Q: One of the portraits reminds me to good old' Minsc - do you have a Ranger class?
A: Yes, it's one of the four warrior classes (Fighter, Ranger, Templar, Highlander).
Q: Is the combat going to have an AI (i.e. a hero will attack an enemy until he's dead or you manually change actions, will they then move onto a different target? or is that manual?)
A: Enemies will have an advanced AI, including group decisions (cooperation). Regarding your party members, you can both micro-manage them and use AI scripts if you prefer. When you select a target e.g. for a melee or ranged attack, your character will attack until the target is dead (unless you give him another command in the meantime), by default. Then he will wait for your next command. This is the default behavior.
Q: Is there going to be a console ala Infinity or aurora engine games? Will there be any sort of developer option to add modules/content like there is for BG2 or Neverwinter Nights?
A: There will be serious modding support yes. Advanced moddability is a stretch goal in our upcoming Kickstarter campaign. And yes, there will be a developer console.
Q: What's the order (from most to the least similar) of how similar you're to these games: Pathfinder: Kingmaker, Pillars of Eternity, Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale. In terms of mechanics and atmosphere?
A: Pathfinder: Kingmaker is new and very interesting, but we would require more research to include them in any comparison. Black Geyser mechanics are more akin to games like the Baldur's Gate series and Icewind Dale 1 than to Pillars of Eternity. Atmosphere is similar to all of them, but in a very unique way.
Q: Your website mentions a lot about "greed" as a mechanic. What is greed in your game?
A: Greed is a big part of Black Geyser: Couriers of Darkness. A curse from a dark goddess has turned it into a kind of sickness that corrupts everything it touches (and every person corrupted by greed adds to her power). Players will find that their actions affect how quickly or slowly the curse spreads- they can choose to be greedy or generous in their interactions with the game world and the characters in it, and they will see the consequences of those actions.
For instance, let's say a player chooses to always take the biggest quest rewards, pick up every piece of loot they see and just act generally covetous. Over time the world will change to reflect that: merchants will begin to charge higher prices or even close down entirely; people may kill each other in the street over their lust for wealth; groups of scavengers may begin to show up directly after the party gets out of combat to take the hard-won loot before they have a chance to rest. By contrast, a player who is generous with quest rewards, who leaves behind common items for scavengers to pick up or who donates to the right temples (be wary of greed-corrupted clergy!) will find that the world isn't falling into chaos so quickly.
Both playstyles come with their own challenges and offer up unique ways of handling situations. Greed is an integral part of our lore, and we hope players will enjoy it.
Q: Sounds like greed means I play evil?
A: Greed doesn't necessarily mean you are evil. To put it simply, the spreading greed makes the kingdom more chaotic in various ways. And as we know, chaos doesn't need to be evil. Think of the Chaotic Good alignment in other games; this is completely unrelated and different to our concept of greed, but it is a great example of how the concepts of chaos and goodness can live together. So, you can be good and greedy at the same time, as they are greatly independent things. (In extreme cases, of course, being greedy and evil overlaps.) Also, being greedy is not a black & white or yes/no question. It's a scale instead – between the absolutely greedy and absolutely generous.
Q: hey how long is the game gonna be? will it be epic? can u own a stronghold ? dragons ? exploration? similar to Baldur gate or Baldur gate 2 ?
A: Definitely epic. Free exploration in wilderness and subterranean areas, hundreds of quests, random encounters. Dragons, giants, demons - in later chapters of the plot, yes.
It's perhaps to closer Baldur's Gate in play-time, free-roaming exploration, and in "starting with 'week' level 1 character and becoming powerful at the end" approach, but in terms of the depth and carefully designed interactions between NPCs, it is definitely more similar to Baldur's Gate 2.
Yes, you can have a stronghold as well (depending on how much we raise in our upcoming Kickstarter campaign).
Q: Looking through the classes, it sure seems like you can grow up to be anything you want to be, unless you're a Dwarf. Any particular reason they have so many restrictions or did it just work out that way?
A: Indeed, Dwarves can only be Fighters, Highlanders, Thieves, Clerics or Shamans. These restrictions are rooted in the world lore, and required for game balance as well (game balancing is not final yet however). On the other hand, Dwarves have very good resistances and benefits compared to other classes.
Depending on our Kickstarter campaign (stretch goals), we will add at least one additional class to the game, which will be available to Dwarves as well for sure.