Couchpotato's Random RPG News

[Redglyph]

So question do you watchers prefer my old linking or the newer article version like above?

Same here, what's easier for you. Personally, I look at the title to decide whether I want to know more by following the link, I don't think I often read more than a few words in the excerpt below, if at all.

 

[Alrik Fassbauer]

This is not meant to be rude, but I don't care in which format your posts are, as long as I can read them.

So, I'd then also go with the "what's easier for you ?".

 

[Couchpotato]

Lies of P - 31 Minutes of Gameplay (Gamescom Demo)

Lies of P's director plays through the hot Soulslike's huge Gamescom gameplay demo. This 31-minute video is part 1 of that gameplay. Part 2 will be published on IGN on Monday.

Steelrising: The First 16 Minutes of Gameplay

After 1789 France is destroyed by automatons at the behest of Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette sends her loyal body guard on a quest to stop her tyrant husband. Watch the first 15 minutes, including two early boss fights, as Aegis embarks on a soulslike odyssey through a unique alternate history.

Circus Electrique - Review After 100%

Taking a look at what Circus Electrique has to offer after doing all of the things!

 

[Couchpotato]

Tabletop-inspired Adventure/RPG Betrayal At Club Low Released - Steam

Tonight you're on a rescue mission, infiltrating a nightclub that was once a coffin factory. Will you succeed? Will you fail? Or will your night take an unexpected detour? Roll the Pizza Dice and find out!

Stranger of Paradise Final Fantasy Origin Rift expansion launches on October 26th

Fight your way through the Labyrinth of Dimensions, a dungeon that randomly configures your path to unlock pieces of the story. WANDERER OF THE RIFT will introduce a new job, Blue Mage and special monsters you can fight and summon into battle with the use of a Summoning Stone.

EVE Online: Uprising Expansion Announced

Uprising is a brand-new narrative-driven expansion for EVE Online launching in November, ushering in major improvements to Factional Warfare (FW), introducing a suite of new ships in addition to a plethora of balance changes to existing ships, corporation and alliance logos on your vessels as part of the introduction to heraldry, new visually immersive hangars, and more.

Crusader Kings III Gets Add-on and Free Weekend - BluesNews

Is it better to be feared or loved? Can you trust your closest courtiers to tell you the truth? Who has your back when the trebuchets start creeping nearer? Explore new stories of lifelong friendships and bitter rivalries in Friends & Foes, a new event pack for Crusader Kings III.

Armed Fantasia Gets Impressive WIP Gameplay Video - Twinfinite

Today the developers of the upcoming JRPG Armed Fantasia released a rather spiffy gameplay video. While this is heavily work-in-progress, as mentioned in a Kickstarter update, it’s meant to provide a look a feel for the atmosphere in the field maps of the game.

TB RPG Guns Undarkness Launches on Kickstarter on September 12th - RPGSite

Back in November 2021, Shoji Meguro announced Guns Undarkness with Kodansha Game Creators Lab. It is a turn-based tactical RPG that combines elements of stealth games with turn-based battles using a command menu. This announcement came shortly after Shoji Meguro departed from Atlus in late October 2021 to pursue developing indie games; he still continues to compose music on a freelance basis, including with Atlus.

 

[Couchpotato]

STALKER 2 Dev Comments on Sudden Xbox Pre-Order Refunds - Wccftech

Yesterday, Polish website XGP reported that Xbox customers were receiving STALKER 2 refund notifications from Microsoft. As it turns out, not only is Xbox suddenly refunding current pre-orders, but they've also removed the ability to make new pre-orders on the Microsoft Store.

The website guessed this might mean a further delay of the game (likely due to the situation of Ukrainian developer GSC Game World), and the news spread like wildfire among the many fans that are waiting for STALKER 2. It didn't help that the Steam page of the game now mentions December 2023 as the expected release date.

Miasma Chronicles Preview A slick XCOM-like RPG in a New Universe - Sixth Axis

While we barely got to scratch the surface of Miasma Chronicles through the short hands on time we had from the start of the game, it’s clear that The Bearded Ladies are building on the strengths of their previous game. They’ve taken a step away from the wilder setting of Mutant Year Zero, and in doing so, Miasma Chronicles could easily appeal to a broader audience when it comes out in 2023.

The simmering wickedness of Pentiment's dialogue is a Delight - Eurogamer

This is all the stuff you can pick up off the surface of Pentiment, mixed in with the wonderful little dashes of texture - the way misspellings in speech bubbles get scribbled out pointedly, the little mutters under your breath, internal monologues, dodgy persuasion attempts gone wrong. The most obvious reference point must surely be Disco Elysium, another razor sharp, detective RPG talk-em-up, although at a glance Pentiment seems a touch lighter, both in terms of systems and the density of dialogue and thought. This game picks you up and carries you along with ease - much like a bit of good writing.

The Lord of the Rings MMORPG Post-mortem Interview - Gamespot

For years, Amazon Games was developing a Lord of the Rings MMO alongside Chinese game developer Leyou and Middle-earth Enterprises.

There was a good amount of hype around the game, but it was abruptly canceled in 2021, leaving fans scratching their heads and wondering how it all fell apart.

Amazon Games president Christoph Hartmann told GameSpot that its Lord of the Rings MMO disintegrated when Leyou was sold to Tencent. Things got "very complicated," and Amazon Games elected to simply cut ties and move on.

 

[Couchpotato]

Mortismal Gaming Five Of The Easiest CRPGs

Just talking about what I consider to be some of the easier cRPG's you can play!

The Sound of Call of Saregnar

Join Benjamin Reichstein on the field, recording environmental sounds with his trusty microphones, then hear the final results in the game.

Matt Chat Icewind Dale II

This episode features one of the greatest CRPGs of all time, Icewind Dale II.

 

[Couchpotato]

Marvel's Midnight Suns will now release on December 2nd - RPGSite

Revealed at the Disney & Marvel Games Showcase event at D23 Expo 2022, Firaxis Games and 2K have revealed that Marvel's Midnight Suns will now be launching on December 2. This new release date is for the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC versions of it. Meanwhile, the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One releases for the title have not been dated as of yet.

Fallout 76: Expeditions The Pitt Dev Dive - Bethesda

Welcome back to Inside the Vault! As we draw nearer to The Pitt Update and the arrival of Expeditions in Fallout 76 on September 13, we’re sharing a closer look at what awaits you in The Pitt by chatting with members from the development team in our latest dev dive video. We’ve also got a few details you may want to keep in mind ahead of patch day, as well as information about this weekend’s Purveyor Sale.

Elden Ring composer on creating the game’s Soundtrack - PSBlog

For much of production, the process starts with a brief provided by the director. The brief describes the mood and imagery desired for the piece, including information about a character’s background, or the location/situation envisioned for battle music. We refer to this text, concept designs and in-game screenshots, allowing us to expand on the original vision and build out the track. Once the track is finished, it’s submitted to the director for feedback. Through multiple retakes we can then take our ideas further, refining the composition and adjusting until its complete. We also recorded with a full orchestra and singers for Elden Ring’s score. The orchestrator and performers did an absolutely wonderful job.

Hellgate: London - London 2038 Looking for Voice Actors

As you might’ve seen in the latest status report 2, we’re now at a place where we can finally add new voices to the game. So, why not replace all these recycled, generic voices we’ve used so far with those of willing players who have stuck with this game for so long?

Exoplanet: First Contact Build 0.69 Released - Steam

Hello, space cowboys! It’s been a bit more than a month since our last update, and we’re ready to show you a new build 0.69. There are a lot of animations, new quests and a totally remade Outcast camp.

 

[Couchpotato]

Get ready for a bunch of new Assassin Creed games.

Ubisoft Forward Assassin's Creed Showcase: Every New Game Announcement

Ubisoft Forward's Assassin's Creed Showcase was bursting with news for the Assassin's Creed franchise.

www.newsweek.com

Assassin’s Creed: 2022 Showcase

Discover the future of the franchise with the Assassin’s Creed 2022 Showcase and leap into history as we celebrate our 15th anniversary.

Assassin's Creed: Beyond the Creed 15th Anniversary Documentary

This special 15th Anniversary documentary revisits some of the saga's greatest moments. Its evolution has been shaped by countless people, including Ubisoft's worldwide studios, and our incredible community of players and content creators. 

Assassin's Creed Mirage: Cinematic World Premiere

Watch the cinematic world premiere announce trailer of Assassin's Creed® Mirage. In the ninth century CE, Baghdad is at its height, leading the world in science, art, innovation, and commerce. Amid its bustling urban landscape, a conflicted young orphan with a tragic past must navigate the streets to survive. Experience the story of Basim in Assassin's Creed Mirage.

Assassin’s Creed Mirage: Developer Trailer Breakdown

Assassin’s Creed Mirage takes place in ninth-century Baghdad, where players will live out the coming-of-age story of Basim Ibn Is’haq as he grows from a young street thief to a master assassin. Learn more about Assassin’s Creed Mirage in our deep dive Cinematic World Premiere trailer breakdown with Creative Director, Stephane Boudon, Narrative Director Sarah Beaulieu, and Art Director, Jean-Luc Sala.

 

[Couchpotato]

Ubisoft also showcased Skull and Bones which is a modern day Sid Meier's Pirates.

Skull and Bones: World Context Trailer

Experience Skull and Bones on PC in the Ubisoft Store, releasing November 8, 2022.

Skull and Bones: Gameplay Trailer

Mastering and customizing your ship is the first step towards ruling the seas as an infamous pirate captain. Experience Skull and Bones on PC in the Ubisoft Store, releasing November 8, 2022.

Skull and Bones: Developer Trailer Breakdown

Skull and Bones’ open-world pirate adventure invites players to explore the Indian Ocean during the Golden Age of Piracy. As a pirate captain in Skull and Bones, you’ll plunder merchant vessels, gain Infamy, and build and customize a variety of ships for high-seas adventure.

 

[Couchpotato]

Ubsioft teases an open-world Assassin's Creed RPG set in feudal Japan - RPGSite

During today's Ubisoft Forward live stream, Ubisoft revealed Assassin's Creed Codename RED, the "future of Ubisoft's open-world RPG games on Assassin's Creed". It is being developed by Ubisoft Quebec (Assassin's Creed Odyssey) under creative director Jonathan Dumont.

While 2023's mainline entry in the franchise - the newly announced Assassin's Creed Mirage - is more of an action-adventure title like the earlier games in the series, Codename RED will seemingly follow more like the recent RPG entries in Origins, Odyssey, and Valhalla.

Codename RED will also be part of the upcoming Assassin's Creed Infinity Hub, which is described as 'a single entry point for our fans into the Assassin's Creed franchise into the future. It will be a hub that will unite different experiences and players in meaningful ways.'

 

[Couchpotato]

Assassin's Creed Valhalla: The Last Chapter Trailer

The Last Chapter is a free update that ties up loose ends of Eivor's story in Assassin's Creed Valhalla.

Return to Monkey Island - Developer Update Trailer

Dominic Armato, the voice of Guybrsh Threepwood, gives a quick update on what to expect from the upcoming Return to Monkey, which releases on PC and Nintendo Switch on September 19.

Game of Thrones - Open World Game in Unreal Engine 5

Imagining a Open World "Game of Thrones" Game in Unreal Engine 5, A Dream that could be Come True.

 

[Couchpotato]

What The Hell Happened To BioWare? - COG

It’s not often we see a developer fall so far from grace. Once regarded as pioneers in narrative-driven RPGs, BioWare has completely lost its way. So, what the hell happened? Join me as I look at the successes and failures of the Canadian giants and see if they can climb their way back to the top of the genre.

SNES Inspired RPG Alterium Shift Coming in 2023 - ChitHot

Gravity Game Arise has announced that Alterium Shift, an old-school JRPG from developer Drattzy Games, will launch in 2023. The game is currently in development for Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, PC and Nintendo Switch.

To consumers, development crunch is increasingly a red flag - Gamesindustry

There's honestly no good answer in this situation, and you can and should sympathise with the decisions the studio's leadership have been forced to make. Even if some degree of crunch is the least-worst option in some situations, though, we've very obviously moved past the times when studio bosses could wax lyrical about crunch as an expression of 'passion' or pretend that there isn't a trade-off against the quality of the work being done. Crunch is a reflection of a failure of project management, nothing more, nothing less – and even if there are situations where it's the least awful of multiple bad options, it should always be couched in an apology, not a boast.

 

[Redglyph]

Crunch is not a failure of project management, it's much deeper than that.

I've seen it too many times at work, the problem does not occur during the last months of a project but long before it starts. It's a strategy miscalculation when marketing and management believe they can get away with pushing targets in scope and time, when it's really not possible or even necessary. And that in turn is a consequence of competition because they believe it's necessary to push that far and early - whether it's only perceived or real. As long as there is competition, there will be someone to do it. But since the consequence is discontented customers, negative publicity, an exhausted team and unforeseen costs to fix the mess, it doesn't matter, it's still a miscalculation.

 

[Alrik Fassbauer]

I very often have the feeling as if management is - when "crunch time" happens - a) completely out of touch with the actual programmers and artists, and/or b) just don't care, as they seem to see actual workers merely as "human resources", and not as actual living beings.

 

[Zloth]

Well, there's crunch caused by management insisting that a game must show up on such & such date. It can also happen because the bank says you're running out of money by such & such date, so you better start earning some revenue fast. The latter kind would be a project management thing - specifically, trying to do too much with the funds available.

 

[JFarrell71]

Crunch is also the result of the much busier marketing games have these days. Trailers, streams, tweets, appearances at shows, and so on. Some of these things have long been true, others are newer (streams) or increased in frequency (trailers). This long cycle of hype causes fans to clamor for the product, to be angry at delays or what they perceive to be a slow pace of development, to demands for demos. Not getting a game done by an announced released date becomes a PR issue as well as a cashflow and management issue.

A lot of Watchers have been doing it here, with BG3. Larian is transparent and they pay for it with increased expectations and decreased patience.

 

[Couchpotato]

Starfield - 10 Biggest Concerns GAMERS Have

Bethesda Game Studios’ Starfield is its first new IP in more than 25 years. It’s a massive effort, will consume your very being, and so forth. However, while some were no doubt wowed by the reveal at the Xbox and Bethesda Games Showcase this past June, there are several concerns surrounding the space RPG en route to its release next year. Let’s take a look at 10 of them here.

GDC 2022 Panel Building the World of The Ascent

In this GDC 2022 session, Neon Giant’s Tor Frick goes into detail on how the team approached and solved the challenges along the way, not only in 3D content creation and level building, but also stylistically.

The 13 Best Games We Saw at PAX West 2022 - Techraptor

Last weekend saw hundreds of developers and thousands of fans flock to Seattle for PAX West 2022. We had a team on-site to check out games both big and small. The best thing about these events are the hidden surprises we likely wouldn't have found otherwise. Here are our 13 best
games of PAX West 2022.

Two Worlds 2 and its DLCs are delisted from Steam

Notice: Two Worlds II HD is no longer available on the Steam store.

Diablo 4 Cinematics & Character Mocaps have been leaked online - DSO

It appears that a number of cinematics and character mocap videos for Diablo 4 have been leaked online. And while these videos may give you a glimpse at some of the game’s cinematics, they may contain spoilers. Therefore, consider this your spoiler warning.

 

[Pladio]

Crunch is also the result of the much busier marketing games have these days. Trailers, streams, tweets, appearances at shows, and so on. Some of these things have long been true, others are newer (streams) or increased in frequency (trailers). This long cycle of hype causes fans to clamor for the product, to be angry at delays or what they perceive to be a slow pace of development, to demands for demos. Not getting a game done by an announced released date becomes a PR issue as well as a cashflow and management issue.

A lot of Watchers have been doing it here, with BG3. Larian is transparent and they pay for it with increased expectations and decreased patience.

Larian also has what's called scope creep, where the original vision gets bigger, and bigger, and bigger. Which is great if the vision gets realised, but bad if it doesn't.

 

[Redglyph]

Larian is a special case indeed, they have a roughly defined scope and they take their time developing / adjusting the features, but they seem fine with an elastic development time. It's not as if they told their developers there was more to do with the same deadline and they must work 7/7. But we'll have to wait until the release to know if they had enough time to finish it after announcing the release date.

Long developments weighs on developers too, regardless of crunch. It's nice to have a goal and reach it, but when it's years away the reward seems too remote. Sure there are intermediate steps, but it doesn't feel the same.

 

[Couchpotato]

Fextralife's Top RPG News of the Week

Biomutant Free Next Gen Upgrade, Tower of Fantasy Artificial Island Update, Cyberpunk 2077 Content Update and Expansions, Asterigos Curse of the stars Release Date, Stranger of Paradise Final Fantasy Origin Wanderer of the Rift DLC, Dead Cells Enter the Panchaku Free Update, The Witcher 3 Next Gen Update, Atomic Heart Release Period on this week of Top RPG News September 11, 2022

Elden Ring - Behind the Scenes with The Budapest Film Orchestra

With a single thundering voice, the Budapest Film Orchestra weaves the songs of the Lands Between. The ELDEN RING Official Soundtrack is available on streaming platforms now.

The Legend of Heroes: Kuro no Kiseki II Opening Movie - RPGSite

Falcom has released the opening movie for The Legend of Heroes: Kuro no Kiseki II -CRIMSON SiN-, which features the theme song “CRIMSON SiN” by Falcom jdk BAND.