Realms of Arkania: Blade of Destiny Remake - Released

Guess I either got lucky yesterday, or the english version is for some reason far worse, I played for ~an hour without hitting a major bug, interacting with a couple of merchants, guards, houses and innns on the way. I guess I'll anyway continue playing Shadowrun for the time being and let a few more patches roll in before I give it another try.
 
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A message from developer Chris Firefox on the steam community forums:


There was nothing ironic about the post. We just try to sort out the real bugs we can fix from the disappointment of something that isn't the way somebody expected. And we are trying to fix those issues, hard. Therefore I am working hard to create patches (plural) to get to all the issues at hand, and fast. This implies that I can't answer posts here, especially when they are moderately constructive. I can't change the state of the game by talking about it - only by working on it. And I intend to. So sorry for not getting back to everybody sooner, we are really working on making this better and an enjoyable experience for you.

But it will take us some days before everything is out and done. Mind it please, DAYS, not weeks, not months. But for this to work, I need to make myself a little scarce here, sorry.

And sorry for all the disappointment we caused, the game IS a great one and it WILL be an even greater one once you give it a chance. Yes, there are bugs, but they are fixable, cause they mostly didn't appear in the beta test, so it can only be something minor - for me. For you it is a gamebreaker, and I'm well aware of that. Sorry again for that. We are on it.
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There is another quote there that a german PDF manual is due shortly, and an english one is in the works.

I guess the baby is already fallen into the well (thats a literal translation of a german proverb ;) ) , but it seems they are at least responding and intent to work on fixing this mess.
 
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GhanBuriGhan said:
Guess I either got lucky yesterday, or the english version is for some reason far worse, I played for ~an hour without hitting a major bug, interacting with a couple of merchants, guards, houses and innns on the way. I guess I'll anyway continue playing Shadowrun for the time being and let a few more patches roll in before I give it another try.
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Could this be an explanation for the "extensive beta" claim (other than they're outright lying)?
 
Let's say the game WAS a total mess.

Let's say the developers are human beings who need money to get by.

Imagine working on something for months or years - trying to make a living.

Would you honestly expect them to come out saying "ok, the game is not worth buying - it's a total mess"?

Because very, very, very few people would do that.

Don't EVER trust developers or publishers when it comes to the launch state of newly released games.
 
Sacred_Path said:
Could this be an explanation for the "extensive beta" claim (other than they're outright lying)?
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Only to an extent I am sure. The german speaking community is clearly also complaining about many of the same problems that plague the english release, minus the missing text thing. I probably just got lucky?
 
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GhanBuriGhan said:
Only to an extent I am sure. The german speaking community is clearly also complaining about many of the same problesm that plague the english release, minus the missing text thing. I probably just got lucky?
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Maybe you're just being your usual forgiving self? ;)
 
Dajjer said:
Sorry about the misplaced modifier confusion

I never rush through games. When everyone was finishing Dishonored in 20 hours it took me 40. Same with Gothic 4 (Arcania) I got in 50 hours. I got in over 300 hours in Skyrim without touching the civil war and barely biting on the main quest.

Shadowrun has unique circumstances in that there is no save game. The game saves when you enter a new area. Thus whenever I enter a new area I quit. And since my gaming time is limited. I typically play after work and after family time. I'm pretty tired by then and I can't afford to wander around and then start all over again due to not making the save location. Hence once I reach it, I'm done for the night. Haven't gotten very far but I will probably make a lot of progress this weekend.

But back to topic. I played some of the original ROA games and loved their depth. It was weird at the time to scrounge for food while you were camping. And death came in many flavors (fighting, illness, hunger etc). One of the things I did not like was the lack of progression - growing up on Might and Magic I loved being level 44 something. But I think I only got as high as level 8 in the ROA games. I was really looking forward to a contemporary take on the games.

as i said before, I hope they get it together
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I fully agree. A game like Shadowrun Returns and all other good RPGs I play looking around for easter eggs, marveling about the graphics, trying to find little corners & nooks maybe there is some treasure. Stealing from NPCs, trying to kill NPC-s, searching for hidden paths in forests.

I still not finished Shadowrun, but also have to work hard to make money so not much time & energy to play.
 
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Just to be clear in case what I wrote should give a different impression to anyone (like it apparently did to my dear friend D'Artagnan): Don't buy this if you haven't already. The fact that I could play it for some time and could see a fun game underneath (not surprising since its a remake of a classic!) does not negate the fact that most people are having severe problems and that this game requires much additional work.
 
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DArtagnan said:
Let's say the game WAS a total mess.

Let's say the developers are human beings who need money to get by.

Imagine working on something for months or years - trying to make a living.

Would you honestly expect them to come out saying "ok, the game is not worth buying - it's a total mess"?

Because very, very, very few people would do that.

Don't EVER trust developers or publishers when it comes to the launch state of newly released games.
Click to expand...

Well, problem is, developers often don't get 100% money laid down in the milestone, because the publisher isn't fully satisfied with delivered content on said set time frame.

Possibly the publisher offered them:
- I can release the game now - unfinished - and you have to fix all bugs, but I get al(most)l the money and I will pay you some meager salary, if you remain at this company. Maybe this will be a big success later and everybody will be paid well, but only later of course, because the buyers will bring the Wrath of God down upon your heads.

Not sure though if complaining on forums have effect other than helping the developers Find & Fix the bugs.

Surely Chromatrix & Attic promised Valve to continue development, mend all wrongs, because they are committed to bring a trilogy onto Steam.

So expect heavy bug fixing.
 
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planned for patch 1.06 coming August 2nd:

Translation: We’ll continue to improve english translation based on community reports
Texts: We’ll continue to remove placeholders based on community reports
Villages: Fixing talent usage in taverns
Villages: Guards replacements in Thorwal
Thorwal Armory: Add 30D free Goods from Armory
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How many patches in total will this game get? o_O
 
rune_74 said:
Strange how you defend this yet bash shadowrun….seems like this one is a mess.
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You have a very black and white view of everything. What I said about Shadowrun is just that it's not too impressive for a $2M passion project using Kickstarter funds and I'm hoping other KS projects many of which made a fraction of that amount will make better use of their funds. I think it's an OK casual game and quite fun, or will be when they include a save game function (a better zoom would be good too).

This is the other side of the coin, its a passion project created by a tiny team with peanuts for funds. It's totally unplayable right now and certainly wouldn't have the production values of Shadowrun if it was. That's very disappointing and sure they've screwed up, but the idea that they are trying to commit a fraud is risible. It is possible of course that they just bit off more than they can chew, but I'm hoping that they will be able to fix the issues and go on to complete the series.
 
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mercy said:
Well, problem is, developers often don't get 100% money laid down in the milestone, because the publisher isn't fully satisfied with delivered content on said set time frame.

Possibly the publisher offered them:
- I can release the game now - unfinished - and you have to fix all bugs, but I get al(most)l the money and I will pay you some meager salary, if you remain at this company. Maybe this will be a big success later and everybody will be paid well, but only later of course, because the buyers will bring the Wrath of God down upon your heads.

Not sure though if complaining on forums have effect other than helping the developers Find & Fix the bugs.

Surely Chromatrix & Attic promised Valve to continue development, mend all wrongs, because they are committed to bring a trilogy onto Steam.

So expect heavy bug fixing.
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We're not complaining on forums - we're sharing our experiences, trying to help people decide whether to buy this or not.

As for fantasy scenarios about what may or may not have happened between developer and publisher - that's not particularly interesting to me.

I'm not mad at the developers or publisher - I'm just making sense of the situation.

Clearly, this game needed a few more months in the oven.
 
Roq said:
You have a very black and white view of everything. What I said about Shadowrun is just that it's not too impressive for a $2M passion project using Kickstarter funds and I'm hoping other KS projects many of which made a fraction of that amount will make better use of their funds. I think it's an OK casual game and quite fun, or will be when they include a save game function (a better zoom would be good too).

This is the other side of the coin, its a passion project created by a tiny team with peanuts for funds. It's totally unplayable right now and certainly wouldn't have the production values of Shadowrun if it was. That's very disappointing and sure they've screwed up, but the idea that they are trying to commit a fraud is risible. It is possible of course that they just bit off more than they can chew, but I'm hoping that they will be able to fix the issues and go on to complete the series.
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Now thinking of it, one of the reasons why I could finish Shadow Run returns is that it's quite light as a program. It's like a browser and I can open it any time even while doing other things on my computer. I wish the save system wouldn't suite the purpose but the mere lightness on resource enables me to swap windows anytime. I don't think I have ever played CRPG like this since, even if older ones are right on resources, they tend to require more continuous attention. The game is relatively short indeed but it's not the only reason I could finish the game so fast - it's pretty compatible with my life.

Of course, I miss more "demanding" games but I wouldn't complain of sharp, shorter games with more than decent writing. This game caught my attention, too, but, in reality, I don't think I can play this one soon...
 
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Sacred_Path said:
How many patches in total will this game get? o_O
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Lol, indeed, the have daily patches planned:

Patch Schedule

31 July 2013 - s3th.g3ck9



Patch 1.04 - July 31st, 2013 (8pm GMT+1)
•Translation: We’ll continue to improve english translation based on community reports

•Texts: We’ll continue to remove placeholders based on community reports

•Translation: fix half-translated character screen

•Fights: Fix random Crashes

•Fights: Remember Player Avatar setup

•Fights: Fix Turn and Zoom buttons

•Fights: Fix Camping Fightstart problems

•Character: Fix Editor messing up Character Images

•Character: All-to-Parry fix for new Characters

•Lore Talents: Levelup max improve 3 points instead of 2


Patch 1.05 - August 1st, 2013 (8pm GMT+1)
•Translation: We’ll continue to improve english translation based on community reports

•Texts: We’ll continue to remove placeholders based on community reports

•Camps: Healing-Spell implementation

•Fight: Implement flee Battles

•Fight: Fix irritating weapon display discrepancies

•Fight: Improve Action Feed


Patch 1.06 - August 2nd, 2013 (8pm GMT+1)
•Translation: We’ll continue to improve english translation based on community reports

•Texts: We’ll continue to remove placeholders based on community reports

•Villages: Fixing talent usage in taverns

•Villages: Guards replacements in Thorwal

•Thorwal Armory: Add 30D free Goods from Armory
Click to expand...
 
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It seems their bread & butter business is browser games. Maybe daily patches are normal there.

Let's see if they can ship a patch every day. Even 3 patches per week would be very good.
 
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Gorath said:
Let's see if they can ship a patch every day. Even 3 patches per week would be very good.
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Having those fixes done before release would have been even better...
 
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Indeed ... more patching is good. But it also echoes back to what GhanBuriGhan said - if you haven't bought yet, don't. Wait a few weeks and see how they are doing. If we are still dealing with some basic core issues, then we can assume that the game will be a buggy mess forever. If, however, we are then quibbling about a few minor translation issues ... then it is time to buy.

The thing that I find disheartening is that the dev (Chris) seems to have little scope around the issues, which I think might lead to continued disappointment for gamers. In particular, one area that needs clarification is the scope and purpose of the game. My understanding was that it was 'by and for old-school gamers', bringing the classic up to date ... but also meant to allow younger gamers to experience the game fresh.

If that first part is true, there is more than bug-fixing needed. If an answer to a simple question from the first 15 minutes of a game sends you to YouTube or GameFaqs ... there is a problem.
 
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