Hello everyone,
It’s been a while since the last update, as I’ve been focused on implementing the feedback you provided on the story-complete testing build. While the vast majority of the new Act 3 content worked well, the non-interactive epilogues simply did not have the intended impact.
It became clear that the player experience that had been elevated to great heights throughout the three acts came down crashing with an abrupt ending. This issue was not just about a few bugs that could be fixed.
The only real solution was a new, fully playable post-siege scene, where you get to interact with your favorite companions, transform the ideas that undermine you into something positive, exert your influence, and reap the benefits of your hard work.
So that’s exactly what I’m excited to announce today with a brand-new update to the testing build:
DISCLAIMER: the following text might include minor spoilers.
All epilogues are now fully playable. What started as a search for a fix to the feedback, quickly developed into a scene full of genuine moments:
The post-siege burial of heroes scene, with companion interactions, where you can:
Reminisce about your journey and that of each of your companions
discuss the siege or peace talks-related events
make sure characters stay in (or out of) your life
make amends, and reconcile (or not)
Every character hides a special moment, allowing the player to make life-changing decisions, spanning everything from romantic moments and political alliances, to apprenticeships
All uncovered negative ideas can be integrated into a positive mindset in a process where the player has a final say in how the transformed ideas shape their character
Some less obvious outcomes scenarios like going mad, taking over the fort, stealing the fort’s treasure, or hunting down the retreating Romans are also fully playable
Furthermore, a few of the key scenes in Act 3 received the touch-up they needed:
The peace negotiation scene now has a reliable winning path,
It’s not easy to achieve, but works every time, and the breadcrumbs of insights span all the way back to the night camp infiltration and siege preparations scenes
The condition to pair you with a companion on the rescue and raid missions are now more strict,
Ensuring a character you ignored stays ignored,
And the character you built a connection with is at your side
Game has been rebalanced to make sure Act 3 stay as challenging as intended,
Many risk chain bonuses and duels have been adjusted
All major story-flow bugs (repeatable rescue of camp prisoners, Marcus stays in fort outcome in peace talks not possible) have been fixed
I managed to squeeze in a pass, cleaning minor bugs and typos, so all reported typos and visual glitches have been taken care of.
Last but not least, two issues that annoyed the hell out of testers have been addressed as well:
Unique character art has been added for the second Roman commander
Descriptions explaining both basic friendship and hostility checks, as well as the inverted friendship and hostility checks have been added (goodwill checks are explained too)
And as we entered this new phase of story-complete testing, it became clear we need better reporting tools, so:
I’ve added an in-game bug reporting tool that takes a screenshot and allows the user to describe the bug and sends it into my bug tracking back-end automatically
I’m eager to hear your feedback about the new playable scene, and look forward to the next steps to be added to the testing build:
Localization
Voice-over
Added character art variety
And with your continuous feedback, and the new bug reporting tool, I’m looking forward to making sure the 1.0 delivers the intended role-playing experience for everyone.
Thank you for all your support and patience. You can access the testing build via our Discord.
Sacred Fire
Iceberg Interactive