Sven_

I like Skyrim, though in terms of narrative it's not nearly as compelling as New Vegas, Obsidian's take on the "open world" thing for various reasons. I've been playing most of the TES games ever since Daggerfall, and that was a completely different thing from all the Interplay/BIS games back then already. They run out of steam for me once I've explored what there is to explore, and exploration is the main attractions of these games by far. The problem in more recent years was that it was all there is -- even Bioware, whilst hardly the same company of the same people as yesteryore, are being influenced by it, and until the Kickstarters no prominent names considered scaling back to significantly smaller projects really. Those games -- they are like the Summer blockbusters in the movies. Hugely entertaining when done well, but I think there'd be riots if everything that was available was an endless string of Adam Sandler comedies and Michael Bay studies in PG13 approved mass destruction. Luckily gaming has found ways to fund smaller projects too and make them viable on top of that. Speaking of which, all the new channels of distribution and funding -- by which means of purchase does the most money trickle through to where it matters, that is the developerse themselves? Steam takes a fair chunk, GOG does too, then there's often boxed copies too at regular retail vendors -- and just being a popular presence on a platform as big as Steam certainly has the side effect of exposure.

Yeah, that too. Simplifying it, it's the same as a publisher providing the money the fans did. Nobody did though. There's no extra money, those 4 million minus X for Kickstarter plus the backers was the budget they had, end of. There is nothing extra. Either it is semantics or you seem to be confusing this with some studios that start a Kickstarter to "better" a game that is already funded, i.e. The Book Of Unwritten Tales 2, which is enormously big and long for an adventure game (in parts due to very long voice overs and tons of dialogue), and would have been about as long without a Kickstarter as it had been picked up by a traditional publisher at the time of the Kickstarter. The additional money they collected via Kickstarter was utilized to improve the 3d technology the game utilized, some optional side quests as well as the score being recorded by a real orchestra rather than synthesizers. With a pitching video as charming as theirs, they succeeded and tripled their target, which meant 170,000 Dollars truly "extra", which is a big amount for an adventure game being produced in Europe (according to some developers, the average budget of an adventure game made in Germany is about 300,000 Euros). https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/kingartgames/the-book-of-unwritten-tales-2/description Has a point about the "profits" though. The marketing/distribution deal with Paradox aside (a very good fit, in my opinion, for games like this -- and I'm almost convinced they'd fund a game such as this too), there is no share that goes to a traditional publisher. Which is why Obsidian initially voiced hopes they'd be able to fund whatever comes next on their OWN. That they go to Kickstarter next appears not a given deal according to more recent interviews, unless I'm mistaken. However, for making profits, they need to sell additional copies of the game, naturally. The Kickstarters funded the game, allowed it to be made at ALL, not earned them a profit. Here are some early graphics on how the money was planned to be spread, by the way. http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/62207-update-30-how-stuff-is-made/

Seen lots of talk about how Thaos' / The Leaden Key's intentions regarding bad-mouthing animancy in the Dyrwood is supposed to be primarily an act of harming potential finders of secrets they are not supposed to find. However, why is it that this is only happening in Dyrwood during the time we witness the Key / Thaos in action? It's been made clear in the meating at the Duc that the only region suffering from Hollowborns is the Dyrwood, which is naturally where the machines are located currently used by the Key -- and more importantly some of the lore books and some conversations appear to hint at that animancy is pretty much accepted and practiced in some other parts of Eora (most notably the Vailian Republic, as it wasn't a former colony of the Aedyr Empire who's opposed to it). "If this was a punishment by the gods, why are we the only ones to suffer from it?" When I first met Thaos in "person" or rather soul, at the Sanitarium, which was actually the first Leaden Key quest I did, I thought the key was about ensuring the powers and knowledge they obviously had (Thaos anyway, as aptly demonstrated in the flashbacks as well as the fight that follows), would remain their very own. Naturally it turned out to be something bigger than that. By the end I saw this in two ways: 1) The Key's attempts of lessening the impact of anymancy in the Dyrwood were at least in parts a local (?) attempt of a cover-up (the Engwith sites containing the soul machines are told to be regularly studied by animancers in particular, who might one day find out or at least sense what is going on in the region). Belittling animancy is also an easy target and distraction from what's actually going on. There is more to it to me though, and it was argued against on page one. Science vs. religion is a theme running throughout the entirety of the game anyhow. Folks arguing Waidwen's Legacy to be a punishment of the Gods, them arguing that man wasn't supposed to play Gods themselves. 2) Animancy, going as far as man mastering and harnessing his very nature, the power of his soul itself, is probably the most advanced science in all of Eora. It is, in parts, man becoming God. As the Delemgans in Twin Elms tell you, Thaos and Woedica are of an old order they'd cling onto. In the old days when questions were many and answers not delivered by science, man would seek the answer for everything in the Gods. That increasingly is becoming a thing of the past, this is pretty much a direct quote: "Now man turns to animancy instead." Interestingly, as also pointed out, in the conversations you can have with the Gods, some of them are actually fine with animancy. If you trigger the Galawain shrine, you'll get into a conversation with him, Magran and Abydon, who at least appear to not be against it, arguing that "kith is supposed to better hisself". Woedica, however, isn't like the other Gods. She'd kill everyone that would oppose her and lessen her power, as implied by various dialogues (Iovara) and I think some lore books. There's a reason why she's being refered to as the Queen That Was even by her followers, though, and why the other Gods are in support of you stopping Thaos and thus from granting her the power she used to have. It's likely not one connected to her open nature. Engwithian knowledge may have created her, but advanced science is bad for her, an act of heresy, as it would weaken her powers even if she would again rule supreme.

Even so, that is a pretty big niche, especially considering that unlike City Skylines PoE has some serious competition -- and multiple studios still doing successfull projects of that scale as well as multiple competition from bigger projects. As outlined above, there are various publishers, some of them spending hundreds of thousands on games each that sell a fraction of these numbers and keep business afloat (the aforementioned publishers specializing on PC adventure games). I think one of the main reasons Obsidian did the Kickstarter was IP ownership. If they had serious trouble getting at least some funding through a traditional model (the original object was 1.1 million dollars), then that was likely because very few, if anyone, had done such games in years before. It's problematic researching a market that at least on initial looks might have disappeared. Or as that Lucas Arts classic had it in 2004, when they hadn't released an adventure game in four years and suddenly axed their Sam & Max sequel reportedly but a couple months from release and in the midst of major gaming outlets doing major press coverage and preview articles: "After careful evaluation of current market place realities and underlying economic considerations, we've decided that this was not the appropriate time to launch a graphic adventure on the PC". The rest was history, or rather Telltale Games. Besides, those are numbers that aren't way off the classic PC RPGs numbers. You're not going to do a Skyrim via this route, obviously. And Electronic Arts won't even consider about opening a Bioware subdivision focusing on doing endless amounts of Baldur's Gate (alongside even more DLC). That is not a criticism, their structuring isn't geared towards that kind of thing. But depending on the project, there are others that would do. Depending on the scale, you don't have to be Skyrim. Or, as Avellone so eloquently put it: "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." There have been various interviews since in which Faergus talked about getting approached by traditional publishers that would like to back that sort of thing and for which it would fit their roster. Naturally a studio of the size of Obsidian, somewhere in between the small houses and the huge dogs on the block, can't live entirelly off of these things. At least they'd do multiple projects like this, and all of them being as successful, likely. If anybody knows London based Sports Interactive, they do specialize on a very PC specific hardcore sports management game that sells a million copies each year (equally not sporting any crotch rumble technology but more numbers juggling than any PC hardcore RPG, which is why they were initially neglected by Electronic Arts though running one of the most succesfull long-term PC franchises by now). But they also have teams who do more streamlined handheld versions of the same thing, and close to 100 full-time employes. Somewhere in between it's similar to something like Total War: doing fine, obviously, but not doing a Skyrim or New Vegas either. Paradox' roster is all about very specialized PC games, and the gaming world would be a much less diverse place without them. By the way, if Steamspy is anywhere near accurate, I find it interesting that more than a third of current Pillars players are from the US. Obviously that is still a large player base in total, but many of the PC exclusive titles traditionally have gone strong in Europe in more recent years, where the PC market is still very strong depending on the region. That is reflected in this statistics, as 50% are said to be from Europe in total, but this doesn't look as clear-cut as I thought it would.

There's different kind of publishers. Maybe things look a lot worse in the US, in particular regarding PC games, but there are a lot of publishers specializing on niches. Posted this somewhere else, but heck, there are some that do barely anything but point&click adventure games. naturally, they all run on very small budgets, which in some areas is easier to do than in others. The difference between say Europe and Canda/US appears quite large on average, but then the US arguably also has a far bigger pool of studios as well as top talent in games development. A Pillars 2 is pretty much seriously considered anyway. http://www.pcworld.com/article/2880098/obsidian-apparently-greenlit-a-sequel-to-pillars-of-eternity-and-the-game-isnt-even-out.html It's also worth reminding, apart form a design / target audience point of view*, in parts it was getting burnt on a multi-million project that made Obsidian seriously consider doing that Kickstarter in 2012 in the first place. I can happily enjoy both New Vegas as well as Pillars. However, naturally, it was the latter approach that had gone missing. * (http://kotaku.com/5942307/the-people-behind-fallout-and-planescape-are-making-my-dream-rpg)

As a comparison, this is from an interview with Brian Fargo regarding Wasteland 2 from 2013. I don't think the scope and budget of both games was hugely different. In the end, it will also come down to if the guys want to pursue this further, i.e. work on smaller scaled projects when they have the opportunity to also do bigger ones (which having some of the industry's best talent, they still do). I don't know if he was being a bit tongue-in-cheek at that point, but I read an interview with Chris Avellone that he'd love the studio to work on multiple projects like this simultaneously. Exactly like in Black Isle's heydays. http://www.pcgamer.com/brian-fargo-interview-torment-micromarkets-and-the-ongoing-war-with-the-clowns/

Looked it up on Mobygames, where it's compared to Jagged Alliance (which is not a bad thing, obviously). Never had heard about it myself, actually. On a related note to the topic at hand, there is a recent PoE review that is linked to the 2d/3d debate. http://www.incgamers.com/2015/04/pillars-of-eternity-review Have there been any words from Obsidian ever since the release? I looked for a couple older articles from a few days ago, in some of them Chris Avellone was quoted as saying that he'd hugely enjoyed it if there were working on multiple projects like this at once -- like BIS of yore -- but I haven't found anything recent concerning future plans and the state of things except for the confirmed add-on for PoE. Just seen that inXile's Torment: Tides Of Numenera is still open to be pledged. )

That is an excellent point about how it all had to fit the "make your own adventure" toolsets (which where the game's best asset). I think my point about art direction was more about that NWN wasn't exactly the most thrilling looking game released. A year down the road for instance there was Beyond Good And Evil for instance, a game sporting a fantastic art style, which still holds up reaonsablish enoug considering that it's been more than a decade. ) I mean it's understandable given where they're coming from both in terms of players and developers -- but the the weird thing about RPGs it's that if somebody would annouce a WWII RPG tomorrow it would cause heads being turned. :D I think Aliens could have been amazing, though I don't know the direction they were going for. The (Colonial Marines) squad stuff was all in the original X-Com already, sort of, and seeing your squad being killed off one by one worked really well in there -- being able to give them names even made it feel a little personal when they were KIA. Maybe it would have been more akin to System Shock though, which would also suit the license really well, speaking of which, Alien:Isolation for the most part absolutely nailed the original movie. As for Obsidian's next moves, I expect them to release at least another game in their newly created universe surrounding Eora, as it's their very own thing, and very important and personal to them such. I think it was announced to become a franchise thing in case of Kickstarter success anyhow. There are of course many overlaps with the typical D&D stuff, but I find it pretty enjoyable and intriguing so far. I'm just very glad these kinds of games are sort of back, and that this is hopefully the start of some diversity -- what is it that is keeping companies from working on franchises such as South Park as well as something smaller in scale, typically? Unfortunately for studios such as Double Fine or Obsidian, they are located in an area where making games is pretty expensive, admittedly. Pillars isn't an entirelly retro affair either way, and I'm personally glad that most of the press and players pick up on that as well. ) There is a lot of influence from Troika and Black Isle games of yore, bold ideas and design that has never been picked up from ever since -- and there is something about text that a fully cinematic cutscene will never be able to convey. I love this game. And I hope it is the game, or part of a wave of games that will change the nature of an industry.

Hey there. I'm the new guy. I haven't been sucked into a new RPG as much as this one at least as far back as New Vegas, probably more like the original Baldur's Gate, when it was breaking all new grounds in 1998. I'm ashamed to not have backed this also (I have yet to back a game). Yet I'm hoping that this will mark the beginning of something new, not just a one-off. For me it's never been a case of 2d or 3d. They're both technologies, tools. It is the artist and what he's doing with it that matters. Speaking of which, Neverwinter Nights look didn't suffer of the basic 3d technology of its time as much as of the art direction -- in my opinion anyways. 3D has some inherent advantages that 2D can't cope with, and vice versa. It depends on the game and experience though. I enjoyed New Vegas immensely, Bloodlines even by 2015 standards is almost absurdly packed with vision and scope, and I would have loved to see the canceled Aliens RPG to see the light of day. Speaking of which, as some of you have pointed out, indeed there was a push for 3D at the turn of the millenium. It's not merely 2d that has been slowly fading though, it is more specialized games in general. Back in 1997, something (as crude looking for today's eyes) as Fallout could still happily sit on the same shelf as the likes of Jedi Knight. Budgets for the most expensive games hadn't yet exploded (Wing Commander and Interactive Movies featuring Hollywood's B cast aside), titles didn't need to break the million units sold point to barely break even. In more recent years that changed a little though. New models of distribution opened up, as did new ways of funding a game. What is exciting to me about the latest Kickstarter ressurgance isn't so much that it is happening. It is who has actually been involved. It's not like these games had died out in the first place, it's just that they didn't have an audience that would warrant triple A budgets or attract triple A publishers. Thus it was small indie outlets filling the gaps. From small garage teams like in the 1980s to smaller publishers who specialize on niches. Here in Germany you have actually publishers who very much focus on PC adventure games -- and doing reasonably well enough even though they sell significantly less than your average PC RPG (a game selling 50,000 units is considered a major hit pretty much -- and though not as complex in development as a fully-fledged RPG, they all feature fully professional voice overs throughout, and production values up to this: http://www.kingart-games.de/bout2/). They all have competition now. As now you're getting the most creative heads in the industry taking note -- and scaling back a little. If your game doesn't cost 20 millions+ to make and market, you don't have to ship a million plus units in the first place to turn a profit. Thus Tim Schafer's first new adventure game ever since the utterly brilliant Grim Fandango will be released soon (though it reportedly went hugely overbudget). Brian Fargo appears to have embarked on a quest to do sequels or spiritual follow-ups to just about anyone's favourite cult RPGs. And Obsidian have just released the fantastic Pillars Of Eternity. Thank you to the backers, thank you to Josh, Faergus, Josh, Adam, Eric and the entire team for making this a reality. There is a little uncertainty about Kickstarter, probably, and that is because of the people. It very much relies on them: If they don't trust you anymore, the backing might fade. That is why I'm hoping for traditional publishers to take note too, Obsidian's connections to Paradox sound like a great fit. In the Road To Eternity video, it became apparent that Obsidian had trouble finding such a publisher for games like this. Yet there are publishers out there who very much focus on PC games, interestingly even Sega, who canned the Aliens RPG for reasons the public will likely never know. Take a look at their portfolio: their biggest franchises are Total War (totally PC) and Football Manager, a series selling a million copies each year despite not sporting much of any kind of graphics to begin with (correspondingly, it is always to be found amongst Steam's most played titles at any time of the day). Here's hoping and off to the Endless Paths now. )