Gothic 4: Spellbound community discussion #3

[Savol]

Ok, EDL asked some clarifications to my previous questions, so I post it here.

Originally Posted by EDL I think the name change was discussed many times and everything was said. We still try to develop a game in the tradition of Gothic and Arcania is just a new chapter in a well known world. But it is still the 4th part in the series of Gothic games.

The question was 'WHY Arcania?'
I think I wanna hear clear and concise explanation from YOU — and definitely not to read some damn forum speculations (thanks for sending in that direction, clever move)

Plus I've noticed, you're now not so confident as before declaring Arcania as Gothic 4 — so thanks for it.

Okay, I'll give you a little more background why I want know about name change.

1.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but NOWHERE was published any official statement WHY NAME HAD CHANGED.
It's pretty strange.
For sure, you'we come to community to discuss GOTHIC 4 — people already know Gothic and it's a pretty huge fanbase. But who know Arcania? No one knows.

And through some mystical name changes (I'll remind it happened that way:
— Gothic 4: Genesis -->
— Gothic 4: Arcania -->
— Arcania: Agothic tale)

It finally turns out to be Arcania.

The name change was done wery secretly and presented like it all was ok.
And now, when I ask you "Why you've done NAME CHANGE" — you even cannot give me ANY explanation and trying to distract me with strange advice to dig into some forums...


2.
NO-ONE here in the market changes the name for the brand. It's simlpy stupid.
Just look how many there are products entitled with 'Dungeons and Dragons'? Or, say, 'Forgotten realms'?
Games, Books, moves, action figures etc
Name is a brand, name is a bait for customers and tool in marketer's hands to distinguish different products.
Also name is a history and a special image in people's mind.
For sure, you know that.

Even new Prince of Persia is called, well, Prince of Persia.
Even it's turned out to be more like a Sonic game, and has nothing to do with past three games (their unverse, story, style, etc) nor the 2d oringinal — still it's called Prince of Persia.

So why not call this game Thief not Arcania? (thief also has dark setting)
Or Diablo? (there are dungeons, too, and many battles and invenory!)
Why not Mario, at least? In both you can jump and gather coins.


3.
Arcania looks for me as TOTALY DIFFERENT GAME that accidentally contains some things from Gothic used to boost the sales just because Jowood has the rights for it.

Good exampes are all these poor attempts to put well-known names from Gothic into Arcania: see 'Tavern of Cleaved maiden' (oh god, what a name) stories.

You know what?
All of this 'Gothic' stuff in 'Arcania' sounds really strained and doesn't fits with the story\gameworld.


So.
God damn this stupid toleracy.
Arcania is not Gothic, Arcania is not Gothic, Arcania is not Gothic...
And your weak mumbling about 'New chapter in Gothic universe with eh DIFFERENT NAME' is a perfect proof for that.
Try to disprove.


4.
Ok, guys.
I would be glad to see an rpg from you. I liked first Desperados very much. In terms of character, atmosphere as well as intersting leveldesign.
But stop saying that it's Gothic. It's not. In no way.
I cannot stand this game when it exploits things from Gothic.

So I don't know how to position it for myself.
Either Gothic with Gothic world, or Arcania with Arcania world.
Mixture of both won't work.

If there will be Evil Nameless Guy — I'll not give this game a chance.


---------

Originally Posted by EDL Forsaken Gods is old news, too, and it was discussed at length on many boards. How could I improve the situation by giving away my opinion about it? Read the forums, read the media - you'll get the picture.

Again, you are trying to escape from the question.
I asked you (as a member of Spellbound team) 'What do YOU think about Forsaken Gods? '.
It's not more about final result, but the purpose.

I don't need any 'improvements' (what was that about?) or refers to damned forum discussions.

Even PB were asked their opinion about this stupid addon.
So I wanna hear YOUR answer — cuz this shitty FG is nothing but an intro to YOURS game.
Simple, right?


---------

Originally Posted by EDL Wrong. Hans-Jorg just knows what was going on during Forsaken Gods and the Cleaved Maiden picks up the story at the end of Forsaken Gods. That's about it. We were not responsible for writing the quests or the story of FG, nor did we do any other type of development for it that I would know of.

Wrong. It was yours idea to turn Nameless guy into 'Oh, I'm so right-winged' Darth Robar the Thurd.
And that's what FG is all about.


PLus, what will you say about this?
(when I wrote my question I kept in mind this info.... And for sure I thought you know this too )

http://www.gothicz.net/gothic-3-fors...rview-english/

5. As we know, you cooperated with Spellbound on the story. How did they influence your game and who did write the main story line? We had some set boundaries with creating the story for Gothic 3 Forsaken Gods. To keep the current ArcaniA ? A Gothic Tale story intact there were a list of characters that we can, cannot kill, a list of events that must happen during the time span of Gothic 3 ending and the start of ArcaniA. But with these in mind, we created several story variations that we could of taken, and ended up cutting, picking, choosing the best parts from each version to combine into the series of events you see in the final game.

---------

Originally Posted by EDL Of course, it is used in many online RPGs and means that you don't talk as your character but as the person playing that character. Why do you ask?

Don't care about MMOs, OOC is more about scenario. It's when one character acts as he never intended for.
The question has the clear continuation to previous FG question.

Nameless guy's acts in FG\Arcania are totally out of character. That's it.
He have a great background from Gothics and his personality is clearly described.
The acts you ascribe to him in after-Gothics are just failure. It's out of character.


---------

Originally Posted by EDL Jowood has the rights, we have the job to develop a game that is the 4th in a series of games that were called Gothic. The name is Arcania - A Gothic Tale and it plays in the universe of Gothic and deals with the well known characters and so on. As far as I know that is pretty legal otherwise the lawyers would have a field day right now. Why we do this? Because we love computer games and try to come up with just another great game.

I don't think so.

Without any doubts I'm not the one to deside what is legal or not.
But there are two things we know:
- PB has rights for the whole Gothic universe\serie itself
- Jowood grabbed the rights for G3 and G4

So, I can conclude that you can develop GOTHIC 4.
It means:
1) You may use any information needed from previous games to develop a new game
2) You need to keep and accent some general things that makes Gothic game a Gothic game — in order to be recognizable by fans.

And now we came to very interesting point.
Arcania is not Gothic.
From legal position you have ONLY rights for Gothic 4.
Still you cosider Arcania as a game in Gothic universe.

You've just said:

Originally Posted by EDL We still try to develop a game in the tradition of Gothic and Arcania is just a new chapter in a well known world. But it is still the 4th part in the series of Gothic games.

So you are using Gothic universe to create somewhat a new game.
But Gothic-universe is a property of PB.
So I don't think that's very legal.

Jowood tries to cheat with legal rights — to launch a new serie — even when they have an opportuninty to make good Gothic 4...

[Hellbilly]

Discussion regarding the upcoming Arcania: A Gothic Tale goes here. Discussion of the answers (and questions) from the Q&A-threads go here.

Previous thread here

[Maladiq]

Originally Posted by Savol << a lot of things>> ...

Damn, you are pissed. I find this good actually. At least it doesn't try to look or sound Gothic, it is a new project based on Gothic. Like LotR and the Hobbit, those books are so different, but they fit togeder. Only after playing you will now for sure. It is a big chance that you are right, but you also might be a little wrong.

[nirolF]

Originally Posted by Savol The question was 'WHY Arcania?' [...] NO-ONE here in the market changes the name for the brand. [...] Name is a brand, name is a bait for customers and tool in marketer's hands to distinguish different products. Also name is a history and a special image in people's mind.

That's your answer. I believe that Arcania will be mostly for the US market. And because in America Gothic isn't so popular (I might guess it is considered as a bad game ) JW decided to change the name so the people out there won't associate it with the old ones (especially G3).
They added a fancy word "Arcania" to make it appealing and, as a bonus, they kept the old name for the fans.

[vivaxardas]

Savol is right. Arcania is an attempt to milk the same old cow once more. As far as I can see, except artificially unserted elements from Gothic, Arcania has nothing to do with Gothic series.
Just imagine: Agatha Cristie lost a right to Ms. Marple to her publisher (just a freaking owner of a printing press, nothing more). The publisher hired some author to write a new story about Ms. Marple. By my opinion, this would be just a fake. There is an old riddle made by Abe Lincoln "If to call a tail a leg, how many legs would horse have?" The answer is FOUR, just calling a tail a leg does not make it such.
The same for me is with Arcania. It is a fake Gothic, just a way to get money from Gothic fans, who may be would not buy this game otherwise (RPG market is huge and nobody buys every one of them).
I have all my hope in Risen. It began as Gothic 4, by the way, and when PB lost rights, they had to change a story a bit. Risen is G4 for me, whatever legal documents say. Lawyers do not make games, developers do.
BTW, I am ok with SB. They are mercenaries for JoWood. They are paid to make this game, and they need money for their families - you know, to support children, pay morgages, and such. To make this game is their job, and they are trying to do thier best in a rather shitty situation.

Originally Posted by jimokalos No,i am not a friend of a beta tester of Arcania,but Genesis. If you want to understand what i am saying pm me.I guess EDL or spellbound wouldn't like to uncover their secrets in a whole thread.

I start to think that we are enabling him.

[Kostaz]

Gothic is dead,get over it,I try to.

[Bastardo]

Nope, unless this is just another bait.

[Dez]

I just hope that they'll make a good and orginal RPG game. Big emphasis on the word ROLEPLAYING GAME. Nowdays too many rpgs seem to be more action than roleplaying. So I hope they take their artistic freedom as far as they see fit because I'm bored to games that try to mimic eachother or please a certain market segment.

I belive thats the reason behind name change. With gothic 4 there comes just too much old burden. If they continue the storyline from gothic 3 and stay true to the game lore and atmosphere, its enough gothic to me. I'm sure they know which gameplay element are popular among fans and they'll do their best to continue that tradition. Nevertheless with new developer some gameplay elements will change, but I'm ok with it. No evolution without some form of revolution.

[Tratos]

I wonder if EDL will come around this thread. It is just on the edge of a knife. Flame but not flame.

Strong arguments I see. Truth in their words, they have.

[Christos]

Guys,what's the problem with you about the name of the game?i think that from the first interviews Spellbound said:

The name change serves two purposes. First, it hints at a world rich in magic and fantasy. Second, and completely from a marketing perspective, it helps give the Gothic franchise a fresh start in North America, where it has failed to gain significant popularity.

I think that Genesis was a possible new name too,so the "name" story should end here unless EDL has something to point that we don't know.

[DTR]

I would ask for a more detailed description of the Arcanias AI paradigm, but all I would get in return would probably sound like the usual "It will be great" advertisement :P

[jimokalos]

Well you 2 know the truth but i am afraid that EDL wouldn't want us to tell it.

[EDL]

Hi Savol,

(Sorry, I spotted your post today that's why I am a little late.)

first of all I don't know why you are so emotional and aggressive with the whole topic, no need to beat on the guy with the bad messages (in your opinion). And - if you don't like an answer, that does not mean the answer is wrong. You will see, that I can only repeat myself in many cases and I am pretty sure you will not like some of my statements. Again. Sorry about that.

Originally Posted by Savol The question was 'WHY Arcania?' I think I wanna hear clear and concise explanation from YOU — and definitely not to read some damn forum speculations (thanks for sending in that direction, clever move) Plus I've noticed, you're now not so confident as before declaring Arcania as Gothic 4 — so thanks for it. Okay, I'll give you a little more background why I want know about name change. 1. Correct me if I'm wrong, but NOWHERE was published any official statement WHY NAME HAD CHANGED. It's pretty strange. For sure, you'we come to community to discuss GOTHIC 4 — people already know Gothic and it's a pretty huge fanbase. But who know Arcania? No one knows. And through some mystical name changes (I'll remind it happened that way: — Gothic 4: Genesis --> — Gothic 4: Arcania --> — Arcania: Agothic tale) It finally turns out to be Arcania. The name change was done wery secretly and presented like it all was ok. And now, when I ask you "Why you've done NAME CHANGE" — you even cannot give me ANY explanation and trying to distract me with strange advice to dig into some forums...

I told you exactly why it was done, but you don't want to accept that answer. Why? Well, it beats me.

It just should be clear that a new developer is working on a new story in the world of Gothic. And that's why a new name is in use. And the name expresses that pretty good. Can I be more clear? If I could, I don't know how. With any name, you can be pretty sure that you will not find everybody agree on the name. So be it. I am not from the marketing department and I don't need to convince you. You don't like the name? Sorry for that, but there is nothing I can do about it.

2. NO-ONE here in the market changes the name for the brand. It's simlpy stupid. Just look how many there are products entitled with 'Dungeons and Dragons'? Or, say, 'Forgotten realms'? Games, Books, moves, action figures etc Name is a brand, name is a bait for customers and tool in marketer's hands to distinguish different products. Also name is a history and a special image in people's mind. For sure, you know that. Even new Prince of Persia is called, well, Prince of Persia. Even it's turned out to be more like a Sonic game, and has nothing to do with past three games (their unverse, story, style, etc) nor the 2d oringinal — still it's called Prince of Persia. So why not call this game Thief not Arcania? (thief also has dark setting) Or Diablo? (there are dungeons, too, and many battles and invenory!) Why not Mario, at least? In both you can jump and gather coins.

Changing a name is a risk. The risk was taken and there is nothing I can do about it. If it is worth to take the risk will need to be seen once the game is out on the shelves.

As Gothic is still part of the name, my main question would be: Is the specific part of the name "Arcania" a problem for you or simply the fact that there is something else besides “Gothic”? These are my questions. If any of these questions would be answered with yes in your case, then we did it wrong in your eyes. Sure thing.

3. Arcania looks for me as TOTALY DIFFERENT GAME that accidentally contains some things from Gothic used to boost the sales just because Jowood has the rights for it. Good exampes are all these poor attempts to put well-known names from Gothic into Arcania: see 'Tavern of Cleaved maiden' (oh god, what a name) stories. You know what? All of this 'Gothic' stuff in 'Arcania' sounds really strained and doesn't fits with the story\gameworld. So. God damn this stupid toleracy. Arcania is not Gothic, Arcania is not Gothic, Arcania is not Gothic... And your weak mumbling about 'New chapter in Gothic universe with eh DIFFERENT NAME' is a perfect proof for that. Try to disprove.

If rumours out there are true, then there are people having contributed to the former Gothic games and they believe, that the gothic athmo is well captured in ArcaniA - A gothic tale.

If you want to see how deeply we have studied the whole universe and what kind of historical background work has been done for purposes of story, quest and world design– then feel free to arrange a meeting with us on one of the upcoming shows and we’ll be happy to discuss things with you.

You don't like the Cleaved Maiden? So be it. Some of the readers like it, others don’t - I think that’s something normal. I however do think you should not accuse the fans who like the stories for their "stupid tolerance"?

Arcania is not Gothic 1, Gothic 2, Gothic 3. Yes, you are damn right. And you can take a look at the final Arcania, no, you don't need to buy it, ask a friend, visit a game show, and then you can decide for yourself what you think about it. Then you can say: "No, that has nothing to do with Gothic." Again, this is a free country.

4. Ok, guys. I would be glad to see an rpg from you. I liked first Desperados very much. In terms of character, atmosphere as well as intersting leveldesign. But stop saying that it's Gothic. It's not. In no way. I cannot stand this game when it exploits things from Gothic. So I don't know how to position it for myself. Either Gothic with Gothic world, or Arcania with Arcania world. Mixture of both won't work. If there will be Evil Nameless Guy — I'll not give this game a chance.

Again, it is matter of taste. If you don't like it - leave it. And, btw, we do not exploit anything from the universe, we use it with respect. And the biggest compliment came from Ralf (PB) himself, when he said, that he is impressed how we caught the Gothic flair so far. And we had a nice chat with quite a few PB-guys and it was my impression that they don't consider it an "exploitation" – but I may be wrong. We are not responsible for the legal mayhem that caused Gothic to be as it is. We can only try to do our best to keep it alive. But we do it our way.

Again, you are trying to escape from the question. I asked you (as a member of Spellbound team) 'What do YOU think about Forsaken Gods? '. It's not more about final result, but the purpose. I don't need any 'improvements' (what was that about?) or refers to damned forum discussions. Even PB were asked their opinion about this stupid addon. So I wanna hear YOUR answer — cuz this shitty FG is nothing but an intro to YOURS game. Simple, right?

And PB did not say what they really think as well. All that I know of are the words "sad" and "no comment". And it is pretty usual in this line of work that you do not speak bad about other people's work. No matter what. The market makes the final judgement. Not us as a developer.

Do you want my personal opinion on FG? No comment. And that should really tell you all you want to know.

Wrong. It was yours idea to turn Nameless guy into 'Oh, I'm so right-winged' Darth Robar the Thurd. And that's what FG is all about. PLus, what will you say about this? (when I wrote my question I kept in mind this info.... And for sure I thought you know this too ) http://www.gothicz.net/gothic-3-fors...rview-english/

Nothing new here. Hans-Jörg said what the ending of FG should be like and that was it. No matter how hard you press, there's no new answer. You don't like that ending? That's another story. We always like to hear personal opinions.

Don't care about MMOs, OOC is more about scenario. It's when one character acts as he never intended for. The question has the clear continuation to previous FG question. Nameless guy's acts in FG\Arcania are totally out of character. That's it. He have a great background from Gothics and his personality is clearly described. The acts you ascribe to him in after-Gothics are just failure. It's out of character.

You asked me what OOC means and I told you correctly. What's your point here? That you don't like what the hero did in FG? Well, you told us that quite often. Many people did not like what he did in G3. Many people did not even like the ending of G3. We know that. What can we do about it? Nothing. Some people will like it, some like it not. You always have to live with that.

I don't think so. Without any doubts I'm not the one to deside what is legal or not. But there are two things we know: - PB has rights for the whole Gothic universe\serie itself - Jowood grabbed the rights for G3 and G4 So, I can conclude that you can develop GOTHIC 4. It means: 1) You may use any information needed from previous games to develop a new game 2) You need to keep and accent some general things that makes Gothic game a Gothic game — in order to be recognizable by fans. And now we came to very interesting point. Arcania is not Gothic. From legal position you have ONLY rights for Gothic 4. Still you cosider Arcania as a game in Gothic universe. You've just said: So you are using Gothic universe to create somewhat a new game. But Gothic-universe is a property of PB. So I don't think that's very legal. Jowood tries to cheat with legal rights — to launch a new serie — even when they have an opportuninty to make good Gothic 4...

I can't help it if you don't believe that it is perfectly legal. Don't you think the lawyers from PB would go berserk if it weren't legal? What is your point here? Again, we can accept it that you don't like the idea that someone else is doing a game within the Gothic universe. But you shouldn't accuse anyone of stealing or cheating if you are not absoulutely sure, that it is the case. I am not in a position to understand or explain the legal issues behind it, that is between PB and Jowood and no one else. All I know is that we can use every name, town, monster, character and the whole nine yards, if you get my drift here. And that's what we do and I don't have the feeling that we may end up in jail.

So - to sum it all up. We understand your frustration and anger about the current state of the Gothic universe, but you are beating the wrong guys here. Ask PB and Jowood what happened back then ... maybe you'll get an answer, but I doubt it. We are just developing a game. We are doing our very best. We may fail in the eyes of the market – or in your eyes. We may succeed in the eyes of the market and maybe even in your eyes – who knows. This needs to be seen – nobody knows what the future will bring.

As for the game name, you should name it as you want to, for me it is the 4th part of the Gothic series.

Cheers,

-EDL

[EDL]

Originally Posted by jimokalos Well you 2 know the truth but i am afraid that EDL wouldn't want us to tell it.

I have absolutly no idea what you are talking about and I also don't know what secret you could tell to the world. It must be so secret that not even we at Spellbound know anything about it. Wait a minute, let me check the cellar ... no, sorry, nobody working there. Hmm ... please let me know that secret and I may have some more power within the company here.

Speak freely!

-EDL

[Kostaz]

@EDL nice of you to answer but I can understand the guys frustration.
Just try to look at the case from our point of view.

The last game with the word Gothic as the 1st word is FG!!
For the love of Christ this is insulting to the series.
You are developing a game and some of us have faith in it and like how you studied the whole universe(unlike Trine).But still a change in the name is/will/should piss some people off.No matter how much faith in SB I have this new entry to the Gothic world sounlds like PR crap to me.

I want new Gothic and right now I have 3 choices:

• Play FG(no need to add anything else right?)
• Wait/Hope for Rise(it's like gothic but it is NOT GOTHIC)
• Wait/Hope for Arcania(Guess what?The name is no more gothic,the who we all loved is a right wing asshole)

To me it seems like you're trying to stay true to the gothic spirit/style while developing a great RPG but the fact that you changed the name is really stupid to me.
If you aim for a new market don't bullshit the old one.

@Mods sorry for swearing please censor if you will

I have absolutly no idea what you are talking about and I also don't know what secret you could tell to the world. It must be so secret that not even we at Spellbound know anything about it. Wait a minute, let me check the cellar ... no, sorry, nobody working there. Hmm ... please let me know that secret and I may have some more power within the company here. Speak freely! -EDL

It's would not be a secret then

[EDL]

Originally Posted by Kostaz @EDL nice of you to answer but I can understand the guys frustration. Just try to look at the case from our point of view. The last game with the word Gothic as the 1st word is FG!! For the love of Christ this is insulting to the series. You are developing a game and some of us have faith in it and like how you studied the whole universe(unlike Trine).But still a change in the name is/will/should piss some people off.No matter how much faith in SB I have this new entry to the Gothic world sounlds like PR crap to me. To me it seems like you're trying to stay true to the gothic spirit/style while developing a great RPG but the fact that you changed the name is really stupid to me. If you aim for a new market don't bullshit the old one.

Hi Kostaz,

that's what I did. I tried to see it from your point of view and I am doing that every day, because I am the person here who says: "Stop! Do you know what the people out there are thinking? Do you know what the fans would say?" I am always between the lines, but I don't complain, that's my job and I like it.

It is just that the name change is so long ago and it is tiresome to speak about the same things all over again. I understand every frustration. I never expect a cheering crowd out there. Whatever we do - it is wrong in the first place. I expected that and I can live with that.

But - we are not bullshitting you. No way. If you don't like the name, I can live with that. If you don't like the storyline with the nameless - I can live with that, too. (Check out the end of Arcania and maybe everything makes perfect sense then.) But there's no need to speak of "cheating", "stealing" and speak of bad motives we might have when we do this game. No need to condemn it before you have even seen it. No need to go all ballistic about it. In the end? It is just a f****** name, ok? The gameplay and story is what counts, not the letters printed on a box. I really don't understand all the fuzz about it. Ignore it! Maybe that helps.

-EDL

[Larisa]

Originally Posted by Kostaz The last game with the word Gothic as the 1st word is FG!! For the love of Christ this is insulting to the series.

It's insulting that FG has the Gothic name in it? Perhaps.

Originally Posted by Kostaz But still a change in the name is/will/should piss some people off.No matter how much faith in SB I have this new entry to the Gothic world sounlds like PR crap to me.

Newsflash: Even when they though naming that old game 'Gothic' and not 'A Nameless Hero's Story', it was a PR decision.
Same way came 'Night of the Raven'. Still those silly PR guys.

Originally Posted by Kostaz [*]Wait/Hope for Arcania(Guess what?The name is no more gothic,the who we all loved is a right wing asshole)

The third choice could be rephrased also like this: Wait/Hope for Arcania(Guess what, it could be a great game, despite it's name)

[Maladiq]

I must admit that in the beginning i was pissed about the name change. But in the end i realized that no matter how much SB will try, this will not be Gothic 4, it is a new series based in the original one. So I can only hope for a great game that will bring a great feeling on my pc


And by the way everybody, the truth is out there

[Kostaz]

Originally Posted by mistress_larisa Newsflash: Even when they though naming that old game 'Gothic' and not 'A Nameless Hero's Story', it was a PR decision. Same way came 'Night of the Raven'. Still those silly PR guys.

Yeah but it was an addon(unlike FG)

The third choice could be rephrased also like this: Wait/Hope for Arcania(Guess what, it could be a great game, despite it's name)

Great game but still may not be Gothic.

Anyway my problem is that I really want to believe that this is Gothic but the damn name isn't letting me.

(Check out the end of Arcania and maybe everything makes perfect sense then.)

And by the way everybody, the truth is out there

Link?

[vivaxardas]

I would not accept Arcania as Gothic game because of the story - NH became an evil king. Does not make any sense for me.
But it is exactly the reason why I like that they changed a name - call it G4 would make me feel worse. Now I can see it as a completely different game. I am not going to pretend that Arcania is Gothic game, nothing can probably change it.

But I will buy Arcania and play it. I hope it will be a great RPG in its own right, and it will beat TES. SB are good developers, and they are sensible enough to take their time and talk with fans. Our frustration is not their fault.

Unfortunately, JoWood has a right to Gothic, and so it can exploit it any way it wants. As a fan, I feel bad. G3FG feels like a desecration of a great series, but JoWood is within its rights to do it. Life is not fair - get used to it.