bought Academagia from Impulse and have issues with the sales tactic

[lutherangamer]

Hi there,

 

first I want to say that I really really dig this game. I love the many skills and the many things you can do.

 

But I was very disappointed that everything ends at year 1 already. This is really a very big disappointment for me. The game cost around 20 Euros for me and only being able to play for 1 year (about 8 real life hours for me), is really too little. If I had known this beforehand I wouldn't have bought the game, but the game info at Impulse didn't say anything about this limitation. And I can't find anything about it on this forum either.

 

Does that perhaps mean that the year 2 - ?? expansions will be free of charge for those who bought the game? Or at least will cost only very little? It's really annoying to think that I spent 20 bucks for a game I can't even properly finish.

 

Can you please enlighten me about what that means? Will future DLC's be free for those who bought the vanilla game?

 

Thank you and God bless!

[Ranielle Limeleaf]

There's already a content patch up that adds new adventures and random events, there's the DLC1 on the works, another content patch is also being developed.

As our Legate said, all first year content upgrades and DLCs will be free of charge. So yeah, we constantly get patches to fix the bugs and new content.

 

And believe me if you just finished your first year, you haven't even seen %10 of the content in the game. Most of us have played over 10 different students and still haven't discovered everything there is to know.

[Schwarzbart]

There was a mention that the DLC's and expansions to year 1 are free. Also this game is so big that you can have fun in replay it again and again. How you managed to play through this game in just 8h is bejond me because my games usualy thakes much longer ^^.

Btw I have played the game 4 times through so fare.

Year 2 is scheduled for in 1 to 2 RL years and its a seperat programm with import function for year 1 chars so I think you then have to buy it.

[Legate of Mineta]

Lutherangamer;

 

We apologize if you felt misled- that certainly wasn't the intent.

 

The game covers the first year of instruction, and the expansions (which will be a separate purchase) will cover additional years: each importing your current character and their entire experience over to the next game, beginning with summer vacation.

 

In between now and year two, we will be releasing monthly DLC, expanding the year one options, which will be free of charge (unless containing a lot of artwork, which can be costly to produce.) The first DLC will be arriving next week, on 9/15.

 

We're delighted to know that you've enjoyed the game, and we hope you will continue to journey with us in the future!

[OrangeKnickers]

Hi there,

 

But I was very disappointed that everything ends at year 1 already. This is really a very big disappointment for me. The game cost around 20 Euros for me and only being able to play for 1 year (about 8 real life hours for me), is really too little. If I had known this beforehand I wouldn't have bought the game, but the game info at Impulse didn't say anything about this limitation. And I can't find anything about it on this forum either.

 

Thank you and God bless!

 

I'm not sure where you got this "limitation"-feeling from? The description of Academagia at Impulse says "...will ultimately determine how your character evolves throughout the school year." That's the only hint at which period the game covers, so I don't know where you got the expectation that it will cover more years? (Hope this post doesn't sound harsh, because it is absolutely not meant to be, I'm just confused)

[Gwendall]

I'm curious if you've even played through an entire year? I'm still 4.5 months out from finishing. It's taking quite awhile!

 

From the information I've read, and what I've experienced, this feels more like say Mass Effect.

 

Each one is a fun standalone experience, lengthy enough for the price you paid, but the whole experience worth the price of admission. (remember the core game isn't a 50/60 dollar AAA title)

 

I think things get REAL interesting when you can take your exploits from the first game and translate it over to the following years. If the expansions capitalize from lots of little decisions made this could be quite an epic experience.

 

At least for me it was worth it. 25 dollars for easily over 25 hours of gameplay. Of course it's the lore that's eating up so much of my time. If you're the type to blitz through it once, it might not be a good fit. That could be said about quite a few AAA games on the market though.

[laclongquan]

Legate, me think you guys should consider a rename. Either this version or the game 2 portion. Change it to "freshman year" and "sophomore year". Something, so that people cant complain about mislead and stuff.

 

I mean, they speedplay 8 hours to get one game year then they complain that the game is too short and sales tactic mislead them... What?

[Gwendall]

I don't think that's really necessary. I haven't seen a majority outcry denouncing the span of time. Just a minority that powered through the game at breakneck speed past the bulk of the lore to reach endgame. There is always a measure of people who think that it's just not enough and want more.

[Ranielle Limeleaf]

To be honest I don't know why people would play through a fantasy themed sim at lightening speed. My ex boyfriend used to do that, but on dating sims. Sheer content and lore are the selling points of the game. And, um, magic.

[Draigh]

Their loss

I think this game will get enough good attention from people that CAN appreciate it.

Although I am waiting to tell friends about it at the moment till a few more patches are out and the game is a bit more polished. Some of them are pretty harsh in their first impressions, better to make sure they'll be getting a good one.

[Gwendall]

Awesome that you know your friends that well! I tend to influence my friends, and act as a facilitator for any bugs they find along with mine. I tend to be the one that can parse through rulebooks the size of novels and come out with how to work the mechanics. Basically I figure the rules so they don't have to! XD

 

I'm hoping to translate it into a sort of role played strategy guide in the form of a school notebook or cliffs notes.

[Ranielle Limeleaf]

My friends are mostly idiots, one of them stopped playing starcraft 2 because she lost to a player from a lower league. I could never get her to play Academagia sadly. Others, I plan to coerce into trying it out when the mod tools are out.

[Draigh]

I know those friends for several years now. And I know them well..

 

@ Ranielle

I don't think your female friend would have much to lose playing Academagia. No other players to lose from, and no real way to win or lose. Just have fun and do the best you can.

She might even like it!

[Gwendall]

I don't know, she might not take too well to being bullied and casting the wrong spells (and failing) in revenge...

 

No "Expellin00bus" spell that I know. Though Wrath of the Comet's Tail has been my bully basher.

[Mikka]

I think a big issue with the game is simply the lack of a true ending. A summary screen of what you've done help a lot to make it feel like a self-contained game... I know it's been said that starting year two will have a cool introduction with that information, but that doesn't help the people who bought part one and who are unlikely to buy part two because it felt to them like they didn't get the full game.

 

They did, and it's quite the fun game, but besides the complicated and confusing skill list, the lack of an ending is the top complaint I'm hearing on gaming message boards. I admit I was disappointed, too, when playing and hitting the end and finding no real 'conclusion'. It feels more like a 'to be continued', and if you think of it that way, its like 'Well, why don't' I wait for all five games to come out and then buy them in a bundle/set?' The more people who think like that, the less likely all those games will appear, though, I imagine... as the money from us buying games goes to them making games.

 

If it's impossible for the Academagia cats to do something like that, I think those of us in to modding should root around once we get the tools and see if we can figure out how to set up some sort of yay summary. Having an actual wrap-up isn't as important as giving the illusion of having one, if that makes any sense.

[Gwendall]

That's an awesome idea. Much like the summary screen in Europa Universalis. Though not the best example as the automatic population is quite buggy. Still seeing a summary of your exploits would be a very neat feature. Ah! Like the info summary of the indie Powder roguelike. That's more what I had in mind.

[hecquaro]

Plus, we're talking about a target audience of... how to say... number crushing reading happy nerds?

 

Not to forget "borderline compulsive optimizers" somewhere in the mix.

 

So anything, litterally anything you can throw in the head as a feedback is positive.

 

A sheet with the percentage of success/failure on random events?

 

A "Score" given that includes every study point, competence point, spell cast, adventure finished etc.etc.etc. that they could try to beat?

 

Exam scores?

 

Presenting them their archetype (see the idea coming from clique and abilities subject)?

 

Graphs (amount of value carried over time, timeline with small events -illness, adventure completed, duel, befriending...- written on it, exam score related to average/minimum/top exam score...)?

 

Background picture with a small conclusion text scrolling up à la movie credits (I didn't say trapezoid text, hence no star wars effect)?

 

Posibility to compare your character sheet with other students?

 

The idea, here, is that playing the year is, like... 40% of the fun. Creating the character (and planning a bit his/her evolution) is another 40%. Feedback and looking back on how it went is the last 20%, the tool that can make us think "What can I do better/different"

[Monteverdi]

Lutherangamer, if you want a sense of the game's depth, just play through three months' time with three differently configured characters--or even characters configured in a similar fashion. I've done the latter four times, and each time I've had a very different experience. True, it's only one year, and you may end up feeling as though there's no "payoff" when you finish, but the experience along the way is truly rich. It's really quite a unique title.

[swang]

I don't know what the dude is on, but I've played for, what, 80 or so hours already, and I haven't finished a year yet.

 

Speaking of which, I think I'll start one after Wednesday, and actually commit to finishing him/her...

[Vieux chat]

I'm a bit surprised someone could call that game "short". There's so many things to do, and two plays can be so different. Try with an incantation wizard, then a crafting wizard, then a scouting wizard, a wizard with a big clique, a wizard with a very high familiar bond, and so much more... 20 euros for so many hours of play is a fairly low price.

[McFungos]

This game is really one of the most ambitious i stumbled upon for while.

 

Describe it as Table-top RPG x NetHack x Dungeon Crawler Japanese RPG style.

 

*Table-top RPG as you roll dice event to trigger random events.

*NetHack as you spend time here and on the wiki to find the most efficient to build up your character and squeeze out the maximum from the abilities, locations and others bugs.

*Dungeon Crawler as select menu 1 => select menu 2 => validate => confirm?

 

This game is for completionists who want the closest thing to 100% locations found, lores, abilities, skill & sub-skills even if it's outright impossible but who know maybe Year 5 would permit it.

[Argos]

I bought the game on Impulse during the sale. I don't regret the purchase, but man does the end take you by surprise. I completed my first game last night and it just came out of nowhere. I'm pretty sure the calendar even had another week on it I'd put actions in for, but it was never reached (Like on the calendar after the last week of Kaliri I had a week of Kapsus... With a detention in it even). Just reached the end of Kaliri and it's like BOOM! Game over.

You get attached to your character, finally get them to a respectable level of confidence, maybe even start to have some success on one or two of the many available adventures and then the game is like "Would you like to keep going? To bad. You'll have to start a new character."

And it's like... ...

So the question is how long do we have to wait till this year two (And I presume 3, 4 & 5) come out so our character can continue their life? I suppose I should ask how much these expansions will cost as well...

In the meantime even and option to begin from the beginning of the first year with your existing character (after you've completed the year once) would vastly improve it's replayability.

 

I also have some questions about the transferring of characters to the future expansions...

My last save game before I played through to the end was in Aruit. So there was at least a couple of hours play time between my last save and the end (It was at least long enough to go from 0 to 10 in all 4 gate magic skills... Which as far as I can tell were never used). I hit the end and the game basically exited to the main menu without offering an option to save. Did the game save my character for transfer at the finish? Did I need to save my game on the last day manually? Why was there now warning the last day was coming up?

Also do all those decisions you make in what I guess is the epilogue on the last day actually have an effect? Are the classes and spell categories I picked as my favourite actually affected by those decisions?

When I picked the closest friends option I had two complete strangers show up... The first one was had a relationship of 10 with me and was in my clique. The other 2 where a 4 and a 2 who I had virtually no interaction with over the course of the year (I did have several other 10's that could have taken there spot).

It's a bit of a tangent but while on the topic of relationship I'm also confused about how asking for favours from professors works. I had a relationship of 10 with professor Leith and figured it wasn't going any higher... I was told the higher it was the better reward when asking for favours so I tried it and I got a message saying the action failed (Didn't give a reason why). Got no reward, and my relationship with him dropped back to 0. What exactly happened there? I walked into his office and he was like "Oh hello there. I'm glad your hear, I wanted to let you know that I'm very pleased with how you've been doing lately. In fact you are my favourite student at the moment." and I was like "Gee thanks Professor Leith. Hey since your in such a good mood could I trouble you to do a tiny favour for me?" and he responded "NO! Get hell out of my office! You're not welcome here any more!" then the very next day he put me on detention and I was like... Okay... As an experiment I immediately asked a teacher I had a level 5 relationship with for a favour to make sure it wasn't broken and they gave me 2 merit points... That wasn't even worth the action asking for the favour (I might as well have selected compete for merit instead), not to mention all the actions improving their relationship before hand. Then when you consider you lose your relationship with them as well... Are there any actual benefits to building up your relationship with them and asking for a favour or am I better off leaving their relationship high and enjoying the passive benefits?

Anyway back to the topic at hand. A summary screen at the end of each year (as mentioned in a post above) would be an improvement too. So I've got to start a new character now? What's the point? He'll just reach the end and cease to exist as far as I can tell. No record of how well or how poorly he did, what he accomplished... Indecently, some actions say the add a memory... How do I view those memories? I was actually expecting a summary at some point that displayed them along with my score etc. Really if we are going to have to start new characters to over and over to keep playing, a high score table with summaries of each characters stories would go along way.

 

I know I'm ranting, I don't mean to come off as overly annoyed but it is frustrating enjoying a game with so much potential just to have it fizzle out at the end.

[Schwarzbart]

Sorry to say it but just this week Legate of Mineta writen here in the Forum that they plan for the release of year 2 in 1-2 years.

For the Saving at the end you have to save at the last day bevore the Sunday where endsequence starts!

My very first play through actualy also haved the sunday procesed but all later saves end on saturday.

[Legate of Mineta]

Argos;

 

Schwarzbart is correct- about 1-2 years until Year 2, although we have begun both the design document and writing for the sequel.

 

As to your questions:

 

Any save from any date will be able to transferring to Year 2, although you may prefer Kaliri. There is no automatic save- manual saves will be transferred, however. It's a good suggestion to have a warning, though, perhaps the day before? We'll see what we can do.

 

The End Story will have a (minor) effect going into Year 2. The diverse group that says goodbye to you is a function of how the event is set up, though.

 

Using a Favor from an Instructor grants you a set of bonuses they can give, sometimes to a Skill, sometimes something more unique. If you already have the Skill at maximum, it is a possible result to gain nothing from the use of the Favor, however. Better reporting (so you know why it failed) is a part of improvements we intend in future updates, however.

 

Other Academagians have requested a summary screen at the end of the year, and we are considering it. No ETA yet, though!

 

Memories cannot be viewed- they are 'flags' for the game's use, and play a role in what is available to your Character. We should probably suppress the reporting on that, so that you never even know they exist...

 

A 'high score table' for each Character play *would* be an interesting feature, although it's not likely we'll be able to introduce something like that for Year 1. Still, perhaps we might be able to do something here for Year 2.

 

Thanks for the suggestions!

[Argos]

Is year 2 an expansion or a sequel? I get the impression your rewriting the engine for it. Will the year 1 storyline be compatible with the year 2 engine... That is when we start a new year one character with the intent of transferring them to year two, will we be able to enjoy any of these interface improvements over the course of the first year?

 

I've caught wind there are some mod tools coming out. I expect they mostly just let you add new adventure content and NPC's etc... New spells? I don't know how much is hard coded but I might as well ask if it's plausible if an inspired modder could implement a mod to loop the calendar. So just before the end of year it resets back to day 1, allowing continuous play (albeit, not actual advancement on to year 2)?

 

On the favour thing, if the professor isn't actually able to offer the player anything should the player really lose their relationship status with them? It's kind of contrary to the "It doesn't hurt to ask, the worst they can say is no" ideology.

 

For year 2 can I request more spells that cause actual effects, rather then buff or debuff characters? I know given the model they might be hard to come up with, but currently just about the only reason to cast spells is to heal yourself and buff up before an adventure. Duels to I supposed but I've never had one. Unless I'm actively going out of my way to annoy NPC's I've never had one get below -1. I guess the would be bullies of the school are either very self secure and non threatened by player characters or just aren't that competitive. :-P

It's probably been suggested before but the spells and phemes lists also totally needs a way to filter them by affect. I must have 5 spells to buff vitality in some form or another (along with secondary effects), then phemes on top of that... but finding which ones they are in the list takes ages.

 

Something else that bothers me is the way most adventure lines end with a near impossible roll (After a long series of easy ones in most cases I've experienced) and when you get up to them there's no way to back out of the adventure (I'm aware of) to adequately prepare to deal with that challenge. So unless you've played the adventure before on a previous game and know in advance what buffs you need for the final step, there is no way to succeed. The option to retreat an prepare once you know what you face would help a lot, or to just be able to select spells to cast to buff yourself during an adventure. Also are there tooltips describing what the adventure is about or what adventure line it's part of when your selecting which one to depart on? With their constantly changing names I'm never sure which one continues the previous story line.