Putting the 'role' back in role-playing games since 2002.
Donate to Codex
Good Old Games
  • Welcome to rpgcodex.net, a site dedicated to discussing computer based role-playing games in a free and open fashion. We're less strict than other forums, but please refer to the rules.

    "This message is awaiting moderator approval": All new users must pass through our moderation queue before they will be able to post normally. Until your account has "passed" your posts will only be visible to yourself (and moderators) until they are approved. Give us a week to get around to approving / deleting / ignoring your mundane opinion on crap before hassling us about it. Once you have passed the moderation period (think of it as a test), you will be able to post normally, just like all the other retards.

Eternity Avowed - Obsidian's first person action-RPG in the Pillars of Eternity setting - coming February 18th

Atlantico

unida e indivisible
Patron
Joined
Sep 7, 2015
Messages
17,176
Location
Midgard
Make the Codex Great Again!
Teaser-trailer looks like an indie-LotR clone, where you're playing the king of the Oathbrakers Oathkeepers.

It manages to look both generic and derivative at the same time.

The only point of this trailer was to announce the project and build hype. I guess one out of two is a passing grade.

:slamdunk:
 

Haplo

Prophet
Patron
Joined
Sep 14, 2016
Messages
6,556
Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire
Well, the world map in Witcher 3 seemed kinda very big. Empty-ish, sure. But pretty big. Perhaps bigger then Skyrim (but much fewer meaningful POI)?
And very pretty.
 

Luckmann

Arcane
Zionist Agent
Joined
Jul 20, 2009
Messages
3,759
Location
Scandinavia
Well, the world map in Witcher 3 seemed kinda very big. Empty-ish, sure. But pretty big. Perhaps bigger then Skyrim (but much fewer meaningful POI)?
And very pretty.
It feels kinda big due to the general verisimilitude/realism of the open areas, but I sincerely doubt that it was bigger than Skyrim in the technical sense.
 

Tigranes

Arcane
Joined
Jan 8, 2009
Messages
10,350
One thing could really help Obsidian - as mentioned before, the Living Lands is supposed to be a strange and exotic region. If they would go all out and make a distinct and unorthodox setting, THEN they'd have a chance of capturing a wider audience.

Unfortunately, for the wider market, the reverse is often true. Straight up fantasy sells. Exotic doesn't.

I wonder how well Oblivion would have done if it hadn't retconned Cyrodill from jungle to temperate, 'you've-seen-it-before pretty & comforting' fantasy landscape. The same is broadly true for KCD and Witcher 3 - the main dish is the nice, temperate, vaguely European forests and plains. I would imagine it also has to do with the challenges of designing and implementing crazy biomes. Kudos to Morrowind for going all out on it, which remains unique to this day.
 

Tacgnol

Shitlord
Patron
Joined
Oct 12, 2010
Messages
1,871,883
Codex 2016 - The Age of Grimoire Grab the Codex by the pussy RPG Wokedex Strap Yourselves In Codex Year of the Donut Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag. Pathfinder: Wrath I helped put crap in Monomyth
I've never understood the obsession with huge mostly empty (or highly repetitive) worlds in these types of games.

Why not take a leaf out of the Gothic 1/2 book and instead create smaller but much more content dense worlds?
 

NJClaw

OoOoOoOoOoh
Patron
Joined
Aug 30, 2016
Messages
7,587
Location
Pronouns: rusts/rusty
Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture
One thing could really help Obsidian - as mentioned before, the Living Lands is supposed to be a strange and exotic region. If they would go all out and make a distinct and unorthodox setting, THEN they'd have a chance of capturing a wider audience.
I don't think they are eager to try an exotic unorthodox fantasy setting, after what happened with Deadfire.
 

coldcrow

Prophet
Patron
Joined
Mar 6, 2009
Messages
1,717
One thing could really help Obsidian - as mentioned before, the Living Lands is supposed to be a strange and exotic region. If they would go all out and make a distinct and unorthodox setting, THEN they'd have a chance of capturing a wider audience.

Unfortunately, for the wider market, the reverse is often true. Straight up fantasy sells. Exotic doesn't.

I wonder how well Oblivion would have done if it hadn't retconned Cyrodill from jungle to temperate, 'you've-seen-it-before pretty & comforting' fantasy landscape. The same is broadly true for KCD and Witcher 3 - the main dish is the nice, temperate, vaguely European forests and plains. I would imagine it also has to do with the challenges of designing and implementing crazy biomes. Kudos to Morrowind for going all out on it, which remains unique to this day.
Except that KCD plays in Bohemia.
 

Ibn Sina

Arbiter
Patron
Joined
Jul 12, 2017
Messages
996
Strap Yourselves In
Obshitian still chasing that skyrim dream a decade late. Arnt these kind of games redundent right now? Most big rpgs try to follow the witcher route.
 

Tacgnol

Shitlord
Patron
Joined
Oct 12, 2010
Messages
1,871,883
Codex 2016 - The Age of Grimoire Grab the Codex by the pussy RPG Wokedex Strap Yourselves In Codex Year of the Donut Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag. Pathfinder: Wrath I helped put crap in Monomyth
Obshitian still chasing that skyrim dream a decade late. Arnt these kind of games redundent right now? Most big rpgs try to follow the witcher route.

A lot of them want to combine The Witcher and The Skyrim approach. Problem is I don't think those approaches are compatible.

Doing a Witcher style narrative without a fixed character is almost impossible.
 

Tigranes

Arcane
Joined
Jan 8, 2009
Messages
10,350
One thing could really help Obsidian - as mentioned before, the Living Lands is supposed to be a strange and exotic region. If they would go all out and make a distinct and unorthodox setting, THEN they'd have a chance of capturing a wider audience.

Unfortunately, for the wider market, the reverse is often true. Straight up fantasy sells. Exotic doesn't.

I wonder how well Oblivion would have done if it hadn't retconned Cyrodill from jungle to temperate, 'you've-seen-it-before pretty & comforting' fantasy landscape. The same is broadly true for KCD and Witcher 3 - the main dish is the nice, temperate, vaguely European forests and plains. I would imagine it also has to do with the challenges of designing and implementing crazy biomes. Kudos to Morrowind for going all out on it, which remains unique to this day.
Except that KCD plays in Bohemia.

Most players won't have any idea what Bohemia looks like or why it's different from France. The point is that they get this:

OCZq6dG.jpg


as opposed to, say,

75
 
Self-Ejected

Joseph Stalin

Totally not Auraculum
Joined
Jul 16, 2020
Messages
796
One thing could really help Obsidian - as mentioned before, the Living Lands is supposed to be a strange and exotic region. If they would go all out and make a distinct and unorthodox setting, THEN they'd have a chance of capturing a wider audience.

Unfortunately, for the wider market, the reverse is often true. Straight up fantasy sells. Exotic doesn't.

I wonder how well Oblivion would have done if it hadn't retconned Cyrodill from jungle to temperate, 'you've-seen-it-before pretty & comforting' fantasy landscape. The same is broadly true for KCD and Witcher 3 - the main dish is the nice, temperate, vaguely European forests and plains. I would imagine it also has to do with the challenges of designing and implementing crazy biomes. Kudos to Morrowind for going all out on it, which remains unique to this day.
Except that KCD plays in Bohemia.

Most players won't have any idea what Bohemia looks like or why it's different from France. The point is that they get this:

OCZq6dG.jpg


as opposed to, say,

75

Yeah, most developers, when they hear "fantasy setting" imagine just "fantasy creatures", while leaving everything else generic.
 

undecaf

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Jun 4, 2010
Messages
3,517
Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2
Skyrim is about two things: Hype and Size. The hype you can not replicate. The size you can.

That's true, but I think it somewhat important to try and understand why exactly players like and go back to a game like Skyrim.

I don't think I do, fully, but I would guess it's that the game is not really "driven" by anything but the players whim and being servile to that to a fault, along with rewarding it. The stories and missions are all curiosities to give at least some sort of reason to do anything in the game beyond simply "because you can". And the skill system supports that by making anything you do affect your character - more so in earlier TES games where even simply running around would affect your character.

I think, if Obsidian really wants to make that rumoured "Skyrim clone", they need to find a balance between their usual staple of story/mission driven games and the whim-driven servility of letting the palyer do "what he wants" (which TES games are designed for specifically rather than quests and stories) and rewarding that kind of gameplay.

They did somewhat swell job on it with New Vegas, but as everone knows it didn't quite hit home with the Bethtard crowd. "Not free enough, not enough to do in the world."
 

Ismaul

Thought Criminal #3333
Patron
Joined
Apr 18, 2005
Messages
1,871,810
Location
On Patroll
Codex 2014 PC RPG Website of the Year, 2015 Codex 2016 - The Age of Grimoire Make the Codex Great Again! Grab the Codex by the pussy Insert Title Here RPG Wokedex Strap Yourselves In Codex Year of the Donut Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 BattleTech A Beautifully Desolate Campaign My team has the sexiest and deadliest waifus you can recruit.
someone pronounce this
Héamecwyn/mecwyn/myqueen - illustrious queen, elven queen of the Aedyr Empire married with the ferscönyng.
"he a my queen"?

trannies confirmed:codexisforindividualswithgenderidentityissues:


if the game doesn't have guns why even set it in pillars universe
Man, so far I've yet to see a single pillar. I'm more upset about that part, less the guns.
don't fret boys
the pillars be in your queen's robes
 

NJClaw

OoOoOoOoOoh
Patron
Joined
Aug 30, 2016
Messages
7,587
Location
Pronouns: rusts/rusty
Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture
Skyrim is about two things: Hype and Size.
It's also about the catchiness of the "Dovahkiin Dovahkiin" song and of the "Fus Ro Dah" thing. Both these things easily impress themselves on weak-willed minds, instilling ideas of epicness and adventure. They are impossible to forget, and you can go around screaming "Fus Ro Dah! Lol I'm such a nerd", while being validated by other weak-willed individuals around you.

I guess you can include that in the "hype" aspect, but I feel it's something more specific.
 
Joined
Jan 14, 2018
Messages
50,754
Codex Year of the Donut
One thing could really help Obsidian - as mentioned before, the Living Lands is supposed to be a strange and exotic region. If they would go all out and make a distinct and unorthodox setting, THEN they'd have a chance of capturing a wider audience.

Unfortunately, for the wider market, the reverse is often true. Straight up fantasy sells. Exotic doesn't.

I wonder how well Oblivion would have done if it hadn't retconned Cyrodill from jungle to temperate, 'you've-seen-it-before pretty & comforting' fantasy landscape. The same is broadly true for KCD and Witcher 3 - the main dish is the nice, temperate, vaguely European forests and plains. I would imagine it also has to do with the challenges of designing and implementing crazy biomes. Kudos to Morrowind for going all out on it, which remains unique to this day.
Except that KCD plays in Bohemia.
my favorite part of italy
 

Tacgnol

Shitlord
Patron
Joined
Oct 12, 2010
Messages
1,871,883
Codex 2016 - The Age of Grimoire Grab the Codex by the pussy RPG Wokedex Strap Yourselves In Codex Year of the Donut Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag. Pathfinder: Wrath I helped put crap in Monomyth
They are impossible to forget, and you can go around screaming "Fus Ro Dah! Lol I'm such a nerd", while being validated by other weak-willed individuals around you.

I always think of them as Big Bang Theory Nerds. I think that show is a lot to blame for that subculture.
 

The Wall

Dumbfuck!
Dumbfuck Zionist Agent
Joined
Jul 19, 2017
Messages
3,695
Location
SERPGIA
You're overthinking Skyrim, broz! Remember, intelligence stat was thrown out. Gamers are like women, it's all about how you make them feeeel. Skyrim made people feel good. Also, just like women, gamers don't know what they want. How many are bitching that hard difficulty is too hard while complaining game is too easy? Gamers, just like rest of humanity, are women. Beings cursed with fucked up heads

Nothing and no-one can be loved by everyone, except Skyrim & pizza. Game that is pure-blood RPG, with Daggerfall's sense of scale and simulation, and decent graphics would sell millions. Wouldn't outsell Skyrim, but would make devs millioners. That should be just good enough, no? Maybe that will be Kenshi2, KCD2 or WayWard Realms

P.S. Also, lol @ "Skyrim was YUUUGE!". It was smaller even from Oblivion. Made people feel it was yuge, and that's all that matters: how you make peeople feel
 

Luckmann

Arcane
Zionist Agent
Joined
Jul 20, 2009
Messages
3,759
Location
Scandinavia
but I sincerely doubt that it was bigger than Skyrim in the technical sense.
679eff5c33b78b032cab9abfb9140359.jpg
The thing is, how are these measured? A "meter" in Skyrim is clearly not the same as a meter in Twitcher 3.

You're overthinking Skyrim, broz! Remember, intelligence stat was thrown out. Gamers are like women, it's all about how you make them feeeel. Skyrim made people feel good. Also, just like women, gamers don't know what they want. How many are bitching that hard difficulty is too hard while complaining game is too easy? Gamers, just like rest of humanity, are women. Beings cursed with fucked up heads

Nothing and no-one can be loved by everyone, except Skyrim & pizza. Game that is pure-blood RPG, with Daggerfall's sense of scale and simulation, and decent graphics would sell millions. Wouldn't outsell Skyrim, but would make devs millioners. That should be just good enough, no? Maybe that will be Kenshi2, KCD2 or WayWard Realms

P.S. Also, lol @ "Skyrim was YUUUGE!". It was smaller even from Oblivion. Made people feel it was yuge, and that's all that matters: how you make peeople feel
Yeah, and despite the core map of Witcher 3 only covering one biome/region and one proper city, it certainly felt like it was so much bigger than Skyrim. Hell, even that not!-French region added in Blood & Wine felt bigger than all of Skyrim. When you go to Skellige, the new area feels tangibly different, despite using much of the same assets as Velen.
 
Joined
Jan 14, 2018
Messages
50,754
Codex Year of the Donut
but I sincerely doubt that it was bigger than Skyrim in the technical sense.
679eff5c33b78b032cab9abfb9140359.jpg
eh, these comparisons are bunk.
If Skyrim was truly 15 square miles, you'd be able to run from any point to any other point on the map(assuming a straight line) in about 5 real life minutes(Skyrim has a 1:20 timescale.) A quick search suggests it takes about half an hour of real life time to do so. Sure, it's not a straight line, but still.

Simply comparing the 'size' is meaningless.
 

Avarize

Magister
Joined
Nov 17, 2019
Messages
1,504
Location
Handmaid's Tale
One thing could really help Obsidian - as mentioned before, the Living Lands is supposed to be a strange and exotic region. If they would go all out and make a distinct and unorthodox setting, THEN they'd have a chance of capturing a wider audience.

Unfortunately, for the wider market, the reverse is often true. Straight up fantasy sells. Exotic doesn't.

I wonder how well Oblivion would have done if it hadn't retconned Cyrodill from jungle to temperate, 'you've-seen-it-before pretty & comforting' fantasy landscape. The same is broadly true for KCD and Witcher 3 - the main dish is the nice, temperate, vaguely European forests and plains. I would imagine it also has to do with the challenges of designing and implementing crazy biomes. Kudos to Morrowind for going all out on it, which remains unique to this day.
I'd take jungle over Skyrim, AC Valhalla or the Viking island in Witcher 3 every time. If I want to see pine forest and snow I can look out the window.
 

As an Amazon Associate, rpgcodex.net earns from qualifying purchases.
Back
Top Bottom