EXODUS (Archetype Entertainment)

That’s the difference of having an established novel author writing instead of game writers (Not a knock on them, but game writing and novel writing are distinct if overlapping skill sets). I’m almost done with the audio book myself.

This book is terrific. Conspiracies that span millennia, vast ancient megastructures, entertaining characters, cloak and dagger games both at the street level and in the halls of interstellar empires, it’s all very fun. If this is an indication of the way the world-building will be used in the franchise in general, they’ve found a great balance of grounded and fantastical storytelling.

Yep. Karpyshyn is there with James Ohlen. I've long been a fan of both. People here tend know Karpyshyn really well, but Ohlen is an awesome dude. I don't know Chad Robertson, but he's the third of the trio.

I like everything I've read about this game, but can't get excited until I see gameplay. Great writing and deep lore is only useful if it's attached to a fun game. I'm cautiously optimistic since Ohlen and Karpyshyn seem to share so many of my preferences across different forms of gaming.

Ohlen was lead designer on Dragon Age Origins wasnt he? Thought he went to Beamdog and did the Baldurs Gate enhanced stuf or was that Trent Oster? Google Id required.

I'll probably buy it then. I'm in between new novels right now, picked up reading an old classic (A Tale Of Two Cities) that I stopped reading halfway through a couple of years ago because I wasn't that into it. Might either finish at last or put it aside again and read the Exodus novel. Probably only to end up disappointed that the final game sucks anyway, lol.

News like this is why I am not investing any hope on how Exodus might turn out or what it is offering.

www.enworld.org/threads/hasbro-hit-with-layoffs-wizards-of-the-coast-impacted.707539/

The problem this is the only game development team at Hasbro and cutting everything could wind up being some financial savings they could want especially with how game development works.

I'm not seeing anything to suggest that their video game studio(s) were affected. With due repect to those affected, this seems small time in comparison to Hasbro's and WotC's usual douchebaggery.

It would be their style to make cuts at the studio before release, mucking the whole thing. We can only hope they don't.

An idle thought in-between Veilguard launch.

Baldur's Gate has been kind of adopted by BSN with multiple threads and included with older BioWare games.

Should we give the same BSN attention to Exodus?
Does it's heritage make it 'extended family' for BSN to some extra love and space to on BSN?
(assuming it's decent)

Just a thought...

Exactly. And frankly, the more people want to talk about it, the more room we can make for it.

I've been reading "The Archimedes Engine" before sleep each night. I'm reading on my phone via the Kindle app, so progress is hard to judge. I'm only on page 124 of 903, so there's a lot left to read. That said, I feel like I'm getting a very good grasp of the setting, the political situations, societies, etc...

So far, I feel like I have a good top-down understanding of the Celestials. I'm not sure how much has been said about them, in terms of specifics, and I'd hate to spoil anything. They're recognizable as once-human, but definitely changed enough so as to thoroughly alien, in my opinion. There's a particular feature or achievement of their kind that makes them very different from humans. I think it would make them ultimately too distinct and unrelatable for humans, but I'm curious to see if that can change.

I'm just getting into the human angles of the story. I have a good grasp of how they live and interact with the Celestials. There's the other side of that coin, though -- the parts that chafe at Celestial dominance and look for other paths. I've heard a lot of about the Travelers via the human protagonist, but I haven't yet seen elements like the Travelers up close. His views and understanding could be flawed. Again, I'm eager to see where the story goes.

Ultimately, I know that the game will put us in the role of Traveler. I'm anticipating a somewhat similar role to MEA's Pathfinders, though under very different circumstances.

Some new lore, bit of an odd one;

Bears, Awakened Bears: www.exodusgame.com/en-US/journey-into-the-darkness/awakened-bear