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[enjoy bell woods]

Could anyone here give me the definitive answer on what this game was to be all about? I've seen a few sparse screenshots, but that's about it.

I ask because I've recently become obsessed with the Alone in the Dark series, and as some of you may know, the same people were behind Agartha.

ANYWAY, MUCH THANKS!

 

[Loki]

I remember that game-- I was really looking forward to it, too. Looked very cool, with good atmosphere. Shame.

 

[Lazy8s]

It was to be a survival horror game about an evil force trapped in a snow covered village in Romania. The player controlled an adventurer named Kirk who comes across the site and slowly becomes involved in a multi-way struggle between groups trying to keep the evil sealed, groups trying to unleash it onto the world, and innocents in need of saving. The player could choose to act in good ways and in evil ways, and their morality would determine the direction for the story. It was mainly supposed to be a single player game, but there were also multiplayer cooperative and deathmatch options planned too.

No Cliche was developing it, and their previous Dreamcast work had been with Toy Commander.

 

[enjoy bell woods]

Thanks, Lazy. Have you seen any possible screenshots, concept art, or sketches of enemies?

 

[MightyHedgehog]

Just do a Google search for Agartha and Dreamcast. You'll find the 5 or so shots they released of it on Gamespot.

 

[enjoy bell woods]

Yeah, those are the only screenshots I've seen.

 

[Mike Works]

God, it's so fucking weird that I can remember more Dreamcast cancelled games (Chakan, Agartha, Armada 2, Picassio, etc) than I can any other system. I even remember the Next Gen preview which had the wireframe model of the Agartha dude's head.

 

[enjoy bell woods]

I'm really beginning to appreciate the genius of the Alone in the Dark series, barring the fourth. That's why I'm interested.

Something about those games is so brilliant.

 

[Blimblim]

Actually Frederic Raynal only worked on the first Alone in the Dark, the other 2 were done by another team at Infogrames. Raynal quit after Alone and went to work for Adeline Software (Little Big Adventure 1&2), then funded No Cliche and released Toy Commander then Toy Racer. Agartha was a big project and was never finished since Sega just cut the funding one day.
Raynal now works for f4toys on some secret project, they were awarded some government funding last year.

 

[Funky Papa]

Yeah, those are the only screenshots I've seen.

There were a few more screens, all of them really beautiful. It was such an impressive looking game for a DC, I think I have them somewhere...

Agartha was fuxxored mostly because of the bad developer-publisher relation. According to Frederic the game was meant to be a really disturbing one and got some problems with heavy censorship. Lame.

 

[wazoo]

Raynal now works for f4toys on some secret project, they were awarded some government funding last year.

So this is a game for the ps2, the only console powerful enough to control missiles.

 

[enjoy bell woods]

I knew that about AitD, but I felt the 2nd and 3rd games pretty much captured the feel of the original.

I also adore Twinsen and Relentless. Time Commando wasn't so great, but it was interesting.

 

[Funky Papa]

Twinsen was GODLY.

 

[Blimblim]

So this is a game for the ps2, the only console powerful enough to control missiles.

LOL The french government gave some money to some promising game developers last year to help them a bit with their big projects.

 

[dark10x]

Man, I really wanted that game...

I enjoyed Toy Commander, but more importantly, I LOVED the two LBA games.

 

[Die Squirrel Die]

I rue the day this game was lost. It looked so awesome. I remember there being a dev-kit shot of this massive roman-esque auditorium.

 

[dark10x]

I rue the day this game was lost. It looked so awesome. I remember there being a dev-kit shot of this massive roman-esque auditorium.

Damn, that reminds me...

The Lost never did show up, did it? I guess Irrational had no choice but the can the game. That's a damn shame. They really made an incredible single player experience with System Shock 2 (one of my favorites games of all time), so it's disappointing that they are working on Tribes (although Tribes 2 is a favorite mulitplayer game of mine as well). It sounds like a match made in heaven, but I don't like the work they've done on Tribes and I have to blame the Unreal engine for a lot of the problems...

From that, more than any other cancelled game, I wish that Outcast 2 had been completed. Most people only remember it for the nice visuals, but I absolutely adored the original game and REALLLLY wanted to see the sequel. It was so crushing to me when the game was cancelled.

 

[enjoy bell woods]

I really wish these French companies would go back to making these beautifully bizarre games. Everyone was telling me Beyond Good and Evil was the game that captures the essence of Little Big Adventure, but they were so fucking wrong. That game disappointed me so much.

 

[Mason]

I would also love information on Agartha if anyone has it. I thought it looked awesome before it got canned.

 

[dark10x]

I really wish these French companies would go back to making these beautifully bizarre games. Everyone was telling me Beyond Good and Evil was the game that captures the essence of Little Big Adventure, but they were so fucking wrong. That game disappointed me so much.

:shrug:

I dunno, I loved LBA...but I also loved BG&E. It totally suprised and impressed me.

Also, some Agartha shots (of the very few that were released)...

It never looked very far along, though, but it could have been cool.

 

[Blimblim]

I really wish these French companies would go back to making these beautifully bizarre games. Everyone was telling me Beyond Good and Evil was the game that captures the essence of Little Big Adventure, but they were so fucking wrong. That game disappointed me so much.

Unfortunately these games did not help when it came to pay the bills at the end of the month. That's why most french companies are dead now and only a handful are surviving by doing very mainstream games, some good (ubi mostly), some very average (infogrames).
Hopefully the money the french government gave to some developers will help revive this "french touch", but I'm not really holding my breath on this.

 

[Stuggernaut]

I thought this was one of the games that was released in "leaked" format....like Headhunter, and Unreal....

 

[Sjoerd]

I thought this was one of the games that was released in "leaked" format....like Headhunter, and Unreal....

Not as far as I know. Anybody know if there are more leaked dreamcast games like half-life and prop. arena around?

This thread makes me cry

 

[Blimblim]

I thought this was one of the games that was released in "leaked" format....like Headhunter, and Unreal....

Agartha was far from finished when Sega cut the funds.

 

[Stuggernaut]

Yes, Propeller Arena WAS released (Leaked version)

Good luck finding it though

 

[enjoy bell woods]

Unfortunately these games did not help when it came to pay the bills at the end of the month. That's why most french companies are dead now and only a handful are surviving by doing very mainstream games, some good (ubi mostly), some very average (infogrames).
Hopefully the money the french government gave to some developers will help revive this "french touch", but I'm not really holding my breath on this.

That's too bad, though. A lot of the French adventure games that came out in the '90s are some of the most wonderful as far as atmosphere is concerned. Delphine, Adeline, and the guys that did Outcast did some awesome things.

 

[dark10x]

That's too bad, though. A lot of the French adventure games that came out in the '90s are some of the most wonderful as far as atmosphere is concerned. Delphine, Adeline, and the guys that did Outcast did some awesome things.

Outcast was made by Appeal, but they were not a French studio...

 

[Blimblim]

Outcast was made by Appeal, but they were not a French studio...

Yup, Appeal was from Belgium. They were french speaking though.

 

[dark10x]

Yup, Appeal was from Belgium. They were french speaking though.

Sure, but there is a difference.

 

[Blimblim]

Sure, but there is a difference.

I did not say there wasn't

 

[wazoo]

Agartha was cancelled because Sega asked the game to be ported to ps2 and they refused saying it was too much relying on DC strengths.

It did not help Sega refused the gam several times because it was too disturbing.

At least I read this on french forums from No Cliche close people

 

[dark10x]

Agartha was cancelled because Sega asked the game to be ported to ps2 and they refused saying it was too much relying on DC strengths.

I guess at the time, I could see why they'd think that...

This was even pre-Silent Hill 2, wasn't it?

 

[fr4nz]

Hi,
I've worked on agartha...
I don't know what kind of information you are looking for but I can tell you that
the game was far from being finished, even far from a beta version.
When nocliche closed down the project died with it, we have made a special version
for the team to have a souvenir of it.
But there is no gameplay at all in it.
And no I will not supply it to anybody.

 

[dark10x]

Hi,
I've worked on agartha...
I don't know what kind of information you are looking for but I can tell you that
the game was far from being finished, even far from a beta version.
When nocliche closed down the project died with it, we have made a special version
for the team to have a souvenir of it.
But there is no gameplay at all in it.
And no I will not supply it to anybody.

Would you mind giving some insight into the content being considered for the game? Having heard that it was "disturbing", I have to wonder which direction you and the team were moving in. Was it more a "Silent Hill" like fear factor? Or something a bit more tame, like Resident Evil or even Alone in the Dark? Why kind of imagery was being considered and what type of gameplay was being worked on?

If you can't say anything, that's perfectly OK...but I'm very eager to hear a few details.

 

[wazoo]

So the guy who wrote the info was a full of it

 

[enjoy bell woods]

Hi,
I've worked on agartha...
I don't know what kind of information you are looking for but I can tell you that
the game was far from being finished, even far from a beta version.
When nocliche closed down the project died with it, we have made a special version
for the team to have a souvenir of it.
But there is no gameplay at all in it.
And no I will not supply it to anybody.

Thanks a lot for that information. dark10x just asked the sort of questions I was also wondering. I think Alone in the Dark is the scariest and the most effective survival horror game in all of the genre.

Do you have any idea what's going on with f4-toys and their game, Trium Planeta? I haven't heard a word. I mean, I'm just assuming you may know something.

 

[fr4nz]

Would you mind giving some insight into the content being considered for the game? Having heard that it was "disturbing", I have to wonder which direction you and the team were moving in. Was it more a "Silent Hill" like fear factor? Or something a bit more tame, like Resident Evil or even Alone in the Dark? Why kind of imagery was being considered and what type of gameplay was being worked on?

If you can't say anything, that's perfectly OK...but I'm very eager to hear a few details.

Well, I'm not sure what I can say and what I can't.. Some of the ideas in this game can perhaps be re-used later ...
As I said before when the project died the game was not finished at all, there was a scenario, a graphic line and a lot of ideas concerning the gameplay but nothing truly implemented.. Sure it should have been a survival horror but will it be more like "Silent Hill" or more like the original "Alone In the Dark" I truly cannot tell you...
One of the main ideas was to make an adult game which means that it would have contain some disturbing scenes... If you like gore movies you've got an idea of what it could have been

Sorry for not being more specific I will ask the people involved in the project what I can tell and what I can't ... (I'll probably meet some of them next week)
cya

 

[dark10x]

I think Alone in the Dark is the scariest and the most effective survival horror game in all of the genre.

Seriously? Interesting...

I'd be curious to hear some elaboration on that one, actually.