Might & Magic X - MMX Early Access

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Limbic Entertainment announces you will soon be able to get early access to play Might & Magic X. Stay tuned for more news and previews in the coming week.

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Dear MMX fans,

Yes, it’s true – you can start to play tomorrow !

Might & Magic X - Legacy will be officially pre-released, offering an Early Access, which will then be available through Uplay and Steam. Please note that the box edition of Might & Magic X – Legacy will be exclusive to Uplay.

Through this early version of the game we will give you the opportunity to start your great journey in the peninsula of Agyn.

You will be able to play Act I (out of four Acts), test four classes (out of twelve) and get a first impression of what MMX looks and feels like on an unpolished level (unpolished also means that it will still contain bugs, as this is an “Early Access”, so the game will still be work in progress; we are still developing.
You can find more info on our forums here.

More information.
 
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Err.. do you actually have to pay for "early access" or is this at least free unless you pre-purchase the boxed version? I would expect at least the digital version to be free since this sounds 100% like a public beta test and not like "early access".

First, you can only play the first act or about 20% of the game so this makes this more of a demo more than anything.

Secondly, this is from their own page on "early access"...
What we’re aware of:


We obviously have some topics in mind, we are either not yet satisfied with or features which are simply not yet implemented as the version will still be WIP (work in progress):

- The game FPS performance is not as good as it could be.

- The implementation of what we call "interactions". We have not yet implemented all the interactions we have in mind. We are lacking the small interactions granting you an attribute point, healing your party, increasing your resistance, etc.

- While we are still working on animations of some 3D models we will not finalize all of it for Early Access. To put it simple: Some animations could be better – it’s just a matter of time.

- Balancing remains still WIP.


That doesn't sound to me like the game is really anywhere near finished at all. And being able to heal the party or assigning attribute points (IMHO essential) is considered a "small interaction"? WTF?
The game is scheduled for release in early 2014. Why this early access public beta now? Why collect money from people now? Has their budget spun out of control and do they need to recoup some of their costs? What gives?

This is really weird...



And the next two paragraphs are not exactly too encouraging either, especially the "what we are not interested in" part. Hey, sure, thanks a lot for using people as beta testers and then not even being willing to listen to all they have to say.


Nope. This is definitely not getting any of my money before the full game plus all of the already announced DLC is released (= complete edition).
 
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I've never seen early access given away for free, and I assume buying the early access also gets you the full game upon release. There's nothing to lose for people who were planning to buy it at release anyways.

That said, I agree that what's being made available now is underwhelming.
 
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It's called Early Access because that is what Steam calls it. Though your right your paying to play a beta, and you get the game when it's finished.

There trying to raise money and get more beta testers. As soon as Steam implemented this feature I knew developers would use it.

I see nothing wrong with this as it's just like the stretch goals on kickstarters. You can buy it now to get beta access, or buy the game when it's finished.
 
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I'm not going to beta test this game… I'll let you guys do that.
But, this game is on my must buy list… I've played them all to completion, except M&M1 & 9.

I really want the boxed edition with the cloth map… which will be "available in all countries except the US because of constraints, we are not able to influence." What the hell does that mean? Does anyone know why the boxed version, the sequel to the classic American CRPG series, won't be sold in the USA??
 
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It's called Early Access because that is what Steam calls it. Though your right your paying to play a beta, and you get the game when it's finished.

There trying to raise money and get more beta testers. As soon as Steam implemented this feature I knew developers would use it.

I see nothing wrong with this as it's just like the stretch goals on kickstarters. You can buy it now to get beta access, or buy the game when it's finished.

What I think is wrong with all this is that this is a AAA publisher using this feature. Ubi could very easily afford professional QA and a fully polished release version without any need to pre-release the game in exchange for cash in its beta stage.
This kind of abuse is undermining the core concepts of Kickstarter and could potentially lead to damaging the entire principle of crowdfunding.
People might be way more hesitant or -worst case- outright reluctant to spend money up front if they get burnt a few times and the MMX flame seems to be burning fairly hot as far as I can tell.

/paranoidmode But this is probably exactly what Ubi are aiming for here. The many successful PC Kickstarter projects have been diverting huge amounts of monetary resources away from the consoles. I guess it was only a matter of time until the big publishers began cracking down on Kickstarter and PC gaming. If you can't beat them, join them... and then get on the inside like a Trojan horse and destroy them from the inside. That seems to be their strategy here. I'm betting when MMX has its darkest hour on the PC, Ubi will announce a next-gen AAA MMXI for the Xbox One and PS4 to force even the last remnants to switch camp \paranoidmode

OK, maybe that was a little too paranoid... :biggrin:
 
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I really want the boxed edition with the cloth map… which will be "available in all countries except the US because of constraints, we are not able to influence." What the hell does that mean? Does anyone know why the boxed version, the sequel to the classic American CRPG series, won't be sold in the USA??

Doesn't surprise me I learned this lesson many times before and we can blame digital downloads for that. It's cheaper and for some reason they think no one wants boxed copy's in the US anymore.

I'm reminded of Divinity 2: Ego Draconis and Two worlds 2 . You had to import a collector version.:shakefist:
What I think is wrong with all this is that this is a AAA publisher using this feature. Ubi could very easily afford professional QA and a fully polished release version without any need to pre-release the game in exchange for cash in its beta stage.

This kind of abuse is undermining the core concepts of Kickstarter and could potentially lead to damaging the entire principle of crowdfunding.
:biggrin:
I agree as I said I knew AAA publishers would be using it. Money now instead of when the game is released it's an instant win for them.
 
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I don't mind 'pledging' to the alpha and playtest it for £10 for the digital deluxe edition (or the boxed edition). Any more than that it is a rip off and will wait when it hits a humble bundle pay what you want sale with all the DLC.
 
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@Moriendor: What does MMX have to do with KS?
Anyway I don't get why this should be considered problematic. Some people like to play betas, for various reasons, nobody is forced into this. For developers it means additional feedback from real players, and early exposure to the real hardware jungle, which I don't think any QA department can fully simulate.
 
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"And being able to heal the party or assigning attribute points (IMHO essential) is considered a "small interaction"? WTF?"

I think they're referring to interacting with things like fountains or barrels, which when clicked on, grant your party attribute points or healing, like in past games.
 
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I think we should probably look at this as something very positive or very negative.

1) The game is great, and they want early beta testers to start buzzing about that something great is coming.

2) It is broken beyond repair and they want to earn some bucks.
 
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I'll wait until it's done, and I'll wait til I know if it's any good. Not a fan of early access, rather play completed games.
 
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@Moriendor: What does MMX have to do with KS?

I believe that the mechanism is aimed at KS and other indie projects. The early access mechanism is giving indie developers with low budgets a chance to recoup some of their investment earlier than usual by offering people to pre-purchase the game (preferably at a discount since people are getting a beta and helping test the game).
But why in the world would UbiSoft as a AAA publisher need to resort to this stuff? They can afford professional QA and I'm sure that they can cough up the full budget easily several times over since -speaking in terms of budget- one Assassin's Creed 4 would probably equal about ten MMX's.
I think that this is very fishy and shady… you know, it smells but you can't really identify what it is that smells so badly quite yet ;) .

Anyway I don't get why this should be considered problematic. Some people like to play betas, for various reasons, nobody is forced into this. For developers it means additional feedback from real players, and early exposure to the real hardware jungle, which I don't think any QA department can fully simulate.
I agree completely if they would offer this early access/public beta as a FREE demo (it's only 20% of the game anyway) to help them make the game better. But as a pre-purchase? No. It smells too much like "let's grab some cash while we can" to me.
 
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I don't follow.

You don't really "grab cash and run" in a smart way by giving people early access - unless you intend to blow the full release - which would be a very strange thing to do if you're letting people get into beta this early.

Sure, it's opportunism - but it's nothing more severe than the norm.

Also, there's no reason to expect Ubisoft to care enough about such a narrow title to fund it beyond the most barebones way.

I'm much more surprised at how forgiving people seem to be of the recent Blade of Destiny debacle.

A game THAT unfinished should have been pulled - or the developers should have been much more upfront about its atrocious state.

Obviously, they needed to try and survive - but they clearly cheated the audience with full knowledge.

That's what I call a cash grab. Whether due to sheer incompetence or deceit, I can't say.
 
@Moriendor

On the other hand:

If some early adopters (like dteowner) call the game "nothing but shit, cheap MM 9 clone" they sell nothing in 2014.

I see no risk here. They are going public (Story, Dungeon, Gameplay elements,…) since the beginning of development. I think this is good. Agile software development close to the customer. Did they copy it from KS devs? Maybe, but this only shows that AAA studios can learn.
 
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I don't follow.
I'm much more surprised at how forgiving people seem to be of the recent Blade of Destiny debacle.

A game THAT unfinished should have been pulled - or the developers should have been much more upfront about its atrocious state.

Obviously, they needed to try and survive - but they clearly cheated the audience with full knowledge.

That's what I call a cash grab. Whether due to sheer incompetence or deceit, I can't say.

Agreed. I feel so ripped off from BoD. Anyway back to topic.

I believe that this for fan input. If they find that people really want to have more control over say attribute point they can change the game this early on instead of later.
 
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I do early starts for MMOs, because it's a way to learn the ropes and make mistakes without worries. But for single player games that doesn't apply.
 
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I agree with Moriendor. If they want opinions/feedback let them release a demo of the game for all. In my opinion AAA companies should be forbidden to use these Kickstarter / early access type programs as they are taking advantage and exploiting it. It's another way to line corporate profits while cutting the work force - while using unwitting pawns for cash infusions so there is little to no risk on the project. Pay for early access?!?!?! Hahahahah!!! They should hire/pay proper testers.
 
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I don't see how this is a bad thing. Good way to make money to fund the development and let fans get a taste. It could backfire on them if some disgruntled people get in and start flinging trash on forums about the game, but I guess they feel confident.

I'm tempted to buy it myself but I'm so busy right now with two simultaneous BG1/BG2 playthroughs and contemplating an EOB playthrough that I don't have the time anyway.

That boxed edition looks GORGEOUS though. I'm also tempted to get that but considering I have four shelves full of old boxed PC games already it would be adding more clutter to the pile.
 
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Let's see how it goes. Early access is a more or less new Steam feature. Perhaps it will be successful, perhaps not. On one hand it gives developer enorm amount of beta-testers to polish the product. Compare it to Eador or RoA for instance. Both games were not really ready to be released and Early Access would help to gain more players I think.
 
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