Couchpotato's Random RPG News

Bannerlord has many dynamic systems for maintaining most gameplay mechanisms. Horses are a case in point. They are produced in certain villages so there is a steady supply being created each day. These are then purchased (or sometimes looted) by passing armies or carried to town markets to change hands. Horses are also regularly removed from the game when cavalry troops eventually die or desperate parties slaughter them for food.

However, this dynamism brings its own unique challenges. How do we make sure that all these systems stay more or less balanced and working as intended, even after the elapse of many in-game years? In order to help designers with this, our engine team added a nice little utility for creating heat maps.

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This is big! Mikko “Mikki” Rautalahti, a dear friend and a talented writer who has worked on hit games like Alan Wake and Quantum Break, has joined the Druidstone team! With Mikki on board the rest of us can concentrate on game mechanics, levels and balancing, while Mikki is stabbing away at the story, writing missing dialogue lines, filling gaps, and do what is necessary to make the characters and the world really come to life. Mikki and I have a long history and the idea of working together has always been on the back of my mind. Previously other projects and timing has prevented this, but luckily the planets finally aligned… So, without further ado I’ll pass the mike to Mikki and let him introduce himself!

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Supergiant's Hades is in many ways a departure from the studio's earlier work. Unlike Bastion, Transistor, or Pyre, it's a roguelike dungeon crawler, and it's also the first of the team's games to be put out in early access.

One thing that ties all of Supergiant's work together, though, is a strong narrative. Hades' protagonist is Zagreus, a blurry member of the Greek pantheon who is seen only through fragmentary texts that identify him as the son of Hades, lord of the underworld. (He may have later been merged with the myth of the god of wine, Dionysus, further obscuring his original tales.) The developers took this loose foundation and built up their own character, a rebellious young man who wants to escape his father's underworld, tasking the player with battling through an ever-shifting maze of enemies in an attempt to reach the surface.

Creative director Greg Kasavin has worked on writing and implementing the narrative on all four of Supergiant's games, but this is the first one to draw on an existing mythology. He tells me that this narrative foundation first came from the structure of the game they wanted to make.

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In this exclusive Game Informer interview, we Skype in The Outer Worlds' co-directors Tim Cain and Leonard Boyarsky from Obsidian Entertainment to answer more than 70 questions from the community about the upcoming RPG's story, gameplay, and much more

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As was stated in the beginning, Kingdom Come: Deliverance is Skyrim for adults, that is an open world RPG with mature writing, in-depth systems, and a paintakingly detailed and coherent world. It is also a game with many issues, but most of them can be overcome with low-effort modding or simply the realization that rough edges are a low price to pay for the gem that they enclose.

It is best played on Hardcore mode, and with the mods that I mentioned above. With this done, you will be immersed into medieval Europe in a way that has never been done before, and that undoubtedly breaks new ground in our favorite genre. So put on your Gambeson, and Chain Mail, and Cuirass, close your Bascinet Visor, and set forth on a grand adventure that reawakens everything that drew us to games in the first place, all those years ago! Bon voyage!

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Dettlaff van der Eretein, the mighty higher vampire gamers first met in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt — Blood and Wine, is summoning his kin. As the Moon over the Witcher world turns red, new breeds of monsters awake, new villains emerge, and new heroes rise to answer the call.

Along with a multitude of new tools for waging war, Crimson Curse introduces over 100 cards across all of GWENT’s playable factions. Players will be able to afflict the enemy with Poison and Bleeding, use Shield and Vitality to defend against incoming damage, as well as attempt to turn the tide of battle using the Deathblow and Berserk gameplay mechanics.

As always, every card comes in both a standard version and a premium animated variant — one of the hallmark features of GWENT’s presentation.

Crimson Curse is coming to GWENT for PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on March 28th, 2019.

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As soon as possible. Several people have said that I should get KotC 1 on Steam and GOG before launching a Kickstarter campaign. I've just finished making a trailer for KotC 2. Now I want to make a trailer for KotC 1 and a few extra videos for KotC 2. I need a good KotC 1 trailer in order to make a proper release on the game stores. Also, I'd like to fix a number of small errors in the KotC 1 code. And I know that for Steam, some extra code needs to be added.

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Today, we have our heads deep in Grim Dawn polishing every facet as we rapidly approach the preordained day. The playtesting group now has the first content complete build with all the bells and whistles of the upcoming expansion (the Shattered Realm is now up to 64 unique levels!) to make sure that your experience is as smooth as possible when Forgotten Gods is released.

With everything in place, we've been speaking with all the storefronts to hammer down a release window. If you've been paying attention to our livestreams, Medierra did drop you a bit of a (big) hint: Forgotten Gods is coming in the last week of March!

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Warhammer: Chaosbane beta is live from 7 - 13th of March. Warhammer: Chaosbane is coming to Xbox One, PS4 and PC on June 4th, 2019.

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In preparation for the launch of the 1st beta phase of Warhammer: Chaosbane, EKO Software gathered a number of community “Ask Me Anything” questions and answered them via video.

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In the past, we have talked several times with 3D artists, and you are already familiar with the kind of work they do in the development of a video game. However, it is not uncommon for an artist in any games development studio, especially in one comparatively small like TaleWorlds, to roll up their sleeves and tackle some other tasks. In this week’s Q&A we talk with Gökhan Şahin, one of our 3D artists, who is currently designing a certain scene – but better he explains it himself!

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Ruin has come to our family… again. Red Hook announced recently that Darkest Dungeon, the Lovecraft-inspired Gothic RPG with a deadly reputation, is getting a sequel.

The uncompromisingly addictive game first hit the scene back in 2014, when Red Hook launched its wildly successful Kickstarter campaign. Legions of sadistic gamers out there were ready to test their mettle against a punishing series of insanity-inducing adventures; adventures in which one wrong step could result in your best fighter’s permanent death. After years in development, and making its way through Kickstarter to Early Access, Darkest Dungeon released on PC in 2016 as a huge success for a studio that started as just two friends with a dream in a bar.

And that was the end of the story, until two weeks ago when Red Hook rolled out a cryptic trailer heralding the coming of the franchise’s next instalment. We reached out to Red Hook’s Co-Founder and Art Director, Chris Bourassa, to walk us through the studio’s development and retrace the path that set them in front of the towering mountain that is Darkest Dungeon 2.

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purpleblob said:

So… the Bannerlord won't be released until they go through Q&A of every employee of the company… any idea how many people work there?

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purpleblob said:

So… the Bannerlord won't be released until they go through Q&A of every employee of the company… any idea how many people work there?

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Alrik Fassbauer said:

Garden Paws: A New Multiplayer RPG Now on Kickstarter

Garden Paws is a multiplayer RPG stimulation game that has the player building up a farm that they have inherited from their grandparents. In addition to a farm, the player is also in charge of managing a shop, which they require the help of a local construction shop to get up and running. The game allows the player to build up their very own town with the assistance of Mayor Wilson, and it does this through a whole slew of activities. The main point of the activities is to collect coins in order to build up the town and ensure that it prospers.

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Sounds very much to me like a description of Stardew Valley.

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The start of Warhammer: Chaosbane is currently available to play for those who pre-order. Until March 13, early birds will be able to try the game's first act for themselves as part of the closed beta. Then it'll be a case of waiting for the full thing to land on PC, PS4, and Xbox One in early June (or late, late May if you order the Magnus Edition). After having played this first chapter we're certainly more enthused about the idea of an action-RPG set in the Warhammer universe and our early game impressions are generally positive, but we're going to wait until we've played through the entire thing before saying anything further. Consider us intrigued, though.

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Chaosbane is not just another hack and slash RPG. It is a robust story set in the Old World which will enchant long-time tabletop players. The game has with it the main feature which makes Warhammer so appealing to so many, it takes a dark, horrific world of demons and blood and makes it absolutely fun. We cannot wait to play and especially try the Dwarf Slayer next time we demo the game.

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For now, though, it seems Warhammer: Chaosbane keeps things simple enough. The beta only gave a glimpse into the first act, culminating in a boss fight with a Great Unclean One. As a Warhammer Fantasy Battles fan, that was an absolute treat! As someone who’s played a number of ARPGs in the past, however, I’m worried that Warhammer: Chaosbane might be playing it too safe. Then again, it’s fairly early in the game, and there could be more in store. I’m certainly looking forward to everything that Eko Software could bring to the table.

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Though I admittedly have only had a few hours to spend with Warhammer: Chaosbane so far, (another curse of having a demanding real-world job) I was thoroughly intrigued by what I played. I’m always down for a dungeon crawler, and this game did a great job making sure to not overdo its usage of other of familiar dungeon crawler conventions. The game was fun and played smoothly, save for a (potential?) minor bug when trying to use a keyboard and mouse setup where I couldn’t seem to find a way to display a pointer, making it hard to see where I was directing my character. I switched to using my Xbox One controller and the transition was seamless and the game controlled perfectly. If you want to have some friends join in the game will support both 4 player online and offline drop-in co-op, so if you’re looking to share in some demon slaying fun with some fancy twists this is one you will definitely want to keep an eye out for. Pre-orders for the game are active, and doing so enrolls you in more upcoming beta sessions (the current beta is live through March 13th with more scheduled for later). Pre-orders also include the bonuses outlined in the infographic pictured above. Warhammer: Chaosbane is currently scheduled for a June 4th release date for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.

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Joyce L. Messier, Senior Labour Negotiator for the Wild Pines Group, has a very big problem: no one wants to negotiate with her. She came to Martinaise hoping to work out a compromise with the Dockworkers’ Union and end to the strike that has been going on for months, resulting in major losses for the Wild Pines. But Evrart Claire, foreman of the Dockworkers’ Union, has been unwilling to make any concessions, and, having kicked out the previous negotiator, isn’t even letting Joyce into the harbour. Worse yet, the Union stopped all communication with her following the murder you’re investigating. And so you find Joyce docked by the pier in her sloop, sipping tea, exasperated by the entire situation.

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Chasing after named items can be fun and a driving motivator in the later parts of a campaign. At the same time, things can always be improved, and so we’re doing some tweaks on both how named items are placed, and what stats they can and can not have. And while we’re at it, we’re adding more named variants of existing equipment and filling in some blank spots. Let’s take a look!

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henriquejr said:

With Master Couchpotato's permission, I'm posting the news (not RPG-related) below:

Valve lays off 13 employees, reportedly slashing VR hardware division

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MISTOVER: Explore the Mist to decide the fate of Mankind ''MIST-ical' RPG with expeditions for finding the key to survival. Choose your next step wisely and keep in mind that your every move will change the future.

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Combining seamless gameplay, FINAL FANTASY characters & breathtaking worlds from the past 30 years of the franchise, DISSIDIA® FINAL FANTASY® NT welcomes all gamers to the online battle arena.

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Our first video showing of the new name and changes to Ashes of Oahu.

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Since that time at E3 last year, I’ve played a fair share of Anthem post-launch now and the concerns I had at that event came true. Anthem’s gameplay is second-to-none; it is the best-playing BioWare game that they have released yet, particularly the flying. However, it is the story and some questionable design decisions that leaves much to be desired with the final product. Despite its intrusive flaws, I’m still having a pretty good time.

However, looking at several comments and talking with others who have played Anthem, it seems that the majority of players are not having a good time with it, and rightfully so. There are some major problems with BioWare’s latest which covers the majority of this mess of a game, but there is also a misunderstanding that “games as a service” like Anthem or Destiny are plagued by.

This got me thinking: are loot shooters doomed going forward? Games like The Division, Destiny, and Anthem have all had rocky starts. However, the first two have found ways to appease their audiences and garner a crowd that plays in its respective worlds for hours on end. On the other hand, they’ve also never performed well critically and many, like our own Max Roberts, have fallen off because of the monotony.

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If you are like me and want a good story to be told in the games that you play, odds are that you are drawn to role playing games. Since they tend to feature hours of dialogue, lots of choices and branching stories which take 50-100 hours to clear, the RPG you choose might as well be a good one. Hell, why not one of the best RPG games there is?

Maybe you are here because you are RPG curious, maybe a friend talked you into trying it out just this once, or maybe you became lured by all the RPG hooks that permeate so many other genres in this industry. Whatever your reason, we are here to help you select the best RPG around.

Our list of the best RPGs, which is in no particular order and limited to one game per franchise, is a smattering of games across platforms and eras, but all of them will give you a great experience with hours of fun gameplay.

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A mythical beast, a lost generation of scouts, and the strongest brew this side of the wasteland. Welcome to Wild Appalachia – a series of free and all-new quests, features, events, crafting systems and more starting today in Fallout 76.

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We have great news. We are proud to announce that The Waylanders will be one of the featured projects in the Kickstarter booth at PAX East! We are very grateful for their confidence in our Project.

So, we'll be at Boston from March 28th to 31st, 4-6pm in the Kickstarter booth. If you are at PAX East, we invite you to try our playable pre-alpha demo! Don't miss this oportunity to be one of the first people who plays The Waylanders!

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We made good progress with things that matter (but hard to show) like programming, balance, and scripting but poor progress with relatively minor but highly visible things like armor models and portraits. As (probably) mentioned previously, the demo is fully playable and has 14 fights, 2 of them optional. We're still playing it on a daily basis, ironman-style as there's no save/load system yet, so the demo has already received 2 balance updates as a result. The engine is great and very stable. I didn't have a single crash yet (despite daily updates); there were some occasional freezes earlier (for example, if one enemy knocks you out and his helpful buddy shoots in the face, scoring a knockdown) but I didn't have any in my last 2-hour long play session.

The feats are now working and two gadgets out of three are done (the energy shield and the distortion field). All gadget parts (each gadget consists of 3 upgradeable parts that increase its properties such as shield's regen rate or damage resistance) are nicely modeled and textured. The main new addition is the targeting info (see the screens below). It gives you a full THC breakdown, which will help the player to understand how it's calculated and helps us make sure that bonuses and penalties are implemented properly. RNG is working great, so far the balance between hits and misses is perfect.

So far the armor thing (the delay) is our biggest problem, which is a good indicator as I can think of worse things to screw up. It's slowly moving forward, so I hope that we'll have it done in 3 weeks. Similar to the weapons, the armor is split into 2 main categories: common Ship-made ballistic armor and rare Earth-made combat and anti-riot armor. You can expect 10 unique models for each category: helmet, body armor, jacket/coat, boots, goggles, mask/respirator. Right now we have about a third (talking about the models).

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Grinding Gear Games announced today the first convention dedicated to their award-winning RPG, Path of Exile. ExileCon will be a two-day (November 16-17, 2019) celebration of all things Path of Exile, including multiple earth-shaking announcements and previews, competitions, talks given by Grinding Gear Games developers and hands on demos of unreleased new content. The event culminates with the spectacular closing ExileCon Party.

ExileCon will take place over two full days at the beautiful Aotea Centre in Auckland. Regular, VIP and "Ultra VIP" Tickets (featuring a homecooked BBQ dinner with Grinding Gear founders Chris Wilson, Jonathan Rodgers and Erik Olofsson) are available now alongside full details at www.pathofexile.com/exilecon.

Path of Exile continues to be one of the largest online Action RPGs with continual, massive audience growth. Launches on the Xbox One (and soon, PlayStation 4) as well as in China have more than doubled the Path of Exile player community since August 2017, with over 3.5 million players having played the game's 2017 expansion, Path of Exile: The Fall of Oriath. In 2018, Path of Exile saw an increase in total play-hours of over 26% and the Betrayal expansion set a new record of 188,970 players online simultaneously.

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As you know, riding and mounted combat is one of the focal points of our games and we strive to make that aspect as fun and visually appealing as possible. With Bannerlord we have added the ability for players to equip their beloved horses with different kinds of saddles and equine armour. However there was a key piece of equipment that didn’t look as well as it could: reins were left to hang over the horse’s neck in a static, lifeless manner, instead of being held in your character’s calloused hands as they should. This, of course, would not do. We had to take the development process by the reins and fix this glaring inaccuracy! (Excuse the terrible pun.)

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EverQuest, the pioneering fantasy MMO, turns 20 years old on March 16. But while most massively multiplayer games have a shelf life, and rarely make it through a decade, EverQuest has endured. The game is still in active development at developer Daybreak's San Diego headquarters, and more expansions are planned. I visited the studio and asked executive producer Holly Longdale about why she thinks the game has managed to stay afloat.

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Couchpotato said:

EverQuest 20th Anniversary Interview - PC Gamer
EverQuest, the pioneering fantasy MMO, turns 20 years old on March 16. But while most massively multiplayer games have a shelf life, and rarely make it through a decade, EverQuest has endured. The game is still in active development at developer Daybreak's San Diego headquarters, and more expansions are planned. I visited the studio and asked executive producer Holly Longdale about why she thinks the game has managed to stay afloat.

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