KickStarter Underworld Ascendant is a disaster

[rusty_shackleford]

The reason it's not getting anymore patches is because they're working on SS3 full-time now

 

[Viata]

The hype train is going straight to the wall.

 

[Luka-boy]

 

[Steamboat Willie]

So much hype that Otherside's forums haven't had a SS3 comment made in well over a month (there was one 9 days ago but it was from a spam bot).

https://forums.otherside-e.com/c/system-shock-3

 

[Terenty]

Finally Warren Spector will save the immersive sim genre from stagnation

 

[Silentstorm]

Gotta love a developer that did such a bad game and handled it so poorly that people aren't caring about a new entry to a cult series with two great games in it, i mean, more people cared about Bubsy of all things coming back.

 

[Child of Malkav]

This game and Fallout 76. Absolute disasters. Unthinkable. I didn't believe that I was going to witness this. These will go into myths/legends territory, of games so bad that no one will believe it when told. At this point I......can this get any worse?

 

[TheImplodingVoice]

Today's good laugh: https://forums.otherside-e.com/t/ps4-issues-in-detail/10108

As I said, there are things that I like, such as the level design and general atmosphere. I hope that the bugs can be dealt with and gameplay issues resolved. In all honesty the game shouldn’t have been released on the PS4 as it is and I’m surprised it passed certification. However, I am prepared to give it another shot.

It should not have been released on any platform whatsoever

 

[MasterLobar]

will you buy SS3 lobar?

I won't get a chance. OS will be out of business by August.

 

[Nyast]

Allright, I sacrificed myself for the codex, and replayed that thing. Just finished the game.

Ask me anything.

 

[Doctor Sbaitso]

Not the carcass to gloat over IMO, though fetid it may be.

 

[Efe]

Ask me anything.

how many bugs in 1 playthrough?
on a scale of 1 to 10 how much did you enjoy it?
do you think lobar is right in his crusade?

 

[Nyast]

Ask me anything.

how many bugs in 1 playthrough?
on a scale of 1 to 10 how much did you enjoy it?
do you think lobar is right in his crusade?

Bugs: the game still feels clanky, especially in staircases / slopes going up. Bunny hoping helps. Some small obstacles still mess up your character's ability to move forward. The AI can still be broken with ragdolls creating hilarious moments ( you hit a skeleton and it suddenly goes flying head-on into the ceiling ). The main difference between Update 4 and the original release, is that most of these bugs are not game-breaking anymore. Some are midly annoying, but overall the game works. I finished it, while I wasn't able to finish it 8 months ago ( quests were broken, objectives not marked on the map, changing the water level simply broke levels, etc.. ). I haven't seen any of these big bugs any more.

Design-wise, there's been massive improvements. My #1 issue in the original release was that the dungeon didn't feel interconnected. But now they added proper connections between the levels, even though the "grand staircase" isn't worthy of its name. Special mention to the loading times that went from 3-5 minutes per level, down to ~10 seconds now. This helps a lot in terms of immersion when you're travelling between levels. You now feel like the dungeon is a proper interconnected dungeon. They also revamped level design in a lot of places, and most of what I've seen is a definitive improvement. Saving seems to work.

They added NPCs into the levels, but the design stays simplistic. They all correspond to optional quests. They all follow the same pattern: 1) Get a materia core to drop the water level; 2) Get into a cave / door which otherwise wasn't accessible below the water level; 3) Solve a mini puzzle ( laughably easy ), 4) Free the NPC, which will give you a bonus ( spell runes, hints to loot, access to a new ship, etc.. ). They never deviate from that pattern as far as I could see. Lost opportunity and very lazy. Feels like they added NPCs just to add a check on a feature list.

They added variations to the monsters. The bellum is a beast-like creature with lots of teeth. It's a lot more agressive and faster than the slow skeletons and can outrun you. One variant is invisible, which actually makes it the creepiest / most dangerous foe of the game. Especially when fighting in the dark ( they never fixed the ability to carry the game with a weapon at the same time, so when you draw your weapon.. you're fighting in the dark. Retarded ). They also added a more dangerous variation of the skeleton, with red eyes, which can poison you. Overall, the bestiary is limited, just a bit less than last year.

They also did some work on the loot, which is a bit better now. By the end game I eventually reached magical weapons, which were sometimes more exciting than another "pristine mace" or "pristine boots". Unfortunately, it's still very far from being in a good spot. From what I can see, they added a lot more random items, like new types of food with various effects ( that's one part of the game I actually like, food is unknown at first and you need to taste it one or multiple times, to figure out the effects ).

The RPG elements are still very lite, feats are still there ( as the only way to level up and get abilities, totally retarded, because the more you specialize your character, the less feats you're able to accomplish, so in a way specializing your character punishes you ).

They streamlined the interface, but again, it's not exactly an achievement considering how it was at release.

So overall, the game's massively improved, there's no doubt about it, both technically and design wise. So the good news is that it went from a 2 out of 10 ( at release ) to, maybe, a 5 out of 10. It went from a trainwreck to a mediocre game. And no, it's still not a proper Ultima Underworld sequel.

I might recommend it for the exploration part ( some of the level design is pretty cool ) and only at a very light price, like less than 10 dollars, if you're looking for a dungeon crawler with level design a bit more interesting than what you typically find in other games. And of course, keep your expectations low.

As for Lobar, considering Otherwise's dishonnesty and betrayal of its backers, I can't blame him, although his opinions are on the extreme side.

 

[Katana1000S]

Otherside staff should be jailed for their lies and deceit, 10 years each minimum would be appropriate and deter other software developers from doing what they did.

 

[MasterLobar]

As for Lobar, considering Otherwise's dishonnesty and betrayal of its backers, I can't blame him, although his opinions are on the extreme side.

I am actually stating very few opinions here. Most of my posts is just facts.

 

[Gord]

Out of curiosity, I've played a bit of Update 4. My experience mostly mirrors Nyast's, although I've played much less - just the intro, Marcaul and first level of the abyss.
Technically they have indeed improved a lot. It's much smoother now - although movement still feels floaty and clunky at times, esp. when doing any physics-related stuff (e.g. carrying and stacking crates, coliding with things).
For what it's worth, it was pretty stable so far (but I didn't have that many issues with crashes since update 2 anyway) - of course it might still start crashing like MasterLobars sanity after he first played UA at any time, but so far it's fine on that front.
What they are still lacking is any meaningful content though, esp. if you would consider it an Underworld game (which you probably shouldn't given that it's lacking almost anything that made the Underworlds great).

 

[MasterLobar]

Devastating player review of the PS4 version.

Worst of all, they still seem to be unable to bring enemy combat AI to an acceptable level.

"Nothing works. I would wager 98% of all enemies would completely ignore you if you just run past them [...] If you walk past and give them time to react they still don’t react. Thousands of times I made noise and they didn’t react. You don’t actually know if you are doing anything correctly. You may have just pulled off a perfectly ghosted mission but maybe the enemies cannot see you at all. Who knows? Well I have an idea, I will run up to the enemy, jump up and down in front of them, throw boxes at their feet, light the boxes on fire with the only important spell the game fireball and the enemy will not only not see me but it will stand there and burn to death without reacting. Every creature will stand there and burn to death without reacting." (includes omissions)

https://forums.otherside-e.com/t/i-finished-the-game-on-ps4/10114

Also notes major performance issues.

"The most fun I had was breaking the game by lighting things on fire. You give us big fire set pieces and if you light them the game can’t handle it and crashes. I remember seeing the bridge in the final level. Setting it on fire and having an instant reload when you die means you are trapped in a slide show of about 3 frames per second and even if you die you are returning to the slide show." (includes omissions)

And some of the most avoidable lapses one could think of (after 7 months!)

"Multiple weapons have jargon like unity.object as item descriptions."

In the end, the reviewer speculates, that OS QA staff tried to sabotage the release.

I think that's unlikely, it's more likely they just used the cheapest and most incompetent external QA provider they could find to bring the game to a minimal state that satisfies their contractual obligations, so they can throw it over the fence and tell 505 to f**k off.

 

[Rahdulan]

OS officially abandons the game. Only hotfixes from now on.

https://steamcommunity.com/app/692840/discussions/0/1644292549024972820/#c1640915206465908060

https://steamcommunity.com/app/692840/discussions/0/1640915206446662909/#c1640915206465930384

Now I know for sure it's coming to Humble Monthly.

 

[Infinitron]

https://otherside-e.com/wp/update-4-on-pc-ps4-xbox-one-release-ks-update-july-2019/

Update 4 on PC, PS4 & XBox One Release, KS Update [July 2019]

Hello everyone,

Update 4 is now live for Underworld Ascendant on Steam for PC!

This update includes new NPCs, new monsters, bug fixes and performance improvements, and additional content for UA. You can read the full build notes here on Steam.

We also launched a hotfix for Update 4 on PC that is also live now! Hotfix notes here.

In addition to Update 4’s launch, Underworld Ascendant is now available on PS4 and Xbox One!

Watch the updated console trailer here:

Note that we are working on a hotfix for community-flagged issues in the next few weeks. The hotfix will most likely launch on PS4 and Xbox around the same time.

For Kickstarter goods, we are still on track to begin the physical shipment of goods in the next few weeks. You can track the status of all rewards here.

Additional Kickstarter content, such as certain digital rewards, will continue to be rolled out when they are ready. This includes the Game Art portfolio, the Making of DVD, and the Game Manual.

To access your currently available digital rewards, remember to log into BackerKit with your Kickstarter credentials to access your Digital Downloads for your Steam keys. If you are having issues logging into your BackerKit, please contact us at support@otherside-e.com.

Our next step is finishing up our Mac and Linux ports for our backers and for general release. The Mac and Linux versions will contain all of the improvements brought from Update 4. We have been working closely with our external porter while we made adjustments to Update 4 to make sure we stayed on track for our PC and console releases.

When we have more to share, we will post another update. If you want to check in on our progress on a weekly basis, feel free to join us on our new forums and skim through our Weekly Updates.

Cheers,

The OtherSide Team

 

[Yosharian]

Looks like the beta is coming along ok, when does the game release?

 

[glass blackbird]

Devastating player review of the PS4 version.

Worst of all, they still seem to be unable to bring enemy combat AI to an acceptable level.

"Nothing works. I would wager 98% of all enemies would completely ignore you if you just run past them [...] If you walk past and give them time to react they still don’t react. Thousands of times I made noise and they didn’t react. You don’t actually know if you are doing anything correctly. You may have just pulled off a perfectly ghosted mission but maybe the enemies cannot see you at all. Who knows? Well I have an idea, I will run up to the enemy, jump up and down in front of them, throw boxes at their feet, light the boxes on fire with the only important spell the game fireball and the enemy will not only not see me but it will stand there and burn to death without reacting. Every creature will stand there and burn to death without reacting." (includes omissions)

https://forums.otherside-e.com/t/i-finished-the-game-on-ps4/10114

Also notes major performance issues.

"The most fun I had was breaking the game by lighting things on fire. You give us big fire set pieces and if you light them the game can’t handle it and crashes. I remember seeing the bridge in the final level. Setting it on fire and having an instant reload when you die means you are trapped in a slide show of about 3 frames per second and even if you die you are returning to the slide show." (includes omissions)

And some of the most avoidable lapses one could think of (after 7 months!)

"Multiple weapons have jargon like unity.object as item descriptions."

In the end, the reviewer speculates, that OS QA staff tried to sabotage the release.

I think that's unlikely, it's more likely they just used the cheapest and most incompetent external QA provider they could find to bring the game to a minimal state that satisfies their contractual obligations, so they can throw it over the fence and tell 505 to f**k off.

My friends who have done QA always point out that it's up to the devs to actually care and fix the bugs they report. People blame testers for not noticing stuff and games being broken, but if there's something as obvious as the text straight up being missing from a game then you can be 99% sure it got reported and the higher ups said to ship it anyway

 

[BEvers]

Morning everyone! This one’s a bit long, but I think it’s worth a conversation.

I started to write this response to jtr7 in a different thread, but I think it’s worthy of its own thread.

All of the company’s decisions regarding updates and hotfixes has been to “improve the game; no steps back.” I think the biggest oversight occurred when we launched Update 3 and discovered that due to a lack of resources to QA across multiple systems, we were blindsided by bugs and crashes that pushed us back. We underestimated the coverage we needed, and we were determined to right this for Update 4.

Since Update 3 and our work on console, there were multiple external teams assisting us with QA, porting, and engineering work, which is now unavailable. We’re currently piecing together all of this work internally to make sure we didn’t miss some changes, but the pipeline normally placed the PC version slightly ahead of PS4 and Xbox, including PC’s live hotfix. We squeezed in as much as we could for the PS4 and Xbox deadlines, and any small updates that we managed to slide in for Update 4 on PC at the last minute may not have made it into those builds.

In that respect, I understand the marketing around PS4 and Xbox One was misleading to say that it contained the full Update 4 experience. That is my fault; I should have verified with the team after receiving the copy.

I would like to thank everyone who has continued to submit PS4 / Xbox One / PC bugs for UA.

We are still working on a PS4 and Xbox One hotfix that will update the games to include all of the PC Update 4 content, including the recent hotfix we pushed. We’ll be testing a PS4 hotfix candidate this week, in fact. I’m also logging any immediate issues related to PC in case we can squeeze in another hotfix. I’ll need to check in with Mac and Linux again, since I believe we were ready to start testing either this week or the next, based on the update we received last week. Mac and Linux playtesters will receive an email if this is the case.

Lastly, I know we’ve been pretty quiet across all socials, but I’ve mentioned resources a couple of times. The budget for UA is nearing its end, which will also mean the work on this project. Funding for the studio and our other two projects is now a big priority.

On the Kickstarter front, I’m personally handling and making the last of the digital assets that are necessary for the physical swag. I’m working on cutting the footage for the Making of DVD right now, and then I just need to format the Game Manual (it’s fully written, just needs the flourishes and formatting properly for a booklet).

Boxes and swag can’t go out until we have those digitally, since Fangamer will need to print. I’m also crossing my fingers that I’ll be able to finish the DVD and Game Manual by the time the Mac and Linux ports are available, since those versions will be printed on the physical discs, depending on what you selected for your reward. ALL the other physical goods are done / waiting to be printed. (I made the console trailer for UA, the Art Portfolio, formatted most of the Tracy Hickman novel with some community assistance, and co-wrote most of the Game Manual while the team has been working on updates, for those of you curious.)

Anyways. Bit of a long post, but I just want to be honest and give a little more insight to how the studio has been handling UA work. I appreciate all of you who I’ve come to know over the last two years since I was hired (!) and those of you who are new and just getting to know me.

https://forums.otherside-e.com/t/july-8-2019-weekly-update-ps4-xbox-one-hotfix-ks-update

 

[aweigh]

"Nothing works. I would wager 98% of all enemies would completely ignore you if you just run past them [...] If you walk past and give them time to react they still don’t react. Thousands of times I made noise and they didn’t react."

Sounds like Dark Souls.

 

[MasterLobar]

"The budget for UA is nearing its end, which will also mean the work on this project. Funding for the studio and our other two projects is now a big priority."

So they finally confirm what is apparent to everyone: Not only SS3, but the studio as a whole is in deep financial trouble. The money from the $3.5 million series A stock sale last August has been burned through and they have no other sources of funding.

Also, as we all know there is no publisher or budget for the mystery unannounced project the Boston office is supposed to work on after UA.

The Boston office will be shut down imminently and Otherside as a company will follow closely after that.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

I can't wait for SS3!