Posbi

Can't hurt to try it.

If that really is the case - and I do admit it very much looks like it - they could have avoided that very well by exercising greater oversight over the project and lobbying for a later release date with EA. After the lacklustre response to DA II this should have been the prudent course.

Considering they were no longer calling the shots I'd say this is just a pro-forma step anyway. Bioware is just another EA division with a nice name stamp. Anyway, best of luck to both of them.

I'd say that's doubtful, especially if you don't have some prior writing chops to show them: a published novel maybe, some massive well-received fanfic, I don't know. Point is, they probably have enough capable writers already. Hey, not that I can't understand your desire, I'd take the job in a heart beat!

I really don't care, to be honest. Include into the story what fits the story and setting. If homosexual characters fit, include them. If not, do not include them. Simple as that. This isn't a Bioware-style dating simulator, after all.

I don't have any problems with them using arquebuses or early muskets as long as they realize that they are heavy, slow and not exactly accurate over longer distances. There should be advantages and downsides factored in. If you shoot at an enemy who is fifty meters away the penalties for this should be way higher with a firearm than with a crossbow or bow. However, if you shoot at an enemy who is only fifteen meters away the damage you do with your egg-sized projectile should be horrendous. Secondly, black powder should be an issue: do you have enough of it? Are you keeping it dry? Thirdly, is your firearm rifled or is it a smoothbore? The former would be more accurate but do less damage. The latter would be lucky to hit the broadside of a barn but do, well, the damage of a broadside. Ups and downs, people. Ups and downs.

My issue with formations is that they really didn't have any impact on combat. Please, change this to give combat a more tactical feel instead of it being just the usual brawl. If you're in a dungeon corridor give the fighter equivalents the ability to make a shield wall blocking enemies from flanking you. If you've got a ranged damage dealer - mage, ranger, thief with a crossbow - have them stay back automatically. If an enemy gets close to them, have them switch to melee weapons automatically (if you've given them some to begin with). As is the formations serve no purpose.

What Shadenuat said.

The OP's point wasn't about more information, but about the information we've got being presented in a way the lets the backers understand the weight of each stretch goal better.

None, and I'm damn happy about that.

How would this even be supposed to work? Do some of you honestly live under the impression that Bioware - or rather, EA - would just allow some of its core staff to help out a competitor? Seriously, guys, whatever they put in your breakfast, I want some of it. Because I don't get that delusional before having drunk a full bottle of whiskey...

Good lord, please this! Go with at least a semi-realistic look of things. I remember on thing that stopped me from getting Dragon Age 2 after playing the demo was this ridiculous Anime feel its clothes, armor and oversized weapons had. Please, Obsidian, don't go for 200 pound swords and spiky bikini chainmail armor!

I'm all for including an utilitarian approach rather than the "stupid evil" most "good vs. bad" choices nowadays seem to boil down in games. I hero taking an "the ends justify the means" path is something a mature RPG should factor in.

Regenerating health should be done slowly. I remember playing the old Realms of Arcania (Das Schwarze Auge) games on PC and their resting mechanic was basically that you ordered different party members to stand guard, had your priest/wizard aid in any healing process, had your wizard/alchemist search for herbs, had your ranger hunt for food etc. I guess what I mean is that if you have a "resting mechanic" you should be able to use it for a multitude of otherwise mundane things that still might help the party along. Throw in some random encounters/occurences along the way, too.

That'd be great as part of the setting, depending that's the kind of realism they want to go with.

Quite frankly I'd rather have a few well-developed companions with a limited number of well-developed races rather than have scores of them and have them be basically interchangeable. Secondly, keep the overall budget we know of in mind. Even BG2 did cost around $3.5 to make and that was ten years ago. The average A-list title costs usually around 8-12 million USD nowadays. Even if we assume that Obsidian is able to cut corners by using an existing engine and not being bound by the often absurd demands of publishers there are limits to what they can achieve with the projected budgets of Project Eternity. As such I'd rather have a small, well-made game than no game at all. As for the speed of the funding, it's normal for Kickstarter that new funding drops quite radically after the first few days and only picks up again during the last days of the Kickstarter. I'm rather confident that we'll get more than 2 million.

How about we all calm down, take a step back and wait until Obsidian actually gives us some solid info about the game itself. Once we've got something we can sink our teeth into the bitching may begin. Right now it's quite frankly an exercise in futility. WAIT TILL WE HAVE SOME INFO. The Kickstarter will run for another 30 DAYS. If at the end of this you're still disappointed you can cancel your pledge then. But for the love of God, give the guys at Obsidian some time to actually present their ideas.

Lore is the bread and butter of RPGs. And since this is going to be a completely new IP I'm all for getting as much lore as the game mechanics anc environment make possible without it being an avalanche drowning me.

I'm going to have to say "maybe" to this. Not to horror in general, but to most the points you listed. Horror, in my opinion, works best by twisting the ordinary situation people are confronted with every day. Dangerous to go with this unless its a main plot point. The Old Ones are a danger to existence as it is; they shouldn't be used lightly just for kicks. After the vampire craze of the past ten years I'd actually be happy not to see any more of them. This works fine with a mature setting, as shown by games going back as far as ULTIMA VII: THE BLACK GATE. And I'm sure Chris and the others could write some stomch-turning stuff there. Possible, but we know too little about the setting right now. Given the engine and perspective I doubt this could be done with the same effect on the player as a first-person perspective game would achieve. I just don't think you'd get an effective and atmospheric scare out of it. As for horror in general, I do believe it works best by scratching the paint off the facade of supposely normal peoples' lives. Contrary to you I think the tanner in BG2 worked very well in that regard. As such, my point on horror would be: cults and creepy people and the hidden darkness behind your neighbors' faces work well, monsters don't.

Just because there are some retarded ideas floating around doesn't mean Obsidian should shut their ears to the fans' input...

Personally I don't have a problem with using established fantasy races. Just because we know the species archetypes doesn't mean Obsidian cannot take them into a different direction. The Witcher and Dragon Age Origins did this rather well with their take on the Elves and - to a lesser degree - the Dwarves. There's no reason with Obsidian can't do something similar. Elves are the nature types? Fine, then make them hunter-gatherers who never progressed civilizationally and are therefor being pressed into niches more and more. A bit like the Native Americans vs. European colonists, maybe. Orcs are tough and brutish? Why not. Also, why not make them into a developed, highly militarized and stratified society then, like Rome? Take a new approach on old concepts. Quite frankly, I don't want you guys to re-invent the wheel. A nicely polished wheel with some new features will suffice completely,

Getting something like the Keep later in the game with an even intensified degree of responsiveniss compared to NWN2 would be awesome. Managing the keep, ordering the little side mission and meeting that other adventurer group were some of the highlights of that game. If it's possible to include something similar in principle I'm all for it.