Jeime

Planescape: Torment

A huge YES to bringing George Ziets back to Obsidian from me too.

It's probably possible to make level scaling a beneift if used on a limited in some encounters if needed, but then again, where do you draw the line? Better get rid of it completely than risk screwing the whole game. Have plenty of level scaling misuse in all modern games already. So, no thanks.

Choice of the music direction really depends on what the game setting will turn out to be. We're kinda in the blue here for the moment. Must note that I really like the music piece that Justin did for the Kickstarter pitch video. That's some great stuff. That said, personally I would be intrigued in a collaboration: most of the music done in-house and an external composer writing several themes. That would be easier budgetwise probably and might add a certain flavor to the score. Also a big name would attract attention/pledges. Downsides are also obvious: collaboration is always tricky and it will be a challenge to get music done by different people to be... consistent = in the same vein. As for who could Obsidian bring in, well, I'd say that Jeremy Soule would be my favourite. I've been a long-term fan of his work and although I must admit that mr. Soule has demonstrated througout the years a somewhat limited range I firmly believe that within his area of expertise there's no one better. He's also a big name, probably the biggest the game industry can offer which has its pros and contras. Big name means it will require a solid chunk of the budget to bring him in but at the same time it will attract quite a number of people. After all, seriously folks, original Icewind Dale, NWN, Dungeon Siege, both Guild Wars, last three Elder Scroll games... IMO, think what you want about Skyrim but hey, it's a masterpiece of Howard Shore's LOTRO proportions.