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

[Shadenuat]

This is like a pre pre alpha. The perspective is not set in stone. Hell it will go through numerous iterations. Especially once combat is fully implemented.

Well exactly. But I was saying we should't go into mass hysteria if what they do won't look entirely consistent like Fallout's tiles on a grid. Maybe locations like that waterfall would be used to set up mood and play with perspective, and in dungeons and other combat heavy locations perspective would change to top-down or any other which allows to see more enemies on a screen.

 

[Excommunicator]

I am a graphics whore and I approve of this screenshot painted render

 

[suejak]

I am a graphics whore and I approve of this screenshot painted render

That's what the full game will have too... painted renders.

 

[logrus]

Eternal Gate 2​

Great job Sir! :brofist:

I hope that PE will UI in the spirit of BG2. Screen shot looks pretty much awesome. There is some strange perspective here and there, but I assume that it’s just a matter of screenshot. … Villian's of the story remark that the projection used in this particular screenshot is probably not the best one for gameplay is valid. But it’s hard to believe the such experienced cRPG development team does not know that, so we are safe to assume the final projection is similar to the ones in classic IE games. Anyway after aVENGER has used the screenshot as a background in his BG2 collage I do not feel the strangeness anymore.
And this already looks gorgeous, but just imagine this screen alive with some effects – probably water falling down the waterfall and shining in the stream, maybe light reflexes changing behind the gate, sounds of the serene forest mixing with some disturbing, soul-shearing biamhac moans coming through the gate from the depths of the cursed elven ruins of Eír Glanfath. I’m gawking at aVENGER’s collage while listening the samples of PE soundtracks from http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/obsidian/project-eternity/posts/320485 and... well...

I must admit that despite being 30+ years old I was really late into cRPGs, BG2 was my frist game in the genre, of course after I started to dig cRPGs via BG2 I also played older games. But as with many other things in life the very first experience of some life’s aspect defines yours understanding of this aspect and sets the standard for comparisons, so it is with cRPGs and BG2 for me. Of course one may argue if BG2 is the pinnacle of the genre or not, but one may not deny it’s a good game. So PE is like a time machine to the time of my youths. At first (even with all the right people involved in the project) after reading “Project Eternity will take the central hero, memorable companions and the epic exploration of Baldur’s Gate, add in the fun, intense combat and dungeon diving of Icewind Dale, and tie it all together with the emotional writing and mature thematic exploration of Planescape: Torment” statement I was skeptical. It was promising so much, that it was hard to believe like in the universal cure for every disease or elixir of eternal life ;-) So I started just with basic pledge. But when I read the interview, browsed the official forum, studied the ideas described in kickstarter updates, seen the stretch goals… I lost my soul. Already upgraded my pledge, added expansion pack and hint book addons, now I’m OMG me wants Campaign Almanac. Even when I’m conscious that the revealing additional add-ons and stretch goals with time is well-planned marketing strategy, I’m still hyped more and more. And how one can say NO to the new stretch goal like strongholds with what seems to be additional layer of gameplay with full control on the keep development and even some influence on the local surroundings? Or not to get excited with having equivalents of both Baldur's Gate and Athkatla in one game? I’m usually reasonable when it comes to giving my euros when buying games and resistant to “limited collector’s edition” or “exclusive behind the scenes/artbooks/additional stories/hintbooks” milking, but not in this case. I don’t think I have payed more jewgold for a game edition ever. It’s really mode now!

I see that the update #20 double the daily rate of pledges! Great! 3 million goal seems to be reachable easily, but I doubt it's enough get 2nd big city But at least it seems that realistic assumption is that current 6 levels of mega dungeon (57,5K reached!) + 1 from facebook likes + 1 more at 60K backers = 8 levels! If it's 8 levels of Watcher's Keep/Durlag's Tower dungeon crawling = multiple sessions of .

 

[Comrade Goby]

Eternal Gate 2​

I'd rather not have the side bars. Too cluttered.

 

[Arkeus]

If they can maintain momentum, 3mil could possibly be reached 'Today'. Then it will be a fight to keep it up to 3.5, but i think it's definitely not impossible.

 

[SwiftCrack]

Ugh, that Baldurs Gate-ified screen looks disgusting. But I really hated those games anyway. I know they keep banging on about it being IE-influenced but I hoped that was mainly just the isometric view. If it has the same kind of sprites and animations then I'll be massively disappointed.

They should be looking at MotB for inspiration, and then improving from there.

Is this how people troll on the Codex?

 

[FeelTheRads]

Yeah, I'm not sure what inspiration to take from MotB.

 

[SwiftCrack]

I wonder if the stronghold will be more BG2 or NWN2. I really liked the BG2 strongholds but the NWN2 one sort of sucked. I mean why would a druid or bard run a keep? I hope they do some class specific stuff with them.

The strongholds in BGII were very cool. They however made NO sense in the story/plot (remember, you are trying to find your half-sister Imoen). Unfortunately a lot of the side quests also fall under this too. However the stronghold in NWN2 was actually a PART of the story/plot. THIS was good. However it was just not developed fully. It almost seems they finally want to do what they failed to do (fully incorporate it into the story and add a lot more dynamics to it). Which would be cool. <3

With some imagination you could integrate them into the story. I mean you have to raise 5K gold for the game to progress; what better way than running your own place to gather some cash

 

[ghostdog]

VoTS has really gone bonkers. The realization that he helped the fundraiser reach its goal with his butthurt campaign, drove him off the edge.

 

[Captain Shrek]

VoTS has really gone bonkers. The realization that he helped the fundraiser reach its goal with his butthurt campaign, drove him off the edge.

Actually he is making quite a bit of sense if you read his posts. He is one of the FEW in this thread making consistent points based on what we know. Rest are basically crazed fanboys.

EDIT: Yes. I am biased. But I have my reasons clear at least.

 

[Excommunicator]

That's what the full game will have too... painted renders.

Uhuh.

That was a quip directed at their misleading use of language which implies they have already got the engine functional and that this is a background rendered in the game engine, which it obviously isn't. It's just the background material.

I would have liked a showing of the background as well as character models and the interface overlaid, but it's obviously too early to expect that.

 

[Visbhume]

From this Sawyer interview.

JS: Personally, I take a lot of inspiration from history. Because Project Eternity is set during an era of exploration and colonization, I’m looking at the interactions, violent and otherwise, between colonizing and colonized cultures. I’m interested in exploring daily friction and the difficulties that people run into when they try to live in the area between two (or more) cultures. There are famous “great men of history” examples like T.E. Lawrence, but I’m more interested in figures of lesser notoriety like the Italian Jesuit Matteo Ricci or Jean Baptiste Charbonneau, the son of Sacagawea. Also, I find some of the more contemporary “reverse” colonization trends like the French Congo’s La SAPE movement fascinating. I’m also starting to look in more detail at the state of epistemology and metaphysics in the medieval world prior to the rise of humanist thought, mostly exemplified by writers like Thomas Aquinas and William of Ockham. The printing press doesn’t exist yet in the world of Project Eternity and academic disciplines still tend to be elitist and exclusionary. Popular movements, on the rare occasion that they do occur, tend to be driven by passion and basic human needs rather than any sort of widespread philosophical movement.

Colonial politics, Matteo Ricci and medieval intellectual history. FUCKING AWESOME. Even if this is mere namedropping, it is namedropping of a refreshing kind, and goes beyond the shallow "history greatest's hits" approach of games like Lionheart.

The bits of lore about the "possessed saint" sound like a fantasy version of many a medieval millenarist rebellion, or perhaps the Taiping rebellion in nineteenth century China. I wonder if Sawyer has read Norman Cohn's "Pursuit of the Millenium".

 

[Lockkaliber]

It is certainly refreshing to have someone take their historical inspiration from actual history and not Ivanhoe.

 

[Volrath]

JS: When feedback is really intense, I try to not get involved, or to only get minimally involved so I can see various ideas players present in their conversations. Often, the weight people give to a developer’s comment can be disproportionately large and unfortunately, often disruptive to healthy conversation.
I try to filter things by trying to read between the lines and find what the high-level desires are. A lot of people can get caught up in individual mechanics or ideas. Ideas and mechanics are important, but we use those things to achieve goals. Often there are many ways we can achieve a goal with a variety of approaches. It just takes time and some patience.

 

[RK47]

tldr :js:

 

[FeelTheRads]

I'm moar like js;dr

 

[suejak]

Ugh, that Baldurs Gate-ified screen looks disgusting. But I really hated those games anyway. I know they keep banging on about it being IE-influenced but I hoped that was mainly just the isometric view. If it has the same kind of sprites and animations then I'll be massively disappointed.

They should be looking at MotB for inspiration, and then improving from there.

Is this how people troll on the Codex?

So you think it's trolling to say that you don't like Baldur's Gate on the Codex? This site was FOUNDED on hate for Baldur's Gate.

 

[J_C]

Ugh, that Baldurs Gate-ified screen looks disgusting. But I really hated those games anyway. I know they keep banging on about it being IE-influenced but I hoped that was mainly just the isometric view. If it has the same kind of sprites and animations then I'll be massively disappointed.

They should be looking at MotB for inspiration, and then improving from there.

Is this how people troll on the Codex?

So you think it's trolling to say that you don't like Baldur's Gate on the Codex? This site was FOUNDED on hate for Baldur's Gate.

Joined:Aug 16, 2012
Posts:230

Like you would know what was the site founded on. (Even I don't know that. )

 

[suejak]

Like you would know what was the site founded on. (Even I don't know that. )

The founders of this site hated Baldur's Gate.

 

[evdk]

I think we can all agree the site was founded on hate.

 

[The Great Deceiver]

I think we can all agree the site was founded on hate.

Codexer's creed.

 

[suejak]

Much better point than mine, yeah. I'd Brofist it if the mods here weren't autistic

 

[Comrade Goby]

From this Sawyer interview.

JS: Personally, I take a lot of inspiration from history. Because Project Eternity is set during an era of exploration and colonization, I’m looking at the interactions, violent and otherwise, between colonizing and colonized cultures. I’m interested in exploring daily friction and the difficulties that people run into when they try to live in the area between two (or more) cultures. There are famous “great men of history” examples like T.E. Lawrence, but I’m more interested in figures of lesser notoriety like the Italian Jesuit Matteo Ricci or Jean Baptiste Charbonneau, the son of Sacagawea. Also, I find some of the more contemporary “reverse” colonization trends like the French Congo’s La SAPE movement fascinating. I’m also starting to look in more detail at the state of epistemology and metaphysics in the medieval world prior to the rise of humanist thought, mostly exemplified by writers like Thomas Aquinas and William of Ockham. The printing press doesn’t exist yet in the world of Project Eternity and academic disciplines still tend to be elitist and exclusionary. Popular movements, on the rare occasion that they do occur, tend to be driven by passion and basic human needs rather than any sort of widespread philosophical movement.

Colonial politics, Matteo Ricci and medieval intellectual history. FUCKING AWESOME. Even if this is mere namedropping, it is namedropping of a refreshing kind, and goes beyond the shallow "history greatest's hits" approach of games like Lionheart.

The bits of lore about the "possessed saint" sound like a fantasy version of many a medieval millenarist rebellion, or perhaps the Taiping rebellion in nineteenth century China. I wonder if Sawyer has read Norman Cohn's "Pursuit of the Millenium".

Oh great only the minority elves and dwarves will be good guys.

And they'll be trannies as well. Gotta show us CIS scum our place I guess.

 

[ghostdog]

I think we can all agree the site was founded on hate.

We can also agree that suejak knows jack shit.