Yeah, I recall seeing these shots a while back.. I was directly relating them to NWN2 before I bought it. DD2 is looking good though.
Larian Studios has announced they have licenced Kynapse AI for their upcoming "next gen" RPG:
Larian chooses Kynapse for next generation role playing game
Paris/France, Oudenaarde/Belgium – December 21, 2006 – Kynogon, market leader in AI middleware solutions for the gaming and simulation industries, and Larian Studios, creators of the Divinity series of video games, announced today that Kynapse would be used as the AI solution for their new role-playing game.
“It’s a next-generation game that demands cutting-edge technology. We are relying on multiple top-notch middleware solutions and Kynapse was smoothly integrated with all the other external technologies we are using. In addition, our requirements for AI in the game are very challenging. We have thousands of characters running on very large and extremely dynamic terrains. Kynapse was the natural choice for our AI needs.” Swen Vincke, Managing Director at Larian Studios, declared.
A big thanks to Ragon der Magier for writing in to point out a thread on Larian's forum that informs of a TV broadcast from Belgium over the weekend about game development in the area and featuring studio head Swen Vincke and Lead Designer Farhang Namdar discussing their "next-gen" RPG project and the industry.
Fortunately, the video can be viewed from the show's website and although the report is in Flemish, you can see short sequences of a graphically impressive Gothic-esque third-person RPG and Swen takes viewers on a quick tour of the studio. They are quoted as saying the game is due in 2009 and some 120 people are currently working on the title, although a forum post from a developer clarifies that less than half that are in-house with the rest outsourced.
Divinity 2 - Ego Draconis Unveiled?
by Dhruin, 00:48:04
Alrik writes that Kitiara on the German Larian boards has an early copy of the German edition of PC Games magazine, which officially unveils Divinity 2: Ego Draconis (presumably the local title?). (http://www.larian.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=353998#Post353998) I'm told the mag hits the shops next Wednesday, so we should hear of more details soon and no doubt more at the upcoming German GC.
Larian Studios has confirmed to CVG that the sequel to Divine Divinity will be released on Xbox 360 and PC sometime in Q2 2009.
The game, entitled Divinity 2 - Ego Draconis, will continue the Divinity saga where the previous game left off.
Players will start off as a young Dragon Slayer who will ultimately become a Dragon Lord.
From what we've seen, an in-depth story will be complemented by a multi-faceted quest structure that offers a number of potential solutions to each mission.
So for example, in one village we visited our Dragon Slayer discovered that the local blacksmith was having an affair with a married woman.
When the woman asked us to take a letter to the smithy, we could do as she instructed, read it, take it to her husband, destroy it, or blackmail either of them.
The decision had a number of consequences too. The blacksmith would raise or lower his prices based on the outcome, future quests would be opened or closed to us and we were promised that we'd encounter one or both of them later if they ended up leaving town.
Divinity fans will be happy to know that composer Kirill Pokrovsky will be returning to create the soundtrack for the new game. Fans of The Witcher might want to keep an eye on this one.
I agree. I think more people should really have played the original. It was a damned fine game, despite the stupid title.The title is the last of my concerns, heh.
GC 2008: Divinity 2: Ego Draconis First LookThat sounds like what NWN2: Mask had going on -- that you're cursed and embrace your new found power or not. In Mask's case, you can actually feed on souls, if you wish. In Divinity 2's case, you become cursed and can become a dragon.
There be dragons here.
by Erik Brudvig
August 23, 2008 - What happens when a dragon slayer is cursed with the ability to turn into a dragon himself? My guess is a rip in the time-space continuum and the end of the universe, but to find out what developers Larian Studios think you'll have to play Divinity 2: Ego Draconis when releases on Xbox 360 and PC in the second quarter of 2009. The action-RPG from the makers of Divine Divinity and Beyond Divinity are gearing up to release a game filled with fast-paced combat, high-flying dragons, and choices that have far-reaching consequences. We got our first look at the title in Germany at the annual Games Convention.
Ego Draconis begins with your main character being initiated into the role of a dragon slayer. There's a dire need for his kind since those pesky flying lizards are pure evil in this world and cause quite a commotion when they come around. This makes things interesting later in the game when a curse causes you to be able to switch back and forth between human and dragon forms. Aside from moral problems, this ability allows you to access new areas both by flying, and by going places where the opposite being isn't welcome.
Like many role-playing games, Ego Draconis features a deep class and skill system, which you can pick and choose from to craft your character to your liking. Where it gets more interesting is in the dragon slayer's special skills. This character can read minds, something that will become quite important given the branching quests this game features. How you choose to complete quests can have long reaching rewards…or consequences.Sounds very cool.
We also got a look at some combat which is pretty much exactly how you'd expect it to play. It's all in the third-person with the dragon slayer capable of flips and rolls to get the jump on various monsters. With spiky armor, rolling through a bush looks rather painful, but this guy can take a few hits and keep chugging along. Along with simple sword swings and arrow shots, you can also do things like summons, charms, fire balls – the typical range of standard RPG special skills.
With almost a year left in development time, Ego Draconis already looks pretty good. The game still suffers from a few bugs and the animations could use some cleaning up, but the engine runs at a pretty steady state. There's plenty of time to put some polish on the game and ensure the whole game gets the effort the side quests have been given, which should make for quite an interesting game.
After years of silence, Larian Studios has finally given us the announcement we've been hoping for - a true Divinity sequel is in development. At this point, we really only know that we'll be returning to Rivellon as a Dragon Slayer who ironically becomes "cursed" with the ability to transform into a dragon. So, in order to further expand our Divinity 2 knowledge, we fired the following questions over to Larian's Swen Vincke:Interesting.
GB: To start us off, tell us when development of a Divinity sequel actually began and how far along the game is right now. Have you recently hit any notable milestones?
Swen: We started preparing for Divinity 2 in 2004 and spent a couple of years on gathering ideas, setting up processes and trying out technology. The real development only started in late 2006 and full production has been going on since late summer 2007. Most of the assets of the game are now ready and we’re basically integrating everything for the moment.
GB: From what we understand, the protagonist is (or will be) stricken with a dragon morphing "curse". Will we begin the game with this curse or will we be afflicted during the game at some point? What advantages and disadvantages will such a curse carry with it?I like the sound of the consequences system for using your dragon powers.
Swen: It’ll happen during the game. The player starts out as a young dragon slayer initiate and will be going through the rites of becoming a real dragon slayer when the curse will strike. The advantage will be that the player will get the powers of a dragon knight and one of those powers is the ability to transform into a dragon. The major disadvantage will be that the player will be put high on the wanted list of his former friends.
GB: Take us through the game's character creation system. How much customization will players have at their disposal while creating their character?Okay.
Swen: We’re still developing that system so it’s a bit too early to talk about it. One thing I can tell you already, the gender of your avatar determines the gender of your dragon.
GB: How many skills, spells, and other abilities will we be able to gain access to as our character advances? Any particular skills or spells you can tell us about?Ahhh, so NVidia card owners will be happy that the game supports PhysX.
Swen: There’s quite a lot but again, I don’t want to pin down a definite number as we’re still adding/removing some. We’ll be talking about the skills in depth in the near future.
GB: What graphics engine is powering Divinity 2 and what perspective (isometric, first-person, etc.) will the game primarily be presented in?
Swen: Graphically the engine is a mix of homebrewn technology and the Gamebryo engine, but we also have PhysX, Kynapse and WWise middleware in there. The game is primarily played in third person view.
GB: How is the game structured in terms of linearity? Are we free to explore and complete side quests at any time without worrying about the main quest?Makes sense.
Swen: In general you are free, though there are some events happening in the main story that at some point can close off some of the side quests. For instance, dragon slayer specific quests become obsolete when you become a dragon knight yourself.
GB: Tell us a bit about the AI you've developed for the NPCs we'll interact with in Divinity 2. Do they move about the world on their own schedule? Will some, most, or all of the NPC dialogue be voiced?Okay.
Swen: The schedules of the NPCs are done in such a way that they serve the story. We have a fairly extensive system of choices and consequences in the story, and the schedules are such that they represent those consequences. As a result we’ve had to back off a bit on the classic schedule system but don’t worry, it’s still a living believable world with a lot of animation going on.
GB: What changes have you made to the dialogue system as opposed to what we saw in DD and BD? Will any of our skills or statistics influence which dialogue choices we're presented with?
Swen: Dialogs are presented in a cinematic way with all the graphical fluff you’d expect. The coolest thing I think is that we’ve added the option of mindreading in each dialog. This adds a unique twist to a lot of quests but you have to be willing to invest in it, and there are also negatives.
GB: What can we expect from the game's quest system? Will there be multiple ways to complete each quest (such as combat and non-combat approaches)? How elaborate is the game's quest journal?+1 for replay value.
Swen: In general – there’s a lot of choice in the quests and we’ve tried to give all those choices cool consequences. When I say consequences, I mean that often entire different quest chains open up because of a choice you make. We’ve gone quite far in that. For example, there’s a quest where you have to throw out some drunkards from an inn. When you do that, an entire quest hub opens up as the people start coming back to the inn. Furthermore, depending on how you handled the quest, two very different quest chains open up too.
GB: Why did you ultimately decide to bring the game to the Xbox 360 in addition to the PC? Any chance the game will also be ported to the PlayStation 3?Cool.
Swen: A lot of our audience made the move from PC to Xbox 360 and we basically followed them. Regarding the PS3, there's no decision yet - we're currently focusing on PC and Xbox 360.
GB: Will there be any differences between the PC and Xbox 360 versions of the game? What steps have you taken to ensure that the interface works well on both platforms?Oh, good.
Swen: The interfaces on PC & Xbox 360 are very different, because both systems are focusing on different control mechanisms (mouse and keyboard on PC, joypad on Xbox 360).
GB: Do you intend to release any free or fee-based downloadable content following the game's release? If so, what sort of post-release content do you foresee making available?Sounds like there's something cooking for DLC or an expansion, in the future...
Swen: Nothing I can comment about at this time :).
After running through the basics once more, we were given a look at the Battle Tower. This is a special building you'll gain access to roughly six hours into the game that will act as a home for your character. There you can do anything from storing valuables to upgrading your character. It's a place you'll be spending a lot of time at if you get hooked on Divinity 2.
The tower has a series of platforms for you to visit and take advantage of. Before you can, you'll have to recruit inhabitants. Each one you find has specific talents, so choosing one as your alchemist over another will reflect how you want to play. The first platform we saw is one where you can build a minion that can be summoned to fight alongside you in battle. By finding limbs, heads, and bodies (most often in boss fights) you'll be able to play a Frankenstein of sorts to piece together your monster.
There are other platforms where you'll find help that might be a bit more practical in the general course of gameplay. There's an enchanter who can... enchant things, an alchemist who can help you combine various ingredients you find in the world, and a trainer who can teach you new skills and improve others you already have. And, of course, you can upgrade your tower to improve both its appearance and the efficacy of the inhabitants as the game progresses.
Perhaps the coolest part of the tower is the group of inhabitants that can't directly improve your ability to survive. In the game you'll be able to find runners who you can send out on errands. Need an enchantment and don't want to seek it out yourself? Send out an errand boy. But watch out, these guys aren't indestructible. If you send them on a quest to find a high level item, they might not make it back in one piece. To improve their odds, you can equip them with your old armor or weapons, or even have special items made for them. It makes some of that old equipment you might be lugging around become useful once more.
From RPGWatch
Divinity 2 - Collectors Edition
by Myrthos, 2009-05-26 22:23:33
A collectors edition of Divinity 2 for the PC is available as a pre-order, although it is only available in Germany at the moment, where it has the 24th of July listed as the release date.
The Collectors Edition comes in a box with an 18cm large dragon slayer holding a letteropener in disguise, a cloth map, the complete soundtrack, an A3 poster, a tattoo, the game and a booklet (on the image for some strange reason it has an Xbox 360 booklet with a PC DVD case but I assume that's an error).
Damn, that's pretty sexy. I was thinking about reinstalling the original on the laptop, but then I made the mistake of reinstalling Morrowind instead. 2 hours of mod downloading later, and I completely lost track of time for an evening.As far as I'm concerned, reinstalling an Elder Scrolls game and downloading/installing mods galore is NOT a mistake. :P
Divinity II: Ego Draconis getting closer to completion – voice recordings finished
2009/05/12
Divinity II: Ego Draconis, the up-and-coming RPG highlight, is getting closer to completion. Recently, the extensive voice recordings for the English versions were finished and it was an epic task to match the game. Voice actors for over 400 game characters had to be cast, 100,000 words in nearly 10,000 takes have been recorded.
To breathe life into the characters of Divinity II’s epic fantasy story, only top-class professional artists were chosen. Many are part of popular TV series; others are wellknown voices from radio and television commercials for famous brands.
Zandalor, an old Mage, friend and counsellor of the player, talks with the voice of Bill Bingham.
The players will also get a short flashback with the Divine, the hero of the game’s predecessor. His ingame-voice belongs to Johnnie Lyne-Pirkis.
Jeff Rawle lends his sonorous tones to the Narrator in Divinity II. He has credits, stretching back to the 1970s, as an actor and writer for over 70 TV series and films – among them “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire”, where he played the role of Amos Diggory.
Josefina Gabrielle has voice-acted as the powerful Necromancer Sassan. She is known for playing Laurey Williams in the musical “Oklahoma!” (London Royal National Theatre).
Sally Wallis is Talana, the last of the mighty Dragon Knights in Rivellon.
Richard of Aleroth is a dodgy Captain in Divinity II: Ego Draconis, leading the player to interesting choices. He is voiced by Andy Mace.
The patch is ready, has been going through testing for some time now and we're waiting for QA to release it. Should be any day now.
The list of improvements is quite impressive I think, and we'll be releasing an entire list when the patch is out. In a nutshell: lots of UI improvements, different difficulty levels, extra graphics settings to increase the quality (significantly) a bunch of graphic improvements (e.g. swimming, animation speeds,...), a high-res texture pack, a number of optimisations, and of course a number of bugfixes.
Quick update for you: It's ready, it's gone through QA, and it's being prepped for release. That basically means that it's now with the digital distrubtion partners, and once they are ready, the patch can be released. My guess is late this week, or early next week.
The patch version 1.02 has just been released. It is available on the official Divinity 2 site, but don't bother going there any time soon, the server is extremely slow. You better wait a bit until the patch is available from other locations as well.
Larian studios frum member Phnx translated the German patch notes:
* Sorting function for items in the inventory and in a few other menues implemented
* Improvement of texture quality
* More options in the graphic options menu
* 3 new custom buttons for the aiming system
* Crashes caused by the fading system fixed
* Navigation-path improved for big creatures like trolls or demons
* Performance for single core-processors improved and an extra option in the graphics options implemented
* Problem with aiming of story-NPCs has been fixed
* "Always running" when frequently using pause/running buttons has been fixed
* Fading system has been improved
Thanks Leth and Alrik for letting us know.
In Divinity II these skills can often prove to be invaluable, thanks to the rather unforgiving A.I which will test even the more seasoned RPG gamer. Enemies are your usual staple of RPG mainstays, Imp’s, Goblins, Bandits, the Undead and so on and all will do their up most to stop you in your tracks! Playing Divinity II you get the distinct impression that Larian Studios really wanted to test you as you’ll often find yourself outnumbered by enemies, which are often a couple of ranks higher than you. This means in Divinity 2 regular saves are a must, as death can lurk around every corner.
The story is driven forward with some good voice acting which can be quite comical at times, but also by some absolutely stunning cut-scenes which look like they’ve come straight from a CGI blockbuster movie. Quests are pretty original and instead of the simple retrieving of objects as in some roleplaying games.
I hate to interrupt the 16-post string of D, here,LOL!
but I have to say this game looks pretty sexy. I think I may have to pick this one up. Have they started patching the bugs?Patch 1.02 is the newest version - which ships on the UK Version.
Okay, I'm making light of it; in all fairness, flight and combat in dragon form are among Divinity II's biggest selling points, and add much to the game's fun factor. Of course, this cuts both ways: when you're flying around in the game's action-packed, dragon form sequences, combat is frenetic, multifaceted, and fun. When you're walking around in human form (which makes up a significant portion of the game), it's more: hit the attack button, hit the attack button, use a special move, hit the attack button, profit. Then rinse and repeat, until your hair has that shiny, Pantene glow.
But combat isn't the entire game: you'll spend plenty of time running around looking for hidden items, solving puzzles, bringing widget A to NPC B, and engaging in a buttload of dialogue. Surprisingly, Divinity II features damn good English voice acting (this is a game from Belgium), a competently written (if rather formulaic) story, and a really friggin' fantastic original score. Little things like these may seem insignificant when you read them in a review, but they help not only to draw you into Divinity II's game world, but also to get across a sense of quality craftsmanship that the game desperately needs for gamer cred.
Other quirks and flaws will also get in your way. Platforming sequences provide a nice change of pace, but floaty, inexact jumping make some of these sections more exasperating than enjoyable. If you pull a foe too far from its home area, it will regenerate its health and be all but invincible until it runs back to its starting location. In one dungeon, enemies regenerate indefinitely but (like many creatures summoned by your enemies) don't reward you with experience points, even though they can very certainly murder you.
And we ran into a number of bugs on multiple systems. Exiting the game may cause the process to hang and force you to use the Windows task manager to close the program, and never-ending loading screens might also lead to a similar shutdown. In one case, we got stuck in an inescapable conversation and therefore could not complete a side quest. Divinity II is clumsy, from its poorly designed minimap to the thin quest log. As a result, it feels as if it were designed from the top down, rather than from the ground up.
Divinity II may draw you in despite its foibles. Flying about as a dragon, summoning your custom-made beast to your side, messing around with enchantments and charms--these elements are thoughtfully designed and inventive enough to be entertaining. But the disappointing story, glitchy AI, and all sorts of minor frustrations bog it down. If you're a forgiving RPG fanatic, you may be able to overlook the faults and see this sequel for what it might have been. But great ideas don't always make a great game, and Divinity II isn't as slick and addictive as its predecessors, or as gripping and replayable as its modern competition.
Hi everybody,
I just wanted to throw in my 2 cents about this as I saw a lot of flak thrown at us and this is one of the sites I visit every day, I wanted to react:
No save-games in demo - I admit that was a mistake. The original reasoning was that we couldn't provide compatibility between the demo savegames and the full game and therefore it was deactivated. I'd like to rectify that, but I dont' want to bother QA at this point until they've done with the patch testing.
Patches - all I can say is that the bloody things have been there since November, but the process of getting them released is just really slow. The problem is that they need to test it against every single version, which due to the advent of online distribution has risen to over 40. Doesn't help you, doesn't help us, and we're just biting our nails out of sheer frustration while we're waiting.
Save-game location - if I'm not mistaking, the location comes from some specification document we got, which is also why you'll see some other games put it there. I actually agree that it's not an ideal place, but nobody stood still during development and reflected on it.
Windows 7 - the game was developed while Windows 7 wasn't out yet and we checked it on beta versions. The one thing that's really important is that the DX9 drivers are installed on Windows 7 (they are not included).
Game tanking - it's actually doing quite well. It's been charting in most territories, with top 3 positions taken in both Russia and Germany and entered at 6 on Steam in the US.
Securom - Larian's official attitude on copy protection is that it's a waste of time, but unfortunately publishers don't agree with that view. We learnt our lesson with Beyond Divinity which is why we stripped the copy protection for that in the form of a patch, and the remastered Divinity versions don't have any copy protection (at least none that we put on it). Still, for a copy protection system, we aren't seeing a lot of issues with Securom.
DivDiv remaster - the digital distribution versions have been updated to handle the issues that were reported.
On another note, I think it really sucks that some people have issues with the game, considering the insane amount of time and resources spent on QA. PC wise it's just impossible to cover all bases and we only shipped when no reproducible game breaking or blocking bugs were signalled by at least 4 companies involved in the QA process. On PC a lot of the issues we are seeing are OS/HW/Driver related or "some piece of software installed" related. We're fixing everything we manage to reproduce, but of course, it doesn't help that those patches aren't out yet. I know that doesn't help for the people who are encountering issues, but we really are pushing as hard as we can for getting them out there.
Pretty decent little post. Regardless of the circumstances, I think it's always good when devs try to have open dialogues with their customers. It's almost never a bad thing.
If you already have a Divinity II patch installed on your PC just click on "Search online for updates" in your start menu and you've got it.
New features:
- Added a crosshair option for better targeting/item interaction
- Physics improvement. Easier to walk forward when running into objects.
- Melee attacks now hit multiple targets in a cone
- Greatly improved both sword and bow targeting
- Turned down homing of enemy projectiles on lower difficulties
- Added waypoint shrines to map
- Shorter animations for certain skills
Notes:
- Patch 1.03 contains Patch 1.01 and Patch 1.02
- To make all changes shall work properly you should start a new game
- This Patch only works with all DVD versions of the game, online retailers will deliver their patch in addition.
I can’t recommend the Xbox 360 version of this product to anyone. The occasionally glitchiness of the PC version was much more pronounced on the console, particularly when it came to enemies getting stuck in the environment. The aiming mechanic is cumbersome and confusing when dealing with more than one target, which happens frequently, the menu system and interface are a chore to sift through, and character movement and control is more imprecise. An inconsistent framerate, low level of detail compared to other Xbox 360 releases in this genre, and jerky animations combined with the already unoriginal art style makes this an unpleasant experience for anyone.
Even worse, at one point a door disappeared from the environment so I couldn’t actually exit and had to reload a previous save (which didn’t solve the issue), and in multiple instances save files I overwrote multiple times didn’t load correctly. That’s pretty poor, and part of the experience you should be aware of if the Xbox 360 version is your only option.
It's almost never a bad thing.
I just had a chance to try out Divinity II!
First impressions:
-Visually appealing.
-Animations are great. Character animations during dialogue are well done.
-Seems to have quite a few technical glitches.
-Framerate performance could be better.
-Interesting story.
-Interface is not bad but could do with some enhancement.
Overall, I was quite taken with it. It seems to have a lot of influence from Fable actually!
MyD, if you like Risen I think you'll really enjoy Divinity II since it's a bit more polished, though heavier on the system.
The developers promise:
- 15 hours of gameplay
- many optional quests
- mindreading is more important and is needed to complete at least some quests
- interesting non-combat oriented quests (e.g. in one quest you're supposed to give a theatrical performance)
- better interface
- better AI
- better graphics (DirectX 11 support)
- you will be able to export your character from the original Divinity 2 or start a new one
- skill trees will be expanded
Aleroth, once a war-torn city, now holds the next challenges for computer role playing gamers. Rivellon, the world of Divinity II, is still not safe. In Divinity II: Flames of Vengeance, the game’s add on, players must face the evil once more.
"The player picks up the story of the dragon knight and guides him to his ultimate destiny. Along the way several accounts are settled, and the answers to many questions in the Divinity universe revealed.", Swen Vincke, Creative Director and CEO of the development team Larian Studios, explains.
But not only the story of the dragon will be continued, the engine has experienced a solid overhaul as well, improving performance and graphics along the way.
Divinity II: Flames of Vengeance will be released in Q4 2010 for PC and on Xbox Live™ Marketplace.
As there was a bit of lost in translation going in Moscow, let me explain a bit more what I was trying to tell ;\)
-We're working on improving performance, fluidity and solving whatever bugs still remained in the original game.
-We've increased the graphics quality in the expansion
-We're correcting some design issues people've had with the original game (e.g. impact of level on combat)
-The expansion offers more than 30 new and interesting quests (at this moment 36)
-In the Moscow presentation we showed off a couple of quests to make the point
-The story starts in the astral plane where you ended Divinity II and brings you back to the city of Aleroth, which is now "open for business"
-You can start right away in the expansion area with a character you get to build in the character customisation screen, or you can continue playing from an old save-game. When the original story ends, you will then seamlessly continue into the expansion area, and to a player it will feel like a natural progression of the story.
-One design goal was to provide a similar experience as the first part of the game
-Another design goal was to allow you to become a really powerful dragon knight
-It's not a standalone add-on
We basically had three goals with the expansion pack:
1. If you haven't played Divinity II yet, then you are in for a major experience when you play through the original game and continue into the expansion pack.
2. If you played Divinity II already, then you are going to see the closing of many character arcs that were still open, get the opportunity for revenge if you felt bad at the end, and discover answers to questions you might've had.
3. Several people had comments about the game saying things like "if only this and that", so we tried to take care of the "if only this and that".
It's scheduled for an august/september release and that looks pretty solid as at this point the entire expansion pack is already playable. On that note, we're looking for testers which I think Lynn will announce soon.
Edited by Lar_q (Today at 06:53 AM)
The typical strategy that has caused more than one independent developer to die in the last two years is pretty cynical. It basically boils down to – publisher/distributor owes a developer money. They don’t pay. The legal hassle starts, the developer finds itself in trouble because it was counting on that money. If the developer doesn’t have sufficient financial stamina to last for quite some time and pay the required legal fees (which are very high), the developer dies, the publisher doesn’t have to pay its royalties and problem solved (from the publisher point of view).
I find this obscene, and I can easily pinpoint the developers that died because of these practices, and it’s only made possible because the revenues from the sales of the game don’t arrive directly at the developer. I get sick when I see some publishers who I know engaged in these practices boast how they steered their company through difficulty times, because they did it by using illegal methods bordering on the criminal.
We're still working on the US market - I hope we'll be able to announce something soon. The bankruptcy of CDV didn't really help there and created a complicated situation which we are trying to sort out.
Flames of Vengeance retroactively applies many changes which are introduced in DKS also to Ego Draconis. Most engine changes for instance are immediately present in Ego Draconis. To maintain compatibility with existing savegames however, there are a number of things which aren't changed when you install FOV. These are:
Enemy placement and balancing (massive overhaul)
Loot and set-items (complete overhaul)
Story and scripting changes (e.g. in DKS flying fortress gameplay is very different to ED)
Art changes in Ego Draconis (though you do get the advantage of better lighting & shading)
In general, if you played or finished Ego Draconis and don't want to start over again, get FOV.
If you don't mind starting over again, get DKS, in which the total gameplay experience is in my opinion much more stream-lined.
There's no big differences between the FOV content in DKS and the FOV content applied to ED.
So, will this be free for people who already bought the game? Kinda like The Witcher Enhanced Edition?Nope.
If not, that's a shit deal considering how buggy Divinity 2 is, or is that was Flames of Vengeance was for the original Ego Draconis?Wait for a price-drop on DKS Edition, I'd guess - that's what I plan to do, since I already own Ego Draconis.
Ok, let's me try again - it's pretty clear when you play it but somehow I find it very hard to write it down:
The Dragon Knight Saga has been approached as if it were an entire new game from the point of view of the core item-fever & hack and slash parts of the gameplay as well as getting rid of those areas that we considered to be "boring" in Ego Draconis. We've upgraded the engine, upgrade the graphics, upgraded the audio, changed the levels, changed the balancing, modified several features and where possible applied those changes to both Ego Draconis and Flames Of Vengeance.
Additionally, on the 360, we changed almost the entire interface, modified the levels and gameplay to increase performance, changed the camera system/controls, and made sure the 360 has its a different balancing than the PC version as both platforms play differently.
If on PC it plays more "streamlined", on 360 it's almost as if it's a different (and better) game.
Since its a pretty big redesign of several parts of Ego Draconis, it's impossible to convert Ego Draconis in The Dragon Knight Saga with just a patch - for that there are too many changes - but those areas of the game that we can change, without affecting the existing savegames, we've tried to change through the upcoming patch.
For instance, if you install FOV, you get a better-looking Ego Draconis, and also the engine improvements. A patch which would bring ED to DKS would consist of replacing almost every single file, and it's guarnateed that you wouldn't be able to play any of your previous saves.
So D2:ED + FoV (which includes patch) does not equal DKS, but it's as close as we can get it without destroying the save-games.
For people who don't buy FOV, we'll provide a D2:ED patch, but I need to add that it's up to the various publishers to release it.
The intended audience of DKS consists primarily of people who didn't buy D2:ED, but in the same breath I have to say that I think that all the changes done make the entire experience more fun and I wished we could've launched DKS as ED.
The fjords specifically have gotten a big treatment in terms of monster placement and we also got rid of most of those annoying shield puzzles.
This is the current status:
DKS Xbox360: English, French, German, Spanish and Italian versions are in submission at Microsoft and we are waiting for their approval. If they give the go ahead, then the november 5th date will be respected. As always, it's possible that games arrive in stores sooner.
DKS PC: We are doing final checks on the gold masters for English, French, German, Spanish and Italian versions and expect these to be ready in time. Actually, as it looks now manufacturing of at least the German version will probably start this friday.
FOV PC: English, French, German, Italian versions are being prepared and tested. These will be released digitally, and for the moment we have no reasons to assume the November 5th release dates won't be met.
Other languages are also in the works and we hope that by the end of October all versions will be finished.
So in other words, it might not be October 26th, but I think the week after that, The Dragon Knight Saga and Flames Of Vengeance should be available.
Unfortunately I can't give you much more information on this yet - US release is still being discussed but we're doing our best.
So here's a little industry secret to explain why PC versions of games aren't always available in the UK immediately.
The problem with PC UK is that in order for the stores to be able to slash prices so aggressively they demand enormous discounts from publishers/distributors. If they don't get their discounts, they don't take the game.
When they then eventually get their discounts, grey importers buy large quantities of stock and sell them to other territories in Europe, destroying the market in those territories for the distributors/shops that bought the games at the normal trade price.
Net result - for a publisher it can actually be more interesting not to release a PC version in the UK in order to protect the other PC markets.
And yes, the second hand market is affecting the game industry heavily.