Obsidian's "Pillars of Eternity"

[Sky]

I'ma jack yo lumber!

[Amaron]

NWN 2 was great, NWN MOTB even better. And bugs...pff!

At least with the NWN2 camera they learned what not to do.

[Ingmar]

I liked NWN2 at the time it came out, but it is not one that holds up when you go back to replay it now. In particular the stuff later games has done with dialogue and VA makes NWN2 look really bad. I never want to hear Neeshka again.

[Rasix]

Didn't care for NWN2 base. Never got to the expansions.  NWN 1's expansions were really good.  File this under things I've said several times on this board.

Alpha Protocol was just a lot of fun to play through.  I'm not sure I'd play though it again, since the gameplay itself is a tad below mediocre, and for some reason over the years, I've lost the ability/desire to do replays of story based games just to pick the "evil jerk" dialogue options.  Still, how they work the story and how your decisions are played out, really is quite special.  Plus, the game's voice acting is superb, even the cheesey, overdone stuff.  Nolan North's character was a hoot.

It's everything you fear and love about Obsidian in one game. They can make special games and special games.

 

[Simond]

And your choices actually do make a difference in how the game plays out.

[Lucas]

Some more tidbits of design discussion here and there:

VG24/7 interview with Avellone (quite interesting):
http://www.vg247.com/2012/09/21/project_eternity_kickstarter_obsidian_entertainment_interview/

Ars Technica interviews Josh Sawyer:
http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2012/09/project-eternitys-all-star-effort-to-revive-the-classic-pc-rpg/

Radio interview with Feargus Urquhart, from Pure Sophistry (15m31s):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqmlTblWJK8

EDIT: oh, and another one with Avellone on TIME - Techland:
http://techland.time.com/2012/09/21/project-eternity-chris-avellone-interview/

in this last one, he directly answers a question about the budget (and other related things):

I’m assuming $1.1 million is a fraction of what you’d typically require to make games like Neverwinter Nights 2 or Fallout: New Vegas. How’d you settle on this figure?

Yep, it’s a much reduced amount because you’re not doing all the extraneous features (total voice acting across all languages, the latest super graphic video card enhancements with tint control and crotch rumble™ technology, multiple skews across consoles, etc.).

We looked carefully at the budgets for previous Infinity Engine titles we’d done in the past at Black Isle [Studios], made adjustments for personnel (personnel costs have risen a great deal since then), kept the technology costs in mind and made a reasonable estimation of what we can accomplish. Our CEO (Feargus Urquhart) is pretty ruthless about stuff like that.

We’re in a good position because a number of us have made this type of game before (Josh, Tim, Feargus, me, etc.) – and even better, we’ve done this type of game several times. Now this is our opportunity to take that production knowledge and make it even better. Knowing the process from start to finish helps reduce a lot of the X factors in terms of implementation and avoid many of the pitfalls in development.

Can you ensure the game won’t go over budget without sacrificing anything as you roll forward?

It’s hard to ensure anything. That said, we’re not subject to last minute changes, unusual feature requests that may or may not help the game, contract revisions and move in/move out dates from various quarters. Add to this the fact that this is the type of game we absolutely know how to make, we feel confident about being able to weather any development hurdles and challenges that come up.

Plus, we’re able to see those hurdles a lot earlier, in my opinion, especially since we can share content and progress with the public.

[Rasix]

Yep, it’s a much reduced amount because you’re not doing all the extraneous features (total voice acting across all languages, the latest super graphic video card enhancements with tint control and crotch rumble™ technology, multiple skews across consoles, etc.).

I want crotch rumble.  What donation level do we need to get to for it?

[Sky]

Seems someone at Time doesn't know what a SKU is.

[Viin]

I saw that too, but I think it's an email interview. Otherwise the "crotch tumble (tm)" probably wouldn't have a (tm) on it.

[TripleDES]

Oh hey, look, yet another goddamn fantasy RPG. Given how popular Mass Effect was, despite the shitty ending, you'd figure other companies might want to try to veer away from this default setting. I guess they still feel the burn of Alpha Protocol.

[Teleku]

Judging by the force of donations, looks like fantasy settings are still popular.  Dude, they are promising to make a classic Balders Gate style RPG.  Nobody has made something like that in a long long time.

[Ceryse]

And many of us would kill for a modern Baldur's Gate 2.

This will likely suck in some way or another, but the possibility of a new BG2 type game with even the hint of maybe being half as good as BG2? Fuck yes. I still play the BG series once every year or two, along with Torment.

That's why I threw $20 their way; that and maybe it'll lead to a few other companies/indie groups trying to make that sort of game.

I can dream.

[Yegolev]

Obsidian isn't going outside their comfort zone.  Retreating into it, it seems.  I think we all know that this will give them the best chance to make something decent and redeem their reputations.

[Ingmar]

They just made New Vegas too, Obsidian's list of Traditional Fantasy Games really isn't that long. pretty much just NWN2 and I guess Dungeon Siege. IWD if you want to bring in Black Isle.

[Amaron]

Oh hey, look, yet another goddamn fantasy RPG.

The game type is already niche.

[Lucas]

Update #7: the design philosophy behind non-combat abilities (by Tim Cain, includes a video):

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/obsidian/project-eternity/posts/314089

[Lucas]

Update #8 - French, German and Spanish localizations added as a stretch goal at $2.2 millions (there is also a new piece of concept art, probably a companion):
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/obsidian/project-eternity/posts/315214

New tier - $110 (digital goods only):



"House" stretch goal almost reached (2 million), just shy of about $5.000 at the time I'm writing this; also, later in the day Josh Sawyer will put up a post talking more about the game mechanics.

[Amaron]

I hadn't realized they'd decided to use Unity after-all.  Far better than whatever they were planning before.

[Lucas]

Today's update (#9) by Josh Sawyer was quite interesting. Here's is it, under the spoiler tag (you can also watch a video talking about the same stuff at the below mentioned link):
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/obsidian/project-eternity/posts/316398

[Amaron]

The posted a "screenshot" of one of the maps the game will be using.


It's an interesting way to do art on a budget.  They can render with cheap prop models then paint on details.

[Mrbloodworth]

It's an interesting way to do art on a budget.  They can render with cheap prop models then paint on details.

Huh?

Paint overs have been used for a long...long time......

[Soln]

That's quite nice.  And reminds me (funny enough) of Ice Wind Dale.

[Amaron]

Paint overs have been used for a long...long time......

I wasn't implying the technique was new.  They did the same thing for BG1/2.  It's still interesting to see it used in a modern game.

[Comstar]

2.8mil done, 4 days to go. The clock is ticking.

[Shaje]

Was this Mask of the Betrayer as good as everyone is saying? I never played it or heard of this Zietz guy until they announced the 2.8 million stretch goal. The stretch goals are adding up though, the scope is getting good.

[Ingmar]

It was good, yeah. Probably tied with Hordes of the Underdark for 'best thing with a Neverwinter Nights logo on it'.

[Comstar]

I have MofB, but I took one look at creating a character and seeing HOW many character classes and abilities I'd end up with it and it made me too scared to proceed further.

[DeathInABottle]

There's a little over one day left, and only a couple hundred thousand left to go before we get a second major city.  I have to admit: I'm pretty excited.

[Amaron]

I'm tempted to get a second copy then trade it later.  We are getting steam keys for the game right?

[Soln]

$3.2M.  Fucking A for them.

[Lucas]

Already shelled out $140...Very tempted about the $250 tier (I want the physical goodies)  . As expected, the pledges are skyrocketing at the moment, 3.5 million is quite likely (big city #2) . Oh, and the "mega-dungeon" of Old Nua will definitely be 10 levels deep 

[Merusk]

I'm tempted to take my $20 back at this point just because they keep spamming me with updates. 

[MournelitheCalix]

This was probably the hardest Kickstarter for me that I did ultimately decide to contribute to.  On one hand, I have been pretty pissed overall with both the quality and state of many Obsidian games that I purchased.  On the other hand man I just want to believe in this studio again because the interplay days was was simply amazing (and of course were running out of RPG companies with Bioware being transformed into EaWare).  Add to this the fact that I really miss the old Baldur's Gate style and would like to see a return to it.  Ultimately I guess for me it came down to memories.  I loved Torment, the depth of character, the mood, and well hell 9 years later I finally learned that the answers to the questions that I had was actually in the game and I had missed those answers in four previous playthroughs.  That game was just that damn deep.  I won't ever forget that game until the day I die and I am hoping that with a return to Obsidian's roots we will actually get a great game from them again.  

SO in the spirit of torment, What can change a nature of a gaming company?  I am hoping what can change their nature, is a return to what they clearly knew how to do once upon a time.  With my backing, I am hoping for a return and a retro RPG.

[caladein]

I'm tempted to take my $20 back at this point just because they keep spamming me with updates. 

It's 50/50 between projects that do 20-something updates and ones that do a half-dozen, so PE isn't unusually spammy in my backing experience.

Also, you can just turn it off (per-project if you want) from here: https://www.kickstarter.com/settings/notifications

[Comstar]

Live Steam of them playing D&D 3.5