Thanks for the update, Lar! And to the other Larian staff, thanks for the laughs!

While I hope you do get funding for more games, I also hope it doesn't come at the cost of the quality and brilliance of your games! Divinity and Ego Draconis were awesome, and are on my "top shelf" of RE-playable games. Continue to make great games, and we'll continue to buy them. By "we" I don't mean just Larian fans in general, but "we" as in my husband and my "nearly old enough to play Divinity series" TWO children.... and because we're such sticklers about not boot-legging, we'd each have our own copy.

So, there's four times how many ever games along the lines of Divinity that would be purchased. Math, right? 4 x 3 Divinity (1 DVD--first purchase, 1 CD--because Hubby wouldn't share 1 DVD with me, and 1 GOG version, so I could pass the disc to my son--unfortunately, GOG version had a game killing problem). So that's, uh.... too high of math for me! I'll let you do the math for that. Now onto more math. I purchased Divinity 2: Ego Draconis as soon as I saw it on the shelf at the US Navy Exchange ("wooo hooo! Larian has a 3-D game out! MINE!" *run to cash register*). Played it through and told Hubby, "You'll need to buy your own, because this is mine." So, okay, that's 1 purchase of D2:ED on DVD. Then the add-on came out, and I read that ED was extensively made better (which I can't wait to try out on this new laptop... not a Apple brand *wink*), thus I decided to spend the 'extra' money by purchasing DKS directly from Larian Shop. Well worth paying full price so far, especially given some computer problems (not game related)-- love the ability to revoke license so that I could transfer the game to the new computer... and revoke again when I thought I was going to have to send new computer in to get fixed under warranty (um... fixed it myself).

Okay. I think I had a point. Oh, yes, now I remember.... Keep up the great job! Wasn't too keen on Beyond Divinity, and couldn't play it through. But Divine was great and I did love ED (except those blasted platforms!). I try to believe that quality will trump quantity any day of the week, because quality keeps us coming back for more!

Great update. Looking forward to hearing about the whole numbers thing. I know I love playing the game. I know games cost a lot, even when ordering directly from the studio, so it would be nice to get a glimpse of "behind the scenes" (wow, literally!).

Rest well and get back at it... your fans are waiting to adore you. Okay, we're not... we're waiting to play more games, and in the mean time, we're playing what we've already got!

Now.... how to follow this thread....

All best,
~~CierraShore
p.s.
This really is a great little community here in these forums!

it would be nice to get a glimpse of "behind the scenes"

In February of 2008 a news show went to Larian Studios for an interview about game industry investment / tax breaks, and shot some background footage of the studio, including some early shots of D2:ED. Here is a link to the video (8.2MB), or an alternate link on Rapidshare. There is a general translation in the equally old topic Stunned... (Larian didn't know they were going to air the story that night, or include any game footage).

Thanks, Raze. The "Stunned" thread had some pretty funny bits in it, and it also helps me to understand this 'community' more. Now I am aware that probably most of the posters here are not native English speakers/writers (as I'm sure British would say about Americans)... I find it truly amazing the general respect that comes across in the English forum.

Even your witty comeback w/ "google" and "wikipedia" were able to be... enjoyed, and not taken to be harsh, but in the humorous way it was (I hope) meant.

I've also discovered something else, after my husband introduced me to cRPG's... I seem to prefer 'indy' games made in Europe! Aside from Larian (favorite studio, and I'm not just saying that because of this thread or forum base), I did enjoy the Gothic 3 game. I had never heard of the Gothic series, I just bought the 3rd game, and even with all the 'lagginess', still enjoyed it (I think I was able to crochet a full blanket during lags and loads!). After the full community patch came out, and utilizing that nice little feature of "test mode=true," I played through as quickly as possible to discover the story. I enjoyed the story of the game, the combat mechanics definitely weren't easy (such as they were in Diablo II: LoD style), the music was beautiful, and I liked the variety of... races... presented. The English voice-acting could have been better, but it was great to hear a familiar voice (Sebatian in Gothic 3 is Deckard Cain in Diablo)-- don't recall his real name.

Shortly after playing Gothic 3, I saw Ego Draconis on the shelf and snatched it up in a hurry and played it... and it was while playing it that I discovered these forums! I had already played Divinity several times, but never knew there was a 'community' for it or other games. Although I knew that people didn't like the ending of ED because FoV hadn't come out yet, I didn't mind the ending, because I knew that FoV was coming out.

All in all, the interaction of the studio with the fans/players and the players with each other is pretty cool. Also neat that players come from across the globe, and can give input from cultural perspectives.

Um, I don't think I really had a point to this post! How embarrassing! Oh, wait, I did have a point. It was basically to say thanks-- so, in case it didn't come across in all that wordy stuff above, thanks for your contributions, Raze. And thank you Larian for interacting with your dedicated following.

~~CierraShore

You mean they want Mommy and Daddy on the computer so they can't bother them during that time ?

Hehehhe... could be. I think it's more like they want to see what Mommy & Daddy are talking about, because the children have gotten out of bed to 'spy' during our playing of games. Both of my children (well, I guess they're almost 'adolescent' now) ask constantly, "When can I play '__fill in the game__."

The games Hubby and I like the most, we quote lines from ("Show me your goods," from Gothic 3, "DIE!" from Diablo 2:LoD, and hashing out the story of the skeletons from Divinity... I try very hard to not get into Folo's pigs, but really? That's funny!), and this piques their interest all the more.

What would be nice is for each of us to have a computer, and each of us to have games that we can each own-- but that's just too much money! I have decided, though, that my son is now old enough to attempt Divinity (the first). He has been reading books like crazy lately, so I think he'll be able to follow a story-driven game, instead of just a hack-and-slash game. He memorizes 'maps' very, very quickly, so often becomes bored with most games. Yup, he's at the age that he can play it... but he's gonna have to earn the $5 or $10 that it costs.... I'm a mean Mommy, apparently, in that I preview things before allowing my children to have them, and they have to earn what they get! Not a traditional American parent, which I do hope turns out to be a good thing.

Anyway... can't we all just play games and not be bothered with responsibilities??? Oh, what a great fantasy that one is!

~~CierraShore

So nice , one BIG gaming family ...
And who does the washing-up ?



just kidding

Whoever does the cooking has to wash dishes! I had to institute that because the children decided they like cooking, leaving me with a HUGE mess. . . if you're gonna play, then ya gotta take some hits. In real life, that means if you're gonna cook, you're gonna also help clean up!

But methinks you're referring to a different kind of washing.... *wink wink*

~~CierraShore

I love the idea of a massive RPG... we do not get enough of them. I love playing RPG's that take 60+ Hrs just to do the basics and if you do everything it hits 100+ hrs.