Piccolo

I'm fine with ambient voices, but anything more than that isn't an improvement at all. Voiced dialogue is possibly the worst thing to happen to RPGs. Written dialogue allows for a LOT more content, better stories, and more fleshed out NPCs Like a book, it leaves a lot more to your imagination (partly why people often say the book is better than the film adaptation) Written dialogue is much easier to edit - not only for developers, but for modders as well In my opinion, written dialogue is actually more immersive than voiced dialogue, because you don't have NPCs spouting the same generic sentences over and over, or recycled voices There's simply no justification for voiced dialogue. Why pay a ton of money just to make the game significantly worse? Just because younger gamers are too accustomed to voiced dialogue?

It'll be interesting to see how that dungeon statue looks in-game. If they stick closely to the concept art, then only a small section of it will be visible at any time. Without obvious features such as eyes or a mouth, it might even be difficult to identify it as a statue of a person in-game.

Do they? I've seen a lot of backers who have absolutely no experience whatsoever with this kind of game. I expect a lot have backed it purely because they're fans of Obsidian and games like Fallout:NV. I also expect a lot have backed it just because it's a fantasy RPG, even though fantasy RPGs can be drastically different in terms of style and developement goals. Their only experience with RPGs could have come from games like Skyrim, Dragon Age 2, or Fable III, yet they could swarm on these forums making all kinds of requests and suggestions that would be more detrimental to the game than good. As much as I trust Obsidian not to sell out or appeal to a broader audience, I think you underestimate the influence tens of millions (as far-fetched as that scenario is) would actually have on the project. I also think you slightly underestimate the role of backers in a Kickstarter project. Sure, the developers aren't forced to listen to everything the community says; but it's naive to think that they don't feel a lot of pressure to meet all the expectations of the people they're asking money from.

I don't want dinosaurs. I think they'd spoil the setting.

A couple of million more = good. Significantly more than that = potentially bad, because of the reasons i've already stated. Getting paid up front doesn't change that.

Pfft. You need a facebook account to type comments? Quick, someone ask him some interesting questions.

More money doesn't always = a better game. I'd much rather have a $3.5 million game aimed at a specific niche audience (PC RPG fans) than a $20 million game aimed at everyone with a gaming platform. If Project Eternity somehow generated the kind of hype a game like Skyrim received, and millions started pouring in, I think the devs would feel some pressure to not only justify the extra money with features that typically ruin RPGs (like fully voiced dialogue), but also pressure to make the game appeal to a broader audience. They're already experiencing some pressure just trying to appeal to a small bunch of cRPG fans who disagree on issues like turn-based combat vs RTwP and cooldowns. Just imagine the headache they'd have if the project gained a widespread following. I don't think there is any reason to 'fear' the kickstarter suddenly going up by millions of dollars. Also it's perfectly possible there's a few kids* on IGN etc, who are to young to have been introduced to the old IE games but who would have enjoyed them if they had and who could be interested in PE. Not saying they are any significat portion of those sites readership but even if they're only a fraction of a percent they wouldn't be insignificant. *I don't mean this in a pejorative sense, I was a kid when I first played Torment. Of course not. I'm just speculating that if it did somehow generate enough hype to start going up by millions, it wouldn't necessarily be a good thing.

More money doesn't always = a better game. I'd much rather have a $3.5 million game aimed at a specific niche audience (PC RPG fans) than a $20 million game aimed at everyone with a gaming platform. If Project Eternity somehow generated the kind of hype a game like Skyrim received, and millions started pouring in, I think the devs would feel some pressure to not only justify the extra money with features that typically ruin RPGs (like fully voiced dialogue), but also pressure to make the game appeal to a broader audience. They're already experiencing some pressure just trying to appeal to a small bunch of cRPG fans who disagree on issues like turn-based combat vs RTwP and cooldowns. Just imagine the headache they'd have if the project gained a widespread following.

I hate mini-games.

No, and thank god. Having a reputation system is so much better.

Not long either until 20k likes on facebook, and level 8.

I'm a little bit underwhelmed by what i've seen so far. The impression I get is that they're just making words up as they go along, often with very distinct similarities to a mixture of Earth languages. It would certainly be nice to have some proper, unique fantasy languages in the game, as that kind of thing (along with having some really well thought out of lore) can make a world feel alive and believable - not to mention much more memorable, if place names and such really sound distinct from Earth. That would be very cool indeed... especially if our characters had to take the time to learn a certain language in order to interact with a group of NPCs. It's something i've always wanted to see in a fantasy RPG, but as far as I know, it's only ever been touched on very lightly.

Do we really want publicity from sites like IGN? Without sounding like an elitist jerk, I really doubt the majority of IGN's readers have the capacity to appreciate a good cRPG. They'll just try and twist the project in a horrible direction with incessant cries for stuff like console support, mountable dragons, and multiplayer. Some more exposure on youtube wouldn't hurt though. You do sound like an elitist jerk, though It goes without saying that sites of this sort have a huge reach and a large following - even if only a small percent of their target audience would be interested in P:E, it would still result in a huge amount of new backers. I just think too much widespread attention can sometimes do more harm than good. There's the risk that it'll put pressure on the developers to design the game for a broader audience, thus resulting in an inferior product for people who actually like cRPGs.

Do we really want publicity from sites like IGN? Without sounding like an elitist jerk, I really doubt the majority of IGN's readers have the capacity to appreciate a good cRPG. They'll just try and twist the project in a horrible direction with incessant cries for stuff like console support, mountable dragons, and multiplayer. Some more exposure on youtube wouldn't hurt though.

The big head in the updated concept art makes me think of the film Prometheus a little bit. Interesting idea though... and it looks like there's going to be a lot of lore behind the dungeon.

It's trending towards around 3.1m at the moment. I don't think that takes into consideration last day surges though, or paypal... so I think 3.6m-3.7m is a realistic outcome.

So you're thinking that this announcement might create a big surge in donations with just 4 days left? If it were to happen, then I really underestimated this project... not to say that what they have already done is incredible. Based on how kickstarters usually work, I think a big surge near the end was inevitable anyway. But having the goal there and releasing that screenshot should certainly help things along a bit. If I were to make a prediction now on what they'll end up with, i'd say somewhere between 3.6 and 3.7m.

I think reaching 3.5m is still very possible. Just wait and see what happens.

It looks amazing. Better than I was expecting. And I actually really love the slightly less top-down angle than the IE games. I think the people who are unsure just need to get used to it.

Great update. Very happy about the 3.5m goal, and that screenshot is beautiful - better than I had hoped.

The Guildmaster is typing...

I think a mix is good. I don't want too many monsters in the game though. I think I appreciate them more when there's only a few in the world, that are whispered about by NPCs and mentioned in lore books, but really rare to actually encounter.

What do I prefer? A healthy balance of both, ideally. I don't want an ocean with the depth of a puddle... but at the same time, I think there's such a thing as trying too hard or putting too much emphasis on choices and consequences. What do I feel they should focus on now with PE? Hard to say really, without knowing what size gameworld they already have planned, or just how many meaningful choices / consequences they plan to include. I'm inclined to say go for a bigger gameworld with the stretch goals though, because I would imagine choices and consequences would be one of their top priorities anyway for the base game.

Agreed. I like the new logo, but for a t-shirt, I think I prefered the ouroboros design. Have Obsidian even made an official statement on why they changed the logo? Some have speculated that it might have something to do with TES:O (which I highly doubt). A more likely reason is they no longer feel that ouroboros fits with the story / setting they're going for.