Obsidian's Pillars of Eternity [BETA RELEASED, GO TO THE NEW THREAD]

[Vault Dweller]

Well, it's probably easier to design a really good dungeon if you have plenty of room to work with rather than if you have 3 levels to fill with action, suspense, and drama.

 

[FeelTheRads]

With this CYOA on the table now they can just make it an AoD spiritual successor. Something takes too long to do? Make it a CYOA.

 

[Captain Shrek]

snip

No doubt it will be rushed. They are working on unfamiliar engines (although W2 is using it too) and new setting and mechanics, which have a good chance to be broken if not balanced well.

 

[Infinitron]

snip

No doubt it will be rushed. They are working on unfamiliar engines (although W2 is using it too) and new setting and mechanics, which have a good chance to be broken if not balanced well.

Nah, DA2 hack-and-slashes are easy to make.

 

[Arkeus]

Well, there is already pretty much 12 levels for certain (67.3 on KS right now, and 2K+ on paypals), but i don't think it will go above 14 at the very most. It will truly be an epid mega-dungeon, but i think they can do it.

The real problem would be to find ways for it not to create player fatigue. There would need to be reasons not to make it all in one go, hopefully story ones.

 

[Captain Shrek]

snip

No doubt it will be rushed. They are working on unfamiliar engines (although W2 is using it too) and new setting and mechanics, which have a good chance to be broken if not balanced well.

Nah, DA2 hack-and-slashes are easy to make.

Or that

 

[Nebuchadnezzar]

I just hope Obsidian can pull this off.

 

[Raygun_elf]

It would be fun if they took some Wizardry 6 or Bard's Tale influence for the megadungeon, lots of trapped/cursed chests, secrets, even some scripted encounters where your party could all die instantly from pitfalls, or be trapped in a room with monsters by stone doors closing. Better not be 8 levels of damn mob fights with bugbears

 

[Captain Shrek]

It would be fun if they took some Wizardry 6 or Bard's Tale influence for the megadungeon, lots of trapped/cursed chests, secrets, even some scripted encounters where your party could all die instantly from pitfalls, or be trapped in a room with monsters by stone doors closing. Better not be 8 levels of damn mob fights with bugbears

That is actually a good idea. But I think that requires huge amount of work. For a 10-11 level dungeon it could mean the entire game to do it right.

 

[Mrowak]

( = not enough money to keep paying the staff)

Remember that as a large company that does work for publishers, Obsidian has alternate sources of income. We're talking less than 20 employees working on this full-time.

In 18 months. Without any assets. A game from Obsidian.

 

[Mrowak]

I'm actually a little concerned at how big this got. ._.

But who needs a plan, right guys?

 

[Jedi Exile]

I'm not feeling the concept artist at all. Sagani looks terrible, just like all the other characters. I guess the design is.. ok? At least it's minimalistic and not overly accessorized, but it still comes out as something horribly dull to look at. They don't inspire or excite and look more like pictures someone from Deviant Art drew up.

I think Sawyer mentioned that it was he who insisted on this particular style.

 

[Esquilax]

In 18 months. Without any assets.

These deadlines they put out are fucking stupid. I hope that people are willing to wait at least a year longer so that Obsidian has time to really polish things. There's no way that they can make a game with this kind of scope at the level of polish necessary in that amount of time.

 

[Jasede]

That's not what I mean, Mrowak. I think they'd have been fine with no financial budget for you to pursue. But my worry is that this is getting much bigger than they had anticipated. Of course it's hard to know.

But did you really think they wanted to design a 14-level dungeon? Hell, that's a game all in itself!

 

[Infinitron]

I'm actually a little concerned at how big this got. ._.

But who needs a plan, right guys?

Who says there isn't a plan? You just don't have access to it. Solipsism fuck yeah

 

[Raygun_elf]

( = not enough money to keep paying the staff)

Remember that as a large company that does work for publishers, Obsidian has alternate sources of income. We're talking less than 20 employees working on this full-time.

In 18 months. Without any assets.

Don't quote me (well, or do quote me) but I think the 18-month thing is just because Kickstarter requires the project creator to put down an estimated date of delivery.

 

[Jasede]

Let's hope. I can wait until 2016 or so, barring sudden death.

 

[Infinitron]

I'm actually a little concerned at how big this got. ._.

But who needs a plan, right guys?

Who says there isn't a plan? You just don't have access to it. Solipsism fuck yeah

Remember my "conversation" with Sawyer? Remeber most interviews/Q&A sessions? Most of the details have yet NOT been worked out => A lot of time for "balancing" ( ) and creating content.

Get off of it already! Mrowak is talking about a business plan, not gameplay mechanics

 

[Mrowak]

I'm actually a little concerned at how big this got. ._.

But who needs a plan, right guys?

Who says there isn't a plan? You just don't have access to it. Solipsism fuck yeah

I was referring to us having no access to it. A week after kickstarter everyone will start realise that in reality Obsidian told nothing of substance about the project.

Wish you had the hard numers now, right?

Besides I do have impression that they were making all the loose info up as they went. They will sit down to penning the plan only after the project is funded.

 

[Infinitron]

Wish you had the hard numers now, right?

Nope, I don't and I won't.

Let's not start this conversation again, hmm?

 

[Mrowak]

Get off of it already! Mrowak is talking about a business plan, not gameplay mechanics

No. I was talking about *project plan*. Project plan != Business plan. Indeed it is tied to finances, but also to stages of development and what each stage represents during development process (i.e. *exact* features and options). I have already said everything I had to say about it - I am sick of repeating myself.

 

[GordonHalfman]

I'd always assumed the 18 months deadline is more kickstarter marketing, just because it's hard to get the masses excited about something that's 2-3 years away, and no one will be that bothered if they have to push it back as long as they have progress to show. The real question is whether this is actually enough money.

 

[logrus]

See, that was my problem. I just took my favourite character concept and decided to mage-thief (mostly mage) this game. You can guess how that ended. I should have realized that cleric (or druid) is the way to go in a dungeon crawler like this. High level spells without compromising fighting skills, hit points or armor class.

Oh, now I understand IWD2 is much more unforgiving for solo play then BG2 (where you could just go Fighter/Mage/Thief with good scores including 18 wisdom = roflstomp) and your character has to be ready for constant combat since Targos battle to the very end of the game. You really, really need to understand the mechanics and plan your character in advance (including some crucial gear to be used) or just use a build from some guide. I suggest going through the HoF guide on gamefaqs - it has a lot of interesting observations of IWD2 mechanics - it's not solo oriented but you may get inspired by some insane ideas.

 

[Captain Shrek]

Wish you had the hard numers now, right?

Nope, I don't and I won't.

Let's not start this conversation again, hmm?

o_O

Dude. What is wrong with you? I can see J_C (Matt) arguing like this. Why you?

 

[Arkeus]

Seems that with 10 backers till 67.5 and 8k till 3.5 millions on KS alone, both will come at roughly the same time.

Mrowak: Honestly, this is pretty much "they are not telling me stuff so they have no idea what they are doing". Of course they can't give solid info- not only would it 'spoil' things, but it would also probably not be true, as they have to test everything and then change stuff it doesn't work as well in practice as they thought in theory.