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

[Hormalakh]

honestly, there are so many bits of information everywhere (and mechanics are probably shifting and changing) that sometimes i'll forget a specific mechanics' workings.

Thanks though.

 

[Lhynn]

Sounds like rogues are going to be sins, like fighters are going to be tanks, like wizards are going to be sorcerers, like monks are going to be hexers. Im probably wrong, but thats the impression i got from what sawyer said.

 

[Arkeus]

Update by Kazunori Aruga, Concept Artist, and Brandon Adler, you-know-what-I-do



Hello, backers. This week we are profiling another talented Concept Artist on Eternity, Kaz Aruga. While Kaz wears many artist hats his largest contributions are area and UI concepts. Enjoy.

Q: Hello, Kaz. What is your job on the Project Eternity team?
Before I start I want to quickly thank all you awesome peeps who backed our game. I wouldn't be here working on my dream project if it weren't for you all, so thank you for making this a reality!

I have two responsibilities on Project Eternity. The first is supplying the asset and environment teams with concept art. The second is producing art for the game's UI. I'm occasionally tasked with scripted interaction art and will start producing character portraits further down the road.

Q: What are you working on this week?
I've been tasked with inventory and character creation UI. *leaps away as a massive fireball of community UI rage engulfs the land*

But seriously, I appreciated the feedback you all gave us for the action bar and conversation UI. I've taken notes and been implementing ideas that are in alignment with our design goals. As a side note, being a fan of the IE games and having a lot of experience playing them has proven very useful as it helps me identify what worked and what didn’t. I'm sure we all have fond memories of shuffling piles of arrows between characters.

Q: What is your typical work day like on Project Eternity?
My day usually starts by fighting off Robs and Polinas to get to the Keurig coffee machine in our room. Consuming the glorious bean drink allows me access to all two neurons in my head, which I then rub together as hard as I can to start making artwork. My day varies a lot from this point based on the task I'm on. For character and environment work a good chunk of time will be devoted to gathering reference and inspiration, or doing homework on a specific subject. I'll then do a rough sketch pass which gets reviewed by the leads and other artists. When I'm on scripted interaction art I work closely with our designers Bobby and Jorge, and for UI I interface with our project lead Josh and Brian who is our programming intern.



Q: What are you most looking forward to on Project Eternity?
Just the fact that we can put an IE inspired game on the market is enough to get me excited. It's been long overdue. I'm looking forward to seeing all the hard work we are putting in coming together as one complete package, and seeing reactions of people playing the game!

Q: Which concept that you have done has been your favorite?
Artists are typically never happy with their own work. Next question!

I've enjoyed working on art for scripted interactions, and been pretty happy with the results. I've also been putting a lot of work into inventory UI recently and am happy with the results coming out of that.



Q: What other projects have you worked on?
Before this job I was up in San Francisco working as a texture artist on a television series called Star Wars: The Clone Wars. I've also done some matte painting work in the film industry.

Q: What do you like to do when you aren't chained to your desk by your producer?
My off time often includes episodes of Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones, a cold beer, and dual wielding our two resident cats Puddy Tat and Lil'Babs. They are the best. I also have an unhealthy and destructive relationship with Ramen. (No, not the vile instant noodles. How dare you call that Ramen!) Thankfully LA has an abundance of good shops to satisfying my craving.



Q: Do you have a favorite concept artist?
Here's a few that popped into my head. I'll link to their site and save you all a google search.

• Sergey Kolesov
• Thomas Pringle
• Daisuke “dice” Tsutsumi

On the painting and illustration side..

• Ashley Wood
• Jeremy Lipking
• Yanick "dusso" Dusseault
• Joseph Zbukvic
• Zdzislaw Beksinski

And of course the greats from the past...

• John Singer Sargent
• Jean-Léon Gérôme
• The Wyeths
• Norman Rockwell
• J. C. Leyendecker
• Isaac Levitan

Q: And where do you draw your inspiration from?
Nature is a big one of course. I also think back on how blessed we are with powerful tools like Google image search. We don’t neglect traditional resources, but I honestly can't imagine working at our current pace without it.



Q: What's your favorite Infinity Engine game? Why?
BG1 for exploring the vast wilderness. I can still recall the music and hear the birds chirping in the distance. BG2 is a close 2nd for its story and companions. The only title I haven't finished is IWD2 which I am playing through currently, and I will say I'm enjoying the combat.

Q: Existential question of the day: Who are we and why are we?
We're just here, man. There's no why, everything just IS. You feel me?

Q: Anything else you would like to share?
Long live the glorious PC gaming master race. *lets out a nerdy war cry and bangs mouse and keyboard together*

That's it for this week. Hope you guys enjoyed getting closer look into what Kaz does for us. See you guys in a couple weeks.

 

[mondblut]

Classes don't currently share any Abilities at all. If you're not a fighter, you're never going to be able to take Defender. If you're not a monk, you're never going to be able to take Transcendent Suffering. Some Talents can be taken by any class (e.g. the weapon style Talents), but many of them are class-specific (e.g. Grimoire Slam).

I thought that was Torment which was supposed to be a JRPG where every character is an unique snowflake with unique abilities and unique equipment?

 

[Hormalakh]

every class is a unique snowflake in combat as a category. but they all play similarly in terms of the range of combat abilities allowed them, to an extent. so 11 totally unique snowflakes + or - a few talents, attributes, abilties, etc to distinguish them even further.

at least that's the way I see it.

 

[Lhynn]

every class is a unique snowflake in combat as a category. but they all play similarly in terms of the range of combat abilities allowed them, to an extent. so 11 totally unique snowflakes + or - a few talents, attributes, abilties, etc to distinguish them even further.

at least that's the way I see it.

It actually kinda bothers me, but heh, its ok i guess, back to 2nd ed. which was so much better than 3rd or 4th... I still hate the idea of a rogue doing more damage than a fucking warrior or a monk relying on getting hit

 

[tuluse]

The rogue is not a DnD rogue. The rogue is a fighter who specializes in targeting an opponents' weak spots and avoiding being hit. The warrior is a fighter who specializes in defense and getting as many hits as possible.

 

[Sensuki]

its ok i guess, back to 2nd ed. which was so much better than 3rd or 4th... I still hate the idea of a rogue doing more damage than a fucking warrior or a monk relying on getting hit

^ x10

 

[CappenVarra]

Too bad we can't reanimate them as zombie servants afterwards. That is what CRPGs must aspire to.

Confirming that Arcanum is one of the best cRPGs ever, since it allows that (complete quest, kill quest giver for XP, raise as zombie servant). If it only had non-shit combat... Sigh.

 

[Lhynn]

The rogue is not a DnD rogue. The rogue is a fighter who specializes in targeting an opponents weak spots and avoiding being hit. The warrior is a fighter who specializes in defense and getting as many hits as possible.

And here i thought that a rogue was a sneaky type of character, its essence is in not being where the big stupid fighters are swinging stuff, that and being a walking plot hook for the party on a city. They should just rename it to something like swashbuckler or assassin, or maybe wow-rogue, that will make you go "ahhhh i see" instead of "uh?" when you read the class role after reading its name.
Also, how the fuck do you out-damage a claymore to the forehead? Unless rogues get to use shotguns i dont see that happening.

 

[Zed]

Q: What's your favorite Infinity Engine game? Why?
BG1 for exploring the vast wilderness. I can still recall the music and hear the birds chirping in the distance. BG2 is a close 2nd for its story and companions. The only title I haven't finished is IWD2 which I am playing through currently, and I will say I'm enjoying the combat.

It's okay, I never finished IWD2 either, and probably never will. Partly due to its horrible UI (the party feels less "tangible" and more distant than in any other IE game), but mostly because of the atrocious content. I would also say I enjoyed the combat too (for most part), but that will not save a game from abandonment.

 

[Sensuki]

I haven't finished IWD2 either although it's a bitch to get working properly and the flickering cursor is annoying.

 

[Sensuki]

If someone moves out of range before a hit frame, they "get away". However, unless the target is a rogue using Escape (or something similar), you're also being Engaged and will instantly be subject to a Disengagement Attack. If it hits, you'll stop moving and play a hit reaction (unless you're a Wild Sprint-ing barbarian).

That said, monks have a specific ability to get out of situations like this. Their Rooting Pain ability creates a small-AoE shockwave around them each time they gain a Wound. The shockwave doesn't do much damage, but it does cause a short-duration Stun effect, and Stuns break Engagement.

There's nothing final about Ability progression/selection. Right now we're implementing them as a fixed order progression. That may change for one or more classes depending on how it feels. There's nothing that necessitates gaining them in a strict order.

Sounds like the power curve will be pretty flat

 

[mondblut]

Also, how the fuck do you out-damage a claymore to the forehead? Unless rogues get to use shotguns i dont see that happening.

In 2013, fighters do not use claymores. They dual-wield two shields, and their skills and feats mostly revolve around screaming "hit me! hit me more, baby! i was a bad boy! your father is a hamster!" at the enemies.

 

[Liston]

Also, how the fuck do you out-damage a claymore to the forehead? Unless rogues get to use shotguns i dont see that happening.

So you are basically advocating for one hit kill with all weapons from the begging of the game? Also game developer is a stupid job title, all you need is software engineers, artists and historians with knowledge of the medieval combat techniques to make a perfect RPG.

 

[Infinitron]

Didn't they rename them from "Thief" to "Rogue" precisely for this reason?

 

[Grunker]

Wake me up when the majority of naysayers in this thread has found something more interesting than "omg that's not realistic" to use as a basis for their arguments.

 

[Lhynn]

In my ideal arr pee gee:
A warrior should be damage(your maul)+defense(your plate)+debuff(your techniques with your weapon)+buff(tactical shouts).
A rouge should be damage(positional)+evasion(relies on luck and agility to keep damage to 0, if he gets hit its over, this could be achieved by a fast regen evasion pool)+distraction/debuff(tricks with items, poisons, etc)
A mage should be the bookworm that wields the power to control(crows control spells)+direct damage(no rolls, just suck or suck)+buff/debuff

And you should be able to choose where your toon will excel within his range, while being good at the rest. Everything else should be a hybrid of these classes

Like Martial Artists ( M o n k sounds retarded and brings some connotations that should really not be associated with it from a role playing standpoint). A perfect hybrid between a fighter and a rogue.

Now having said that im going to just wait till people from obsidian, inxile and winter wolves shower me with job offers.

Infinitron a rogue can be a bum, or a thug, neither of which should have profesional training and knowledge of human anatomy to a degree that would allow them to do more damage with a scalpel than a mountain with a buster sword. It simply does not fit in.
Grunker The problem isnt that its not realistic, the problem is that it does not feel right and we at the codex care about that kind of shit, unless you somehow missed the point of this whole forum, like you often do with your rants.

 

[Infinitron]

No clerics in your world, huh?

I think the idea is that rogues are making critical stabs, while the fighter's huge claymore hits more consistently but is easier to blunt/parry, because it's so big.

 

[Roguey]

Gameplay in the IE games was perfectly fine other than the sleep spamming (pretty much everbody agress with this).... But the sleep spamming is not something that Sawyer wants to fix.

Wrong on all counts.

 

[Lhynn]

No clerics in your world, huh?

I think the idea is that rogues are making critical stabs, while the fighter's huge claymore hits more consistently but is easier to blunt/parry, because it's so big.

If that was the case then rogues would be precision damage, which would be pretty fucking useless against a golem or a slime, like it was on 3E. No, i think they are going in a direction where rogues simply do more damage because thats their role.
Plus you said it yourself, warriors are going to have lots of attacks apparently. Besides, if parrys were the factor, then positional damage should be increased exponentially (from the sides or from behind).

 

[imweasel]

Gameplay in the IE games was perfectly fine other than the sleep spamming (pretty much everbody agress with this).... But the sleep spamming is not something that Sawyer wants to fix.

Wrong on all counts.

So I can't backtrack (a rather short distance) to a camp as much as I want and rest to full health in PE? If I missed something, then please correct me.

 

[Dreaad]

Also correct me if I am wrong but a 'warrior' can also be a bum or a thug... I'm pretty sure the class distinction (at least in this case) is not meant as a profession, more of a descriptor in how said individual chooses to go about killing people.

 

[Infinitron]

If that was the case then rogues would be precision damage, which would be pretty fucking useless against a golem or a slime, like it was on 3E.

Project Eternity will do this too.

Two words: Damage Threshold.

 

[tuluse]

Infinitron a rogue can be a bum, or a thug, neither of which should have profesional training and knowledge of human anatomy to a degree that would allow them to do more damage with a scalpel than a mountain with a buster sword. It simply does not fit in.

Hyperbole makes all arguments stupid.

Han Solo was a rogue. He used a ranged weapon and was just as deadly as anyone.