I cannot confirm this, but I think that on the livestream, it was said that some of the companions would not be in for the release as they are still finishing them up. I think Raze also said that the AI personalities other than random also won't be in on launch.
I don't think I'm going to bother playing D:OS until they are in.
First I saw this. Are you saying the June 30th release will be incomplete and will need on-going patches to be complete? How is anyone supposed to seriously play the game knowing things are going to change. Is it still basically Beta when it's released? Sorry, just really confused about this.
My concern is a mix of three statements that were brought up during the livestream.
- the implication that some planned features would probably not be in for launch, but instead finished and added to the game shortly after. For example, it was suggested not all companions would be available by release, and would be included in an update soon after.
- the implication that while save games would remain compatible post-launch, it was possible that some changes would only impact new games, not ones that were started before a particular patch. For instance,
if an example of this happened to be the update that patches in the missing companions, that would mean people who started the game on June 30th (or any date prior to that patch) would never have those companions in their game. They would have to restart a new game to access them.
- the implication that the team would be going on a long (and much deserved vacation) after launch. During the livestream someone joked the question about the World Cup (
"what would we get if Belgium won"), and Swen responded that by then it would be July 12th and he plans to be on vacation.
That's nearly two weeks after Divinity : OS is launching. Maybe he was joking, or maybe he was serious. For non-MMO games it is not at all uncommon for most development team members to go on vacation within days of a project launching and then (if you're lucky) come back and work on a patch after they return from their vacations. I have had games where the developers tweeted comments to fans during their vacation saying something akin to
"had no idea there were problems, first I heard, will be back in the office in two weeks and sort it out".. so, yeah. The fact that this team is willing to update and patch the game at all is a blessing (some games just get abandoned post-launch) - the question is whether they're finishing up the missing features before they leave for their pre-planned vacations.
So, what we have here is launch that will be feature-lite with features that will be completed post-launch, with updates that in some cases will only apply to new games, not games-in-progress, and a development team that is going on a much needed vacation at some undisclosed point. Together (and without more information) it can cause some understandable concerns.
What we could really use is a list of features that are not making it into the game by launch, but planned to be added soon after, whether they will be compatible with current games or only new games, and an ETA on when those additions will roll out (since team members are going on vacation). I just want to know if I should start playing the game on the 30th or if I need to wait another month (or more) to be safe.
