no one mentioned this laughable shit? I guess red boots DLC was just a good idea in the making.

This reinforced array of dense hide and sturdy plating is forged entirely from your thoughts, given shape by your intent, and it will protect you as you fight the way a glaive does: hand to hand and face to face. The synthetic musculature binds the plating to you even further and increases the strength of every attack, granting 5 Armor, 2 Resistance, and +10% on all attacks.

This silky garment is woven entirely from your thoughts, protecting you as you fight the way a nano does: from afar, using your superior intellect and esoteries. A humming field of energy will increase the connection speed between your brain’s synapses while passively repelling incoming attacks. It grants you 2 Armor, 4 Resistance, and Intellect +1.

 

[Lurker King]

Another interesting and quite well-thought-out review I found at "Dark Side of Gaming":

http://www.dsogaming.com/special/reviews/dsogaming-torment-tides-of-numenera-review/

Chris Kouvopoulos

Some hypotheses:

(a) Greek conspiracy against Fargo, obviously.

(b) Greeks are living on the edge due to the recession.

(c) It's a alt of the same dude that trashed the game in the other review.

(d) Kingcomrade.

 

[Lurker King]

The actual game, well, they managed (so far) to make PoE models look uglier and it all looks a bit too zoomed in for mine.

Yeah, that’s a desperate attempt to make the game look less isometric. The intro is awful. Whoever thought that would attract players should be fired.

The other thing I don't like is that the game is too verbose where it didn't need to be, this was sort of a problem on Planescape Torment too but you shouldn't be spending 10 mins reading out of context exposition of past memories to fix a device.

Read the white text and ignore the rest.

 

[dungeoncrawler]

DAT GREEK REVIEW:

When you consider that Pillars of Eternity, with significantly fewer funds at its budget delivered a gorgeous "audio-visual" combo, Numenera is naked and plain inexcusable.

The game's endings are strictly pre-defined and the choice is given to you via a horribly Mass Effect-esque finale sequence that will have purists frothing at the mouth at the sacrilege. We have an extremely linear, short game that may offer the illusion of three or four different choices when it comes to quest resolution but is actually taking us from point A to point B to point C with surgical precision. Compared to Torment, this is infantile.

The only good things I remember from this game are two very well-written side quests as well as the refreshingly well-conceived NPC character of Rhin, who is truly wasted in this irredeemable fiasco

Someone invite this guy to the Codex. This is some 11/10 outrage.

Wait a minute... does this mean it's not up to par with Age Of Decadence, story-wise and with clever endings? Does this mean I should just do another play-through of Aod, instead of purchasing the brilliant and long-awaited TToN? I'm confused!

 

[Lurker King]

Another interesting and quite well-thought-out review I found at "Dark Side of Gaming":

http://www.dsogaming.com/special/reviews/dsogaming-torment-tides-of-numenera-review/

As the hours go by, this sense of incompleteness slowly begins to pull you away from TToN’s immersion. The much talked Tide system for example, feels half-implemented in the game, like so many other features of Torment: Tides of Numenera. Judging by your reactions and dialogue options, you are assigned Tide points, depending on your idiosyncrasy. These Tides are unseen energies that bind all things in this world and are based on human emotions and characteristics. Blue is for knowledge seekers and sages, Red is for passionate hedonists, Indigo symbolizes justice and the greater good, Gold stands for empathy and compassion and Silver is linked to the chase for power and fame. Based on the two more dominant Tides, your character is marked as a Blue/Red person, a Silver/Indigo, a True Red character, and so forth. But the exact way that this characterization affects actual gameplay options, is mysterious, if non-existent. In some instances, an interaction will require the use of the inner Tides, but this is not evidently tied to the color and the choices you have made. It’s like the game takes all the time to create your individual profile through constant evaluation for no important reason. So while the foundation for an interesting system was indeed laid, it’s like it was left unfinished, sadly not reaching its full potential. This sentiment summarizes Torment: Tides of Numenera.

(...)

The apotheosis of this half-baked impression comes with the choose-your-own-adventure blocks of text that appear plastered on some sketch artwork during flashbacks. This was jaw-dropping at first and one can easily think that it’s some kind of placeholder draft that was forgotten in post-production. If you are a true fan (and especially if you have already participated in the massive crowdfunding project and do not want to admit that maybe you should not have spent 400 dollars to back a nostalgia-capitalizing product) you can find excuses for most of TToN’s faults. But plopping blocks of text and multiple choice menus is inexcusable and unfortunately (for lack of a better word) cheap.

(...)

InXile has cut out a great deal of content from the game: planned companions and areas disappeared, a complex focus system that adds flavor and character to customization has been damped down severely, a crafting system has been removed and some localization options have been cancelled. The final release of Torment; Tides of Numenera has been edited severely, leaving out large chunks of organic elements and features. This has always been a part of any iterative development cycle: goals, circumstances and conditions change. In any drawing table, be it for a novel, a movie, a song, a game, you cut things out. Ordinarily, that would not be a problem, but the content missing is noteworthy and, more importantly, tied to many crowdfunding goals. This has created some strong negative feedback and is opening that bad can of worms that no one likes to talk about, crowdfunding and its pitfalls: consumers that feel enabled (or deceived) and creators that have their artistic leeway stifled (or use it to excuse bad resource management).

(...)

Certainly, it’s another red flag for the whole mechanism of crowdfunding, which has to be reevaluated by all parties.

 

[Tigranes]

"This silky garment is woven entirely from your thought"

Oh boy how old are you, fourteen

 

[MRY]

The Greeks really hate my meres.

Ragequit liked Primordia, though, so I can't help but love 'em. Helps to have a third of your team be a local, I guess.

 

[dunno lah]

Can someone teach me how to switch from Steam key to GOG key in the Torment backer site?

 

[jaelkeiset]

I played for 2 hours... My impression: The reading is indeed tamed. I like it. Sometimes it is taking itself too seriously, but no, it's nothing I will complain about. Feels like if walls of text wouldn't stop me, you need 5 minutes to explore the whole game world
But I enjoy it. Except the fonts, very blurry. There seems to be some infamous unity font problem going on here.

 

[DemonKing]

I tried it for an hour or before bed last night - not really enough to give an opinion other than I'm liking the background graphics big time so far. It will be interesting to see what Obsidian do with POE2 now it's moved to Unity 5.

 

[Shadenuat]

Inifere, his Mere

Ah, so that's who's to "blame" for first complex quest in the game

Spoiler

that can be solved in suboptimal ways and you might never even know it.

 

[MRY]

Yes, I'm totally depressed every time I watch a Let's Play -- people "solve" the Kholn Village Mere without ever going into the cave, blow through the Clerk without ever being subjected to his petty power games, and probably will resolve Inifere without seeing 80% of what's to do with him.

I should petition for an achievement that is unlocked when you read at least 50% of what I wrote for the game. :/

 

[Aenra]

I think Aenra was trying to make a mocking statement about the Codex's journalistic credibility, MRY.

When will you stop putting words in peoples' mouths..? You do it so often, i honestly think you don't even notice it anymore.

No, not at all. Say what you will of me, but i don't think i've ever criticized let alone been unfair towards any of the staff here. My views and stance notwithstanding (against Jews or faggots for example, both of which are mods), i am aware this is a gaming forum and treat it and its members as such; including yourself. As you may recall, when people bitched about things you had not a hand in, i did try and correct them. I kinda like facts; whether they suit me or not.
As to our credibility as a site, i find us well above that of others. If you ever wondered why i only post here, maybe now you know.

Now as to my 'comment', it was exactly what i said it was. Me making fun of someone having taken himself a bit too seriously, writing a one page long diatribe in cock sucking disguised as game praise. Maybe not your idea of a lol moment, but it sure was mine
edit: the 'transparency' part was meant literally, ie posters saying what they really mean (rather than disguing it) and/or people responding to such posts accordingly.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

So anyone invited the Greek to the codex yet?