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rf5111918
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Posts posted by rf5111918
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(Also where's your developer tag. *Kickstart* someone on monday for it )
Haha, you know, I've worked at Obsidian for almost three years, and I still have now idea how I could get one of those tags!
So now we know what to expect.
Now now, I didn't say that
I just said it's my favorite game soundtrack of all time. April 2014 is a long way away...Morrowind's soundtrack, in my opinion, was superior to both Oblivion's and Skyrim's.
The word you used, haunting, is a great description.
Soule also had a piece in KOTOR, "Dantooine" that I also thought really fit the mood well.
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Ben Houge, I think the Arcanum soundtrack was a masterpiece - and it stands out because it's not the typical bombastic wagnerian fantasy stuff with choirs and whatnot... I don't get why people love the Skyrim bombast, and Dragon Age had nothing memorable to me. I loved the intimity of a real string quartet in Arcanum, and it's the only game music I ever burned on a CD to listen to on the stereo. That said, the Soundtrack of the two Neverwinter Nights expansions was really good too.
There's something just so haunting about the Arcanum soundtrack. And it just fit so perfectly with the Victorian-era/steampunk feel of the game.
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The Viconia romance in BG2 was one of my favorites because if you chose the right options with her, you could actually change her alignment over time in the expansion. That was cool. I don't think I have seen it replicated since.
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Source: http://www.eurogamer...14-release-date
Important bits I picked up:
1.) Cain: "We have an engine already..."
2.) Josh is project lead, Cain is prog and mechs, Chris will "be doing writing on this project" (unclear to what extent that means).
3.) They are interested in doing multiplayer but unsure if they can swing it.
4.) Cain: "[PE] will have guns"
Clarifies a few points people have been asking about but have been lacking a definite answer. That said, opens up more questions about the engine for me...
I am so glad that the Obsidian forum moderators aren't like the satanic overlords in the Bioware forums who lockdown any thread that doesn't automatically fawn over the majestic masterpieces that is Dragon Age and Mass Effect.
I have to say I am pretty impressed by how quickly some of the questions I had about the game were answered. The Obsidian team seems a heck lot more responsive to feedback than Bioware.
They actually listen!
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They should have just announced the whole Kickstarter thing on Monday.
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1. QA is usually done by the publisher. Make of that what you will.
2. I don't remember Double Fine having that much of an info after three days. When they started it, they had about as much info as Obsidian has right now (I might be wrong about this). I don't think they even had any kind of stretch goals. InXile announced the engine they're using on Wasteland 2 month or two after the kickstart. Obsidian put up their kickstart on Friday and did not expect this to get funded as fast as it did. They even went to work on weekend just so they get their stretch goals up when people demanded those. It's only been 3 days. I know where you are coming from but have a little patience.
3. What's the hurry with paypal? First they had to secure that the game is funded via Kickstarter. It's coming. That $30 shipping for $500+ rewards was kind of weird but I think I read somewhere that it was an error. And they did fix it so why complain? As for the multilingual thingy for Europeans... Well, I'm European (someone might have figured it out from my not-always-so-good-grammar) and I think that is just a waste of time. That probably is because they will never, ever release this game on my native language. But, once again, I know there are people who wants it and Obsidian has already said, they are looking for ways to translate this.
(Did Planescape: Torment even get released in other languages as English?)
tl;dr - Sit down and wait. All will be answered in time.
2. Yes, but Doublefine was also the first video game company to have that sort of success. They didn't anticipate that they were going to get 10 times the amount they asked for. I think Obsidian could have learned from Doublefine and anticipated coming up with the stretch goals ahead of time.
3. I am not necessarily complaining about issues like multilanguage and Paypal support and stretch goals as things that haven't been resolved. I am using them more as examples on why I have reservations on the level of organization. These are all issues that have arisen BEFORE in other Kickstarter Projects and it surprised me that Obsidian didn't anticipate and address them AHEAD of time.
There's a general set of questions that everyone usually asks for these Kickstarter video games: multiplatform support, multiplayer support, game distribution (Ie. Steam).
It's like going to an interview and not thinking about your questions and answers ahead of time.
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All valid points, the deadline being the most concerning. Most AAA games take between 3-4 yrs to develop.
This ain't an AAA title though, is it? Not in the overblown, over-hyped, uber-marketed CoD way I consider 'AAA.'
I paid $35.00 for a game up front. I don't suddenly feel like a shareholder, just a person who put his money where his mouth is. Over-entitlement is one of the most prevalent yet pointless features of these types of forums. I'm not saying *you* are, far from it, but we're heading slowly in that direction IMO.
I somewhat agree. But you are also paying for a game that you are going to be waiting 2 years or longer for. Ahead of time.
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I also agree. What I find equally troubling are some of the discussions not only on this forum, but also on the comments section of the Kickstarter page.
I read everything I could find on the web on Friday and Saturday before investing. I thought I had a pretty good idea of what they were interested in developing, but given some of the discussions taking place, I'm beginning to think I misunderstood (i.e., people wanting console support, multiplayer, full VO, Bioware staff, non-isometric view, horror, etc., etc., etc.....)
I was hoping to up my commitment from $140 to $250, but not as it stands. I need to know what their vision is for this game. If it's to truly embody the spirit and gameplay of the classics, I'm onboard. If it's going to be just another modern hybrid (DA:O), I'll pass.
I'm curious as to why Kickstarter comments make you afraid for those things. Obsidian will choose to listen to fan feedback at their discretion, but there is about 0.1% chance that they would do things like change real time with pause, 2D Isometric, or add full voice acting, multiplayer, Bioware staff, etc. The original vision they communicated to you remains the same; give us support, and we will make something our way, in this spirit. They never promised to do a 'democratic' everyone-designs affair, which would be terrible.
Anyway, we're at that kind of stage in time - give it a few days or weeks, they talk a bit more, and their idea of the game will set hold amidst all the excited talk.
I agree completely. AS LONG AS IT's NOT 3 DIFFERENT COLORED ENDINGS, I am cool.
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Information is a tricky thing. Often you can't just tell people everything because (1) they haven't decided yet; (2) they might want fan input before deciding; (3) it's not ready yet; (4) tell the fans everything there is about the game, and they'll just speculate themselves into a messy puddle of goo on the floor and not necessarily form good judgments. There's nothing worse than telling fans everything about your game every day or every week, then asking them "what do you think". All that will do is increase complaints and incorrect speculation and panic.
Actually, Double Fine and Wasteland 2 were pretty much the same. There's a lot more info now for W2 because it's been developing for a few months, but initially, it was all the same - this is us, this is our big vision, help us and there shall be marshmallows and fluffy bunnies in the skies. W2 didn't tell you what engine (they didn't have one), etc.
I would like more info as well, since Obsidian probably do know what engine they are using for example, but it's been 3 days, and for KS you can back out or change your pledge at any time for the next 30 days. They should and I'm sure they will provide more info in that time, but I think it needs to be at their own pace and discretion.
Those are really good points and I also want to thank you for starting that compilation topic for those of us who do want more information.
I don't really care as much about the gameplay. I am confident that will be excellent. I am just a little alarmed about more some of the technical and logistical aspects that don't seem to have been sorted out yet.
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I am sure this is going to be wildly unpopular, but I wanted to express some reservations about the Kickstarter project.
I backed the project the first day that it came out.
I have also played every single Black Isle, Obsidian, and Troika RPG game.
So I am a huge fan, and I hope that the game that comes out is going to be amazing and legendary and everything I hoped for, and end up more like the 1992 Olympics basketball "Dream Team" and not like the Philadelphia Eagles' "Dream Team" last year.
BUT, I am concerned about a few things:
1) Time to finish the project-the projected finish date for the Kickstarter project is supposed to be April 2014. Is that enough time for the team to finish the project? Obsidian has, unfortunately, a reputation for patches. I would rather have a realistic completion date up front rather than have a product that ends up being rushed out that's either buggy or missing substantial portions or a product that ends up being delayed anyway
2) I am not sure how much of the project has actually been started, again going back to the time restrictions. I backed the project without even looking at the sales pitch because of previous work done by the team. However, I have to say that I am uncomfortable without having a lot of information about the game. What Tim Schafer did with Project Doublefine was different. He was very upfront from the beginning that the project was going to be something that the backers and the development team would walk through together on. In fact, there is a documentary that is being filmed on the development process itself.
I may be unfairly comparing Doublefine's project with Project Eternity, but as a backer for Doublefine as well, I got a LOT of information from Doublefine about who was going to be on the team, what the concept art is, what the engine was going to be, etc... Doublefine communicated extremely well.
With Project Eternity, aside from a few concept art and a map, there's really not a lot of details on the engine. Right now, speculation is that it might be Onyx. Who's the art director for the project? Who's the composer? If Tim Cain, Chris Avellone, and Josh Sawyer are all involved in the project, what are their actual roles?
But that's something we "think", not something we know. You would think if you are asking for around 1 million dollars, that there would be something more substantial.
Why give an interviews to Gamebanshee with specific information about the game and then not put it on the Kickstarter page concurrently? It would only help backers learn more about the project.
3) Not having Paypal set up, originally asking $30 shipping for $5000 backers, not having more details on multilanguage support for the game.
Also, the stretch goals. It looks like the game leads got together over the weekend to talk about stretch goals after the Kickstarter's initial success? Why didn't they anticipate that this project was going to funded and make those stretch goals ahead of time?
We had to find out that the game was going have 3 races and 5 classes IN THE UPDATE. That information isn't even in the official Kickstarter Project announcement page.
I am surprised that a lot of these details weren't taken care ahead of time. Especially the mulitlanguage support, because a lot of Europeans have played Planescape and Icewind Dale. There's probably going to be less incentive for European backers to back a project if it's not going to be in their native language. What's the point of asking for $20 and $30 international shipping when you don't have multilanguage support??
4. Hugely paranoid on my part. But 9 job openings on the Obsidian website? Are they hiring for the project now?
This all seems...very disorganized to me and goes back to the whole time issue. How much has actually been completed? Because I don't realistically see how this is going to come out by April 2014 if they don't have some of the things I mentioned lined up already. I am just worried that I am setting myself for a disappointment.
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I think the general practice for those trolls was to just switch to any weapon that did a bonus point of fire or acid damage though, but either way I wouldn't really call it strategic or even tactical.
Anyhow, I personally recall playing BG2 making extremely sparing use of magic. Party composition was still fairly standard, but the way it worked out, I *never* used the rest function in a dungeon (or equivalent area), ever. If I ever played it again I probably wouldn't even think of restricting myself in that manner, but back then my playstyle was extremely cautious, exhaustive, and well, slow.
Anyway, if this post is all sorts of rambling, tangential stuff, it's mostly because I don't really have anything to say about the general subject - I anticipate that the way I'll be playing this game, most likely I will just try to get away with controlling my player character and letting the AI script do whatever it wants with my magic-wielding party members. Magic and music tend to be the least of my concerns with any game, really.
That said, I will make one exception where I do feel strongly detracts from a game: "Buff" magic. All this unfortunate tradition tends to be is to end up as a bit of a chore, all you're doing is managing uptime instead of making any interesting decisions. If there are to be any "buffs" implemented, and I sincerely hope not, at least making them passive abilities that are gained just by having a certain party member/class in your group.
I would call it tactical because nowadays some of the RPGs have devolved into people just hacking away at monsters. There isn't any real thought being placed on weaknesses and strengths. Whereas in Baldur's Gate 2, you had a much easier time battling the undead if you had "Turn Undead" and certain spells prepared ahead of time.
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Exactly, it kind of kills the immersion to the game when it's laid out so explicitly. And it ends up being annoying because you are so focused on juggling your party to make sure everyone likes you. You should be able to have the freedom to say what you want to say.
I think there could be some penalty, but not to the extent where it severely limits combat abilities.
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Having a toolset would be amazing. Some of the mods from NWN and Elder Scrolls are incredible.
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Ben Houge from Arcanum.
One of my favorite soundtracks.
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Please, make magic system deep, complex, and powerful. Spells should not be limited summon and direct damage. When in battle mage running around, waiting couples recharge direct damage spells - it is a bad system. Should be defence spell (not -15% from damage!) versus different threats, spell like time stop, teleport and so on.
I think the best magic system was in BG2. Please do no worse.
Sorry fo my bad English.
Agree completely. The more spells, the better. I loved the troll battle in BG2 where you first had to knock them down/disable them and then burn them with fire and acid. That involved strategy.
Please, please don't make it like Skyrim, where you can basically go through the entire game with a boring fireball spell.
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Whatever you may think of BioWare's romances, I'd put forward the whole genophage debate in the Mass Effect games as an example of mature gameplay I'd like to see more of. There was no moral absolute; it was up to the player to decide whether the genophage was rightfully used and whether it should be cured. If BioWare hadn't messed up the very end of the trilogy these would have been galaxy-changing decisions for the player to make with lots of complex ethical issues to consider.
It's pretty confusing that the word 'mature' is used to describe both a sophisticated understanding of complex issues and pictures of naked women. Let's hope Eternity is more focused on the former.
The genophage debate in Mass Effect was excellent. I thought the talk you had with Mordin was fantastic writing.
On the other hand of the spectrum, you had the writing in Dragon Age 2, which looked like it had been written by a college English major. Isabela's dialogue was particularly awful. Isabela was giving me her entire college thesis on postmodern feminist thought while I am running around in a medieval world fighting 10-foot tall giants with horns. Really???
The writing there actually made me enjoy the game a lot less because the companions' stories basically seemed to take precedence over your own. I felt like I was manipulated by Anders, and I didn't really have a choice in the end on what happened.
The same deal with Merrill, you couldn't really alter the ending in any way and I ended up feeling like an errand girl/boy for my companions.
The Dragon Age 2 companion stories, I think, got so large, that I think the main character's story got completely lost in the mix. Hawke's story ended up being completely forgettable.
I think the way Baldur's Gate 2 and Arcanum approached the companion stories was the right way to go about it.
I just said it's my favorite game soundtrack of all time. April 2014 is a long way away...
"Single-player gaming is our focus."
in Pillars of Eternity: General Discussion (NO SPOILERS)
Posted
Arcanum had multiplayer? Wow, I must have totally ignored that when I played it years ago. I didn't even touch multiplayer.