Diablo Veteran

Off Topic Introduce Yourself
1

I picked up Diablo 1 sometime in '98 and have fallen in love with the series ever since. I’ve been playing Diablo 2 on and off for about nine years now, and I’m eagerly awaiting Diablo 3.

However, I saw some posts on the Diablo 3 forums about this game, so I Googled it. The website seems very simple and I’m not sure how I feel about this game so far (I haven’t done much research) but so far it strikes me to be pretty low budget, which isn’t necessarily bad.

Is there anything important I should know before I start exploring the forums? Any basic game info you can link me to that I may not have found, or anything important I should know about the game in general?

2

It’s from some of the folks behind Titan Quest…another ARPG like Diablo that was released a few years back.

While Grim Dawn is a completely new game (setting, story, ect), it share the same engine as Titan Quest. It will also carry over the same skill system that TQ had (able to mix and match 2 different masteries).

Crate Entertainment plans on making lots of improvement over TQ too…for instance improved performance, graphics, new weather system, and many other things. The game’s design will also be a bit different…Grim Dawn will now have more random elements and a more open spoke design when it comes to level layout and quests.

Anyways, the FAQ has a lot of good info:

http://www.grimdawn.com/about_faq.php

Here’s the feature list:

http://www.grimdawn.com/about_featurelist.php

Combine any of five distinct skill classes each with multiple skill trees in which to specialize. Advance your class mastery up to 75 levels to unlock dozens of powerful skills and synergistic modifiers. New classes will be periodically released through downloadable content.

Destructible environments give evidence of your massive battles while collapsing stonework and flying shards of furniture can be used tactically to cause further injury to your foes.

Dynamic Weather brings the world to life with region-specific climates and a variety of weather effects. A sunny day can cloud over with mild rainshowers that builds into a booming thunderstorm. Variable wind gusts blow grass and affect objects like windmills and window shutters.

Gameplay systems designed to expand for 200 levels of character progression, equipment, and enemies to fight makes for ridiculous amounts of replay value.

Connect with old friends or make new allies in glorious multiplayer. Specially balanced multiplayer encounters will put your teamwork to the ultimate challenge.

Collect blueprints that allow you to combine salvaged components into unique crafted items and then, later, use those basic crafted items with higher-tiered recipes to complete items of unprecedented badassness.

Camera rotation enhances the three-dimensionality of the world and gameplay while levels are still designed so that players are not forced to rotate the camera.

Refined loot system drops less junk items and ensures more consistent rewards from hero and boss monsters.

Satisfying enemy damage and death effects with an option to enable blood and gore.

New quest and conversation system will allow players to choose quest paths and rewards, interact with NPCs in more interesting ways, and an intuitive quest creation wizard will make life a lot easier for modders.

An NPC faction system lets the player improve their relations with different NPC groups to earn rewards as their favor increases such as merchant discounts, new items, and additional quest lines. However, aiding one faction could turn a rival faction into your enemy. Choose which side you will support!

The ability to spend money to reclaim skill and attribute points alleviates the fear and frustration of having to make early, uninformed decisions that could permanently nerf a character.

More features are in the works and will be announced as Grim Dawn nears release.

3

I played Titan Quest a little, actually. The skills felt really… Weakish, and not very stunning, so I didn’t play too much, but I did like the whole idea behind the skill system.

In terms of the game, how long has it been worked on? Is there a release timeframe? Who all works on it? Do they take suggestions from the community?

Thank you for the answers! Game is looking awesome so far, I just worry about possible cheating/duping online which would ruin the experience.

4

How long has it been worked on?

I think two years now…maybe January 2010? At least that’s when I joined the forum and pre-ordered…they could have been working on it prior to that. Either way, for a while now :stuck_out_tongue:

Is there a release timeframe?

Not really…although Crate (the developers) have said that alpha is likely this year.

Who all works on it?

Crate Entertainment…which is a few guys from Iron Lore (developers of Titan Quest) and I think some part time folks as well.

Do they take suggestions from the community?

Yes, defiantly. Tons of interactions from the devs. With that said, realize they are a very small dev with not a lot of resources. So even if an idea is good, it just might not be feasible.

5

Thank you for your help, then. I would suggest, first and foremost, a better website with a condensed section for information. I realize that the game is probably far off from release, but that’s something that almost turned me off of the game when I first joined a little while ago.

Other than that, I’m liking the ideas and I look forward to playing when it’s released! I also might toss some donations forward here and there to help the devs out :wink:

6

the website was changed a little because of user feedback recently, many felt there weren’t any updates on the website, some were only visiting the main page for updates but the forum had the most information

the thing is, new information gets posted in the forums and the main website now points to the forum, while we do get semi regular updates and the devs DO listen to feedback, recent example UI changes, however the devs have stated that new information can take a while to compile, they promised a video, but that seems to have been postponed, I guess they had their reasons for delaying it. the thing is, while the game may look low budget and it is in a way, the game as stated is using the same engine as TQ, this does give the Crate devs a large advantage, and they know the engine and are making enhancements,

dungeons will no longer be using tiles, but instead using height maps, which is a better system, a studio of this size will really be working with an engine of lesser quality, and the game won’t be as good

the way the game will be done is, it will start off small, the size of Greece in TQ, BUT expansions will be released which will add new content

there is also a great deal of modding support, while it will not be possible to use TQ mods or modding tools on GD, the devs are enhancing will release tools for modders, and there been quite a few examples of what modders will have access too, enhanced level editor, convo / quest editor and more

also if you take a look over on TL2 website, another ARPG that is in the works, the website has been updated fairly slowish, (at least from what I seen) and gives really not that much to go on game wise

its mainly the GD forum that the devs post updates, and probably will take too long to do updates for both website and forum, they stated they rather would work on the game, get the game done, then do too many updates, its a balancing act, and I would agree, they are also a small team, mainly 10 people, not sure if that is full time staff, or full and part time staff, I think the latter

so most have full time jobs, and even with the funding, there isn’t enough to give those people full time jobs on GD, even a kickstarter project may not change that, (if it did happen, and at this stage may not)

don’t judge the game by its cover, there is a lot going on behind the scenes, sometimes updates are slow, but the devs are wanting to finish the game, they were given a good advantage by been giving the TQ engine, plus an engine they are familiar with

the game will be awesome, anything less then awesome, and you be in a lot of trouble :p:D

but hi and welcome, enjoy your stay, and please look over the topics in the forum, if you disagree with something on a aspct of the game, please post, the devs DO take in people’s feedback, they may not always reply, but they do take feedback very seriously, and I already gave an example of they acting on people’s feedback

anyway, Im sure others will add more

that is all I have to say for now

enjoy your stay on the forums and welcome again:D

7

Hello and welcome!

It is good to get some objective feedback from someone with an outside perspective. We realize the website and some parts of the game are a little lacking in presentation and seem a bit low-budgetish but that is mainly just due to… our incredibly low-budget. :wink:

I don’t think we’ll be able to achieve the type of polished presentation a larger, better-funded studio can produce but we’ll do what we can and if you can look past some rough edges, I think we are capable of delivering where it counts - a really fun and addictive gameplay experience. In some ways, I think our rougher, indie style of development allows us to take some risks and implement some features that really add to the fun of the game but which might not fit into the image of polished and streamlined AAA product, geared toward a more mainstream audience.

I also agree with your comment that many of the skills in TQ felt underwhelming. My feeling on TQ is that the design of the systems, especially the skill trees, were solid and provided a lot of depth and replay value but the actual second-to-second combat fell flat. In Grim Dawn, one of our biggest focuses has been on improving the feel of combat and pacing so as to better capture the frenzied, killing and looting experience that is core to ARPGs.

8

Thank you for all the informative responses! These forums will be a nice break from the Diablo 3 forums, which are loaded with sarcasm, trolls, bans by the dozens, and tons of non-constructive complaining. From what I can see, it’s a lot nicer here :wink:

From what information I have read and seen, it’s looking good so far. I hope I can help you guys out as much as I can, and I’ll be sure to post plenty of feedback. Thank you all for the warm welcome.

9

Hey Whibble-Bop,

These forums are completely different from the ones, especially the Blizzard’s, I agree. =)

Welcome aboard and enjoy your stay!