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

[Crispy]

summary of last 300 pages pl0x

 

[Arkeus]

I don't know if we've stated a specific level cap, but it will be lower than 20. We don't want the leveling to feel as slow as the original BG, but we still want it to feel D&Dish. Probably somewhere in between vanilla BG and IWD.

We will definitely have a level cap because we are making a class-based game where each (of 11!) class gains specific abilities as they level. Even with only 10 levels, that would be at least 110 abilities. That's a lot of custom content.

 

[Cursed Beaver]

I don't know if we've stated a specific level cap, but it will be lower than 20. We don't want the leveling to feel as slow as the original BG, but we still want it to feel D&Dish. Probably somewhere in between vanilla BG and IWD.

We will definitely have a level cap because we are making a class-based game where each (of 11!) class gains specific abilities as they level. Even with only 10 levels, that would be at least 110 abilities. That's a lot of custom content.

Nice. BG 2 started at roughly lvl 8 and ended around 20.
In the expansion they will probably introduce 10-20 new levels, like in TOB.

 

[Jaesun]

An Expansion would probably be only 1 or 2 levels.

I wonder what Sawyer is thinking about with higher level parties and the mechanics and spells, for presumably Eternity II? I would assume he has that thought out.

 

[Broseph]

An Expansion would probably be only 1 or 2 levels.

I wonder what Sawyer is thinking about with higher level parties and the mechanics and spells, for presumably Eternity II? I would assume he has that thought out.

Going to ask him on Formspring.

 

[Cursed Beaver]

An Expansion would probably be only 1 or 2 levels.

Why? Considering how they try to stay classic, an expansion where you only level up 2 times is unlikely.
Especially after levelling 20 times in the first game.

Unless there is a continuity between PE 1 and PE 2, and you get to keep your party. But in this case, I don't think the expansion would be big Anyway (like TOB). More like a DLC production value.

 

[Jaesun]

An Expansion would probably be only 1 or 2 levels.

Why? Considering how they try to stay classic, an expansion where you only level up 2 times is unlikely.
Especially after levelling 20 times in the first game.

Unless there is a continuity between PE 1 and PE 2, and you get to keep your party. But in this case, I don't think the expansion would be big Anyway (like TOB). More like a DLC production value.

Well Tales of the Sword Coast was 1 (or was it 2) levels. TOB was a different matter, it was the entire last chapter of the series.

 

[Aeschylus]

Well Tales of the Sword Coast was 1 (or was it 2) levels. TOB was a different matter, it was the entire last chapter of the series.

3, sort of. The ice island you're teleported to, the werewolf island, and Durlag's tower. But who's counting.

 

[Jaesun]

Well Tales of the Sword Coast was 1 (or was it 2) levels. TOB was a different matter, it was the entire last chapter of the series.

3, sort of. The ice island you're teleported to, the werewolf island, and Durlag's tower. But who's counting.

I meant more character levels. TotSC was only 1 or 2 levels (depending on class).

 

[BobtheTree]

I'm still just waiting for the base game.

 

[santino27]

An Expansion would probably be only 1 or 2 levels.

Why? Considering how they try to stay classic, an expansion where you only level up 2 times is unlikely.
Especially after levelling 20 times in the first game.

Unless there is a continuity between PE 1 and PE 2, and you get to keep your party. But in this case, I don't think the expansion would be big Anyway (like TOB). More like a DLC production value.

I think you're conflating expansion and sequel. If there is an expansion to PE1, I imagine it would be far smaller than PE1 itself, and therefore probably only a few levels (and would continue with your existing party). A sequel may or may not utilize the same party/character, and would likely be around the same # of levels as PE1.

 

[Sensuki]

It was technically 1-2 levels depending on class. It raised the XP cap from 89,000 to 161,000.

 

[tuluse]

Speaking of keeping your party in a sequel, unless someone has a counter example I don't think there were any Black Isle or Obsidian sequels where you keep the main character or party.

So if they made a PE2, based on their history, it would likely be a brand new main character.

 

[Tytus]

Speaking of keeping your party in a sequel, unless someone has a counter example I don't think there were any Black Isle or Obsidian sequels where you keep the main character or party.

So if they made a PE2, based on their history, it would likely be a brand new main character.

I agree we will probably get to meet the old characters in the sequel but not as party members. Kotor 2 was Obsidian's good example of that.

 

[Surf Solar]

What about NWN2-> MotB ?

 

[tuluse]

What about NWN2-> MotB ?

Expansion, not sequel.

Of course Obsidian has never worked on a sequel to one of their own games, so their history is not really indicative of what they might do.

 

[Tytus]

What about NWN2-> MotB ?

Expansion, not sequel.

Of course Obsidian has never worked on a sequel to one of their own games, so their history is not really indicative of what they might do.

Yes, but they worked on sequels to games of other developers and yet they made a conscious decision to start with a new party. Nothing was stopping them from for example creating Kotor 2 with Revan as the main protagonist again. Though I probably imagine that writing someone's character further wouldn't be as fulfilling as creating your own.

 

[Lancehead]

Also, they wouldn't want to mess with characters created by another developer.

 

[Koschey]

Speaking of keeping your party in a sequel, unless someone has a counter example I don't think there were any Black Isle or Obsidian sequels where you keep the main character or party.

So if they made a PE2, based on their history, it would likely be a brand new main character.

I agree we will probably get to meet the old characters in the sequel but not as party members. Kotor 2 was Obsidian's good example of that.

HK-47? T3-M4? Canderous/Mandalore? The main character may have been different, but otherwise KotoR2 is an example of quite the opposite.

 

[Roguey]

I don't envy Sawyer and Cain having to create, borrow, and balance literally hundreds of abilities. I imagine there'll be overlap with certain classes.

But it'll all be worth it.

 

[Froglok]

I'm just glad games are going back to having a wide choice of classes. It seems like as time goes on games limit that choice. EQ had 13, WoW had 9, TESO is going to have 6....

I like being a snowflake :3

 

[April]

I won't say older games didn't have more classes, but when there's almost no difference between say a ranger and a fighter in the IE games then what's the point really?
Same in wizardries, one martial class is the same as another except in superficial areas.

 

[Infinitron]

I don't envy Sawyer and Cain having to create, borrow, and balance literally hundreds of abilities. I imagine there'll be overlap with certain classes.

But it'll all be worth it.

"Ability: Strength +5"

 

[Arkeus]

I don't envy Sawyer and Cain having to create, borrow, and balance literally hundreds of abilities. I imagine there'll be overlap with certain classes.

But it'll all be worth it.

"Ability: Strength +5"

What i am worried about is that each class will have 2/3 'paths', and that there won't be a reason whatsoever to deviate from a path once we chose the first option.

 

[Lilura]

I won't say older games didn't have more classes, but when there's almost no difference between say a ranger and a fighter in the IE games then what's the point really?

The point would be a ranger can double as a scout. Or a stalker prestige class can scout and backstab. As well as fight.

BG series and IWD1 didn't really have much in the way of build variation, hence lots of classes and prestige classes, some of which could dual-class and multi-class.