Original Sin - Post-Funding Update #48

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Larian Studios brings news that the alpha for Divinity: Original Sin is now delayed.



A big surprise!

It’s the end of November, and we said the Divinity:Original Sin alpha was going to be out in November, so where is it?

Ah, I wish I could write that it’s out now, but sadly it’s not. We still need to sort out a couple of things, so a bit more patience will be needed. How much patience? Not that much, but still a bit. We’re working really hard to get everything done and we do expect the alpha to be out before our X-mas break, but ... well maybe you want to watch the big surprise first.

The big surprise!

It’s a surprise so we won’t spoil it with text, but watch the video as it contains some good news. We hope it makes you happy! Errmmm... if you are weak of heart, don't let the title fool you ;)


We decided on doing this a few weeks ago because we realized it would be much more beneficial to the game, but since we only decided on it, it’s going take us a bit more time to put everything in place. We are committed to getting this all sorted out before the X-mas break though and we solemnly swear to do everything we can to get it to you asap.

Backers who explicitly pledged extra for alpha/beta access can expect refunds/extra credit to be in place before X-mas too via their Larian Vault account. We hope you understand that we want to maximize the amount of people playing the game because that’s how we’ll be able to strike the best balance between all the different items, spells, skills and creatures.

We will also be reaching out to backers who need to get their items, npcs, dialogs, object combinations or looks in the game in the coming weeks as we’re finally ready to implement those so expect some mail if any of these were included in your pledge.
More information.
 
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So what's the difference between an alpha and a beta these days?
 
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So what's the difference between an alpha and a beta these days?
Nothing really its just a word to use nowadays as both are considered the same now.
 
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So what's the difference between an alpha and a beta these days?

Meaning varies from dev to dev. You'll have to ask Larian what is there definition.

Back in the days, alpha was software in testing that wasn't feature complete (and could be quite unstable) and beta was a feature complete software (still in testing).

Now some companies moved to alpha meaning feature complete, so it's harder to know if the difference is just a stability rating now.
 
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I have done several beta's and I find that I tend to burnout on the game, so that by the time its in a polished final state I have lost interest. If I feel the game deserves the extra support that you usually see at the beta pledge levels in Kickstarters I will still skip the beta or maybe poke at it a bit but not really get in to the game.
With Original Sin it will be the same, poke it a bit, but I can't think of a better way to ruin a good RPG then try to play it as a beta.
 
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Quite Agree. I never play the Betas or Alphas. If I back on that level it is just for support.
(Also very little time these days to spare some on an incomplete game :-/ )

Yet we need those eager early adopters... Or we all become beta testers in the end ;)
 
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Hang on, I'm confused….

Now ALL backers get Alpha access but "Backers who explicitly pledged extra for alpha/beta access can expect refunds/extra credit to be in place before X-mas too via their Larian Vault account." Is this correct?

So, which tier of backers get french fries? Do I get french fries?

Terry said:
...I can't think of a better way to ruin a good RPG then try to play it as a beta.
That's what I was thinking, but I'm so keen to play it that now I'm looking at it as a finished Troika release!
 
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Yes, that is correct. You have to make your own FF's though!! :)
 
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Well, from the sound of the video, I get the feeling that they actually DID do alpha testing in November. Note what he said about how some of the folks that were trying it out found some things that need fixing. Wouldn't that mean that it was going through alpha testing and ran into problems?

Bah, the whole "release date" business is getting to be more and more of a joke. Alpha testing, beta testing, "pre-release" releases (common for MMOs), patches to fix up the game post release, DLCs… Figuring out just WHEN to play a game is starting to become a pretty serious task.
 
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Well, from the sound of the video, I get the feeling that they actually DID do alpha testing in November. Note what he said about how some of the folks that were trying it out found some things that need fixing. Wouldn't that mean that it was going through alpha testing and ran into problems?

Bah, the whole "release date" business is getting to be more and more of a joke. Alpha testing, beta testing, "pre-release" releases (common for MMOs), patches to fix up the game post release, DLCs… Figuring out just WHEN to play a game is starting to become a pretty serious task.

I would say a year after release would be the sweet spot if one could wait.

All dlc and EE should be out by then and if it supports mods then there would be a plethora of those available.

Problem is, who can wait?
 
I can wait. I usually wait 6 months to a year before playing a game. Easy for me now though, I have 3 small kids and a full time job and a backlog of games:)
 
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I agree with what many of you said about avoiding alphas and betas. I know Larian needs people to test the game so its nice and polished but playing betas in the past has ruined games for me. The only exception I have to this is MMO's as they are usually quite complex so playing a beta helps me ease into the system and since they are almost always constantly updated it doesn't really matter if I play the game early.
 
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Brilliant update. I never watch videos, I prefer to read text because it goes so much faster. But I just had to watch this one, and I'm glad I did. I agree with the rest of you though...I WANT to play this game. But not in Alpha nor Beta. I can wait.
 
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I have done several beta's and I find that I tend to burnout on the game, so that by the time its in a polished final state I have lost interest. If I feel the game deserves the extra support that you usually see at the beta pledge levels in Kickstarters I will still skip the beta or maybe poke at it a bit but not really get in to the game.
With Original Sin it will be the same, poke it a bit, but I can't think of a better way to ruin a good RPG then try to play it as a beta.

That's EXACTLY what I do. F around a bit, but not get too into it. Being heavily into the Kickstarter thing, I have too many alpha/beta builds to play as it is, not to mention all the crazy deals selling full games for 75-90%
 
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