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Everything posted by Karranthain
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Well, I really like that character size too - allows for quite detailed armour and weapon designs. Would be nice if PE went for something along those lines. And yeah, that cape! Now that you mention it...how about plume physics?
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On a (somewhat) related note, a video update on Torment's graphics : I wonder whether we'll see a similar level of detail for characters in PE? Here's hoping, because it looks quite impressive (and it's apparently been made in a couple of days).
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I must say that I am very, very happy with what we've seen so far : The direction is decidely moving towards sensible and practical designs - which, in my opinion, should make the game stand out in a crowd of fantasy games. Keep up the good work, Obsidian! We're waiting for more!
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When plumes are not sufficient, you might as well go all the way : Slay your enemies with style! That said, I'd love to see equally colourful attires in the game (even if these are a bit outside the game's time period)
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I'm really excited about the Darklands inspired textual menus (CYOA style) : It's really nice to see a bigger emphasis on text and imagination (probably the most powerful graphical engine there is) again. I'd love to see similar sequences for locations (e.g. http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/60371-narrated-sequences-instead-of-cutscenes-lets-use-our-imagination-again/page-4?do=findComment&comment=1199801) ?
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Update #47: Odds and Ends
Karranthain replied to Darren Monahan's topic in Pillars of Eternity: Announcements & News
PLUMES! And "Darklands" inspired narration methods (not to mention the really nice armour designs). Colour me impressed.- 131 replies
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- project eternity
- josh sawyer
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Weapon perks.
Karranthain replied to Karranthain's topic in Pillars of Eternity: Stories (Spoiler Warning!)
My intention wasn't to replace weapon statistics altogether. For an instance, perks could also be used to denote a certain range, e.g. Greatsword has 15 base attack speed, therefore it's categorized as a slow weapon (and thus has the appropriate perk attached to it). And, as I've mentioned before, not every weapon characteristic could be easily represented statistically (nor should be, in my opinion; having too many weapon statistics could potentially lead to an over-complicated and obscure system. I feel that perks, however, would alleviate that problem while allowing for a greater range of weapon characteristics). Naturally, but the perk examples I've posted were used to merely illustrate the concept. -
Archery and arrow heads
Karranthain replied to Jobby's topic in Pillars of Eternity: Stories (Spoiler Warning!)
I liked that too, I think it's an acceptable compromise. You were forced to conserve ammunition during an encounter, but you weren't encumbered with the tedious micromanagement afterwards. -
I feel that the achievements are a waste of time, I'd rather see the team using their precious time for implementing something more substantial. The only type of achievements I wouldn't mind would be the ones tied exclusively to your character, e.g. Kill 1000 Orcs - gain a 5% bonus to damage against them (due to your superior knowledge of their weaknesses). These shouldn't be carried over playthroughs, however.
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Indeed it is. I find the history of the movement quite fascinating. They've developed quite novel tactics (the Wagenburg) - and were one of the earliest proponents of the firearms in Europe. Here's a piece depicting one the Hussite wars' episodes : I remember Josh Sawyer mentioning his interest in the various early revolutionary movements in Europe; it certainly would be interesting to see. It's not a topic widely explored in a fantasy setting.
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Just to be clear, I don't consider niche to be a pejorative. I actually consider myself very optimistic about stuff like Kickstarter, specifically because it, in conjunction with things like digital distribution, can help various gaming niches get games that they otherwise wouldn't get. I agree that big publishers likely see the market as too insignificant, but because of kickstarters that market insignificance is less relevant. If Kickstarter can help make a game that only satisfies its contributors, but the developers and supports are both happy with the arrangement, then it's viable and will allow more variety in games to hit the market. It may help niche games become less niche (simply due to increased exposure to those types of games), what's awesome about Kickstarter is that it is less important that a game type is niche. It's becoming less of a barrier to entry for a developer to create something. That is awesome. Fair enough, that's something I can definitely agree with. I'd only like to add that what I value the most about the Kickstarter model is the focus on the product, not the the profit.
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Kickstarter is, as I've mentioned, a fairly novel concept (one that hasn't really taken root just yet, in the manner of speaking); even so the various cRPG projects (W2, PE, T:ToN, SR etc.) are among the most popular. Only a small portion of consumers are willing to participate in crowdfunding at this time (for a myriad of reasons, to be fair); in that light, I believe that 80 thousand people are quite significant. I don't think any of the titles I have mentioned would have been released under the traditional publisher model; hence the constatation that the so called big publishers assume there's no market (or that it's so small it's not worth the effort) for them. But to be fair, this conversation isn't getting us anywhere - you're skeptical and I'm optimistic; I'm afraid that's all we'll ever get out of this. We'll know more as the big projects are released; sale numbers will allow us to make more accurate assessments.
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On a (somewhat) related note, Shadowrun Returns alpha (sic!) footage has been released : Wow.
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How do you figure that? if anything it's proven that the niche market is a fairly small, but very dedicated segment. PE had somewhere around 80000 backers. In a business where normal titles expect to sell over a million that's just not an impressive number. What is impressive is that groups willingness to spend, on average, $55 before the game production has even started. So small, but dedicated, is all we know so far. We'll have a better gauge on how large that market is once these games start getting completed and there are actual sales numbers to go with the pledges. Keep in mind that crowdfunding is a relatively new concept - I believe (correct me if I'm wrong) that PE has the most backers among all Kickstarter projects (across all categories). With that in mind, Torment, Wasteland 2 or PE etc. could be considered (relatively speaking) extremely popular. But of course we'll be able to make a more accurate assessment once the sale numbers are known to us.
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I'd argue the opposite - Kickstarter, in my opinion, has proven that the supposedly niche market is quite a bit larger than previously presumed (or that it even exists!). Keep in mind that the focus here isn't the profit - it's the product (it's the other way around for the publishers). A steady increase in budgets is a fact (and that's before any of the major titles are even close to be released!). I certainly wouldn't expect to see the so called AAA budgets (60-100 million dollars) anytime soon (or ever, for that matter), but that's beside the point; I believe that companies will be able to sustain themselves solely through the Kickstarter model, without any interference, while continuing to develop high quality titles with small to moderate budgets. Torment's campaign also disproves the Kickstarter fatigue myth - it was widely believed that people would quickly lose interest, after the initial wave. Conversely, should T:ToN be a huge success, the previously mentioned exponential increase in budget is quite likely. Your guess is as good as mine, I just prefer to be optimistic.