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

[jewboy]

In a similar vein to David Gaider at BioWare, who in a previous interview gave a very nice shout-out to you, btw, you are know for writing great characters for the games you work on. What do you think is one of the most integral aspects of making a character in a role-playing video game have an impact on the player?

 

[grotsnik]

His answer about Alpha Protocol - stating outright that he didn't like the main character, the fully voice-acted dialogue, or the timed cutscenes - is interesting, given that it comes right after RPS bleating to him about the dangers of abandoning exactly those sorts of things.

Meanwhile, I see Merin is providing some trenchant insights and rigorous debate on the Obsidian forums:

*considers posting in thread*

*considers who started the thread*

*wants to add to conversation*

*doesn't want to engage with certain individuals...*

Who the fuck bothers to sit down and write this? Why would you? Why?

 

[toro]

I already pledged on KS/Codex and I don't want to change anything there. But seriously, nobody is troubled by the lack of one single screenshot?

No, because the game is in development. That is the ENTIRE point of the KS.

Nope, that's not the point of KS. But you probably cannot think because of the sunglasses.

 

[Jasede]

In a similar vein to David Gaider at BioWare, who in a previous interview gave a very nice shout-out to you, btw, you are know for writing great characters for the games you work on. What do you think is one of the most integral aspects of making a character in a role-playing video game have an impact on the player?

You heard it here first, MCA is in a similar vein as David Gaider at Bioware! Pledge your hearts out!

 

[Jarpie]

I already pledged on KS/Codex and I don't want to change anything there. But seriously, nobody is troubled by the lack of one single screenshot?

Yep, I pledged on both. Problem?

That was for the "But seriously, nobody is troubled by the lack of one single screenshot?" and not for pledging.

 

[tuluse]

Fargo appeared as though he had a clear vision for what he wanted to make even when he wasn't giving out details.

Well, in my book PE has just as clear/unclear vision as W2. But Fargo knows how to sell things, since he is almost a PR person. But what do we know about W2: turn based combat, make your own party, post-apocaliptic, isometric, skill based C&C.

What do we know about PE: RTwP, one main character and several NPCs (but it is possible to make your own party), high fantasy, where the world suffered somekind of horrible event, isometric, mature story, C&C, class based, isometric. I can't get my head around people saying that they know more about W2 than PE. No, we don't. And the sad thing is that the W2 kickstarter has ended for months, and PE is just at halftime.

You misunderstood me. Fargo didn't make his vision clear, but he made it sound like he had a vision in mind.

 

[J_C]

For fuck's sake it's a drow called Aloth. That must have taken all of 5 seconds to come up with.

Those artworks are terrible.

..

Then, a really original one. Drow Alo(l)th,

Hey, what's up guys?




rope kid
Feb 3, 2001

Warte nur! Balde
Ruhest du auch.
Mordaedil posted:

I like this Aloth character alot.​

He isn't related to Lolth is he?​

Nope. There are no drow/is no

th (Lloth if you prefer) in this world.

 

[Crooked Bee]

Yep, I pledged on both. Problem?

You should totally up your Codex pledge to $50. You know you want to be on the Codex party's race traitor list.

 

[jewboy]

I just can't believe that BioFaggot is a guy. What a cunt.

 

[villain of the story]

I can most certainly prove what he said about F:NV and also here are the slides from his GDC talks (You can actually watch the video of his talk if you pay, so there is a way to prove it)

http://twofoldsilence.diogenes-lamp.info/2012/03/do-say-right-thing-choice-architecture.html

As for reaction mechanics he brings repeadetly the reputation NOT the karma system up.

Short answer: You're wrong (as always)

That is all I asked for. For the first time, someone can prove me wrong straight up.

Now, back to KOOL-downs with no rounds and level scaling. Enjoy your low budget indie DA:O next-gen bullshit

 

[J_C]

Fargo appeared as though he had a clear vision for what he wanted to make even when he wasn't giving out details.

Well, in my book PE has just as clear/unclear vision as W2. But Fargo knows how to sell things, since he is almost a PR person. But what do we know about W2: turn based combat, make your own party, post-apocaliptic, isometric, skill based C&C.

What do we know about PE: RTwP, one main character and several NPCs (but it is possible to make your own party), high fantasy, where the world suffered somekind of horrible event, isometric, mature story, C&C, class based, isometric. I can't get my head around people saying that they know more about W2 than PE. No, we don't. And the sad thing is that the W2 kickstarter has ended for months, and PE is just at halftime.

You misunderstood me. Fargo didn't make his vision clear, but he made it sound like he had a vision in mind.

Oh I get it. That I can agree with, but he is a carismatic guy, like a PR person. He knows how to sell stuff. I can't blame MCA or others from Obsidian for not having the same personality.

 

[IronicNeurotic]

I can most certainly prove what he said about F:NV and also here are the slides from his GDC talks (You can actually watch the video of his talk if you pay, so there is a way to prove it)

http://twofoldsilence.diogenes-lamp.info/2012/03/do-say-right-thing-choice-architecture.html

As for reaction mechanics he brings repeadetly the reputation NOT the karma system up.

Short answer: You're wrong (as always)

That is all I asked for. For the first time, someone can prove me wrong straight up.

Now, back to KOOL-downs with no rounds and level scaling. Enjoy your low budget indie DA:O next-gen bullshit

Ok, then.

Well, I can't prove you wrong on the second one, as this is probably something we can only discern ways into development.

 

[Jarpie]

For fuck's sake it's a drow called Aloth. That must have taken all of 5 seconds to come up with.

Those artworks are terrible.

..

Then, a really original one. Drow Alo(l)th,

Hey, what's up guys?




rope kid
Feb 3, 2001

Warte nur! Balde
Ruhest du auch.
Mordaedil posted:

I like this Aloth character alot.​

He isn't related to Lolth is he?​

Nope. There are no drow/is no

th (Lloth if you prefer) in this world.

Fuck yeah, no drow in Project Eternity.

 

[Jaesun]

Yeah Fargo definitely has a 18 CHA.

 

[Cynic]

I think there are two trends for gaming kickstarters at the moment. On the one hand you have guys like Crate and Stoic asking for money while showing a real, physical yet albeit very early product. On the other you have guys like Inexile and Obsidian doing campaigns with basically nothing to go on except words.

You can bet money (if you have any left) that the expectations and therefore overall gauging of the success of these games will be vastly different.

I think part of the difference comes in the make ups of the companies as well. Stoic and Crate are both small, definitely indie devs. Inexile (I think) and Obsidian are much larger. This has a big effect on how they will approach something like this and means they are far less likely to put a whole lot of work in without some kind of ROI model established.

If Obsidian or Inexile stuffs up, that will be the end of KS campaigns that say "trust us guize!!!" and these companies will lose a LOT of that reputation they used to get pledges. That shit is a once use wand with no fucking cool downs.

 

[jewboy]

It's true. Fargo has charisma. Well at least compared to Feargus. And Fargo seems trustworthy somehow. He also really knows how to throw a kickstarter.

 

[villain of the story]

You know, if Obsidian had shown us a single piece of concept art on the same level of quality as this one, I'd be sold, no further questions asked or vitriol vomited:

Authentically realistic, functional, dramatic, classy, not-sexist, professional and nostalgic.

Their concept art so far is the epitome of BSB. Looks like done by retarded pre-teens recruited from Deviant Art for junk food and a pat on the back.

And they hope to make a game similar to IE in feel. Not gonna happen with the crappy artists they got LOL.

 

[toro]

I already pledged on KS/Codex and I don't want to change anything there. But seriously, nobody is troubled by the lack of one single screenshot?

Yep, I pledged on both. Problem?

That was for the "But seriously, nobody is troubled by the lack of one single screenshot?" and not for pledging.

Fine. So "screenshots" is too much to ask from Obsidian, even if others were better prepared and could show prototypes for their games: FTL, Grimdawn, Legends of Eisenwald, Blackspace ... and so on.
Then, why there is not one artwork as interesting as the ones from Wasteland2 KS campaign?

 

[wormix]

Fargo actually made me excited about an upcoming game for once. I don't think I've been really excited about an game since I used to read the manuals on the way home on the bus.

 

[J_C]

If Obsidian or Inexile stuffs up, that will be the end of KS campaigns that say "trust us guize!!!" and these companies will lose a LOT of that reputation they used to get pledges.

That's why I have faith in these kickstarters. The devs now that their reputation is at stake here, so they will do their best to make something worthy.

 

[Jasede]

I already pledged on KS/Codex and I don't want to change anything there. But seriously, nobody is troubled by the lack of one single screenshot?

Yep, I pledged on both. Problem?

That was for the "But seriously, nobody is troubled by the lack of one single screenshot?" and not for pledging.

Fine. So "screenshot" is too much to ask from Obsidian, even if others were better prepared and could show prototypes for their games: FTL, Grimdawn, Legends of Eisenwald, Blackspace ... and so on.
Then, why there is not one artwork as interesting as the ones from Wasteland2 KS campaign?

Their concept artists are shit. If you can't make purple dildo magic look cool you did something wrong.
NEXT!

Maybe there's a way to tell them this. Hey, you guys, are you reading this shit? Your concept art so far blows compared to something that GoodBrush guy would draw, or what we've seen in W2. Fix plz!

 

[villain of the story]

By the way, this bit caught my attention from the RPS interview:

RPS: Obsidian’s always been a cut above, well, pretty much everyone in terms of writing. And yet, it’s arguable that you haven’t had the success you deserve. Why do you think gamers don’t value great writing in the same way, say, movie viewers do? Or do they? Does modern culture in general discount great writing?

Avellone: Good writing does not make a popular or accessible game. While we value stories and deep character interactions, there are other factors at work that feed into success, and the Kickstarter is proof of our success in the industry. People are willing to back our ideas and stand behind them, and we’re ready to prove ourselves.

They have 50K backers. While it's an impressive amount of backers for a Kickstarter project, it's pretty abysmal number of people to associate with their success in the industry. To the contrary, it would only show that their success in the industry is inflated by publisher-ensured sales. If they were owned by a publisher, they would be closed down a week after releasing a game that only sold around 50K units.

Though I doubt that a lot of people who have bought several Obsidian titles even know about this Kickstarter project to begin with and believe that far more people would support it if only they knew.

 

[J_C]

Their concept artists are shit. If you can't make purple dildo magic look cool you did something wrong.
NEXT!

Maybe there's a way to tell them this. Hey, you guys, are you reading this shit? Your concept art so far blows compared to something that GoodBrush guy would draw, or what we've seen in W2. Fix plz!

I think you are too harsh. These pictures are just simple sketches, not full blown concept arts, which can be shown early during the KS. They are not jaw dropping, but look OK. As for W2....how many time did it take them to show a quality concept art? Think about that a moment.

 

[IronicNeurotic]

Authentically realistic

Nothing against your other points, but I kinda doubt that. Solely because you don't actually carry a big ass axt in one hand and a big ass sword? in the other like its nothing while wearing full armor. Except if you are a monster and that girl doesn't really look the part.

 

[Jasede]

Their concept artists are shit. If you can't make purple dildo magic look cool you did something wrong.
NEXT!

Maybe there's a way to tell them this. Hey, you guys, are you reading this shit? Your concept art so far blows compared to something that GoodBrush guy would draw, or what we've seen in W2. Fix plz!

I think you are too harsh. These pictures are just simple sketches, not full blown concept arts, which can be shown early during the KS. They are not jaw dropping, but look OK. As for W2....how many time did it take them to show a quality concept art? Think about that a moment.

Sure, I'm using hyperbole. I don't think it's complete garbage but I'm just trying to convey none of the art we've seen so far confers that promise of adventure and mood that, say, the scorpion-tank in the green, thick jungle did. Now that was a great image! Something like that would really look good on an update.