Part 22: Epilogue
Epilogue: A Studio in CrisisAfter the conclusion of this LP, the developers of Black Geyser made an interesting announcement. Their studio was in crisis and they either need to do another kickstarter for Black Geyser DLC or shut down the studio and stop making games. They're trying to launch a DLC along with a free "fixpack".
The Black Geyser Dev Forums posted:
DLC Content
The content planned for the DLC is as follows:
Engaging questline that revolves around the Zoria Cult
Complex, engaging DLC-specific side quests
Completely new indoor, outdoor and underground areas
Brand-new spells and magical items
Exciting battles and tactical challenges
New riddles to solve
Fixpack Content
The free fixpack (no DLC required) will contain the following features, fixes and improvements:
Dual wielding (two-weapon style)
Stronghold System with stronghold-unlocking quests
Brand-new area: Mage Stronghold
Travel to questgivers directly from journal menu
Item descriptions list the classes that can use the item
Expanded romance lines (stretch goal)
Full personal questline for Helgenhar
Cloud Save
GOG Achievements
Already known recipes are marked in shops
Controller support (stretch goal)
More love for unarmed combat (stretch goal)
Golem Crafting (stretch goal)
Shapeshifting for druids and as spells (stretch goal)
New complex side quests (stretch goal)
Making current fetch quests more interesting (stretch goal)
Spells that didn't make it to the base game (stretch goal)
Items that didn't make it to the base game (stretch goal)
New companion quests (stretch goal)
More customizable and refined AI (stretch goal)
More engaging interactions between companions (stretch goal)
Additional tactical encounters/battles (stretch goal)
Savegame compression to reduce disk usage (stretch goal)
Improved modding support (stretch goal)
Now, the fixpack stuff includes items that blatantly should have been the game at launch. I am not saying that this stuff is mandatory for a fantasy CRPG to have, but the game when I started this LP included in the wizard class description that you could craft golems. Alumu mentioned that you could have a stronghold, but they never implemented that feature. Some of this is mandatory: "Item descriptions list the classes that can use the item"? Really? Of course, we need to remember this is the same team that posted on their steam forums that ideally you should have an SSD to cut down on the absurd amount of loading.
Thus it's not a surprise to me that this studio is frantically posting about being dissolved, or that they post they could not shift this game with a 40% off sale, because quite frankly this game is terrible and it's all their fault. They even state as much on their Steam forums.
This game is bad because the people who made it made it bad. Yes, we can point and laugh at Nick Macari - and his other game I'm LPing is similarly incoherent - but GrapeOcean Studios ultimately decided to hire him and accept the script he wrote instead of making him revise it so it was consistent. The quest that destroyed magic items got called out in early access and the developers responded by having it only destroy some of your items. The developers left Helgenhar's half-completed quest and the text claiming wizards can make golems in the game.
The Developers, on their steam announcement posted:
Q: I'm not satisfied with a number of things in Black Geyser. These include loading times, QoL things, lacking depth of characters, too few romances, empty and boring maps, unsatisfying epilogue, and way too many fetch quests. How come you didn't you get these right?
A: The issues you listed were known by us even at the release of the game in 2022. Getting these right would have required a much bigger budget or a longer development time with a bigger team (the two are interchangeable). This was not predictible in 2018 when we planned the original budget. Since Black Geyser is our first videogame, we certainly made mistakes during its development and learnt several lessons, but 80% of Black Geyser's biggest issues are still the result of insufficient budget. RTwP games are very expensive to develop from scratch, and we had to face several unexpected happenings (such as the pandemic). Nothing is more frustating than having the skills to do something but lacking the necessary budget at the end of the day.
I'm sorry, but no. At the end of the day you decided this game was complete and released it with lying class text, incomplete companion texts, and a bunch of fetch quests the game would frankly have been better off without. The problem is not your budget, it's your scope management, and I don't buy for a second that you had the skills to do this. Let's look at romances. The two romances we showed off in the LP are frankly terrible. Bjalla's questline involves harassing a bunch of people about her destiny to wear a magic hat, THEN you are forced into an arbitrary choice between two of your party members over who gets the third tier upgrade on her hat, and if you pick the boring rich waifu instead of Jade you immediately bone down in a lich temple. Hamlin's romance is a farce where you talk him into growing a spine, murdering his former friends, and then pick the right dialogue option to fuck in the thieves guild because massacring his childhood friends turns him on. I will concede that building your own Infinity Engine knockoff isn't an easy task, and I won't throw shade at them for that - even though Owlcat and Pillars are slowly including turn-based mode, but whatever! I do not care that this is their first videogame, I care that the product they are selling is bad, and I think it's kind of pathetic to grovel and beg that if we get more money we'll get it right this time, when they don't address the incoherent story in the slightest! I can tell from the original kickstarter the developers are passionate about this project. I just think this game demonstrates that they do not have the appropriate talents to create anything good.