Octopus Overlords

Lorini wrote:What's really cool about the game is that everyone loves their favorite weapon. I love chakrams, others love sceptres, faeblades everything. I think the game is the most playable and accessible game released in years. I love it a lot!

Hammers. The timing has to be right but they are devastating. I also have a rogue that uses faeblades and chakrams... chakrams when I want to be by myself and faeblades if it gets a little crowded.

SlapBone wrote:

Lorini wrote:What's really cool about the game is that everyone loves their favorite weapon. I love chakrams, others love sceptres, faeblades everything. I think the game is the most playable and accessible game released in years. I love it a lot!

Hammers. The timing has to be right but they are devastating. I also have a rogue that uses faeblades and chakrams... chakrams when I want to be by myself and faeblades if it gets a little crowded.

Bah! A greatsword is all I need!

Lorini wrote:What's really cool about the game is that everyone loves their favorite weapon. I love chakrams, others love sceptres, faeblades everything. I think the game is the most playable and accessible game released in years. I love it a lot!

Chakrams were my favorite weapon as well, especially after I got a couple combos for them. But to the credit of the game the few times I tried a different weapon type I didn’t immediately want to switch back! There is one story section where the game forces you to use hammers and while it felt too slow for a full play though I still enjoyed smashing the crap out of everyone with them.

Chakrams! Actually weapons are largely irrelevant now that I have meteor in my arsenal of OP magic attacks.

The title of this thread still really irritates me.

Anyway...this game never ends, does it? It's sorely missing an indication as to how far along you are in the story and/or % of game completed. I'd also love to know how much time I've spent playing as I'm guessing it's inching closer to 30 hours at this point and I'm just finished the northern / central portion of the world map (Dalentarth?). The difficulty ramped up significantly once I started trying to move through the Plains of Erathell, so much so that I did my first character respec and focused all of my skills into bows and daggers instead of having them spread between swords, chakrams, daggers, and bows. Even with all the little bonuses for sharpened blades, poison effects, tier 3 special attacks, I'm still getting lumped by giants and trolls. I'm probably not relying on fate shifting enough but I always find myself saving that ability for quest related boss fights. Regardless, knowing I can spend relatively little money and redo my character at any time is pretty cool - and makes sense within the story.

But yeah, huge...huge game. Still having a lot of fun with it though I'm toying with the idea of going back to a sword and board style. The various skills are so cool I just want to have them all.

Smoove_B wrote:I'd also love to know how much time I've spent playing as I'm guessing it's inching closer to 30 hours at this point

Each save game notes in the sub-text how many hours you'd played to that point... at least it does on the console versions but I imagine it is the same for the PC. And yah, some type of "percentage complete" would be appreciated, at least for the main quest.

Smoove_B wrote:The title of this thread still really irritates me.

Anyway...this game never ends, does it? It's sorely missing an indication as to how far along you are in the story and/or % of game completed. I'd also love to know how much time I've spent playing as I'm guessing it's inching closer to 30 hours at this point and I'm just finished the northern / central portion of the world map (Dalentarth?).

The last 4th of the game takes place across the ocean. Once you break the siege at the human capital you can finish the main story in about 10 hours. They really increase the urgency of the plot once you get there. You can technically still do whatever you want but I think you will want to concentrate on the main story at that point.

Someone traded me the Dead Kel DLC for a bunch of TF2 hats so I’ve got some impressions!

Since I have already finished the main campaign and pretty much maxed out my character as a mage I decided to respect entirely as a rogue. It would have been really nice if the DLC has raised the level cap a bit since I’m sitting at 39 but not much can be done there. The DLC can be done any time after level 10 provided you’ve already made it to the human capital since that’s where it starts.

You meet up with a wonderfully incompetent ship’s captain and soon find yourself marooned on a very hostile island. I highly recommend exhausting the captains’ dialogue options; many of the stories she tells are hilarious.

"It was then that I knew it was my destiny to be a sailor."

The basics of the DLC are mostly more of the same but this definitely feels much more fleshed out story and character wise than even the faction quests from the main game. Also, so far it seems like most of the Scottish speaking people are gone, replaced with mostly accent neutral voice actors. I bring it up because I know some people had a hard time taking the original actors seriously. They’ve also expanded on the house ownership portion of the main game and have added some fun options for animal ownership and further improvements to your keep.

I can’t speak for the length yet but the island seems pretty large and the scenery is very enjoyable to explore. I’m not sure it’s worth $10 but it was definitely worth a bunch of hats. $5 would probably be ideal.

I had to walk away from what feels like an infinite number of side quests. I think I'm over 100 quests completed, but I am pretty sure that includes faction and main quests as well. I think I hit the 50 hour mark (or close to it) and I just broke the siege. House of Ballads, Valor, Travelers and Warsworn are all completed. The size of this game is unreal. I'm starting to see some dungeon interiors repeated (basic layout features) but it's hardly that noticeable because the general variety is so damn large -- unlike Dragon Age 2. I'm not into the crafting aspect, but like a monkey I just want more and more loot - even at my advanced level (I think I'm around 34) I'm still looting bodies and opening every chest I find in hopes I can complete a yellow set of...anything.

I cannot believe there are two DLC titles available for this game already. Who the hell has time to beat the entirety of what the base game has to offer?

Looking forward to this one going on sale. Don't have it in me to pay full price though.

About 3 hours into the DLC now and would estimate that I’m about half way done. Everything feels a lot tighter than it did in the main campaign. Once you start the DLC you can’t leave the island it puts you on and I think it gave the developers more control to make a self-contained story with better characters. The villain is once again the low point but I find him at least more interesting than the antagonist of the main campaign.

I’m enjoying the “castle building” section a lot as well. You receive quests from a gnome caretaker to collect resources and he rebuilds sections of a castle for you. After you get the basic structure set up you also get a beast tamer who lets you pick out three animals as pets. Different animals offer various bonuses that buff your character like a Giant Spider grants poison resistance, Bogart gives bonus exp, etc. Once the pet is trained you can also return to them and feed them their favorite foods to increase the bonuses they give.

I want to pay $9353 gold and change the Fate of this thread title.

I'm at the final area (I think) and moving towards the end. I've finished all of the faction quests at this point and have re-done my character a total of two times. After playing 90% of the game with daggers and a bow, I'm now using daggers and chakrams. I went from being ridiculous (daggers) to an unstoppable spinning wheel of death (chakrams). My only complaint is that they're not as fast as my daggers (nothing is) so my timing is a bit off as I've been conditioned to snickety-snick through groups of people. But I really love how you can completely rebuild your character for relatively cheap. I also think I'm about to hit the level cap (I'm currently level 38) and with all my XP boosts (from various rings, twists of fate, etc...) the last 5 or so levels have really been effortless. I'm also feeling like the chakrams are a much better paired weapon with the daggers. I can focus on one guy with the daggers and then if there's a group closing in, a few tosses of the chakrams cause so much damage in a wide area it usually levels the field.

I am around 60 hours now and the size of the game is still unreal. I have over 100 secondary quests now. Based on the ones that I've actually completed, they're totally worth the time -- usually there's a decent reward, in addition to the gold and XP you earn. I have no doubts this game could easily keep me busy for another 60 hours if I really wanted to follow up on all these quests and hunt down all the Lorestones. I think I have about 80% of them as well, but I'm not really looking all that hard for them -- as a by-product of having a maxed out Detection skill, they appear on my map when I enter any given area.

Still enjoying the hell out of it and I might even buy it for my PC when it goes on sale. Very happy with the game -- a pleasant surprise.

I finished the Dead Kel DLC tonight; or rather I finished the main storyline and fully upgraded my Keep. This is really the finest set of missions in the game which makes it a shame it didn’t come with the full game. On top of that having now seen the options you receive from fully upgrading your Keep that is another feature that would have been great in the main game.

The way the Keep works is as you build new building you gain access to new options. Build stables and you get pets which offer stat bonuses. Dig tunnels under the island and you can send a servant on daily missions to collect loot from shipwrecks. Fully upgrade your Keep and you become a Lord who is able to send an emissary on diplomatic missions with neighboring islands(setup trade routes, form alliances or declare war). None of the options from the Keep upgrades are overly in-depth but taken together you feel like someone of authority as opposed to the worlds lackey. Plus getting someone else to harvest crafting materials for you is pretty nice.

Time to finish the main storyline: ~6 hours. Time to fully upgrade Keep: +2 hours.

So, can you return to the island from the main game once the DLC is completed? I'm still not entirely clear on that one.

You’re stuck on the island until about 2/3 of the way through the main quest, after which you can come and go as you like. To get back to the island it looks like you need to locate your captain at the docks where DLC quest line first started.

Just reading now that 38 Studios is in financial trouble, probably because of the awful title of this thread. Not only did they miss a loan payment to the state of R.I. but apparently payroll for this week as well. UPDATE: More here.

I read somewhere the game sold ~400,000 units, which given a $75 million loan ($48 up front, the rest in escrow) means that unless each copy sold for like $190, that is some bad news. I'm really surprised it didn't sell well. It wasn't revolutionary by any means but it was still damn fun.

Also, I'm sure the tax payers of Rhode Island are interested in hearing how $48million went into making a game.

Smoove_B wrote:Just reading now that 38 Studios is in financial trouble, probably because of the awful title of this thread. Not only did they miss a loan payment to the state of R.I. but apparently payroll for this week as well. UPDATE: More here.

I read somewhere the game sold ~400,000 units, which given a $75 million loan ($48 up front, the rest in escrow) means that unless each copy sold for like $190, that is some bad news. I'm really surprised it didn't sell well. It wasn't revolutionary by any means but it was still damn fun.

Also, I'm sure the tax payers of Rhode Island are interested in hearing how $48million went into making a game.

The loan actually wasn't for Amalur, that was pretty much finished by Big Huge Games before they were bought by 38 Studios. The loan was for the as-yet unnamed and un-announced MMORPG they've been developing for 6 years, "Project Copernicus".

What kind of world do we live in where a game sells ~400,000 copies and is deemed a failure?

tgb wrote:What kind of world do we live in where a game sells ~400,000 copies and is deemed a failure?

The same exact world where a state government sinks 75 million dollars into a retired baseball player to develop a video game.

And on the Big Huge/KoA side of things, where the fuck is EA? They could at least release a patch for this beast.

The kind where AAA games have budgets measured in the tens of millions, and 400,000 sold at $20 profit to the publisher/$10 profit to the developer, meaning about $12,000,000 on a budget that was probably $20,000,000 (and that's a minimal starting guess.)

SlapBone wrote:

tgb wrote:What kind of world do we live in where a game sells ~400,000 copies and is deemed a failure?

The same exact world where a state government sinks 75 million dollars into a retired baseball player to develop a video game.

The company has 400+ employees because their state loan guarantees depended on creating 450 jobs. Amalur could've been made by a team of 50-ish, but they staffed up for the Next Big Thing before they took their first step.

I heard a radio interview with Shilling telling the reporter "I want to get back to my team." Yeah, 400 people are not one team.

Wow, there were some seriously messed up politics going on here.

Classic first time developer bloat, but combined with multi million dollar politics.

I love seeing Mr. Republican Schilling begging for a government handout for his bloated company.

There's more in this article, posted today. It suggests KoA sold about a million units, though it's also my understanding that VGChartz isn't considered a reliable source. And the nugget of what happened:

Schilling had originally hoped to launch the game’s first product in 2010. But he immediately hit trouble raising money. He shocked venture capitalists with an audacious pitch for $48 million - far more than gaming companies typically receive in an initial round of funding. In addition, Schilling was reportedly reluctant to give up much stock in exchange for funding. Flybridge Capital Partners and several other Boston area firms passed on 38 Studios.

“More than one VC who has met Schilling has come away with the impression that an investment would require quite a bit of ‘babysitting,’ ’’ noted a trade publication, Private Equity Week, at the time.

Schilling estimated he might need more than $100 million to complete the multiplayer game, code-named Copernicus.

In March 2010, Schilling finally found his cash cow. After Schilling met Carcieri at a fund-raiser, state officials began quietly talking to Schilling about relocating 38 Studios to Rhode Island.

In April, Democratic leadership in the Rhode Island House brought forth a supplemental budget that included $125 million in loan guarantees for job creation, Watson said.

So, should I get the DLC before they get into bankruptcy?

Additionally, they have another DLC available:
The Teeth of Naros

Is this the first time a state Governor has announced the release date for a computer game?

Rhode Island governor Lincoln Chafee told attendees of a 38 Studios-related press conference that the long awaited 38 Studios MMO – only known currently as "Project Copernicus" – is set to launch in June of 2013. Chafee said, "What I understand is Copernicus is June of '13."

Stuie wrote:I love seeing Mr. Republican Schilling begging for a government handout for his bloated company.

Because this kind of graft is exclusive to celebrity republicans.

SlapBone wrote:Because this kind of graft is exclusive to celebrity republicans.

No, but that particular flavor of hypocrisy is exclusive to celebrity republicans.

Sepiche wrote:

SlapBone wrote:Because this kind of graft is exclusive to celebrity republicans.

No, but that particular flavor of hypocrisy is exclusive to celebrity republicans.

This is just irresponsibility on behalf of the Rhode Island politicians who approved the loan. Who in their right mind would give a brand new unproven company that much money and think it was a good investment? I could see throwing that kind of money at a proven company with an existing product in order to get them to move to your state, hopefully a company that is going to bring some manufacturing and 3rd party job creation. But a brand new software developer, no way.

But they don't know. All they hear is tech/software and high profile 'entrepreneur'.

Schilling says Reckoning sold 1.2 million units, outperforming EA's expectations. That sounds more likely than 400K units.

Some places only report retail store sales, and completely ignore digital.

I will be getting this game, once I've run out of steam on Diablo. (Did I just mix metaphors?).

Lorini wrote:Schilling says Reckoning sold 1.2 million units, outperforming EA's expectations. That sounds more likely than 400K units.

Believe the 400k was US. Guessing the 1.2m was cross-platform and worldwide.

In any event, 38 Studios is no more. All staff at both the Providence studio and at Big Huge Games in Maryland were laid off today.

triggercut wrote:

Lorini wrote:Schilling says Reckoning sold 1.2 million units, outperforming EA's expectations. That sounds more likely than 400K units.

Believe the 400k was US. Guessing the 1.2m was cross-platform and worldwide.

In any event, 38 Studios is no more. All staff at both the Providence studio and at Big Huge Games in Maryland were laid off today.

Which Schlling neglected to tell the state of Rhode Island.

I've been watching this all develop, both through the news and from my buddy who works (worked) there. Ironically, the employees got a lot of their info from the news too. Apparently the 38 management told the employees next to nothing.

The whole thing has been stunningly mismanaged and callously handled. The layoff email that went out today is just icing on the cake.

Baseball players should probably stick to baseball. $75 million dollar state loan for a single game? Crazy.

Feel bad for the employees. Sounds like they were massively screwed by management.

triggercut wrote:
In any event, 38 Studios is no more. All staff at both the Providence studio and at Big Huge Games in Maryland were laid off today.

Too bad. I saw the report that the top dogs had bailed, but didn't realize they pulled the plug so quickly.

they are about to release the pc only patch. fixing both camera and difficulty. now it's all gone

So, is support officially dead or did they keep on a core set of the team for patching purposes?

I'd find it strange that someone wouldn't pick up this property after selling 1.2 million copies...maybe even at a bargain if they go bankrupt.