Rogue Trader - Will explore more than just the War

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Alexander Gusev, creative director Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader talks about the game:

Classic RPG Rogue Trader Will Explore More Than Just the War in Warhammer 40,000

Arguments, hard choices, and deals with aliens await.

Casting 'magic' in the Warhammer 40,000 universe is incredibly risky business. A psyker (see: space wizard) must draw their power from the Warp, a volatile dimension that's home to daemons and chaotic gods. As such, every spell, no matter how trivial or powerful, comes with the chance of injury, insanity, demonic possession, or death. In Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader, the upcoming RPG from Owlcat Games, you'll have to weigh up that risk every time you consider eviscerating a foe with your mind.

Perils of the Warp, the system that governs whether your head explodes or you live to cast another day, is one of Alexander Gusev's favorite mechanics from 2009's Rogue Trader, a tabletop RPG set in the grimdark future of the 41st millenium. He and other members of the Owlcat dev team played the game for years, and so the chance to turn this pen-and-paper hobby into a video game was something of a dream. But one golden pitch to Games Workshop later and that dream is a reality; Gusev is now creative director on the very first Warhammer 40k video game RPG.

"We were making more sandbox-style RPGs than most [other developers]," Gusev says, referring to the studio's incredibly open Pathfinder games. "You had your kingdom. You were traveling, exploring the map, learning stuff about this unknown place, The Stolen Lands. And this constantly reminded me about what parties in Rogue Trader do."

Most Warhammer 40k video games have you take part in mankind's millenia-long quest to wipe out every other race in the galaxy (there are no good guys here, sorry). But the Rogue Traders, with their opulent spaceships and impeccable fashion tastes, are not your battle-hungry Space Marines. "Rogue Traders shine in a way that differs from many other factions in Warhammer's Imperium in that you can also interact with xenos [aliens] in ways other than just killing them," explains Gusev.

[...]
Thanks Pladio:

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They seem to have a few good ideas, as usual, that's nice. The fact it's more open and not just battle-oriented is reassuring.

But I still don't know if that's Unreal or not. ;)
 
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They convinced me and I preordered this one. Partly because I really loved Wrath of Righteous, and partly because the Warhammer RPG system is actually pretty interesting. What we normally get in Warhammer computer games is an attempt to bring the tabletop war games to life, which makes sense, as that is where Games Workshop has the most players and makes the most money. But the worlds of Warhammer and Warhammer 40k are actually really interesting spins on the generic fantasy and sci fi setting, and make good settings for an rpg as well.
 
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I'm just happy that we're finally getting a party-based crpg in a Sci-Fi setting.

I do hope they spend more time on QA compared to the Pathfinder games though.
 
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But I still don't know if that's Unreal or not. ;)
Hmm it looks like the same unity engine from the past two Pathfinder RPGs. Though yeah I remember the Unreal Engine was mentioned before. Still looks good either way.

As for QA the game will more then likely have the usual 4+ year patch cycle again. How do I know well just look at their past two games, and put the data together.

I'd love to be proven wrong but they claimed Wrath of the Righteous would have less bugs and a longer test cycle. They honored that bit it was still a buggy mess on release.
 
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I guess no-one expected that it would release next year anyway.

I am cautiously interested. I feel that the Warhammer universes lack in many aspects except - not surprisingly - war. Even if they say that this setting allows them to explore also other things than zealous killing anything that moves, I am uncertain how far the universe can be stretched away from war. As JDR, also I am happy that someone finally makes a Sci-Fi CRPG, but a bit bummed that Owlcat chose Warhammer. Anyway, I'll be happy to be proven wrong.

EDIT. Before someone comments that most RPGs are about war and violence: that is true. Yet, some of the best fantasy stories have the feeling of great adventure to them. Take for example Tolkien: the whole story is about a journey across the Middle-earth (while there is war everywhere). In Warhammer stories (now I talk mostly about the novels I have read), the focus is on the battle. The adventure is there but it is secondary. Barldur's Gates also were about the journey. The beginning of the first Pathfinder too, but then it went to that tedious kingdom management. Hence my reservation.
 
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I guess no-one expected that it would release next year anyway.
They have beta testing already planned and based off that 2024 sounds likely. Now that's just my personal estimate as no tentative release date was ever officially given.

So Larian better release BG3 in 2023.:p
 
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The beginning of the first Pathfinder too, but then it went to that tedious kingdom management. Hence my reservation.

Indeed…please no management mini-game this time. I'm hoping for a classic crpg style adventure here. I won't mind if there's some minor ship management involved, but hopefully nothing as time consuming as the management aspect in the Pathfinder games.
 
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Considering you run a merchant empire I expect there will be some type of management involved once again. I've come to accept this will be part of every owl-cat game.
This time you will take on the role of a Rogue Trader, a scion of an ancient dynasty of daring privateers that reign over their own merchant empire and explore the fringes of Imperial space with the blessing of the Emperor Himself.
Personally I don't mind it but that's just me.
 
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Considering you run a merchant empire I expect there will be some type of management involved once again. I've come to accept this will be part of every owl-cat game.Personally I don't mind it but that's just me.
Yes I believe you are right and I also think it's something Owlcat likes to experiment with. I think it's a good thing even if I don't like all their mini games.

I actually hope it is a shorter game though. Not a fan of 150 hour games.
 
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I doubt that they'd make a game without a management meta-game layer.

I have mixed feelings about it. I would say it could be fine if they do it right and if it's not distracting from the CRPG experience, but there were issues in the 2 first games due to lack of time. And for Rogue Trader they have to create everything from scratch again so they may be in a rush too.

Hmm it looks like the same unity engine from the past two Pathfinder RPGs. Though yeah I remember the Unreal Engine was mentioned before. Still looks good either way.
Yeah, it does...

As for QA the game will more then likely have the usual 4+ year patch cycle again. How do I know well just look at their past two games, and put the data together.
Aren't you exaggerating just a bit? ;) WotR has been patched by now and it's not been a year. Of course if you ask console players, they're still pissed at the Kingmaker port. But I'll be very selfish here and say I don't care, it's a PC game and for once I'd rather have the devs focus on the PC version. :p

But sure, the release was bumpy for WotR too.
 
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Aren't you exaggerating just a bit? WotR has been patched by now and it's not been a year. Of course if you ask console players, they're still pissed at the Kingmaker port. But I'll be very selfish here and say I don't care, it's a PC game and for once I'd rather have the devs focus on the PC version.

But sure, the release was bumpy for WotR too.
Am I..hmm lets ask the other quiet members…Nope just read my past posts. I can't give you the total amount of hot-fixes and patches for both games but it would be high.

There was two more patches released last week for WotR and more still on the way. Don't forget every DLC get 20+ more patches and the enhanced edition gets 20+ more.

Anyway probably a little exaggerating but the games are patch-o-rama's.:cool:
 
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I doubt that they'd make a game without a management meta-game layer.

Idk, I feel like they're starting fresh here. Besides, I don't really see how a management layer would fit here.

Of course this might just be wishful thinking on my part.
 
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Am I..hmm lets ask the other quiet members…Nope just read my past posts. I can't give you the total amount of hot-fixes and patches for both games but it would be high.

There was two more patches released last week for WotR and more still on the way. Don't forget every DLC get 20+ more patches and the enhanced edition gets 20+ more.

Anyway probably a little exaggerating but the games are patch-o-rama's.:cool:
They're active, for sure. And it's a very complex game, so it's a lot of little things that can go wrong, but I believe the big bugs were fixed in the first few months.

DLC don't count. ;)

Idk, I feel like they're starting fresh here. Besides, I don't really see how a management layer would fit here.

Of course this might just be wishful thinking on my part.

I don't know Warhammer but from their description, they're looking for trades to broker, with several factions, they travel on a ship. That's so many management system they could add to the game.
 
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If someone didn't like the crusade system (or enjoyed it), Owlcat Games just started a survey about it, so it's time to tell them:

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1184370/view/3325361215004353040

direct link to the survey: https://forms.gle/xT7zjgg6PrJuYk3y9

Thanks. Done.

P-WOTR core game was already among the most complex rpgs ever coded. I really wonder why they felt adding a strategic layer over the main game was a good idea.

It becomes just too tedious late in the game.
 
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I think it is fairly likely this will be released before BG3. Owlcat can release 2-3 cRPG's in the time Larian produces one!! :)
 
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I think it is fairly likely this will be released before BG3. Owlcat can release 2-3 cRPG's in the time Larian produces one!! :)

We'll see but I'd bet otherwise, last time it took about 16 months between the alpha and the release, then I'd add 3 months for a reasonably stable version, but this time they almost have to start from scratch. They think they can have the alpha in 2022, which probably means late 2022 or early 2023.
 
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I have no doubt Owlcats will make another enjoyable cRPG but I'm hesitant because of the setting. I've been following the news somewhat and they've already introduced 3 companion(?) but I don't feel intrigued by any of them at this point :/

Still in wait and see mode for this one.
 
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