Obsidian's Pillars of Eternity [BETA RELEASED, GO TO THE NEW THREAD]

[Jaesun]

Based on what exactly? We know MORE about PE than we do Wasteland 2. Which indecently is still in TRUST US! IT WILL WE AWESOME. A game, by IneXile.

Bro, please. You're starting to embarrass yourself. Take a day off if you need to. Think it through.

What are the exact specifics we know about Wasteland 2?

 

[TwinkieGorilla]

Just keep repeating this and maybe one day it will be a valid defense of PE.

 

[Jaesun]

Just keep repeating this and maybe one day it will be a valid defense of PE.

It was a simple question.

 

[TwinkieGorilla]

Who cares? I already answered your damn question this morning. It has fuckall to do with THIS discussion though.

 

[Jaesun]

Oh OK.

 

[TwinkieGorilla]

I'm busy drinking, Jaesun. Don't step. It doesn't though. Don't pretend.

 

[Black]

The sexual tension between you two (or at least Jaesun -> Twinkie) is through the roof!

 

[Grimlorn]

Haha Twinkie's drunk. Here's your chance to take advantage of him Jaesun.

 

[FeelTheRads]

The amount of time that a spell level lockout should last isn't something for which I have a solid answer. It could work in a manner similar to 4E where the end of an "encounter" resets the lockout on the majority of abilities, but "combat" states in engines is something that, in my experience, is often triggered on/off in weird ways. If a lockout lasts for something like 30 seconds or 45 seconds, that lockout will likely last longer than the remainder of the combat, but not so long that the player would have a compelling incentive to "spam stand", which I agree is bad. Whether the answer is a timed lockout or a combat state-released lockout, I'm not sure.

They're "fixing" it. VD was right. They sure as fuck know what they're doing. Just what I said "myeah, can't have the players wait, better just recharge after combat".

 

[J_C]

We do not have a spellcasting system designed. This is not something we have to "change" because the majority of what we have developed for things as complex as the spellcasting system are ideas. It's three weeks into a fundraising campaign to make this project. I cannot tell you what final form the spellcasting system will take, what elements it absolutely will or won't have. All I can tell you is the sort of goals we have and general ideas of things I'd like to see and avoid.

I'm trying to create the feeling of strategic spell selection and tactical spell use in D&D while avoiding the constant rest spamming that was so prevalent in the games I made. There are probably a number of ways to solve this problem. I have some ideas on this, but we haven't settled on them. I want to tell people about general ideas and opinions I have, but I don't think spending a day trying to design the system in the forum is going to produce good results.

So no need to panic, they are still in pre-production, tossing around ideas. But reading his words I'm 100% sure that PE won't have a pure cooldown system.

 

[Cynic]

reading his words I'm 100% sure that PE won't have a pure cooldown system.

 

[evdk]

ITT:

 

[DalekFlay]

The whole point of kickstarter is "I trust these people to make X." Arguing "OMG WHAT DO WE REALLY KNOW ABOUT X AND Y" is missing the point.

Not sold on the team and concept? Then you're not a backer, simple as. Wait for the Steam sale and move on.

 

[FeelTheRads]

The whole point of kickstarter is "I trust these people to make X." Arguing "OMG WHAT DO WE REALLY KNOW ABOUT X AND Y" is missing the point.

Not sold on the team and concept? Then you're not a backer, simple as. Wait for the Steam sale and move on.

Man, you sure got it right. Criticism is forbidden. Either like it or shut up. Did I login on Bethesda's forums by mistake?

 

[DalekFlay]

The whole point of kickstarter is "I trust these people to make X." Arguing "OMG WHAT DO WE REALLY KNOW ABOUT X AND Y" is missing the point.

Not sold on the team and concept? Then you're not a backer, simple as. Wait for the Steam sale and move on.

Man, you sure got it right. Criticism is forbidden. Either like it or shut up. Did I login on Bethesda's forums by mistake?

I never said don't criticize. I said don't expect intricate details 2 years out from a 30 day kickstarter campaign. You either trust the people and concept or you don't.

 

[FeelTheRads]

Yes, well, too bad. They said more than "we're making a game". So they're gonna be judged on what they've said.
I actually appreciate them for that, by the way. If they didn't come up with all this stupid shit now I might have taken a risk on them even if I didn't really trust them before either. Now they've just saved me some money and will also know to avoid whatever Sawyer touches in the future.

 

[Volrath]

FTR: trolling Obsidian since 2003. Never change bro.

 

[FeelTheRads]

Do I know you?

 

[Volrath]

You're kind of hard not to notice.

 

[IronicNeurotic]

Good evening all,

I'd like to take a few minutes to discuss a few things. The goal/vision of this project is to capture the magic (old school feeling) of the Infinity Engine games. Many of the long time folks at Obsidian are just as big of fans of old school RPGs as you are. We are not interested in "capturing the biggest market" or making a game that "caters to everyone" for this title. We just want to make the best possible PC RPG we can, that lives up to the vision I stated above. Those games did very well for the publishers of their day, and since we don't need to deal with a publisher and are going direct, we are more than happy to ship this game to a smaller fan base, i.e. you.

This bears repeating. We want to capture the OLD SCHOOL feeling of the Infinity Engine games. We know the lack of cinematic dialogue or using an isometric camera is not enough to accomplish this. This obviously doesn't mean we are making a BG or IWD clone, however. We want it to feel like those games... with improvements. Not to stream-line it or dumb it down, just to make it better.

I'd like to share a good example of this philosophy from the 3rd edition D&D rules. In the olden days, classes in D&D leveled at different rates. Rogues leveled faster than everyone else and wizards were the slowest, others fell somewhere in the middle. This was built into the system and each class had different xp requirements for each level. Without getting into why the old systems did this, most people hated it. Of course there was a die-hard fan base that thought it was great. When WoTC released 3rd edition they got rid of it... or did they?

I'm using a pen and paper example here because not all of the CRPGs that used the system implemented this. If you played a rogue and disarmed a trap (without anyone aiding you), you got extra xp. Looking at the rules as written (RAW) in the DMG, that character overcame a CR challenge alone. Doing so gains quite a bit of XP and if the DM allowed this, caused a rogue to level much faster than any other class.

Conversely, the Wizard received the Scribe Scroll feat for free at 1st level. If you wanted to be ready for any situation, you crafted scrolls and memorized your core spells. Crafting scrolls (and any other magic item) cost XP, sometimes A LOT of it. Result: every wizard I ever played, played with, or DMed, leveled slower than everyone else. This was now a player choice to level slowly and he was rewarded for it. IMO, this is MUCH better design that accomplished the same thing in most cases as the old system.

These are the types of designs we are striving to implement into PE. We want this game to feel like the games you loved, while not implementing clearly poor design choices. Much like our community, many of us on the team are passionate about certain aspects of RPG design. I tend to fall into the hardcore, old school, group. Part of my job is to be the voice for that community (I've championed turn-based combat on multiple occasions). I know what you guys don't want. Josh and I have discussed this on multiple occasions and I have every confidence in his vision.

Lastly, nothing is currently set it stone. Game development doesn't typically work that way. This will be an evolving process to get us to the goal of making a great strategy system, that feels "real" if that makes sense. Josh's vision of combat will get input from a lot of folks that have a lot of experience in playing and making RPGs. We'll get it right.

 

[GordonHalfman]

Everything Sawyer says sounds exactly like the noises Bioware were making when Dragon Age development started. Blah blah turn based system difficult to adapt to rtwp, system designed for pnp not for CRPGs, take more advantage of the format, streamline the idiosyncrasies of AD&D, make more balanced experience, we know best how the average player actually played our games.

So yeah, low budget Dragon Age incoming.

But the thing is, if the IE games were so fatally flawed, how come your whole fucking kickstarter is predicated on the fact that people really loved them?

 

[IronicNeurotic]

Yes, well, too bad. They said more than "we're making a game". So they're gonna be judged on what they've said.
I actually appreciate them for that, by the way. If they didn't come up with all this stupid shit now I might have taken a risk on them even if I didn't really trust them before either. Now they've just saved me some money and will also know to avoid whatever Sawyer touches in the future.

That makes no fucking sense on account of Sawyer always being this way (worse in the past probably). Most people here know that from back in the day and I'm pretty sure you do to.

His track record though isn't really all that bad with IWD2 and F:NV (Including his own mod for the game) (NWN2 doesn't really count considering he was only there to wrap things up)

 

[FeelTheRads]

stuff

Link?

You're kind of hard not to notice.

I'm asking because of the 2003 thing. I don't even remember what the hell I was doing in 2003.

 

[serch]

He should add an enchantment to the spell list or a magic object that allows uninterrupted rest that you can only use once in 24 h, like secure shelter or sthg. Spam with random encounters those who rest in a dangerous area without using it. That way you avoid the back and forth problem and avoid the rest onceeachclearedroomretardness at the same time

 

[Minttunator]

stuff

Link?

It was posted by Bobby Null in the drama thread:
http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/60885-overreaction-theater/page__st__180#entry1221015