Company News Feargus Urquhart talks Pillars of Eternity 2 at Polygon

[Deleted member 7219]

MULTIPLE expansions for Pillars of Eternity?

Fuck yes.

 

[Drax]

Obsidian should have 2 alternating IPs: Release PoE, then make your god damned Noir/Sci-Fi intrigue RPG (obviously born out of MCA's glorious vagina), then you can do PoE2 and so on...

 

[Jaesun]

Obsidian should have 2 alternating IPs: Release PoE, then make your god damned Noir/Sci-Fi intrigue RPG (obviously born out of MCA's glorious vagina), then you can do PoE2 and so on...

Yeah, I'd like to see them doing two different projects as well.

 

[Tigranes]

The question would be whether they can raise funds to have two teams, however small, running on KS money & self-published products. The question is what the interdependence of revenue is currently like. Why are they doing Russian tanks? Is it to just keep everyone hired until another AAA project? Has POE ultimately been entirely funded only out of KS money? So on.

 

[Deleted member 7219]

Well we need an MCA RPG and a Tim Cain RPG. And let Sawyer make a spiritual successor to Darklands.

 

[Haba]

Standard. Industry. Practice.

You're not a shitposter, you already know why this would be standard. industry. practice. Development leaves you with plenty of things you knew you could have done better and would like to change the next time round, stories you'd like to pursue.

Oh wait! But if they're talking about the second game already that must mean they're not planning to get any feedback once the game is released! Jesus Christ!

Standard industry practice is to assign people to another project, maybe an expansion, but not a sequel already, unless you're talking about companies milking franchises like Call of Duty and Assassin's Creed...

I mean, c'mon.... they don't even know how the reception will be, what people will like or hate, if the game will sell or not.

Obsidian is not a small company. They need to have the next thing up in the pipeline. There is seriously nothing surprising there, only the fact that they so openly reveal the fact. If the reception is bad, they'll simply cancel it.

 

[Nihiliste]

Would love to get PoE2 and a Pathfinder cRPG but I'd just find it decidedly odd if they don't go to the well for a new IP; seems like the most valuable aspect of kickstarter. Odd that to this day Fargo still runs the better hype machine, if he was with Obsidian you can bet he would have capitalized on the pre-beta goodwill with another kickstarter.

 

[Dorateen]

With any luck, they'll bring back Nathaniel Chapman and company to make a Storm of Zehir-esqe expansion for PoE.

 

[Athelas]

Would love to get PoE2 and a Pathfinder cRPG but I'd just find it decidedly odd if they don't go to the well for a new IP; seems like the most valuable aspect of kickstarter. Odd that to this day Fargo still runs the better hype machine, if he was with Obsidian you can bet he would have capitalized on the pre-beta goodwill with another kickstarter.

New IP's are risky. Fargo's Kickstarter success is all based on pre-existing franchises - Fallout Wasteland, Torment and the Bard's Tale.

 

[Morality Games]

Would love to get PoE2 and a Pathfinder cRPG but I'd just find it decidedly odd if they don't go to the well for a new IP; seems like the most valuable aspect of kickstarter. Odd that to this day Fargo still runs the better hype machine, if he was with Obsidian you can bet he would have capitalized on the pre-beta goodwill with another kickstarter.

New IP's are risky. Fargo's Kickstarter success is all based on pre-existing franchises - Fallout Wasteland, Torment and the Bard's Tale.

Obsidian's name commands enough respect that they can reasonably expect 30-50,000 people to shell out shekels for a new IP (I mean, over half a million people bought Alpha Protocol). They *really* should do a "Call of Cthulhu" inspired franchise and a Dune inspired franchise. Niches like that are the future of the indie RPG genre and staking them now would be smart.

Pillars of Eternity 2 is a conservative call.

 

[Minttunator]

Well, PoE 2 is probably a slam dunk, but I have to say I'm not overly excited about this yet - I'd be much more interested in a new IP that's not based on a fantasy setting (a spiritual sequel to Arcanum would be my personal choice).

 

[Jaesun]

New IP's are risky.

THAT is the entire point of kickstarter.

 

[Infinitron]

I'm going to play devil's advocate here and offer a contradictory opinion.

I think it may be good if Obsidian goes straight for PoE2 instead of launching a new IP on Kickstarter. Why? Because it lets them build on their experience and immediately evolve on the first game. inXile's "IP-hopping" approach means they're throwing out a lot of accumulated expertise after each game. They need to learn a new discipline, a new way of doing things for each new game.

So let Obsidian do their own thing, going for depth rather than breadth if you will.

 

[Athelas]

New IP's are risky.

THAT is the entire point of kickstarter.

We would like it to be, but so far it has mostly been nostalgia- and franchise-driven.

 

[Apexeon]

Chris Avellone as lead designer plus a development team with a note that says "come out in 24 months with something interesting".

DO it. Challenge yourselves. Stop recycling.

Stop pandering to the main stream mobile phone zombie market and break some rules.
If 4+ million flows in I would love to see what Chris would unleash.
Get the gloves off.

 

[tuluse]

I'm going to play devil's advocate here and offer a contradictory opinion.

I think it may be good if Obsidian goes straight for PoE2 instead of launching a new IP on Kickstarter. Why? Because it lets them build on their experience and immediately evolve on the first game. inXile's "IP-hopping" approach means they're throwing out a lot of accumulated expertise after each game. They need to learn a new discipline, a new way of doing things for each new game.

So let Obsidian do their own thing, going for depth rather than breadth if you will.

To a lot of us PoE seems like a compromise from the beginning. I was expecting Obsidian to really stretch their creative muscles with attempt #2 rather than just giving us more high fantasy RTwP.

 

[Infinitron]

To a lot of us PoE seems like a compromise from the beginning. I was expecting Obsidian to really stretch their creative muscles with attempt #2 rather than just giving us more high fantasy RTwP.

Well, I don't see nobody complaining about HBS delivering a more of the same follow-up. Bigotry of low expectations?

 

[Tigranes]

I'm going to play devil's advocate here and offer a contradictory opinion.

I think it may be good if Obsidian goes straight for PoE2 instead of launching a new IP on Kickstarter. Why? Because it lets them build on their experience and immediately evolve on the first game. inXile's "IP-hopping" approach means they're throwing out a lot of accumulated expertise after each game. They need to learn a new discipline, a new way of doing things for each new game.

So let Obsidian do their own thing, going for depth rather than breadth if you will.

I think this is fine, but I'd like to see them do this out of POE revenue, and then have another team kickstart a new IP - or at least, a spinoff in the POE universe with some clear differences. Avellone written. Turn based combat. So on.

I also think POE2 isn't necessarily 'lazy recycling more of the same'. BG2 wasn't that of BG1 by any imagination. It all depends on how you do it.

 

[undecaf]

Well, I don't see nobody complaining about HBS delivering a more of the same follow-up. Bigotry of low expectations?

Obsidian is kinda on a different spotlight though, I would say; through their personnel and track record.

 

[tuluse]

Well, I don't see nobody complaining about HBS delivering a more of the same follow-up. Bigotry of low expectations?

I suppose? I gave Obsidian more money than I've given HBS over two campaigns because I was hoping for something better than good for what is rpg-lite.

 

[Infinitron]

The truth is that creating weird shit on Kickstarter is dangerous. Not for the same reason AAA publishers think it's dangerous - not because "it won't sell". It's dangerous because "weird shit" implies experimentation, iteration, pushing boundaries, which means danger of losing control of project scope. And when your project goes out of control, there's no publisher to save you with a cash injection.

Crowdfunded games that aren't Star Citizen are low budget, so they have to be conservative. Or else when the game comes out the hecklers on forums like this one accuse the developers of mismanagement when they see the results.

 

[tuluse]

Crowdfunded games that aren't Star Citizen are low budget, so they have to be conservative. Or else when the game comes out the hecklers on forums like this one accuse the developers of mismanagement when they see the results.

Well the converse is that hecklers like me will complain when they choose to be conservative. Pick your poison Absurdian.

 

[Roguey]

I believe Obsidian has in fact run out of money for PoE. It doesn't sound like they're working at a comfortable pace at all e.g. people request some feature and someone (usually Josh) is all "look, someone has to take time to do that and we're swamped."

MULTIPLE expansions for Pillars of Eternity?

Fuck yes.

Not a fan of this approach cause of the whole diminishing returns thing.

With any luck, they'll bring back Nathaniel Chapman and company to make a Storm of Zehir-esqe expansion for PoE.

Chapman works for Blizzard and enjoys it. He's never leaving.

 

[Jaesun]

We are going to keep complaining about Obsidian until we get our Sci-Fi or Vampire The Masquerade game from them. One way or another...

 

[Western]

To a lot of us PoE seems like a compromise from the beginning. I was expecting Obsidian to really stretch their creative muscles with attempt #2 rather than just giving us more high fantasy RTwP.

Well, I don't see nobody complaining about HBS delivering a more of the same follow-up. Bigotry of low expectations?

Shadowrun feels a little more fresh, I suppose the setting has a bit more mileage than generic fantasy, plus people are hoping for improvements to the toolset as well as the game itself.