Ara: History Untold

[Boris Gudenuf]

Joan was captured by the Burgundians but turned over to the English, by whom she was condemned and burned in Rouen, which was in the Duchy of Normandy. Whether that was in England or France depended on which side you were on at the time - it was one of the main contentions that kept the war going.

 

[Rac]

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=409808171497458

Welp if there was still any doubt left yet, Ara indeed has the capacity to have multiple leaders per nation

 

[The_J]

And we are now at the 17th dev diary for Ara: History Untold.
This time the devs talk essentially about how wonders and other monumental buildings are getting into the game, from the initial decision what to include, through the whole design process.

 

[Zegangani]

This latest Dev Diary is the weakest we got so far ngl. Would have been ok if it was released when they were releasing DDs on a weekly basis, but after more than a Month of waiting for a new DD, it felt very faint. Don't get me wrong, I like Wonders, but IMO they don't deserve an exclusive 12 mins Video, where a much more important Mechanic, Warfare, only got some bits of attention here and there. If we're getting DDs monthly now, then I expect more meatier stuff, things like Late Game, Diplomacy, Warfare, Scenarios, maybe even some actual Gameplay Videos instead of just cut-scenes...etc.

Also, have Fun traveling the World, Stakuyi! Enjoy!

 

[Sephi]

Wonders have always been a fan favorite, they definetly deserve their own DD. It would have been cool to include some specific examples, like what resources does wonder X need and what strategies does it enable.

 

[Zegangani]

Not if the previous Dev Diary was 5+ weeks ago. You usually cram such a minor DD between other DDs (or as one of the latests DDs), and not after a long wait, were people expect a juicy DD with new reveals and insights (to make the wait worth it). This DD didn't reveal anything new, it was all self-explanatory and not very interesting. It didn't even go into details about Wonders themselves, like what you suggested, but felt more like a talk about Wonders 'in general'.

Coupled with the fact that more important mechanics didn't even get a noteworthy Spotlight, the previous DD being just a different version of a previous DD about Art, and the fact that we're now only getting monthly DDs (which means there isn't much more to talk about), I'm starting to feel there isn't much depth to ARA as I hoped for. Usually, a Game with many and deep mechanics gets DDs filled to the brim with Details, especially so close to release (supposedly this Fall), but ARA's DD get less and less detailed, and now we're getting even less DDs .

I was holding my expectations for this game a little back, but still was hopeful that it will be a better and more replayable game than Humankind. But these recent DDs just further convince me to hold my expectations even more back.

 

[Sephi]

I totally agree with that. I feel like the dev diaries are more like dev videos where they have a fairly broad discussion about the development of the game. Their target audience is probably general gamepass enjoyers and not strategy fanatics who want to know all the details.

I guess we will get most of the juicy details close to release.

 

[Zegangani]

I guess we will get most of the juicy details close to release.

I hope that too. I guess we have to wait and see.

 

[The_J]

Another video, this time a dev Q&A:

EDIT: I find her somewhat...um... annoying. EDIT3: It is informative though.

EDIT2: The summary which I put on the main site:
After many dev diaries for Ara: History Untold we now get the first Q&A. In this Q&A the devs talk about which platforms Ara will be released on, if you can change from simultaneous turns to real turn-based turns, the long path to get map sizes right, and much more.

 

[Caesar of Bread]

Another video, this time a dev Q&A:

EDIT: I find her somewhat...um... annoying.

Really? She was very likeable to me.

 

[The_J]

Different people have different tastes .

 

[Zegangani]

I also find her likeable, seems like the Person you'll never get bored with.

Though, I have to say, the Q&A feels more like Advertising (Announcing ARA Board Game, more supported Languages, Insider Program) than an actual Q&A (only 3 answered questions, and a dodged one. that's barely a Q&A, even in a 10 min Video).

 

[Sephi]

I think that only one copy of the boardgame exists and I doubt that it is for sale. The original civilization game played like a boardgame but it never felt like one. I hope that they can also figure that one out. Civ6 was too gameboardy for me with their policy cards and sciene bonuses from mountains or whatever.

 

[Rac]

Ok, support for 25 languages at launch, among the localizations will be Turkish, German, Japanese, Korean, French and Italian... Really impressive in that department, and we have confimation that Thailand leader is Ram Khamhaeng

Also... "The First Persian Empire" sure is an name, I mean, they could go with Achamenids here you know

 

[Rac]

Actually about the language support... Holy moly

 

[CivLuvah]

I'm starting to feel there isn't much depth to ARA as I hoped for. Usually, a Game with many and deep mechanics gets DDs filled to the brim with Details, especially so close to release (supposedly this Fall), but ARA's DD get less and less detailed, and now we're getting even less DDs .

To be fair, not all marketing teams act the same way, and they might have been busy doing other stuff behind the scenes. On the other hand of the spectrum, there are games whose DDs are incredibly detailed, but they end up not working or as interesting as the player expected them to be. In the case of ARA, there are other core mechanics present in the videos that they still have to explain. The fact is, unless either one of us is in the Insider Program, we wouldn't know what's actually happening. That doesn't mean they did not work on those mechanics. Unless a game development team is incredibly incompetent (which Oxide clearly isn't by the looks of it), it seems unlikely that a game on this scale would not have those core mechanics already at work.

 

[Sephi]

and another one

 

[The_J]

Okay, few interesting things in there:

• you need to equip your units
• resources which you find are visible to everyone, that ensures competition
• Apparently there are different "acts" (like...eras?), and that some nations might not make it through the first act, and you can find remnants of these civs (like goody huts or ruins) later. I don't think I've read anything about the concepts of acts earlier, no?

 

[Bonyduck Campersang]

I don't think I've read anything about the concepts of acts earlier, no?

We have, as a matter of fact

Ara: History Untold - Surviving Act Transition - Steam News

Like many great stories, Ara: History Untold is broken into three acts. Read about how each act brings new challenges and affects your strategy.

store.steampowered.com

Not sure I like the lowest-ranked nations being removed every act.

 

[Lonecat Nekophrodite]

Joan was captured by the Burgundians but turned over to the English, by whom she was condemned and burned in Rouen, which was in the Duchy of Normandy. Whether that was in England or France depended on which side you were on at the time - it was one of the main contentions that kept the war going.

And actually Charles VII chose not to save Jeanne d'Arc. This due to her peasantry origin.
If she's saved. she would later extort Charles VII.

I don't know if Burgundian leaders got the same retribution from France as an act fo vengeance? if not then it is true Charles VII viewed Jeanne as political tool and at the time he is crowed, she lost the usefulness to him.
How clever, and evil Charles VII Politics is. to avoid social upheaval that might follow later on.
But it was his eldest son (Louis XI), that caused him a big trouble in his last year.