Snippets from the RPC

Alrik Fassbauer

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Weeell ... I played Sacred first.

It basically looks like Sacred 1, I was constantly looking from above. But more detailed, imho, but I assume that this was subjective.

There are I think 6 ? characters there for playing. I chose the one with the coolness factor: The Temple Guardian.

The Temple Guardian is kind of a golem which you can play. He has a head like the one of Anubis (the ancient egytian god), and in the very beginning a body which reminded me very much in its look of General Grievous from star Wars. Realistically looking, not from the animated series.

I was told that he can upgrade, too. Which includes armor which can make him looking differently, also in terms of colours.
And body parts, of course.

I'm still not quite sure what he really is; he appears to me like kind of a machine/golem driven by ... well, what ß I couldn't find that out, but I assume that it is either magic or the so-.called "T-Energy" or both.

Anyway, he looks very cool.

I didn't go too far into the game to be able to tell a lot. The interface is basically the same, although made more efficiently and a bit more streamlined, imho. The same things (buttons etc.) are there, but rearranged, compared to Sacred 1. I think I remember being told that even the same abilities from Sacred 1 are there ? I don't remember surely anymore.

Well, that's basically it. Ah, and the Temple Guardian comes to life through an excavation at a temple site. Kind of elven diggers, looking for ... loot ? I don't know.

The game is action-oriented, of course, but there are also numerous side-quests, I was told.

And, by the way, my character died while I watched the map. Which covered the entire screen. Which meant I couldn't notice the character being attacked (I didn't have the sound on in my case).

Which means that the whole game is in real time. It completely acts like a multiplayer game - even the singleplayer game is basically a multiplayer game - but with only 1 player.


On to Risen: I played that, too.

My character was there, an almost bald-headed person, seemingly a survivor of a stranded ship or so.

Within a lone house he encountered a kind of bandit (?), who told him about a vulcano fortress and a port town, in which these bandits seemed to live ? He wanted to persuade the char to come there and live with this faction - he even used the word "Lager" I only know too well from the original Gothic game.

The body animations of talking weren't present.

One could collects plants like in Drakensang.

The bandit (?) told my char to go and look around and find himself a better weapon. Indeed, there were still a few items within the otherwise abandoned house. Including a locked chest.

I eventually found the key, but I won't tell you where, because that's the first mini-quest. ;) It's more than easy, though.

Well, after my char had equipped himself with the newer and better sword, the bandit told the things I wrote above about the fortress and the town. The fortress seems to be held by a grou called the "Inquisitors", which are opposed to the bandits, which he said are "probably the last free ones there". A seemingly thirs faction, although I'm quite unsure of that, is a closed town, which will let no-one go out and go in. The farmers I think are there, which include the people who had been living in the abandoned house.

The last steps I took were towards some kind of entrance of something - which resulted him being attacked. And then he died.

The attackers were called something like temple and guardians ? or am I mixing something with Sacred now ? Anyway, their robes looked much like some better robes I knew from Gothic 1 ... don't remember where I saw them, though ...

All in all, everything reminded me very, very much of Gothic 1. Everything that made the "winning ormula" is seemingly there, as far as I can tell from my very, very short experience.

Last: Divinity 2. The presentation (some pictures can be found here: http://my.opera.com/akrproject/albums/show.dml?id=730579 ) showed the main things, plus a few things I didn't know before. The battle-tower, for example, is inhabited by a powerful minion of Damian, the Damned One, and at one point when the player-character kills that minion, and takes the BT as his own home, Damian learns of that and attacks the tower. With flying fortresses.
Which means that the character must morph himself into a dragon and attack these fortresses spawning huge amounts of demons, the presenter said, himself, crippling or / and even destroying them.

I'll put this in spoilers:
We now know who's that bald-headed guy from the Divinity pages with the glowing eyes: It's Damian himself !

In a very short scene even Zandalor could be seen ! :) Our all-favourite arch-magician ( ;) ) can be seen in one of my photos. He looks much brigther and more colorful there ! :)

In the end, I think I remember having heard, the character must battle Damian himself ... After a long, long series of fights ... Because there are many more of his minions out there ...

As a totally negative point imho there still are these question marks floating over the heads of the quest-givers. Yuck ! Bleh !

So far now. :)

Alrik

Edit: Played Battleforge a bit, too.

It plays like a totally normat strat game, except that one invokes new units through cards - a little bit like I saw it in etherlords 1.
 
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Thanks for the impressions, Alrik! :)
 
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How was the combat system? That's one of my biggest concerns. Does it feel hack&slashy?

I haven't been to the RPC but I can tell you this much from the German Risen forums and official comments of PB team members. The official line is that the combat system shown at the RPC is just a "placeholder" for the real combat system that is yet to be implemented. You can pick from the following options why they are sporting this official line now...

1) The overwhelmingly negative feedback on the combat system shown in the RPC demo (and the PC Games video that was released about a week prior to the RPC) very quickly made them say that it is just a placeholder even though it wasn't really and now they need to make up a new system on the fly (which would explain why no one of PB can reveal any details about the differences between the real system and the one shown in the demos).
2) The totally innocent version. The combat system that was shown at the RPC was really just a placeholder because the real combat system was not finished yet (right, because showing off an unfinished combat system is real smart after the disaster that was G3's combat system).

I'm leaning towards no. 1 though I wish they'd be more honest about it and admit that they changed their minds because of the negative feedback.
Anyway, the current (current as in shown in the demo) combat system is not here to stay so it's basically pointless to ask any questions about it since PB apparently intends to replace the current system with another one that appears to be top secret. We shall see...
 
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Thanks, Alrik. I've had Sacred 2 for months but nice to hear about the others. How did you feel about Divinity 2 being in 3D? Did it retain any feel for the original?
 
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Alrik probably meant the Sacred 2 add-on.
 
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Dear Green Place
Alrik probably meant the Sacred 2 add-on.

I don't know. I just wanted to play Sacred 2, and I played Sacred 2. ;)

Honestly, I can't say what's the add-on, because I even don't know enough of the full game !

About the combat in Risen: It clearly felt very much like the combat in Gothic 1. Unfiortunately, I can't say that much, because I just battled these three guardians (or whatever), and that was it. There were plenty of animals around (pigs, one bird at which look I instinctively thought: "A scavenger !" :D ;) Imagine a Gothic 1 scavenger much smaller and with colourful feathers, then there you basically have it ! ;)

There's a small, tiny little detail which impressed me, because i hadn't expected someone taking care of such a thing happening: I tried to beat a tree with my sword. Actually, there were splinters flowing away from that point where I hit the trunk, but there were no scars.

I was impressed that someonme actually had thought to implement a sort of animation for that, because it would otherwise mean more work. Tiny little details ...

Looking at the huge queue of people wanrting to plax Risen ;) , I was glad that I had taken the time for it yesterday. Because compared to today, yesterday was a really quiet day ...

My personal favourite point today was a discussion with several people, including Bernd Beyreuther (hope I spelled his name correctly), Stefan Blanck of Chromatrix (same here) another designer of Drakensang, and three other people, of which I only remember that one was a community member (I think connected with wow somehoe), and one was I think from Ulisses 8current holders of the TDE license) and one was from the german publisher of (among others) current D&D.

This was a nice discussion about computer-based role-playing and pen & paper - based role-playing.

A few themes were apparent there:

- difference in definitions between both (C-RPG & P&P-RPG), sometimes with a huge hiatus between both

- a generation problem: the current generation(s) have a far different approach towards role-playing than older ones.

There might even be a huge, underlying problem of society: Someome reported that ALL "older" social groups of youths were declining ! : Sports clubs, youth clubs, LARP groups, whatever, and also role-playing games groups. Youths just don't seem to want to be in such social groups. And no-one knows why.

- A possible explanation could be to assume that - as someone put it - a more passive approach of the younger generation(s), especially in general (meaning: regarding almost ALL aspects of social life !) The younger ones might rather tend to C-RPGs instead of P&P RPGs, because they "just want fun". No long time investing. No work before the fun necessary. And C-RPGs ARE a more passive form of RPGs.

- the last part of the discussion was going around rather about TDE (and other systems, but the focus was on TDE) and the great difficulty to gain new players.

- one huge aspect of this is that TDE has become too complex with the 4th edition. Many complain that. But the fans just want that complexity, however, they scare newlings away with exactly that complexity. As I said, it appears like some sort of fanboyism to me.

- the huge need for an absolutely *small* system especially for beginners was kind of acknowledged, however, with the danger of the fans rallying against it, Just because they love the complexity.

There ended the discussion.

Me and a few others had a personal chat with Betty from dtp after her own workshop. It was interesting to see it from her point of view.

All in all, it was a very interesting day (among other events Stefan Blanck of Chromatix explained the TDE mini-adventures to me, which are also available in English language), but I had to pay for the day in a way:

As I arrived at my home tram station, I had to notice that the complete handlebar of my bicycle was stolen ...
My sister picked me up with the car ...
 
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Thanks, Alrik. I've had Sacred 2 for months but nice to hear about the others. How did you feel about Divinity 2 being in 3D? Did it retain any feel for the original?

Uh, it is very, very different, like a complete new world.

Which it is, in a waay, because the game shows parts of Rivellon we hadn't seen before.

Honestly, I just can't say. The only "anchor" to the old game was Zandalor, which you can see on one of my photos.
Apart from him, everything seemed very new.

The best-looking part of the presentation was to me the dragon flying through the fjords. Huge, and I mean HUGE cliffs to the left and to the right, and a very, very narrows way through it ! At least narrow for a dragon. ;)
And deep ! These cliffs ARE high !

One point: The flying fortresses of Damian had some thingies which had a sharp, claw-like look. That reminded me of Beyond Divinity: sharp, claw-like things signalling a rather demonical thing. Like the doors very early in BD.
 
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As I arrived at my home tram station, I had to notice that the complete handlebar of my bicycle was stolen ...
My sister picked me up with the car ...

Sorry to hear that! :(
 
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Yeah, that sucks !

I was playing more Risen yesterday, but today I was primarily trying to slow myself down, because I was feeling very, very exhausted.

I'll write more about my Risen experience within the next few hours here.

As a sidenote, I heard that "a programmer" of Larian was there on Saturday and maybe on Sunday, but I haven't seen him. Could've been it was "the master" ( ;) ) himself.
 
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As a second sidenote I asked: I was definitively playing Sacred 2 there, no add-on.

Okay, Risen ( I already wrote "Riven", but had to correct that ;) :p ) .

A small warning before all that: If my grammar or spelling appears odd, then please keep in mind that I'm still a bit exhausted. I usually need at least 1 day but rather 2 after 3 full days of such an event to "cool down".

Well, this time I tried a few things out. I asked, for example, the bandit from the abandoned house whether he could show me the way to his group's "Lager" (camp or whaever you'll use for that word).

He indeed led me a way, warned me explicitely of the "guardians" which killed my character in the last game and their ruins, and stopped at a certain point. He then said to my character that he should go from there and if he follows the path, then he'll arrive at the bandit's camp. Then he went back.
Which means that my character would have to go alone from there. I cannot say anything more about this, because a message was displayed "end of the demo". So this was one of the main tasks available which lead to the restarting of the demo.

The other one is the next path I tried. From the point where the character initially stood, he could go to the rght to the small abondoned house.

To the left, in the far distance, another houese could be seen. It appeardd as blurred, and *all* things further away from the character become also blurred. Seems to be in the engine or so. The farther away, the more blurred.

I walked or ran down that hill along the path to the new house. As I arrived, the engine drew crop plants over an area which appeared to be empty (as if already harvested) from far away.

I talked about the first farmer I met. The dialogs are very, very long, because the sub-titles (kind of "over-titles", to be exact) are displayed for I thing at least 15 seconds (very rough estimation). That's why all dialogs feel like pulled chewing gum.

There were headphones there, but I didn't wear them. I almost assume that the dialogs are spoken also, which would be an explanation of the long display time of the "sub"-titles.

As a tiny quest, I helped him collect some of the crop, and received a healing potion for that.

With this, I had actually done one of several helping works which my character must do for being let to the more or less hidden north entrance of the port town.

To cut things a little bit shorter, the farmers are actually novices of a group of magicians. They're in principle neutral, but have built up a kind of co-operation with the Inquisitors, believing that the Inquisitors are the only ones able to "ban the evil" from the island (which they assume is responsible for the Risen temple ruins. They seem to have come right out of the earth).

In effect, this means that a great part of all the things they (the farmers) produce will go to the "vulcano fortress", to the Inquisitors. A "knight of the order" appears every few days there and carries that stuff away. He is also meant to protect the forms, but the farmers themselves say that these knights aren't much interested in that.

No-one is allowed to stay outside the

- farms
- volcano fortress
- port town
- and maybe the ruins.

That's why the bandits are the only ones who are really free there. And the character, of course.

Which also means that no-one can come into the port town freely through the main gate, because that would mean he had been outside of it, which would have been a violation of the law that no-one is allowed to stay outside.

Thus, if he really wants to come into the town, the small, lesser protected nothern entrance must be used.

The head of the farmers called Tristan (the one the character talked first to is called Benny, another working with crops is Tellur [name of a chemical element], and the last one who had the same head like the bandit of the abandoned house is the pig-keeper, I don't remember his name anymore. Something like Harrod or so) is willing to let the character this entrance shown [grammar ?]. Tellur would do it. But before he (Tristan) is allowing that, the character must do a few "helping works". One is already fulfilled.

Tristan is able to trade a few things, by the way.

The last (I think there are only 2 of these works to do) work the character has to do is killing a few wolves. Because they had been decimating the number of the pigs recently. With the new sword from the abandoned house this is no problem.

The combat is almost 1:1 as I remember it from Gothic 1. That's why I can't understand complaints about it.

For completing this task, the character must go into a cave. It has a huge opening on the other side, which was "embellished" by the text on the screen "you are leaving the demo's area". In German language.

The cave was insofar interesting, as it not only contains a few chests and fungi, but also gold vein ! Unfortunately the character didn't have the right equipment for that. A beat with the sword did let the character tumble a bit away from the gold vein.
All in all the cave looked quite a bit as if there had been mine workers there, until they had been taken to the port town like the rest of the island's civilization.

Just as my character had completed the task and stepped outside to the farmers, the pig-keeper (who had given the task of decimating the number of wolves to zero) warned the character of a knight of the order (no-one explicitely said *wghich* order ! - but I assume it is some kind of order connected to the inquisitors) had just arrived. And that he'll guide him to a side building/house, which contains a bed. But the character should do everything so that he cannot be seen by the knight, who otherwise would take the character to the vulcano fortress.
In the house, the character slept until the evening. And then, the knight was gone.

In the end, he was guided approx. 30 metres to a wooden path through a swamp, which Tellur said would be leading to the northern entrance. It is "full of dangers", but not in the wooden path itself. It is possible to lose the way, but on the other hand there are many sifgns, too, he said.

And that was the end of that small main quest.

At that point the demo restarted again ...
 
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Great, will these guys train you in magic?
 
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Thanks for the info Alrik

About the combat system:I don't know how it feels like but when I saw the vids it reminded me of Fable 1,am I right?

About Interface:I've noticed that in order to use it we will make use of the mouse,is it as annoying as it was in G3?
 
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Great, will these guys train you in magic?

No, not at this point.

I think in the vulcano fortress one is being taught the use of magic and combat via a "stick" ("Order of the Stick" ? lol), and this stick-based combat is something the bandits heavily despise.

Thanks for the info Alrik

About the combat system:I don't know how it feels like but when I saw the vids it reminded me of Fable 1,am I right?

About Interface:I've noticed that in order to use it we will make use of the mouse,is it as annoying as it was in G3?

I used the mouse, yes, but I don't know ... I was able to close the trading screen with the ESC key. ;)

Walking around: I did that with the arrow keys and wasd.

And I can't say a thing about Fable at all ...

Thanks for the "download" Alrik!

In Risen, did more than one enemy attack you at a time, or was it only one at time like G3?

I was attacked by these "guardians", and ... at least it seemed to me as if they "wanted" to attack me all ... But I didn't focus on the imho detail whether they'll queue up or not.

The wolves - I encountered only two at a time of approx. 7 all in all - attacked me all at the same time.


As a sidenote (another one), the (I think 2) farmer's houses looked rather in mediterranean style. A mixture of Spain & Italy, I thought. With almost white walls. You'll know what I mean when you see them. From the cliché they reminded me of Western moviestaking place in Mexico or so, a similar building style, but rather mediterranean.
 
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Do we know anything about modding tools for Risen? Nothing planned?
 
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So far PB and DS are only saying the usual "no decision has been made yet" stuff. Sure, a project which takes a couple of man months hasn't been decided yet. ;)

Nico left years ago. I'm not sure anybody else wants to invest his spare time in making / customizing mod tools.
 
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