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

[S2ensuki]

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/201490/GDC_Next_10_adds_Project_Eternity_CounterSpy_talks.php

'Future of games' conference GDC Next organizers have announced the latest two titles to be included in the 'GDC Next 10' special session series of innovative, yet-to-debut games: Obsidian Entertainment's retro-revival RPG Project Eternity, and Dynamighty's procedurally-generated action game CounterSpy.

As part of the November LA-based 'future of games' conference's cutting-edge content, representatives of each game will be invited to give a world-exclusive talk about the concept, inspiration, and design behind the title.

Every GDC Next 10 game has been picked by GDC organizers as a game to watch for the future; one that is doing something decidedly different in today'’s increasingly crowded game market.

This week's first addition to the Next 10 is Obsidian Entertainment's Project Eternity [trailer], an original PC game that aims to revive the 2D isometric design and hand-drawn aesthetic established by classic party-based role-playing games Planescape: Torment, Baldur's Gate, and Icewind Dale. Project Eternity initially made waves as one of last year's crowdfunding hits, pulling in over $4 million to break the Kickstarter record for games at the time.

However, bringing back the 2D isometric RPG isn't all magic missiles and lightning bolts. Project Eternity director Josh Sawyer (Icewind Dale, Neverwinter Nights 2) will elaborate upon the challenges involved in balancing contemporary development and design practices with classic RPG fans' expectations in a talk titled 'Gathering Your Party with Project Eternity'. Attendees will learn how 13440 x 7560 renders sound cool until you see how big they are on disk; how classic challenge is good, as long as you avoid classic obfuscation; and how a few words with a loose illustration can be a scene's greatest illustrator.

 

[Chaotic_Heretic]

Why is this thread so long

 

[Rake]

Why is this thread so long

We need to grow it to 1500 pages before the game is out.

 

[7/10]

What if it never comes out?

 

[Infinitron]

Don't get yourself banned, bro.

 

[S2ensuki]

Yeah good point, that would be a waste of $10. I have a static IP too.

 

[S2ensuki]

Couple bits on equipment slots

Currently the only things that go on the back are cloaks/capes or secondary weapons (if large). That equipment slot is also used for neck gear (e.g. amulets).

Head, hands (not weapon), feet, neck, ring 1/2, weapon 1/2, body.

There are also quick item slots, alternate weapon sets, and (for wizards) grimoire slots.

Yeah, I mean additional sets. I think I explained it earlier in the thread, but all characters start with two weapon sets (two slots each). The equipment you put in those slots does not interfere with what you put in other slots (e.g. the neck slot). However, if you have a big weapon that would normally display on the back, it doesn't display if you have a cloak equipped (because it would clip badly).

We're continuing to experiment with cloth solutions. They've been promising so far.

Smaller weapons get put at a character's sides, so they will display if you have a cloak equipped.

 

[Roguey]

I'm going to be disappointed if Josh doesn't include a screenshot of this thread's title along with the number of pages it has in his next GDC presentation.

In other Josh news, he's going to be playing in Colin's Numenera game tomorrow.

 

[Gurkog]

I hope damage numbers appear to fall out of the models' rectums. Any other way will be disappointing.

 

[S2ensuki]

Sorry, there's also a waist slot.
Nope, they're just magnetically attached. There's way too much variation in weapon/creature/armor size and shape for us to try to integrate them on relatively small characters.

 

[Ninjerk]

I'm going to be disappointed if Josh doesn't include a screenshot of this thread's title along with the number of pages it has in his next GDC presentation.

In other Josh news, he's going to be playing in Colin's Numenera game tomorrow.

There going to be a video like that one time?

 

[Roguey]

I'm going to be disappointed if Josh doesn't include a screenshot of this thread's title along with the number of pages it has in his next GDC presentation.

In other Josh news, he's going to be playing in Colin's Numenera game tomorrow.

There going to be a video like that one time?

That's TBD but I imagine at the very least he'll put the slides up like he did with his previous two presentations.

 

[Gurkog]

The vertical slice will consist of napkin drawings done by MCA after a few too many drinks at a bar.

 

[imweasel]

I'm going to be disappointed if Josh doesn't include a screenshot of this thread's title along with the number of pages it has in his next GDC presentation.

"I Ending fun long time" not good for plesentation.

 

[S2ensuki]

Chris Avellone would do something like that

 

[Rake]

 

[Zed]

Oh, that GDC thingy is tonight?
Will they stream it?

 

[Duraframe300]

Oh, that GDC thingy is tonight?
Will they stream it?

Didn't happen before so I doubt it.

 

[Osvir]

Oh, that GDC thingy is tonight?
Will they stream it?

http://schedule.gdcnext.com/session-id/826865 November 6th.

 

[Zed]

Oh. November 6th. Dammit.

 

[S2ensuki]

Yes. Wizard grimoires are a sort of magical capacitor that are constructed and partitioned in *~ special ~* ways. A single grimoire can only hold four spells of any given level. For any given spell level, wizards have potential access to more spells than any other caster class, but their access at any particular moment is always limited by their current grimoire. You can switch grimoires, but if you do it in combat, you will lose access to all of your spells for a small* amount of time.

* Long enough to make it risky, short enough to be a viable tactic in certain circumstances.

Priests and druids don't prepare spells. They have access to a full list, though that list is smaller than what wizards have access to. Priests, druids, and wizards all eventually get their per-rest spell levels turned into per-encounter and eventually their per-encounter lists get turned into unlimited use (at-will, in 4E terminology).

Only new bit here is Grimoire holds 4 spells per level.
And the Grimoire Delay is a cooldown

 

[Infinitron]

DEAL WITH IT

It's only a cooldown in the same sense that reloading ammo in an FPS is a cooldown.

What JES hasn't said is whether there are any limits on what spell levels you can access. Can a low level character cast high level spells at all?

 

[Athelas]

Let me guess: you need a high encumbrance to carry all those heavy grimoires, making a strength-based wizard the most powerful class in the game.

Spoiler

 

[Ferrous85]

Fergus talks product development.

 

[Xeon]

That was posted already a month or so ago I think.