New to me too, brave warrior @brus, so thanks is in order.
Don't like the run animation, nor that the GUI isn't transparent. A lot is lost when those conversations happen.
Oh well.
Hope one can simply attack "The Maw" and be done with it, vs. having to be forced fed a side quest to get beyond this obvious story bottle-neck. Bad design otherwise.
"Yeah. Sure. I give you my word, but first, I need you to do X, Y, Z A²"
Hope one can simply attack "The Maw" and be done with it, vs. having to be forced fed a side quest to get beyond this obvious story bottle-neck. Bad design otherwise.
"Yeah. Sure. I give you my word, but first, I need you to do X, Y, Z A²"
Piss off.
Attack in a PST game? That's like trying to RP Diablo.
Besides, you need the Maw alive in order to open the portal.
Great news for anyone interested who didn't get in on the Kickstarter. Though backers are getting the Beta the week of the 17th, EVERYONE can access it on Steam Early Access on the 26th of January. WAY sooner than I ever thought I'd be playing this, but it's just around the corner....
Updated Our Journal #52: More Music from Mark Morgan
tl;dr: New song from Mark, Circus Minor screenshot and details
Hello everyone,
Chris here. Last week, we announced the timeframe for the Torment Beta Test as well as the Early Access release shortly thereafter (as a reminder, that's the week of the 17th for backers, and Early Access on the 26th). The reception we received has been amazing, and it's clear that both backers and new fans alike are interested in getting their first look at the new Torment. Today, we have part two of our "Road to Beta" series, where we're debuting some new information on the beta content.
As a reminder to our backers who do not have access to the Beta Test, but want to join it: we still have the Beta Test Access add-on available on the Torment web site. If you are interested, just log into your account. When you do, you will see a widget on the web site which provides links and instructions on how to add it to your account. Your Beta Test key will be made available when it goes live the week of the 17th.
New Music Track - Sagus Cliffs Exterior
As many of you know, we have worked with famed videogame composer Mark Morgan for several years now on both Torment as well as Wasteland 2. Mark is of course known for his soundtracks to Fallout 1 and 2, but he was also the composer for the iconic soundtrack to Planescape: Torment.
Our collaboration with Mark has produced some amazing music which maintains, but also matures the spirit of Torment, and today we want to debut a brand-new song from him, which you will hear as you explore the exterior environments of Sagus Cliffs.
A Look at Circus Minor
Adam here. As we mentioned in our last update, the city of Sagus Cliffs is divided up into districts. The first one that you will come across is called Circus Minor.
Circus Minor is the vibrant heart of Sagus Cliffs, a bustling combination of festival and marketplace. When public events (or executions) are held, they always take place among the crowds and merchant stalls for all to see. Circus Minor is essentially a middle-class district, but all the classes mingle here, along with artists, performers, visitants, and other strange characters.
Circus Minor is a lively place, with merchant stalls, tents and caravans lining its streets, and banners floating in the breeze above. Greenery is more commonplace here than in the other districts.
Yet there is mystery to be found. Pieces of ancient numenera jutting out from the ground are decorated and repurposed by the inhabitants. Some serve as streetlights, others have been turned to other uses, but the original functions of all these ancient constructions are now long-forgotten. And all of these are dominated by the Clock, a giant numenera artifact towering above the district, endlessly ticking away, existing within different dimensions and time periods simultaneously.
Circus Minor serves as an introduction to Sagus Cliffs, and as such, it is a relatively non-hostile place, with many interesting characters to speak to and strange and wonderful things to find. Many important quests and details about the world can be found here, and the Last Castoff will return to it plenty of times while exploring Sagus Cliffs' other districts.
Adam out.
Shout-Outs & News
We've got a new Kickstarter project we'd like to highlight for you this week. Titled Project Resurgence , and labeled as a "new old school cRPG", the game claims to draw many links with top-down classics like Arcanum, Planescape: Torment, Baldur's Gate and more. The team has experience working on many golden-age RPGs, and has some old Interplay alumni on board (along with fresh talent). If that sounds up your alley, we invite you to take a look – they have only just launched but are already well on their way to their $160,000 goal.
Second, Adam Heine and Colin McComb were featured for a Torment-themed interview in the latest issue of CypherCaster Magazine. If you are interested in this Cypher System-oriented mag, you can find that issue here.
Thank you for joining us. We'll be back soon with more as we continue to put the finishing touches on the Torment Beta Test!
Until next time, Chris Keenan The Closer
Have you listened to that song?! Oh my Jelly!! Makes me glad that I invested 200 € on my headphones.
@brus - if you expect the gameplay similar to BG and PoE, you indeed can be disappointed. TToN will be more like Planescape: Torment, with the emphasis on dialogues, rather than fights. I hope that TTon will be a game not like anything we saw or tried before, that it will be a compeletely different experience.
I agree but I wouldn't like that actual gameplay ruins all narration, story and art design. Indeed, I'm familiar with the gameplay so I compared the fun aspect of it with BG. I hope they'll improve alpha gameplay a lot.
does anyone know how Early Access on Steam works? I understand it's only a portion of the game, and it's essentially a beta, but is it equivalent to pre-ordering? Do you have to purchase the early access and then purchase the full game when it launches, or is it a one time buy? I'm excited enough for this game to try the early access, but not if I have to pay twice.
Early Access essentially means that you're willing to "pay" in order to alpha/beta test games which are still in developement. Whenever the Early Access consists only of a portion of the whole game, or a very very buggy almost-nearly-complete-ish game is up to each developer. Basically a can of worms, as far as I am concerned.
So, no: Early Access does not automatically grant you access to the finished product as well. Which ultimately means you'd have to pay twice for the same title. It's just a crowdfunding alternative to kickstarter & Co. ... minus the rewards.
Edit:
Only noticed his legs now. Ouch! Either the game world features prosthetic running legs. Or he's a mutant. Or a different species altogether. Wonder which is it.
So, no: Early Access does not automatically grant you access to the finished product as well. Which ultimately means you'd have to pay twice for the same title. It's just a crowdfunding alternative to kickstarter & Co. ... minus the rewards.
Are you sure about this? Here's what the Early Access FAQ says: "Early Access is a full purchase of a playable game. By purchasing, you gain immediate access to download and play the game in its current form and as it evolves.You keep access to the game, even if the game later moves from Early Access into fully released."
I did a little poking around and it looks like Wasteland 2's EA did give access to the release game, plus some other goodies. I'd imagine InXile will do similarly this time as well. I guess we'll find out in a little over a week!
EA is free upgrade while for beta you need to have certain amount of points.
Well that settles it for me...no reason not to get the early access. I sure hope this game does well enough to generate enough interest to get Beamdog to do a PS:TEE.
I would recommend waiting for the finished product. Early access can ruin that first-time experience. Anyways, early access purchases always includes the entire game when it is finished.
With early-access going out, I guess it is time to be a lot more vigilant about spoilers. If this is anything like the first game, it should really be experienced (the first time around) as spoiler-free as possible.
Yesterday they livestreamed the game on the IGN's Twitch channel.
With lots and lots of text to read in the prologue, the stream didn't get much farther than the beginning of Sagus Cliffs.
Overall, that part was probably not the best choice to livestream because some people will say "boring". But one thing is for sure - the quality of the writing in this game is good.
And the game looked much better than the first PoE betas.
Just really quick, before it becomes an issue--this thread should continue to be used for news about the game and discussion of its features. If you want to discuss the story, start a new thread with a proper spoiler warning, so that those of us who haven't played it yet can still read about the project without having the surprises ruined.
"While content in the Beta Test is reasonably polished, it may have bugs, and many elements may change or will have additional polish in the coming months towards release.
The user interface is at a first-pass state. It is functional, but sytlistically and artistically unfinished. This will see significant improvement in the coming months."
I don't think it requires a new thread, this video. You can check at various times, for example, at 5:00, at 10:00, etc, to see the graphics, to get a glimpse of how the game will look like, how it's inside. Or not to check at all.
What I do really recommend to those who don't want to see anything story-related AT ALL, click at 36:50 - to see the interface with something that looks like a level-up screen. This way, you'll be able to see a bit of stats and abilities. Till 37:56 you can freely see only the interface, not story-related content.
Also, check the screenshots with the inventory, character sheet, etc:
Hookay, when you have a laptop an old enough it overheats after firing up TToN beta you just snap... and throw curses... and weep... and snap again... Life's unfair...
Hookay, when you have a laptop an old enough it overheats after firing up TToN beta you just snap... and throw curses... and weep... and snap again... Life's unfair...
Ugh. The first area is pretty rough. If you can get through that it eases up a bit. They obviously haven't done an optimization pass on it yet. I hope they get it running as smoothly as Wasteland 2 DC.
Comments
Don't like the run animation, nor that the GUI isn't transparent. A lot is lost when those conversations happen.
Oh well.
Hope one can simply attack "The Maw" and be done with it, vs. having to be forced fed a side quest to get beyond this obvious story bottle-neck. Bad design otherwise.
"Yeah. Sure. I give you my word, but first, I need you to do X, Y, Z A²"
Piss off.
Besides, you need the Maw alive in order to open the portal.
Makes me glad that I invested 200 € on my headphones.
Indeed, I'm familiar with the gameplay so I compared the fun aspect of it with BG.
I hope they'll improve alpha gameplay a lot.
So, no: Early Access does not automatically grant you access to the finished product as well. Which ultimately means you'd have to pay twice for the same title. It's just a crowdfunding alternative to kickstarter & Co. ... minus the rewards.
Edit:
Only noticed his legs now. Ouch!
Either the game world features prosthetic running legs. Or he's a mutant. Or a different species altogether. Wonder which is it.
http://store.steampowered.com/earlyaccessfaq/
With lots and lots of text to read in the prologue, the stream didn't get much farther than the beginning of Sagus Cliffs.
Overall, that part was probably not the best choice to livestream because some people will say "boring". But one thing is for sure - the quality of the writing in this game is good.
And the game looked much better than the first PoE betas.
Starts at 13:32.
And, and:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/inxile/torment-tides-of-numenera/posts/1470873
Companions (Aligern, Callistege and Tybir):
But anyway, from the https://torment.inxile-entertainment.com/backer-information/beta-release-notes:
"While content in the Beta Test is reasonably polished, it may have bugs, and many elements may change or will have additional polish in the coming months towards release.
The user interface is at a first-pass state. It is functional, but sytlistically and artistically unfinished. This will see significant improvement in the coming months."
So, it's obvious the final release is not close.
I don't think it requires a new thread, this video. You can check at various times, for example, at 5:00, at 10:00, etc, to see the graphics, to get a glimpse of how the game will look like, how it's inside. Or not to check at all.
What I do really recommend to those who don't want to see anything story-related AT ALL, click at 36:50 - to see the interface with something that looks like a level-up screen. This way, you'll be able to see a bit of stats and abilities. Till 37:56 you can freely see only the interface, not story-related content.
Also, check the screenshots with the inventory, character sheet, etc: