Larian Studios Forums General Chat 10 years

Hello, everyone, dear reader and dear readeress,

it's been 10 years.


Now, that I'm writing these lines, it's the very last day of 2012 here in Europe (GMT+1)

and just as this last day, my own Anthology arrived.

Thank you to the whole team at Larian for this !

And thank you to the whole team at Larian to be so reckless that you always tried to do what you can do seemingly best : Making immersive games.

It's been 10 years now, and since I'll begin on reading through the "Developer's Diary", there are quite a lot of moments passing through my head while I remember the past.

I have been here through some part of the "Devine Prehistoric Times", and now I'm still here, although - of course - much less than 10 years ago.
People change, times change,
and there are some Team members no more in the Team who had been there in the Divine Prehistoric Times.

I do not know what have become of them, since I lost contact to them, and thers, too.

The Ancient German Fanbase has been reduced to ... not a pile of Ash from a Dragon's Breath , but rather to a small number of inhabitants rarely seen by the masses (who, ironically often fail to scroll down the forums' view to see even more foums), but they are - to some extend - still active.

From the Ancient International Fanbase most people seem to have gone, but they who are still stick to the Divine Universe (pretty good glue, eh ? ) still drop in every now and then.

Most notable - to me, personally - is, that we have also lost a few pople during these ages. People die, that's natural, but nevertheless ome kind of loss to all of us who had known them.
And 10 years have paid their toll innthis as well, yes.

(Rashida, MeaCulpa, Kira_Ny, if I remember correctly.)

Some are "unknown", meaning no-one knows what has become of them (Bronthium, Ragon der Magier), some have simply changed their names and others have opened up their own forums (not me) (Elliot Kane, Shantara).

Apart from this rather depressing stuff there has been good stuff on thse boards of course, too ! : All of the chattering in the paast ...
BUt now, newer generations of Divinity Fans have taken over, and I don't have bad feelings about this. "The times are a-changing", as a song goes.

On a personal note, I would like to thank 2 persons from the "international fan base" who have been quite important to me, personally : Kiya and Leather_Raven. I have learned quite a lot from you, and some things have become more clearer only in the recent years. Thank you.
And I would like to thank 2 persons of the German fan base, too : Alix and Namara. I have learned from both a thing or two regarding as well.
From the international fan base I would like o thnk everyone who is still lingering on, here. Elliott Kane for his "Chaos Cascade", for example, where a part of the international fan base still resides, Shantara for her own forum (although I haven't been there in ages), Raze for his unending support (for which he has finally been rewarded ), and everyone else I forgot right now.

But I think that looking back is only half the stuff.
The other half consists of looking forewards.
(And the third option is to stay within the moment, of course. )

Me, I'm actually very, very, very curious how these new games might look like. I'm speaking of D:OS (uno, dos, tres ... ) and of Dragon Commander, DC. (Whashington DC vs. Gent DC ?)

In my opinion, the sheer Creativity was never Larian's problems.
The problems - I think - came from other irections - but as long as the Team is willing to learn out of them, it will be good.

I do hope that the Team and that Larian Studios will remain afloat of whatever it is, and that we'll happily watch each other's messages on these forums within the next 10 years.

As a last note I want to apologise that my project to translate my "Dragon Knight short story" didn't carry out as intended : It was just a bit too much text for me, but I'll keep trying regardless (which remembers me of Larian's almost-motto : "Always try to put too much into one box !" ).

So, at the end of this year, I wish everyone who is reading here a very nice "Rite Of Passage" into he new year - and (if possible) good, successful new years in the coming (beginning with 2013) !

Alrik


P.S. : Since this is of personal concern for me, I would like you to take a look at this page (if you have some time left to spend, of course ) : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highly_sensitive_person
This is an imho fascinating topic, and a few years ago I co-founded a small association/society which tries to make this thing more known among the public : http://www.hochsensibel.org/startseite/international.html
I think this real-world-thing would be interesting within any fantasy setting, too (Elves, for example ?).

Aw, thank you, too, Alrik Your dedication to providing interesting thoughts & links is unmatched, and you are and likely will remain a major reason I keep coming back here.

I'd almost feel obliged to plug my forum at this point, as you mention it, but I think you did it for me!

***

I was about to say 'it can't possibly have been ten years', but it will be for me in March! Ye gods, time flies, doesn't it? I only joined five days after Alrik, and if there has been the odd period when I have drifted away, I have always drifted back sooner or later. Sorry to everyone who had hoped to be rid of me!

I'd just like to join Alrik in wishing everyone a great NEXT ten years, and hoping for every future success for Larian as a company

With my butterfly mind, it's a miracle I stay anywhere for ten years, but this place is always so nice and so welcoming I always feel at home