Game News Divinity: Original Sin has sold 160,000 copies, already approaching profitability

[mindx2]

Well, checking into Steam this morning shows it back down to the #3 spot after discounted Dead Island and DayZ. Still an extremely impressive run at the top of the sales chart. I really hope Larian remains open about their sales figures and don't go all "publisher paranoid" and stop talking about the business side of things. ForkTong give us some hope that you guys were as successful as many here are speculating. Sharing your success (crowd-funded/ fan supported as it was) will energize that fan base thus generating more success. It's cyclical as success breeds success as more want to be associated with that success...

Spoiler

edit: Could have worded that better but synonyms for "success" didn't come to mind...

 

[Zorba the Hutt]

I think the Larian bros are probably too busy taking their yacht around the fleshpots of the Med to answer questions about sales figures. It would be interesting to know though.

 

[Rake]

Has Lesi played it yet?

One of her friends has, but if she did, she pirated it. She'd probably consider it banal and boring since her primary motivation in playing RPGs is the writing.

Good Lord, are you fucked. That's like saying, you like the dessert for the water.

More fucked would be to like RPGs for the combat. THAT would be like saying you like the dessert for the water.

Except the combat in D:OS is good.

It came this year. You can't tell me that you like RPGs because of DOS.

 

[Irenaeus]

Has Lesi played it yet?

One of her friends has, but if she did, she pirated it. She'd probably consider it banal and boring since her primary motivation in playing RPGs is the writing.

Good Lord, are you fucked. That's like saying, you like the dessert for the water.

More fucked would be to like RPGs for the combat. THAT would be like saying you like the dessert for the water.

Except the combat in D:OS is good.

It came this year. You can't tell me that you like RPGs because of DOS.

Combat in D&D is good. That's why I like RPGs.

 

[Rake]

To be honest, the only cRPGs that i liked the combat in a way that i would play them only for that, are the IE games (BG2 and IWD2).(haven't tried DOS yet) But around here their combat is dismissed by many. To each his own, but in general, maybe few exceptions aside, cRPGs have bad combat. Whether you like tactics, strategy,action gameplay, there is another genre that does it better.

 

[Irenaeus]

I like turn-based combat. IE-combat is a poorly made RTS derivative. Age of Empires has good real time combat, but turn-based D&D is superior for RPGs. Or at least a different beast which I prefer.

 

[Shannow]

Just off of the top of my head:

RT-combat:
Gothic 1/2: Very controversial. You either hate it or love it. Personally, I liked it very much.
M&B: Don't think I've ever seen a comment that didn't like the combat.
Demon/Dark Souls: Never played it myself, but it is said o have good combat.
Guild Wars: Good timed combat with lots of tactical depth (but also lots of cheese)

RTwP-combat:
IE-games: So, so. They had some good features (mostly spell selection/battles), but all of it would have been better in TB.

TB-combat:
Wiz8
ToEE
D:OS
JA2: (Not a real RPG, but the combat could have been in an RPG just as well)

Few people will play RPGs just for the combat. But only because so many RPGs fail at really involving, fun combat, does not mean that "LOL, good combat in RPGs is as rare as water in a desert", is a truism with any relevant amount of validity.

 

[Minttunator]

To be honest, the only cRPGs that i liked the combat in a way that i would play them only for that, are the IE games (BG2 and IWD2).(haven't tried DOS yet) But around here their combat is dismissed by many. To each his own, but in general, maybe few exceptions aside, cRPGs have bad combat. Whether you like tactics, strategy,action gameplay, there is another genre that does it better.

Have you tried ToEE? I think if you enjoy IE combat there's a good chance you might like that more - it's superficially somewhat similar but closer to the pen and paper variant (since it's turn based). Loads of fun! Good thing, too, since while ToEE has some of the best RPG combat I've ever played (and it's worth playing for that alone) it doesn't bring much to the table in terms of story and such.

You are right in the sense that most of the time an RPG is an amalgam of different "purer" game genres, but I think that's what I actually enjoy about them - i.e. a great RPG could have the story of a good adventure game, the tactical combat of a good strategy game and the cinematic sections of a good movie all in one (okay, I was kidding about that last part )!

 

[Raghar]

The trouble with ToEE is they did certain things a real world competent GM would never tolerate. Basically they too blindly copied the system, and it shows in certain parts.

 

[:Flash:]

Just out of curiosity: Why would one want STEAM and GOG keys? One as a present for a non-STEAM friend? Insurity if STEAM is shut down and all your games get deleted like your porn? Something else...?

Normally I'd have been pretty happy with the GOG key alone, except that at the time they were talking about delaying the GOG version until was it October? and then there were more talks about how coop wasn't properly functional in the non-Steam versions. So it was "Steam version so I can play the game before October" and "GOG non-Steam physical version because that's the one I'd normally prefer anyway". Of course none of this mattered because a) they shipped the boxes much faster than I expected (I was expecting them to take as long as Big Finish have) and b) they released GOG version earlier, c) I ended up with 3 Steam versions anyway and d) regarding Steam vs GOG I know you're being facetious and I don't feel like going into why offline>online for the hundredth time.

Try if you can still change to GOG on the Larian Vault. My Larian Vault says that changing from Steam to GOG will deactivate your steam version. I can't change anything, as I selected GOG from the start. Perhaps that only works, if you participated in EA, though.

 

[Rake]

To be honest, the only cRPGs that i liked the combat in a way that i would play them only for that, are the IE games (BG2 and IWD2).(haven't tried DOS yet) But around here their combat is dismissed by many. To each his own, but in general, maybe few exceptions aside, cRPGs have bad combat. Whether you like tactics, strategy,action gameplay, there is another genre that does it better.

Have you tried ToEE? I think if you enjoy IE combat there's a good chance you might like that more - it's superficially somewhat similar but closer to the pen and paper variant (since it's turn based). Loads of fun! Good thing, too, since while ToEE has some of the best RPG combat I've ever played (and it's worth playing for that alone) it doesn't bring much to the table in terms of story and such.

You are right in the sense that most of the time an RPG is an amalgam of different "purer" game genres, but I think that's what I actually enjoy about them - i.e. a great RPG could have the story of a good adventure game, the tactical combat of a good strategy game and the cinematic sections of a good movie all in one (okay, I was kidding about that last part )!

I have played TOEE. Excelent combat system(better than IE games), but the completely atrocious encounter design severely hurts the game, especialy since combat is the only thing the game has working for itself. I finished it and even liked it in a way, but i cannot bring myself to replay it. All in all, i find BG2 and IWD's combat better because of the encounter design

 

[JasonNH]

Try if you can still change to GOG on the Larian Vault. My Larian Vault says that changing from Steam to GOG will deactivate your steam version. I can't change anything, as I selected GOG from the start. Perhaps that only works, if you participated in EA, though.

I did this just a few days ago. Steam version still works but I suspect there will come a time when it doesn't.

 

[twincast]

Boxfags can burn in Gaben's furnace.

I like myself some pretty boxes, but I haven't bought one for years, since all of them is a steam version of the game. What's the point? I have to use Steam anyway. And I'd rather have the devs spend that money on the actual development.

I own most of Daedalic's games, all of them as boxes (including Chains of Satinav, their one DRM-infested offering, because, well, it's a nice box). Other than that: a couple more fairly recent adventure games by established studios, some of those CRPGs I backed on KS and the mid-level edition of TW2 (as well as a pre-order of the basic edition of TW3), all of which DRM-free. But regarding the atrocity that is account-binding of retail copies, yeah, that's part of the reason why most of my game purchases are digital these days after all. Well, the Starcraft 2 trilogy games have really nice CEs, as does Shogun 2, so I couldn't help myself, and somehow I really wanted Arkham City's steelbook.

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/...me_Larian_Studios_waited_15_years_to_make.php

Ooh, boxfags aren't gonna like this. The correct thing to do would be to make a deal like inXile did with Deep Silver. Filling their offices with boxes was pretty crazy.

"I would never again do all the boxed stuff, and I regret that we spent so much time on everything related to making a physical release happen."

I'm a dying breed....

I hate to say it but that would severely minimize the amount I would pledge. I absolutely love the game but would only pay the $30-$40 for a digital only version, not the $100s I pledged for physical rewards. Yeah, I get it that the game itself matters most but those physical rewards do matter to my nostalgic self...

Agreed. I'd never go for USD 100, let alone 200, if I don't get physical stuff.

Re. KS fee vs. EA, don't forget KS is usually discounted (for DOS it was about 26$ on average for digital copy compared to 40 on steam EA), so that evens out more or less. The higher tier rewards might make it somewhat more worthwhile on average tho (assuming fulfillment costs and shipping don't negate that advantage, which they often do).

The average pledge per backer is USD 48.
http://www.kicktraq.com/projects/larianstudios/divinity-original-sin/

I blame Angthoron, as I too asked for a non-Steam version, and got a Steam one. Eh, I'll live, it will be one extra copy I can sell or trade or give away.

I'm actually quite annoyed with this. I ordered the non-Steam box and the Steam key, on the assumption I would end up with both versions. Instead, the box version is Steam, my key is Steam.... and the extra key I get with the game is ALSO Steam. If I had even known about the extra key I would've just ordered the original key for GOG as an immortal backup, and gotten both anyway. Instead I'm stuck with three Steam versions. Yeah, thanks.

It would be nice if there was a way to convert Steam key into GOG key, or something. Or just get both versions. When I got FTL from the developers' website I got both a download link from them AND a Steam key, which is always nice.

The whole physical thing is indeed confusing. As I had stayed out of updates/forums/potential spoilers the last month or two before release, I was shocked to find out on the 30th about the whole last minute chance to get a DRM-free physical copy. Wrote them anyway on the off chance they'd have some extra DRM-free copies, and after the disappointing "sorry" auto-reply, I got an E-mail half a week later that they need my contact information (still perplexed about the why) to send me the DRM-free copy, but two work days after said E-mail had arrived in my inbox, the Steam-key box already arrived, so when I saw that reply a couple days later, I was rather confused and after some more days of pondering replied as such, and the reply I got to that weirdly emphasized the DRM-free version being INSTEAD of the Steam one but also stated that they'd be sent out at a later date, and the overall tone suggested that I would indeed get DRM-free discs. I suppose they know which Steam keys they sent me physically? No idea how or why they'd keep track of that, though.
(The artbook arrived sometime last week, by the way, so two weeks after the game box.)

You can change your non-boxed Steam keys to GOG keys on the KS page of your LV account, though. (Well, I had selected LV as my digital venue of choice, and the temporary text before that option went online said something about being able to change the key if you previously indicated such a preference, so it might not show up for you, but it should be fixable if you get in contact with them.) For the time being I'll wait and see if DRM-free discs indeed arrive. If not, I'll take the GOG option, but for now I'll be lazy and make good use of the frequent updates on Steam.

 

[Sceptic]

Try if you can still change to GOG on the Larian Vault. My Larian Vault says that changing from Steam to GOG will deactivate your steam version. I can't change anything, as I selected GOG from the start. Perhaps that only works, if you participated in EA, though.

You can change your non-boxed Steam keys to GOG keys on the KS page of your LV account, though. (Well, I had selected LV as my digital venue of choice, and the temporary text before that option went online said something about being able to change the key if you previously indicated such a preference, so it might not show up for you, but it should be fixable if you get in contact with them.) For the time being I'll wait and see if DRM-free discs indeed arrive. If not, I'll take the GOG option, but for now I'll be lazy and make good use of the frequent updates on Steam.

Thanks for the suggestion both of you. Unfortunately I went the Codex route so I have no access to anything under my Larian Vault account. It's no big deal, and Angthoron said he might be able to hook me up with a GOG key.

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

Have you tried ToEE? I think if you enjoy IE combat there's a good chance you might like that more

I liked TOEE quite a bit, but the one thing that I missed from the IE games was spell casting time. In BG, you had to protect your mages and clerics while they got off a game changing spell. In TOEE everything is cast that turn. Meh.

Spoiler

Still some awesome TB combat though. That moment where my pink haired extra tiny halfling cleric became the last man standing and killed Iuz, winning the battle and then resurrected the entire party - priceless.

 

[RK47]

In BG, you had to protect your mages and clerics

Tell me how you do this.
Elaborate.

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

Eh, by either blocking, engaging or selectively taking out the enemy units most likely to harm your caster using your other characters and/or by making sure you buff appropriately before hand - but buffs wear out and you can't always rest.

You didn't have to do it that often really - most situations in the game aren't that challenging - but it added an element of tension that TOEE doesn't have. The fact that your spell could be interrupted before it's completed and the fact that you could do the same to an enemy mage added something to the game for me that was sorely missed in TOEE. Those moments of "will my mage complete the spell in time?" and "oh crap he's casting some spell, interrupt him quick before he flattens us!" are gone.

 

[RK47]

TOEE does have counterspell and interrupt mechanics.
Enemies DO interrupt spellcasting if you do it at point blank range and you take damage from AoO vs Concentration checks.
Of course it's Troika we're talking about so we hardly see the AI executed this shit happen, but the option is there.

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

TOEE does have counterspell and interrupt mechanics.

Knew you were gonna go for that. Yes, but it doesn't work like I was talking about.

Yes, the enemy can interrupt you if you're right next to him and he gets an AoO. Yes, you can do the same. Yes, there are counterspells, but tell me: can you, the player, interrupt the mage after you see him start casting the spell? No. Can the enemy change tactics and do the same to you after you've already started casting your spell? No. Without preparing a counterspell and without AoO, it's not going to happen. Those moments of tension I was talking about? They don't exist there. Sure, it's cool to have the chess-like element of thinking a few moves ahead, but I think it'd be nice to have those options be in addition to multi-turn spellcasting, rather than replacing it.

edit: *sigh* ok: lol all troika games are broken anyway :/

 

[RK47]

Can the enemy change tactics

lol there are no tactics in infinity engine.
the enemy casters just follow scripts and does not deviate at all.

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

*sigh* ok: lol all troika games are broken anyway :/

edit: yes, but the first time you've played it you don't know that. (unless you reload a lot) It's irrelevant anyway. I don't want TOEE to be exactly like BG including the scripts. My point is, I'd rather have seen TOEE take the concept of multi-turn (or whatever bastardization passes for turns in BG) spellcasting and improve on it rather than just substitute it.

 

[Nuclear Explosion]

To be honest, the only cRPGs that i liked the combat in a way that i would play them only for that, are the IE games (BG2 and IWD2).(haven't tried DOS yet) But around here their combat is dismissed by many. To each his own, but in general, maybe few exceptions aside, cRPGs have bad combat. Whether you like tactics, strategy,action gameplay, there is another genre that does it better.

Have you tried ToEE? I think if you enjoy IE combat there's a good chance you might like that more - it's superficially somewhat similar but closer to the pen and paper variant (since it's turn based). Loads of fun! Good thing, too, since while ToEE has some of the best RPG combat I've ever played (and it's worth playing for that alone) it doesn't bring much to the table in terms of story and such.

Knights of the Chalice's combat is much better

 

[Shannow]

TOEE does have counterspell and interrupt mechanics.

Knew you were gonna go for that. Yes, but it doesn't work like I was talking about.

Yes, the enemy can interrupt you if you're right next to him and he gets an AoO. Yes, you can do the same. Yes, there are counterspells, but tell me: can you, the player, interrupt the mage after you see him start casting the spell? No. Can the enemy change tactics and do the same to you after you've already started casting your spell? No. Without preparing a counterspell and without AoO, it's not going to happen. Those moments of tension I was talking about? They don't exist there. Sure, it's cool to have the chess-like element of thinking a few moves ahead, but I think it'd be nice to have those options be in addition to multi-turn spellcasting, rather than replacing it.

edit: *sigh* ok: lol all troika games are broken anyway :/

What you see as a weakness of TB combat, I see as a weakness of RT combat. Because for all my AoE spells it means I don't know when exactly my mage will start casting. Usually 80% of the enemies will have left the blast radius before the spell hits, or my fighters will have run into the radius, or I made them stay but judged the distance badly and they get caught anyway. The ratio between view distance and AoE radius is another issue which compounded those problems. In effect, I hardly used any AoE spells which could hurt my guys.
Tension where I don't know if my caster may be interupted --> good (and part of ToEE)
Tension where I don't know if my spell might totally whiff or even hurt my guys more because of lack of nano-management --> bad

Multi-turn casting is of course an interesting idea.

 

[Mangoose]

Cinematic tension, guys, it's more important than having to plan during gameplay. Why play Chess when you can play Pong instead?

 

[Spectacle]

I liked TOEE quite a bit, but the one thing that I missed from the IE games was spell casting time. In BG, you had to protect your mages and clerics while they got off a game changing spell. In TOEE everything is cast that turn. Meh.

Spoiler

Still some awesome TB combat though. That moment where my pink haired extra tiny halfling cleric became the last man standing and killed Iuz, winning the battle and then resurrected the entire party - priceless.

That's because of rule changes from 2nd to 3rd ed d&d, nothing to do with troika. IWD2 uses IE but also has instant spells, since it uses 3rd edition rules.