Larian Studios Forums Beyond Divinity (English) General Riftrunner Questions

Riftrunner <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mage.gif" alt="" /> nice name.

Though The use of "Acts" frightens me alot. Hopefully no diablo-style RPG?

That is just to help wean Diablo players off of action RPGs.

From the chat;
"<Larian> The game is split in 4 acts - one act takes place in a dungeon (the first), the second and third outdoors and the fourth in a big tower"
From other comments, the first act is 5-10% of the game.

"<Arhu> RiftRunner is supposed to be a bit more tactical, and better, of course <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" />
<Lar> but Riftrunner has a totally new and rebalanced statistics system ?
<Lar> With brand new combat equations
<Lar> ?
<Arhu> Yea
...
<Arhu> As a result, monsters will be stronger and more challenging...
...
<Lar> Referring to the hack & slash question - There will be less monsters and the fights will take longer."


Riftrunner FAQ

Personally, I would prefer no "Acts". Just give me a big world, give me some kind of set up for a goal to get me going, and turn me loose. I prefer that much more than, Chapter 1: You Are Here.. Chapter 2: You Are Now Here.. And so on.

From reading the earlier interviews, the storyline needs acts IMO. The first chapter is about escaping the demon world - I only hope, I can go back again and solve quests I left out if I move into the next chapter - and if not? Well, I'm used to multiple saves and trying out varieties <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" />
Kiya

Acts are a good thing.they give objectives and you always know what to do with the main quest. I just hope that the acts aren't seperate worlds(like in Diablo (yes you can travel back and fort but I don't like that)). One of the things I loved about <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/div.gif" alt="" /> was that it was one giant world with the freedom to go anywhere. So I really hope that in <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/riftrunner.gif" alt="" /> that is the same.

I seem to remember that only the first and last acts are independant. The other three can be traversed freely, the acts just being key story points.

This is from memory, so don't quote me.

maybe you can have a save at each new act and can go back to them whenever you want? like a level?

that sounds like autosave, which was mentioned in the chat.

if that is implemented, imagine u got a decent equipment plus some rare items that u brought to the next level & when u re-played the previous level, it may wipe out your previous build. it can be avoided by creating save files based on time stamps, like certain games do.

though i never chat on irc (can only imagine the furious typing one must do 2 keep up with everyone), the chatlog seems short & doesn't resemble a 2 hour chat. but then saint proverbius did mention that the audience ran out of questions though the larians were willing 2 stick around longer. 2 bad i wasn't online 8 that time or i'll fire volleys of queries on larians.

The game'll have more than one Set?

Like the Dragon Set in divine divinity.

Ah yeah, i saw on the television here, the gamehall program, they talked about divine divinity here. Was nice.

This is really strange coming from a veteran like you Proverbius!
You certainly know that not all who buy the game are “Saints” like you.
A good game designer must give a first act for training and gaining experience with the interface until comfortable with it and achieving auto-responses with a fast learning curve.

A second act is mainly for levelling up and wondering a-loose solving branch quests and sub-sub-sub-sub quests for the quest maniacs or re-visiting the battle fields thousands of times for the hack & slash insane.

A third act is mainly for ending the game with a (ironically) “Proverbial” premise.
Some people need to know when, in hell, should the game end by victory.

However, it is very clear to me that you enjoy the middle act more than the entry and the ending acts because you belong with the insane and the maniac. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" />

<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/devil.gif" alt="" />

<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/up.gif" alt="" />
Good for you. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wave.gif" alt="" />

Well, Div: partly had no acts, but used a system like proposed by Proverbius : The more and farther you travel away from "home", the more difficult the enemies get ...

Objection your honour. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Divine Divinity:
Act I _ Aleroth.
Act II _ Everything else up to the sacrificing ritual.
Act III _ The waste lands.


<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wave.gif" alt="" />

How do you figure that?
There was nothing stopping you from after talking to Joram to walk out of the gates of Aleroth and venture onwards.

Why do you suppose that an act should stop you from doing anything?
Any good animation must have a story to tell.
Aleroth was a place that had walls and graphically very well defined.
The gate was protected by Seth and it was relatively a safe place for the hero to practice and develop.
Aleroth had a very well defined major quest of restoring the sanity of Mardanius.
The small sub-quests were tossed in there to help the player gain some experience points.

Being allowed to break a well written act and come back to finish it later does not make the act an act-not.

The second act was basically founded on developing the hero’s reputation by offering some heroic missions and then cutting on this reputation by forcing the hero to go to the castle in an attempt to save Zandalor.
The vastness of Rivelon and its connection to the Dark Forest and Verdisitis allowed the implementation of the guilds but there was not enough time to implement the archers’ guild quests. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" />

Act three was basically founded on being the Divine one and the final battle against the black ring and the demon of lies.

Not being able to go back to Rivelon was simply a way to save Rivelon from your new powers.
You should have been able to go back if you wish but for what?
Your goal as the divine one is to obliterate the black ring and the demon of lies.

In fact this is one good thing Larian Studios did that saved the game’s storyline from being very bad.
I shall not go into details again concerning my takes against the storyline but those three well defined acts saved the game.

In Riftrunner I am expecting the same anatomy with the schools and runes for a starting act and then getting thrown into the outdoors and back to the dungeons and battlefields as the huge second act. Finally, we shall have the tower’s quest that should be somehow related to that of Coram (BloodClub) the Orcish freebooter.
It was a well written story that deserves to be played. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" />

Kind regards.

It probably all boils down to terminology and how to interprete it, but to me 'acts' bring foward a vision of being restricted in your travels. First you have to kill some bad guy and then the door opens to the next act. This does not mean you can't go back after that. But first you have to kill that one bad guy (or girl <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" />).
I don't know how it will be implemented in Riftrunner of course.

Speaking of terminology, I have to admit that the expression “An Act” comes from theatre acting.
It was a tradition for so long that a play should be composed of three acts.
Act one was an introduction of the characters and creating conflicts.
Act two was the climax or the crisis of the play that demanded resolution.
Act three was the catharsis, solution, answer, or even death of the hero(s), simply the end.

That is why it is quite difficult to imagine a free pass between acts, I do understand that.

In role playing games, however, the act is written for you to follow for a maximum entertainment by following a logical storyline sequence. Opening this architecture means that you are allowed to “screw” the story and it does not mean that the story is fundamentally “screwed”. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" />

Now please realise that whatever you did in Aleroth there was no way ever that you could escape from being killed by the dragon rider and revived by Zandalor and get introduced before you crossed the bridge to Rivelon.

It is that cut-scene that marks the graphical boundary of act-one rather than the wooden walls of Aleroth and Zandalor is playing the biggest role as the act demarcation character because he is always involved in act transitions. However, you could still invest in your “Elven sight” and toss a teleporting pyramid across the river at the north and cross to act two without ending act one. So the computer role playing game player have such tricks with which he may literally “screw” the plot of a game that was never intended to be that way.

I think there is no point in discussing what a player can or cannot do within an act or across acts, because the issue is whether there are such acts or not to begin with. Being able to bypass a barrier does not mean that the barrier does not exist, and being able to manipulate the sequence in which you play the pieces of the acts does not mean that the acts do not exist.

Kind regards.

with all that ACTS, this means the game is still be-all-that-u-can-be-but-stick-to-the-plot-please.

storyline's tight enough for premise & purpose & clear cut is the mission for players; get to the last act/part in whatever way u can/want.

who says it has to be revolutionary to be fun? ( <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" /> don't look at me)

& good thing larians do not spill the bean in any of the interviews. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/up.gif" alt="" />

we don't want loud-mouthed john romero in larian studios. but peter moleynux can apply. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" />

Didn't you knew?
john romero does work for Larians studios,
He's the guy who delivers the pizza's there <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" />

is he punished for daikatana?

Promoted, perhaps <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/think.gif" alt="" />