Original Sin - Post-Funding Update #53

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Larian Studios has a new post-funding update for Divinity: Original Sin with information on co-operative multiplayer, companions, and Steam Early Access.

Cooperative multiplayer!

If you head over to your Steam library now, you'll discover a new update for Divinity:Original Sin which makes it possible to explore the world of Rivellon in cooperative multiplayer. It's a lot of fun, so you should definitely give it a shot!

There are now two alpha keys available on the Larian Vault for everybody who had the duo pack reward as part of their pledge. If your pledge didn't include two keys but you have a friend you'd like to play with, you can get new keys via Steam Early Access.

For now, you can only play cooperative multiplayer with people who are in your friends list on Steam. Just invite them to your game (or alternatively, have them join your game). We're aware that you'll want a lot more options to filter people, kick people, chat with people etc...... and these will be added . Until we're ready with those UI elements however, you'll have to bear with the Steam interface.

Next they talk about companions.

Companions

We've added two new companions to Cyseal and more will be coming in the next weeks. You'll find Jahan who's a Demon Hunter in the library and Madora, the retired Source Hunteress in the tavern.

In addition to aiding you in combat, you'll discover that they have quite a few things to say about the quests you're on, perhaps even a bit too much. Should they become too chatty, you can always send them to the hall of heroes which has now also been opened up in your Homestead on the Shelter Plane at the end of time.

Speaking of your homestead, be sure to visit it at least twice during your play through - you'll discover that Zix Zax likes to decorate. A lot.
And finally we get news the game is now on Early Access.

Steam Early Access

From today on, Divinity:Original Sin is available on Steam Early Access. This will allow other people to join the community of people giving feedback, and aid us in these last months of development to make the game as good as we can. It also makes it possible for you to invite friends who didn't participate in the Kickstarter campaign to join you in your adventures through Rivellon.

There's been quite a lot debate about whether or not we should go to Steam Early Access with Divinity:Original Sin, but in the end we decided that is what's best for the development of the game because the advantages seem to outweigh the disadvantages. Swen wrote an entire blog about the pros and cons so those interested should head over to lar.net.

More information.
 
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Holy crap!
I am late to the table this looks awesome!
 
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It's still very buggy so I'd hold off if that sort of thing is going to spoil the game for you.

Edit: And you will lose save games between alpha updates.
 
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It's still very buggy so I'd hold off if that sort of thing is going to spoil the game for you.

Edit: And you will lose save games between alpha updates.

That is a bummer. I swore I would never buy another early access game-- and this was making me waiver. But if it is that buggy I will maybe wait.

Not even logical to buy considering my backlog. But who ever said this hobby was about logic?
 
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You need to have a cool, clear and rational mind for meta-gaming to maximize your gaming fun. ;-)
 
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Oh I'm really considering defying my wallet to buy it early access. It looks so great

Don't do it!

Replay Divine Divinity cos its still 100 times better!

I wish I'd waited because now I have doubts. Before I played the soft launch version I was sure it would be the best RPG ever, but now I'm worried it might suck.

Larian did a "kickstarter" for pre-sales, "early access" for launch sales, but they don't have a game yet!

I wouldn't have launched with such an unfinished version. It's representative of everything wrong in the games industry. First we have people releasing games mostly unfinished relying on patches to finish the game. Now we have "early access" so everyone can say "It doesn't suck; its just the beta!" while launching with utter shit for a product. If you look at Star Citizen then there's evidence that there may be even more money to be made on a games potential via peoples wishes and imagination than was ever actually achievable.

What happens if they say "well, the early access sales have died off… I think we've sold all we were going to. Let's start working on a new game! Or expansion pack with the second quarter of the game in it!"

I'm actually embarrassed about telling people this game would be awesome after playing the soft launch version. I've had to go around telling people I'm sorry and I might have been mistaken. :(
 
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Don't you think you might be overreacting a bit ? o_O

What exactly in Larian's Track record and usually decent and Forthright manner makes you think they are going to pull something like that !?

Not to mention you are about the only one I've heard going haywire about the state of the Alpha?

Anyone else out there thinking this might totally suck people ?
 
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Don't you think you might be overreacting a bit ? o_O

What exactly in Larian's Track record and usually decent and Forthright manner makes you think they are going to pull something like that !?

Not to mention you are about the only one I've heard going haywire about the state of the Alpha?

Anyone else out there thinking this might totally suck people ?

I'm also surprised no one else is commenting on how bad the "almost more like a beta" alpha is. This is a quote from a twitch stream deciding if it was ready for "early access" release…. BETA being a feature complete build?

I think people just don't want to be pessimistic or have to hear 1000 people say "It doesn't suck; its just the beta!"

Larians track record, though? They don't really have one?

Divdiv = rushed out cos of publisher, rushed last area just to have some extra tileset environments at publishers request.

BeyondDiv = Just not very good at all. Controlling two people didn't work. Needed Co-op.

Div2 = publisher wanted a console game for next-gen consoles. They got one. It sucked, was buggy and unfinished. Even Larian admit this. Then they reckon it got better after the expansion, but I wasn't going back to Gamebyro engine to play more.

Div:OS = NO PUBLISHER. They've done every pre-release modern industry practice possible to bring in money without having a game. Post-release we'll probably see DLC and expansions that should have been in the full game. Who can blame them? That's what everyone's doing.

Also, I've seen examples in old videos of all the kickstarter strechgoals already being in the game….

$400k goal…. "bigger, more reactive gameworld" could be anything.
500k = players house. Div2 had one. There was always going to be one.
650k = personality traits and talents. You can find examples in old videos of co-op dialogues resulting in +compassion, +independant, etc pre-dating this strech goal!
700k = kirill gets an orchestra. But now he says he'll just bring people in and sample them playing? Why bother?! As if orchestral soundbanks were hard to come by?
800k = Henchmen become companions. And a rose by another name would smell as sweet.
1M = NPC routines. Coming soon, I assume, cos I couldn't find one.

So the motivation for these money making schemes is clear…. Making money! And who can blame them? Root of all evil!
 
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Jimmy, it's an ALPHA, not a Beta!! After playing for an hour or two, I put it away till at least late beta. The Devs are getting plenty of bugs reported, especially in the mechanics of the game and that is a GOOD thing!! In fact, it's the stated purpose of the alpha release. You were warned it was a buggy mess, so stop complaining about it!!
 
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Um, I liked every single one of their games very much indeed (Although I haven't played BD yet).

What on earth made you think this was going to be "the best RPG ever" if you have such a low opinion of them !? You obviously don't care much for their games :S

And now you say they were actually bullshitting people during the KS. And you just realize now! :uneasy:
 
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SirJames is definitely exaggerating. I experienced nothing in the Alpha that made me doubt its potential.

I don't doubt the games "potential" to be the best game ever, either. But I'm wondering if the developers can live up to the games potential!

It's like they know what to make the best RPG ever, but they don't know how to do it.


JonNik said:
Um, I liked every single one of their games very much indeed (Although I haven't played BD yet).

What on earth made you think this was going to be "the best RPG ever" if you have such a low opinion of them !? You obviously don't care much for their games

And now you say they were actually bullshitting people during the KS. And you just realize now!

I really liked Divine Divinity, but all their other games failed to be as good as I was expecting. :O

I didn't just realise the KS thing now. I've been watching the game like a hawk! Just decided to say it cos....cos.... I'm still annoyed that the game crashes when I try to make pizza sauce?

My expectations were SUPER high.

Anyway, the potential is still there, it could still be the best game ever, but I totally don't see how they can meet a Feb 28th release date. Delay it until 2015 and we might have a classic, but whats a "delay" when you've already done a soft launch? It's already on the "released unfinished, waiting for patches to become playable" path like any launched title.

Corwin said:
Jimmy, it's an ALPHA, not a Beta!! After playing for an hour or two, I put it away till at least late beta. The Devs are getting plenty of bugs reported, especially in the mechanics of the game and that is a GOOD thing!! In fact, it's the stated purpose of the alpha release. You were warned it was a buggy mess, so stop complaining about it!!

I know, I know... I was warned, but I had to open the pandoras pot and release all the negative feelings onto the game like a swarm of thetons!

Anyway, I'm not complaining - I was answering a question! Defy ye not thy wallet, M'lady! :)
 
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I don't doubt the games "potential" to be the best game ever, either. But I'm wondering if the developers can live up to the games potential!
..
My expectations were SUPER high.

Anyway, the potential is still there, it could still be the best game ever, but I totally don't see how they can meet a Feb 28th release date. Delay it until 2015 and we might have a classic, but whats a "delay" when you've already done a soft launch? It's already on the "released unfinished, waiting for patches to become playable" path like any launched title.

Well that might be the problem (I mean the expectations) not that there is anything wrong hoping to get a masterpiece every once in a while mind you… But you really have to balance those expectation by what you believe the Devs to be capable, indeed.

I think you are off by your mistrust on those KS related points you noted. I am pretty sure that most of those features were indeed designed and even started on but very much doubt that they would have made it in the game (in a finished working state) without the extra work and resources brought in by the Kickstarter (they are obviously not ready yet!).

28 Feb? I agree with you there. I just don't see that happening. I don't mind either. How the Hell am I going to be playing DoS and Dark Souls 2 at the same time ;) A summer release would be just dandy though…

Anyways, lets hope you just worry for nothing. If not, well we took a calculated risk (with our money) and we lost ;) Shit happens… This would be catastrophic for Larian though, imo. They have very much indeed riding on this game. Even beyond their reputation; probably their company's future and I believe Swen and co. realize it (have blogged about it indeed). I am sure they are doing their level best for that reason. Now if this enough or not we'll see…
 
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Personally, I greatly enjoyed the 5ish hours I dumped into the game, and that was before companions were introduced. I had high hopes and the early content hasn't let me down at all. I really didn't run into a ton of bugs either (other than 1 cave that was really buggy).
 
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I wouldn't have launched with such an unfinished version. It's representative of everything wrong in the games industry. First we have people releasing games mostly unfinished relying on patches to finish the game. Now we have "early access" so everyone can say "It doesn't suck; its just the beta!" while launching with utter shit for a product.

Well from his blog...
sven said:
The same risks of players having bad first impressions exist with any alpha/beta program and the benefits of actually having a lot of people participate in such programs far outweigh the negatives I think. Clear & honest communication about what to expect, like Day Z did, an early access game that’s been riding the top of the charts, seems to be the most important thing here.

Speaking for Larian, we’re releasing our game in alpha/beta state to all of our Kickstarter backers, and thus share our development process with them. That creates some confusion but in general it’s a gold mine of feedback. I don’t see why we should not extend that to the much larger community we have on Steam. The more feedback we can integrate, the higher the quality of the final game will be, and that will eventually shine through, just like I’m sure it will for Wasteland 2.

In reading through certain comments I noticed that a lot of people seem to be concerned that negative threads aimed against faults of an alpha/beta or against the fact that a game is on early access itself might influence future buyers. I’m an optimist so I don’t think that’ll necessarily be the case, first because I assume that our audience is smart enough to read through certain comments and second because you may not overestimate the impact of such threads. What matters at the end of the day is going to be the quality of the game – if it’s good, people will tell each other that it’s good.

It might also be worth pointing out here that as a developer at this stage we don’t really care about the form or tone in which we receive the feedback – what interests is how we can improve the gameplay experience. So if somebody writes something like “this is the worst game ever because you can’t change the turn-order. Larian designers are morons, XYZ did that so much better. ” we only remember – changing turn-order seem to be in demand.

In the same breath however I have to admit that I’m guilty of the same thing, criticising games that are on Steam Early Access. I have a few games that disappointed me in my Steam library, even if they shouldn’t have, and I’ve been vocal about it. As a developer I should know how fast seemingly big things can change for the better (and vice versa), but as a player that somehow doesn’t register.

So yes, some misunderstanding about what’s in an alpha or a beta is inevitable, but I think that as people play more of these early access games, it’s something that’ll correct itself over time and they’ll learn how to judge things. The same will apply to those reporters who are thinking of reviewing Steam Early Access titles just as if they were finished products, something I think is a pretty bad idea, for the aforementioned reason – they cannot possibly know what’s still going to change. That they review Steam Early Access titles is fine, but as an alpha or as a beta – not as a finished product.
 
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In one of Swen's latest postings, he casually mentioned MONTHS of work to do, so I don't think it will have a Feb release. :)
 
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In one of Swen's latest postings, he casually mentioned MONTHS of work to do, so I don't think it will have a Feb release. :)
Well that's nothing new more than half of all kickstarters get delayed. I don't think Wasteland 2 will be fully playable any time soon either.

I know this has been talked about before on various threads, but developers should really go away with promising a release date on future projects.

As it is now the date offered is just a place holder as anything can happen during development. Watch the new Enderal: Shards Of Order interview for a better example.
We won´t name any dates, until we are sure that we can fulfill the timetable. Instead we´ll inform you regularly about developments and the progress we´re making.
Just say it will be out when it's finished.^^
 
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I thought it was fine, I didn't play long though as I'm waiting for the companion dialog AI.

It's not fun agreeing or arguing with myself.

I did get the feeling though that this is much further away than Feb.

I got free access though if I were paying I'd resist the urge and wait. Well, no I wouldn't but that's what I would recommend to the sane.:)
 
I agree with couch, promising release dates is a bad idea. But that idea can also be abused, especially now with all the early access hype. I'll stick to the topic here though and not go into more details on that.
Luckily Larian did a good thing choosing to publish the game on their own, no one will be forcing them to actually keep these dates and thus releasing unfinished games.
 
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