I´m looking forward to spending time with Cassidy and her friends in the next episode. They´re my kind of people. Or atleast they were when I was younger.
Although I´m sure we´ll be saying goodbye to them again by the end of the episode. Which kind of sucks.
I mean, I made the call to Lyla this episode, because I knew we were going to have to leave the grandparents some way or another. Might as well talk to my bff if we´re screwed anyway.
That was a bad metagaming moment for me.
Other than Cassidy and friends I´m looking forward to eventually meeting mom, which I´m pretty sure will happen at some point.
It really frustrates me when there are dialogue choices and you can't state the obvious for instance at the very end of the episode Daniel asks something along the lines of:
"Why did Chris run out in front of the police car" Like right then and there I wanted to say "Well it's because you made him think he had freaking super powers you dumb ass and kept showing them off every time I told you not to!"
It was great in my opinion. I really don’t get what the fuss is about. It was a very good 3 hour + episode, more development in relationship between the brothers, Chris gets hurt depending on choices and we meet a character we will seemingly be on the road with in the next episode. The whole mystery surrounding their mother and why she left is keeping me invested too. Great episode as far as i am concerned. Seems some people only value action sequences or something to make a good episode
So, nowadays everybody that doesn´t fit the norm is automatically a hipster?
Even for a generalization that´s pretty darn general, man.
As someone who´s lived in squats for most of his youth I take offense on behalf of all the crust punks.
They did a pretty good job of reminding me of my old friends, actually. I´m pretty sure they will screw that up next episode, but for now I liked them.
So, nowadays everybody that doesn´t fit the norm is automatically a hipster?
Even for a generalization that´s pretty darn general, man.
… moreAs someone who´s lived in squats for most of his youth I take offense on behalf of all the crust punks.
They did a pretty good job of reminding me of my old friends, actually. I´m pretty sure they will screw that up next episode, but for now I liked them.
Tf? 4 month wait from episode 1 to 2. 4 month wait for episode 2 to 3. 4 month wait from episode 4 to 5. Surely they auren't making enough money to keep this game in development for over 2 years? And yet the game turns out so half-baked that I laugh at the animations when characters cry. To think that everyone was like they were just preparing the other episodes so the wait would be shorter after episode 2.
Tf? 4 month wait from episode 1 to 2. 4 month wait for episode 2 to 3. 4 month wait from episode 4 to 5. Surely they auren't making enough m… moreoney to keep this game in development for over 2 years? And yet the game turns out so half-baked that I laugh at the animations when characters cry. To think that everyone was like they were just preparing the other episodes so the wait would be shorter after episode 2.
do we have any idea how big the LIS2 team is? They're definitely losing money on this game even with post release/post season sales. It looks like consumers just dont like the episodic format anymore.
Tf? 4 month wait from episode 1 to 2. 4 month wait for episode 2 to 3. 4 month wait from episode 4 to 5. Surely they auren't making enough m… moreoney to keep this game in development for over 2 years? And yet the game turns out so half-baked that I laugh at the animations when characters cry. To think that everyone was like they were just preparing the other episodes so the wait would be shorter after episode 2.
R.I.P. Dontnod. No idea why this is happening. 4 months for each episode?! I feel so sorry for you guys. Takes over a year to get the full game you bought. The full story.
That's unprecedented for a story-based episodic game. Whoa.
Edit: Actually, considering the story is one big journey in a single direction, there's no backtracking and visiting previously-made locations. They're having to make many new areas and locales for each episode.
However, 4 months is way too long. But what do I know of game development, right?
...Yeah, they're probably having some bad financial times. 4 months... holy geez.
I remember there being problems at Square Enix, the publisher, a few months back, but I’m not sure if that would have any impact on the development or the game itself.
It looks like Dontnod might be falling into the same trap as Telltale did after the breakout success of TWD S1. Both S1 and LiS became huge successes for their respectful companies, who both had been slowly rising and developing a following, but these got them into the mainstream. Numbers exceed anything they’ve done before and they think they’ve made it big, but this could have a naive effect and badly impact the company’s decisions as time moves on. We saw that with Telltale, and look what happened. While the games in the immediate aftermath of S1 still sold well, due to poor decisions, the company didn’t really profit from them. And while Clem stuck around, future games in TWD series, even S2, we’re nothing compared to S1. That could be because fans fell in love with the dynamic of Lee and Clem, and due to Lee’s death, were not interested in what happened next. Perhaps the same thing happened with LiS2 by removing Max and Chloe, the centerpieces of the first game. There’s probably a lot of other factors, some internal that I or anyone don’t know about, but I wouldn’t be surprised if this was the case.
I will also say that this does not look good for Dontnod if sales are down, because they have another episodic game coming out that isn’t LiS related, and a lot of people are saying it doesn’t look good.
inb4 Dontnod pull a telltale and declare bankruptcy
Yeah idk what the hell is happening with the development of this game but at least people have the dates for the next episodes now.
Either their business management is crap (like TT) or they are perfectly fine in doing this, but it doesn't make sense to me how so much time, a bigger budget, and more devs can still lead to such a (in my opinion) trash game. This doesn't even really consider story.
TFS: 1. 4 Episodes release within 5 months
2. Amazing voice acting and dialogue
3. Lip sync works fine.
4. Scenes don't need music to be powerful, except for that Walker Barn scene
5. Main character doesn't love talking to herself.
6. Can pull off more emotion without taking the easy route like the plot lines LiS2 takes.
LiS2: 1. 5 Episodes within probably 10 months
2. Below average voice acting and dialogue
3. Lip sync isn't satisfactory.
4. Scenes need music or hugs to be powerful
5. Main character loves talking to himself, giving detailed recounts of what he did years ago
Yeah there's definitely something going on, I mean the entire game is going on GamePass so I >guess it underperformed?
I remember there being problems at Square Enix, the publisher, a few months back, but I’m not sure if that would have any impact on the deve… morelopment or the game itself.
It looks like Dontnod might be falling into the same trap as Telltale did after the breakout success of TWD S1. Both S1 and LiS became huge successes for their respectful companies, who both had been slowly rising and developing a following, but these got them into the mainstream. Numbers exceed anything they’ve done before and they think they’ve made it big, but this could have a naive effect and badly impact the company’s decisions as time moves on. We saw that with Telltale, and look what happened. While the games in the immediate aftermath of S1 still sold well, due to poor decisions, the company didn’t really profit from them. And while Clem stuck around, future games in TWD series, even S2, we’re nothing compared to S1. That could be because fans fell in love with the … [view original content]
I have a feeling that because a lot of people (myself included) weren't a big fan of the final episode of season one this time around they started out with putting a lot of attention into the ending of the story. And the rest off the episodes are more or less filler to get us there.
If I'm right (probably not, I hardly ever am) this clearly is not the best way to do episodic games.
I have a feeling that because a lot of people (myself included) weren't a big fan of the final episode of season one this time around they s… moretarted out with putting a lot of attention into the ending of the story. And the rest off the episodes are more or less filler to get us there.
If I'm right (probably not, I hardly ever am) this clearly is not the best way to do episodic games.
If there are still developers that want to do episodic games going into next gen, they should steer clear of Telltale (exception being TFS' planned release schedule before they went under, though the reuse of multiple locations probably helped speed things) and (especially) Dontnod's release schedule. Instead, they should take a look at what Capcom did with Resident Evil Revelations 2, by finishing the entire game and then releasing the episodes on a weekly or biweekly basis.
Not really, the last time they talked about its episodic format, the producer that they expected each episode to be the size of a full-length game. Basically what Final Fantasy XV was supposed to be before they were forced to cut it apart and change the story that it could ship in one game. Think of it more like a trilogy of games, so that they don't have to butcher it.
If I'm right (probably not, I hardly ever am) this clearly is not the best way to do episodic games.
Well, if this is a huge problem, then Final Fantasy 7 Remake might be in danger.
Can't say anything about RErev2, but I'm always fascinated and impressed whenever I hear of that episodic release model. You want to tell the story in chunks, let people talk about each one, and manage to deliver that game in a timely manner? Make it first. Release it in small spurts.
If there are still developers that want to do episodic games going into next gen, they should steer clear of Telltale (exception being TFS' … moreplanned release schedule before they went under, though the reuse of multiple locations probably helped speed things) and (especially) Dontnod's release schedule. Instead, they should take a look at what Capcom did with Resident Evil Revelations 2, by finishing the entire game and then releasing the episodes on a weekly or biweekly basis.
I agree 100% with this. It never made sense to me as to why TellTale and Dontnod never had their entire seasons completely done before releasing the first episodes of their respective games. As a company you have no idea what could happen during the 3 or 4 months of development in between episode releases. Heck, TellTale demonstrated perfectly well that a lot of bad stuff can still happen even during a single month of development between episodes. All this has done so far is made people avoid/stop buying episodic games and only buying them (if they even still do buy them) when all episodes are released.
If there are still developers that want to do episodic games going into next gen, they should steer clear of Telltale (exception being TFS' … moreplanned release schedule before they went under, though the reuse of multiple locations probably helped speed things) and (especially) Dontnod's release schedule. Instead, they should take a look at what Capcom did with Resident Evil Revelations 2, by finishing the entire game and then releasing the episodes on a weekly or biweekly basis.
I think the purpose of doing so is to respond to fan feedback, that way, you can have a continuously improving product as the episodes progress. Have the story and certain stuff planned out, develop Episode 1 while being in the early stages of Episode 2 and other episodes, look at the reviews and fan reactions to it, and respond accordingly. TFTBL, while it had a long wait, did pretty well with this as the fan response gave us more Loader Bot, a happy and playful Gortys, and various other elements that people love about the game.
It certainly has it's downsides, but there is a reason for doing it this way. Telltale's failures have certainly highlighted the problematic nature of these games, but that doesn't mean it can't ever be done right.
I agree 100% with this. It never made sense to me as to why TellTale and Dontnod never had their entire seasons completely done before relea… moresing the first episodes of their respective games. As a company you have no idea what could happen during the 3 or 4 months of development in between episode releases. Heck, TellTale demonstrated perfectly well that a lot of bad stuff can still happen even during a single month of development between episodes. All this has done so far is made people avoid/stop buying episodic games and only buying them (if they even still do buy them) when all episodes are released.
I really gotta play Tales From the Borderlands these days. And I understand that they do the bi-monthly wait to respond to fan feedback and everything, but I can't help but think it also acts as a double-edge sword for the developers as well as for the consumers who just want to play through the game without having to wait half a year(or even a full year) just to finish it. I personally think how Dontnod is handling the release schedule of their LiS Season 2 episodes is ridiculous and will just end up pissing everybody off. I mean, I'm pretty sure most people aren't even interested in playing the game until all episodes are released anyway. If TellTale didn't close down, I couldn't imagine how pissed off this fanbase would be if The Walking Dead: The Final Season had a four month wait period between each episode.
I think the purpose of doing so is to respond to fan feedback, that way, you can have a continuously improving product as the episodes progr… moreess. Have the story and certain stuff planned out, develop Episode 1 while being in the early stages of Episode 2 and other episodes, look at the reviews and fan reactions to it, and respond accordingly. TFTBL, while it had a long wait, did pretty well with this as the fan response gave us more Loader Bot, a happy and playful Gortys, and various other elements that people love about the game.
It certainly has it's downsides, but there is a reason for doing it this way. Telltale's failures have certainly highlighted the problematic nature of these games, but that doesn't mean it can't ever be done right.
I really gotta play Tales From the Borderlands these days. And I understand that they do the bi-monthly wait to respond to fan feedback and … moreeverything, but I can't help but think it also acts as a double-edge sword for the developers as well as for the consumers who just want to play through the game without having to wait half a year(or even a full year) just to finish it. I personally think how Dontnod is handling the release schedule of their LiS Season 2 episodes is ridiculous and will just end up pissing everybody off. I mean, I'm pretty sure most people aren't even interested in playing the game until all episodes are released anyway. If TellTale didn't close down, I couldn't imagine how pissed off this fanbase would be if The Walking Dead: The Final Season had a four month wait period between each episode.
As well as what @MetallicaRules said, by only havng parts of the episodes complete and releasing Episode 1 allows the company to start pre-orders earlier as well as the Season Pass. Even if they don't buy the Pass, people are more comfortable with paying £5 every 3 months than sooner. There's less downtime, more hype although it dies down because of long waits. So as well as being an iterative thing, it's also a business thing. Didn't really work out for Telltale though in the end because no-one wanted to get their games anyway because few nowadays are worth replaying.
I agree 100% with this. It never made sense to me as to why TellTale and Dontnod never had their entire seasons completely done before relea… moresing the first episodes of their respective games. As a company you have no idea what could happen during the 3 or 4 months of development in between episode releases. Heck, TellTale demonstrated perfectly well that a lot of bad stuff can still happen even during a single month of development between episodes. All this has done so far is made people avoid/stop buying episodic games and only buying them (if they even still do buy them) when all episodes are released.
This new game is apparently their most ambitious one yet.
“We are delighted to continue the adventure with the team at DONTNOD who have already amply demonstrated their talents to create rich universes, enhanced by a masterful narrative and unique artistic direction. We are proud to once again allow the talent of the studio to express itself on this new project which is intended to be among the most ambitious in the history of FOCUS and DONTNOD” said John Bert, COO of Focus Home Interactive.
“We are excited to be strengthening our successful relationship with FOCUS HOME INTERACTIVE," said DONTNOD CEO Oskar Guilbert. " Their proven and effective marketing, their ability to address new digital distribution channels, their experienced teams and the convergence of our editorial visions makes FOCUS an ideal partner for our new game. Vampyr is a great success and we are very happy to develop this partnership with this exciting new project. "
And this is concept art for the new game.
Also mentioned in the press release is a port of Vampyr for the Switch (not sure if tnat had previously been announced).
Comments
it was cassidy you urban
I'd hate to speak ill of LiS2, but episode 2 definitely wasn't worth the 4 month long wait. Hopefully 3 will be.
I´m looking forward to spending time with Cassidy and her friends in the next episode. They´re my kind of people. Or atleast they were when I was younger.
Although I´m sure we´ll be saying goodbye to them again by the end of the episode. Which kind of sucks.
I mean, I made the call to Lyla this episode, because I knew we were going to have to leave the grandparents some way or another. Might as well talk to my bff if we´re screwed anyway.
That was a bad metagaming moment for me.
Other than Cassidy and friends I´m looking forward to eventually meeting mom, which I´m pretty sure will happen at some point.
It really frustrates me when there are dialogue choices and you can't state the obvious for instance at the very end of the episode Daniel asks something along the lines of:
"Why did Chris run out in front of the police car" Like right then and there I wanted to say "Well it's because you made him think he had freaking super powers you dumb ass and kept showing them off every time I told you not to!"
That police officer at the end was the racist man in Episode 1, right?
It was great in my opinion. I really don’t get what the fuss is about. It was a very good 3 hour + episode, more development in relationship between the brothers, Chris gets hurt depending on choices and we meet a character we will seemingly be on the road with in the next episode. The whole mystery surrounding their mother and why she left is keeping me invested too. Great episode as far as i am concerned. Seems some people only value action sequences or something to make a good episode
No. Hank Stamper is not a cop
Huh. Sure looked similiar.
Telltale sure loves they're hipsters, that was my big takeaway from episode 2.
Did you mean Dontnod?
My mistake.
What characters are you talking about? I don't remember seeing any hipsters.
The two people with the dog.
So, nowadays everybody that doesn´t fit the norm is automatically a hipster?
Even for a generalization that´s pretty darn general, man.
As someone who´s lived in squats for most of his youth I take offense on behalf of all the crust punks.
They did a pretty good job of reminding me of my old friends, actually. I´m pretty sure they will screw that up next episode, but for now I liked them.
What do you consider a hipster then?
I don´t know, or care to know, much about hipsters.
All I know the characters you mentioned aren't ones.
I'm sure google can tell you what hipsters are all about and what they look like.
They gave the release dates for the next episodes.
Tf? 4 month wait from episode 1 to 2. 4 month wait for episode 2 to 3. 4 month wait from episode 4 to 5. Surely they auren't making enough money to keep this game in development for over 2 years? And yet the game turns out so half-baked that I laugh at the animations when characters cry. To think that everyone was like they were just preparing the other episodes so the wait would be shorter after episode 2.
inb4 Dontnod pull a telltale and declare bankruptcy
Yeah idk what the hell is happening with the development of this game but at least people have the dates for the next episodes now.
do we have any idea how big the LIS2 team is? They're definitely losing money on this game even with post release/post season sales. It looks like consumers just dont like the episodic format anymore.
Holy cow. That's just... really really not good.
R.I.P. Dontnod. No idea why this is happening. 4 months for each episode?! I feel so sorry for you guys. Takes over a year to get the full game you bought. The full story.
That's unprecedented for a story-based episodic game. Whoa.
Edit: Actually, considering the story is one big journey in a single direction, there's no backtracking and visiting previously-made locations. They're having to make many new areas and locales for each episode.
However, 4 months is way too long. But what do I know of game development, right?
...Yeah, they're probably having some bad financial times. 4 months... holy geez.
I remember there being problems at Square Enix, the publisher, a few months back, but I’m not sure if that would have any impact on the development or the game itself.
It looks like Dontnod might be falling into the same trap as Telltale did after the breakout success of TWD S1. Both S1 and LiS became huge successes for their respectful companies, who both had been slowly rising and developing a following, but these got them into the mainstream. Numbers exceed anything they’ve done before and they think they’ve made it big, but this could have a naive effect and badly impact the company’s decisions as time moves on. We saw that with Telltale, and look what happened. While the games in the immediate aftermath of S1 still sold well, due to poor decisions, the company didn’t really profit from them. And while Clem stuck around, future games in TWD series, even S2, we’re nothing compared to S1. That could be because fans fell in love with the dynamic of Lee and Clem, and due to Lee’s death, were not interested in what happened next. Perhaps the same thing happened with LiS2 by removing Max and Chloe, the centerpieces of the first game. There’s probably a lot of other factors, some internal that I or anyone don’t know about, but I wouldn’t be surprised if this was the case.
I will also say that this does not look good for Dontnod if sales are down, because they have another episodic game coming out that isn’t LiS related, and a lot of people are saying it doesn’t look good.
Either their business management is crap (like TT) or they are perfectly fine in doing this, but it doesn't make sense to me how so much time, a bigger budget, and more devs can still lead to such a (in my opinion) trash game. This doesn't even really consider story.
I have a feeling that because a lot of people (myself included) weren't a big fan of the final episode of season one this time around they started out with putting a lot of attention into the ending of the story. And the rest off the episodes are more or less filler to get us there.
If I'm right (probably not, I hardly ever am) this clearly is not the best way to do episodic games.
Well, if this is a huge problem, then Final Fantasy 7 Remake might be in danger.
If there are still developers that want to do episodic games going into next gen, they should steer clear of Telltale (exception being TFS' planned release schedule before they went under, though the reuse of multiple locations probably helped speed things) and (especially) Dontnod's release schedule. Instead, they should take a look at what Capcom did with Resident Evil Revelations 2, by finishing the entire game and then releasing the episodes on a weekly or biweekly basis.
Not really, the last time they talked about its episodic format, the producer that they expected each episode to be the size of a full-length game. Basically what Final Fantasy XV was supposed to be before they were forced to cut it apart and change the story that it could ship in one game. Think of it more like a trilogy of games, so that they don't have to butcher it.
Very much this. ^
Can't say anything about RErev2, but I'm always fascinated and impressed whenever I hear of that episodic release model. You want to tell the story in chunks, let people talk about each one, and manage to deliver that game in a timely manner? Make it first. Release it in small spurts.
I agree 100% with this. It never made sense to me as to why TellTale and Dontnod never had their entire seasons completely done before releasing the first episodes of their respective games. As a company you have no idea what could happen during the 3 or 4 months of development in between episode releases. Heck, TellTale demonstrated perfectly well that a lot of bad stuff can still happen even during a single month of development between episodes. All this has done so far is made people avoid/stop buying episodic games and only buying them (if they even still do buy them) when all episodes are released.
I think the purpose of doing so is to respond to fan feedback, that way, you can have a continuously improving product as the episodes progress. Have the story and certain stuff planned out, develop Episode 1 while being in the early stages of Episode 2 and other episodes, look at the reviews and fan reactions to it, and respond accordingly. TFTBL, while it had a long wait, did pretty well with this as the fan response gave us more Loader Bot, a happy and playful Gortys, and various other elements that people love about the game.
It certainly has it's downsides, but there is a reason for doing it this way. Telltale's failures have certainly highlighted the problematic nature of these games, but that doesn't mean it can't ever be done right.
I really gotta play Tales From the Borderlands these days. And I understand that they do the bi-monthly wait to respond to fan feedback and everything, but I can't help but think it also acts as a double-edge sword for the developers as well as for the consumers who just want to play through the game without having to wait half a year(or even a full year) just to finish it. I personally think how Dontnod is handling the release schedule of their LiS Season 2 episodes is ridiculous and will just end up pissing everybody off. I mean, I'm pretty sure most people aren't even interested in playing the game until all episodes are released anyway. If TellTale didn't close down, I couldn't imagine how pissed off this fanbase would be if The Walking Dead: The Final Season had a four month wait period between each episode.
It really is a double edged sword, that's the best way to describe it.
As well as what @MetallicaRules said, by only havng parts of the episodes complete and releasing Episode 1 allows the company to start pre-orders earlier as well as the Season Pass. Even if they don't buy the Pass, people are more comfortable with paying £5 every 3 months than sooner. There's less downtime, more hype although it dies down because of long waits. So as well as being an iterative thing, it's also a business thing. Didn't really work out for Telltale though in the end because no-one wanted to get their games anyway because few nowadays are worth replaying.
Arent they just taking their time to bring best possible experience possible like LiS 1?
I heard that players hated Episode 2 and it was released 4 months after Episode 1.
Oh yes nice,we can finally buy the other episodes individually good to know.
Good for those people.
I wonder how much money they gained from people who bought the season pass just to get access to Episode 2.
Might as well post this here, today Focus Home Interactive announced a renewal of their partnership with Dontnod, following the success of the previous game they worked on together, Vampyr, and now they are already working on a new title for them.
https://www.actusnews.com/fr/DONTNOD-ENTERTAINMENT/cp/2019/04/10/dontnod-entertainment-and-focus-home-interactive-announce-a-new-collaboration
This new game is apparently their most ambitious one yet.
And this is concept art for the new game.
Also mentioned in the press release is a port of Vampyr for the Switch (not sure if tnat had previously been announced).