Larian Studios Forums Divinity II The Dragon Knight Saga / Flames of Vengeance (English) Divinity II - The Dragon Knight Saga Status update

Are you sure one jackpot would be enough to create such awsomeness?

I enjoyed the update Lar. Haven't seen a developer try for the biggest thing ever since Origin Systems was around. I miss them.

Enjoy your visit to our western coast.

*hint, hint* Does that make it official that my initial assumption that the game was going mobile, is correct?



So, you did have a meeting with EA lol



Its always been the case, 'show us you've already done it and we'll give you the money.' What's sad is many times all you need to do is recruit an industry leader to be your CEO and you get all the funding you need. Its no better guarantee of success, but often times it equals money.

Of course, you could do it the internet way-- mindshare (or was that Minecraft) FTW. Create the most awesome demo known to man, YouTube it, get a billion views and generate mass buzz. Oh yes, the dreaded spin machine.

It is sad that's new generation don't even know&care about such legendary studios as Black Isle :<

Sitting in the airport waiting for my connecting flight, so I've some more time to continue. One key realization which is often forgotten in these types of fora discussions is that in the end it is about there being a market for the game you're trying to make, and that market being sufficiently large to pay for not only the development but also all the costs involved in releasing the game. That sounds straightforward, and I often get the impression when browsing through forums that most gamers realize that, but what they usually don't realize is exactly what kind of numbers are involved. That's not so surprising, given the amount of distorted numbers that appear in the media. It's in vogue of late to claim you sold a gazillion units whereas in reality you only sold a fraction of that and I think a good games journalist might actually have a lot of fun (and hits ;)) if he'd care to investigate what the reality is behind the numbers.

In the best case, they are the sell-in (not sold-through) numbers, in the worst case they are flat out lies. The reality is also that it's pretty hard to get a hold of these numbers, which is what allows for the inflation of numbers in the first place (as they're not publicly available), and whatever industry charts there are only give you but an impression of the real figures, not the actual sales. They're sometimes of up to 50% off (in retail), but of course you do get a relative idea (which is how I know that some people are making some very big claims which aren't matched by reality at all)

Right, I've got to break off again - a couple of calls happened during the writing of this post and now I need to run I am trying to make a case with all of this, but it's quite elaborate, so I'll need to continue it another day. I wanted to make the bridge by providing you with some sales numbers/costs of running a studio/genre numbers to show you why the entire hardcore aversion exists among publishers, but it'll have to wait.

Cheers from London

Lar, Welcome Back in Belgium !


I hope it was all worth the efforts !



Cheers,
Michaël (playing now your great Dragon Knight Saga, .... for months !!! )

Another interesting and awesome update. I love when you do these.

And I'm in the same boat with the iPad. Damn Apple!

It's a shame how developers these days think that "dumbing down" everything in RPG titles is the way to go. While it may get you higher review scores with the casual press, you'll get a backlash from fans of your game. Mass Effect 3 better have some RPG elements.

Thanks again for the feedback. I've been away from this forums for some months now, but RPGwatch makes me in contact with larian news and i checked there was a new update and i'm always very very interested in them.


About your posts, i'm glad (no, i'm actualy thrilled and smiling when i read your words) about you now having enough funding for your 2 next projects. Must be great for you as a boss to know you have your employees a garanteed job for a long time and that your dreams and plans WILL go ahead.

1st thing that i must understand from your words of success is that Divinity 2 actualy gave you some credit in the industry. You are no longer a company nobody knows and you fought your way up in this bloodthirsty market and build a starting reputation for yourself. Hats off and congratulations ppl.

2nd thing i must deduct is that your projects shown were already in a somewhat good stage of development meaning you already have a firm grip of what you WANT to create, wich makes me happy.

3rd thing i think about is that if your project D "non-ortodox" is geting a lot of attention is because its far from an RPG, because RPGs wich are risky and non-ortodox are having a lot of problems geting funding (as you said it yourself), so i might risk saying its an action game.

4th Thing i conclude is that your other project didnt have so much interest so it must be a more classical RPG.


Anyways, i'm realy realy glad you are geting success especialy since i've "followed" you guys since divine divinity and i always considered you guys a little bit part of my life.

Cheers.

If you have an iPad now, then wait for the iPad 3. You know it is coming.

Another reason I really like Notch and Minecraft - he is 100% transparent about how many copies he sold and how many people are registered.

I have to say you made a big mistake, really good game your missing out on.

Great news about funding! personally I can't wait for the next Larian game! Other than the Witcher I haven't got a clue when we will see another proper RPG, Deus Ex and so on all got the console treatment (FPS/H&S) so another game like Divinity will be something to truly look forward to!

Can't say I am surprised by the attitude you encountered, this has been a problem for years as they seek an ever increasing market and sadly the lowest common denomination is the most profitable one, many a game has been dumbed down to meet their criteria and we all suffer for it.
I hope that with your funding comes the freedom to realise your dream and not the "Mass Effect" requirement to dumb it down or restrict it.

Great to hear the news! Now I just have to hibernate till you release the titles

you're counting DA2 out for being hack and slash when DKS is even more so?

The DA2 demo is linear and straight combat; DKS is not (the demo or the full game).

Well, the Dragon Age II demo was pretty terrible.

Deus Ex was always an FPS. I'd argue that Human Revolution has more RPG elements than Deus Ex. This isn't another Invisible War we're talking about here. To write off Human Revolution in such basic terms is disrespectful of the hard work that's gone into the RPG elements on display in the game. Eidos Montreal has done something that Warren Spector and Harvey Smith couldn't get done with a Deus Ex sequel.



At least Divinity II was a good and challenging hack 'n slash RPG. The demo for Dragon Age II was awful.

I'm thinking if I hit the 160m lottery we'd have maybe half of what we need in the bag!

Holy *bleep* are you trying to make a James Cameron movie?

DA2 isn't RPG, it's action. It's linear as my... cough... whatever. This thread isn't about DA2, please, do not make it another junk thread.

Lar_q

And where is the numb3rs about D2 sales? :P

Trade secret or something, maybe.

I think the issue is that DA2 is trying to sell itself as a "true" RPG.

ah yes. at least DKS makes no false pretense.ill wait till i actually see DA2 (didnt bother with demo) but if the initial impressions are spot on, ill probably pass.

I'm wondering what features an RPG to end all RPGs should have according to Larian. Even an attempt to make one worthy of that name would be something.