KickStarter Underworld Ascendant is a disaster

[Cael]

>UA is a disaster
>58 pages

Disasters are fascinating ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

There are reasons why people cannot look away from slow motion trainwrecks...

 

[Doctor Sbaitso]

When it arrives, I will make a video of an unopened Special Backer Collector Edition box burning in the fireplace.

I also have an unopened Kickstarter Backer Special Collector Edition of Tides of Numenera. Maybe I will make a special Codex Edition Kickstarter Shit RPG box burning meme double feature.

I will require a special one-time Brofist harvesting license.

 

[Infinitron]

https://otherside-e.com/wp/update-2-ks-update-february-2019/

Update 2 & KS Update (February 2019)

Hi everyone,

We recently launched Update 2 for Underworld Ascendant!

We have focused our efforts on the overall structure of the Abyss, the player journey, AI and other gameplay improvements. We believe these changes will improve the overall player experience, especially when starting a new game. The Grand Staircase now connects all of the levels, combat and AI has been improved again.

To read the full list of Update 2 changes, check out our post here on Steam.

For Kickstarter backers, we also bring an update to our rewards production schedule!

We have been focusing the majority of our attention to work on Update 2 and bringing Underworld Ascendant to consoles. As always, you can track the live status of all KS rewards here.

We are currently projecting to have the physical goods (figurines, art books, final hardcover novella editions, collector’s edition, etc) shipped by early summer of this year. Many assets are near completion or need a final review, and any digital rewards such as the soundtrack, Little Friends Claw Knuckles, and digital version of the Tracy Hickman novella, will be rolled out upon completion.

Speaking of Tracy’s novella, the manuscript is now complete. We’re now laying it out for printing. Here is a sneak peek at the covers for the novel, split into two parts:

When we have more to share, we will post another update as soon as possible.

Cheers,The OtherSide Team

 

[MasterLobar]

Another take from the OS forum I disagree with:

I think six months early access would have ironed out this entire experience, and led to less negative bickering that hurt sales in the long run on Steam.

https://www.othersideentertainment.com/forum/index.php?topic=8580.msg38840#msg38840

For the sake of the argument, let's assume they had delayed the release and it was a functioning game with most bugs fixed.

The game would still be little more than a collection of meaningless fetch quests. It would still be skeletons, skeletons, skeletons, from start to finish - one type of enemy throughout the entire game. It would still have the most unimaginative Super-Mario-meets-Sesame-Street type of story one could think of. Big Evil's name would still have been plagiarized from Prey - no clue why they don't get sued for that. The Saurians would still 'look like cheap plastic dinosaurs and sound like stoned new age hippies.' It would still have perhaps the ugliest inventory/trade interface in the history of RPGs with the same cartoonish symbols for all items in every category, from dagger to broadsword. The 'horrible voiceovers shouting inane nonsense at you' ("I will not hold your hand") would still break the little sense of immersion in the game. The storytelling by a mixture of graffiti, a floating mask, an Obi Wan-like figure and NPCs who repeat the same lines over and over again would still be ridiculous. The AI would still be brain-dead. Although the world is going to end imminently, the factions would still be reluctant to share their abyssal key unless you complete nonsensical missions for them. I could go on and on and on...

*Quotes from Techraptor, RPS.

The main problem of this game isn't the bugs and the unfinished state. That could be fixed. The problem is (almost) everything else.

 

[Space Nugget]

Another take from the OS forum I disagree with:

I think six months early access would have ironed out this entire experience, and led to less negative bickering that hurt sales in the long run on Steam.

https://www.othersideentertainment.com/forum/index.php?topic=8580.msg38840#msg38840

For the sake of the argument, let's assume they had delayed the release and it was a functioning game with most bugs fixed.

The game would still be little more than a collection of meaningless fetch quests. It would still be skeletons, skeletons, skeletons, from start to finish - one type of enemy throughout the entire game. It would still have the most unimaginative Super-Mario-meets-Sesame-Street type of story one could think of. Big Evil's name would still have been plagiarized from Prey - no clue why they don't get sued for that. The Saurians would still 'look like cheap plastic dinosaurs and sound like stoned new age hippies.' It would still have perhaps the ugliest inventory/trade interface in the history of RPGs with the same cartoonish symbols for all items in every category, from dagger to broadsword. The 'horrible voiceovers shouting inane nonsense at you' ("I will not hold your hand") would still break the little sense of immersion in the game. The storytelling by a mixture of graffiti, a floating mask, an Obi Wan-like figure and NPCs who repeat the same lines over and over again would still be ridiculous. The AI would still be brain-dead. Although the world is going to end imminently, the factions would still be reluctant to share their abyssal key unless you complete nonsensical missions for them. I could go on and on and on...

*Quotes from Techraptor, RPS.

The main problem of this game isn't the bugs and the unfinished state. That could be fixed. The problem is (almost) everything else.

Couldn't have said it better myself.

 

[Nyast]

I still haven't figured out if a "professional artist" worked on their UI, or if it was programmer's art that was left in the release.

 

[LESS T_T]

I still haven't figured out if a "professional artist" worked on their UI, or if it was programmer's art that was left in the release.

https://www.artstation.com/artwork/9e8wLv

Underworld Ascendant
UI/UX. Quest stats and UI assets. Font was provided by client. They requested a minimal “wireframe-like” aesthetic that didn’t stray too far from their existing UI, so I used ink lines.

Player inventory and health/mana status.

Rune Wheel UI

General UI. Font was provided by client. They requested a minimal “wireframe-like” aesthetic that didn’t stray too far from their existing UI, so I used ink lines.

 

[Viata]

I wish it was programmer's art, I could accept how bad it is.

 

[agentorange]

This is a problem with using freelance artists who are completely detached from the rest of the creative design process of the game. That UI could be used in any thousand of others games and no one would notice because it is so generic. I mean shit why even bother hiring someone for this, I'm sure there exist royalty free UI asset packs that would be just as good--or not good. Then again the design process for Ascendant seemed to be randomly smashing together assets that were cobbled together at the last minute so it would have been garbage either way, but at least you can aspire for unique garbage.

 

[Viata]

Then again the design process for Ascendant seemed to be randomly smashing together assets that were cobbled together at the last minute so it would have been garbage either way, but at least you can aspire for unique garbage.

The whole game is randomized, man. The whole thing, in fact. I'm pretty sure every person on the team was randomly selected to do something during the game development.

Who would think even the assets were randomly selected? Talk about being true to its design.

 

[Glic2000]

Yeah, I really don't think UA is an example of a very talented team that was rushed to finish their project. It's the result of a team that was both in a rush to finish, and also had no talent/skills. Having all the time in the world isn't helpful if you just have poor taste, or you have no idea what you're doing.

 

[luj1]

I can remember Infinitron shilling HARD for this game. Hilarious

 

[Sacred82]

I can remember Infinitron shilling HARD for this game.

surely such a thing has never happened

 

[Gord]

Infinitron actually lost faith in it much earlier than many others here (myself included).

 

[Sacred82]

you gotta know when the winds are changing if you truly want to master the way of Shill-Fu

 

[luj1]

Infinitron actually lost faith in it much earlier than many others here (myself included).

the staff was so high on this crock of shit it was embarrassing. bums

 

[udm]

They couldn't even get the volume for a fucking Youtube video right.

 

[Bastardchops]

Fucking Capitalism ruining everything.

Just think of all the great games communism produced! All I can think of is Tetris.

I stand corrected.

 

[BEvers]

 

[Nyast]

That makes no sense. A week ago they said Update 3 would be the last one, besides minor patches and bug fixes.

 

[MasterLobar]

Now it seems Update 3 will be just bug fixing and then new content in Update 4 *if* they don't have to pay out of pocket, which everyone knows they have to (UA is far from making any profit), so it is not going to happen, so it will be bug fixing only.

I think this is just to give the impression that they are still doing something with regard to UA as long as they are trying to find a new publisher for SS3 and after it becomes clear in the coming weeks that they won't find one, they are going to bury UA and the studio will go out of business.

My bet: OS is dead by mid-year.

 

[toro]

My bet: OS is dead by mid-year.

Let's hope so.

 

[Space Nugget]

Is it possible OtherSide screwed the Starbreeze deal by "borrowing" SS3 funds to UA?

 

[Glic2000]

So they could fund two bad games instead of one?

 

[Space Nugget]

So they could fund two bad games instead of one?

To keep UA going long enough for the release.