They have the best RPG reviews, and the community has the best taste in RPGs among online gaming communities. All their lists are spot on.
That's true but the people there are still the fucking worst of the worst.
They have the best RPG reviews, and the community has the best taste in RPGs among online gaming communities. All their lists are spot on.
Well, that's what RPG Codex is for.<Developer> We made a design decision
<Website Full Of Actual Social Cripples> DEVELOPER OUT OF CONTROL, SELLING LIES TO THE PUBLIC, NO MORE WE WILL NOT STAND FOR THIS!!!!
I'm guessing as a serious gameplay mechanic they're best for games with a set up like Suikoden's, where a key gameplay element is running around and recruiting people to face off against a large organized force. For something that's mostly about being a band of adventurers it can probably get superfluous.As an aside I'm actually just about done with strongholds in my CRPG's period, actually. Didn't add anything to Tyranny either, just more menu based stuff that I don't want. The more I think about it the more I actually think that strongholds haven't really added much to CRPG's since, pretty much forever. I guess the one in ToB was good, and I suppose you could argue that the one in Storm of Zehir was good. Otherwise, I could live without them.
There's probably better examples given the more specialized focus there. Find some dumb thing that only focuses on social issues or whatever.Is RPGCodex the Breitbart of video game communities?
There's probably better examples given the more specialized focus there. Find some dumb thing that only focuses on social issues or whatever.
I think Stump's response to this in SteamGAF is apropos:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=229259519&postcount=10604
But... it's not like the overall scope of the game is seriously diminished, they just made a design decision of expanding some stuff at the expense of a couple of things. It's not like they are now releasing half the game, more like quality over quantity in the case of the companion stuff and just switching the roles of two locations, so they still made a big second hub, it's just not the one they originally intented to.That's horrible, instead of the delaying the game to make sure they incorporate all they promised (and what people paid for), they decide to cut out on the content without informing the backers and choose to release asap.
I'm sure they will add more content in a future ultimate edition patch or whatever, but that means I'm not buying it on day 1 anymore.
That's the nature of game/movie/book/TV/etc, development. Things change. You're basically asking the devs to predict the exact state, scope, and design of the finished game years in advance.
The game comes first here.
There's probably better examples given the more specialized focus there. Find some dumb thing that only focuses on social issues or whatever.
If you can't handle these sorts of changes, you should not be backing Kickstarters
This. I'm a backer on this, do not care about the changes as long as the overall game is good. Development is complicated, things change, stuff happens, don't get involved if you can't handle that. Kickstarting a game is basically throwing your money in a hole and hoping a game pops out of it a few years later. It's a donation and you are owed exactly nothing. That's the risk of it. Choose wisely.
A bit more transparency from Inxile at an earlier stage would have been preferred.
I understand and agree fundamentally with what you are saying... but a donation? It surely it is not and should it be a donation of money expecting nothing back .
It's more like a gamble.I understand and agree fundamentally with some of what you are saying... but a donation? It surely it is not and should not be a donation of money expecting nothing back .
Yeah, it's not a donation, it's basically a form of patronage. You give financial aid to creative types (+ nerds who do the programming, though I guess they have to be creative in their own way ) to help them make some project a reality and hopefully you can enjoy the fruits of their labour after shit is done.I understand and agree fundamentally with some of what you are saying... but a donation? It surely it is not and should not be a donation of money expecting nothing back .
This.A bit more transparency from Inxile at an earlier stage would have been preferred.
I've backed this (at a high level) and lots of other Kickstarters, and was happy with the vast majority of them.If you can't handle these sorts of changes, you should not be backing Kickstarters
- they did not pro-actively inform their backers of these things once they were certain, but rather waited until specifically questioned about them as a result of data-mining
Whoa! What!? This actually sounds worse. I could understand if there are plans to get to that point even if it may be after release. Is that still in the plans?As an italian backer i'm pretty mad to be honest..
You don't cut off a localization which was included from the beginning at this stage.
<Developer> We made a design decision
<Website Full Of Actual Social Cripples> DEVELOPER OUT OF CONTROL, SELLING LIES TO THE PUBLIC, NO MORE WE WILL NOT STAND FOR THIS!!!!
It's certainly the main source of my discontent at the situation. Larian proactively made very clear, significantly before the release date of the game, that they were going to miss that goal, and why.Haven't bothered to look deeper, but is this possibly where the main source of complaints are? My main memory is Divinity's final stretch goal not making it, but I don't remember complaints being notable about it (I'm sure they were there, but I don't remember it being notable).
Maybe Obsidian just doesn't know how to do a Stronghold.
Context matters with these sorts of things. Some companions were cut but that was due to them not wanting to sacrifice quality over quantity. A location has been made smaller but only because another got more attention/time to be fleshed out.- features that were explicitly and specifically promised were cut or significantly reduced in focus
This is a bit more of a valid complaint. Communication is appreciated, though even then I think the creators should be free to make the game they best see fit during the development of the game without the need to communicate everything to backers, which sometimes includes choices like focusing on fewer characters than originally planned, so as far as these kinds of shifts in focus on particular features/content goes and as long as they don't cut some features completely (like, making this a single character game without any companions), I still wouldn't get my torches & pitchforks ready over changes like these. I do think it's news-worthy, but putting such a hugely negative spin on it is a bit hyperbolic.- they did not pro-actively inform their backers of these things once they were certain, but rather waited until specifically questioned about them as a result of data-mining
As an italian backer i'm pretty mad to be honest..
You don't cut off a localization which was included from the beginning at this stage.
I get that not everything has to communicated to backers, but these were special things that people donated extra for and the fanbase had to discover for themselves they weren't in the game mere weeks before launch.
Like, come on. If the supposed improvements and alterations are anything significant, these decisions were made many months ago. Why were they going to let the game launch without letting the fans know of this large restructuring of one of the biggest parts of the game (party members)?
I largely agree with your stance but I'm sure you could have worded it in a less crass and offensive way than 'actual social cripples'. Come on now.<Developer> We made a design decision
<Website Full Of Actual Social Cripples> DEVELOPER OUT OF CONTROL, SELLING LIES TO THE PUBLIC, NO MORE WE WILL NOT STAND FOR THIS!!!!
Games are not sold on kickstarter. You are investing in game development, not buying a product and things change over the course of game development because something might not have been as good as they thought or it takes longer than expected or a bunch of other reasons.
I get that not everything has to communicated to backers, but these were special things that people donated extra for and the fanbase had to discover for themselves they weren't in the game mere weeks before launch.
Like, come on. If the supposed improvements and alterations are anything significant, these decisions were made many months ago. Why were they going to let the game launch without letting the fans know of this large restructuring of one of the biggest parts of the game (party members)?
Maybe the investors should be kept up to date with changes in content/scope, then.
It's certainly the main source of my discontent at the situation. Larian proactively made very clear, significantly before the release date of the game, that they were going to miss that goal, and why.
People did complain at that point, but personally I could appreciate the development realities of it. I could also do so here, but learning about it through data mining is a bit disappointing.
PS4 was not a stretch goal, it was something InXile decided to do "on the side" with their own money...Well, so long as they keep the PS4 stretch goal (my laptop won't run Torment), I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt and assume they know what they're doing. W2 was remarkable, so if Torment is even half as good as that, I'll be a happy bunny.
I think they could've updated/engaged backers about this a little sooner. Equally, backers should be a little more understanding of the trials and tribulations of both game development and kickstarters. Shit happens.
Those bastards!PS4 was not a stretch goal, it was something InXile decided to do "on the side" with their own money...
The last news from them from Bard's Tale IV on the game's official website is from a month ago. Just because you're too lazy to follow a game's development doesn't mean they aren't updating people about the game. Blame yourself about that more than Fargo & co.Brian Fargo isn't the same as he use to be.... his recent projects have all had faults or problems in them that are more glaring than other similar games. Especially from his reputation I expect so much better... I don't even know what the hell is happening with Bard's Tale IV anymore and Wasteland 3...? That was barely a project when it went through Fig.
HahaThis seems like a crazy drama queen meltdown (typical for RPGCodex, which is an awful site filled with terrible, miserable people) about minor tweaks during development, and the title is completely inaccurate to the contents of the post.
Two stretch goals are mentioned:
- One is about companions. Their response was that they ended up making fewer companions but giving them more to do.
- One is about an area ("the Oasis"). Their response is that the area is in the game, but when they were developing, they took a minor area ("the Bloom") and made it a major area, filling the original role of the Oasis, and so the Oasis is smaller as a result.
- One is about an encyclopedia of game lore, which they are still releasing.
The conclusion the author draws from these design decisions is:
RPGCodex: "inXile have had significant issues with the management of Torment's development. There's no telling which of the game's many other stretch goals they may have also backed out of. I would strongly recommend that they publish a Kickstarter update clarifying this matter. People paid money for these."
Haha
RPGCodex are a bunch of cynics, innit?