BAdler
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Posts posted by BAdler
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With Paradox on board, how much input will they have into the EULA for PoE?
I normally refuse to purchase Paradox games because their EULA terms give them the ability to summon me across an ocean to appear in a court that normally would not have any jurisdiction over me. Never going to happen (for both financial and other reasons), thus I have games that I purchased in bundles sitting in my Steam account (don't get me started on them, either) that will never be played because of their EULAs. Essentially, Paradox titles are wasted money for me.
I will need to double check with Feargus when he gets back from GDC, but I think Obsidian will still control the terms of the EULA.
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Just so everyone is aware, I won't be answering any more questions tonight (Diablo III has a new patch and I want to check out the changes
), but I will take a look through the thread in the morning and answer anything that comes up.-
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There's probably some nervousness due to the experience of CDPR and Namco-Bandai regarding The Witcher 2, what a farce that was. In that light, having someone jump in early and answer questions clearly and concisely is just what was needed - even when the answer is "we don't know yet". Too often other developers just respond with conspicuous silence.
We don't know yet.
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I get the impression some people didn't read your opening post.
Well, I know it can be a confusing issue. Luckily, since not much is changing on the development front (other than more focus on the game), it is easy for me to answer most of the questions.
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We are currently talking about the package design. Once we have the final details we will let everyone know.
Hi Brandon. Just something out of my own personal curiosity. Do developers like Obsidian normally design the box covers of your titles or do you let the publisher do that? Or is a collaborative effort. Some of the box covers have been quite good in the past.
It depends on the title, the developer, and the publisher.
On Storm of Zehir, for example, we did the box art. On other games we have put out, it was done by the publisher. Some games required a lot of back and forth collaboration. For Eternity, we are still deciding how we want to handle it. We would love to have Kaz or Rob create the box art, but it is a very time consuming process. It will likely be a collaboration between both companies.
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Sounds like a good deal overall.
Just throwing my tupenny in for a 'all future PoE-ness will also be available DRM-free on GOG' request for some degree of certainty.
(edit: Confirmed that this release will, of course, be as promised to backers - just wanting to make sure that it's also going to be true for future releases (expansion, PoE2 et al) - as far as such assurances are possible).
Sounds like the deal will mean extra sales though so that can only be a good thing for the future of PoE
I can't predict the future, but I can't imagine why we wouldn't release a DRM-free version in future releases. If people want a DRM-free option we will likely provide one. I mean, the more platforms we can sell the game on, the better, right?
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Let's not start the "someone is forcing Obsidian to make DLC" talk.
No one was...
You said you were uneasy about the partnership with Paradox because of how Paradox has handled DLC in their games. The only reason to be uneasy about such a thing is if you think that Paradox would have some influence on the DLC creation for Eternity.
You are correct in your statement. However do we really need to go over the differences between 'influence' and 'forcing'?
They are marketing.
Come on, dude.
Is it really that important that there be a Big Bad for you to rally against?
Just to nip all of this in the bud, nobody is forcing Obsidian's hand here. We have chosen to partner with Paradox because we truly feel it is the best for the game and our community. Having them do the marketing and distribution will be a huge weight off of the development team and will allow us to focus more resources on the game's creation. Obsidian is still in control of Eternity's future and how we choose to make content after it is released.
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Just physical distribution (and marketing) then? No chance of our game becoming steam-exclusive in the middle of it's lifespan like other Paradox titles?
No chance. We will still be delivering everything we promised to our backers.
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Option (3) would be the best, but it would be a change from Paradox's current Steam-only distribution policy.Ah ok. I suspect the keys for the general public will be either 1) Steam and 2) GoG. I don't see why Steam and GoG wouldn't be selling the game on their own platforms. Possibly 3) Paradox to offer a choice to redeem at either GoG or Steam.
Obsidian's announcement says that Paradox would be dealing with all distribution, which means it would be solely up to them which stores (physical or digital) could sell copies of Pillars.
We will still be selling the game through Steam and GOG like we had planned previously.
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This partnership actually puts Obsidian in a better position to create more Eternity content (DLC/Sequels).
DLC is one the thing that has me a little uneasy about the partnership with Paradox. Only because they have taken to the nickel and diming DLC marketing/additional content strategy for some of their titles in the last couple of years (which has diminished my opinion of them), notably in their Europa Universalis and Crusader Kings franchises. Another strike against Paradox is that they also forced some of their Crusader Kings 2 customers to go to Steam, something they had previously assured their fan base would not happen (something that greatly diminished my opinion of them). I very much hope Obsidian doesn't go that route.
On the bright side:
I now hope to see commercials of the quality we saw for Crusader Kings 2.
DLC was a misnomer on my part. We aren't releasing small chunks of content. We will be doing a full fledged expansion on par with how CRPGs used to release expansions. The partnership with Paradox does nothing to change any of that.
Keep in mind that Obsidian still fully controls the IP and is the main driver for any content going forward. We will make sure we do right by our community.
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When I backed for a boxed copy I was expecting an old school box like the IE games. Will that be the case, or will we receive DVD cases? Thanks!
Also the min wage in NZ is $11 so I don't get all the "fair prices" bull.
We are currently talking about the package design. Once we have the final details we will let everyone know.
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About the Paradox thing...
Will POE be regionally priced due to retail pricing for different markets? I ask mainly because there has been controversy about this recently on gog and you guys should avoid bad headlines and unfair pricing if possible.
To be honest, it hasn't come up in our discussions yet. We will do what we can to avoid unfair pricing, though.
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While I understand that Obsidian would rather have a third party handle distribution, my concern is whether Pillars will be made available in a DRM-free format for the general public (e.g. via a DRM-free store like GOG or DotEmu.
Paradox used to provide DRM-free physical versions, but their more recent products have been Steam only. If Pillars is made available to non-backers only through Steam, that will result in a similar controversy as with the Shadowrun Returns project (initially promising DRM-free release, switching to Steam-only public release due to licensing issues and only going back to DRM-free after major backer protest).
A clarification on a DRM-free public release would be most welcome here.
We will be providing both Steam and GOG digital versions of Eternity. The GOG version is still going to be released. The partnership with Paradox has not changed anything we have promised to our backers.
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It's just so perfect. To say i cannot wait is an understatement.
I absolutely love the Grimoire, i've always thought those big wizard's tomes are cool, always wanted one. Inspirational to actually let my wizard have his own grimoires. I've been waiting 39 years for such a thing.
Deep, deep joy.
Ps When on earth are you going to tell us about the Aumaua?!
Pps Who/what is the Devil of Caroc?!
I will mention to the guys that we should do an Aumaua update when we do another design/story focused one.
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Just to clarify: the backer portraits are only for those backers?
Anyone will be able to choose the backer portraits for their character.
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Awesome update!
Just a quick question;
Will all of the backers who backed the tiers that include in-game assets (portrait, inn, character, items, etc) get an update/early look at their stuff before the beta/release?
Not asking to be able to deliver feedback on those things, just curious since I'm part of a group who backed the tier for an npc/item and inn
)We will try our best to work with those backers that have in-game content. I can't promise that we will be able to have a significant back and forth with every backer, but we will definitely try when appropriate.
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I like the wizard, although it seems to be lacking in non-damaging spells such as grease or web.
Is the inn located in Solace by any chance? Either way, I'll be on the lookout for dragonmen.
This is just a small sampling of the spells available to wizards and druids. You can bet they have some good non-damaging control options.
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Is the Inn The Celestial Sapling in Twin Elms?
Yup.
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How will they handle distribution of physical copies? I've wondered about how you are gonna designate the packages since we didn't directly purchase them. I'm asking because my country has ridiculously high customs fees and having the package designated as a gift would be a boon
.We don't have the exact answers, but one of the reasons that we partnered with Paradox was because they understand fulfillment in Europe better than most companies. They will definitely do everything they can to make sure that everything is as smooth as possible for all of our European friends.
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I understand that this is probably not something you can really answer, but I'd like to know how this will affect profits. As it was up until know, Obsidian would receive all the profit, but now that Paradox is involved, that obviously won't be true. I'm not asking for percentages on how this will be split, but I would like to know how this will affect the scope, size, and resources available to the expansion pack and potential sequels.
This partnership actually puts Obsidian in a better position to create more Eternity content (DLC/Sequels).
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Gotto admit I was a little shocked when I saw the title of the video on youtube cause the olny word I read was Partnership. However when I read it was Paradox I was put at ease. I was and still am enjoying their games quite a lot and when it comes to marketing they often have a very unique style to say the least. Now I just hope that won't have any influence on future expansions (aka DLC). Cause while I like their politic when it comes to their grand strategy games I do not thing that the same would work for a big RPG like PoE.
Sorry about that. I didn't mean for the YouTube video to have that title since Josh doesn't talk about it. I edited the title so the video makes more sense.
To your question about influence, Obsidian still has 100% creative control over Eternity and any DLC or sequels spawned from it.
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Is that the first full-colour Aumaua picture I see? Fantastic. I'd like to get a bit of an update on them sometime in the future. They've remained a mystery for quite a while.
That inn and that druid-form looks wonderful as well.
I assume that your relationship with Paradox is similar to the one inXile has with Deep Silver?
I am not completely familiar with exactly what Deep Silver is doing for InXile, but it is probably very similar. We are partnering with Paradox so we can focus all of our time and money on development.
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Update by Josh Sawyer, Project Director
Welcome to our second class pair update. This week, by popular vote on our forums, we will be looking at the folks who rain down death (figuratively and literally) on the masses: the mob rulers, wizards and druids.
Before we begin, I would like to remind our backers to complete their orders on our website if you have not already done so. Many of our backers have filled out their surveys and we've been able to work on implementing their content. Not long ago, Kaz generated these portraits for some of our generous backers.
Backer Portraits
We've also finished some of the inns that were designed by backers. Hector Espinoza just finished this render of the Celestial Sapling, an inn that is built into an enormous tree.
The Celestial Sapling
As always, the earlier we get your specifications for the content you've backed, the easier it is for us to integrate into the game. For those of you who backed content, remember that the deadline is March 31st, only two short weeks away! In our next update we'll be showing off some of the cool animations from Pillars of Eternity.
PartnershipA few minutes ago, Obsidian made an important announcement about a new partnership with Paradox Interactive for Pillars of Eternity. We wanted to give some information to our backers to give you a full understanding of what this partnership means and to let you know that nothing has or will change when it comes to the making of Eternity. Pillars of Eternity is still our product, we're making 100% of the development decisions, and we will still be communicating directly with you every chance we get.
So, you are probably asking, why are we doing this? Obsidian is really good at making games. Everyone here is focused on that goal every day and we are heavily invested in our work. That said, Obsidian's focus is in creating games and not in marketing and distributing them. It takes a lot of time and effort to do those things properly - time and effort we want to use to make Eternity the best game it can be. We chose to partner with Paradox because they can help us with those things and really believe in PC games in particular. This lets us spend 100% of our time (and your money) towards making Eternity great. Every dollar you have given us will to go into making the game.
We have setup a FAQ on our forums that will go over any questions you may have about what this partnership means for Pillars of Eternity. Please take a look and let us know if you have any other questions. And now, on to the magic of the mob rulers!
Mob RulersWhile neither wizards nor druids are restricted to offensive spells that target groups or areas, they excel in that arena. Whether it's dishing out elemental damage or inflicting status effects on enemies, both classes have a wide variety of spells to whittle down the hordes. Rangers and rogues are the kings of single-target takedowns, but the mob rulers exist to soften up, slow down, hinder, or otherwise mess up groups of enemies. Both classes focus heavily on spellcasters, but they have slightly different mechanics to how they work. Together with priests, wizards and druids are the "traditional" spellcasting classes that can cast a certain number of spells of each level per rest. As they gain levels in their classes, they can access more powerful spells. Over time, their weakest per-rest spells become per-encounter spells. At very high levels, the weakest spells eventually become at-will abilities, capable of being cast indefinitely.
Wizards
Typical Wizard Grimoire
Wizards are researchers and experimenters. Like animancers, their understanding of the spirit world and soul energy is technical and scientific. For this reasons, wizards have a skill focus in both Lore and Mechanics. Also like animancers, wizards rely on special tools to achieve their effects. Specifically, wizards use grimoires, arcane books made with rare materials that can absorb and temporarily hold fragments of ambient soul energy. Unlike priests and druids, wizards do not personally shape the magic that is released. Instead, their grimoires' spell pages do most of the work. The wizard's specialty is in understanding how to help the magic flow in and out of the grimoire without going haywire. As wizards continue to research, more spells are created every year. Some spells remain in the private collections of individual wizards while others see widespread distribution and can be found in grimoires all over the known world.
In game terms, all wizards start with a single grimoire. Even as big as they are, grimoires can only hold a set number of spells from each level. Wizards have the potential to access many more spells than priests or druids, but that potential is restricted by what a grimoire can hold. As a result, experienced wizards carry multiple grimoires with subsets of spells to handle different situations. Grimoires can be switched during combat, but there is an opportunity cost to doing so -- the new grimoire needs to attune itself to the wizard for several seconds before its spells can be used. Outside of combat, wizards can outfit their grimoires with any spells that they have learned. If they come across a spell in an enemy's grimoire, they can choose to learn that spell for the cost (in copper pieces) required to research it.
As a result of their varied studies, wizards have access to both "meat and potatoes" spells and more eccentric effects. They excel at area attacks, but also have a healthy number of spells for personal defense and more than a few oddballs in the mix. Occasionally, wizards become known for a particular spell or family of spells that they've invented and their names are inexorably linked with their contributions to magical research. Here are some of the many spells wizards can learn in Pillars of Eternity:
- Fan of Flames - Creates a short-range cone of fire that does Burn damage to everyone caught inside. (Reflexes)
- Jolting Touch - Inflicts heavy electrical damage to the target then jumps to the two nearest enemies. (Deflection)
- Minoletta's Minor Missiles - Launches three missiles of magical energy that inflict Crush damage on a single target. (Deflection)
- Thrust of Tattered Veils - Generates a precise thrust of Crushing force that does little damage but has a high Interrupt. This fast-casting spell is often used to disrupt enemy actions. (Deflection)
- Wizard's Double - Creates a single duplicate image of the caster that grants a high Deflection bonus against a single attack.
- Concelhaut's Corrosive Siphon - Inflicts a Corrode effect and restores Stamina to the caster over time. (Fortitude)
- Ray of Fire - Creates a lingering stream of flames between the caster and target, doing damage to the target and everyone caught in between. (Reflexes)
- Fireball - Classic, reliable, deadly. That's fireball. (Reflexes)
- Kalakoth's Minor Blights - Creates a random "blight" in the caster's hand that does Burn, Freeze, Corrode, or Shock damage to the target and anyone caught in the area. After the wizard throws one minor blight, it will continue to spawn additional random minor blights until the spell's duration runs out. (Deflection/Reflexes)
- Minoletta's Bounding Missiles - As Minoletta's Minor Missiles, but each missile bounces to one additional target, does more damage, and has shorter overall range. (Deflection)
- Ryngrim's Repulsive Visage - Targets near caster are Sickened and Terrified by the wizard's horrifying appearance. (Will)
- Dimensional Shift - The caster and one ally are able to immediately switch locations, leaving a shockwave between them. Anyone caught in-between may be briefly Stunned. (Fortitude)
- Essential Phantom - Summons a ghostly double of the caster that fights with its bare hands, doing Shock damage. Other than the appearance of the caster, it shares no other properties.
- Minor Arcane Reflection - The caster erects a field of arcane energy around himself or herself, similar to the Arcane Veil. However, Minor Arcane Reflection has the ability to reflect an incoming hostile targeted (only) spell, sending it back to the original caster. The Reflection can try to reflect spells up to 3rd level -- and up to 10 total levels of spells -- before it expires. A failed attempt at reflection counts toward the limit. When an incoming spell targets the caster, the Reflection attacks the enemy's Will. If it succeeds in the attack, the spell is reflected. If two casters both have Arcane Reflections up, the attack can potentially bounce back and forth repeatedly until one caster fails his or her attack -- or exhausts his or her Reflection.
- Citzal's Spirit Lance - Creates a pike out of magical energy that does Pierce damage and causes a foe-only Blast explosion like wands do. (Deflection/Reflexes)
- Malignant Cloud - Creates a cloud of virulent poison that does raw damage (ignoring DT) to anyone in the cloud over time. (Fortitude)
- Arkemyr's Capricious Hex - Targets are randomly subjected to one of several afflictions, each with an equal chance of appearing, although at different durations: Dazed, Sickened, or Paralyzed. (Will)
- Ninagauth's Freezing Pillar - Slams a huge gleaming shard of ice into the ground, doing Freeze damage to anyone in the immediate area. A circle of frost spreads from the pillar, creating a Freeze hazard that also inflicts the Hobbled affliction on anyone it touches. (Reflexes)
In addition to their per-rest spells, all wizards have two basic abilities that serve them well: Blast and Arcane Veil. Blast allows wands, scepters, and wands wielded by wizards to do a small amount of foe-only damage in a small radius around their target. Arcane Veil is an instantaneous ability that dramatically raises the wizard's Deflection for a few moments. Its one weakness is firearms; the Arcane Veil is not able to react to the speed of a bullet before it passes through.
Druids
Druid Backer Portrait
Druids are animists, drawing power through the webs they believe connect all living souls in the world. When not casting spells and transforming into mythical beasts, druids spend a great deal of time in nature, giving them skill foci in Athletics and Survival. Much like priests, druids draw ambient fragments of soul energy toward them and shape their effects through practiced concentration. While druids do not have the diverse spell repertoire of wizards, they have more than enough to handle most problems that come their way. Druids' spells often take the form of natural phenomena -- storms, coiling plants, rapid decay -- to reflect their primal connection to the world. Despite their heavily-offensive nature, they do have a few defensive and healing spells to aid their allies.
Druid Stag Form
- Nature's Mark - Enemies are outlined in pale green light, decreasing their Deflection and Reflexes. (Will)
- Talons' Reach - Caster creates an oversized projection of beastly talons striking everyone in the area for Slash damage. (Deflection)
- Tanglefoot - Lingering, sprawling patch of magical vines and other plants Hobbles anyone caught in the hazard. (Reflexes)
- Winter Wind - Characters in the area are pushed back and take Freeze damage. (Fortitude)
- Firebrand - Caster wields a massive sword-shaped blade of fire that does Burn damage on a hit. Switching to another weapon ends the spell.
- Insect Swarm - Targets take Pierce damage over time and have reduced Concentration. (Fortitude)
- Beetle's Shell - An allied target is encased in a shell that prevents him or her from taking actions (including moving) but will absorb a fixed amount of damage before shattering.
- Twin Stones - Two boulders fly out from the druid, causing Crush damage as they go. If the boulders strike a solid surface the boulder explodes, doing Pierce damage to anyone in the area. (Deflection/Reflexes)
- Moonwell - Creates stationary radius in which allies recover Stamina and gain a bonus to all defenses.
- Overwhelming Wave - Creates a rolling wave of water that smashes everything in its path, causing Crush damage and a Stun. (Fortitude)
- Firebug - A ball of fire rapidly bounces from enemy to enemy causing Burn damage. It hits up to 8 targets total. (Deflection)
- Nature's Terror - The druid gains a terrifying electrical aura that causes Shock damage and the Terrified affliction to anyone nearby. (Reflexes / Will)
- Wall of Thorns - Creates a wall of thorns, which does Pierce damage to anyone in it or who attempts to cross it. (Reflexes)
- Garden of Life - Plants spring up from downed enemies, generating healing auras around them.
- Rot Skulls - Summons necrotic skulls into the caster's hands. The skulls can be thrown at targets for Crush damage and a Corrode explosion. (Deflection / Reflexes)
In addition to their spells, druids have two base abilities that assist them in dealing with single targets. At character creation, players select a damage type for their Wildstrike passive ability. Wildstrike adds a small secondary amount of damage to all damage-dealing attacks that the druid makes.
Druids also all choose a spiritshift form at character creation. This form represents a type of animal spirit with which the druid has developed an intimate level of understanding (wolf, great cat, bear, stag, and boar). A few times a day, they can use this understanding to transform their bodies into a hybridized form between their natural shape and the shape of the creature they are emulating. In these forms, they cannot use any of their normal equipment but can attack with powerful natural weapons. Each form also has a special passive ability that applies while the druid is in that form. Over the course of the game, druids can acquire additional spiritshift forms to give them more options.
There are many more wizard and druid spells where these came from. They all add up to give both classes a wide variety of abilities to play with. Please let us know what you think of the flavor and mechanics of these classes in the discussion thread!
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Obsidian and Paradox Interactive have announced that they’ll be working together to bring Pillars of Eternity to the masses, with Obsidian handling 100% of the development while Paradox assumes responsibility for all the marketing and distribution responsibilities.
We’ve put together this handy dandy FAQ to answer any questions you may already have, and we’ll continuously update the FAQ to incorporate the questions you’ve thought of that we haven’t.
Pillars of Eternity is still on track to be the amazing cRPG you asked for and backed, and we’re forever grateful to you all.
Send us those questions and we’ll do our best to answer them.
-Obsidian and Paradox Interactive
What is this partnership about?
Simply put, Paradox is assuming responsibility for the marketing and distribution of Pillars of Eternity. What this means is that Obsidian can now devote all of their time and resources to the development of Pillars of Eternity and make the game the best it can be.
Why Paradox?
Paradox has its roots in PC gaming and is known for publishing and developing some very niche titles. Like you, they’re fans of RPGs from the Infinity Engine days and have been around almost as long. Heck, some of them are even backers! If anyone can appreciate the passion and dedication of this project, it is certainly Paradox.
I donated money so Obsidian could take on this project solo, why take on a partner?
By handing off duties not related to development, Obsidian can focus on making the game that much better. We truly believe this is for the good of the game and, by extension, for the good of the community.
Does Obsidian still own the IP for Pillars of Eternity?
Absolutely, no changes here.
If Obsidian now has a partner, will they be assisting in the development of Pillars of Eternity?
Obsidian is still fully in charge of development and will continue to be so all the way through launch and beyond.
With Paradox on board, is more money being given to the project?
Pillars of Eternity is still being funded solely by the donations given by the community and the scope hasn’t changed, with Obsidian still 100% in charge of development and every single penny raised by the community going toward development.
I’m supposed to receive a backer reward, has anything changed?
Nothing has changed on this front. If you were promised an item, whether it be digital or physical, rest assured that you will still receive it. For those that get to help design aspects of the game, you’ll also still get to participate and should have already been contacted by Obsidian. To ensure your submission, please visit https://eternity.obsidian.net/.
Will Pillars of Eternity still be released this year?
As communicated previously, we’re confident that Pillars of Eternity will be wrapped up by year’s end. The partnership has no influence over our projected launch date.
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), but I will take a look through the thread in the morning and answer anything that comes up.
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Pillars of Eternity – Partnership FAQ for Backers
in Pillars of Eternity: Announcements & News
Posted
It isn't a specific issue that has come up, but the physical copy shouldn't require Steam. We are releasing DRM-free builds, so the physical disks will probably be DRM-free or have a CD key. Something like that.