I think this announcement would've gone over a bit better if it had included an apology. Some people would've complained no matter what, of course, but there's a lack of accountability in the manner in which it's written.
The announcement also reads as if the extra time is primarily to add more content, when in actuality the game wasn't ready for launch because of bugs. This, I believe, was also a mistake in the execution. Gamers understand what bugs do to a game and would've been far less incensed knowing the release date was pushed back to clean up the game. I'm guessing Overhaul Games doesn't have a trained PR department?
Anyways, despite my personal disappointment at launch being pushed back, I look forward to seeing the finished product and wish the team and the volunteers the best in their endeavors.
... You do realize they have the game, right? Let me shed a tear for the emotionally stressed beta testers who are playing the game as we speak [/sarcasm] Personally, I'm fine with the delay, but the level of fanboism on this thread is repulsive. Judging by this thread, the devs should announce the release date in November and delay it again, a couple of days before the release. It seems the community likes it that way. I'm sure there will be a lot of people whose schedule is busy till February anyway, and also a lot of people who will have other games to finish, not to mention that the game will be much more polished if it came out in February. Go delays !
We have the game that did not qualify for release. We have it 5 times. Isn't that cool? We play the same single sequence until it is perfect. Then we find another problem just a step ahead, which is 10 times more serious.
I said earlier that Im happy with the delay, its NOT a good idea to release an unfinished product. It will only hurt beamdogs/overhauls rep and probably mean they cant create the games they want in the future. And I really, really want them to create the games that they want.
But my question is this: To the beta testers, do you think having until november is enough extra time? Will they need more?
On the other hand, I have been thinking since some times that september was too *early* considering all the reported code problems on twitter. If that gives them times for another improvement, so be it It's best not to rush things. There is only one release of the game, one chance for reviews. You can always add features post ship but... the impact won't be the same.
Well, at least we have a bit more time for translating. Mind you, in the french team it's nearly completed
We have the game that did not qualify for release. We have it 5 times. Isn't that cool? We play the same single sequence until it is perfect. Then we find another problem just a step ahead, which is 10 times more serious.
Maybe you dont get to enjoy the game as a whole, but you certainly have more then everyone else to enjoy. Thats something, I suppose its good you testers dont hang it over everyones heads your playing the game as most testers tend to do with other games. But it is important to remember most of the fans dont even have a section of the EE to play, which in turn makes you luckier then the rest of us.
I think this announcement would've gone over a bit better if it had included an apology. Some people would've complained no matter what, of course, but there's a lack of accountability in the manner in which it's written.
The announcement also reads as if the extra time is primarily to add more content, when in actuality the game wasn't ready for launch because of bugs. This, I believe, was also a mistake in the execution. Gamers understand what bugs do to a game and would've been far less incensed knowing the release date was pushed back to clean up the game. I'm guessing Overhaul Games doesn't have a trained PR department?
The PR on this is shocking. The email we received was toned in such a way as they were doing me/us a favour in putting back the game, at pathetically short notice, as already mentioned, people have taken time out, from work/family etc, prior to release. Where in the email do they apologize??????????????????
This is a sham to squeeze money out of preorders to keep them going for longer to actually get the game somewhere near finished.
I think this announcement would've gone over a bit better if it had included an apology. Some people would've complained no matter what, of course, but there's a lack of accountability in the manner in which it's written.
The announcement also reads as if the extra time is primarily to add more content, when in actuality the game wasn't ready for launch because of bugs. This, I believe, was also a mistake in the execution. Gamers understand what bugs do to a game and would've been far less incensed knowing the release date was pushed back to clean up the game. I'm guessing Overhaul Games doesn't have a trained PR department?
Anyways, despite my personal disappointment at launch being pushed back, I look forward to seeing the finished product and wish the team and the volunteers the best in their endeavors.
This pretty much sums it up, I think. And I agree with @Munin's posts as well.
The game obviously shouldn't be released if it is buggy. The delay itself is warranted in that respect. The complaints are about process and communications.
There's an unapologetic tone to the delivery of the message that is disconcerting. A lack of empathy toward the customer.
I realize Beamdog's hands may have been tied by the other partners about releasing this information much sooner. Perhaps even the statement itself, and then its tone, had to be signed off on by all parties. If so, I would not doubt that they're feeling sanchezed by the partners, although they can't express it publicly.
Beamdog is a small company--they're even relying heavily on fan modders to complete this project! And it is a vast undertaking when you remember that they're cleaning up mountains of code, preparing the game for other platforms, and such. Much (perhaps damn near everything) has to be signed off by Hasbro, inc., according to a contractual process. We all get that.
In any event, this postponement four days prior to release underscores two things for me and I'll (try to) let it go:
1) Beamdog and its partners need to recognize that their PR/communications/marketing to date has been pitifully and inexcusably piss poor. They have some serious damage control now to repair this rupture with an enthusiastic but highly discriminating and ultimately fickle fanbase.
2) The pressure is now even greater. They need to deliver a truly superb, outstanding product on the new release date. (Which interestingly, is just in time for Christmas sales, but whatever... Just deliver in every respect!)
I cant help but express my dissapointment, obviously this was the best option however do not! I repeat do not set a bloody release date if it isnt going to be met, as it avoids dissapointment, Ive been so geared up and waiting on the forums for any more news and was just so! wanting to play on the 18th of september the fact its been pushed 30th of november just really upset me
I could understand the end of september but its another 2 months, makes me wonder what you are missing from the game if it isnt ready?
Like I said I would prefer a product fixed and ready so it is the best option. Nothing annoys me more than delays. :P
Crap! I was SO looking forward to diving into it sometime next week. I preordered yesterday. *Sigh* Well, nothing I can do about it, can I? Hoping it's worth it. Go dev team! I hope you soon can leave this project and make an even better game later on! Cause D&D-style rules are no big hit imo.
I dont want something like free DLC where we will need to fight Santa & his reindeers to get this uber +5 santa hat and boots.
But serious i dont care they want to implement other languages than english before release, or release it on more platforms than just on PC, If they want us to wait (second time) longer for BG:EE then why we dont get full list of things they still need to change in game??
Everytime I pre-order something and it gets postponed - I get some Duke Nukeem forever vibes Although, I am disappointed I will not be able to play it next week, November is only 2 months away and I hope that's all the time they need.
I guess I can still bear the burden of not seeing Minsc enhanced the 18th of September and hopefully Minsc will be more Booish than ever in November!
I have absolutely no problems with a delay (in fact, it works in my favour as I'm finishing my first year back at uni, so have tons of work to do). Given the love I have for these games, I'd much rather wait until the dev team are happy enough with the game to release it. It's been over 10 years so far since the original BG was released (In fact, nearly 14 years as pointed out by Troodon80 above!), a few months extra is nothing.
I'm sure the devs are working ridiculous hours, though I'd hope they manage to keep a sane work\life balance; a finished product is great, but not at the expense of anyones health.
I'm all for a civil tone, but saying beta testers and devs are more frustrated then the rest of us who only have a couple of screenshots from the game - yeah that makes no sense.
Well, i put more than $20 in this game ($18 if preordered), i mean many of the volunteers spend time on this which could be used earning more than the $20. Above that, i'm just the same player who waited a long time for something like BGEE. The only thing that might ease our frustration is that we learned this less of a sudden, but i'm not sure that taking poison in small doses is better than a single big dose. The delay in communication can be explained by the many rightholders that may have a veto.
I knew I should have waited till the day before the original release to pre-order but my excitement got the best of me. You can be sure I wont be making the same mistake with the BG2 remake, that is if this one lives up to the hype first.
Wow, I pre-ordered the game 2 days before the announcement. Really disappointing, it doesn't gives me much confidence in the company. Next time wait before taking customers money or stick the release date and setup a good patch system. The game was working fine 10 years ago, even with rewriting some of the code the dev team should have a solid core (and experience from all expansions/sequels) and build on top of that. Sounds like bad project management to me. I really can't see what justify the 2 months delay when they had every tools to plan for a proper release. Really bad PR anyway and I hope they make up for it.
This news means one of the two things. They either majorly screwed up, or that the amount of preorders exceeded their estimations and they decided to add more stuff than just throw out a rerelease.
For me these are great news! Put more effort into the game and create a jewel!
* Bestiary! * improved weather-effects * improved water-overlays * more de-hardcoding - like character-creation
@Jarl, and 'Adventure Y', I prefer a completed game rather than an early release date with a patch every week later on.. too many things were going post-ship.. :-p
@Jarl, and 'Adventure Y', I prefer a completed game rather than an early release date with a patch every week later on.. too many things were going post-ship.. :-p
I have to agree. It is better that they finish the game properly - polish any rough edges it may have - rather than release it before it is ready.
Myself being in the IT bussiness and not always making the deadline, I can understand the delay. But as many mentioned b4 me, don't tell us 4 days b4 the release date......it's annoying to put it mildly!
pushing back the release date is a good idea, I read in German magazine Gamestar that the game was rather on the buggy side (even though I don't trust this magazine very much)
so maybe this will allow the devs to do some more work on NPC interaction, eh?
Comments
The announcement also reads as if the extra time is primarily to add more content, when in actuality the game wasn't ready for launch because of bugs. This, I believe, was also a mistake in the execution. Gamers understand what bugs do to a game and would've been far less incensed knowing the release date was pushed back to clean up the game. I'm guessing Overhaul Games doesn't have a trained PR department?
Anyways, despite my personal disappointment at launch being pushed back, I look forward to seeing the finished product and wish the team and the volunteers the best in their endeavors.
But my question is this: To the beta testers, do you think having until november is enough extra time? Will they need more?
On the other hand, I have been thinking since some times that september was too *early* considering all the reported code problems on twitter. If that gives them times for another improvement, so be it
Well, at least we have a bit more time for translating. Mind you, in the french team it's nearly completed
* Bestiary!
* improved weather-effects
* improved water-overlays
* more de-hardcoding - like character-creation
Android is still to be announced?
we've waited several years, two months won't kill us.
This is a sham to squeeze money out of preorders to keep them going for longer to actually get the game somewhere near finished.
Very Bad Indeed :-(
The game obviously shouldn't be released if it is buggy. The delay itself is warranted in that respect. The complaints are about process and communications.
There's an unapologetic tone to the delivery of the message that is disconcerting. A lack of empathy toward the customer.
I realize Beamdog's hands may have been tied by the other partners about releasing this information much sooner. Perhaps even the statement itself, and then its tone, had to be signed off on by all parties. If so, I would not doubt that they're feeling sanchezed by the partners, although they can't express it publicly.
Beamdog is a small company--they're even relying heavily on fan modders to complete this project! And it is a vast undertaking when you remember that they're cleaning up mountains of code, preparing the game for other platforms, and such. Much (perhaps damn near everything) has to be signed off by Hasbro, inc., according to a contractual process. We all get that.
In any event, this postponement four days prior to release underscores two things for me and I'll (try to) let it go:
1) Beamdog and its partners need to recognize that their PR/communications/marketing to date has been pitifully and inexcusably piss poor. They have some serious damage control now to repair this rupture with an enthusiastic but highly discriminating and ultimately fickle fanbase.
2) The pressure is now even greater. They need to deliver a truly superb, outstanding product on the new release date. (Which interestingly, is just in time for Christmas sales, but whatever... Just deliver in every respect!)
I could understand the end of september but its another 2 months, makes me wonder what you are missing from the game if it isnt ready?
Like I said I would prefer a product fixed and ready so it is the best option. Nothing annoys me more than delays. :P
Anyway, looking forward to a merry BG:EE:XMAS..
But serious i dont care they want to implement other languages than english before release, or release it on more platforms than just on PC, If they want us to wait (second time) longer for BG:EE then why we dont get full list of things they still need to change in game??
I guess I can still bear the burden of not seeing Minsc enhanced the 18th of September and hopefully Minsc will be more Booish than ever in November!
I can wait as long as it takes.
Plus, I'm even less surprised by the date they picked. This will fall in line with its anniversary: Original was released on 30 November 1998.
I'm sure the devs are working ridiculous hours, though I'd hope they manage to keep a sane work\life balance; a finished product is great, but not at the expense of anyones health.
Keep up the good work, Beamdog folks!
Next time wait before taking customers money or stick the release date and setup a good patch system.
The game was working fine 10 years ago, even with rewriting some of the code the dev team should have a solid core (and experience from all expansions/sequels) and build on top of that. Sounds like bad project management to me.
I really can't see what justify the 2 months delay when they had every tools to plan for a proper release.
Really bad PR anyway and I hope they make up for it.
Beamdog are doing a botched job.
Fu*k you seriously....over 2 months delay, i would understand a few weeks but this...c'mon
so maybe this will allow the devs to do some more work on NPC interaction, eh?