Bobby Null

Josh, Adam and I discussed this. Importing custom portraits is a feature we all felt was important. We didn't discuss changing companion portraits but it will probably be supported. Not 100% sure on that one though.

Then it would be awesome, and I would get sued by WoTC.

You guys are funny. I will admit it would be a unique T-shirt. You'd be the only two guys in the world who would want one.

It will have all these things. It won't be a straight dungeon hack without a purpose.

Today's update is a big one. Folks around here are just making sure all the t's are crossed and the i's are dotted. We're not laughing at you guys (much ), everyone is just really busy getting this thing out. Sorry for the delay, but I'm pretty sure you guys and gals will find the wait was worth it. Hang in there.

Bobby, can you please, please put the "You must gather your party before venturing forth" in the game, at least once, as a funny reference? /adds this to his already large list of PE requests

The time draws nigh.

So am I reading the description correctly that the PE paladin's skills may be centered AoE? Possibly both offensive/defensive/heal? Because that sounds all sorts of cool to me... Of course the balancing of classes is subject to change, but this is what Josh and I discussed last night. In a nutshell: Party Buffs/Centered AOE DPS/Self Healing/Good Martial Ability. Party buffs will be the Paladin's commands. The centered AOE DPS will most likely take the form of a soul-based, short-range (or centered) AOE, and the ability to heal himself/herself. This is above and beyond the Paladin's martial skill, which will be good, but not as good as the Fighter or the Barbarian. Of course, the player will be able to tailor their Paladin to suit their playstyle should they wish to enhance/specialize certain aspects of the class. I suggest you avoid using the term 'DPS' in the future. It carries certain negative connotations. Ha, I wrote that kind of late last night. I use the term DPS as synonymous with high overall damage (in this case increased because it is an AOE) when talking to other designers, even though said damage is not being calculated on a Damage Per Second basis. Just force of habit. So a high damage, area of effect, in a small radius, is what I meant.

I just gawked at the final a few minutes ago. Trust me, you won't be disappointed. Looks super amazing, srsly.

So am I reading the description correctly that the PE paladin's skills may be centered AoE? Possibly both offensive/defensive/heal? Because that sounds all sorts of cool to me... Of course the balancing of classes is subject to change, but this is what Josh and I discussed last night. In a nutshell: Party Buffs/Centered AOE DPS/Self Healing/Good Martial Ability. Party buffs will be the Paladin's commands. The centered AOE DPS will most likely take the form of a soul-based, short-range (or centered) AOE, and the ability to heal himself/herself. This is above and beyond the Paladin's martial skill, which will be good, but not as good as the Fighter or the Barbarian. Of course, the player will be able to tailor their Paladin to suit their playstyle should they wish to enhance/specialize certain aspects of the class.

Mr. Ziets is a story orientated goal. Where do you think story stuff comes from if not writers. With one more writer you have all the writing, lore, NPCs, originizations, maybe even new areas and so on that he creates in addition to what the current writers are creating, which means more content and an improvement in content. The new Pally sounds cool, like the love child of 4e Warlord, 4e Paladin, and the Pathfinder Cavalier (especially the orders and causes focus in the cavalier). The Palace guard by the way is a throw back to the original prechristian Paladins in a sense. I believe Some Emperors had a Palatine guards or something. At least I think I read something along those lines. Rereading the Chanter, the Chanter really sounds like across between the Bard and the Shaman, with Chants (music/stories) that interact with the spirits of the world. For what comes next I wouldn't mind some more races and thier regions. Actually, this version of the Paladin has me intrigued. I never really cared for the alignment-based D&D characters as I hated alignment, so this more warlord/ cavalier type character could suit me fine. I need to read up on the 4e warlord! I'm also really interested in the concept of a loremaster/ artificer character. I've been really wanting good support characters in this game, and hopefully this will fill that slot. I've been pestering Josh about getting a leader archetype in the game for quite a while. I'm a really big fan of the 3.5 D&D Marshal. The Warlord in 4E was based off this class as well. When we started discussing a kind of Marshal/Paladin mix for a class I got pretty excited. PE's Paladin will be pretty unique for a CRPG and alot of fun.

We're not done yet. Have faith.

IWD was intended to be the story-light dungeon romp of the Infinity Engine games. It was well written, just less narrative elements than the other titles. Remember, this helped with multiplayer quite a bit as the BG games were very hard to play in multiplayer. We are inspired by the art direction and level design of the IWD series, but Project Eternity will have a much deeper narrative experience. Fear not, my friends.

Yes, this is my real name. I've had more than one envious programmer comment on it.

This is on my design list of wants. While not confirmed, I'll venture a guess we will go this route.

I'll be playing it. Quite excited about it, actually.

The Total War series is, without question, my favorite strategy/sim series. I've played them all except the newest one (been busy). I'm anxiously waiting for Rome II.

Not sure how far we are going to take the Formation System. I've talked with Josh, Adam and Steve Weatherly (the programmer working on A.I, pathing, formations, etc.) about some cool ideas, but like a lot of the systems in PE, it is still very early to lock down a definitive answer. Right now these are simply "wouldn't it be cool" conversations as more basic functionality is currently being implemented. What I can tell you, is we will have formations, and I'd like to add some cool features to them to increase tactical use.

IIRC correctly you were one of the level designers on DSIII, right? That had those problems in boss fights, but it didn't matter as much IMO due to the battle system (Still, was gamebreaking for someone I know). Unreleated but why did you do that in DSIII and what did you learn from it? Yes, I was a Level Designer on DS3 and the Lead Level Designer for Treasures of the Sun. DS3 had a form of cinematic dialogue. In order for the speakers of a particular line to be in frame, they need to be scripted to teleport to their mark for said scene. This is a perfect example of certain modern features affecting gameplay in a negative way. You might say, why not just teleport them back after the scene? That can be done in some cases, but it typically leads to reported bugs about the scene not looking very good. I would agree with you in the sense we didn't feel it was a big deal for DS3 as it was not a large party, tactical game, there was not a stealth mechanic, etc. Without getting too technical, there are some features our new (at the time) dialogue editor did not have back then. It has continued to improve through the production of South Park: The Stick of Truth, and will only get better as we work on PE. This, coupled with the lack of cinematic dialogue, along with some new stuff I want to talk to Josh about, and well defined level standards, should address this very well.

This is definitely a level design issue. We'll set up good level design standards to avoid this as much as possible, but I've got some system ideas to go over with Josh that could make this a thing of the past.

It has been discussed. Is it going to happen? Keep checking the updates to find out. George is not only a talented writer, but he is one of the nicest guys I've ever worked with. Would be awesome to team up again on PE.

Ghosts in PnP can be REALLY challenging. Spring attacking from one wall, draining, and then into another wall. Good times.

Hmm...

Stay tuned.

Bad rotating cameras are usually a problem with time/money. You can only get the code for camera collision to take you so far. It is then a level design/asset design issue and tends to lead to a lot of bugs that need to be fixed (fixing bugs takes time/money). Even then, rotating cameras in these kinds of games are never perfect. On Project Eternity, we want you guys fighting awesome monsters, not the camera. While not an official statement, zoom will probably be possible. The in-game stuff the artists are currently working on looks very nice, even in these early stages. The 2D art can get a nice paintover to add so many great touches. That's why the old IE games felt like you were playing a piece of art. With the higher resolutions we are working on for PE, expect some sweet looking maps.