KickStarter Underworld Ascendant Pre-Release Thread

[BEvers]

More information:

/shrugs

 

[agris]

Damn gog, screening for quality.

 

[LESS T_T]

Wow, even with the publisher (505 Games) involved?

 

[V_K]

GOG has BT4 though, so "screening for quality" doesn't sound very plausible.

 

[AMG]

Apparently, you can't save the game at all when outisde of the hub area. This is a whole another level of "quality", even BT4 doesn't come close. And people were complaining about the saves in THAT game. Oh boy, unless they pull off some serious magic at the 11th hour, reading the steam forums should be quite an experience.
I imagine it will look something like this:

 

[Nyast]

Yeah, the "previewers" that posted articles about the game apparently didn't get the memo that factions were cut. I've been reading the Steam forums in the past few days, the hopes for a cool & fun game are still high there. Most people aren't aware of stuff like the save system, the lack of NPC conversations, factions being cutoff, the teleporters to areas instead of the continuous dungeon and the dozens of features that are missing. It's gonna be interesting the see the reactions, to say the least.

 

[BEvers]

This'll be interesting to follow:

Some true believers were speculating that this was just a scheduling issue on GOG's part, but the CM lady hints at deeper frictions:

 

[Doctor Sbaitso]

When your own Marketing VP communicates in a public forum that GoG curated you off the platform. Walter, that was bad optics friend. Earning that VP title.

 

[getter77]

I can't imagine there's some massive reason why they couldn't just throw up an itch.io page? Even if GoG didn't work out, they could almost certainly accommodate.

 

[Invictus]

This will make Might Number 9 look like Ocarina of Time

 

[Feargus Jewhart]

Wait, even GoG told them that their game is too low quality??
Now that's a feat and probably a first. I have a feeling they contracted the game to a group of five second year Game development students who emailed Paul or Warren about will there be a new Ultima. That would explain why they would even consider Unity for an openworld game with complex save states and dialogue, since that's free and usually pre-installed to universities library computers.

They've all had a good 15 years to come up with a plan on how to not make it shit.

 

[BEvers]

Another last minute change of plans, though I doubt more then a dozen people will care about this one:

Hi folks, just wanted to give you an update on the timing of MAC/Linux builds. We're targeting to release them within 30-45 days from launch on PC. The recent build you've seen obviously needs more work and we want to take the time to do a good job on them. We appreciate your patience. If any of you would be interested in testing interim builds for us, let us know, thanks!

https://www.othersideentertainment.com/forum/index.php?topic=6148.msg35251#msg35251

 

[LESS T_T]

More parrots from Gamereactor:

https://www.gamereactor.eu/news/709353/Underworld+Ascendant+part+of+broadening+immersive+sim+genre/

Underworld Ascendant part of "broadening" immersive sim genre
We spoke to Paul Neurath from OtherSide Entertainment.

Underworld Ascendant is a game that we recently got to test out in London just last week (a preview of which you can read here), but after we had spent time in the immersive sim we jumped on a call with various members of OtherSide Entertainment to talk about the game, where Paul Neurath explained their approach to the genre and where it stands now.

"It's not a broad market, however, at the same time we look at games like Breath of the Wild, which clearly has some immersive sim elements baked into it - I don't know if they played some of our games or not, but when we look at it we recognise some core gameplay, and that's reached a wide audience," he said.

"So we think the general trend is broadening, that more players today are interested in games where they have more authorship over their experience, more sandbox, more trying these things out in the game style that they want to pursue. So we think it's a growing audience but it's yet to stand out as a core immersive sim, truly broad market kind of a game. Not that Underworld Ascendant was designed as that kind of a game, but anyway, it's a category that we love and we like to experiment in. We're trying new things out with Underworld Ascendant."

If you want to hear what other members of the team said to us about the game, including Warren Spector and Joe Fielder, then be sure to check the link to our preview above.

Do you think immersive sims are growing in popularity?

https://www.gamereactor.eu/news/709...ything+weve+learned+for+Underworld+Ascendant/

OtherSide using "everything we've learned" for Underworld Ascendant
Player choice is key to this.

Joe Fielder is one of the minds behind OtherSide Entertainment's immersive sim game Underworld Ascendant, readying itself for launch on November 15, and when we spoke to the team on a group call about the game, he said that their past experiences have helped them push this title further.

"Underworld Ascendant is definitely everything we've learned making games like System Shock, Thief, and the Bioshock series - a number of us are former Irrational, in addition to the crew that are former Looking Glass - but we're also attempting to bring the immersive sim forward in a number of new and interesting ways," he says.

"The game really is focused on player choice in a way that it provides you with a series of interesting challenges, it gives you a wide bevy of tools to choose from, and then it rewards you for creativity, for engaging in those systems. There are literally dozens of skills from combat, stealth, magic, we brought back the procedural magic system from the original game, and there are dozens of different spells people can assemble through [...] runic language."

"So it's really the polar opposite of a lot of games that have those one way, one solution. It's all about putting the tools in the player's hands and however they want to solve those challenges is up to them."

If you're interested in the game be sure to read our latest preview where we also have quotes from other members of the team like Paul Neurath and Warren Spector.

Do you like this level of player choice?

 

[Nano]

A lot of people make that mistake. And Macs have been PCs too since 2006.

 

[Infinitron]

This'll be interesting to follow:

Some true believers were speculating that this was just a scheduling issue on GOG's part, but the CM lady hints at deeper frictions:

Come on Bubbles, just use Imgur.

 

[BEvers]

No.

 

[agris]

Glad you're back btw, BEvers.

 

[toro]

Too soon?

 

[Sceptic]

BEvers is Bubbles?

At least one good thing will have come out of this thread. Welcome back

 

[BEvers]

They seem to be looking at solutions like this one: https://gamelaunchercreator.com This would be a fallback option in case they can't find a store that's willing to host the game on such short notice.

 

[Grauken]

Have they never heard about itch.io ?

 

[thesheeep]

Have they never heard about itch.io ?

Doesn't seem like it...

 

[glass blackbird]

Yeah, the "previewers" that posted articles about the game apparently didn't get the memo that factions were cut. I've been reading the Steam forums in the past few days, the hopes for a cool & fun game are still high there. Most people aren't aware of stuff like the save system, the lack of NPC conversations, factions being cutoff, the teleporters to areas instead of the continuous dungeon and the dozens of features that are missing. It's gonna be interesting the see the reactions, to say the least.

Steam forum users are traditionally pretty dumb, but I can't really blame them for not knowing about the cuts when even the previews are lying about it. But they're going to be so fucking pissed, it's going to be amazing

 

[Nano]

Good lord. Account-based launchers are a fucking plague on PC gaming.

 

[taxalot]

Finishing a game and then wondering where you will put it and being surprised show great professionalism.

This is why editors are still around.