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Obsidian’s 10th Extra Life Anniversary

Ieo

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Everything posted by Ieo

  1. Ieo
    And I just assumed they would all be XL. Geez, it'd be nice to be able to choose, but I don't know if Obsidian can handle that since screen-printing typically requires large minimum orders, so having a whole bunch in each sizing tier from S-XXXL.... But I suspect they'd be able to sell the leftovers after KS "easily." (And POD is absolutely not an option! They fade so quickly.)
  2. Ieo
    Edit: Because trying to type before bed is silly and I misread stuff even more. I get excited in the moment for any of the stuff. Since I can't answer the first part, the second part is heavy/medium. For the third part, I'm between 3-4-5 (depending on what we're getting for our player house, I tend to be a packrat anyway). Lore is the best--I really liked reading the background bits in BG. The bonus items in BG2 from PS:T were the best.
  3. Ieo
    I couldn't decide between #1 and #4 for the first part, then picked all of them in the second part for except VA/art/graphics/particles. I figure the base graphical quality is going to be a bit better better than the old IE games anyway, but I still liked those. A mod toolkit is a good idea given the discussion in the other threads about it, but it sounds like a tricky thing to promise at this point before development has even started, according to the U12 video. Obsidian already said they're not doing MP/co-op.
  4. Ieo
    The predicament then is--present a stretch goal within the next couple weeks and thus introduce the expectation for mod tools, or stick with the original plan of waiting for another year or so to see where development goes with the risk of somehow not having enough resources for the player tools (additional licensing? I dunno). I understand Obsidian has thought about this a little but is placing it on the back burner to give priority to the main vanilla game, which is all well and good--I think the vast majority of players appreciate a clear, high-quality goal... But given that players know the engine being used and its capabilities for player tools, I wonder if Obsidian needs to seriously consider moving the priority forward for future planning purposes.
  5. Ieo
    It would make sense that there wouldn't be boxed sets after the Kickstarter because (1) the physical materials and shipping would be prepaid by KS backers and (2) creating the boxed sets and any other swag after KS is risky because they require the manufacturing costs and storage and shipping labor and fees, and there's no guarantee that Obsidian can earn back those costs. Edit: Of course, if there are extras after KS, I expect Obsidian would be able to sell them at a premium...
  6. Ieo
    Did you try playing BG on the easy setting and using all or most of the available combat autopause features? There are also special AI scripts, although I can't remember them off the top of my head at the moment (like attack caster first, I think). I'll be honest; given that PE is supposed to pay homage to the IE gameplay styles, I recommend you try again--the isometric party tactical combat style is a major part of the marketing, and with a party of 6, I expect players used to the newfangled 3-4 party 3D cinematic auto-do-everything-for-you games will have trouble at first, but pause is the key power that the player has. PE will have an "easy" difficulty level somewhere, but they haven't determined exactly where that will be; I rather expect it to be similar to the IE games' "easy" difficulty. Planescape:Torment has the same basic combat structure but the UI is different and the game can be played almost entirely without combat (like 4 required combat areas last I read). From what we know about PE so far, the devs do intend to allow players to skip at least some combat using dialogue and depending on other factors. In the old IE games, you just click a party member, click an action you want him/her to do (e.g. a spell) and then click the target you want the member to do it on (if the action requires a target). It doesn't get easier than that. If you're a reader and you haven't played PS:T yet, I highly recommend it.
  7. Ieo
    Well, given the development pedigree and the intended target audience, I don't think Obsidian is considering MMO "roles" in place of the traditional D&D "roles" with which the IE players are familiar... Still, it's a good thing for Obsidian to keep in mind while developing their companions+classes--there should be some flexibility in implementation, because with the limited number of companions on the board, being stuck with "ideal" combat groups can greatly decrease the combinations of companions we might want to have around for storytelling purposes. This is also a good argument for multiclass/hybridization--in the MMO, to not be pigeonholed in a pure combat role, and in SP games to allow flexibility alongside my chosen companions, whether or not our companions themselves could be re-classed (e.g. so many people dual-classed Imoen to mage).
  8. Ieo
    Tim Cain had nothing to do with Baldur's Gate. I'm pretty sure you're thinking of Feargus. Tim *created* Fallout, Arcanum and was the Project Lead/Lead Designer of TOEE, which is the single best D&D implentation to date (as in gameplay systems/combat). Which is why I'm regarding him as a CRPG designer even more important than Avellone and Sawyer. And why this is a incredible trifecta. Ah crap, why is the edit window so short. Factual! Error! Suck!
  9. Ieo
    This is a contentious topic if people had to choose between which they prefer more. BG1 or BG2? Some prefer the first while others prefer the second. It may be a little disappointing going back to the first since you're played the second as the mystery and intrigue of who you are is gone. My preference is BG1 with its simplicity and feel D&D is at its best with low level 1-8 characters where you're dreaming about high level powers. The thing is, original BG1+TotSC suffered from some gameplay issues that were addressed in BG2's interface and mechanics. I didn't replay BG1 much for those reasons, despite that a BG2 engine port mod thing existed (such effort ). But BG:EE not only will have BG2's engine but lots of fixes and a decent amount of new content. The only downside to playing BG:EE before BG2-enhanced is released is that the new BG1 NPCs won't exist in BG2 if you import across the games for a complete experience. BG1 does hold a special place in my heart despite its flaws, though. I actually think now it was hilarious that my PC had 6 hit points starting out of Candlekeep--the threat of death was very real and I feared to cross just the first map! The level cap was merely level 7 or something and the gear spread wasn't stupid. And I thought the storyline was good too, with enough complexity (ToB was the weakest link for me, but the closure is still nice).
  10. Ieo
    Oh, is this a cleverly disguised request to add Android/iOS/etc. tablet support? No. PE is PC only. Obsidian has reiterated this. As for older machines--dude, I have absolutely no doubts that if PE were to be released yesterday, all our systems could play it. In 2014, the question is moot. For more content? They're already skipping stupid cinematics and 3D cut-scenes talking heads and MP and full VA. What they're going for should be good. The ONLY real concern is scaling up pre-rendered backgrounds for much higher screen resolutions.
  11. Ieo
    Virtually all the devs involved with PE have been involved in other games that cover the gamut. For example, Josh Sawyer on IWD's great mechanics, Chris Avellone on PS:T's ridiculously good writing, and while I'm not sure just how much dev input they had with Baldur's Gate, Obsidian/Interplay (Tim Cain) published BG so they must have had some input for the product to have panned out the way it did. They can make the Holy Trifecta work together because they don't have to worry about the larger publishers of current passive gaming audiences trying to cater to only one type (e.g. dungeon hack) and because they're stripping out those items that add giant budget requirements---full VA work, cut-scene cinematics, 3D talking heads, multiplayer.... and marketing (marketing costs can be ridiculous--twice the budget of actual development for some current AAA 3D games). Just remember--the people at Obsidian has been in the gaming industry for a very long time, so they're very much aware of budget limitations on various aspects of content development; that they decided to make the Kickstarter a $1.1m minimum target means that's what they analyzed as possible even for that combination of Great Stuff.
  12. Ieo
    So you would say Baldur's Gate Enhanced instead of BG2? Because isn't the sequel the one reveres as the better one? I have played BG2 but never the first one, so it might be cool to experience BG:E BG:EE is BG1 plus TotSC (which includes Durlag's Tower, my favorite dungeon ). I agree with the others who've suggested it because the interface will be like BG2 with enhancements and fixes, especially if you haven't played BG1 yet.
  13. Ieo
    I'll be replaying BG(EE) and PS:T myself. And trying out ToEE for the graphics since we know the rendering is using the same technique. Repurchased PS:T and got ToEE from GOG for easy access.
  14. Ieo
    I rather like the overall micromanagement/AI combination in BG (though I didn't do the more custom AI scripts), but the inventory thing always bugged me. It was worse in BG1 because going into inventory unpaused the game during combat! It's true that having limited inventory per character is realistic, but having to manage the consumables/ammo among the party was annoying to me.... It's one thing I did like about DA's shared inventory setup--I didn't have to worry about different characters suddenly running out of stuff in the middle of combat and then having to drag-n-drop things across characters. I'd rather be deciding which enemy to attack with what spell or something. I wouldn't mind a hybrid inventory system of some kind, where we still have our static character-specific inventory and quick-slots but maybe 1-2 special 'shared' quick-slots only for consumables like potions/ammo. But the option of having everyone's inventory open at the same time, like pausing in the middle of combat to redistribute potions, would greatly increase convenience as well.
  15. Ieo
    Ah, noted on the lever thing. I know there's been a fair bit of discussion on the specific gun mechanics, but I kind of glazed over there. And given the sample above, I just realized something.... Is that a whole sheet of concept Cadegunds? *squint* Plenty of obvious boob plate options, and dear goodness, one with a bare midriff... But it looks like they went with the lower right-most sample. The upper left corner looks great to me too (is that a super long braid I spot?), and the middle top row for a lighter geared version. I wonder if the detail here is roughly what we'd see in-game.
  16. Ieo
    Is there really anything left to discuss since Obsidian already made the choice? This thread sounds like arguing against classes now that Update #12 has been released. And isometric party-based was set in stone at the beginning. "Camera has been confirmed as static, though probably zoomable" according to Known Information thread. :/ Time to install ToEE...
  17. Ieo

    Ieo

    Your +3 arrows have no effect!

    1. Osvir

      Osvir

      -Your- +3 arrows have no effect!

    2. Ieo

      Ieo

      A gazebo does not deign to use puny projectile weapons of minimal mass.

  18. Ieo
    From what I understand, Black Isle was actually one of the publishers for the BG series alongside* Interplay. That means they most likely did have some say in the execution of the product, but who knows to what extent. *I have absolutely no idea how this would work. So confusing. For all the evils that we ascribe to publishers (games, books, music, whatever), we certainly wouldn't have seen so many of the great products that did manage to make it out to the public. I'm grateful to Black Isle/Interplay for publishing Baldur's Gate (despite the whole lawsuit mess that gave BG to Atari). I'm grateful to Hasbro for taking a huge risk on PS:T, a very experimental game at the time and even now. Of course, times change and so do companies. The companies moved on to target other audiences, so we're moving on. Project Eternity elicits a sort of hope in me that's strong enough to overpower the supreme disappointment I experienced with DA:O. Fingers crossed.
  19. Ieo
    That's interesting. Having preset conditions instead of constantly using the spacebar to pause sounds like a good option. There were a fair number of auto-pause combat conditions in Baldur's Gate. Enemy Sighted Weapon Unusable Character Hit Character Death Character's Target Destroyed Trap Found Spell Cast And any others I might've missed. I always went with Weapon Unusable (typically out of ammo) and Spell Cast (easier to manually chain spells without losing too much time). Everything else I managed with manual pause in combination with specifically chosen AI scripts. My friends ended up using most of the autopause options. Options are good.
  20. Ieo
    I hope that doesn't mean too much micro management, and that they can handle their inventories on their own if you so please. Or better yet, have a large shared party inventory, instead of being split between multiple characters. I hope it does mean a lot of micro management if you want to. I think the micromanagement aspect sounds highly tunable--but this depends heavily on the AI options for the party members (scripting choices, etc.), which is the other side of the discussion. For player control, the finer auto-pausing options sound great to me.
  21. Ieo
    It looks like mod capabilities are still very much up in the air according to Update #12. So we'll have to sit tight... I would suggest pro-modders maintain discourse during the development period as a reminder, but not harrassing, and Obsidian is aware of the conversation about it.
  22. Ieo
    Option to turn it off would be required. I personally hated it because I'm staring at the screen to micromanage everything and then the screen shake would be disorienting for a moment--even a moment of lost combat flow not of my choosing (as opposed to manual pause) is annoying. For crits in BG, I liked the foe-shaped chunky bits as a visual cue and the party NPC battle cry to match. That was enough for me.
  23. Ieo
    The class-NPC-role connection makes perfect sense. I prefer skill-based for PC, but it wouldn't work for the world intentions. But I do hope multiclass will somehow make it in, OR there is at least 1-2 classes with some 'hybrid' utility. I almost always dual/multi class or hybridize... It's also a good way to balance if a party mix is weird but you really want specific companions in your party.
  24. Ieo
    I have to agree with this. I hate DLC games because the business is never encouraged to ship a game with as much content as reasonably possible. A story-driven SP game like PE must ship as complete and at peak quality as possible. Mods add flavor, may be used to balance unintended mechanics effects or add specific challenges, add convenience for more replayability (e.g. Chateau d'Irenicus), and of course add pure content. Some mods serve a critical purpose in extending game content to audiences that were not addressed in the base game (e.g. translation). Good examples are the BG2 romances. There were three for a male PC and only one crappy one for female PCs. I mean, Anomen. I haven't played the BG2 romance mods intended to address the lack of options for female PCs, but I definitely see their use in this case. I thought I read somewhere that the Unity engine has support for player modding tools? That's the ultimate determining factor, though.
  25. Ieo
    No boob plate. (You'd have to see the before/after.) No spiky things. No oversized pauldrons and whatnot. Josh said that she's wearing an arming cap, which is fitting. Specifically, I'll repeat my reaction here: I assumed the stuff under the plate wasn't chain but some kind of leather. There's a good amount of no-nonsense vibe in the overall design but a few touches that definitely give the set more personality. The only thing I'm concerned about is manual dexterity in handling the gun/blunderbuss/thing using fully armoured fingers--I'd prefer a leather glove under a non-articulated steel demi-gauntlet. However, this is just concept art; we wouldn't be seeing that kind of detail in-game, so whatever!
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