Eternity Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire Pre-Release Thread [BETA RELEASED, GO TO NEW THREAD]

[Lahey]

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/399399.Blood

Fucking Moorcock every time.

something like a detective noir setting would make for a great adventure game, sure, but would be more difficult to shoehorn into an rpg setting for people expecting parties, combat, loot, etc.

Noir doesn't necessitate hardboiled detective stuff (VtmB is a good example of noirpg). I think Sawyer would do well within the genre's themes.

I'm just tired of rpgs falling into the genre fiction false dichotomy of fantasy/sci-fi.

 

[IHaveHugeNick]

Fantasy and sci-fi are incredibly versatile genres. It's just that every time video game does fantasy, it ends up having unmistakable stench of Tolkien, while video game sci-fi is mostly limited to space-opera or post-apo. You can use dying earth setting, time travel, alternative history, generation ship, so many others.

 

[Prime Junta]

space-opera or post-apo

Or cyberpunk. Don't forget cyberpunk.

 

[Mastermind]

Fantasy and sci-fi are incredibly versatile genres. It's just that every time video game does fantasy, it ends up having unmistakable stench of Tolkien

being tolkien-like pretty much defines the genre so... yeah.

 

[Quillon]

Fantasy and sci-fi are incredibly versatile genres. It's just that every time video game does fantasy, it ends up having unmistakable stench of Tolkien

being tolkien-like pretty much defines the genre so... yeah.

but its so much broader than that man! look at pillars and tyranny, so different games!

 

[Sentinel]

When you take inspiration from the irrelevant aspects of Tolkien in terms of a videogame campaign it's hard to make anything good.

 

[Mastermind]

there's almost nothing that's actually taken from Tolkien except surface level stuff (IE: dwarves with beards and tall guys with pointy ears called elves). Even the races themselves are almost indistinguishable in most RPGs. D&D is probably the worst offender in this regard, and the obsession with letting people see everything in one playthrough plays a big part in it as well.

 

[Iznaliu]

while video game sci-fi is mostly limited to space-opera or post-apo

Sci-fi RPGs are pretty rare, so I'm not feeling the oversaturation yet.

 

[Sensuki]

No need to push

Because that totally gets you what you want.

 

[FreeKaner]

There is plenty of criminally underused settings to make a RPG in, some historical others sci-fi, yet all we get is yet another tolkienesque European medieval fantasy most of the time. Even when it's medieval Europe it tends to be a lot more one-dimensional late-medieval.

 

[IHaveHugeNick]

I think it's the issue of familiarity. RPGs typically have higher barrier of entry, so they'll give you elves and dwarves and gnomes in order not to confuse new players too much.

Ironically these days you'll see AAA mainstream games take more chances with the settings than the likes of Obsidian. Probably because console game mechanics have sort of standardized ( cover based shooting, chest high walls, collectibles and so on). The mechanics are instantly familiar no matter what you play, so they can take more risks and do Tom Raider: Syberia or whatever the last one was named.

 

[Grunker]

No need to push

Because that totally gets you what you want.

implying that you got what you wanted from pushing :D

 

[Infinitron]

He got some of what he wanted.

My point was that Sensuki was implying that Obsidian don't care about the combat log when in fact they announced early on that they were adding the improvements that Lacrymas was speaking about.

 

[Sensuki]

Pretty much, and I'm not as up to date this time!

 

[Grunker]

wasn't enough apparantly

 

[Sensuki]

What do you mean?

 

[Grunker]

That you hugely dislike PoE?

 

[Sensuki]

Correct

 

[Grunker]

So iow pushing wasn't enough

 

[Sensuki]

Presenting an argument for a feature or a change and reinforcing it did get quite a number of things into the game. It was more effective at things where there wasn't really an opposition to the idea from the public (or the developers). When there was division, it would go the way I wanted sometimes.

That's why my advice to Lacrymas is to vocally push for things you want, because if you don't you may not get your message across. I didn't go about arguing some things in the best fashion but I don't think being more mild mannered about it would have made any difference as to whether what I was advocating for made it into the game or not.

 

[aweigh]

personally i need to finish a game 7 times and write 12 reviews before deciding whether i like it or not

 

[Iznaliu]

Presenting an argument for a feature or a change and reinforcing it did get quite a number of things into the game. It was more effective at things where there wasn't really an opposition to the idea from the public (or the developers). When there was division, it would go the way I wanted sometimes.

Obsidian have repeatedly emphasised that this kind of feedback is important to them.

 

[Gangrelrumbler]

Regarding underused RPG setting. 3 Kingdoms Era China wasn't used in any western RPG as far as I know.

 

[Fedora Master]

Tolkien didn't invent fantasy, plenty of stuff that came before or after. Early 1900s "This will be the WORLD OF TOMORROW", 30s pulp novels like Conan, trippy-ass 60s and 70s stuff like the more obscure Moorcock stories and... uh, well after that it was mostly just recycled Tolkien to be honest.

 

[Iznaliu]

and... uh, well after that it was mostly just recycled Tolkien to be honest

There's still relatively non-Tolkienian fantasy if you know where to look.