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

[Aeschylus]

No, it wasn't. Most generic fantasies do not have so many political elements.

Don't really know how to respond to that other than "Yes they do". Many are heavily focused on them. Game of Thrones, Wheel of Time, Eddings' stuff, more recently the Kingkiller books. All of them I would call pretty damn generic, and all had as much or more political 'intrigue' as TW. Honestly, I'm not saying this to bash TW, it's just how I see it.

 

[Rake]

Generic fantasy has nothing to do with political intrigue. You could have a game in Forgotten Realms full of political intrigue and criminal connections. It would still be generic.
EDIT: We seem to have difirrent notions of what the term generic fantasy means.
1ek said that P:E seems generic. By your definition it isn't so as i fully expect P:E to have more political elements and deeper story than W2. I don't think he meant that though

 

[Longshanks]

Which would be a point if this was actually the case. Sawyer only really did F:NV and he had to work there with a shit system (Which he still made somewhat playable). Dead Money belongs to the best things Avellone has done (narritivly) and while Old World Blues is questionable for some, its certainly "creative". Tim Cain only did an (unreleased) MMO for several years, but still seems on top in the kickstarter videos.

They were certainly involved in debatable games, but their ability seems remarkably stable.

Ok, so Avellone and Cain are past their peak. Sawyer never really had one to speak of.

I am anticipating this game, but One Eye's edge-troll bears some truth.

 

[Irenaeus]

Stick a hex base beneath warrior and I'd play that without textures... it looks just like a very elaborate miniature setup. I'll be disappointed if he doesn't get coathangered by a plastic goblin and a cheating DM.

 

[Rake]

EDIT: We seem to have difirrent notions of what the term generic fantasy means.
.

This is not so surprising since this term is hard to pin down. I would rather say that generic-ness is provided by repetitive content matter and/or style. But that could be me.

In that i agree. "Generic fantasy" means to me simply that is the same Tolkien crap that i have seen 100 times before. Witcher 2 is that mixed with G.R.R.M as is the trend the last years.
That doesn't mean that it can't be good or deep, just that it's not unigue.

 

[Scruffy]

Sorry guise, but this looks generic as fuck. It's NWN2 all over again.

FOG IS THE REAL SHIT. I LOVE FOG, NOW THAT'S WHAT I CALL ATMOSPHERE

meh.

 

[MicoSelva]

TW2 did not realy mix it with anything since I hear that polish guy Altopaltordovesky already writes dark and edgy stuff.

Sapkowsky, and yes, he does. The Witcher books were conceived in the 80s and published throughout the 90s (the last one in 1999).

Although You guys have to know that the novels also featured Geralt's adopted daughter whom he trained as a she-witcher and later his then-girlfriend Yennefer also trained her as a sorceress. Oh, and she was actually a princess of a small country and [HEAVY SPOILER WARNING]

Spoiler

daughter of the emperor of Nilfgaard

and also a lesbian.

Those were wacky times, those 90s.

 

[Kem0sabe]

TW2 did not realy mix it with anything since I hear that polish guy Altopaltordovesky already writes dark and edgy stuff.

You mean Sapkowski the original author of the books? I don't remember where i've read it, but i think he doesn't appreciate games very much and didn't go as far as collaborating with the devs on the game.

Edit: Ah, found the quotes i was looking for.

Spoiler

The Witcher fantasy began long before the excellent video games made by Polish studio CD Projekt Red. The Witcher was originally a short story published in a Polish fantasy magazine in 1986. Today The Witcher series encompasses three collections of short stories and five novels. Their 64-year-old author Andrzej Sapkowski has become one of Poland's most distinguished fantasy literary icons.
On the surface it's a wonderful marriage ofPolish creativity: CD Projekt Red has a wealth of source material to draw from, and Sapkowski benefits from exposure to a new international audience. That's why I assumed Sapkowski would be an ardent supporter of video games.
But that illusion shattered when Eurogamer Poland discovered that Andrzej Sapkowski didn't really like video games much at all.
"I do not play computer games as they are far beyond my sphere of interest," he remarked.
"I've never played any computer games, be it fantasy or others. Sometimes I read through dedicated gaming magazines or watch television programmes. Graphics and technology, sometimes, I admire. I cannot say anything about the plots, though. Apart from the fact that some types of games seem to lack any story whatsoever. Those seem to be all about the hack and slash."
"I've never played any computer games, be it fantasy or others."
Andrzej Sapkowski
All Sapkowski actually saw of The Witcher video games was artwork, he revealed, but said it was "a sight to behold". His role was therefore "not enough to call it cooperation". "I don't feel like a co-author of the game," he said, so all plaudits must be directed at CDPR.
The Witcher game told an alternate story with The Witcher world. Was Sapkowski happy with it?
"The game - with all due respect to it, but let's finally say it openly - is not an 'alternative version', nor a sequel. The game is a free adaptation containing elements of my work; an adaptation created by different authors," he noted.
"Adaptations - although they can in a way relate to the story told in the books - can never aspire to the role of a follow-up. They can never add prologues nor prequels, let alone epilogues and sequels.

"Maybe it's time to set the matters straight," he went on. "'The Witcher' is a well made video game, its success is well deserved and the creators deserve all the splendour and honour due. But in no way can it be considered to be an 'alternative version', nor a 'sequel' to the witcher Geralt stories. Because this can only be told by Geralt's creator. A certain Andrzej Sapkowski."

 

[hiver]

Sorry guise, but this looks generic as fuck. It's NWN2 all over again.

There's no atmosphere statement whatsoever. Compare to The Witcher's early concept art:

o_O

 

[Brzęczyszczykiewicz]

and also a lesbian.

More like bisexual.

 

[MicoSelva]

and also a lesbian.

More like bisexual.

Ok, but she was technically a virgin at the end of the last book, since she only had sex with her bandit girlfriend from The Rats.
Although it was actually hilarious when she wanted to lose virginity with that one guy who got killed seconds before they could get it on.

 

[Jedi Exile]

Why would anyone be impressed with Wasteland 2's video? Eternity already looked better months ago.

Isn't all we've seen of Eternity just pretty pictures so far? Compared to actual gameplay from W2

They've showed a prototype once, but it was just a sneak peak. Also remember that work on PE began months later than WL2.

 

[Kirtai]

They've showed a prototype once, but it was just a sneak peak. Also remember that work on PE began months later than WL2.

Yeah, I know. I was just annoyed at the direct comparison of a still picture with actual working gameplay.

 

[Angthoron]

No, it wasn't. Most generic fantasies do not have so many political elements.

Don't really know how to respond to that other than "Yes they do". Many are heavily focused on them. Game of Thrones, Wheel of Time, Eddings' stuff, more recently the Kingkiller books. All of them I would call pretty damn generic, and all had as much or more political 'intrigue' as TW. Honestly, I'm not saying this to bash TW, it's just how I see it.

I think the bone here is the word "generic" which if you look closely, would give you the political depth of Eragon. Calling Angthoron who is writing his thesis on the issue.

Haven't followed P:E in order to avoid inflated expectations etc, but really can't say how conclusions regarding a setting can be drawn on the basis of just one concept. DA constantly pumped out "interesting" concepts and invariably turned out generic crap. In general though, I suppose P:E is fairly "High Fantasy" style from what I gathered, and High Fantasy is more often than not generic, so yeah.

As for Witcher, no, Witcher isn't a generic/genre fantasy work. "Generic" is a sum of parts, and there's a critical mass at which a work becomes generic or retains originality. TW borderlines with genre works to an extent, but the setting that's based on Slav mythology, for instance, can in no way be considered generic in a world filled with Germanic folklore influences. Basically: TW is a non-Tolkienesque fantasy.

 

[Scruffy]

Can’t be bothered to read 500 pages of thread, has the description “Baldur’s Gate with guns” been used yet? Can we use it?

 

[Infinitron]

Can’t be bothered to read 500 pages of thread, has the description “Baldur’s Gate with guns” been used yet? Can we use it?

Nope. People are ignoring the guns to a remarkable degree ITT

 

[Scruffy]

Can’t be bothered to read 500 pages of thread, has the description “Baldur’s Gate with guns” been used yet? Can we use it?

Nope. People are ignoring the guns to a remarkable degree ITT

i'll seize that description then

 

[Cursed Beaver]

What's with all that edgyness?

The only Generic thing here is some of the kinds of humanoid : dwarves, elves, humans... And it's only their appearance. And the fact that this is set in a pseudo medieval era

So because it's a fantasy with elves and dwarves it's generic? Because it's ''medieval'' it's generic? Medieval is generic now? Uncultured plebians.


From what they've explained about their gods/mythology, it's a pretty orginal take, and a great departure from the overused allmighty pantheon.
The magic and the whole concept of souls is also a pretty original, and will allows for very interresting twist.
The artwork so far is appealing.





Their in-game screenshot was gorgeous, a bit outlandish and quite curious. It didn't felt over the top or overly ornamental. This isn't numenra where the fantastic setting allows them to mix random elements together. This felt like there was a lot of thoughts behind the design to make it feel wholly and coherent.

Spoiler

The characters aren't ornamented at the level of grotesque. Their equipment, gear and clothes is credible.
They will have coherent civilizations, with different level of devellopment, not just random technology/level of devellopment everywere.

There is magic, there are weird creatures, but the whole world feels authentic and convincing, from the character design, to the architecture, to the lore we've seen so far.

 

[Excidium]

Obsidian Order detected.

 

[Volrath]

Obsidian Order detected.

 

[Scruffy]

Joined:
Friday

 

[Volrath]

The lore doesn't seem generic so far, just the setting I guess?

 

[Jaesun]

What was wrong with his post?

 

[Cursed Beaver]

Obsidian Order detected.

No I just felt like giving an elaborate answers, unlike the other accusations here.

 

[Rake]

Obsidian Order detected.

Well, what he says is right. All this "it's generic" is just a kneejerk reaction to "High Fantasy" and "D&D classes"