I know. It's too bad you couldn't come since you wanted to as well. That means I would also have had help writing this damn thing. :D
Very nice overview. I can feel the respect you obviously had for Larian there.
I've liked them before for the games they made and their playfulness, but they treated me very nicely during my visit. And I don't mean it as if I had a special VIP bullshit treatment but just that it was sincere and friendly. We sat down, played their games, chatted about it. It wasn't formal or tense at all. Sometimes I'd tell Swen of how this part reminded me of the first Divinity and he'd share some anecdotes, or Farhang and I would talk of old games.
Thanks, and don't worry; it's not like I constantly feel that I have to prove something.
Just joking. That was one of the best and informative "previews" I've read in a loooooooooooooooooong time. This article actually helps me see what these games are about and what to expect from them without hyping or buzz-wording the word count. It so puts to shame the so called game journos of today when a fellow Codexer out-writes a so-called "professional".... kudos Gragt.... and kudos to our Prestigious Magazine!!!!!
Thanks! That was actually the intent. Previews are typically a small, quick job not very in-depth. I'm a Larian fan and didn't try to hide my enthusiasm but at the same time I tried to give as many facts as possible and comment on them in an objective way. It is a long article but I believe that it deserved it, and anyway I didn't try to pad it with empty words. I know it's a bit naive but the objective was to make something that could be held as an exemple, like if someone wants to write a preview about a game then he'd be refered to mine to see how to do it. Naive, I know, but I wanted to do my best. I'm sure some will shy away when they see the lenght but to be honest I didn't write this for them. Larian took me seriously and showed me their upcoming games and I took my potential readers seriously as well and tried to be as thorough as possible while still being entertaining.
That was also the intent.
Not that I expect to make a big difference but I hope some people still on the fence decided to support the Larian KS campaign because of it.I know the tone is optimistic but that's genuinely how I feel. At the same time I tried to be objective and give facts so people can see why I am optimistic because it doesn't come from nowhere. I dislike the neutral tone so many in the gaming press adopt for that kind of stuff, like they're afraid to show where they stand. Now maybe Original Sin will turn out to be mediocre but I feel, like I wrote it, that it has a lot of potential. I formed that opinion from what I saw, what I've played of Larian before, the links I could make between these two, and what Swen told me they planned to do. It's still hard to properly judge the game from an incomplete alpha where a lot of stuff doesn't work or isn't even there in the first place. I could have complained that a lot of fights involved skeletons, and it was indeed getting a bit boring, but those encounters were only placeholders and would be replaced with other creatures and probably be better designed, so that would have been unfair. At the same time I could see that some parts just worked, like sit next to a guy I've met not even one hour ago, play the game in co-op and just have fun exploring, dicking around with the inventory, try the spells, devise a strategy to get over a tough fight, etc.
I know the Codex is know for it's caustic attitude, and it's one of the things I like (and Swen too!) because it's honest, but it's also because I want to be honest that I wrote the piece that way. If what I played was to be released in a week, believe me that the tone would have been very different, but so far and with so much left to do, it's great!
I'm jaded and bitter too but that's thanks to Oblivion and Bioshock, not the Codex. I joined after discovering that I wasn't the only one who thought that these were, well, not as good as other people believed they actually were.
Also:
I loved this as well, cool to know that they didn't patch it on purpose.
Just as I said it's the kind of very small detail that tells you a lot.
It's just something you are forced to do. Maxos being Maxos and awesome just tells you that you have no say in this and the decision is out of your hands since it's a political move. The only choice you have is which princess to pick since in the end it won't change much in the eyes of your people. As a nice touch you don't even tell the princess you picked her but you need to report back to Maxos to tell him who you will marry and he'll make the arrangements.
Hype for Dragon Commander:
From weak curiosity to: Jesus! I want this gaem, now!!!!!
Gragt, you should work for IGN.
IGN? Are you sure that's a compliment?
I had the same reaction when Farhang showed me the game. I was only midly interested because it looked nice and it was a Larian game but then he showed me the Raven, the various choices you can have and the funny reactions from the councilors, then there was the lovely strategic map, and I just thought: "hold on, that's not what I expected at all!".
Nope, I wouldn't change a thing about that piece if I had the chance to re-write it. I quoted the devs directly on the launch date. What I meant was that it's pretty critical in the mechanics-department
You say that because you only got mountain dew and doritos while i got a divinity anthology.
Great job, Gragt !
