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[Burt]

How can a game that got funded at $500K in less than 12 hours (with 34 days left) not hit the $2mill mark? Kinda depressing

Well, they're in all likelihood going to end up with at least double the backers and double the money compared to their last campaign, and that's without the 'wow' factor of a campaign like Shenmue or Bloodstained that can bank on bringing something back that's been gone a long time. It might not seem tremendous compared to some of these record-setting Kickstarters we've seen this year, but those are record-breaking Kickstarters.

This one is still doing extremely well by any metric other than 'best Kickstarter ever'. Which yeah, it might deserve considering how good the first one was (I mean, it deserves every single one of Eternity's 70k backers), but I think you need to match some incredibly specific criteria to break into that final uppermost level of success. It'll probably hit 2 million though, don't worry.

 

[Ogimachi]

How can a game that got funded at $500K in less than 12 hours (with 34 days left) not hit the $2mill mark? Kinda depressing

My interpretation:

As for D:OS, it's a successful campaign, no doubt it. I think the main reason it wasn't considerably more successful was out of their hands, which is the fact the percentage of players who actually finished D:OS is very low (6% on Steam). PoE was brand new, TToN is supposed to be a spiritual successor, and WL2 was a sequel to such an old game that it was basically new for everyone.
There was nothing Larian could do it about it, honestly. They're releasing an enhanced edition and that's one the downsides that come with it. There's also the romance stretch goal, which really didn't please the CRPG crowd and prevents a lot of them from upgrading their pledges (myself included).

 

[Vulcano's assistant]

How can a game that got funded at $500K in less than 12 hours (with 34 days left) not hit the $2mill mark? Kinda depressing

I guess it is because most just want the game and better if for less than $30, and already know it will be good / think Larian will find a way to deliver on the rest of the stretch goals without the extra help. Plus I think we are at the point were people stopped caring about pledges over $50. It's not an event of saving a genre or being part of something new anymore, just purchasing a sequel one really wants.

 

[Ogimachi]

MCA effect: $32,315 raised on Kickstarter today + ~$2200 from the RPGCodex campaign + unknown PayPal pledges.

At ~$35k it's the best day since September 2nd.

 

[Last Hearth]

Yup, as much as I loved D:OS I'm not going giving them money until they game is ready to be bought.

Why should I fork over the money now? They are going to have the money to make the game they want either way. If the really wanted those other stretch goals in the game they can do it without any more KS money, and if they don't really want those stretch goals then forcing them in the game would made the game worse. The romance will either be really cool and awesome and will be in the game, or it will be lame and tacked on and adds little to the game.

 

[Arulan]

In MCA-related news, I hope everyone gave this a listen a few weeks back, or now plans to do so. Super, super interesting.

Thanks for sharing that. That was a great listen.

Interplay...

 

[hemtae]

Not that simple. Maybe he could've been project lead, but not because he was creative director. Do you think it was his own decision to no be project lead, lead writer or lead designer on any game ever since AP? I doubt it. Ultimately that's up to the CEO, Feargus, or a vote if it came to that. The whole Kickstarter thing was decided by a lot of people in the company and it was pretty heated. Sawyer threatened to quit during the discussion on whether to make a KS or not, and some didn't think KS was a viable alternative. MCA himself was one of them at first, but he came around later.

As for Alpha Protocol, he became lead designer halfway through production because it was a mess and they had to overhaul the game and reorganize the structure to make it work.

I'm not taking about becoming lead designer. Narrative-wise, if Avellone wanted an expanded role, he would have gotten an expanded role. Which there is precedent for when he rewrote the majority of Alpha Protocol. He probably didn't do a whole lot with PoE because either he didn't want to our was busy was other things and the last time he was deeply involved with two games at the same time, he almost crazy not because of some grudge match with Sawyer.

 

[Vash63]

I still haven't purchased the original. Waiting on their promised Linux build. Feel really bad for any Linux user who kickstarted it considering they're already moving onto a sequel before even shipping the first game.

 

[Durante]

I generally would never say "the NWN games" since NWN1 is the worst piece of trash ever made, while NWN2 is decent. I could see some similarity to NWN2, but then again I also enjoyed combat in NWN2. However, I think PoE is fundamentally far better in combat mechanics, and also solves issues that plagued pretty much every single IE game - and NWN2 - e.g. by introducing engagement and attacks of opportunity. And of course, the UI is on an entirely different level compared to any IE game.

As for character and dialogue, I think we don't even need to talk about the IWD games in that regard, and neither about BG1. They're not even comparable, if you call PoE characters cardboard cutouts (which I don't agree with) then for those they didn't even cut out the cardboard. And, despite nostalgia, BG2 didn't really feature fantastic multi.faceted characters either. Yes, there is PS:T. But there is always PS:T.

So basically, I see PoE vis-a-vis the IE games as improving combat mechanics and UI above all of them, matching the encounter design of most, and offering a more interesting setting and story than any of them save for Torment. And that's a really satisfying outcome.

How can a game that got funded at $500K in less than 12 hours (with 34 days left) not hit the $2mill mark? Kinda depressing

I predicted as much (back when everyone was saying 2 million easy and hoping for 3). Really, everyone who follows all of these projects should have been able to tell.

It's simple: at this point, the CRPG audience is well aware of KS, and if they want to support a project then by and large they'll do so quickly.

And of course, there were more great CRPGs released in 2014 and 2015 then the decade before that combined, so it's quite understandable that people wouldn't be as eager to fund even more of them, particularly if they are going to get made anyway.

 

[Sothis Krieg]

Backed for $50 with the first one in the bundle.

 

[foobarry81]

I generally would never say "the NWN games" since NWN1 is the worst piece of trash ever made, while NWN2 is decent. I could see some similarity to NWN2, but then again I also enjoyed combat in NWN2.

NWN1 was utterly disappointing to me too. For a while I thought it was because I was comparing it too much with the BG games, but in hindsight I still feel like it's a fundamentally flawed game.

 

[Menome]

...I loved NWN1 at the time. Haven't played it since beating Hordes of The Underdark a decade ago, but I don't recall having any problems beyond the story in the main campaign being rather dull.

 

[Durante]

The expansions were pretty good. Same deal for NWN2.

Not really. NWN1 OC was utterly terrible. It didn't have a single redeeming quality.

Terrible story.
Terrible "characters".
Terrible gameplay.
Terrible locations.
Terrible combat.
Terrible quest design.
Terrible graphics.

NWN2's OC, by comparison, was mostly inoffensive. It had actual party-based combat and gameplay, a generic but serviceable story and cast of characters, a few fun quests in the later acts and serviceable presentation for its time.

I'll stop talking about NWN1 in this thread now, poor Larian don't deserve even the slightest hint of association with that.

 

[draetenth]

I'd hate for this to be a Kickstarter that didn't manage to reach some of it's goals.

? It's going to get at least 7 stretch goals and imo the most important ones (don't care about romance or game master mode, don't know anything about the shapeshifting mask goal to say either way).

It's getting a bit off-topic, but I think Pillars was safe because Obsidian basically needed to make a game that was successful and would make them money. I would guess they felt their financial situation is bad enough (they are starved for cash and work aren't they?) that they didn't want to go too wild. Yes, I know there are plenty of fans out there who would have pledged no matter what, but maybe Obsidian felt that wouldn't have been enough (just speculation)? Perhaps now that they have an install base for Pillars, they can go a bit more wild for the expansions (and potentially a Pillars 2?). Personally, I would expect a BG 1 -> BG 2 kind of jump if they made a Pillars 2. Just my $.02 though.

I also expect a big jump between D: OS and D: OS 2 (though I'm curious to how well the Enhanced Edition will improve D: OS).

 

[charlequin]

I'd hate for this to be a Kickstarter that didn't manage to reach some of it's goals.

Most campaigns don't clear every single stretch goal they set, just by virtue of the fact that doing so means either cutting them off way before your end funding spot or precisely nailing exactly how much funding you can achieve and pegging the last goal right underneath that.

The D:OS kickstarter reached all but one of its stretch goals and at the moment that's what it looks like will happen here as well. They only need to average about $40k on each of the last four days to clear the $1.85m goal, which is likely to happen even with a relatively subdued last-days bump.

 

[spindoctor]

I'm just saying that I'd like for them to get enough money to do all the things they are hoping or planning to do to make it the best possible game.

 

[HK-47]

Not really. NWN1 OC was utterly terrible. It didn't have a single redeeming quality.

Terrible story.
Terrible "characters".
Terrible gameplay.
Terrible locations.
Terrible combat.
Terrible quest design.
Terrible graphics.

NWN2's OC, by comparison, was mostly inoffensive. It had actual party-based combat and gameplay, a generic but serviceable story and cast of characters, a few fun quests in the later acts and serviceable presentation for its time.

I'll stop talking about NWN1 in this thread now, poor Larian don't deserve even the slightest hint of association with that.

NWN2's first act is hardly inoffensive. That pacing and length has murdered many people's interest in the game and its expansion.

And then there is the ending...

 

[Staf]

Not really. NWN1 OC was utterly terrible. It didn't have a single redeeming quality.

Terrible story.
Terrible "characters".
Terrible gameplay.
Terrible locations.
Terrible combat.
Terrible quest design.
Terrible graphics.

NWN2's OC, by comparison, was mostly inoffensive. It had actual party-based combat and gameplay, a generic but serviceable story and cast of characters, a few fun quests in the later acts and serviceable presentation for its time.

I'll stop talking about NWN1 in this thread now, poor Larian don't deserve even the slightest hint of association with that.

Boo you Durante! I actually like NWN1, besides the joke of a OC that is.

 

[~Kinggi~]

Swen is streaming stuff

 

[Durante]

NWN2's first act is hardly inoffensive. That pacing and length has murdered many people's interest in the game and its expansion.

You won't hear an argument from me against that, the first act in the NWN1 OC was terribly paced. But everything about the NWN1 OC is terrible, period
(Yeah, I just said I won't talk about NWN1 anymore in this thread. But really, its OC is my biggest disappointment in games of all time, so I can get really into expounding its deficiencies)

 

[Totaleclipes]

I would so support this if it wasn't windows only after seeing the enhanced edition impress so much.

 

[Kinthalis]

You guys are mean. NWN 1 OC wass terribad, but the game set out to do somehting different than previous CRPG's.

Multi-player co-op, and community content.

It largely succeeded at that. I rememebr spending hours and hours playing through awesome community modules along with friends. Semi=persistent worlds were fun too.

But yeah, I only barley made it through that terrible campaign, and never replayed it.

Hordes of the underdark was better at least.

 

[Durante]

The IE games had co-op and still offered a great single-player experience, so that doesn't excuse the NWN1 OC.

... actually, so does Original Sin. Which brings us back to the topic, hopefully

 

[Labadal]

I still maintain that this will reach $2 million.

 

[~Kinggi~]

I still maintain that this will reach $2 million.

All depends on the final push at this point. Some KS rpgs have had no push in the end, so we will see if that still exists.

 

[Taruranto]

I generally would never say "the NWN games" since NWN1 is the worst piece of trash ever made, while NWN2 is decent. I could see some similarity to NWN2, but then again I also enjoyed combat in NWN2. However, I think PoE is fundamentally far better in combat mechanics, and also solves issues that plagued pretty much every single IE game - and NWN2 - e.g. by introducing engagement and attacks of opportunity. And of course, the UI is on an entirely different level compared to any IE game.

As for character and dialogue, I think we don't even need to talk about the IWD games in that regard, and neither about BG1. They're not even comparable, if you call PoE characters cardboard cutouts (which I don't agree with) then for those they didn't even cut out the cardboard. And, despite nostalgia, BG2 didn't really feature fantastic multi.faceted characters either. Yes, there is PS:T. But there is always PS:T.

BG2 characters have something that PoE characters don't have: reactivity to your decisions and the game enviroment. Stuff like Minsc and Edwin or Viconia and Keldron thorning the party apart, good characters leaving or even attacking you if your reputation gets too low, etc.

There is a reason why people remember characters like Viconia, Minsc etc even today.


PoE characters are good, but sadly, they, more often than not, just go along with the main character. Stuff like

Spoiler

the GM not reacting to you harming children/doing something against the the children (like the ending in which you don't restore the souls)

makes the party feel like a bunch of thralls.

For me, PoE felt like midway between BG1 (meh) and BG2 (holy shit awesome). It was also disappointing that, despite all the shitting Sawyer and whatnot did on D&D, nobody managed to create a game-system on par with BG2 D&D.

 

[Spirit of Jazz]

NWN2's first act is hardly inoffensive. That pacing and length has murdered many people's interest in the game and its expansion.

And then there is the ending...

I think NWN2's ending is probably the worst fucking ending I've ever seen in a game. The dungeon falling apart and your entire party seemingly dying is not satisfying in any was after 50 hours or so. Though I'm willing to forgive it because of what they did with MotB.

 

[spindoctor]

48 hours left to go. Hopefully the starred emails going out will lead to a significant bump in funding. Almost at 1.75 million which unlocks the romances.

They just put out a new update https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/larianstudios/divinity-original-sin-2/posts/1365789

 

[Freaking Limit]

Actually, that update says we've unlocked Love/Hate (Thanks paypal backers). I wonder how far this will reach.

 

[Madrugador]

So, getting original sin 1+2 for $50 is a good deal right?

Haven't played D:OS and this might be a good chance.

 

[Allnamestakenlol]

Backed. Better late than never, right?

 

[spindoctor]

Actually, that update says we've unlocked Love/Hate (Thanks paypal backers). I wonder how far this will reach.

Doh. I was too busy watching Swen running around in the video to notice that bit

So, getting original sin 1+2 for $50 is a good deal right?

Haven't played D:OS and this might be a good chance.

It's a very good deal. The lowest ever recorded price for the first game on Steam is $24 and I'd say it's worth much more. And the second game for $25 should be a great deal too.

 

[Walpurgis]

So, getting original sin 1+2 for $50 is a good deal right?

Haven't played D:OS and this might be a good chance.

Original Sin is $40 Steam (Canada) so I would consider that a pretty good deal.

 

[Sinatar]

So, getting original sin 1+2 for $50 is a good deal right?

Haven't played D:OS and this might be a good chance.

Hell yea it is.

D:OS is incredible and worth $50 on it's own.

Backed. Better late than never, right?

 

[CrunchyFrog]

Cmoooooon game master mode. Maybe we'll get it with PayPal, but it's gonna need a pretty big push from the countdown streams.

 

[Linkark07]

So, getting original sin 1+2 for $50 is a good deal right?

Haven't played D:OS and this might be a good chance.

Hell, yes. Even on GoG, which has a lower price for me because of regional pricing, is $31.59.

 

[KiteGr]

Usually in the Final 3 days they get as much backing as the first 3.

I hope for a Game master mode...
I don't care about Race changing masks and banging my party members.
If anything, I believe they'll make the game worse!

 

[Durante]

I'm not sure whether game master mode is doable, I guess it depends on how popular their Twitch stream is.

It should be noted that in addition to "regular" Paypal funding, The RPGCodex and RPG Watch fundraisers together are at >21k.

 

[RPG_Fanatic]

Finally decided to back. Went for the digital lore edition.

 

[bigboss370]

24hr Stream Timetable!

15:00 CEST
Best of Divinity: The best moments from previous Divinity games ~ featuring Swen, David, Jan.

17:00 CEST
Editor & Modding Devline: A peek at what to expect from members of our design team ~ featuring Swen, Jeff, Jan, Bert.

18:00 CEST
Let's Play Divinity: Original Sin - Enhanced Edition. Mixed with discussion with members of the team about their favourite things in the Enhanced Edition ~ featuring David.

20:00 CEST
Watch the titans battle! RPG Codex versus RPG Watch send their finest gladiators into battle for the glory of the title screen.

22:00 CEST
Devstorm 1! Live devline to brainstorm various ideas that have come in from user voice and our forums for improving the game while we play the prototype. With special guests in different disciplines from across the team discussing various aspects ~ featuring Jeff, Joa, Slava, Jan & more.

24:00 CEST
Special Guest - TBD

9:00 CEST
Strategist Mode: Showcase of Divinity: Original Sin - Enhanced Edition tactician mode with the men who know more about it than anyone else on earth ~ featuring Edouard & Nick.

11:00 CEST
Pre-Battle Hype Stream with Q&A ~ featuring all of our offices.

12:00 CEST
The Grand Inter-Larian Battle! Champions from each of the four Larian offices battle it out for bragging rights and first dibs on the cheese platter at the Christmas Party ~ featuring Nick, Matt, and TBD Dublin and St. Petersburg champions.

14:00 CEST
Devstorm 2! A second round to get to any questions and ideas we didn't catch the first time round as we count down to the big moment ~ featuring EVERYONE!

 

[Durante]

I know what I'll be watching at 20:00 tomorrow.

 

[Ogimachi]

I'm not sure whether game master mode is doable, I guess it depends on how popular their Twitch stream is.

It should be noted that in addition to "regular" Paypal funding, The RPGCodex and RPG Watch fundraisers together are at >21k.

It also had 10k from PayPal before the MCA announcement. I don't think it'll make $2 million from KS alone, but it'll probably get there somehow.

 

[Labadal]

I know what I'll be watching at 20:00 tomorrow.

Indeed. This will be hilarious no matter the outcome.

Spoiler

Go Codex!

 

[His Majesty]

If we take Paypal into account they need like $180k in the next 40 hours. Not sure if that's doable.

Spoiler

Glory to Codexia!

 

[Kama_1082]

I'll wait for a good sale. Good luck to their Kickstarter.

 

[Ogimachi]

If we take Paypal into account they need like $180k in the next 40 hours. Not sure if that's doable.

Spoiler

Glory to Codexia!

 

[~Kinggi~]

I know what I'll be watching at 20:00 tomorrow.

what a bloodbath

 

[epmode]

My estimate from a month ago is looking pretty close! I think they'll break $2M though.

 

[~Kinggi~]

My estimate from a month ago is looking pretty close! I think they'll break $2M though.

i think having a 24hr livestream will help put it over the top. Its having a noticeable bump today but its started later than usual.

 

[bigboss370]

Might actually make to shapeshifter goal