WorstUsernameEver

I honestly don't know the specifics of inXile's process though I'd assume that indeed it's different given that they're going for another art style. I don't think the image you used proves your point at all, because aside from the obvious more organic and detailed look of the picture after a paint-over, the 3d models and their textures look roughly the same in the latter stages of the process. I don't know whether that depends from inXile's source art being of lower quality (inXile has been non-committal about 2d art until today, and this screenshot was likely used for quick tests too), different camera (closer?) or because of the filters/solution they've used, I don't know.

Of course, Project Eternity had 3d models with textures too... that's how pre-rendered works.

I don't know if I agree with what Malekith said, but "semi-linear" is a good definition for KOTOR2 though perhaps it emphasizes linearity to much. You have some room to go through events in different orders and plenty of choices, but there are still chokepoints and a rough summary/outline of the story would be largely the same for most players though the experience is personalized. Taken to an extreme you get stuff like Alpha Protocol, which is very boxed in terms of level design and exploration (it has set "missions" you go through) but thanks to some system design choices and some scripting ~*magic*~ the end result is very personalized depending on the playstyle of the player (well duh). Which, by the way, is why I'm not necessarily sure I'd group it together with New Vegas that takes a sandbox approach, which obviously influenced the way the story was designed and the storytelling tools (plus, y'know, different engine, different expectation, different timeframe etc.).

The shot is 2d, just like Eternity and the process inXile and Obsidian are using for their pre-rendered environment is basically the same. There are also places where the shot is kind of obviously touched up (blurry background is obviously 2d/concept art-ish, some of the lighting sources on the far right seem like they've been painted over later, etc.) The Project Eternity screenshot went through the same process and that's the only screen I remember, aside from obviously spartan stuff like untextured test environments.

I honestly don't know what you're talking about?

The update contains the larger version. It's obviously super-early, but it's looking good.

Don't recommend games that are likely going to be released after Eternity!

Can you explain exactly what changed though? I thought they did this already before. IIRC initially it mostly consisted of Obsidian letting inXile take a look at their tools for WL2. Although really, the announcement is just remarking something that was a natural evolution of the relationship between the two companies.

No it's just Baldur's Gate 1 + expansion.

Never mind, the post was edited after I quoted it.

It wasn't intentional.

We have an interview with project director Kevin Saunder and creative lead Colin McComb on GameBanshee. Keep in mind that it took a bit of back and forth and revisions but it was largely written before the latest updates, so some questions might read slightly weird in light of the info we already know now. Should be an interesting read, though!

I don't want to get excited before they confirm the existence of brief CYOA or even just narrated stills/stylized cutscenes, but.. yeah, pretty excite.

It's not a contradiction. Next week we get an update and the week after another one with the environment showcase.

ARGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH MY EYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES.

What? EDIT: Oh nevermind, it was referencing the Dwarf Forge thing.

And a 5/5 or 10/10 generally isn't meant to mean that the game is perfect and that nothing better can be done. The only thing that means is that they gave it the highest score on their scale, contextualized by the time the review is released in.

The stretch goals also count the Paypal money so yes, every stretch goal, including the 4mil "enhance the whole game" one, have been hit.

I don't know, achievements are skewed by the simple fact that they're transparent, so they influence the player behavior. A better way to check the player's behavior would be opt-in telemetry, a-là BioWare later titles, possibly without, y'know, turning it on by default.

They're similar games, but we're not in the "Fallout 3/New Vegas" or "KOTOR1/2" ballpark of similarities and I think it's fair to dislike one and like the other. Besides, the Mass Effect titles are strongly story-driven titles, so not liking the tone/general writing can severely impact the experience. It's why you see people hating KOTOR2 but loving 1 or vice-versa despite having incredibly similar gameplay. I wouldn't call Mass Effect 3 terrible or garbage by any stretch by the way, but it's certainly the most inconsistent title I've played from BioWare. Terrible writing sometimes segue into good writing, tone seems to change often, plot points from both the other games or established early in the story get dropped or sidelined, well designed maps can be followed by turret sections (bleh), etc. Mass Effect 2 was much more repetitive and I think a generally worse game, but it was far more consistent. I'm really happy with what they did with the weight system, character abilities and itemization in ME3 though, generally speaking. They might have missed a bit here and there, and it's not like I'm ever agonizing in front of a choice, but it's far more interesting than Mass Effect 2 or 1 in this regard.

Some of the main characters have skimpy outfits in case you're worried about sexual content and there's a bit of innuendo, nothing big but as a parent you probably want to be aware of that stuff. The game isn't super-violent though there are still a few references to killing here and there and I think there might be some blood spraying for criticals? It's no God of War, but I'm not the parent so it's not for me to decide whether that's appropriate or not.

It's silly to believe that Bethesda would actively sabotage a title they were spending big marketing and development money on. Heck, I'd need to dig through old-ass archives, but I remember there being some controversy about them apparently making a site pull a negative review... hardly sounds like they were sabotaging the metascore to deny Obsidian their bonus (I don't know the contract specifics by the way, and it should be noted that they only missed it by one point with the PC version, the console versions were both a few points under 85).

Neverwinter Nights 2 for the expansions, the wealth of user-made campaigns, and the modding scene. OC is forgettable, really, though not awful.

Wallin sure loves to do high contrast artwork with crushed details. He's a professional and obviously he's technically extremely skilled, but I'm not a fan of his style in terms of lighting and color choices. EDIT: So to be absolutely clear: this isn't a critique. I don't like an aspect of Wallin's style and given a piece from Wallin was posted, I commented on it. I'm being probably redundant, but I feel this is going to spare me headaches later down the line.

That dungeon design looked in line with the minor maps/areas in Icewind Dale to me. Some maps are small and relatively linear (it's difficult to tell given the image is small but from what I can see there are two different paths that intersect to a linear end?) and others are big and sprawling and often spread on multiple levels.