WorstUsernameEver

Layoffs are common pretty much everywhere in this industry except maybe at Valve. MAYBE. That's not really a good argument to attack a developer. Now, I'm not a fan of BioWare's post-DA:O input, and I had my gripes about their previous 3d titles, but to argue that only stupid people work there is absolutely madness.

Regardless of my opinion on BioWare's designers (I think there are some pretty smart guys there actually, among the guys they recently got on board too, like Manveer Heir), I don't think it would be possible to get them on board due to contractual issues (BioWare is, after all, owned by EA). Besides, I'm fairly sure they've got their hands full.

Very unlikely. Very very very unlikely. Now, going over DF/Wasteland 2's totals? Sure, that can happen. Not a given, but I'm not seeing that as an impossibility either.

Well, I mean, obviously I'd take 100 quality hours over 50 quality hours or 20, but between the crowdfunding budget not being enormous and Obsidian's notorious polish problems, I'd rather them concentrate on making a campaign that is as good and polished as possible (not 6 hours of course, but that was a joke) than a long padded one. Think of Fallout.. it was an RPG, made in 1997, it was short (even shorter if you ignore the side content) and it's still considered a classic today. Length is a nice bonus, but it's not everything. P.S. : I'd also like to see Obsidian carefully consider how to split the content. I've recently played Arcanum, and while it's an excellent game, the main quest really drags on.

Honest question, though: do you guys value a game based on the length, rather than the quality of the content and the experience you have with it? I feel this kind of expectations have lead to stuff like the horrible padding we've seen in Dragon Age: Origins and Neverwinter Nights 2, and I'd prefer not to see that kind of design again.

I'm up for it. Make it happen Obsidian.

6 intense action-packed hours with plenty of setpieces. Duh.

I think actually having solid info on the baseline game and what would be provided by the stretch goals (we know that there are going to be new classes and races, but now what they will provide that the baseline doesn't.. nor what the baseline provides in the first place) would go a long way in making them more enticing. I'm surprised that stuff like a toolkit wasn't mentioned, but I suppose that might be a higher stretch goal still.

No rest for the funcroc.

Ah okay, cool.

This is more or less the reason why a lot of people find Obsidian fans incredibly obnoxious. Apparently disliking one of their titles without being braindead/untermensch is impossible? Puh-lease.

I honestly don't think the Infinity Engine games aged all that well in terms of looks.

Not exactly. They can easily go for higher polys models, paint them over to get a consistent look instead of using textures, possibly implement animated effects, etc. I still don't think pre-rendered has an edge over 2d, but it's not taht simple.

Infinity Engine style can mean many things.. you can ideally do an Infinity Engine game in full 3d.

Sure, no problem.

It's not about being the strongest, it's about not having a couple of characters or more go on auto-play because most people obviously don't find that very interesting. And I'm not sure what the animations have anything to do with it. You can easily have different/less over-the-top animation/visual flair for abilities with the same tactical purpose.

The dwarf might be 3d but the rest is cropped concept art. This mock-up has the 3d models, and you can clearly see the polygons, etc. Still doesn't look bad, mind you, but you're misrepresenting how a 2.5d game would look by using that screenshot to prove a point.

I don't see why old-school dinosaurs would be against having fighters actually have tactical options that go beyond how you equip them. That's one of the things I enjoyed of Dragon Age: Origins, with all the limits that ruleset and combat system had.

You're framing the issue disingenuously. The problem isn't sexy women, but treating female characters as eye-candy for the male audience. That's also why guys usually have big, stylized armor: they're also meant to titillate male fantasies, except they're fantasies of power rather than of sex. There is, of course, a lot more nuance when it concerns art direction, the tone of the setting, whether it's meant to be serious or a parody of established conventions, etc. but that's the very very rough, simplified description of the problem.

Like a mock-up concept art that doesn't even feature 3d models? O_o' EDIT: Ah, I see you've added a Bastion screenshot. I guess that kinda fits, though Bastion went with a 3d model turned into a sprite only because of manpower/time problems with making the sprites, and doesn't really use it to its full potential (the character's visual customization is very limited, and it probably would have fit the art style better if they went full 2d).

I've always advocated for more environmental interaction in fantasy RPGs/dungeon crawlers, but I'm not sure an Infinity Engine-style game would work well with stuff like Diablo 3 jumping.

I've been told about pre-rendered handpainted backgrounds, but nothing about 2d characters. I'm going to assume they'll go full 3d for them, much much easier.

I don't agree with Feargus there, some RPGs *are* about the setting (Fallout series for example, or Arcanum). That said, J.E. Sawyer already wrote a bunch of blog posts that should hint at the direction they're going for, and I'm not particularly worried: http://forums.obsidi...-better-worlds/ http://twofoldsilenc...s-deal-was.html Relevant quote (IMO): [

Considering the Infinity Engine/old-school feel they're going for, I'd enjoy a hybrid between Arcanum/Fallout's maps and the skill usage/additional mechanical layer we saw in Storm of Zehir.

You can make a great RPG that has Wasteland-tier graphics, but I'm sure that's not the goal