Couchpotato's Random RPG News

[you]

A bunch of folks I played diku-muds with migrated over the everquest when it first came out and loved it - but by then I had grown out of this sort of game and the only online games I played were shootes (wolfenstien enemy territory was a good one). Mostly because i could play for an hour or two and then move on to other stuff.

 

[azarhal]

Daybreak ? as far as I remember, they are the same who maintain LOTRO and DDO …

They aren't maintaining it. LOTRO and DDO are maintained by Standing Stones Games made of the devs that were working on those games at Turbine.

Daybreaks are apparently the "publisher" for the games, but they aren't mentioned on the official websites of LOTRO/DDO nor do they do any marketing for the games.

The relationship between the two companies is very unclear, but if Daybreaks owned SSG or if they were owned by the same entity there would be public trace of it but they aren't any.

 

[Carnifex]

Twenty years of Everquest, well, more like twenty-one for me since I was one of the many testers back in the day. I've not played in over three years now, but those were the best of gaming times for me. I still remember what a challenge it was to simply stay online the very first day.

 

[joxer]

I have to suggest changing the thread title into:
Couchpotato's Random RPG and MMO News

 

[Couchpotato]

Denied as this isn't a democracy.

You try finding news that isn't already posted on the FrontPage.

 

[Couchpotato]

Battle Brothers Developer Blog #118 - The Barbarians, Part II

Following the introduction of the barbarian faction in part one, this week we’ll take a look at the first three of their unit types and some general combat mechanics. All part of the upcoming ‘Warriors of the North’ DLC, of course. As always, keep in mind that things are still in development and may change. With that said, let’s delve in!

 

[Couchpotato]

GWENT: Crimson Curse Expansion Trailer

You can pre-order it now and get a special Crimson Curse pack.

 

[Couchpotato]

Eternity: The Last Unicorn Review Roundup

WCCFTech - 3.5/10

Eternity: The Last Unicorn is a less-than-magical mix of misplaced PS1-era nostalgia and shallow Dark Souls mimicry. Nearly everything about the game, from its fixed camera angles, to its clunky combat, to its copious backtracking is broken or irritating in some way. If challenge is all you’re looking for in a game, perhaps Eternity: The Last Unicorn is for you. Everyone else will likely find it as fun as a sharpened horn to the eye.

IndianNoob - 4/10

Eternity: The Last Unicorn could have been a guilty pleasure game if it had a flexible camera, reliable combat and more options to develop your character. It would have fared better off as an isometric RPG or one akin to Legend of Grimrock. However, that is clearly not the case. As of now, Eternity is a frustrating mess that is hard to recommend, even with the cheap (regional) price tag.

The Inde Game Website - 3/10

Eternity: The Last Unicorn’s one redeeming quality doesn’t do much redeeming, though. The game still has some major issues, first of which is simple—it’s not fun to play. Nostalgia is a feeling video games and entertainment have been profiting off increasingly within the last few years, which is great when the end products are well-executed. But instead of pulling inspiration from the Nintendo 64 era of gaming, Void Studios just made a game that belongs in it.

PlayStation LifeStyle - 5/10

Eternity: The Last Unicorn is not a great game. It’s a game that takes from Norse mythology, but doesn’t really go deep enough to make you feel like you’re on a viking adventure. You can’t skip the cut scenes, the camera is the hardest boss in the game, and it just doesn’t live up to the games it emulates. I like you Eternity, I just wanted better.

SquareXO - 5.5/10

Overall, I felt my time with this game was wasted. I felt it’s setting and story were fine, if not remarkable. It’s combat system dated and clunky and it’s technical issues were plain to see. If you’re not enjoying a game and it crashes, forcing you to replay parts of it again. It will eventually start to grate on you. I feel more time in development would have benefitted it greatly. Clean up the graphics, tighten up the combat and fix the crashes and technical hitches then maybe, and I mean maybe, it will be an enjoyable experience. At the moment though there are a lot more enjoyable games, even of this variety to spend your hard earned cash on.

Tomb of Horrors Retrospective - Eurogamer

The first thing you'll likely hear of Tomb of Horrors, a Dungeons and Dragons module devised by the game's creator Gary Gygax, is how it absolutely lives up to its name. Designed to be almost impossible to beat, Tomb of Horrors has sparked hot debates among players and dungeon masters for over 40 years since its inception, gaining the reputation of being a "meatgrinder" among other, much more unflattering things.

 

[Couchpotato]

OtherSide Entertainment teaser trailer for System Shock 3.

 

[you]

Sounds like a game to be avoided.

Eternity: The Last Unicorn Review Roundup

WCCFTech - 3.5/10IndianNoob - 4/10The Inde Game Website - 3/10PlayStation LifeStyle - 5/10
SquareXO - 5.5/10Tomb of Horrors Retrospective - Eurogamer

 

[Couchpotato]

Sounds like a game to be avoided.

Most reviews say it's a bland average game with many faults basically.

 

[Couchpotato]

Warhammer: Chaosbane Preview Roundup

PC Gamer

My main takeaway from this beta is that sigh of relief, repeated every time I see Chaosbane dodge a common pitfall. It's got lots of skills to spend points on but not so many it's confusing (I can tell already I'll navigate this by ignoring the ones geared for co-op play, of which there are plenty). It's got a slider for difficulty and any time you're in the hub you can tweak it as much as you want. Loadouts can be changed anywhere, and health is a represented by a bright red orb that's easily visible. These are low bars to clear, but after seeing so many games screw up the basics it's nice to see them done right. I can see myself sinking hours into this just like I did with Torchlight, clicking on monsters, comparing the stats on gloves, collecting armor sets, and killing a lot of tiny green brats.

Polygon

I may not be familiar with Warhammer but I am familiar with the appeal of a good dungeon crawler and Chaosbane fulfilled those obligations with ease. I felt powerful, charging headlong into a fight with continually improving gear buffed by a well blended skill set. Even something as simple as dialing up a fast attack while I was still in a power attack animation delivered a crowd-clearing combo slap full of green damage numbers. I could feel myself picking up good fundamentals as I played more. I just wish I had a little more of a coach at the outset.

Grimshade Update #33 - Charlie Character Spotlight

As previously announced, we redeem all the beta keys today as we need to send the release build on Steam approval. We've got lots of your comments and feedback — it seems, that you've enjoyed the game and it's fantastic! Despite one technical problem, there were several minor issues we've known from a series of playtests and already fixed them.

Less than two weeks remain until the launch day comes — the most rigorous and nervous time. We're working without cease on the game, fixing and polishing all sort of things to make Grimshade even better.

 

[Couchpotato]

Pathfinder: Kingmaker - Arcane Unleashed Free DLC Available - Steam

An arcane scroll merchant will appear in your capital. The quantity and caster level of available scrolls depends on how high your "Arcane" kingdom stat is.
Furthermore, if you like turning into giant dragons as much as we do, you'll definitely enjoy the fresh, improved models for chromatic and metallic types of these formidable creatures.

Finally, on a more serious note, the last part of this DLC is a new pet. One of our players and our friend, known to the community as Stratagemini, lost his beloved cat Tiger just weeks before the launch of our game. Stratagemini has been with us since the earliest days of development, supporting us every step of the way, providing extensive and enlightening feedback in the alpha, and helping to shape this community into what it is today. As a token of our eternal gratitude, we've recreated Tiger in the game so that he may roam with his human friend once more - if only in the Stolen Lands.

 

[Couchpotato]

Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden Switch Version and Expansion DLC Announced

“Ever since we started working on this game, we have always felt it would be a perfect fit for the Nintendo Switch,” said Haraldur Thormundsson, CEO of The Bearded Ladies. ”The game lends itself really well to the Switch controls and the pacing of the tactical turn-based combat is perfect for an on-the-go, handheld console. We are also excited for the opportunity to tell another Mutant Year Zero Story with the new expansion DLC, and we look forward to talking more about that soon.”

Pathfinder: Kingmaker Patch v1.3 Open Beta Live (Part 1 and Part 2)

Dear pathfinders, We are happy to inform that the Beta of Version 1.3 is available for everyone - this time on GoG as well as Steam!

Beamdog Studio Update - Interviews & Announcements

These are busy times at Beamdog. We thought we’d give you a quick update on what we are up to.

Outer Worlds an Epic Exclusive - GamesIndustry.biz

A new partnership with Private Division, Take-Two's new publishing label, will see Obsidian Entertainment's The Outer Wilds exclusive to the Epic Games Store and Microsoft Windows 10 Store for a year after launch, while Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey will be made available exclusively through the Epic Games Store for its first year. Private Division said both games are still coming to consoles, and will be made available on other PC storefronts after a year.

 

[Couchpotato]

Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 was officially announced

It's up on Steam with a release for March 2020.

Link - https://store.steampowered.com/app/532790/Vampire_The_Masquerade__Bloodlines_2/

 

[Dragonfly]

Right now, I'm a little hyped. I just hope Epic either changes their data mining policy or keeps their greedy hands off.

 

[Couchpotato]

Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 Previews & Keynote video.

PC Gamer

For fans wondering how long Bloodlines 2 has been in the works, it began to take shape from pretty much the earliest moment it possibly could have. "We started basically the day that the news broke that Paradox had acquired the World of Darkness IP," said Andy Kipling, co-founder and CEO of Hardsuit Labs, which was founded in 2015. "When our creative director Ka'ai Clooney came running into my office and was like 'Andy, we need to pitch Paradox a game.'"

Eurogamer

What's really impressive about this first early look at Bloodlines 2, though, is the city itself. You first emerge at the feet of Miner's Landing - a knowing call-back to Santa Monica pier in the first Bloodlines - and explore a city with a pointedly layered history, from the underground streets left in the aftermath of the Great Seattle Fire of 1889 to the divided lines on the streets above. "There are multiple factions in the city," explains Mitsoda. "What we wanted to do with the story was really reflect modern Seattle. There's really a struggle for the identity of Seattle right now, the music and cultural place that it was traditionally and the corporate and tech business that's transformed the city. There's this idea of how much Seattle can change before it's no longer Seattle. So we made the factions aspects of the old and the new. You can work for different factions, unlike the first game, you can switch factions and you can piss off factions to the point where they won't work with you anymore. We really wanted to give you the ability to change the story the way that you want it to go - you might see things a different way by working with a faction.

IGN

There's a lot in Bloodlines 2 that's got me eager to see more, and I know I'm not the only one. The developers are well aware of how invested the fan community is in returning to White Wolf’s World of Darkness. “This is one of the biggest cult games ever made,” Mitsoda says, “so we know that the first question the fans are going to ask is ‘Is this really Bloodlines, or did you just slap ‘2’ on something that doesn’t feel like Bloodlines?’ And the most important thing, for us, is to say ‘No, it’s Bloodlines.'”

Based on what I've seen so far, Bloodlines 2 is every bit the worthy follow-up it could be, while also having the potential to be an excellent take on the modern RPG. I'll look forward to seeing what else is revealed along the road to its release, and what how the community, new and old, reacts.

 

[Couchpotato]

Divinity: Original Sin II - Swen Vincke Talks Painful Development - USgamer

In another life, I was a curriculum developer in charge of writing English lessons. Our process early on was to have someone write a lesson, then have everyone make notes on the document, which would then be addressed by the writer. Lessons wound up taking forever to finalize, and we quickly moved on to another process.

I found myself flashing back to those days when Larian Studios founder Swen Vincke posted a screencap of a Google Doc containing notes on the story for Divinity: Original Sin 2. This massive story document was circulated between nine writers and various higher-ups for notes, all of which were subsequently addressed. It didn't go well.

Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord Developer Blog - Party Speed

As an enterprising adventurer in Bannerlord, sometimes it feels like your party never goes fast enough. Those pesky steppe bandits that are pursuing you keep closing up; Queen Rhagaea was expecting that quest to be finished yesterday, and all that butter you are carrying to the market isn’t getting any fresher! You need to go faster… but have no worry, dear reader, for this week’s blog is about party speed. Just read on and you will master the art of outrunning your opponents in Bannerlord in no time.

ATOM RPG Quality of Life Update 1.08 Live - Steam

Finally, it’s time for the big Update! We did a lot of work this time, and positive improvements have touched upon a lot of the game aspects. Playing ATOM is now genuinely more comfortable. The inventory management is easier, the interface in general is more intuitive, the follower mechanics have more options, the re-balancing of weapons made combat more dynamic and interesting, especially during the new random encounters. And of course we added a lot of new NPCs, quests and maps for you to test all of the new features.

 

[Couchpotato]

Inside FINAL FANTASY IX Short Documentary

Make sure to click the Captions button for English.

 

[you]

What has epic to do with this ?

Right now, I'm a little hyped. I just hope Epic either changes their data mining policy or keeps their greedy hands off.