Realms of Arkania: Star Trail HD - less shovelware this time?

[Bubbles]

- character import confirmed

Will the character import work for both the original "Blade of Destiny" as well as the newer windows XP remake?

I doubt they'll bother to offer retro compabitbility, but I don't think anyone has explicitly asked them about it either.

 

[Sordid MCA/Prosper Hybryd]

Actually, someone asked about it.

Nope, no chance. Totally different systems, not comparable. You can ask a motivated modder for help on a converter, because there is an open source savegame reader for the vintage trilogy out there, and the savegame format for BoD (and ST for that matter) is human-readable XML, so generating a savegame with specific data is possible from a technical point of view, but we won't officially support that.

 

[Jinn]

I loved their finished first remake (and if you haven't tried it recently you are a fucking monkey savage idiot)

Tell me more. I've played it for about 3 hours recently and am oddly compelled to continue, but the combat is really rubbing me the wrong way in the beginning. Does it get better/faster later?

 

[Roqua]

I loved their finished first remake (and if you haven't tried it recently you are a fucking monkey savage idiot)

Tell me more. I've played it for about 3 hours recently and am oddly compelled to continue, but the combat is really rubbing me the wrong way in the beginning. Does it get better/faster later?

I think it gets better once you get some decent pieces and especially levels. If you have some magic users some spells become very useful later, but mana regen is a pain in this system of DSA. For German people there are some mods that look pretty good for you guys from what I can tell.

In the orginal RoA there was a XP penalty for saving which made the early combats brutal if you are like me and see the XP cost as a huge deterrent. The remake is better in this regard. Also the original had an option to have the computer quickly determine combat encounters, which isn't available in the remake.

 

[Bubbles]

I almost missed Thursday's update:

Neuer Termin für Early Access

Wie bereits zu Beginn der Entwicklung bereits angekündigt wird es eine Early Access Phase für Sternenschweif HD geben, allerdings lässt sich der ursprünglich angepeilte „Sommer 2016“ nicht halten. Wir wollen zu diesem Zeitpunkt alle Kern-Spielbereiche bereits umgesetzt haben und die Phase selbst für Bugsuche, Inhaltsfertigstellung sowie den Einbau von Vorschlägen aus der Community zu nutzen. Daher wird der neue Termin im Q4 2016 liegen. Und wir werden euch natürlich weiterhin über die Entwicklung hier in unserem Blog auf dem Laufenden halten!

Early Access will be delayed from summer 2016 to Q4 2016.

 

[vonAchdorf]

I almost missed Thursday's update:

Neuer Termin für Early Access

Wie bereits zu Beginn der Entwicklung bereits angekündigt wird es eine Early Access Phase für Sternenschweif HD geben, allerdings lässt sich der ursprünglich angepeilte „Sommer 2016“ nicht halten. Wir wollen zu diesem Zeitpunkt alle Kern-Spielbereiche bereits umgesetzt haben und die Phase selbst für Bugsuche, Inhaltsfertigstellung sowie den Einbau von Vorschlägen aus der Community zu nutzen. Daher wird der neue Termin im Q4 2016 liegen. Und wir werden euch natürlich weiterhin über die Entwicklung hier in unserem Blog auf dem Laufenden halten!

Early Access will be delayed from summer 2016 to Q4 2016.

Shouldn't the core mechanics already be done? It's not like they use a new engine.

Anyway, they learned their lesson to take their time before release not crunch like crazy after a rather botched one.

 

[Roqua]

I almost missed Thursday's update:

Neuer Termin für Early Access

Wie bereits zu Beginn der Entwicklung bereits angekündigt wird es eine Early Access Phase für Sternenschweif HD geben, allerdings lässt sich der ursprünglich angepeilte „Sommer 2016“ nicht halten. Wir wollen zu diesem Zeitpunkt alle Kern-Spielbereiche bereits umgesetzt haben und die Phase selbst für Bugsuche, Inhaltsfertigstellung sowie den Einbau von Vorschlägen aus der Community zu nutzen. Daher wird der neue Termin im Q4 2016 liegen. Und wir werden euch natürlich weiterhin über die Entwicklung hier in unserem Blog auf dem Laufenden halten!

Early Access will be delayed from summer 2016 to Q4 2016.

Shouldn't the core mechanics already be done? It's not like they use a new engine.

Anyway, they learned their lesson to take their time before release not crunch like crazy after a rather botched one.

I think they were forced to publish and put the work in after for free to fix it. People that avoided the first game due to bugs and issues during launch really should buy it now (with real money, not piracy) to support these devs and to have a party to transfer into Star Trial.

 

[octavius]

People that avoided the first game due to bugs and issues during launch really should buy it now (with real money, not piracy) to support these devs and to have a party to transfer into Star Trial.

I may be willing to support them if they make the game DRM free. Not before.

 

[Angelo85]

I think they were forced to publish and put the work in after for free to fix it. People that avoided the first game due to bugs and issues during launch really should buy it now (with real money, not piracy) to support these devs and to have a party to transfer into Star Trial.

I think it was the other way around. The developers, Crafty Studios, didn't knew what the fuck they were doing. At the time the whole company consisted of only two people and their work experience? A couple browser games.
They got the contract from UIE because they underbid and the license holder was greedy. They fixed the worst issues because of contractual obligations (getting it to run on consoles).
Then both Publisher and Developer issue statements blaming the other side, trying to shift blame for each others incompetence and exploit as well as besmudge the license further.

Both Publisher and Developer lost all good faith from me a long time ago and won't see a dime in advance. I'm a huge Realms of Arkania fan and despite that I do not get hyped in the slightest about the new game. I actually doubt I will purchase it at all, even if ratings are better than for the first part just because out of principle.

Yes I am salty.

 

[Roqua]

I think they were forced to publish and put the work in after for free to fix it. People that avoided the first game due to bugs and issues during launch really should buy it now (with real money, not piracy) to support these devs and to have a party to transfer into Star Trial.

I think it was the other way around. The developers, Crafty Studios, didn't knew what the fuck they were doing. At the time the whole company consisted of only two people and their work experience? A couple browser games.
They got the contract from UIE because they underbid and the license holder was greedy. They fixed the worst issues because of contractual obligations (getting it to run on consoles).
Then both Publisher and Developer issue statements blaming the other side, trying to shift blame for each others incompetence and exploit as well as besmudge the license further.

Both Publisher and Developer lost all good faith from me a long time ago and won't see a dime in advance. I'm a huge Realms of Arkania fan and despite that I do not get hyped in the slightest about the new game. I actually doubt I will purchase it at all, even if ratings are better than for the first part just because out of principle.

Yes I am salty.

Have you tried it recently? It did have a bad release but that is no reason to still be angry (and I do not believe the devs wanted to release a buggy game and shoot themselves in the foot, that is crazy talk). Try it now with all the new content and dlcs and then tell me your still salty.

 

[vonAchdorf]

People that avoided the first game due to bugs and issues during launch really should buy it now (with real money, not piracy) to support these devs and to have a party to transfer into Star Trial.

I may be willing to support them if they make the game DRM free. Not before.

The retail version was DRM free.

 

[octavius]

People that avoided the first game due to bugs and issues during launch really should buy it now (with real money, not piracy) to support these devs and to have a party to transfer into Star Trial.

I may be willing to support them if they make the game DRM free. Not before.

The retail version was DRM free.

There was a retail version?

 

[vonAchdorf]

People that avoided the first game due to bugs and issues during launch really should buy it now (with real money, not piracy) to support these devs and to have a party to transfer into Star Trial.

I may be willing to support them if they make the game DRM free. Not before.

The retail version was DRM free.

There was a retail version?

Probably in Germany / German speaking countries only because of the TDE fanbase.

 

[Sinatar]

Have you tried it recently? It did have a bad release but that is no reason to still be angry (and I do not believe the devs wanted to release a buggy game and shoot themselves in the foot, that is crazy talk). Try it now with all the new content and dlcs and then tell me your still salty.

Yea instead of being a buggy, broken, unplayable pile of festering dogshit, it's now been upgraded to being a buggy pile of festering dogshit. Yay.

 

[vonAchdorf]

It doesn't "feel" right - it looks generic and if you know the Unity asset store, you will recognize many assets, which isn't exactly improving muh immersion.

 

[Roqua]

Its not perfect, but it has a lot of new content over the orginal BoD. BoD being my favorite of the 3 RoAs, and RoAs being some of my favorite games, may make me see it with rose tinted glasses? I fucking love this remake with the new dlcs. Does it look good? No, but neither did the original. I don't buy it to stare in awe at the fancy 3d models. I bought it to play it.

 

[Bubbles]

We'll be checking out Star Trail HD and the console port of Blade of Destiny HD at Gamescom next week, though the publisher doesn't offer presentations or stuff like that (they're more focussed on Professional Farmer 2017 and Forestry 2017, which is fair enough). Still, we'll be grateful for anything new we'll be able to see. They're also handing out free Steam keys to visitors, so maybe we'll be able to have a Forestry 2015 giveaway when we get back.

 

[Doctor Sbaitso]

Are they faithful recreations though? My understanding was that there were a LOT of changes.

 

[Roqua]

Are they faithful recreations though? My understanding was that there were a LOT of changes.

Mostly faithful. Some skills and spells that were never used were removed, which no one can miss. There is some extra content too. Free movement in 3rd person is not as good as grid movement in my opinion, neither is the 3d battles with rotatable cameras.

There is extra content and new content, but the old content is there. For instance, you can enchant crystal balls as well as your wand, and I think there is another want ritual (5 in total). Also an extra class. Some extra dungeons and quests with the DLC.

I like all the changes and I am known for hating everything. Again, let me state the original BoD was my favorite game in the RoA trilogy, and I strongly want all three to be redone by these guys so I have a horse in this race and hope everyone buys, supports, and loves this game as much as I do so I may see things through a partisan light.

 

[Agesilaus]

Wait, you lot are being serious, right? This game is worth getting now?

Or is this an elaborate trick...

 

[Roqua]

Wait, you lot are being serious, right? This game is worth getting now?

Or is this an elaborate trick...

I am being serious. Did you like the originals? Or do you like very detailed oriented crpgs with a lot of content and complexity? If so, give it a try. its is cheap and worth at least 50 Bioware games.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Do look up the manual for char creation requirements though.

 

[mastroego]

I got this on the Steam sale.
Might try it out after I'm done with SOMA (unless, gasp!, soma will be done with me)

 

[coldcrow]

Wait, you lot are being serious, right? This game is worth getting now?

Or is this an elaborate trick...

I am being serious. Did you like the originals? Or do you like very detailed oriented crpgs with a lot of content and complexity? If so, give it a try. its is cheap and worth at least 50 Bioware games.

It's a messy, unoptimized piece of shit software. i7 + 960gtx = 27 fps in thorwal. They got it into barely playable state with multiple patchlogs the size of short novels, but the engine is still one of the worst examples of bad code I've ever seen.

 

[Roqua]

Wait, you lot are being serious, right? This game is worth getting now?

Or is this an elaborate trick...

I am being serious. Did you like the originals? Or do you like very detailed oriented crpgs with a lot of content and complexity? If so, give it a try. its is cheap and worth at least 50 Bioware games.

It's a messy, unoptimized piece of shit software. i7 + 960gtx = 27 fps in thorwal. They got it into barely playable state with multiple patchlogs the size of short novels, but the engine is still one of the worst examples of bad code I've ever seen.

What is your harddrive from 84? Did you forget to put system memory in? Because I run after burn to limit my frames to 30 on this game or else they run way too high and waste too much energy. This is most likely user error or stupidity like with people thinking combat is broken in PoE because of the engagement mechanics.