Game News Project Eternity Kickstarter Update #2: Stretch Goals Revealed

[Zed]

Tags: Adam Brennecke; Obsidian Entertainment; Pillars of Eternity

It looks like Obsidian Entertainment's Project Eternity Kickstarter is a huge success. A record-breaking success. They reached their initial goal of $1.1M only a few hours past the first 24. In their first (substantial) Kickstarter update, posted today, Obsidian presents some incentives to further increase that already impressive pool of gold. Stretch goals!

1.1 million, Base Goal – Achieved!
Base game includes three races, five classes, and five companions. We have ideas for these, but we want to hear your opinions on what you'd like to see. Stay tuned to Kickstarter, our website, and our forums to join in on the conversation.

1.4 million, New Playable Race, Class, and Companion!
Expands your options for character creation and adds a companion of the new class.

1.6 million, a Mac Version of Project Eternity and The Story Grows!
We've listened and we’ll make a Mac version of the game at this tier. We're also going to add a new major storyline along with new quests, locations, NPCs, and unique loot (special histories everyone?).

1.8 million, New Playable Race, Class, and Companion!
The options grow for your main character and the roster of your motley crew expands with the addition of a new companion from the selected class.

2.0 million, Player House!
Get your own house in the game that you can customize, store equipment in, and where your companions hang out, or, as the elves say, "chillax".

2.2 million, a new Region, a new Faction and another new Companion! And, dare we say it... ? LINUX!
Great news, everyone! For the Tarball Knights of Gzippia out there, we'll be adding Linux support!
Also, the world of Project Eternity grows in a major way with the inclusion of a whole new faction and the territory it holds. This adds new NPCs, quests, magic items, and hours of gameplay. And yes, you got it, another companion.

We've been listening to your feedback, and have the following announcements:
​

DRM Free: We are looking into it! Please check back for updates.
Digital Only Tiers are coming!
PayPal is coming asap. Please be patient!
New $5k Tier. We are looking into a new $5k tier since it sold out so quickly! We are looking into equivalent alternatives.

​

Thank you fans!​

There's also a video explaining the announcements on Kickstarter. Considering the momentum they have, I think we can safely assume that all the stretch goals will be met. Like, next week.

Related: J. E. Sawyer sings The Impossible Dream, as promised.

 

[Brother None]

2.0 million, Player House!
Get your own house in the game that you can customize, store equipment in, and where your companions hang out, or, as the elves say, "chillax".

Heh. It kind of seems to me that where Fargo was aiming straight at the Codex crowd, Obsidian is casting their net wider to encapsulate...disgruntled...BioWare fans? Of sorts. Could be very effective indeed, for an audience that considers having a house to be the epitome of RPG gameplay.

 

[FeelTheRads]

Sounds good except the Biodrone pandering.

 

[Grimlorn]

The house is pretty dumb.

They really should have just asked for 2 or 3 million. People are less likely to put up money now that its hit it's goal. And its kind of hard to just say more content every .2 million invested but that's how it will be. The game will have quite a bit more content at 2.2 million than just 1.1 million.

 

[Anthony Davis]

If you have issues or suggestions I recommend you take them directly to Obsidian. Seriously. They know who you guys are and if you have a better suggestion that is still technically feasible and affordable, why wouldn't they listen?

EDIT:
Be Pro about this. If you go over there and ask for anal-fisting or the ability murder children as a stretch goal you are going to hurt your own goals no matter how funny you find it.

 

[Pike]

I wonder how much of the story they have planned out already (if any) and if these stretch goal people will feel like they got stuffed in. I'd kind of feel better if they were already planned and these stretch goals are all bullshit they were going to throw in anyway. Also incoming pregnant Aerie 2 in your house except this time she says chillax.

 

[Infinitron]

Heh. It kind of seems to me that where Fargo was aiming straight at the Codex crowd, Obsidian is casting their net wider to encapsulate...disgruntled...BioWare fans? Of sorts. Could be very effective indeed, for an audience that considers having a house to be the epitome of RPG gameplay.

That's precisely what they're doing.

Buck: Why do you feel that now is a good time to pursue a party-based, IE-inspired RPG, and why do feel that Kickstarter is the best way to do it?

Feargus: The reason is not a whole lot different than what we talked about a couple of years ago. It’s not as if people stopped wanting games like Icewind Dale or Baldur’s Gate, it was more that BioWare moved on as a studio and Black Isle went away.

To every Biofan reading, that translates as "Bioware betrayed you! Come to us, we'll rescue you!"

 

[maverick]

Linux...

LINUX

LINUX!

 

[Brother None]

If you have issues or suggestions I recommend you take them directly to Obsidian.

Well, I dunno about anyone else, but I don't, not really, on this topic. If I'm not the audience for something it is odd to then "suggest" that they should make me their audience. That's a difficult subset of people I had to deal with on the Wasteland 2 forum, it's not a mindset that works for me. They want to make an Infinity Engine-inspired game, but I never liked IE, heavily targeting BioWare fans, but I'm not and never have been a BioWare fan. So what can you do? Say "stop making an IE-inspired game for BioWare fans"? Doesn't seem too fruitful. Besides, variety is the spice of life, it's good to see yet another approach on a Kickstarter project even if it's not really all that well fitted to my own tastes.

 

[commie]

PLAYA HOUSE!!!!

Take that Todd Howard!!!

 

[Zed]

EDIT:
Be Pro about this. If you go over there and ask for anal-fisting or the ability murder children as a stretch goal you are going to hurt your own goals no matter how funny you find it.

Hey, those are your ideas, not ours.

Language translations should be a stretch goal. At least German. Germans are insane about fantasy RPGs. It's like heroin for them.

 

[Anthony Davis]

If you have issues or suggestions I recommend you take them directly to Obsidian.

Well, I dunno about anyone else, but I don't, not really, on this topic. If I'm not the audience for something it is odd to then "suggest" that they should make me their audience. That's a difficult subset of people I had to deal with on the Wasteland 2 forum, it's not a mindset that works for me. They want to make an Infinity Engine-inspired game, but I never liked IE, heavily targeting BioWare fans, but I'm not and never have been a BioWare fan. So what can you do? Say "stop making an IE-inspired game for BioWare fans"? Doesn't seem too fruitful. Besides, variety is the spice of life, it's good to see yet another approach on a Kickstarter project even if it's not really all that well fitted to my own tastes.

Fair enough. I was really speaking to those who enjoy the style of game and have better ideas for stretch goals.

For example, unless the player house is the player stronghold and tied into the game, I don't care. I would rather see player stronghold that player house as a stretch goal but that might just be me.

 

[Anthony Davis]

EDIT:
Be Pro about this. If you go over there and ask for anal-fisting or the ability murder children as a stretch goal you are going to hurt your own goals no matter how funny you find it.

Hey, those are your ideas, not ours.

Language translations should be a stretch goal. At least German. Germans are insane about fantasy RPGs. It's like heroin for them.

Now THAT is a good idea. I would put that as one of the first stretch goals actually. Heck, I'll probably go ping Jabby with that one right now.

 

[bobisimo]

House as a stronghold quest, like BG2 -- even if for just one class? Yes. House as a place to customize, like Fable or the new Skyrim DLC? No. But if it gets more people adding more money...

 

[commie]

Can't wait for the next set of stretch goals: Tablet support, Tameable Chocobos...

 

[Jaesun]

The Bioware pandering is disturbing. ALL the stretch goals should be on making the game better and better and better. Not companions and crap (ONE more is fine). They are really missing the boat on translations though.

Voiced my options on the official forums and a backer. But it will all be drowned out by shitposter/trolls/Biodrones.

 

[Brother None]

Can't wait for the next set of stretch goals: Tablet support, Tameable Chocobos...

I dunno, keeping an eye on SA and Obsidian forums, I'm thinking more...

Tranny option on character creation, romance options across all genders and races, moar pre-order DLC items.

Gotta know your audience

 

[Dyspaire]

For the love of God, get the game-play right.

All the back-story and atmosphere and grimdark writing in the world won't mean a thing if the game is not mechanically fun to play.

Make a game system strong and supple enough to stand the test of time without tinkering. Endless re-balancing via continued patching post-release, has ruined more than a few decent games. Make a system that makes sense from top to bottom, right from the start. Make it seem natural from level One to Whatever. Make it slow, gradual. Make it a little complicated. Make the systems more than a little arcane. Make magic low, at least to begin with, and for a good while after that too. Make every new spell and level and cool new weapon, and all the subsequent strategy and new options, easily noticeable in the game-play. Make lots of hidden spaces, make exploring a search for the not-at-all-obvious. Hide things.

Combat should make me feel like I am in complete control of any-and-all actions my characters undertake. You say real-time with pause? The weakest component of every single game you guys have ever made... by far!... is the mechanics of your combat systems. You guys can write like there's no tomorrow. Great settings, adventures, history. You give good story.

You can design some very interesting, some nearly perfect, role-playing systems. Except for combat, each and every time. You write so well that your most acclaimed game is the one with the weakest of all the weak combat systems you've designed over the years. The only time you've come close to a fluid, mechanically sound combat system was ToEE. Now, I love turn-based combat. It's the option I'd take given a choice, every time. But the combat in WoW is much more fun to play, to me, than the combat in the IE games, even though the IE is technically much closer to my preference. The combat is that clunky. Not the 2e system, but its mechanical implementation.

Please consider other, more turn-basey, options for the combat. These games appeal primarily to people who like to sit and think a spell, you know. Mastering complex systems is where its at... don't fuck this part up, please.

Don't be in a rush to get epic. Don't forget how important sound in all its forms, is to a great game. Again, don't forget the mystery.

Now go rock our world.

2c

 

[Zed]

By the way, anyone else notice the whiteboard in the video in the KS update?
Looks like the guys have been going through party formations :D

 

[commie]

I'm annoyed that there's not even a hint of a TB option. Shit, is it really that hard to break down time based actions in RTwP into turns?

 

[Infinitron]

For the love of God, get the game-play right.

All the back-story and atmosphere and grimdark writing in the world won't mean a thing if the game is not mechanically fun to play.

Make a game system strong and supple enough to stand the test of time without tinkering. Endless re-balancing via continued patching post-release, has ruined more than a few decent games. Make a system that makes sense from top to bottom, right from the start. Make it seem natural from level One to Whatever. Make it slow, gradual. Make it a little complicated. Make the systems more than a little arcane. Make magic low, at least to begin with, and for a good while after that too. Make every new spell and level and cool new weapon, and all the subsequent strategy and new options, easily noticeable in the game-play. Make lots of hidden spaces, make exploring a search for the not-at-all-obvious. Hide things.

Combat should make me feel like I am in complete control of any-and-all actions my characters undertake. You say real-time with pause? The weakest component of every single game you guys have ever made... by far!... is the mechanics of your combat systems. You guys can write like there's no tomorrow. Great settings, adventures, history. You give good story.

You can design some very interesting, some nearly perfect, role-playing systems. Except for combat, each and every time. You write so well that your most acclaimed game is the one with the weakest of all the weak combat systems you've designed over the years. The only time you've come close to a fluid, mechanically sound combat system was ToEE. Now, I love turn-based combat. It's the option I'd take given a choice, every time. But the combat in WoW is much more fun to play, to me, than the combat in the IE games, even though the IE is technically much closer to my preference. The combat is that clunky. Not the 2e system, but its mechanical implementation.

Please consider other, more turn-basey, options for the combat. These games appeal primarily to people who like to sit and think a spell, you know. Mastering complex systems is where its at... don't fuck this part up, please.

Don't be in a rush to get epic. Don't forget how important sound in all its forms, is to a great game. Again, don't forget the mystery.

Now go rock our world.

2c

Post that wall of text on the Obsidian forums, bro. You're preaching to the choir.

 

[Jaesun]

I'm annoyed that there's not even a hint of a TB option. Shit, is it really that hard to break down time based actions in RTwP into turns?

The one reason is that NONE of the IE games were turn based. And as specifically stated, they are trying to do is a "classic" IE Game. The entire OMG NO TURN BASED WTFBBQ is retarded. Period.

Would turn-based as an OPTION be cool. Oh hell yes. But then again that's not in the scope of the project. This is NOT Obsidian doing a new type of RPG. It is based on the classic IE engine. Which is fine by me I fucking LOVE BG/BGII/IWD/IWDII/PST. And I continue to replay them because they are fantastic.

 

[Brother None]

Doing two systems (like RTwP and TB) in one game tends to be really stupid, even with a real budget to work with. Just decide on one, and get it right. Getting the system and balance right for two systems is a very, very tall order. So no thanks on TB as an option.

 

[tilting_msh]

Trying some sort of hybrid TB/RTwP system would inevitably result in both formats being sub-par anyways. Pick a combat system (in this case, RTwP) and make it as perfect as possible.

 

[Volourn]

"elves say, "chillax"."

Does this confirm elves are in... and, they actually go around in game yelling "Chillax"? *shudder*

AND THERE BETTER BE FUKKIN' DWARVES FOR FUCK SAKES!!!