Interview inXile's Torment successor officially announced on RPS, will use Monte Cook's Numenera setting

[evdk]

EDIT: Holy shit, did that post make me Prophet?

More like Prosper.

 

[dibens]

I think it is safe to assume that the game will be "2d", or rather, top down as it is much more controlled environment. Creating a 3rd or 1st person view game that would be up to today's standards would be too much of an undertaking for such a relatively small studio.

Duh. That's not what we're talking about here. The question is if it will have 2D backgrounds.

Do they even release true 2D background games anymore? Closest you can probably hope for is something in the line of Diablo 3. Then again, Project Eternity from screenshots looks like fully two-dimentional, is it not?

 

[Jaesun]

Then again, Project Eternity from screenshots looks like fully two-dimentional, is it not?

Yes. They are 3D rendered scenes, and then made into a 2D backdrop.

 

[Surf Solar]

Then again, Project Eternity from screenshots looks like fully two-dimentional, is it not?

Yes. They are 3D rendered scenes, and then made into a 2D backdrop.

The character models are still realtime rendered 3d models placed on the 2d background plane. I bet they will include particle overlays rendered in realtime too to make it look prettier.

 

[tuluse]

Then again, Project Eternity from screenshots looks like fully two-dimentional, is it not?

Yes. They are 3D rendered scenes, and then made into a 2D backdrop.

The character models are still realtime rendered 3d models placed on the 2d background plane. I bet they will include particle overlays rendered in realtime too to make it look prettier.

Probably, but is this a problem in any way?

 

[Surf Solar]

Then again, Project Eternity from screenshots looks like fully two-dimentional, is it not?

Yes. They are 3D rendered scenes, and then made into a 2D backdrop.

The character models are still realtime rendered 3d models placed on the 2d background plane. I bet they will include particle overlays rendered in realtime too to make it look prettier.

Probably, but is this a problem in any way?

Nope, I did not intend to say that this is a problem. With clever shading of the 3d models, they can blend in perfectly well within the detailed 2d backdrops, we do the same in the FOnline engine. The most obvious upside of this technique is that you don't need to have dozens of gigabyte for prerendered animations of the character or monster models, only the meshes, textures and animations. I am fine with this, as long as they do detailed, prerendered 2d backdrops.

 

[Marquess Cornwallis]

What Alex said. Fallout combat (or, say, Gorky 17 style for more of a party focus) is very well suited to a game that aims for fun rather than complexity in this respect; it is very simple, transparent and tends to give a better sense of player agency than RTwP (even if it's actually in effect about the same). With some extra humour and quirkiness thrown in, I'd say it's the perfect fit if they don't intend to have a very heavy focus on complex combat -- and in this case, most people will expect combat to take a second seat to the narrative, they just hope it will not be quite as much of an obvious afterthought as it was in the Planescape game. A relatively simple system can produce some very entertaining strategic moments, too (especially if they opt for quality over quantity when it comes to encounter design). I don't mind any combat system as long as it's done well, but I really don't see the advantages of RTwP for this kind of project. It's not as if the fans of the original game (unlike with Eternity, presumably) thought RTwP combat was an integral part of the experience.

 

[dibens]

Come to think of it, 2d backgrounds would actually be detrimental to a Planescape game. Sure, pre-rendered backgrounds are gorgeous and scenic. But they're also incredibly static. Sigil is meant to be this place of constantly twisting architecture and random doors popping in and out of existence, their portals sucking you in vortexes and spitting out God knows where- maybe to an ancient crumbling fortress, sinking in lava or on a back of a huge tenticled beast floating in air? You can do so much with 3d to make the world feel chaotic, otherworldly and dangerous Prosperian.

 

[Kirtai]

Come to think of it, 2d backgrounds would actually be detrimental to a Planescape game. Sure, pre-rendered backgrounds are gorgeous and scenic. But they're also incredibly static. Sigil is meant to be this place of constantly twisting architecture and random doors popping in and out of existence, their portals sucking you in vortexes and spitting out God knows where- maybe to an ancient crumbling fortress, sinking in lava or on a back of a huge tenticled beast floating in air? You can do so much with 3d to make the world feel chaotic, otherworldly and dangerous Prosperian.

Such as Silent Storm style explodable environments?

 

[dibens]

Such as Silent Storm style explodable environments?

Not necessarily a destructible environment, but more in line like, say, walls grotesquely twisting and changing shapes in Soul Reaver when you shift between planes. I'm really blanking on any good examples right now.

 

[Kirtai]

Such as Silent Storm style explodable environments?

Not necessarily a destructible environment, but more in line like, say, walls grotesquely twisting and changing shapes in Soul Reaver when you shift between planes. I'm really blanking on any good examples right now.

Ah, maybe a better example would be Populous style terrain manipulation? Having the ground sink into the sea or volcanoes forming as you watch, or even something as simple as causing a landslide to block a road.

 

[MRY]

Very exciting! Numenera was actually what got me to pay attention to Kickstarter, oddly enough, even though I don't play P&P RPGs and had never heard of Monte Cook. The pitch was just damned good -- the music, art, voice over, and the dude's enthusiasm all set the mood just right, and the lore (particularly the nomenclature) seemed perfect. As the contributions kicked up, I figured it was a given we'd see a PC game; that it's Torment seems perfect.

That said, I remain perplexed by the game's "universal difficulty" concept -- like, if a door is difficult 5, that means no matter what you try to do to open it (pick the lock, cast a spell, throw a bomb, talk your way in), the check is the same: roll to see if you get more than a 5. Cook says there are little adjustments you can do, but the default is that the difficulty is the same across the board. I get the reasoning behind that from a story-telling standpoint, since it makes all challenges available to all characters, but I do wonder how satisfying it would be in a PC game scenario.

 

[Shannow]

For games where you control a party I prefer well done TB over well done RTwP. I have actually played a few games with well done TB combat (ToEE, Wiz8, JA(2), ec.). I've yet to play a game where RTwP is more than OKish and I'm not constantly thinking "this would have been better if it had been TB".So I'd prefer them leaning towards TB instead of RTwP.
Calling this a Torment game (at this stage) seems as justified as calling DA a BG2 "spiritual" successor. Name-dropping for marketing and hyping reasons.
All that said, the setting and game sound interesting enough that I'll probably donate for pre-order this too. Unless they start talking about implementing level-scaling or no-misses-mechanics or similar shit.

 

[hiver]

Apparently there is some kind of "effort" resource which you can spend to make some things, tasks or problems easier to solve.... that and that it is very simplified mechanically is all i got about the setting mechanics so far.

 

[tuluse]

Not necessarily a destructible environment, but more in line like, say, walls grotesquely twisting and changing shapes in Soul Reaver when you shift between planes. I'm really blanking on any good examples right now.

You mean like the pregnant alley in PS:T?

Spoiler

 

[St. Toxic]

What do you mean, make?
What about your Fallout 3 prediction in caricature form that came true completely?

When you see some dog-shit from afar, it's easy to make the prediction that it's gonna stink.

More like Prosper.

I better get cracking on my z-brush.

 

[ironyuri]

most importantly will there be a spiritual successor to these quality tits?

 

[Trash]

Sorry guys, while I'm all for a new rpg I must say this; without the Planescape setting this simply is not a new Torment game.

 

[Hormalakh]

Two questions:

1- Are they kickstarting this? When? I cannot into reading. They are kickstarting.

2- Roguey I don't know Monte Cook: why is he a hack?

 

[Saark]

Sigil is meant to be this place of constantly twisting architecture and random doors popping in and out of existence, their portals sucking you in vortexes and spitting out God knows where- maybe to an ancient crumbling fortress, sinking in lava or on a back of a huge tenticled beast floating in air? You can do so much with 3d to make the world feel chaotic, otherworldly and dangerous Prosperian.

Without the pro(s)per sound aswell 3D art by itself is basically useless at creating an atmosphere. It is simpler to just hire writers who know what they're doing, and they're gonna blow everything you could create in 3d out of the universe with a single sentence. Hell, you just did, or how long do you suppose it is gonna take to visualize your first sentence with graphics/sound? The problem I see with the game is the fact that creating a spiritual successor to PS:T would have to include some of the major themes that were touched on in the game. Recreating something like that with a new set of characters, a new setting etc. is going to look like a tribute rather than a - albeit spiritual - successor. Well, I'm still hopeful. Not having certain people around who clearly had some major influence in creating the original isn't that bad either. If I wanted to play something like PS:T, I'd go play PS:T. I don't need a new game for that that just tries to rehash the old glory. I'd rather see something remotely similar. After all that's what made the game so great, that it was open to interpretation in more than one aspect and a somewhat different team creating it might have less difficulty creating something worthwhile.

 

[laclongquan]

As long as it is fun to play, I wouldn't even mind minesweeper as the combat model.

Sound like a description of Unreal World.

 

[Haba]

As long as it is fun to play, I wouldn't even mind minesweeper as the combat model.

Sound like a description of Unreal World.

Yeah. Most of our "hard-core cRPG" fans here don't play games any more - new or old. They don't care about games, they care about the idea of a game. The idea of a perfect hard-core old school cRPG. And naturally no-one can ever make that game, hence everything is shit.

 

[Brother None]

That said, I remain perplexed by the game's "universal difficulty" concept -- like, if a door is difficult 5, that means no matter what you try to do to open it (pick the lock, cast a spell, throw a bomb, talk your way in), the check is the same: roll to see if you get more than a 5. Cook says there are little adjustments you can do, but the default is that the difficulty is the same across the board. I get the reasoning behind that from a story-telling standpoint, since it makes all challenges available to all characters, but I do wonder how satisfying it would be in a PC game scenario.

Yip. I brought the same issue to the attention of Colin, Adam and Kevin weeks ago, and they'd obviously been thinking about it too. Numenera is designed very much so for simplicity so the pacing of the p&p session feels good, and for GM agency. That works for p&p, not so much for computers. So they don't plan to take that kind of stuff and implement it 1:1 to PC, instead they'll rework it so you instead take advantage of the complexity that a cRPG can more easily handle without any delays. So yip, you're right, but the advantage here is they're working in from 0 hour and with more flexibility than your usual licensing deals, not trying to duplicate a p&p system as closely to PC as possible as your usual licensed AD&D or DSA titles do.

Yeah. Most of our "hard-core cRPG" fans here don't play games any more - new or old. They don't care about games, they care about the idea of a game. The idea of a perfect hard-core old school cRPG. And naturally no-one can ever make that game, hence everything is shit.

To be fair... Everything *is* shit.

 

[Infinitron]

By the sweat of your face you shall eat potatoes, till you return to the toilet, for out of it you were taken; for you are shit, and to shit you shall return.

 

[Ulminati]

As long as it is fun to play, I wouldn't even mind minesweeper as the combat model.

So you're saying so long as the combat is fun you don't mind if the combat isn't fun?