Editorial RPG Codex Report: Divinity: Original Sin 2, or, A Visit to Larian Studios

[Immortal]

By the way: Swen is not interested in Fig, although most of the information surrounding that statement was "Off the record!"

Thank God..
Can you mention if the reason why.. is the same reason we all think it's a bad idea too?

Two spaces means yes.. one space means maybe.

 

[Seari]

We were also forced to use controllers, godawful to handle as usual, because the PC interface had been hit by a sudden fatal bug.

I doubt they even have a PC interface yet.

 

[PhantasmaNL]

Expertly written, informative and funny too

The is strong in certain sections. Nice work.

 

[Mortmal]

If only there were some sort of written information to accompany that picture.

Its the codex bubbles, shadowrun hong kong has too much text, your interview then has too many words.Good job by the way .

 

[otsego]

[pointing at me] "He's very secretive about his forums name."

When I met Swen at E3, I didn't give him my forum name because I'm a small-time Codexer that lurks 90% of the time and was there to check out their booth, so my name would mean nothing. I think he thought I was being devious and was sent by the Codex to do some corporate espionage

 

[Sitra Achara]

They should model a character background after Bubbles. I bet they'll have fun writing that - fundraiser goal?

 

[Tuco Benedicto Pacifico]

I think he thought I was being devious and was sent by the Codex to do some corporate espionage

I'm going to guess he most likely suspected you were someone who talked a lot of shit against his games, instead.

 

[Septaryeth]

Bubbles: You mentioned having a very self organizing writer's room, and you've also mentioned having freelancers. The Codex is very interested in seeing Chris Avellone join the project.

Sarah: Yeeeees, I've seen, uh-uh.

First Obsidian, and now Larian.
I swear all journalists from Codex probably have a dagger inscribed with three golden letters, "M.C.A.", and are just waiting for the right moment sink it into the heart of an unexpected developer.

Also

Watch: Yes. I don't know why. So why are you trying to put romantic elements in this game?

Sarah: Roleplay. A lot of... uhm... RPG players want to feel like they can, uhm... kind of... have a full experience. When you choose to play the role of somebody, what would that character do? Would that character have a certain feeling about a character in their party? Uhm... ...you kinda want... as many options as possible to be able to live out the story that you wanna build. Uhm... i think romance is, like, not necessarily a required part of it, but it depends on what kind of story you wanna build, what kind of character you wanna play, I think. And, uhm, I was surprised actually, but the desire for this is a lot stronger than I thought it was, the romantic options.

It almost feels like they are being pressured into doing romance. Who is the one that has the "desire for this"?
From the amount of uhm, it certainly doesn't sound like it genuinely came from the developers.
Forced romance is and always will be shit romance.
And considering D:OS2 will have a more serious tone than the previous entry, it looks like a recipe for disaster; a shit romance demanding the player to take them seriously.

Should have read this before pledging. I'll probably end up buying it anyway but still...

 

[evdk]

It almost feels like they are being pressured into doing romance. Who is the one that has the "desire for this"?

The wider gaming public.

 

[otsego]

I'm going to guess he most likely suspected you were someone who talked a lot of shit against his games, instead.

A tragic thought, as since 2002 with Divine Divinity I think Larian has been near the top of my favorite developers for more than a decade (even through Beyond and Ego Draconis before it was patched to DKS)

 

[Crooked Bee]

I'm pretty sure Larian-written romances will be nothing like Bioware romances anyway.

 

[Paul_cz]

How the fuck does Codex have better coverage on this than any of the rich commercial game site with "professional journalists" ?

Bang-up job Bubbles, thanks. Such a pleasure to read.

 

[Zeriel]

I'm pretty sure Larian-written romances will be nothing like Bioware romances anyway.

(winks)

 

[Crooked Bee]

(winks) (winks)

 

[Harg Harfardarssen]

By the way: Swen is not interested in Fig, although most of the information surrounding that statement was "Off the record!"

I'm guessing that part of the benefit to FIG for Feargus et al. is that they get a cut of the funding instead of kickstarter. The benefit to backers is the potential for equity. Which means for Larian it's all downside - they still have to tithe a share of their money, just to someone else. Plus, they have to shift some of the upside of a profitable game to their backers (either as a threshold requirement for using FIG or as a result of the soft pressure of backer expectations).

Of course, I think kickstarting sequels to financially successful games is kind of shitty, so I might be letting that cloud my judgment about the whole thing.

 

[Haba]

(pops his monocle) (drools slightly)

 

[Infinitron]

Immortal Holy shit dude, you elevate "seeing what I want to see" into an art form.

It almost feels like they are being pressured into doing romance. Who is the one that has the "desire for this"?

http://larian.uservoice.com/forums/...sin-2-game-ideas/suggestions/9290154-romances
http://larian.uservoice.com/forums/...suggestions/9290496-romances-with-npcs-or-pcs

Currently more votes than Chris Avellone.

 

[SausageInYourFace]

Bubbles: The most common complaint we've heard in our community is that the first game was too silly in the writing.

Sarah: The setting remains the same, but we're very aware of this – I read it all the time and cry, I read the Codex...

Please don't make Sarah-senpai cry, guise.

Every time Swen is reviewing [our writing], he's saying to himself “This is too silly, no, we don't wanna do this, this is too goofy...This is an acceptable goofiness level.” For example, in the prototype I wrote this Dwarf who was drunk, and I wrote him hiccuping too much, and Swen said “What are you doing? This is not a child's cartoon, we don't have hiccuping Dwarves, this is what everyone's talking about!”

And you neither, Swen!

So I went back to my computer and rewrote it in a more serious way. But we still wanna maintain that Divinity “wink” [she winks], that Divinity light heartedness. Even if we tried to scrap out the wink [she winks], I don't think we could.

[wink]

 

[Immortal]

Immortal Holy shit dude, you elevate "seeing what I want to see" into an art form.

If by art form you mean Cherry picked Hyperbole..

You take things I say a little too seriously..

 

[Excidium II]

I took a seat opposite the two nice elderly people, who were now introduced to me as “the guys from RPGWatch.”

Sarah: [...] I played Pillars of Eternity, that was the most recent competitor I played – not the whole thing [very understandable]

DOS 2 sounds p. cool. I mean it's still too gamey and fantastic for my tastes but they have some really good ideas, taking stuff forward instead of just emulating 20 years old games.

 

[Infinitron]

Bubbles I suggested that you ask him whether Ultima VII was still a role model. Is that another off the record thing?

 

[Bubbles]

Bubbles I suggested that you ask him whether Ultima VII was still a role model. Is that another off the record thing?

It's another "Bubbles forgot to ask about this" thing for sure.

Although Swen did mention that he saw Sword Coast Legends as a major competitor; maybe he'll draw some inspiration from that game in the coming months.

 

[Immortal]

Swen did mention that he saw Sword Coast Legends as a major competitor; maybe he'll draw some inspiration from that game in the coming months.

Please no.

 

[SausageInYourFace]

The whole writing team seems to be pretty young from what I have seen (in the KS pitch) I wonder what these peoples credentials are, particularly what they studied (creative writing?). I wonder how you end up as a writer for the video game industry. Makes me a wee little bit jealous actually, but I will manage.

 

[Morality Games]

Romances are a bit of relief, to be honest, since it implies they'll have to do an at least Biowarian effort on companions this time.

Sadly that's progress. I want my companions to be characters with definable personalities or just stat sheets. D:OS represented some kind of irritating in-between space.

The whole writing team seems to be pretty young from what I have seen (in the KS pitch) I wonder what these peoples credentials are, particularly what they studied (creative writing?). I wonder how you end up as a writer for the video game industry. Makes me a wee little bit jealous actually, but I will manage.

(1) Have a great portfolio and the right connections. You might need to decide on junior game design or production busywork (interning) before you get to write anything.

(2) write and publish a novel/short story anthology and/or sell a screenplay

(3) Write for celebrated user created content and/or indie project.

Usually some combination of all three.