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Divinity: Original Sin Kickstarter by Larian Studios [Complete, ~$1 million funded]
- Thread starter Durante
- Start date
Danny Dudekisser
I paid good money for this Dynex!
Beyond Divinity was the one that sucked. I slogged through probably 80% of that game before finally giving up. Even as a huge DD fan, I still couldn't stand that game. Ugh.
Haven't played Divinity II, because I hated BD so much.
I just played the first one which I was told would be like BG2, but it wasn't at all. It was kind of like a boring Diablo clone. Didn't follow the series after that.
After reading a little about Original Sin I'm rather interested though - But I'll wait for them to be within range of the companions stretch goal, I can't stand henchmen.
After reading a little about Original Sin I'm rather interested though - But I'll wait for them to be within range of the companions stretch goal, I can't stand henchmen.
BD was horrrrrible. Divinity II is much different and so much better (still not as good as DD though).
Level
is a multiplier for your hitpoint bonus from constitution
is a multiplier for your mana bonus from intelligence
Primary stats
Strength
gives damage bonuses to attacks with melee weapons
defines how much weight you can carry
defines what items you can lift
defines how far you can throw items, depending on their weight
gives you a bonus to intimidation
Dexterity
gives damage bonuses to attacks with ranged weapons
gives you a higher chance of successfully picking locks and picking pockets
affects the "ideal range" of ranged weapons
lower chance of triggering traps, higher chance of disarming traps
better at repairing
Intelligence
determines your amount of mana
gives bonuses to magic (depending on the spell: damage, range, width of a cone, duration, how easy or hard the saving throw is...)
gives you a bonus to reasoning
helps you figure out NPC stats and resistances
helps you to identify unknown items
gives bonuses to mind resistance
Constitution
determines your amount of hitpoints
gives you higher resistance against poison
gives you a bonus to charming
Speed
determines the distance you can walk with one action point
defines how good you are at dodging or evading attacks (defense rating)
gives bonuses to initiative
spend less action points when changing equipment or using items in combat
Perception
determines how much chance you have of successfully hitting an enemy (offense rating)
defines your sight and hearing which helps your enemy awareness (e.g. on the mini map)
helps with discovering traps and finding treasures and secrets
Secondary stats
Offense and defense
These are determined by your primary stat perception and speed. They can be boosted by magical equipment. When you attack someone, your offense rating is compared to your enemys defense rating. This determines how much chance you have of actually hitting him.
Damage
This stat is determined by your weapon or your spell, and gets a bonus from one of your primary stats. This can be boosted by well-made or magical equipment.
Critical chance and critical damage
These stats are determined by your weapon. They can be boosted by well-made or magical equipment.
Armor
When a hit is successful, armor absorbs part of the damage that was dealt. For instance, if youre hit with 8 damage and you have armor 3, you only take 5 damage. If your armor rating is very high, it is possible to completely absorb all the damage that is dealt by a weak enemy. This stat is determined by your equipment and can be boosted with well-made or magical items.
Blocking chance
This is determined by the shield you are wearing, if you are wearing a shield. When a hit is successful, the shield gives you a chance of actually fully blocking the attack. Different shields obviously have different blocking chances.
Hitpoints
This stat is determined by your constitution stat, and can be boosted with magical items. Hitpoints do not regenerate automatically, and can only be regained by healing, eating or resting.
Mana
This stat is determined by your intelligence stat, and can be boosted with magical items. Magic spells cost mana. Mana does not automatically regenerate and can only be regained by drinking potions, eating certain types of food, or resting.
Sight and hearing
These secondary stats are determined by your perception stat. They can be boosted by special or magical equipment. They define how far you can see (we have a shroud, and fog of war system), and how well your hearing is (so you can hear and even identify an NPC without being able to see him).
Initiative
This stat is determined by your speed stat, and can be boosted with special or magical items. It gives you bonuses when combat starts and initiative is rolled.
Persuasion
This is determined by equipment bonuses only. Persuasion gives you bonuses when trying to intimidate, charm or reason with your party members or NPCs.
Walk speed
This stat is determined by your speed stat, and can be boosted with special or magical items. It determines how far you can walk with one action point in turn-based combat.
Luck
This stat can only be boosted with magical items. Its the X factor of the game...
Poison resistance
Determined by your constitution stat. Poison resistance will absorb the damage poison would do every turn.
Fire, Water, Earth and Air resistances
Determined by magical items you are wearing. These absorb elemental damage.
Mind resistance
Determined by your intelligence stat, and magical items you are wearing. This helps against mind attacks (for instance fear).
Piercing, Slashing, Crushing resistances
Determined by the equipment you are wearing. These resistances absorb damage from physical attacks.
Including Swen Vincke's top 5 games of all time. I'm starting to turn into a Vincke fanboy.
I really oughta try to get into Ultima Underworld more. I guess I'd be able to get into it easier if it could be remade with some modern conveniences (just explaining stuff and in-game) and WASD controls... kinda like something like SS2 come to think of it. Hell, keep the graphics and all the same, they're nice and nostalgic.
But if I just sat down with it and maybe printed a reference sheet I'd probably be OK.
Divinity 2. I forgot beyond divinity even exists. I really don't like Divinity 2, I *want* to, hell I bought it twice hoping that Dragon Knight Saga would fix it. But alas, I just can't stand it. The awful combat being the biggest offender.
AstroZombie
Banned
"Definitely not Civilization 5" Good man.
Very likeable chap
Joseph Merrick
Member
the controls in ultima underworld are wasd
Dutch only, but they're now getting attention of the more "mainstream" media in our country. (this website is the website from the news on tv)
http://nieuws.vtm.be/tv-media/2013041143433-internetters-betalen-mee-videospel
http://nieuws.vtm.be/tv-media/2013041143433-internetters-betalen-mee-videospel
Not to mention that DOSBox has a built in keyboard remapper.
AstroZombie
Banned
New update detailing the shelter plane: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/larianstudios/divinity-original-sin/posts/451589
I love them. They even discuss their approaches in their forum. They are listen to fan feedback. Currently, there are many topics being discussed, even changing stats, how they work and what they affect is in the room. So join the forums!
http://www.larian.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=postlist&Board=57&page=1
http://www.larian.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=postlist&Board=57&page=1
That certainly made the first stretch goal sound a lot more appealing. We should be reaching it in 2 days or so if all goes well.
MrCunningham
Member
I've seen a lot of people snub the idea of using PayPal over Kickstarter for pledging. But actually, PayPal's fee's are much smaller (or free) compared to the 5% and 2% that Kickstarter and Amazon take from the final amount. The developers will end up seeing more of your money through PayPal donations, and there isn't the worry of bank transactions not going through. Pay Pal is really not a bad option if the KS project already hit its target goal..
I'm used to make lots of paypal transactions, so it's actually a good thing for me personally. People can hate on paypal as much as they want (and they're not entirely wrong to do so, I guess).
AstroZombie
Banned
I did the same thing for Torment, and plan to do it for this project.
Well, it's some sort of odd varient, but admittedly with time I could probably get used to it... but even with the keys being in somewhat different areas there's still the fact it's not as smooth controlling as modern WASD (slow sidestepping, no diagonals) and for some reason it doesn't seem or feel like I'm moving straight, must be a quirk in the engine where the directions you can move are actually far fewer than you'd expect. Or there's some weird issue I'm overlooking. I don't know if it's really severe enough to be "unplayable", certainly not with the goods GOG supplies, but it's a good case for where I think games aging actually show up in that the basic controls just aren't as smooth as later games. Ironic that I'm finding a lot of modern 3rd person games ALSO are more clunky feeling for control than older ones, but that's another topic entirely.
AstroZombie
Banned
New Update where they talk about lore, give the Paypal totals(so far) and an amusing update song: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/larianstudios/divinity-original-sin/posts/452503?ref=activity
AstroZombie
Banned
New update, this one is pretty short: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/larianstudios/divinity-original-sin/posts/453649
Edit: Larian should hire me
Edit: Larian should hire me
AstroZombie
Banned
The only way I see it reaching the 800k and 1 mil stretch goals is if the campaign has an amazing surge on its last week, unfortunately that's not very likely
Yeah, I also really want this to reach 800k, but it's looking rather unlikely.
The recent controversy reminded me that the Shadowrun Returns kickstarter made almost 2 million, and that was by a developer with no real cRPG experience under their belt (or, really, any kind of high-end game experience). And it also didn't really have anything to show. Comparing that with Divinity struggling around 500k it's hard not to see some degree of the so-called "kickstarter fatigue".
The recent controversy reminded me that the Shadowrun Returns kickstarter made almost 2 million, and that was by a developer with no real cRPG experience under their belt (or, really, any kind of high-end game experience). And it also didn't really have anything to show. Comparing that with Divinity struggling around 500k it's hard not to see some degree of the so-called "kickstarter fatigue".
AstroZombie
Banned
And Shadowrun is a far bigger IP than Divinity.
Lord Panda
The Sea is Always Right
The ironic thing is that of all the Kickstarters I've backed (DFA, Eternity, Wasteland, Torment, Shadowrun, Planetary Annihilation, FTL, Chivalry, Star Command, etc.), D:OS is the one that I have the most confidence in - largely because the projects seems fairly well along and that Larian have been in the RPG business for a decent while now.
Sven Larsen seems genuinely passionate about his fans, team, and game. I think a few industry professionals out there could do well by following his example.
It's a little heartbreaking not seeing D:OS attracting more pledges; I hope that D:OS (and Dragon Commander) is the break that Larian needs.
edit: It would be cool if the community could script the NPC schedules somehow and save Larian a chunk of work
Sven Larsen seems genuinely passionate about his fans, team, and game. I think a few industry professionals out there could do well by following his example.
It's a little heartbreaking not seeing D:OS attracting more pledges; I hope that D:OS (and Dragon Commander) is the break that Larian needs.
edit: It would be cool if the community could script the NPC schedules somehow and save Larian a chunk of work
Kickstarter fatigue is myth. Every damn new game people talk about kickstarter fatigue and almost every new bigger project there is new record. Just few days ago Torment kickstarter ended meeting new record. Kickstarter is growing. Kickstarter audience is growing.
What we see here is not fatigue but lack of interest and motivation to fund game. There is no hard situation here. Divinity: Original sin is game that will be happening even if it won't reach original goal. And that is why people don't really want to fund it. Part of what makes Kickstarter is notion that you are helping developer making game and without your money there would be no game.
What this kickstarter represent is that your money improve game. This is why there is no 1mln already.
I love this game idea and what are they doing but i see why people are not that interested to pledge money.
Also this. But still it is your pitch, project and trust for your studio which generate money overall. This is also why PA kickstarter was such success. They didn't have Ip nor they did have big names. They had rag tag team of experienced developers who worked in industry, good concept of game which are they trying to make heavily based on TA credo and it looked like it was proffesional offer not some hey give us money so we can go create something.
Sounds like it was faithful to the source then
I got a GOG key to that game from a friend, I wonder if I ever get around to playing it. Probably not.
Yeah I really like his blog.
I'm not convinced there is no kickstarter fatigue at all -- it's not nearly as significant as some claim, but I don't think it's entirely bogus. Yes, Torment did exceptionally well, but hey, it's Torment. Who is to say that it wouldn't have done even better last year?
In the same vein, I do not believe that a kickstarter like Shadowrun Returns (which, let's face it, is by an unknown studio with no real cRPG background) would manage to reach a similar funding level today as it did when it originally launched.
In the same vein, I do not believe that a kickstarter like Shadowrun Returns (which, let's face it, is by an unknown studio with no real cRPG background) would manage to reach a similar funding level today as it did when it originally launched.
"Kickstarter fatigue" is probably closer to when a crowded holiday season hits: we only have so much to spend and need to prioritize. A safe distance from titans like Project Eternity or Torment it'd do better.
Nevertheless I imagine some luster has worn off, people paid attention with games like DFA or Wasteland 2 and started pitching in for other games like Shadowrun, and now need more to really get jostled (Hero-U barely met its goal, and this met it but is taking awhile to ramp up.)
Nevertheless I imagine some luster has worn off, people paid attention with games like DFA or Wasteland 2 and started pitching in for other games like Shadowrun, and now need more to really get jostled (Hero-U barely met its goal, and this met it but is taking awhile to ramp up.)
I'd say the Kickstarter frenzy that started shortly after Double Fine's campaign lasted about 3-4 months, since Summer last year the situation has been about the same and people are a lot more picky about projects they're going to back. Those first few months you had campaigns like Republique or Banner Saga where people threw over half a million dollars at what seemed like risky projects to me.
But overall projects are still funded which shows there's no fatigue going on.
Alexios
Cores, shaders and BIOS oh my!
Why does it have to be fatigue? People back the projects they want to see done, random average joes might at times ride on someone's tailcoats but other than that they get little to no attention as expected. Then something else that inspires people comes along and they back it. It's not about fatigue, it's about showing something that resonates with people and stands out from the pack. A lot like actual game releases. Not getting as much money as Torment doesn't necessarily indicate fatigue. I'm not backing Divinity either, it's a game that will be made anyway, with additional polish and features thanks to this money. I didn't back all the big ones. I'll back something else at some point. If you browse Kickstarter there are still tons and tons of bigger and smaller projects that still get successfully funded, not necessarily in video game form. In my case it's still video game budget money, nobody buys every half decent game, nobody backs every half decent video game project in the same way, especially since there are more risks involved so you have to be even more interested in it.
And yeah, it's obvious that bigger names attract more people, again, a lot like actual game releases. That doesn't mean the smaller projects aren't successful. Telepath Tactics and Antharion both got funded alongside many.
Might be a matter of perspective (and may take another year or two to REALLY show), but it seems that if nothing else it normalized. Unless you greatly equalized wealth people in general aren't going to be throwing significant money in great numbers at these kickstarters, though I guess if wealth were more equalized they might not even be bothering to start Kickstarters.
It's been noted that we had loads of projects getting tons of money just after DFA brought Kickstarter to everyone's attention and Wasteland 2 reinforced it, though again it's something of a matter of perspective. I DO think if you dogpile the games each one will be less likely to get funding from some people (or receive less) because they'd have to prioritize, I almost expect Shroud of the Avatar would've soared even higher without Torment (and this for that matter) making many of us go "wait this is more deserving."
Though that one always did seem a bit dubious, maybe the 2 million was mainly from people who were willing to take that shot or were big enough Ultima fans to just not care.
I don't know, of all the big profile video game Kickstarters around, SotA has gotten the most criticism (well, barring Wildman maybe) during its campaign, not only here on GAF. Not just because of the "millionaire begging for money" sentiment that was also there with Molyneux kickstarter, but mainly because it just looked entirely uninspired. I was actually surprised that it still managed to reach its goal. Nostalgia is a bitch, I guess.
It's maybe normalized in the sense that the current state is the norm that the indie/small dev community should expect going forward. But it's far, far above prior to DF's campaign, ie. the old norm.
Curt Schilling and Shadowrun Returns both indicate in different ways why it was probably for the best to go for Kickstarter anyway: Curt Schilling got investment and STILL blew through all his money for that MMO, while Shadowrun Returns has a lot of people wanting refunds so getting an investment but having a buffer to refund if it doesn't work out is probably for the best. Though personally I couldn't help but wonder what kind of staff he pulled together, and if he was promising far, far too much.
True, it's part of why I think some more time is needed to see if there's REAL fatigue, but I do think we'll have minor fatigue in the sense that people will want breathers after sufficiently large and similar Kickstarters.
My point is that you need first proof that there is fatigue.
There is no actuall proof that there is fatigue at all. Tormet sure as hell is big project but with so called kickstarter fatigue it shouldn't beat record but it beat it. You can't connect Divinity to kickstarter fatigue because this kickstarter is much different than your live or die situation in other kick-starters.
Projects right now who fail are mostly badly pitched "products" like that 2inonekistarterRPGs or kickstarters that are badly managed like Nexus: Jupiter Incident kickstarter or simply put project is not really hot for people like gas generic ARPG.
Real fatigue will be when there will be fantastic project with live/death scenario and it will fail. So far there was no project like that and almost any good pitched project get funded.
With every month even more people know what is crowdfunding something which was totally oblivious to people back in 2012 February. People still learn about crowdfunding and coming months when big kickstarters will be releasing will be mayor point where crowdfunding can once again get mayor bonus.
Do you remember what was before Torment ? Star Citizent which did 8 mln dollars. And that wasn't a year ago or two it was 2 months back or 3.
No it is called rational thinking something which is totally oblivious to people who hate from some weird reason Molynelux and go in every thread about him stating their hate as Peter was responsible for ruining their lives.
edit:
changed gearbox for gas. No idea why i typed that.
Matt Chat videos have almost criminally low number of views, the list of people he has interviewed is insane.
Matt Chat show is one of the best videos about industry overall. If you could call someone journalist it is Matt. When he was interviewing Garrot about SoA he didn't mind to ask what people had in mind. Why the hell rich dude want to use kickstarter. Something which many journalists are afraid to ask (and this should be part of their job).
Larian interview was definitely good to listen.
My nostalgia comment didn't refer to funding kickstarters projects by millionaires, but to funding kickstarters by people with a great legacy despite the project itself looking rather uninspired.
It was a god game like populus and that is why people backed it. No reason to hate that gengre.
No need to get all defensive! I was talking about Shroud of the Avatar, not Godus. I only mentioned Molyneux in regards to the millionaire argument voiced by some, not the uninspired comment.
I get the feeling that is one of the problems Divinity has in spreading awareness. As a European developer, they just don't seem to have the same media connections/coverage in the US as some other projects.
And as for SotA, well, I was somewhat doubtful (but still supportive) of Shadowrun Returns, but I honestly believe SotA has a far lower chance of ending up with something worthwhile.
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