Zero Punctuation: Mighty No. 9

[darkrage6]

That's because Unreal 3 wasn't out of date in those games, no duh. It's a great engine but it was no longer being updated by the time MN9s development was in full swing, so in order to fix things the developers had to manually edit the games code, which is one reason why development took so much longer then it should have. Had they used Unreal 4 instead the game wouldn't have had so many bugs.

I think one of us doesn't understand how game tech works. Are you saying that Epic provided free bug fixes to its licensees (licensors?) over Unreal 3's lifespan but never integrated them into the main branch, leaving it a buggy mess for anyone else who picked it up? Because that's certainly not how I'd deal with things if I were in their position ? having to fix the same issues over and over instead of just pushing out a patch for everyone.

I'm no expert on game engines admittedly, but that's what lots of other people who have played this game have said is the main reason why the game runs so poorly.

 

[darkrage6]

Well there's a surprise - Yahtzee is actually the most reasonable critic of this that I've seen yet.

Not to say that he showers it with praise (that's not why we come to ZP), but he's just less butthurt than most people about its problems - most of which are inherent in making a new totally-not-Megaman game.

People aren't "butthurt", the MN9 people flat out lied about many things and their Kickstarter was very sketchy. Plus the Wii U version if known for crashing repeatedly, which is flat out inexcusable, the team were also being dicks by saying "it's better then nothing" yeah no it fucking isn't at this point.

If you're going to bandy around that "better than nothing" quote you should already know by now that it was entirely thrown in by the translator. Inafune has said pretty unambiguously that the numerous problems with MN9 are his fault and that he'll wear that.
There's plenty of stuff for fans and backers to be pissed off about (I should know, I was one), but that hardly qualifies as him being a dick about it.

My point is, Yahtzee went in with realistic expectations as to what a Megaman game actually is, and not some delusion about it being the second coming. He still calls that game out for its bullshit where necessary (which is a lot), but he's also quick to point out when said bullshit is par for the course for a Megaman game.

Hence he gives it a fair, critical beatdown instead of one fuelled by rage at everything the company did wrong.

Um i'm well aware it was said by his translator. But that doesn't fucking matter, his translator was still part of the development team, and it was still a VERY fucking stupid thing to say regardless, that guy pretty much insulted the people who did give money to the game and essentially ignored all the perfectly reasonable complaints(plus many backers STILL haven't gotten their digital copies like they were promised), so it's perfectly justifiable for him to be criticized for saying something that damn stupid.

Inafune is not a good business man(which Hideki Kamiya has said), if he was, he would not have stupidly tried to do not one, but TWO Kickstarters for Red Ash(one for an anime, one for a game) BEFORE MN9's Kickstarter was even finished, that was unbelievably irresponsible and shady of him(especially since Red Ash somehow managed to get funds from a third party after the Kickstarter failed).

I don't think that many people went into this game with "delusions", they just expected the game to be decent, and for many people it was mediocre(Yahtzee may not have hated it, but it was far from a positive review).

The game does deserve a beatdown, it's perfectly justifiable for critics to do so.

 

[RJ Dalton]

The thing is, there were some things that were really good about the original Megaman games that made them worth overlooking the flaws. For one thing, most of them have really good level design (most of the time) and a really good control scheme. And in the days when they were at their best, the story was just detailed enough that you could fill in the gaps in a way that was really interesting to you, so it seemed like it had a good story to it. This is especially true in the first Megaman X.
But the series started to fall apart when they started adding full casts of characters and lots of dialogue. Firstly because the interrupting dialogue breaks the game flow really badly, and secondly because the dialogue and characters kinda show off just how bad the creators actually are at writing. Mighty No. 9 keeps the overuse of dialogue that breaks game flow and shows off the writer's lack of competence, but it drops the good level design and adds gameplay elements that make the control scheme clunky and unpleasant. So, it keeps that bad elements while dropping all of the positives, leaving a game where the only positive thing you can really say about it is that it's functional.

 

[Nazulu]

I didn't like the look of this game from the beginning, the style just seemed off to me, and I didn't like the character designs either. However, I just found out recently they had another style in mind that actually HAD style (a more slick cartoon animation), so it's a shame we never saw that version.

WHAT. THE. FUCK.

They could have gone with this...
They could have gone with this and not the "style" they went with...

WHAT THE FUCK WERE THEY THINKING?!

I had a similar reaction at first.

Apparently, it is believed by some, that even with all the money they made, throwing the game on every platform quickly drained them dry, and so they cut down on the 'art' to make good on their promise.

I honestly have no idea if any of this is true or not, but I think a proper artist would want to focus on making one game amazing than even out funds for other things.

 

[Steve the Pocket]

That's because Unreal 3 wasn't out of date in those games, no duh. It's a great engine but it was no longer being updated by the time MN9s development was in full swing, so in order to fix things the developers had to manually edit the games code, which is one reason why development took so much longer then it should have. Had they used Unreal 4 instead the game wouldn't have had so many bugs.

I think one of us doesn't understand how game tech works. Are you saying that Epic provided free bug fixes to its licensees (licensors?) over Unreal 3's lifespan but never integrated them into the main branch, leaving it a buggy mess for anyone else who picked it up? Because that's certainly not how I'd deal with things if I were in their position ? having to fix the same issues over and over instead of just pushing out a patch for everyone.

I'm no expert on game engines admittedly, but that's what lots of other people who have played this game have said is the main reason why the game runs so poorly.

Anyone in particular? Unless they're experts in the field on some level, I'd assume they're just talking out of their asses. Granted, so am I, but my take on it is that a game engine that's near the end of its lifespan is more likely to be stable than a brand-new, untested one, assuming its creators have been regularly pushing out patches to developers (and really, given the cost of licensing engines prior to the recent shift towards free licenses, they'd sure better have been).

 

[Nazulu]

Now that I'm done reeling in shock. I'm going to say they could probably do both. Sort of.

They could have just started with one console and then added more licences once the game was done and enough money. It would be slower but they'd have far better chances of being successful. I'd have gone with the PC and maybe PS4 to start with and waited until the game made enough money to justify porting it again. I know they over-promised and all that, but fucking hell I thought they just couldn't get a good artist.

I completely agree, should've aimed to make it something people wanted to play first, then eventually make it available everywhere when people actually want it. It's the healthiest way to do business in general I reckon. It's probably in the 101 rules already ^^

 

[Amir Kondori]

This game looks fucking atrocious, I knew that Kickstarter was sketchy from the start.

I say nay nay! The game isn't garbage, it is mediocre. I backed it and I've played it. I've also backed my favorite release in the last five+ years, Pillars of Eternity, another great game Divinity: OS, another game I really like, Wasteland 2 and FTL which is awesome.

I've also backed two projects I ended up being disappointed with, Warmachine, a tactics game that just didn't click for me, and now Mighty No. 9, an action platformer that has a good feel kind of ruined by the dashing mechanic.

I've still got a lot of irons in the Kickstarter fire, I'm waiting on The Bards Tale IV, Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, Yooka-Laylee, Underworld Ascendant, The Mandate, Torment: Tides of Numenera. At least one of those games will probably disappoint me. But how many games have I bought through traditional methods that were disappointing? So far I've actually had a way higher success rate of ending up games I really like through projects I've backed on Kickstarter than traditionally funded and released games.

No one was going to make Pillars of Eternity without it being funded by fans. Obsidian was on the brink of layoffs and maybe worse before the Project Eternity Kickstarter. Now the game has sold approximately a million units and they are already working a sequel, another non-Kickstarted original IP, and are the developing some games for other publishers. Obsidian Entertainment is one of my favorite developers and not only did their Kickstarter produce an excellent game, but it might just have saved their company.

I understand why some people don't like Kickstarter, and I always say if you can't take the risk then don't back anything. But for me it was worth taking the risk on projects that truly excited me by developers that I either trust from their past work or who have made enough of the game to convince me they know what they are doing.

Since Wasteland 2 FTL and Pillars, a few of my earliest backed Kickstarter projects, I have been a HUGE believer in the platform and the idea of crowd funding. I've backed a lot of interesting stuff since then and so far I haven't had a single project fail, i.e. not release a finished project. I'm glad Kickstarter and other crowdfunding platforms exist because I believe it gives a direct voice to gamers to choose the games they want to see get made as well as opening up a new funding source for smaller developers who don't want to compromise their creative vision.

 

[The Great JT]

Why would you want to motorboat cantaloupes? Those things are really coarse.

 

[darkrage6]

This game looks fucking atrocious, I knew that Kickstarter was sketchy from the start.

I say nay nay! The game isn't garbage, it is mediocre. I backed it and I've played it. I've also backed my favorite release in the last five+ years, Pillars of Eternity, another great game Divinity: OS, another game I really like, Wasteland 2 and FTL which is awesome.

I've also backed two projects I ended up being disappointed with, Warmachine, a tactics game that just didn't click for me, and now Mighty No. 9, an action platformer that has a good feel kind of ruined by the dashing mechanic.

I've still got a lot of irons in the Kickstarter fire, I'm waiting on The Bards Tale IV, Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, Yooka-Laylee, Underworld Ascendant, The Mandate, Torment: Tides of Numenera. At least one of those games will probably disappoint me. But how many games have I bought through traditional methods that were disappointing? So far I've actually had a way higher success rate of ending up games I really like through projects I've backed on Kickstarter than traditionally funded and released games.

No one was going to make Pillars of Eternity without it being funded by fans. Obsidian was on the brink of layoffs and maybe worse before the Project Eternity Kickstarter. Now the game has sold approximately a million units and they are already working a sequel, another non-Kickstarted original IP, and are the developing some games for other publishers. Obsidian Entertainment is one of my favorite developers and not only did their Kickstarter produce an excellent game, but it might just have saved their company.

I understand why some people don't like Kickstarter, and I always say if you can't take the risk then don't back anything. But for me it was worth taking the risk on projects that truly excited me by developers that I either trust from their past work or who have made enough of the game to convince me they know what they are doing.

Since Wasteland 2 FTL and Pillars, a few of my earliest backed Kickstarter projects, I have been a HUGE believer in the platform and the idea of crowd funding. I've backed a lot of interesting stuff since then and so far I haven't had a single project fail, i.e. not release a finished project. I'm glad Kickstarter and other crowdfunding platforms exist because I believe it gives a direct voice to gamers to choose the games they want to see get made as well as opening up a new funding source for smaller developers who don't want to compromise their creative vision.

I don't have money to throw away, so I have no desire to give to any Kickstarter projects, I get why you and others believe in it, but I share Yahtzee's opinion when it comes to Kickstarter. I personally see it as worse then pre-ordering, since you're not even guaranteed a product at the end.

I like Obsidian but Pillars of Eternity didn't really look appealing to me, I hope they do a Kickstarter for an Alpha Protocol sequel.

I haven't really bought any brand new retail games that disappointed me in the least, the few bad games I bought I got really cheap used on Amazon(I.E. Ride to Hell).

 

[bluegate]

OT: Ya know, I can't figure out why this game is so ball difficult. The dashing sets you up for failure and enemy placement is utter bullshit. Am I one of the few people that doesn't associate Mega Man with difficulty or something? The originals could be tough but they weren't THAT tough... I mean sure, the first one was hard, but if you ask people about which Mega Man was their favorite of the classic series, most people will tell you it's Mega Man 2, which is funny because even on Hard difficulty, it was probably the easiest of the originals until 5 came out.

Want to know how to make the game easier? Don't spam the dash button, take your time to familiarize yourself with the levels, enemy placements and enemy abilities, and while you're at it, with Beck's abilities. Mighty No.9's Enemy placement isn't much different than the enemy placement in other Mega Man games, it's just that a lot of people seem to be under the impression that because they have played Mega Man, that they can just rush through Mighty No.9 without trouble, which most people evidently can't. You can start dashing like crazy when you've familiarized yourself with the levels and enemies, as one would in any other game.

Now that I'm done reeling in shock. I'm going to say they could probably do both. Sort of.

They could have just started with one console and then added more licences once the game was done and enough money. It would be slower but they'd have far better chances of being successful. I'd have gone with the PC and maybe PS4 to start with and waited until the game made enough money to justify porting it again. I know they over-promised and all that, but fucking hell I thought they just couldn't get a good artist.

Well, as they say, hindsight is 20/20. In hindsight, they should have waited and focused only on one platform and port from there, but things were a bit more complicated in the time of the game's Kickstarter.
The Kickstarter was started in September 2013, a time when Capcom seemed to have no interest in the Megaman series, they had recently canceled four Megaman games; Megaman Legends 3, Megaman Universe, Rockman Online and Maverick Hunter. This feeling of apathy, or some would say scorn, of Capcom towards Megaman is one of the main reasons why Mighty No.9's Kickstarter blew up as it did.
The Kickstarter initially launched with only PC as a platform, but because of its immense popularity, Comcept was pretty much bombarded with requests of people to also create the game for their platform of choice. Wanting to please their fans, they opted to add more platforms in ways of Stretch Goals.
Here things get a little bit more difficult though, September 2013 was right at the end of the PS3/X360 generation and right before the start of the PS4/XboxOne generation. The PS3/Xbox360 generation had maybe an install base of roughly 100 million units at that time, a lot of their fans will have had either of these consoles, not wanting to disappoint them, they naturally included those consoles in the list. However, with generation fatigue and the next gen hype trains in full gear, they also had a lot of people asking for next gen ports, so they added those as well. Console wise, they just came out at the wrong time, had they started their Kickstarter in September 2014, demand for previous generation consoles would have been severely less. Or had they started a year earlier in 2012, hype for the next generation wouldn't have been that strong and they could have more easily ignored next gen, released the game as a swansong for PS3/X360 and created a HD Remaster some time later.

Then there is also the Handheld crowd, a lot of which would argue that any 2D game would be ideal for their handheld of choice, also flooding the company with requests to support their device.

Had they ignored all requests for console ports, people wouldn't have been happy either, although in the end it would have ended in a better running game, most likely.
Personally, I can't blame them for trying to want to give their fans what they wanted, it's just a shame that it ended the way it did.

 

[Amir Kondori]

This game looks fucking atrocious, I knew that Kickstarter was sketchy from the start.

I say nay nay! The game isn't garbage, it is mediocre. I backed it and I've played it. I've also backed my favorite release in the last five+ years, Pillars of Eternity, another great game Divinity: OS, another game I really like, Wasteland 2 and FTL which is awesome.

I've also backed two projects I ended up being disappointed with, Warmachine, a tactics game that just didn't click for me, and now Mighty No. 9, an action platformer that has a good feel kind of ruined by the dashing mechanic.

I've still got a lot of irons in the Kickstarter fire, I'm waiting on The Bards Tale IV, Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, Yooka-Laylee, Underworld Ascendant, The Mandate, Torment: Tides of Numenera. At least one of those games will probably disappoint me. But how many games have I bought through traditional methods that were disappointing? So far I've actually had a way higher success rate of ending up games I really like through projects I've backed on Kickstarter than traditionally funded and released games.

No one was going to make Pillars of Eternity without it being funded by fans. Obsidian was on the brink of layoffs and maybe worse before the Project Eternity Kickstarter. Now the game has sold approximately a million units and they are already working a sequel, another non-Kickstarted original IP, and are the developing some games for other publishers. Obsidian Entertainment is one of my favorite developers and not only did their Kickstarter produce an excellent game, but it might just have saved their company.

I understand why some people don't like Kickstarter, and I always say if you can't take the risk then don't back anything. But for me it was worth taking the risk on projects that truly excited me by developers that I either trust from their past work or who have made enough of the game to convince me they know what they are doing.

Since Wasteland 2 FTL and Pillars, a few of my earliest backed Kickstarter projects, I have been a HUGE believer in the platform and the idea of crowd funding. I've backed a lot of interesting stuff since then and so far I haven't had a single project fail, i.e. not release a finished project. I'm glad Kickstarter and other crowdfunding platforms exist because I believe it gives a direct voice to gamers to choose the games they want to see get made as well as opening up a new funding source for smaller developers who don't want to compromise their creative vision.

I don't have money to throw away, so I have no desire to give to any Kickstarter projects, I get why you and others believe in it, but I share Yahtzee's opinion when it comes to Kickstarter. I personally see it as worse then pre-ordering, since you're not even guaranteed a product at the end.

I like Obsidian but Pillars of Eternity didn't really look appealing to me, I hope they do a Kickstarter for an Alpha Protocol sequel.

I haven't really bought any brand new retail games that disappointed me in the least, the few bad games I bought I got really cheap used on Amazon(I.E. Ride to Hell).

I would never urge people to back a project if they aren't comfortable with crowd funding. That being said it very different from pre-ordering, in that these are games that are not going to be made otherwise. NO ONE had made a Baldur's Gate/Pillars type game for well over a decade. Not only did I get an awesome game that was never going to be made otherwise, but it sounds like it prevented layoffs and sparked a good period for a developer I love.

Now we are seeing some publishers try and abuse Kickstarter, by putting up already funded games to try and extract more development money. That is something I don't like, especially when they aren't up front about it. The Bloodstained Kickstarter they were upfront about the publisher money and so I still backed it, as I love the Castlevania series and we haven't had a 2d Castlevania on anything other than handheld since SOTN like 16 years ago.

That is the big difference between a pre-order and Kickstarter, you are getting a game made that otherwise just wouldn't get made. It puts power into gamers hands, especially those of us who love genres that have all but disappeared.

 

[Evil Smurf]

I didn't like the look of this game from the beginning, the style just seemed off to me, and I didn't like the character designs either. However, I just found out recently they had another style in mind that actually HAD style (a more slick cartoon animation), so it's a shame we never saw that version.

WHAT. THE. FUCK.

They could have gone with this...
They could have gone with this and not the "style" they went with...


WHAT THE FUCK WERE THEY THINKING?!

They were too busy crying like anime fans on prom night to care.

 

[darkrage6]

This game looks fucking atrocious, I knew that Kickstarter was sketchy from the start.

I say nay nay! The game isn't garbage, it is mediocre. I backed it and I've played it. I've also backed my favorite release in the last five+ years, Pillars of Eternity, another great game Divinity: OS, another game I really like, Wasteland 2 and FTL which is awesome.

I've also backed two projects I ended up being disappointed with, Warmachine, a tactics game that just didn't click for me, and now Mighty No. 9, an action platformer that has a good feel kind of ruined by the dashing mechanic.

I've still got a lot of irons in the Kickstarter fire, I'm waiting on The Bards Tale IV, Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, Yooka-Laylee, Underworld Ascendant, The Mandate, Torment: Tides of Numenera. At least one of those games will probably disappoint me. But how many games have I bought through traditional methods that were disappointing? So far I've actually had a way higher success rate of ending up games I really like through projects I've backed on Kickstarter than traditionally funded and released games.

No one was going to make Pillars of Eternity without it being funded by fans. Obsidian was on the brink of layoffs and maybe worse before the Project Eternity Kickstarter. Now the game has sold approximately a million units and they are already working a sequel, another non-Kickstarted original IP, and are the developing some games for other publishers. Obsidian Entertainment is one of my favorite developers and not only did their Kickstarter produce an excellent game, but it might just have saved their company.

I understand why some people don't like Kickstarter, and I always say if you can't take the risk then don't back anything. But for me it was worth taking the risk on projects that truly excited me by developers that I either trust from their past work or who have made enough of the game to convince me they know what they are doing.

Since Wasteland 2 FTL and Pillars, a few of my earliest backed Kickstarter projects, I have been a HUGE believer in the platform and the idea of crowd funding. I've backed a lot of interesting stuff since then and so far I haven't had a single project fail, i.e. not release a finished project. I'm glad Kickstarter and other crowdfunding platforms exist because I believe it gives a direct voice to gamers to choose the games they want to see get made as well as opening up a new funding source for smaller developers who don't want to compromise their creative vision.

I don't have money to throw away, so I have no desire to give to any Kickstarter projects, I get why you and others believe in it, but I share Yahtzee's opinion when it comes to Kickstarter. I personally see it as worse then pre-ordering, since you're not even guaranteed a product at the end.

I like Obsidian but Pillars of Eternity didn't really look appealing to me, I hope they do a Kickstarter for an Alpha Protocol sequel.

I haven't really bought any brand new retail games that disappointed me in the least, the few bad games I bought I got really cheap used on Amazon(I.E. Ride to Hell).

I would never urge people to back a project if they aren't comfortable with crowd funding. That being said it very different from pre-ordering, in that these are games that are not going to be made otherwise. NO ONE had made a Baldur's Gate/Pillars type game for well over a decade. Not only did I get an awesome game that was never going to be made otherwise, but it sounds like it prevented layoffs and sparked a good period for a developer I love.

Now we are seeing some publishers try and abuse Kickstarter, by putting up already funded games to try and extract more development money. That is something I don't like, especially when they aren't up front about it. The Bloodstained Kickstarter they were upfront about the publisher money and so I still backed it, as I love the Castlevania series and we haven't had a 2d Castlevania on anything other than handheld since SOTN like 16 years ago.

That is the big difference between a pre-order and Kickstarter, you are getting a game made that otherwise just wouldn't get made. It puts power into gamers hands, especially those of us who love genres that have all but disappeared.

Unfortunately it also puts power into the hands of scammers who are willingly to lie to trick people out of their money.

 

[Lazule]

UNPOPULAR OPINION: Mighty No. 9 is good. It's a fun game to speedrun, the first playthrough won't be the best, you will enjoy it more the faster you get at it. I seriously think the internet was too harsh on it, they wanted a Megaman game and it is like a Megaman game although its not on the level of the Megaman X series it's still good enough.

Pro tip: Avoid using the normal buster once you get boss weapons. The sword power & the fire power are the best weapons in the game.

ALSO calling it now! People are going to get mad/disappointed at Bloodstained as well! Even through it will pretty much be like most Castlevania games with fun gameplay (which seems to be the case judging my the gameplay I watched from the beta key testers).

 

[veloper]

Mediocre, average, or relatively good even, it doesn't matter, because there's already a huge amount of mediocre to good traditional 2D platformers out there. Good isn't good enough to stand out in this genre.

This project was expected to disappoint from Kickstarter day one. A 2D platformer either needs to bring something new, or it needs to execute an old idea excellently, else it's not really worth your time with so many other games that can take up your spare time.
No.9 is a megaman clone and megaman is already a generic 2D platform series, so the only way to succeed, was to nail the gameplay almost perfectly. Turns out it didn't.

 

[Fox12]

It definitely doesn't look as good as I hoped, but I'm not sure what people were seriously expecting. The older Megaman games sported a lot of the same flaws. I can understand the backers being upset about the fact that they aren't getting their rewards, though. Backer rewards always seemed pretty iffy to me. Yes, a game may get a 4 million dollar budget on Kickstarter, but at least half of that will end up going to backer rewards. Id rather back a game and not have any flashy rewards at all. I want a good product, not a lot of junk memorabilia that's expensive to produce.

...just like 20 years from now I'll get to listen to Millennials hitting their Dad Game phase also but at the same time constantly saying what a perfect game Darksouls1 was. Infact that will probably be yet another Meme that Yahtzee will be directly responsible for.

But Dark Soul's 1 was a perfect game.

 

[normalguycap]

Forgive me if I'm wrong, but I don't think Keiji Inafune is the creator of Mega Man is he? I thought he was just a character designer from the initial Rock Man team.

Yes exactly. Inafune had surprisingly very little to do with the Megaman game series. I have the art books, I have the CDs, I have the old interviews so it's confirmed. Megaman was already created before he even joined the team. Inafune made some enemies and Zero and was largely uninvolved with Megaman past MMX2, and MM3 I think. He even only jumped back to later iterations only to offer a thing or two with Zero and give him the famous scenes to make him cooler than X.

He really is a deceitful hack fraud.

 

[ccggenius12]

Why would you want to motorboat cantaloupes? Those things are really coarse.

Right? Should have said "overripe honeydew".
OT: I'm only on the hook for $20, and as the 3DS version still has not come out, there's still (a little) hope that I'll be receiving something half-way decent. In any case, this is pretty common with first forays into Kickstarter (over-promising and being thoroughly unable to deliver), and I firmly believe that if they can scrape together the funds for a MN9 2, they'll do it right. Of course, "right" consists entirely of giving us the art direction we were promised in the first Kickstarter, something they can likely accomplish if they don't decide that a few thousand extra dollars is enough to fund porting the game to another console/device.
Also, would like to note, all backers should have received a free copy of the Azure Striker Gunvolt spinoff, "Mighty Gunvolt", for backing this game. I found that it played decently, and would argue that it equates to shaving ~$5 off of what you effectively spent on MN9, at which point it can be argued, "the game cost $15, what's the big deal if it wasn't so great?" It's not like they charged us for a full-priced game when they gave us this; you'd pay about that much for a shovelware game, and this is at least a step above that.

 

[Jingle Fett]

I didn't like the look of this game from the beginning, the style just seemed off to me, and I didn't like the character designs either. However, I just found out recently they had another style in mind that actually HAD style (a more slick cartoon animation), so it's a shame we never saw that version.

WHAT. THE. FUCK.

They could have gone with this...
They could have gone with this and not the "style" they went with...

WHAT THE FUCK WERE THEY THINKING?!

I had a similar reaction at first.

Apparently, it is believed by some, that even with all the money they made, throwing the game on every platform quickly drained them dry, and so they cut down on the 'art' to make good on their promise.

I honestly have no idea if any of this is true or not, but I think a proper artist would want to focus on making one game amazing than even out funds for other things.

Now that I'm done reeling in shock. I'm going to say they could probably do both. Sort of.

They could have just started with one console and then added more licences once the game was done and enough money. It would be slower but they'd have far better chances of being successful. I'd have gone with the PC and maybe PS4 to start with and waited until the game made enough money to justify porting it again. I know they over-promised and all that, but fucking hell I thought they just couldn't get a good artist.

Sorry this will probably upset you some more, but here's some live footage of that original look in action. I remember seeing it during the Kickstarter and thinking it looked pretty nice, so I was quite surprised when I saw the current/released version of the game and it didn't look like this

 

[Amir Kondori]

This game looks fucking atrocious, I knew that Kickstarter was sketchy from the start.

I say nay nay! The game isn't garbage, it is mediocre. I backed it and I've played it. I've also backed my favorite release in the last five+ years, Pillars of Eternity, another great game Divinity: OS, another game I really like, Wasteland 2 and FTL which is awesome.

I've also backed two projects I ended up being disappointed with, Warmachine, a tactics game that just didn't click for me, and now Mighty No. 9, an action platformer that has a good feel kind of ruined by the dashing mechanic.

I've still got a lot of irons in the Kickstarter fire, I'm waiting on The Bards Tale IV, Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, Yooka-Laylee, Underworld Ascendant, The Mandate, Torment: Tides of Numenera. At least one of those games will probably disappoint me. But how many games have I bought through traditional methods that were disappointing? So far I've actually had a way higher success rate of ending up games I really like through projects I've backed on Kickstarter than traditionally funded and released games.

No one was going to make Pillars of Eternity without it being funded by fans. Obsidian was on the brink of layoffs and maybe worse before the Project Eternity Kickstarter. Now the game has sold approximately a million units and they are already working a sequel, another non-Kickstarted original IP, and are the developing some games for other publishers. Obsidian Entertainment is one of my favorite developers and not only did their Kickstarter produce an excellent game, but it might just have saved their company.

I understand why some people don't like Kickstarter, and I always say if you can't take the risk then don't back anything. But for me it was worth taking the risk on projects that truly excited me by developers that I either trust from their past work or who have made enough of the game to convince me they know what they are doing.

Since Wasteland 2 FTL and Pillars, a few of my earliest backed Kickstarter projects, I have been a HUGE believer in the platform and the idea of crowd funding. I've backed a lot of interesting stuff since then and so far I haven't had a single project fail, i.e. not release a finished project. I'm glad Kickstarter and other crowdfunding platforms exist because I believe it gives a direct voice to gamers to choose the games they want to see get made as well as opening up a new funding source for smaller developers who don't want to compromise their creative vision.

I don't have money to throw away, so I have no desire to give to any Kickstarter projects, I get why you and others believe in it, but I share Yahtzee's opinion when it comes to Kickstarter. I personally see it as worse then pre-ordering, since you're not even guaranteed a product at the end.

I like Obsidian but Pillars of Eternity didn't really look appealing to me, I hope they do a Kickstarter for an Alpha Protocol sequel.

I haven't really bought any brand new retail games that disappointed me in the least, the few bad games I bought I got really cheap used on Amazon(I.E. Ride to Hell).

I would never urge people to back a project if they aren't comfortable with crowd funding. That being said it very different from pre-ordering, in that these are games that are not going to be made otherwise. NO ONE had made a Baldur's Gate/Pillars type game for well over a decade. Not only did I get an awesome game that was never going to be made otherwise, but it sounds like it prevented layoffs and sparked a good period for a developer I love.

Now we are seeing some publishers try and abuse Kickstarter, by putting up already funded games to try and extract more development money. That is something I don't like, especially when they aren't up front about it. The Bloodstained Kickstarter they were upfront about the publisher money and so I still backed it, as I love the Castlevania series and we haven't had a 2d Castlevania on anything other than handheld since SOTN like 16 years ago.

That is the big difference between a pre-order and Kickstarter, you are getting a game made that otherwise just wouldn't get made. It puts power into gamers hands, especially those of us who love genres that have all but disappeared.

Unfortunately it also puts power into the hands of scammers who are willingly to lie to trick people out of their money.

Luckily outright scammers are quite rare and the community is usually very good at sniffing them out. I've only backed projects by known entities, while that alone does not ensure success I've yet to back something that didn't release.

Of course for people without the combination of the money to spare and the passion to get a game funded and made I would not recommend Kickstarter or crowdfunding.