Game News Sawyer discusses release plans for Pillars of Eternity with Eurogamer

[Zed]

Tags: J.E. Sawyer; Pillars of Eternity

In an article aptly called "So, Obsidian, when is Pillars of Eternity coming out?", Eurogamer seeks release information from Project Mama Josh Sawyer. He reveals the following tidbits.

On release date:

"But until we get really close to releasing the game we don't want a specific release window, because we're not a publisher, we don't have to! Virtually nothing good comes from us releasing a date before we're very confident in it. It's not going to be in spring; we're going to be working into spring to get alpha done because it's a big game."​

On the current state of the game:

"more than half the content of the game is done, at least to an alpha state."​

On alpha/Early Access:

"We are going to be having a [beta] section of the game that the players can play through to get a feel for all the mechanics and style of character interactions and all that kind of stuff."​

On quantity over quality:

"We would rather have a lot of monsters and some of them be polished and some of them be pretty good, because variety is an important thing in a game this size."​

Sawyer concludes the interview by saying "keep up the good fight, Roguey."

 

[Infinitron]

You didn't link to the article.

 

[Zed]

I edited it in 10 seconds after posting and before your post.

Jew.

 

[laclongquan]

better late than never~

 

[Athelas]

There is an extra column to the side of the article that's easy to miss:

Bugged by bugs

Obsidian's work might be wonderfully creative, but it's also been criticised for being unfinished and with bugs in the past. With Pillars of Eternity having no publisher deadlines, however, Obsidian has a chance to shake that negative association and make this game the most polished the studio has ever released.

"Yeah, I'd say it certainly has a chance to be that," said Sawyer. "I will say, though, that the often overlooked Dungeon Siege 3 was actually very very stable.

"I know it takes a long time to shape a reputation with these things. Yeah, we have had a lot of problems in the past, and a lot of it is our fault of course, but also a lot of it is due to publisher pressure and not sufficient QA on things.

"We can release this when we need to, and obviously we have monetary concerns just like everyone else, but our reputation is very important to us, so we want to make sure that this is as stable and reliable and bug-free as we can make it."

 

[SuicideBunny]

true though, ignoring the terrible camera in multiplayer, ds3 was very solid engine-wise.

On current state of the game:

"more than half the content of the game is done, at least to an alpha state."​

so they have nothing...

 

[Roguey]

Damn shame all the monsters aren't going to have the same level of quality.

Good luck figuring out a price point for early access that won't upset backers.

 

[Infinitron]

Good luck figuring out a price point for early access that won't upset backers.

Fuck 'em. Seriously, if there's a trend of the past six months that I've come to hate it's this phenomenon of "price whining".

 

[Infinitron]

BTW, Roguey, the minimum price for getting the beta during the Kickstarter was actually just $45, or $50 if you missed the early bird.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/obsidian/project-eternity

Digital Add-Ons (Require $20 tier and above):

• Early Access Beta Key +$25 (included in tiers $110 and above)

A $60 Early Access price like Wasteland 2's is likely.

 

[MicoSelva]

If the game is good in the end, they can take their sweet time as far, as I'm concerned.

 

[theSavant]

It was clear they couldn't hold their release date, but I secretly wished they had to release at this exact date or all pledgers get their money back. And when they released it, it would suck so heavily, that all Obsidian's cocksuckers are fucking angry.

 

[Visperas]

Nah, the game is gonna be good, you'll see...

 

[AstroZombie]

BTW, Roguey, the minimum price for getting the beta during the Kickstarter was actually just $45, or $50 if you missed the early bird.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/obsidian/project-eternity



A $60 Early Access price like Wasteland 2's is likely.

Or they could do it the smart way, like Larian did.

 

[MurkyShadow]

Good luck figuring out a price point for early access that won't upset backers.

Fuck 'em. Seriously, if there's a trend of the past six months that I've come to hate it's this phenomenon of "price whining".

People will always be butthurt upset. How long is the pricing thread for the original Wasteland on steam by now?

 

[Xor]

I don't get all these people wanting early access. Why spoil yourself on a buggy, feature-incomplete version of the game when you could just wait and get the finished experience when it comes out?

 

[theSavant]

I don't get all these people wanting early access. Why spoil yourself on a buggy, feature-incomplete version of the game when you could just wait and get the finished experience when it comes out?

That I don't get either.

 

[Infinitron]

I don't get all these people wanting early access. Why spoil yourself on a buggy, feature-incomplete version of the game when you could just wait and get the finished experience when it comes out?

So you can see how much it sucks and complain about it on the Codex provide helpful feedback to the development team to make the game better, of course.

 

[Excidium]

Why spoil yourself on a buggy, feature-incomplete version of the game when you could just wait and get the finished experience when it comes out?

You make this too easy

 

[taxalot]

So not only you are depriving yourself of a lot of the fun of discovering the game in its intended state, not only you are spoiling yourself, but you are also working, for free, for the developers ?
Awesome deal!

 

[theSavant]

Not only for free, but also pay a fee to work for them.

 

[Xor]

Yeah, I think I'll stick to waiting until the game comes out.

 

[StaticSpine]

I don't get all these people wanting early access. Why spoil yourself on a buggy, feature-incomplete version of the game when you could just wait and get the finished experience when it comes out?

I'm not sure how it is called in English, but in Russian it's butt itch.

 

[SuicideBunny]

I don't get all these people wanting early access. Why spoil yourself on a buggy, feature-incomplete version of the game when you could just wait and get the finished experience when it comes out?

most people are big on instant gratification.

 

[sea]

Damn shame all the monsters aren't going to have the same level of quality.

That's a given with any game though. More significant stuff sees more polish, less significant stuff sees less. It doesn't mean that "less polished" means "bad" either, Obsidian is just saying that they value quantity of enemy types over making each and every one of them look fantastic (by whatever standard that may be).

 

[SophosTheWise]

Yeah that whole early access stuff sucks. I remember longing for games to be released. I'd go to the stores every day in the week before the release in hope of somewhere magically getting the box I've hoped for so long. And then, on the way home I'd read the booklet and be even more excited. Once I got home I installed it for an hour or so, getting more and more hyped until I could finally go into the game for the very first time. Man, that was magical.


Today it's just "Oh look, there's an incomplete buggy mess for 50$ on Steam, I'll take it"