Torment: Tides of Numenera - Turns out there is room for 2!

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Torment: Tides of Numenera - Turns out there is room for 2!

Brought To You By: Oct 31, 2012

Just found out about this Game and am pleased to see it succeed as well as it has with funding. Wish I could contribute something significant but college. :v:

As such I have a question if Brother None would be willing to answer it.

Does inXile entertainment plan to sell physical copies of TToN upon its release? This feels like the kind of game I would want to have a hard copy of even if I just wind up saving it to my laptops hard drive.

# ¿ Mar 7, 2013 19:48

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# ¿ Apr 28, 2024 01:35

Brought To You By: Oct 31, 2012

Brother None posted:

Yip.

Great! Are there any estimations for shelf price so I can start setting aside the necessary funds?

# ¿ Mar 8, 2013 03:25

Brought To You By: Oct 31, 2012

Brother None posted:

Latest update is up, with Adam Heine talking tides and legacies, and this piece of art.

Yes. We're looking into it.

So when are we going to be able to recruit Superman as one of our companions?
Or is he another castoff and we get to spend a few hours flying around with all our stats maxed out?

# ¿ Mar 16, 2013 02:41

Brought To You By: Oct 31, 2012

On another note, I've been finishing up my first run through PS:T that I started last November and I have a question regarding the combat, as well as a future concern about TToN's combat. Will TToN have combat that is as cumbersome as PS:T?

My history with ttrpg's is limited almost exclusively GURPS and one attempted campaign in D&D 3.5 (it ended in the group I was in giving my character a shovel so I could dig my own grave). Keeping that in mind I found that Fallout 1 & 2 were successfully able to bring the mechanics of their source RPG into the digital realm. This was because the fallout series kept combat turn based and made the player aware of how their weapons and skills would benefit them in combat or social situations.

However, my playthrough through PS:T has hit a bit of a snag near the Pillar of Bones because the base combat interface does not allow me to bring my best fighting potential out of my characters. I never understood why PS:T defaults to having real-time combat when the game is based around a system that seems to emphasis tailoring your actions to combat any given encounter. I'm packing two mages (including TNO) and a priest but I find myself unable to keep up with the damage outputs of my enemies so either I die or I lose multiple members of my party. I don't think I'm underleveled for this part of the game and while I have virtually no healing items after I had to fight my way to this point in the game, I know from experience and reloaded saves that my party is more than capable of taking down enemies with minimal damage. My point is, one of my frustrations with PS:T is removing itself from it's best element by making combat real-time which has the effect of making every encounter a clusterfuck of sprites and button clicks instead of a more tactical ordeal.

Now to be fair PS:T does give you the option to freeze combat when certain events happen (Your character takes damage, you cast a spell, etc.) but I have yet to find a combination that feels as natural as the VATS system from Fallout. So one of the things I am waiting for regarding TToN is how combat will be structured. From what I've seen of Wasteland 2 they are going the Fallout route and I wholly support this design choice because it seems to benefit RPG's that have strong routes in pen and paper games.

# ¿ Mar 24, 2013 00:47

Brought To You By: Oct 31, 2012

funky not a junkie posted:

PS:T actually lets you freeze combat whenever you want. Hope this helps!

Just think of it as a more clunky Baldur's Gate (if you've ever played that?)

edit: also if you don't like the combat most of it is fairly easy to just run right past

I already stated that I was aware that the game allows you to alter how game combat flows in my post. I was curious if anyone knew of any configurations that would replicate the VATS system of combat from Fallout 1 & 2.

CottonWolf posted:

The backers are going to be voting on the combat system after the kickstarter is over. There'll be phase based, I would assume RTwP and perhaps others to choose from.

Thanks, phase based sounds like the right way to go.

# ¿ Mar 24, 2013 04:59

Brought To You By: Oct 31, 2012

^^^ Gotta love that old fashion phrase-based combat.

But looking at some other forum definitions of phase based, I think what I meant was turn-based. Phase based seems to be what final fantasy was using before XII where everyone dictates their actions at the beginning of a round and the game plays out who does what based on initiative.

# ¿ Mar 24, 2013 05:46

Brought To You By: Oct 31, 2012

Chipped in my $5 for now. I'm coming up on the end of my first playthrough of PS:T and I'm really psyched about seeing this game completed.

# ¿ Apr 2, 2013 18:27

Brought To You By: Oct 31, 2012

2house2fly posted:

I just now noticed that there's a companion quests stretch goal; I'm a little unnerved about Eternity now, as I just assumed companion quests were a given after they added so much to New Vegas, and don't recall seeing them mentioned. Well, fingers crossed.

In Torment it seems the idea will be to resolve the companion quests in a selfish way (use them to your advantage) or an altruistic way (overcome their demons, etc). I kind of hope the selfish way provides a significant in-game benefit, while the altruistic way provides very little benefit, or even a penalty, to make it a more difficult choice for the player. I never really felt any inclincation to, say, convince Lily in New Vegas to stop taking her meds altogether, as she was fine in combat either way; same with Raul and becoming a gunslinger/repairman, although both of those are pretty happy endings for him anyway.

I don't know. Trying to favor one form of interaction over another seems to fly in the face of presenting the choice at all. Why bother choosing the altruistic path if the benefits are of less value than the selfish path? What I would be interested in seeing is having companions actively determine whether or not they want to continue travelling with you at all. Do they see you as an asset to them just as much as you (potentially) see them as assets? I can think to a few interactions in PS:T where my choice caused characters to leave the party or decide that ToN or another member were enemies and they outright attacked us. Vhailor you magnificent bastard. :black101:

Especially when you consider that your companions literally feel your pain; how far would someone go with you knowing that every time you take a laser scimitar to the torso their the ones who will feel the burn?

# ¿ Apr 3, 2013 18:05

Brought To You By: Oct 31, 2012

Great Rumbler posted:

BenRGamer posted:

Fathom 10 is gonna be zoomed out showing the snowglobe in Fathom 1, calling it now.

Sherd Red posted:

Obviously, the tenth fathom will be your Brain's desk, and you'll be able to talk to your Brain.

Good news, your both right.
Also, I think obelisk seen through the window is the same seen when they introduce fathom 7.

# ¿ Apr 5, 2013 01:10

Brought To You By: Oct 31, 2012

Super Waffle posted:

That obelisk might also be the Amber Monolith?

http://www.numenera.com/the-amber-monolith/

Given how some of the settings in TToN seem to be unique to inXile's game, I think this monolith (spire?) is unique to this game.

# ¿ Apr 5, 2013 01:17

Brought To You By: Oct 31, 2012

Nilbop posted:

Left 4 Dead is the videogame version of a sketch comedy show stretched out over a season with a string of lightly-related skits. It's not the same.

I think he's referring more to the AI director than the overall tone of the game. The AI director does a great job of presenting the player(s) with a steady stream of enemies with variable difficulty in order to push them through each campaign. Another factor is that L4D is primarily designed for action over environmental interaction, adding to this is the extremely linear setup for both the level design and Climax events. (Climax events are pre-scripted events where zombie hordes are guaranteed to appear).

I can see something similar to the Shadow lords from Ultima V working pretty well. But that may also feel too random to players and create situations where you are returning to a previous region to finish a side-quest only to find the Angel of Entropy sitting in the town square. So the objective is to create a system where the player is aware that they are operating on borrowed time but give them enough freedom to experience the game world organically.

I can think of a few questions regarding the Angel of Entropy's pursuit of the player:

How does the AoE percieve the players presence or actions?
- Does the AoE use an advanced form of technology to monitor information networks looking for new of the PC's actions?
- Does the PC exude or generate a specific energy/psychic/Magic pattern that the AoE can track, and returning to the same area or lingering gives it a stronger read on that location?
Does the AoE have the ability to create avatars or similar vessels in order to roam the environment incognito?
- If this is the case, it may be possible for the AoE to take on a more proactive role in information gathering by blending into the environment to trail you.
- I'm thinking that the AoE might be able to use mere-like devices just like the changing god. (Perhaps the reason the AoE hunts the changing god and his offshoots is because he used technology the AoE either created or wishes to have a monopoly on)
How does the AoE showing up in the game world affect future ventures?
- If the AoE were to show up at the Sagus Cliffs what would be the outcome?
- Will the area be damaged because the AoE has been looking for you?
- Will the population be informed of the AoE's mission and given incentives to rat you out?
- Will other NPC's take it upon themselves to inform on you based on your past interactions with them?
  - Imagine a companion betraying you because they have come to view your existence as a plague on the world
Combating the AoE
- When the AoE shows up in any game area is the player automatically forced to flee?
- Is it possible to combat or negotiate with it in an effort to buy time?
- Can your companions or NPCs that have a positive opinion of the PC act to hide you from the AoE or otherwise delay it destroying you?
- Can you permanently lose companions during encounters with the AoE.
  - I personally would love this because it would add weight to your actions when confronting your possible demise
- If the AoE engages you in combat how will dying to it play out?
- Will your companions suffer permanent damage alongside the PC?
- Is it game over to die to the AoE? (assuming that this is before any possible end-game sequences between you and the AoE)

I'm going to go ahead and re-post this list in the developers website later this week if anyone would be interested in pursuing this line of thought.

Brought To You By fucked around with this message at 04:09 on May 22, 2013

# ¿ May 22, 2013 03:59

Brought To You By: Oct 31, 2012

Great Rumbler posted:

This was posted today on the Torment Facebook page:

"Before the Fall"

Real talk, if this game is able to capture a moment of staring down at Earth surrounded by borderline alien technology all while telling a great and emotional story. When I look upon the planet and reflect upon everything it took to get to that point; I might just pause a minute just to shed a tear.

# ¿ May 24, 2013 23:08

Brought To You By: Oct 31, 2012

Megazver posted:

And yet somehow, that poo poo works quite well for those games.

It works for the type of game that The Walking Dead is being an extremely linear adventure game with light action elements. Basing all the combat in an open ended RPG entirely around QTE rapid button inputs doesn't seem like a good idea. Especially if the game is going to have considerable length, I'd rather micromanage a team of people through each encounter than break my keyboard hammering the space bar.

# ¿ Dec 9, 2013 21:41

Brought To You By: Oct 31, 2012

Is the tumblr layout supposed to look that way? It's not unreadable but it looks like a wall of white text on a black background with no formatting and all the hyperlinks are poorly arranged.

# ¿ Mar 4, 2014 06:19

Brought To You By: Oct 31, 2012

Sleep of Bronze posted:

No, I think there's something wrong on your end. The text could probably be darker but it's honestly one of the more readable formats I've seen on Tumblr.

Thanks, I'll look into what could be the cause then. It's been bothering me for a week and I haven't been able to use another computer to suss out if it was just me or a site wide problem.

For reference this is what I am seeing.

# ¿ Mar 4, 2014 08:33

Brought To You By: Oct 31, 2012

Drifter posted:

I don't understand? It looks, aside from the white on black (you'll never go back) pretty much the same.

Do you have an adblocker/noscript browser thing running?

The problem is that I am unable to view most tumblr themes with the proper formatting.

So the white background and justified text blocks are not visible to me at all and it makes reading some tumblr pages impossible. I get all the same text and images anyone else would, but it looks like the html borked itself or something. I did turn off all my browser scripts and re-installed my current browsers and the same effect occurs. Next step is to email the site and check with them.

# ¿ Mar 4, 2014 14:25

Brought To You By: Oct 31, 2012

univbee posted:

Just to make sure since it's not clear, are you using some sort of high-contrast setup due to vision difficulties? If so, what do you have set up for this (plugins, browser/OS settings etc.)?

Ah, no I'm using Google Chrome with only the adblockplus (deactivated) and tumblr savior extensions. OS is Windows 8.

# ¿ Mar 4, 2014 14:33

Brought To You By: Oct 31, 2012

FRINGE posted:

Try firefox with no addins.

Then move over to Haus Support or whatever its called now.

Yeah, that didn't work either. I'll get a thread in Haus up when I get the chance. Thank you all for your suggestions.

# ¿ Mar 4, 2014 15:42

Brought To You By: Oct 31, 2012

Looks like now is the time to start burying my head in the sand regarding lore and such.

# ¿ Sep 17, 2014 17:27

Brought To You By: Oct 31, 2012

The new website layout, pre-alpha video footage, and my recent financial stability has got me ready to increase my pledge to one that includes a copy of the game. I have a question though, why is the Lore Seeker reward 5,000 points but has a better overall value than the Digital Collector's edition priced at 6,000 points? I was originally going to go for the DCE until the rewards page updated again and I'll probably be going with the Lore Seeker since it's only $45 extra dollars and I get the PS:T retrospective as well.

# ¿ Sep 19, 2014 18:59

Brought To You By: Oct 31, 2012

I can't wait to go to the place shown at 0:33. I remember having a toy kind of like the floors shown there that was a bunch of metal rods you could push against and make an imprint on and just shake the thing to reset them.

# ¿ May 21, 2015 14:13

Brought To You By: Oct 31, 2012

dangerdoom volvo posted:

Environments look good, characters and combat look like sub-spiderweb

I think it's interesting that the movement icons are circles instead of square or hexagonal. I wonder if they are moving away from a static grid and instead going for something closer to WH4K.

# ¿ May 21, 2015 14:58

Brought To You By: Oct 31, 2012

Jimbot posted:

Cube bubbles. Sign me up!

Oh man how did I miss that. The 9th world looks so cool I"m glad I increased my pledge for this.

Here's the latest journal entry detailing what's new with the game (link)
There's the next Novella out right now so if that's part of your pledge tier you can download it from the official site under rewards, and pick up the first novella if you haven't already.

I can't wait to visit this place. Moving floors are cool and the tech writeup about how they got it to work is a good read.

# ¿ May 21, 2015 18:30

Brought To You By: Oct 31, 2012

Kurtofan posted:

Alpha? Is the game still releasing at the end of the year?

I think the alpha builds going out are just so that people can test certain systems that are being worked on.

# ¿ Aug 14, 2015 22:25

Brought To You By: Oct 31, 2012

Hey Brother None, just got the most recent update containing the third From the Depths story and I noticed a few things.
~~The PDF zip file contains the previous From the Depths gold story. This is also the case with the .mobi file.~~ Whoops downloaded the wrong files for these two.
The epub version is missing any metadata, and the cover and table of contents are the last pages as opposed to being at the beginning. The font style is also much smaller than the defaults ones in teh previous two entries. Similarly, the .mobi file has some formatting issues with alignment for the table of contents.

Brought To You By fucked around with this message at 06:16 on Apr 30, 2016

# ¿ Apr 30, 2016 06:13

Brought To You By: Oct 31, 2012

Just realized I had an email about this game being released. I have a quick question.

Is there any difference between the Base game and the Immortal Edition ugprade. I have both in my account and if the latter is just the prizes I'll ignore it. I already have those through my account.

# ¿ Mar 3, 2017 03:21

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# ¿ Apr 28, 2024 01:35

Brought To You By: Oct 31, 2012

Thank you I had forgotten I had increased my pledge for the novellas and apparently I put myself in the $50 category. (Go me from the past)
I don't really know anyone who will get this game but I'll keep the key around and maybe someone else will get a use for it. I also have a costume upgrade but I don't see a beta key which is fine.

# ¿ Mar 3, 2017 03:32

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Torment: Tides of Numenera - Turns out there is room for 2!