Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak - I Wanted More - Full Campaign Commentary

[@jedfromyourlocallibrary]

The commentary and combat chatter are both impeccable

[@Flashjack1]

So, the explanation of why they didn't add more of the lore of DoK into the game is that it was never meant to be a Homeworld game. It was meant to be an original IP. An MMO where you commanded giant fleets of vehicles harvesting ores and shipwrecks. Blackbird was told to completely redesign it into an rts, then into a Homeworld game. They wanted to use the lore more, but due to them redesigning the game and the time crunch they gutted it all the while they were moving into a new office (which was basically an unused airfirce hanger). The Khaaneph faction was meant to be something you'd face and they wanted to cover the greater lore like the Southern Coalition but none of that came to fruition so a much longer story became weirdly paced. I'd love to see another DoK game which buffed out the rough edges and with a much greater expanded storyline. I mean the odyssey of the Southern Coalition to the southern pole sounds like a perfect story and keeps in line with the original themes of Homeworld 1 As for did the Coalition know about the ships? Yes and no. They did an orbital scan and noticed tons of anomalous structures across Kharak and that the largest one was deep in Galseeian territory and seemed to be important. They couldn't reach them due to the Galseeian guarding them and carefully studying them. So they send you out to discover what it is. Unfortunately it only hints this in game and fully confirms it in the expedition diary app you can buy, that the entire point of the expedition was to distract the Galseeian and that the Coalition command didn't believe that the objective of the expedition had any practical use and was a waste of resources.

[@OffyDGG]

That's interesting. Looks like this franchise has been having bad luck. The new one comes out pretty soon so many it will bounce back, although I have already seen people complaining about the pre-release version. Maybe the whole vibe of the game is too strange to go truly mainstream, but I like it for what it is. And as someone else said, it is possible that the lack of detail and lore might actually work to its benefit, since it invites so much mystery and possible depth.

[@FearTheCaboose1337]

Professionals under pressure is the homeworld essence. And it's the goddamn best thing about the series

[@KyleTennisman3775]

I busted up laughing so hard when you where like “check out the sick audio chatter of this game” and then immediately text appears about an audio glitch. Good shit. 1:36:10

[@KVP424]

I think a lot of homeworld lore come from the manual, rather than just in the game. For good and ill if I recall. It give a lot of context to what each clan and their belief is about. Some people think it is part of the charm, for me I atleast want them to be in the game as some sort of codex that you can read without reading the manual outside the game.

[@bubbasbigblast8563]

Deserts of Kharak even feeds into the HW1 manual: the Gaalsien get their own section in the original manual, despite being irrelevant, but their main rivals the Siidim do not. The events in Deserts of Kharak answer both why the Gaalsiens still kind of unnerved people enough to feel relavent even generations later, and why the Siidim weren't around to complain about being a footnote...

[@OffyDGG]

For me, since I played it on gog and didn't know about the manual, all that passed me by. I think I looked stuff up on the wiki after since it seemed like I was missing a lot. No idea if deserts of kharak secretly had a manual that explains everything too!

[@Ubercharge12]

@@OffyDGG it does but i think it might be dlc for some reason.

[@KVP424]

@@OffyDGG Not sure about desert of kharak but I think original homeworld manual also explain a lot of DoK lore especially in the section explaining various clan.

[@OffyDGG]

It sounds like all the stuff I needed can be found here and there, but crucially not the one place I looked for it: this game! I am sure this franchise is shooting itself in the foot by hiding this cool material away from the passing glance of players.

[@erutz5190]

Games I'd like to see Devin rant about: Bad North. A minimalist tactics game that I find really fun for what it is, but I'm sure he'd find plenty to rant about

[@atreides213]

You really missed out on the artifact bonuses, Devin. You activate artifacts by clocking the little hexagon to the left of your resources on the top right, and can only have one active at a time. They provide incredibly powerful bonuses, but only if you choose to activate one. My personal favorite extends your sensor range to double the normal.

[@OffyDGG]

Lol had no idea, I thought you got them all! Guess for hard difficulty could be very useful. Thanks for the tip!

[@Ubercharge12]

Also this franchise is not dead in fact homeworld 3 is supposed to be coming on may 13 this year. Its also supposed to be a AAA rts so people are hoping it will revive the rts genre.

[@OffyDGG]

That's cool, hadn't heard of that at all but that's cool timing. Better keep an eye out for it.

[@BobMcBobJr]

People are already complaining about the demo. Apparently ships can't move and shoot at the same time and there's a lot of powerup buttons that overpower the tactical part of the game.

[@FearTheCaboose1337]

2 high profile rts failures this year so far, and sadly homeworld was one of them

[@adamtruong1759]

Many of the characters in DoK do have names, and they're pretty much given in some of the cutscenes and the personal logs that they write to themselves after each mission. It's admittely a little weird that they're almost never referred by that name by the other characters (especially when they're on the same ship), but I guess it fits the 'professional' setting these characters are in, as "Intel" is more proper than "Nathan."

[@OffyDGG]

Yes I remember seeing a few names creep in here and there. I think more than how the characters speak to each other, it's just that in the game the text says their title and not their name even after they are introduced. Gives this feel that you aren't 'supposed' to know who they are, which kept them at a distance. Maybe it's all part of the vibe.

[@b1indmailman]

Of all the Homeworld games I adore this one simply for the radio chatter and its a thing I wish more games had. Its stupid but hearing a tank crew bitching about the AC unit or arguing about maintenance checks with engineering really makes you notice how dead quiet most RTS games are (outside of giving commands or selecting them)

[@theunforgiven9538]

love your honesty. .

[@mario-rh7sq]

Awesome video Offy, i love your commentary. By the way Homeworld 3 comes out on the 13th of may, in case you are interested.

[@Owen-fn8ff]

Thanks for the video, enjoying all the feedback loopey talk. Got me thinking, How about a video from you regarding designing the best possible feedback loop system in an rts campaigns What are the best examples? BFME? Would enjoy that discussion.

[@OffyDGG]

I don't know if there is a perfect theoretical way to do it, since positive and negative loops have different uses for different situations, and it probably changes player to player. Like in bfme I thought the negative loop parts were a bit annoying since you had to get units killed to unlock things, but really good in that it prevented grinding. My gut feeling is that the best way to go is positive loop and allow the player to get really powerful if they want, but in such a way that being overpowered doesn't feel unfun e.g. Future challenges remain unknown, and that isn't necessary to access the highest grades in the game e.g. Game ranks favourably based on how few units you needed/how weak your build is, so being weak is a more skilled approach. Something like that. Might have the best of all worlds? Even better: just flip a coin and call the result, infinite content that avoids these endless game design hangups 😁

[@GrandMoffClubby]

I love Homeworld

[@zimriel]

I love Cataclysm. the horror-themed black sheep of the franchise, which Relic=Blackbird didn't get to do.

[@CoffeeForAll]

I remember that I was very unimpressed with this game. It started out somewhat interesting, but then it ends almost as soon as it began. The “long journey” through the desert is skipped over in some bewildered assumption that an RTS can only ever be about combat. As if it’s just there to teach mechanics for some multiplayer mode that almost nobody would ever care to play.

[@OffyDGG]

From what others have said, it might actually have been intended to all be building up to multiplayer, as you suggested. The game had some dev hell and lots was cut or changed, so it seems the empty or rushed feel was an unfortunate effect of this stuff behind the scenes.

[@ashen1921]

Is there any chance you’ll play Making History SWW/FWW !

[@sethduffey9538]

Good stuff

[@bubbasbigblast8563]

The game was a bit rushed: it was originally a separate IP called Shipbreakers, and only became a prequel late in development, so a lot of the story would have been changed from whatever was first planned. The developers also wanted the game to be more of a multiplayer thing, but the game is kind of the worst of all worlds for that: not small enough scale to be like Company of Heroes, not big enough to be like Supreme Commander, not fast enough to be like Starcraft, and not slow enough to be like Age of Empires 2. So, the multiplayer kinda makes you feel like you can get a better experience elsewhere, and most multiplayer RTS people tend to stick to games that are already popular, since waiting ten minutes to get matched to somebody who stomps you into the ground is always a danger in RTS games, which means most people just give up.

[@OffyDGG]

That's good info. I figured it was low budget or they weren't that interested in it, hence it being short and simple.

[@LyricalDJ]

Good video! Would watch again. Could've been longer, though. :oP

[@OffyDGG]

Don't tempt me 😂

[@BrorealeK]

I think the appeal of this game would be much lower if all the dialogue was equally dramatic to the implications of the story. I'd prefer to be teased about deeper lore than to find out how shallow the story really is, or how unsatisfying all the answers are. The mystery of Homeworld was always my favorite part. Also I love Highfleet, but it is annoying how the best way to play the game is to constantly avoid actual ship fights (the fun part).

[@dropship8]

Play ORB, some Spanish guy at a car boot sale convinced that it's a better version of home world

[@VarrickThorshire]

Rusted warfare!

[@OffyDGG]

Played some today, it's good!

[@Wlexik]

I hate sand

[@BobMcBobJr]

It gets everywhere. This whole planet is covered in it.

[@AndrewTheMandrew531]

It’s coarse, rough, irritating, and it gets everywhere.