Y’know, I really loved UW but when I read this list I start saying “hey, yeah… I do remember not loving that… and that… and that.” So I’m glad to hear (from the Major) this will be an evolutionary take on the game and not more of a straight re-do (I wasn’t terribly worried about that but it’s still good to hear).
I have two strong memories from Underworld amongst a bunch of lesser ones: First was that the Underworld felt like a place. Not a story written to amuse me, or a location generated for a game, but a real place. The people in there had their own stories, there were factions that had rivalries going on, and I really felt like I had been plopped down into it. So I guess that could be summarized by “worldbuilding” - I thought the worldbuilding was great.
My second feeling was that things had weight - Maybe part of this is the fact that the entities in the world were 3-d versus just being 2-d sprites - you could walk around them and see their depth, which was, at the time, revolutionary. That helped make things feel more real. In addition, there was a point near the beginning where I recall walking through a door and stopping to get my bearings since the way forward was pretty dark. All of a sudden my screen rocks. I wonder what’s happening. It happens again. And again. And finally I realize someone that I can’t quite see is lobbing rocks at me! I’ll never forget getting, uh, rocked by rocks.
Yes. Kicktraq trendings and projections are notoriously innacurate before the 50% is reached. Look at otherprojectstrendingcurves to see were this is going. Which means the current graph is worth absolutely nothing.
Kickspy is much better for predicting real outcomes (the trending deviates less within the lifespan of the project), but it’s also more accurate towards the ending. It’s hard to compare Kickspy and kicktraq graphs since Kickspy is way newer and fewer projects register there (plus the trending history is unavailable for old projects). But you can look at this and compare it with the previous first link.
Currently Kickspy is projecting$1 million for Underworld Ascendant. Although, again, it’s still waaay too early. It’s going to be something between today’s projection and that of five days onwards (for Kickspy, not for Kicktraq).
Since this project has a lot of names and franchise interest behind it (way more than the average 600k project, projects are compared with similar projects to find projections) and since that kind of soft data can’t go into the statistics and comparisons, I’m expecting the campaign to raise significantly more, probably even $1.5 million.
Also, press presence is way less influential than straight advertising and community presence. Hardly do you see any significant spikes in funding due to press (although they happen).
Ahh. If you enjoyed having to prepare each spell beforehand by arranging runes on a little shelf and keep a runebag open then we do indeed disagree on this point.
I’m all for expanding possibilities by finding runes out in the world, and I enjoyed the discovery aspect too, as you made rune “words” to create new spells. That was cool. The mechanics of actually casting spells, though, where you had to build each one so you couldn’t choose between them in the middle of battle, and had to remember the runewords for each spell (or more likely, write them down on a piece of paper), that was some seriously awkward gameplay that has no place today.
If they keep it, they’re prioritizing nostalgia over gameplay in the exact same way that Wasteland2 made you save/reload 100 times, or Grimrock made you collect food and use up a hand inventory slot to hold a torch for light, and that torch ran out.
I personally loved all this “annoying” stuff, it gave it a survival aspect. It could be streamlined but an underworld without item decay, burning up torches and rune based magic won’t be underworld to me. I thought stacking bags was a great way to sort all the little things you could find.
I’m fine with updating things of course, but I don’t want things to get too slick the way Dishonored or a Bioshock game is. The slickness of the interface, and swiftness of actions for those games is great for frenetic gameplay, but what I loved about the Looking Glass games was the slower more contemplative experience.
You’re saying a modern streamlined UI is incompatible with measured gameplay. But there’s simply no support for that statement. Deux Ex: HR had a modern UI and I ghosted it with 0 kills. Dishonored was the same, hardly a “frentic” game unless you choose to play that way.
Hey we need about 80 backers to hit 5000! Come on, it’s payday…you know you want to. Remember that slog though the prison, smacking hammerites, that reveal of shodan…carrying a basketball through the game for no reason…you want to experience those feelings once again don’t you?
I read it as “slick UI with quick/easy actions”, which to me translates to “modern/streamlined”. If that’s not what you meant, please explain what you did mean.
I think streamlined UI is absolutely compatible with “measured gameplay”. However, the games I mentioned do become a lot more action oriented in the interest of pairing things down. It’s true that you can totally stealth things in Dishonored, but I’m definitely in the camp that thinks that’s the less interesting way to play. And being more action oriented isn’t a bad thing, but it’s not what I would want from an Underworld sequel. Deus Ex HR strikes the kind of balance I would look for. That’s a much improved interface from those older games, but I don’t feel like it loses the feel of the older immersive sims (setting aside those atrocious boss battles :-) )
