KickStarter Underworld Ascendant Pre-Release Thread

[Curratum]

this_joke_isnt_funny_anymore.mp4

right back at ya, mate.

 

[BEvers]

https://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/9rbn0x/we_are_paul_neurath_warren_spector_and_the_dev/

"Underworld Ascendant Question: How can any developer let alone Otherside Entertainment justify failing to include dialogue in an rpg of Ascendant's heritage? (Roland of Yew)"

JOE: With the scope and budget of an indie game, it’s important to make the right choices about where you’re going to focus your team’s time and energies. We can’t out-produce a lot of our competition in the field, who commonly have teams of 300 or more people these days, as opposed to our 14. That led us to decisions like bearing down on a constantly evolving environment, where you have new challenges and opportunities every time you visit an area… which we saw as an opportunity because games with a much large footprint often feel pretty static.

For our narrative, we made a conscious choice from the start not to do dialogue trees, instead experimental with a reactive narrative where the characters react to your actions and choices in the game. (Again, we saw that as an opportunity because in many games, you might go off and do something epic like become the head of an assassin’s guild, then have an NPC whisper to you, “You should think about joining the assassin’s guild.”) I’m working now to refine how those systems are working.

That all said, narrative is an area where we can expand and grow more in the future.

TIM: Remember that the very first thing we did at LookingGlass after Ultima Underworld 2 was to make a game where all the NPCs were dead so you didn’t have to talk to them. And we, at least, regarded System Shock as an RPG. Structurally (if not in _tone_), it’s not all that different from, say, the Zelda games, with character progression coming in the form of inventory upgrades, and lore in smaller snippets.

 

[BEvers]

"Assuming sales are enough to support continued operations, what's OtherSide's strategic plan to distinguish itself in the game industry?"

WALTER: Our studio’s vision is to pursue the art of Immersive Sims by pushing them deeper in the amount and type of simulations as well as how much you can interact within the worlds we create. Video games are obviously a highly interactive medium and we feel like as an industry, that aspect can be pushed much further. We want players to have the emergent experiences that our type of game does a good job enabling. We want our games to encourage open-ended, unboxed gameplay, leaving it in the hands of the player to chose how to overcome a challenge as opposed to figuring out the solution that the designer wants them to find. Last, we want our players to want to share those experiences with others, whether through streaming or videos, through “water-cooler” moments where they tell others, or in the long run through co-op play and actually experiencing those moments with others.

 

[Eggs is eggs]

Wait, what? There's no dialogue? How much stuff have they cut from the game?

 

[Unkillable Cat]

I think I've never been as disapointed by a game as much in my entire life.

This is ULTIMA UNDERWORLD. A classic.

Made by its original designers.

What. The. Fuck. Happened.

We wanted Ultima Underworld 3.

We got Ultima 9. Again. If you were there when Ultima 9 got released, you would not be saying the words you just said. This is bad, but not Ultima 9 'bad'.

I'm disappointed to see that they're trying a 'cut and run' job here with the game, but the absolute worst thing I see about the game now is this:

JOE: For our narrative, we made a conscious choice from the start not to do dialogue trees, instead experimental with a reactive narrative where the characters react to your actions and choices in the game.

TIM: Remember that the very first thing we did at LookingGlass after Ultima Underworld 2 was to make a game where all the NPCs were dead so you didn’t have to talk to them. And we, at least, regarded System Shock as an RPG.

They've had close to 25 years to realize that their design decision regarding System Shock was a bad one. Sure, it's a neat idea, but only in the narrowest of contexts. It requires a game's exposition flow to bend over backwards to accomodate the style.

The only reason it hasn't been promptly murdered and left behind in a dark alleyway in the 1990s is because it just so happens that it's a super-cheap and easy method to get exposition to the player... meaning it got snapped up by the gaming industry who have been pushing it ever since.

 

[BEvers]

Could the devs be lying about "no dialogue" in order to surprise people?

Re: You Might Want To Read This

Knowing this team, and the way they have conducted themselves thus far, this seems like another case where they are playing their cards to their chest.

Knowing these guys, I wouldnt be surprised if they invented a whole new way of interacting with inhabitants of a game world. Personally, as much as I like the trees from the old games, Thief proved to me that you could do more.

If you look at everything they have said about this topic in a different light, you can see that they consistently hint at wanting to create something new and better. Once again, with dialogue in this game, I believe there is more than meets the eye. We shall see!

As long as the recorded lines are all classic and memorable, good to go! You gotta figure, if you plan on playing something hundreds of times, you want it to be competent!

 

[Safav Hamon]

What's the price going to be?

 

[Curratum]

Not-free, which means overpriced.

 

[Siveon]

I already backed it, so my sin is set in stone.

 

[RatTower]

iirc it was mentioned in a newsletter somewhere that the game will be 30 dollar.

 

[taxalot]

I wish this came out with modding tools, because this is a serious case of "modders can definitely improve on this".

 

[LESS T_T]

We got Ultima 9. Again. If you were there when Ultima 9 got released, you would not be saying the words you just said. This is bad, but not Ultima 9 'bad'.

To think that this game was originally titled Underworld Ascension...

 

[Morgoth]

This is just getting worsebetter...

 

[agris]

300 people for dialogue trees!

 

[Shaewaroz]

Glad to see that in recent gameplay videos this game doesn't look as vomit-inducingly bad as it did in the earlier builds. Now it merely looks like Arx Fatalis' retarded cousin.

 

[Curratum]

You must have watched different vids than I, brother. All I saw was braindead AI, bugs and visual artifacts every 10 feet.

 

[Shaewaroz]

You must have watched different vids than I, brother. All I saw was braindead AI, bugs and visual artifacts every 10 feet.

I meant only graphics.

 

[Nyast]

They said they fixed most of the visual artifacts / glitches already.

But not a word about the dumb AI or janky physics.

 

[BEvers]

LIMITED TIME PURCHASE OFFER - BUY WEEK 1 & RECEIVE BONUS ITEMS*:
2 Quest Companion Creatures:
• Vorpa: A herbivore that appears mild-mannered, but will launch itself at those nearby who are at extremely low health
• Mana Leech: It absorbs Mana in the world and when the player is low, it "fires" its reserve amount at the player

Map of The Stygian Abyss:
Digital map of the iconic Stygian Abyss that you'll be exploring in-game

*Offer Valid 11/15/18 - 11/21/18

 

[Doctor Sbaitso]

They may need to up the offer to include fellatio.

 

[Morgoth]

Skimmed through some beta footage and it's running between 35-50 fps on a GTX 1070. This is unacceptable.

 

[Darth Slaughter]

I think I've never been as disapointed by a game as much in my entire life.

This is ULTIMA UNDERWORLD. A classic.

Made by its original designers.

What. The. Fuck. Happened.

We wanted Ultima Underworld 3.

We got Ultima 9. Again. If you were there when Ultima 9 got released, you would not be saying the words you just said. This is bad, but not Ultima 9 'bad'.

I'm disappointed to see that they're trying a 'cut and run' job here with the game, but the absolute worst thing I see about the game now is this:

JOE: For our narrative, we made a conscious choice from the start not to do dialogue trees, instead experimental with a reactive narrative where the characters react to your actions and choices in the game.

TIM: Remember that the very first thing we did at LookingGlass after Ultima Underworld 2 was to make a game where all the NPCs were dead so you didn’t have to talk to them. And we, at least, regarded System Shock as an RPG.

They've had close to 25 years to realize that their design decision regarding System Shock was a bad one. Sure, it's a neat idea, but only in the narrowest of contexts. It requires a game's exposition flow to bend over backwards to accomodate the style.

The only reason it hasn't been promptly murdered and left behind in a dark alleyway in the 1990s is because it just so happens that it's a super-cheap and easy method to get exposition to the player... meaning it got snapped up by the gaming industry who have been pushing it ever since.

I few your fear of audiolog sindrome disturbing...

 

[Unkillable Cat]

I few your fear of audiolog sindrome disturbing...

I got a reply to my expression of disappointment over Otherside's firstborn product. I wonder what it says?

... wat. What is that? Is that huehue drunk again? Looks that way, because a 'Bad Spelling'-rating wouldn't do that justice. How do I even respond to something like that? I can't even tell if he's serious. Obviously there's some jest involved because I've brought up this topic numerous times before in relation to old LookingGlass games, but it's grown worse than that now. It's no longer confined to fan-made mods, full commercial games are doing it too now. Like how Grim Dawn has that diary written by a woman where following an apocalyptic event she chronicles her own descent into madness, depravity, murder and finally cannibalism, as she starts using her own daughter as bait for lonely, desperate men. The diary then ends on an entry where she talks about whether she or her daughter has a higher kill count. Games like Vaporum and Subnautica are doing this too, and that's just the games I've played recently. But gamers are so stupid nowadays that they don't care anymore, let alone notice.

Argh, I need a drink after reading this. Where did I put my beer again? Oh yes, it's in the mini-cooler underneath the router. Better go grab one now.

...

Aah. Much better.

Hmm, better not leave this lying around someplace where others might read it, things could get kinda awkward otherwise.

---

The above text is written in Audiolog Syndrome-format. I hope you all see now why I find it despicable, distasteful and demeaning to the reader.

 

[Darth Slaughter]

I few your fear of audiolog sindrome disturbing...

I got a reply to my expression of disappointment over Otherside's firstborn product. I wonder what it says?

... wat. What is that? Is that huehue drunk again? Looks that way, because a 'Bad Spelling'-rating wouldn't do that justice. How do I even respond to something like that? I can't even tell if he's serious. Obviously there's some jest involved because I've brought up this topic numerous times before in relation to old LookingGlass games, but it's grown worse than that now. It's no longer confined to fan-made mods, full commercial games are doing it too now. Like how Grim Dawn has that diary written by a woman where following an apocalyptic event she chronicles her own descent into madness, depravity, murder and finally cannibalism, as she starts using her own daughter as bait for lonely, desperate men. The diary then ends on an entry where she talks about whether she or her daughter has a higher kill count. Games like Vaporum and Subnautica are doing this too, and that's just the games I've played recently. But gamers are so stupid nowadays that they don't care anymore, let alone notice.

Argh, I need a drink after reading this. Where did I put my beer again? Oh yes, it's in the mini-cooler underneath the router. Better go grab one now.

...

Aah. Much better.

Hmm, better not leave this lying around someplace where others might read it, things could get kinda awkward otherwise.

---

The above text is written in Audiolog Syndrome-format. I hope you all see now why I find it despicable, distasteful and demeaning to the reader.

Yes... I was drunk... and sleepy. Anyway, be prepared because the text logs are now grafittis, fully textured, in english and in lizard language.

By the way... I played a little of the beta... and it's okayish. It actually feels more like thief than ultima underworld. But there's still too much emptiness, like whole areas with no enemy AI. I didn't care too much for the AI because I mostly ghosted around them. I haven't tried any interactions with skeletons/lizards to evaluate their behavior, but it was very easy to avoid their path routines.

I was kind of impressed by the performance, since bard's tale 4 has some annoying freezing and stutter problems on my system, and it's a full released game. UA runs much more smoothly. I really dig the art direction of the levels assets and level design, but the monsters.... ugh. The pitch black areas are really nice though, as it can bring that claustrophobic feeling. Unkillable Cat mentioned subnautica, and I can see similarities in the art style.

I felt the previous alpha releases very boring, but I liked this new one a bit more, it actually made feel they have at least something.

 

[Azazel]

I wish this came out with modding tools, because this is a serious case of "modders can definitely improve on this".

It's built in fucking Unity.