Eternity Pillars of Eternity 2 Pre-Announcement Thread

[Roguey]

The break even point for this game isn't 3 million, I'd say it's more like 4-6 million, if I was playing bingo I'd call it 4.5.

Pillars of Eternity cost 5-6 million total and this looks noticeably cheaper than that.

 

[Somberlain]

In my experience, Obsidian seems to be routinely pushed around by the publishers they work with. This leads to rushed launches and, in some cases, making implementing poor designs because of the publisher's whims.

I guess 'Cucksidian' is a legit name in many ways, eh?

 

[Excidium II]

Feargus in charge of having a spine.

80k average for salary?! The game was made by largely junior staff, and even seasoned developers who've been in the industry for years would be pretty happy with 80k.

I dunno about the games industry, but 80K is way on the low end for an experienced programmer in California.

Yeah but game devs are content earning less and working more in general because muh dream of making vidya gayms.

Besides 80k average is p. far-fetched because the game staff seems to be mostly recently-promoted interns as it was mentioned.

 

[J1M]

Now that Obsidian's latest release Tranny has shown that real-time-with-pause games are over, it's good to see them converting this one to a turn-based design.

 

[Prime Junta]

The break even point for this game isn't 3 million, I'd say it's more like 4-6 million, if I was playing bingo I'd call it 4.5.

Pillars of Eternity cost 5-6 million total and this looks noticeably cheaper than that.

"Noticeably cheaper" is an understatement. The bestiary is tiny. They reused a lot of the animations and minor assets. There are far fewer maps. Most spells and abilities are really simple. Even if Tyranny was built from scratch, it would've been a lot cheaper than Pillars, and it wasn't: it got the engine for free, and making that must have taken a very significant slice of the budget.

 

[HoboForEternity]

The break even point for this game isn't 3 million, I'd say it's more like 4-6 million, if I was playing bingo I'd call it 4.5.

Pillars of Eternity cost 5-6 million total and this looks noticeably cheaper than that.

"Noticeably cheaper" is an understatement. The bestiary is tiny. They reused a lot of the animations and minor assets. There are far fewer maps. Most spells and abilities are really simple. Even if Tyranny was built from scratch, it would've been a lot cheaper than Pillars, and it wasn't: it got the engine for free, and making that must have taken a very significant slice of the budget.

alot of items icon are the same as pillars. like the potion bottles, the jewels, ingredients, etc.

 

[Fry]

Tyranny animations are better. Other than that, yeah, they didn't spend a ton of cash on it.

 

[Roguey]

Wish some of that animation budget had gone into portraits for important NPCs instead.

 

[Infinitron]

http://forums.somethingawful.com/sh...06905&pagenumber=892&perpage=40#post466748013

 

[Grunker]

Good to hear. Bouncing effects worked perfectly (or well, well enough) in IE, their behaviour was incredibly weird in PoE

 

[Prime Junta]

Yeah, I hardly ever used Rolling Flame because of this. The should've just removed the bouncing and added a little explosion when it hit a wall instead.

 

[Grunker]

I used the lightning bolt one a couple of times with Aloth, among other things to beat Galvino's Workshop before recommended level. The damage was decent but even if we ignore the randomness in the bouncing itself the animation was terrible. There's sort of a lag to the bounce so that some of the animation "hangs back", meaning you can only determine the path of the bounce by looking at who gets injured from it.

 

[LESS T_T]

 

[Infinitron]

O_o

 

[Metal Hurlant]

Sensuki I've noticed you've been mentioned in this thread on the Obsidian forums.
http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/87059-josh-sawyer-pillars-of-eternity-2-tease-thread/?p=1863580

The part where Rheingold says, "Sensuki was fine with gameplay, in fact he was enthusiastic by the release - he had done a substantial amount of video tutorials. A couple of hours after, he was horrified. It can only be the setting, which is what the problem is for others of his ilk as well."

Any truth that the setting horrified you?

Also, good to see old nipsen visit the forums.

 

[Infinitron]

Yeah, I was thinking of linking to that thread at some point. We're reaching levels of sperging that shouldn't even be possible

 

[Sensuki]

Any truth that the setting horrified you?

It was the content and the gameplay mostly. I don't think the setting is fantastic/don't care for it but there are some elements I like about it.

Rheingold doesn't appear to get it.

 

[Delterius]

Wow, that rheingold guy is embarrassing. Good thing I didn't stick around the Obsidian forums.

 

[Infinitron]

Oh hey, Josh posted in that thread: http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/87059-josh-sawyer-pillars-of-eternity-2-tease-thread/?p=1863781

I think it is fair and reasonable to critique the work that I have done/continue to do, but I do want to clarify the work I (and others) have done and have not done.

I did not have anything to do with the development of the story in NWN2. I came to Obsidian in July of 2005, long after the story had been established. In the capacity of a senior area designer, my only story contribution was to suggest and work through ideas about the background of the King of Shadows with George Ziets.

John Gonzalez developed the story for F:NV. Eric Fenstermaker developed the story for PoE. George Ziets developed the story for Mask of the Betrayer. I was the director of F:NV and PoE. Kevin Saunders was the lead designer (we didn't have directors then) on Mask of the Betrayer.

Writing on projects is split between multiple designers. E.g. on F:NV, over ten designers wrote quest and companion dialogue. I designed all of the main F:NV companions, but the actual writing was split up across many designers. Eric Fenstermaker wrote Boone, Travis Stout wrote Raul, John Gonzalez wrote Lily, Chris Avellone wrote Cass, Akil Hooper wrote ED-E's bleeps, Jesse wrote Rex, and I wrote Arcade. Writing was similarly split on Mask and PoE, but to clarify, I wrote no dialogue on Mask and only Pallegina and a few (~3) minor characters in PoE.

(in response to this: http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/87059-josh-sawyer-pillars-of-eternity-2-tease-thread/?p=1863561)

 

[Delterius]

Wow, that rheingold guy is embarrassing. Good thing I didn't stick around the Obsidian forums.

Yet you ignore the idiotic post from the poster he was quoting? Can you say bias?

Is that you rheingold?

 

[Ignatius Reilly]

Akil Hooper wrote ED-E's bleeps

 

[Sentinel]

I wonder if Josh feels a bit sad inside seeing everyone in the community ask him about companions/characters that were developed by people who left. I haven't seen a single question about Pallegina, Aloth, Kana Rua, Sagani or any other NPC. Even all the questions about Fallout, everyone from that game left.
He even says his favorite companions were Edér and Durance.
I'd be pretty stressed over the PoE2 writing if I was in his shoes honestly.

 

[Trodat]

Since when has quality writing actually sold games?

 

[Sentinel]

That's Obsidian's whole thing.
You think New Vegas sold 4,5 million units for its outstanding gameplay? Do you think Witcher 3 and its expansions sold millions because of amazing gameplay?

Thing is, writing quality will make your game be remembered in 20 years. I'm pretty sure sales are a big concern for Josh, but I don't think he will be happy if PoE2 is deemed "shit" and forgotten in 1 year after launch. I imagine he feels good everytime someone asks him about FNV, and I imagine Avellone feels great everytime he gets questions about PS:T and Fallout 2, or he sees those games rank in the Top 3 in every "Best RPG Ever" list. At the end of the day, that's what will count in life, and that's what you'll be remembered for, not how many units you sold.

 

[Prime Junta]

What does one life matter?