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PAX East Interviews w/ Obsidian-Aterdux-Telepath Tactics

mindx2

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Codex 2012 PC RPG Website of the Year, 2015 Codex 2016 - The Age of Grimoire RPG Wokedex Serpent in the Staglands Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 BattleTech Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
Just received confirmation that I'll get the chance to talk to the fine folks from Obsidian at PAX East so... It's question gathering time again. As Infinitron has accurately reminded me we already know a LOT about Pillars of Eternity so we're more interested in general questions or story/setting-related questions than game mechanic questions.

I am also spending quite a bit of time with Aterdux Entertainment and their KS game, Legends of Eisenwald (the bros who are getting me into PAX :bro:) and I plan to see Graig Stern who's making Telepath Tactics.

So post any questions here and make sure to label who you are asking the question to (Obsidian, Arterdux*, Stern).


*... and Aterdux Entertainment don't answer them all here as I want to be able to bring some news back with me and write about!!
 

Jaedar

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Project: Eternity Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 Pathfinder: Kingmaker
I'd be interested to know why some of the mechanics have changed so wildly in the PoE betas. Did they expect to have to make drastic changes in response to player feedback or did they mostly expect bugfixes?

I'm sure Sensuki or someone else can come up with more examples, but for me it's mostly the character progression, and how they completely retooled skill advancement.
 

Tigranes

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Other than the general differences between publisher-funded and Kickstarter-funded, what has Obsidian learnt, or done differently, in making POE compared to previous games? For example, DS3 was a conscious effort to be more conservative and with an emphasis on bugs/polish than previous titles. What has POE been like in terms of such project management, priorities, cuts, unexpected changes?
 

Sensuki

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Can you ask about externalizing the scene files for areas, if the question is not answered by them in the 'Countdown to Eternity' thread. I will hold them accountable ;)

It would be also interesting to know what they thought about the backer beta, and whether they'd do something similar on future Eternity titles, whether crowd or self-funded.

As for story/lore stuff - I'll leave that to everyone else.
 

Athelas

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Now that they've established an engine/frame work (2d backgrounds, RTwp, etc.), how much would it cost to produce an all-new RPG compared to the cost of developing PoE (assuming a similar scope/amount of content of course)? Would it cost say 30% less?

How receptive are the other developers at Obsidian to being the leads of any future isometric RPG's?
 

Shevek

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I would ask them what success looks like to them for a niche title like this. I would also ask for more info on the Stronghold which hasn't really been talked about or shown enough, imo.
 

Infinitron

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Yes, ask them how many copies they want to sell. Also, what the game's final budget was and whether it all came from the Kickstarter or did they have more. (you might not get a straight answer to these questions, so try to be as diplomatic about it as possible)
 

mindx2

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Codex 2012 PC RPG Website of the Year, 2015 Codex 2016 - The Age of Grimoire RPG Wokedex Serpent in the Staglands Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 BattleTech Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
:salute: Codex Correspondent :salute:

I was thinking about wearing a reporter's hat like this: reporter-hat.png to PAX but with a Codex Troll in place of the "Press" badge... :martini:
 
Self-Ejected

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Ask Obsidian:

- which in-game combat scenarios and party setups they've enjoyed the most
- if they're generally open to kickstarting the PoE expansions, and if multiplayer and a full toolkit are being considered (we're late enough in the cycle that expansion content must be on the devs' minds)
- if there is a pronunciation key for the in-world names like "Mênpŵgra", "Wicht", "Skuldr", etc. that could be made available to the LARPing community
- if there will be long-term post-release support for balance patches, keeping in mind that games like NWN2 and New Vegas stopped receiving patches without ever being properly balanced (maybe phrase this more sympathetically). If they point out funding problems, ask if they would consider a balance patch kickstarter or donations.
- whether the writing team's focus was more on providing real life socio-ethnic commentary (as with NV and AP) or on providing engrossing escapism (as with NWN2 and Dungeon Siege 3)
- if they could change their real life racial identity into any PoE race, which would it be and why?
- what their plans are for the PoE setting (beyond PoE2) - are they working on novels, mobile games, games of other genres in the same setting, etc.
 

almondblight

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I'd be interested in hearing about Craig Stern's future plans (particularly if he'll do another Telepath RPG with the Telepath Tactics engine).
 

Siveon

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Shadorwun: Hong Kong
For Aterdux:

Are there any plans underway for putting Eisenwald on gog?


For Craig*:

Will there be any sort of expansions to Telepath Tactics after release (similar to how Shadowrun turned out)?


Hey, got to give some attention to the little guy. I just wish I knew more about Eisenwald so I could ask more questions.
 
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hiver

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Ask Ser Tim Cain how is he doing. Make sure to relay how great it is to see him back designing RPGs and seeing him at Obs - and ask him about what he would like to do in a future, related to the "i would love to do turn based" comment he made on previous PAX.

Ask him if he played DOS and what he thinks about their improvements and evolution of TB mechanics.
Thats all. The rest is irrelevant.


-
Dont wear any monocles ffs...
But the hat would be a good idea.


Oh, well... you can ask Josh and the others why he thinks having fourth wall breaking mechanics and design decisions, such as having "might" influencing gun damage, or Engagement being available for every single thing in the game such as animals and various creatures, instead of only those who were trained for it - is a good idea when it obviously causes all kinds of instinctive integral negative reactions on the most basic level?

I bet you will chicken out of this one. mr Codex reporter.
 

Crooked Bee

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Codex 2013 Codex 2014 PC RPG Website of the Year, 2015 Codex 2016 - The Age of Grimoire MCA Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 BattleTech Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire
Ask Craig what Western RPG influences Telepath Tactics has, if any; why the decision to make the game's combat completely non-randomized/deterministic; what he sees as pros/cons of that approach (and also, relatedly, whether he played Blackguards 1 and/or 2 and what he thinks of them); how much of the initially planned environment interaction features he's managed to actually implement (iirc he promised a whole lot, from destroying things to building (!) things on the battlefield); and also, of course, what an RPG is and how Telepath Tactics qualifies.

Also back when he KSed the game there was no new JRPG or TRPG-style games on PC at all (iirc), but now there's a bunch of new as well as ported ones (Valkyria Chronicles, the Agarest games, Blackguards, plus probably some others I forget). How does he feel about that? What makes his game stand out in today's (relatively) more crowded field?
 
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Shannow

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Does it have to be PE related for OE?
I'd be far more interested whether anything apart from that card game is planned with Paizo/Pathfinder in the forseeable future. If yes, what is it? ;)
And there's a running gag on the codex (nobody is laughing) that OE will never do a "real" TB game (because Fergus hates them for some reason). (No, Southpark does not count.)
Are there any plans for a TB RPG that at least resembles ToEE gameplay-wise? Can OE imagine ever doing such, or is it basically a type of game they're not interested in (doing)?
Would a PE expansion or PE2 be kickstarted again, or would they rather work with a publisher? If they went KS again, given their experiences, would they do anything significantly differently? (Apart from physical goodies.)
Is there any other game-idea apart from PE that they'd like to kickstart? Any specific reasons why? Would they perhaps not get funds fom a publisher for that?
KS has given niche games quite a comeback. There have been quite a few games whose type we haven't seen in the last decade (many kickstarted). Many of which seem to get positive feedback even outside of niche sites like the codex. Have they noticed any change when talking to publishers or other devs? Does anybody on the AAA level even talk about stuff like MMX or Div:OS? Do they think it's possible that we'll see some low/mid/(high)-budget titles that resemble the old classics (even if OE should not be the studio to make them). (Sword Cost Legends looks like it might want to cash in right there.)

For Aterdux:
Since they're vastly over schedule: How do they eat? I mean, the KS funds must have been used up long ago...
(And don't forget that drink.)
 

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