Beyond The Sea

I don't mind turn-based gameplay. But this read your own adventure with stats in 2D does not look interesting or exciting.

It's probably too late.

A lot of romantic inclinations? Chances for Tekēhu being a promiscuous bisexual have just increased. Especially if he really is hedonistic. I've only ever read one gay character who went around declaring his love to every guy he liked but it was in a book written by a straight guy who clearly lacked a thorough understanding of homophobia. Given that players are meant to meet these romantic interests throughout the city, it would mean several gay or bi characters. This would adhere to Sawyer's point about having a variety of gay characters so the burden of representation does not rest on a single character but I still think it's unlikely.

I like passives. Though I wonder if a similar consensus as in PoE will be reached. It appears like almost everyone recommends to take Veteran's Recovery, almost all melee attackers are suggested to pick Vulnerable Attack and or Savage Attack. So I'm curious about variety. Will there be talents that are considered "must-have"?

Do you usually believe what advertisements claim? Ads don't exist to give you reliable, objective information.

Doesn't full frontal nudity bear the risk of being rated Adults Only in the US which means not being shelved by major physical retailers and an auto-ban on Twitch? Of all the absurd things I have asked Sawyer over the years he responds to the one that I asked when I was temporarily deranged more than usual. It wasn't even a question really. Generally people are meant to clean their bodies before they enter the water. They probably wouldn't like to swim in other people's dirt either. In a Sento you are supposed to keep even your small towel out of the pool. The first time I went to a Sauna with my friend, we must have been maybe 8 or 9, an older guy ranted at us for keeping our swimwear on. These characters are not wearing essentially their underwear in the bathhouse because it's sensible and I dare say not for a narrative reason, they are wearing clothes because the American media has complicated views about naked bodies. It just breaks my immersion so I might just avoid going there.

I wonder if the mention of a bathhouse was just a joke. Luminous Bathhouse is a location in Neketaka. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5HAqsnDeOIc 3:07 I can't stand that. All that dirty cloth in the water. It's perfectly fine if Obsidian doesn't want nudity in the game, but then why create a location where people should be naked? Just don't put a bathhouse in a game if you don't want nudity. I shall pretend it's a post 1970s swimming pool.

I wonder if the mention of a bathhouse was just a joke.

No such thing. If a goal is reached a new one is added. I wonder how far the pre planned list of potential strech goals went, what was on it and what the team would have made up at even higher goals.

Obsidian: "Versus Evil, you fools! Get it done." Versus Evil: "How fast can you do it?" THQ Nordic: "Two months." - the next day - Obsidian: "Release in two months!"

I wonder why it hasn't been picked up by the gaming sites yet. I fully expected a trailer for this, something shiny and presentable for an article. Surely there is more to come soon. If it's only two months to go you really got to kickstart the marketing. As for the beta, QA testers have been running before and will run after. Remember the backer beta was a crowdfunding incentive. Singleplayer games don't usually have big, semi-public betas.

Why is this announced as a deal between Versus Evil and THQ Nordic rather than between Obsidian and THQ Nordic? Why was the partnership between Obsidian and Versus Evil announced separately and so much earlier? Why was Versus Evil decleared as partner for "destribution" rather than "digital destribution" as quoted above? Is spring 2018 really still the target? Surely spring ends at E3 at the very latest. Even less time to produce and ship if the target date is earlier. Was there not always a plan to release physical copies? Why is this announced only now? The deal between Obsidian and Paradox was announced a whole year before PoE came out. Based on what information was published I can only assume that Versus Evil was not capable of the physical destribution required for Deadfire and THQ Nordic had to be brought in to fix it.

What do mean geographically? I thought what they're saying is THQ is meant to take care of phsyical copies. https://eternity.obsidian.net/news/obsidian-and-versus-evil-partnering-with-thq-nordic-for-physical-distribution-of-pillars-of-eternity-ii-deadfire For all the openness in development, the business side of Obsidian is kept under lock and key as much as any other developer.

Back from the Versus Evil partnership announcement forum FAQ from September. From the link in the tweet named above. Does it seem normal to seek a publisher for phyiscal destribution a few months before planned release? You think Versus Evil overestimated it's capabilities? I wonder what the owners think.

Well, there's not much new information to discuss it appears. Sawyer on Tumblr 3 weeks ago Men and women would imply more than one each, for example one gay man and a bisexual one. It might have been just a turn of phrase so to speak. Sawyer on Reddit 5 months ago How much is many at 7 companions? I will interpret this as lower chance for a 1 homosexual, 1 bisexual, 1 heterosexual split. As for the writers of companions. Aloth: Carrie Patel Edér: Eric Fenstermaker? Maia Rua: ??? Pallegina: Josh Sawyer Serafen: ??? Tekēhu: Paul Kirsch Xoti: ??? Megan Starks was brought over from Tyranny alongside Paul Kirsch according to Carrie Patel in the February Q&A. Does anyone know who wrote Serafen, Maia or Xoti?

PoE sells to a degree on nostalgia for Baldur's Gate. The equivalents of old 2D adventures are games such as Deponia, Thimbleweed Park, Machinarium, Shardlight, Darkside Detective, Samorost, Technobabylon, some different takes on the genre like Dreamfall Chapters, Telltale games or Pillars of the Earth, proclaimed spiritual successors for puzzle game Myst like Obduction and the Witness, remasters for Monkey Island, Day of the Tentacle or Grim Fandango, not to mention a whole slew of Hidden Object games, exactly because adventures are a lot easier to make then RPGs. As for Indiana Jones or Tomb Raider, that's covered by Assassin's Creed, Uncharted, Farcry. Adventures are a really crowded market. Obsidian has decades of experience in making RPGs. It's where the passion of it's great heads lie. What do you mean by this?

Well, Sawyer is the director. It would be strange if he didn't like what he directed and what he is largely responsible for. Nevermind his reputation and position depend on the game's success. If he didn't think it were good, he wouldn't publicly admit it. Imagine the headlines "Deadfire director has no confidence in his own game." Not the kind of publicity desired for any product ever but especially not in your release year. It's like a coach telling ultras he'll win the next match or a party leader telling the party she'll win the next election. It's not exactly objective.

I am less interested in the type of setting. I'm mostly excited to see how Tim Cain and Boyarskys have changed and improved. I don't know if someone can ever stop being creative. They were still making games, just not their own. I just imagine they have had some ideas in the back of their heads for years. Why else would Tim Cain have changed his mind to make a new game after all, if he didn't have some ideas he really wanted to realize. I am very much looking forward to seeing them.

This is what Obsidian wants though, reach new players, get more people interested. If spring is still the launch target marketing should be ramping up. PoE had 74k backers and as of February 2016 over 700k copies were sold. Deadfire only had 33k backers, so there are potentially even more people to be convinced. Divinity: Original Sin 2 certainly showed how big the potential can be.

Sawyer likes history. The names are correct terms for the objects. They add flavor. If you want to communicate an early modern setting, you'll have trouble distinguishing it from a late middle age setting, since the transition cannot be pinpointed but is fluid. Using historic terms helps to establish the setting. You don't want the period dissonance and the associations that come with contemporary firearms.

I mean surely Necromancers should have fire spells, not ice, it's called Deadfire after all.

Dwarf shoulders are wider, their feet are bigger compared to human. The human gate is wider. It seems like dwarf legs are just shorter. In Deadfire a dwarf looks taller than he was in PoE but not wider than a human. I wonder if this is due to issues with animations or armor or if this was an aesthetic decision from the start. Orlans appear skinnier too. Even if you take the big hair away their heads are still quite big. Especially with the black ring that make their already big eyes more prominent to me they look less like their own furry, animalistic Race and too much like children. But if nobody else sees it maybe I'm wrong.

I'm just curious how you feel about the Race proportions in Deadfire? Roughly at same shoulder height PoE in comparison

I'm sure Sawyer said in some video (QA?) the sassy animation had to be tuned down because it was too sassy. I don't know of those clips are from before or after. Well, there were Godlikes standing around at every other corner. They didn't seem particularly special.

Are you provokingly insinuating that I'm supporting SJW impartiality by choosing Hollow Knight as an avatar? If so, you're wrong. I picked this specific avatar because Hollow Knight was one of my goty for 2017. Furthermore, the Knight is a negotiate of the elders so it makes sense for the Knight to be genderless, it's like a doll that came to life to do their bidding and nothing more. Sure there is patrionized fan-fic of te Knight falling for Hornet but this was all false as the Knight cannot and does not show emotion. It's simply a thing summoned to bring back order, so with that I'd say the game or Team Cherry aren't the SJW type. But maybe they are. Grey Mourner is lesbian. Nailmaister Sheo and Nailsmith become a Happy Couple.