• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Nosgoth (Square Enix/Psyonix, Legacy of Kain, F2P) Announcement Trailer

Monkeythumbz

Communications Manager, nDreams
Oh, lord...

What? Have you read Astro City? It's a bit like that (only, y'know, a competitive, team-based Human vs. Vampire free-to-play online asymmetrical multiplayer game set in the brutal fantasy world of the Legacy of Kain series).

;-)
 
Kain:"At last. I must say I'm disappointed in your progress, I imagined you'd be here sooner. Tell me . . . did it trouble you to murder your franchise?"

Raziel:"Did it trouble you when you ordered me into the F2P game?"

Kain:"*chuckles* The market is relentless, Raziel. When I first stole into this project, centuries ago, I did not fathom the true power of the focus group. To know what sells, Raziel. To see its dollar signs and downloads tracing out into the infinite. As a singleplayer game, I could never have contained such forbidden truths, but each of us is so much more than we once were. Do you not feel with all your self how we have become like TF2? As such, are we not indivisible? As long as a single one of us stands, we are legion. Our futures are predestined. Square foretold mine eons ago, we each play out the parts the market has written for us. Story is an illusion."

I'll give the game a go!
 
Well, after the initial shock I can say that now at least I can see where they came from with this... doesn't make me feel any better though.

I just hope that, if this really is aimed to rekindle the interest in the IP and gather new players, the next step is going back to a solid SP experience and not another FTP shooter.
 
I see the point that you're making, but how do you grow brand awareness without utilizing any of the brand's strengths? Either commit to a real, well made successor and count on the quality of the product and dedication of the fan base to carry it, or forget it. I'd rather this new game be a new IP and take real risks than go this cowardly route.

Again, to the SE community manager, no offense intended to you and your team.
In this specific instance, this was a game that was already in development as a companion to the game you're asking for. For whatever reason, that game was cancelled and SE saw something in this game that gave them to confidence to let them continue development and release it on it's own. At that point, why strip out all of the LoK references? It was already being built from the ground up with all of that in mind. It's not like they shoehorned the IP on to another game they were developing. What business sense would that make? How would that benefit the game being made?
 

ymmv

Banned
I'm so sick and tired of these companies shitting out F2P games I absolutely have no interest in playing ever. If this is the future of gaming, I'm out. I've preordered a PS4 but I'm very much afraid the next gen will be a wasteland, filled with games that are a sham of their former selves: F2P, no single player games, classic console franchises going mobile, etc ...

BTW I'm pleased to hear there's a good chance of a belated PC port of Enslaved. I stopped halfway to play another game and never went back, I'll give it another go when the PC version comes out.
 

Monkeythumbz

Communications Manager, nDreams
Oh yeah, by the way...

A few weeks ago, I invited a bunch of hardcore LoK fanatics (what can I say, I was in good company - go on, test me on the series' lore, I dare you) to actually PLAY THE GAME (dun dun durrrrr) at our studio in Wimbledon, London. These community members were drawn from the Eidos LoK forum, so if you think YOU'RE an LoK fan, try making a forum that's home to a series in which a game hasn't been released for a decade your number one online destination.

Anyway, the first report is online - go read it here before you slam something entirely based on an Announcement trailer.*

Game: Nosgoth (PC) (Pre-release review)

*Btw, for full disclosure, I totally do this too about other people's games.
 

Reallink

Member
I'm so sick and tired of these companies shitting out F2P games I absolutely have no interest in playing ever. If this is the future of gaming, I'm out. I've preordered a PS4 but I'm very much afraid the next gen will be a wasteland, filled with games that are a sham of their former selves: F2P, no single player games, classic console franchises going mobile, etc ...

I've been having the same thought. Between F2P and mobile, PS4 and Xbone are increasingly seeming like a waste of money.
 
Oh yeah, by the way...

A few weeks ago, I invited a bunch of hardcore LoK fanatics (what can I say, I was in good company - go on, test me on the series' lore, I dare you) to actually PLAY THE GAME (dun dun durrrrr) at our studio in Wimbledon, London. These community members were drawn from the Eidos LoK forum, so if you think YOU'RE an LoK fan, try making a forum that's home to a series in which a game hasn't been released in for a decade your number one online destination.

Anyway, the first report is online - go read it here before you slam something entirely based on an Announcement trailer.*

Game: Nosgoth (PC) (Pre-release review)

*Btw, for full disclosure, I totally do this too about other people's games.

Mama Robotnik shall be our ambassador

All in favor?
 
I'm so sick and tired of these companies shitting out F2P games I absolutely have no interest in playing ever. If this is the future of gaming, I'm out. I've preordered a PS4 but I'm very much afraid the next gen will be a wasteland, filled with games that are a sham of their former selves: F2P, no single player games, classic console franchises going mobile, etc ...

This, so much; This........the VG Industry makes me cry, with every new announcement reaching new levels of disappointment. :/
 

Vorundor

Member
We also wanted to show you the troops that made up the Vampire Legions referenced in Soul Reaver's manual, as well as detailing the events of what occurred during Raziel's centuries-long fall down the Abyss and thought it would interesting to enable you to play as both sides. As such, an asymmetrical multiplayer game made sense to us. Plus, we also thought it would make for a pretty kick-ass game.

But, again, all of that is much better suited for a SP experience. Yes, I would LOVE to see all of what you're saying but not in a MP ONLY experience where by default story isn't the focus. Just think about it, a well thought out story driven game where YOU take part in this epic battle, as a fan of the series, THAT would be an amazing game to play. Sure, it does lend well for a MP game but only if that was a mode in the game not the only version of the game. I mean, is a bit obvious from this thread that the type of fans this franchise has, all like the immersion of the story.

To have this game be the way to bring us, the fans, back to Nosgoth just doesn't make sense. The game could be fun but...
 

Einbroch

Banned
Whatever you think of the franchise or whatever, why the heck would I ever want to play humans?

Boring third person shooter play style or demons who can leap like the Hulk or fly? Tough choice.
 
Didn't know Square Enix was in London, too. I live near Wimbledon.

But, again, all of that is much better suited for a SP experience.

It seems like their hands were tied.

We are absolutely not blind to the desire for a single-player LoK experience and, to quote myself again, we are huge fans of the LoK IP and we would genuinely love to bring another narrative experience in that world if all the elements were in place.
 

Mechazawa

Member
So they got the Super Sonic Acrobatic Rocket Powered Battle Cars guys to make an Unreal Championship game.

CAUTIOUSLY OPTIMISTIC

It's nice to see them get some work too after their arcade MP flight game went bust.
 

Taker34

Banned
Dead Sun was cancelled and Nosgoth became a real game? This is madness... who should this game appeal to? Oldschool LoK fans? Not really. It always was and always will be a singleplayer experience as far as I'm concerned. People who never played a LoK game before? Yeah right, since this would be such a good introduction into the world of LoK. I highly doubt it.
Dead Sun looked very promising, not to mention that there are no vampire games/competitors, so why wouldn't this be the perfect PS4 launch title? People are waiting for a similar, dark vampireish title like The Masquerade – Bloodlines. I think you really missed a huge opportunity.
 

Bravocado

Member
HOW DARE YOU! I DON'T EVEN...

Heh, just kidding :)

As I said earlier in this thread, he came too and will be sharing his impressions here in due course.

He's a terrific guy, actually - really, really incredible bloke.

Agreed. When it's all said and done, being able to have an open, honest, civilized dialogue with a representative of the company so invested in the project is a trend I can certainly get behind.

In this specific instance, this was a game that was already in development as a companion to the game you're asking for. For whatever reason, that game was cancelled and SE saw something in this game that gave them to confidence to let them continue development and release it on it's own. At that point, why strip out all of the LoK references? It was already being built from the ground up with all of that in mind. It's not like they shoehorned the IP on to another game they were developing. What business sense would that make? How would that benefit the game being made?

But, again, all of that is much better suited for a SP experience. Yes, I would LOVE to see all of what you're saying but not in a MP ONLY experience where by default story isn't the focus. Just think about it, a well thought out story driven game where YOU take part in this epic battle, as a fan of the series, THAT would be an amazing game to play. Sure, it does lend well for a MP game but only if that was a mode in the game not the only version of the game. I mean, is a bit obvious from this thread that the type of fans this franchise has, all like the immersion of the story.

To have this game be the way to bring us, the fans, back to Nosgoth just doesn't make sense. The game could be fun but...

Dead Sun was cancelled and Nosgoth became a real game? This is madness... who should this game appeal to? Oldschool LoK fans? Not really. It always was and always will be a singleplayer experience as far as I'm concerned. People who never played a LoK game before? Yeah right, since this would be such a good introduction into the world of LoK. I highly doubt it.
Dead Sun looked very promising, not to mention that there are no vampire games/competitors, so why wouldn't this be the perfect PS4 launch title? People are waiting for a similar, dark vampireish title like The Masquerade – Bloodlines. I think you really missed a huge opportunity.

These guys sum it up nicely. I'm kinda mentally burnt out at this point.
 

Monkeythumbz

Communications Manager, nDreams
Whatever you think of the franchise or whatever, why the heck would I ever want to play humans?

Boring third person shooter play style or demons who can leap like the Hulk or fly? Tough choice.
You know the Alchemist has a flame thrower and an alchemical hand-cannon, right? She is ALL KINDS of bad-ass. You saw in the trailer how a Scout popped off the head of a Reaver from a distance? Seriously, the Humans are pretty deadly at range.

Dead Sun was cancelled and Nosgoth became a real game? This is madness... who should this game appeal to? Oldschool LoK fans? Not really. It always was and always will be a singleplayer experience as far as I'm concerned. People who never played a LoK game before? Yeah right, since this would be such a good introduction into the world of LoK. I highly doubt it.
Dead Sun looked very promising, not to mention that there are no vampire games/competitors, so why wouldn't this be the perfect PS4 launch title? People are waiting for a similar, dark vampireish title like The Masquerade – Bloodlines. I think you really missed a huge opportunity.
Game projects can be cancelled for a variety of different reasons and in the end LoK: Dead Sun just wasn’t the right game, at the right time.

Development started on Nosgoth while LoK: Dead Sun was already in development and the reasons that led to the cancellation of Legacy of Kain: Dead Sun had nothing to do with Nosgoth. Nosgoth was a separate game from the beginning and is very much a unique game in its own right. It shared art direction with the single player game, but was always set in an entirely different time period and features different mechanics, characters, levels and gameplay.

The reasons that led to the cancellation of LoKain: Dead Sun had nothing to do with Nosgoth and this is why we chose to carry on with its development.
 

Monkeythumbz

Communications Manager, nDreams
I'm kinda mentally burnt out at this point.
How the heck do you think *I* feel?

Just kidding, I live for this shit :)

I wonder if Mama Robotnik saw this coming even after all those researches.
I've been in e-mail contact with him ever since the Dead Sun leak and even gave him a heads up about me posting additional assets. He was among the first on the list for the Nosgoth Community Day earlier this month.

Also, just in my own defense I DID TRY to warn you guys directly here on GAF about the direction of the game in Mama Robotniks' Dead Sun thread. I'm a huge LoK fan too and I didn't want people building up false hope or speculating along futile lines.
 
Dead Sun was cancelled and Nosgoth became a real game? This is madness... who should this game appeal to? Oldschool LoK fans? Not really. It always was and always will be a singleplayer experience as far as I'm concerned. People who never played a LoK game before? Yeah right, since this would be such a good introduction into the world of LoK. I highly doubt it.
Dead Sun looked very promising, not to mention that there are no vampire games/competitors, so why wouldn't this be the perfect PS4 launch title? People are waiting for a similar, dark vampireish title like The Masquerade – Bloodlines. I think you really missed a huge opportunity.

It happens. For example, before Shadowrun 2007 I had zero experience with the IP besides knowing it existed. After playing that game, I would be beyond hyped for a new single player experience. It was a huge factor in me contributing to the Kickstarter.
 

Taker34

Banned
Game projects can be cancelled for a variety of different reasons and in the end LoK: Dead Sun just wasn’t the right game, at the right time.

... and Nosgoth is the right game, at the right time? That's not your fault or decision but I think this was the biggest chance for LoK to come back. All eyes on that vampire launch title, which is different from all those bog-standard shooters. It doesn't help that this isn't the first cancelled LoK title... the series is dead since 2003 and you'll never get that fanbase and momentum back.
Thank you by the way for not doing the Larry Hryb (you have no idea what you're talking about, son). You're a very good and honest community manager. I really appreciate that!
 
Game projects can be cancelled for a variety of different reasons and in the end LoK: Dead Sun just wasn’t the right game, at the right time.

If Dead Sun wasn't the right game at the right time but Nosgoth was, I get the impression that these decisions are made by complete loons.
 

Grief.exe

Member
If Dead Sun wasn't the right game at the right time but Nosgoth was, I get the impression that these decisions are made by complete loons.

We don't know what state Dead Sun was in though.

We saw some pictures, but they could have still been a ways off in terms of performance, optimization, levels, story, etc. We just don't know.

From reading up on these things, sometimes a company just calculates how much more money they would have to spend to release that particular title. It seems that continuing with the Dead Sun development would have been too expensive to justify.
I'm thinking something got really screwed up during development for Square to make that decision.
 
I knew this was coming.

As George has mentioned, I was invited to Square Enix studios along with a group of some of the most established Legacy of Kain fans in existence - some of which have dedication to the series that makes me seem like a casual. It was a very memorable weekend, in which people all over the world who never expected to meet each other, got to. Square Enix funded this completely.

(At some point I'm going to do a write up on our visit to the studio, and what it was like for a hardcore community to meet for the first time.)

My expectations were in check for a multiplayer game when I arrived at the studio, which helped. I was given the chance to play the game and had fun, particularly with the Alchemist and Turelim characters. It was fun to launch a wall of fire towards an advancing Dumahim, then have a Razielim pick me up, fly into the sky, and drop me to my death. It was also (devious) fun to scavenge the blood from my team mates' kills.

I had fun, thought it controlled well, and would like to play it further. I've not played any online battle games aside from Half Life 2 Deathmatch, a bit of Team Fortress 2, and some of Killing Floor (if that counts). I thought it was quite a different experience to them.

I'll post more impressions when I do my proper write up (going on my holiday really soon). I've given my feedback too - I want more story components, and more links to the previous games (visual and story). I am hopeful that we'll get a single-player one day, and the loss of Dead Sun (and moreso The Dark Prophecy) still stings. Having played this though, as I said, I had fun.

Disclaimer: Square Enix paid approx £35 for me to get the train to London and back, and approx £98 for my hotel room overnight. They provided snacks, a goody bag with miscellaneous Nosgoth paraphernalia (mouse mats, t-shirts, etc). They also held a tournament which my team won, and we were each given a sealed Kain action figure from the Soul Reaver release line as a prize, not sure how much it is worth. In no way did I agree to write anything regarding the game, and at no point did Square Enix try to coerce or encourage any positive article or posts. I think this disclaimer is important.
 

Monkeythumbz

Communications Manager, nDreams
Do Vamps still lose health over time? And what about Day/Night cycles having buff/debuff effects? If you have those.

Would you mind if you saved this for the Live Q&A on Monday? I have the answers but it strikes me I've neglected Nosgoth's other social channels due to my time spent here.

IN ADDITION: You can find the second community impressions of Nosgoth piece over on the Legacy of Kain wiki right here: Nosgoth: First Looks
 

Morrigan Stark

Arrogant Smirk
LoK nerd representing in Mama Robotnik's absence... (not saying I'm as cool as him, but I'm probably as neurotic about LoK, maybe even moreso.) Nevermind, he posted right as I was writing this. Well, my post stands anyway! :)

"We'd love to hear from you" OH REALLY? WHY ALL RIGHT THEN --- oh, comments disabled. lol oops.

When he re-emergfes, it's inm ruins and its clear Kain has been absent for quite some time (as evidenced by his lack of devolution following Nupratros cuerse as evinced by his Lieutenants.
Those typos hurt my soul, I hope you were typing from an iphone or something. Nupratros?? But I saw you spell Nupraptor's name correctly later so okay...

It’s not so much that the Razielim are still alive as that they have not been comprehensively wiped out yet. On Raziel’s supposed execution, the other Clans fell upon the now leaderless Razielim in power-grab for their territories and influence. This infighting, which took place over a few hundred years, entertained and distracted Kain’s precocious Lieutenants – scant time for an immortal Vampire, but more than enough time for and allowed enough distraction for Humanity to recoup and redevelop into a credible opposing force. Realising that air support would be needed to recapture the lands now lost to Human forces, the remaining Razielim were themselves forcibly recruited by the other Clans so as to help them prevent the Humans advancement. The ultimate state and fate of the Razielim has yet to be revealed.
This reads like fanfiction. Sorry.

The decision to make any game is based on a number of factors – the right idea, the right team, the right market conditions all need to be in place to make it happen. The Legacy of Kain franchise is one we are huge fans of and we would genuinely love to bring another narrative experience in that world if all the elements were in place.
Please explain what these "elements" are. Concretely, what the hell are "right market conditions"? Why would anyone think the market wouldn't want another LoK sequel and instead would want this deathmatch crap? Sorry, but that kind of PR content-free buzzword really irks me.

You're looking at a rebuilt Human settlement, rather than a Sarafan stronghold at the height of Humanity's grip on Nosgoth. The land of Nosgoth features a variety of architectural types, each of which have changed and shifted over the course of its long and storied timeline.
It doesn't matter what in-game rationalizations you can come up with, these areas still look like boring crap. LoK is known and loved for its awesome gothic and dark fantasy architecture. Some wooden shantytown, even if you can explain it away with your fanfiction in-game lore, is still completely uninteresting. Someone said it looks like a rejected map from Tomb Raider, and I agree.

Moreover, we do see an example of a human settlement in Soul Reaver and its architecture is pretty damn cool. So yeah, the excuses won't fly.

Um... actually there were flamethrowers and hand cannons in Soul Reaver, found in Zephon's territory.
I remember primitive flamethrowers, but not hand cannons. Besides which, they're still lame and generic weapons found in every shooter. Why anyone would play as the humans is beyond me, the only vaguely neat thing about this game is the novelty of playing a vampire with vampire powers.

Actually it's just that with four social media channels on which to interact with the community plus several independent forums (like this one), there's only so many places one CM can be!
I can understand not wanting to moderate so many comments. At the same thing, this is only an issue if you know full well the reaction is going to be overwhelmingly negative (and I'd like you all at Squeenix to wonder why that is, and no, "they're narrow-minded" is not the real reason). Moreover, the like/dislike rating have also been disabled. Because we know that bar would be bright red, yes? So this has nothing to do with a lack of moderating manpower.

Yeah and all those games have shit for controller support which means they're nothing like the original versions.
Wait what? The Soul Reaver games on Steam don't have controller support? :S

Can you please let my favorite franchise stay dead? What next? A Kart game based in Nosgoth?
Blood Out-Brake: Legacy of Kart. It's coming!

Kain:"At last. I must say I'm disappointed in your progress, I imagined you'd be here sooner. Tell me . . . did it trouble you to murder your franchise?"

Raziel:"Did it trouble you when you ordered me into the F2P game?"

Kain:"*chuckles* The market is relentless, Raziel. When I first stole into this project, centuries ago, I did not fathom the true power of the focus group. To know what sells, Raziel. To see its dollar signs and downloads tracing out into the infinite. As a singleplayer game, I could never have contained such forbidden truths, but each of us is so much more than we once were. Do you not feel with all your self how we have become like TF2? As such, are we not indivisible? As long as a single one of us stands, we are legion. Our futures are predestined. Square foretold mine eons ago, we each play out the parts the market has written for us. Story is an illusion."
....Wow. *tips non-existent hat* That was great. I rarely wish that we could Like posts, but I'd make an exception just for this--
I'll give the game a go!
-- Nevermind. xD
 

Pimpbaa

Member
Reminds me of the FPS Shadowrun game. Using a popular series and making it into a type of game no one asked for. And F2P is just salt in the wound.
 

Retne

Member
I remember primitive flamethrowers, but not hand cannons. Besides which, they're still lame and generic weapons found in every shooter. Why anyone would play as the humans is beyond me, the only vaguely neat thing about this game is the novelty of playing a vampire with vampire powers.

I remember them from Soul Reaver 2. I also remember that you could never pick one of them up which was always a bummer.

Shame about the game. While I would have much more appreciated a LoK game of the single player variety this game looks like something that will lose steam fast.

I'll give it another look once you guys are closer to launch because right now the game doesn't look so hot. I doubt it would be anything I'd play even if it looked smashing since TPS multiplayer games are certainly not my cup of tea.

Sorry SE won't fund a decent LoK game monkey. It sucks you guys are stuck with churning out this rather than a decent game. Wish you the best but if I had to bet I'd bet on this game bombing hard.

I'm not entirely sure why you stuck with the LoK branding though. I guess just because a game in an even semi-known franchise will draw more eyes than a new IP? Or was the game just too far along in development to hop off the LoK train after funding for the single player game was cut?
 

Monkeythumbz

Communications Manager, nDreams
We'd love to hear from you" OH REALLY? WHY ALL RIGHT THEN --- oh, comments disabled. lol oops.
Yes, but the YouTube discussion wall is open, on which I've been replying, I'm afraid Nosgoth doesn't have like a dozen community personnel, It's JUST me and I physically can't stay on top of everything, as much as I'm trying to.

Those typos hurt my soul, I hope you were typing from an iphone or something. Nupratros?? But I saw you spell Nupraptor's name correctly later so okay...
Apologies for my sloppy typing, I'll do my best to not let it happen again.

This reads like fanfiction. Sorry.
I'm sorry you feel that way and with respect, I disagree. Let's break it down.

We know why Kain throws Raziel into the pit. We also know Kain is patiently waiting for Raziel's return when he emerges, even going so far as to say he expected Raziel to arrive at the Sanctuary of the Clans sooner. We *also* see that Kain hasn't suffered any of the effects of Nupraptor's curse over time in the same way as the other Lieutenants and their Clans. AND we also know that Kain has kept a somewhat light touch on his Empire during Raziel's time in the Abyss, given Rahab's comments in the Drowned Abby, apparently only making an appearance every so often when he sees fit and demonstrating a knowledge of future events. Additionally, Kain actively demonstrates a disregard for his Lieutenants (as well as their offspring and his whole Empire in general) and would have no reason to share his intricate plans to salvage Nosgoth and reclaim his role as the Scion of Balance with them. Plus, we also know Kain has access to and has been actively using the Chronoplast. Therefore, it seems overwhelmingly likely that Kain had skipped forwards through time, and not long after Raziel had been cast down judging by his not-as-devolved-as-the-Lieutenants appearance.

Therefore, Kain physically isn't around during the majority of Raziel's time in the Abyss, meaning his Lieutenants were in joint rulership of Nosgoth. So how do the Razielim die out? Well, we also know that the Lieutenants were jealous and capricious, eager to curry favour with Kain and to gain power for themselves. It's overwhelmingly likely, therefore, that - having misinterpreted Kain's decision to cast Raziel into the Abyss - the Clans would have fallen on the Razielim in an effort to destroy them, believing that's what their Lord and Master wanted and also to claim the now leaderless Razielim's lands as their own. With new (for the first time in centuries) possessions at stake, this in turn would no doubt have led to infighting, perhaps even civil war between the clans.

Either way, we already *know* that the Vampires must have been distracted enough somehow during this period (obviously without Kain's iron will to guide them), because at some point in this era, Humans - who, up until this point, had been entirely enslaved - start attacking Vampire strongholds and even incapacitate one of Kain’s lieutenants, Dumah, for several centuries (as evinced by his comparative lack of devolution in comparison to Zephon and Melchiah). This is where the series demonstrates strong internal logic, as for Vampires three or four centuries is not very long at all, but for Humans that's several generations!

All we're doing is filling in the gaps at the early part of this period, before Dumah has been staked but after Kain has absconded his throne and hopped into the Chronoplast. We're saying that with the Vampires focused on their internal squabbles, Nosgoth’s Human population seized the chance to grow stronger, rebuild cities, relearn skills and recovered their power to the point where they could retaliate against their Vampire masters. This credible threat would naturally have reunited the warring Vampire Clans in the face of a common enemy. Enter my previous quote about the Razielim here.

Had all the Razileim been killed by that point? Well, obviously not, 'cos they're in our game. Do we even know whether the Razileim were actually ever destroyed completely? If you've done your research, you'll know Amy Hennig was purposefully vague on this point... and so are we. (Plus, we do actually have some pretty cool plans to *show* you what happened to them after Raziel got cast down without using cut-scenes. It's actually pretty exciting stuff).

So PLEASE don't denigrate our narrative efforts by (a) calling it "fanfiction" and (b) using that word in an undeservedly pejorative sense. I mean, it's true in one sense in that we're fans and it's fiction, but we've gone to as greater lengths as possible to make sure nothing contradicts pre-established canon and actually expands what we know of this era in interesting ways

Please explain what these "elements" are. Concretely, what the hell are "right market conditions"? Why would anyone think the market wouldn't want another LoK sequel and instead would want this deathmatch crap? Sorry, but that kind of PR content-free buzzword really irks me.
I'm afraid this is a much bigger question than a lowly community guy is able to answer. Sorry, I know I'm a rep of the company, but I'm not THE company and so I'm not party to all our decision making processes.

It doesn't matter what in-game rationalizations you can come up with, these areas still look like boring crap. LoK is known and loved for its awesome gothic and dark fantasy architecture. Some wooden shantytown, even if you can explain it away with your fanfiction in-game lore, is still completely uninteresting. Someone said it looks like a rejected map from Tomb Raider, and I agree.
Fair enough, and your entitled to your opinion, however let's take a look at Blood Omen. Uschtenheim and Nachtholm weren't exactly on the same scale as Willendorf or Avernus, were they? We will be exploring other locations, both Human and Vampire, of differing size, scale and upkeep. This is a live game, and the quantity of in-game content we go live with for Closed Alpha is *very* different to the quantity of content we'll have for Open Beta.

Moreover, we do see an example of a human settlement in Soul Reaver and its architecture is pretty damn cool. So yeah, the excuses won't fly.
Not everything is as fully built up as the Human Citadel. And, naturally, we want to hold onto some of the more impressive content for later use. So, please give us a chance, we're still growing.

I remember primitive flamethrowers, but not hand cannons.
What, you mean these hand cannons?

Besides which, they're still lame and generic weapons found in every shooter. Why anyone would play as the humans is beyond me, the only vaguely neat thing about this game is the novelty of playing a vampire with vampire powers.
Please take a look at the two impressions pieces I linked out to earlier in this thread. After playing the game, some people think the Vampires are overpowered, others think that the Humans are. It really does depend on your play style. If you're a sniper, for example, you'll obviously prefer the Scout to the Tyrant.

I can understand not wanting to moderate so many comments. At the same thing, this is only an issue if you know full well the reaction is going to be overwhelmingly negative (and I'd like you all at Squeenix to wonder why that is, and no, "they're narrow-minded" is not the real reason). Moreover, the like/dislike rating have also been disabled. Because we know that bar would be bright red, yes? So this has nothing to do with a lack of moderating manpower.
As I said, (and apologies for repeating myself verbatim here), I didn't want a wall of negativity to be the first thing people who are new to the game saw when they watched the video on our YouTube channel. I'd much rather people be allowed to come to their own conclusions about the game rather than have their opinions coloured in advance. After all, there are loads of places for people to vent about the game or to express their displeasure to us directly on multiple forums and even our own official forum, Facebook page and Twitter feed. It's not good for the game and for me, what's good for the is the highest priority.
 

the chris

Member

ishVymSBlJ8ah.gif
 

Monkeythumbz

Communications Manager, nDreams
Are the Pillars in it?

None of the maps in which Nosgoth’s gameplay is set at launch feature the Pillars. The Pillars do not play a key role in Nosgoth; they are corrupted and decimated in this time period and the playable factions involved are either unable or unwilling to restore them.
 
Top Bottom