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Jymm

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About Jymm

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  1. I see no harm in putting up additional stretch goals. I have to believe that seasoned devs like Obsidian know what they would have to ask for in resources to pay for the additional work. They won't risk their existing scope and quality for this. If their pitch is strong then people will vote with their wallets. If the pitch is weak then we won't fund the request and no change happens. I understand it may mean some small extension of release date, and if so I can live with that if it means I'm getting even more game for my money. That's my take, anyway.
  2. Now that I've gone and said that, I remembered a question I had much earlier in development. How does the time commitment to keep backers informed and energized compare with the time commitment to keep a traditional publisher informed and committed to your project?
  3. Greetings. I don't post much, but I read every update. And I loved this update. I love the "behind the curtain" development stuff and its one of my favorite things about the new crowd-funding culture. I've backed about 8-10 different projects and you guys are second only to maybe Star Citizen for the quality and consistency of content for backers during production. And even those guys are more slick marketing and less real-world details than PE. I appreciate how much effort this really takes, as I've seen these kinds of things in my own work. Having Brandon spell it out so all can see that an update like this is 7 hours of someone's dedicated time - time away from working on the game itself - just drives it home even more. Such communication and connection to backers is a major commitment. I appreciate that Obsidian is making that commitment. So if it means we have to wait just a little longer or fund you just a little higher to see the thing through, then count me in. Thanks for the great update(s) and keep 'em coming!
  4. Loggin' in special today just to say: this stronghold looks BADASS. Thanks Tim.
  5. I obviously haven't been on here much and haven't kept up with this particular raging debate, but I do read every update. And I admit I groaned a little when I saw the durability mechanic. But I trusted the designers to test it and make the most of it. Having just read Josh's follow up saying they were removing the mechanic and the skill, I'm absolutely impressed. A reasoned discussion of why the system was created, and an incisive, specific decision on how to tweak it in response to feedback. THIS is why kickstarter is the way to go. We could never have this kind of dialog on a publisher-funded game. I couldn't be more pleased with how this process is going, and of all the KS games I've funded (about 8-10) Obsidian are doing the best job of communicating with the fans / backers so far. Hats off to you guys.
  6. I thought the video was extremely impressive. The only part I found noticeably distracting was the blur on the character crossing the stream and Josh said its a compression artifact, so no worries. Honestly, if the game looked exactly like this I would not issue one complaint on release. I completely respect the opinions of everyone who wants to tweak 85% perfect to make it 99% perfect. That's a laudable goal. But this is still a relatively low budget title. I'd prefer they get to 95% on gameplay and story elements, personally. (Yes, I realize its different staff, but it all comes out of the budget at some point.) So with my 1 / 73,986 vote I say: do that. Just do exactly that, and keep going. And thanks Josh for coming in to discuss the feedback. Its so very different than any publisher funded game. You'd be sued for showing and talking this much about your secret unnanounced, unconfirmed game this early in development.
  7. Somebody should definitely repost this poll so it makes sense. I confess I like to level the characters myself for customization. I would live with them being autoleveled to an appropriate set of abilities. It does make sense for immersion / story, and its not a dealbreaker unless they have a terrible spec build.
  8. I'm ignoring your flames and going back to the original post. Agreeing with what seems to be the consensus: 1. A main plot that is time-limited is in direct conflict with a game that encourages exploration and is content-rich with sidequests. Thus a bad fit for what most of us are expecting from PE. 2. its freaking annoying when NPCs claim that X peril is happening now and we are free to ignore it indefinitely. What's the point of having them say it? The world feels less real, the consequences of my heroism feel less... well... heroic. So time limits are common sense in places. Some of those places might even be part of the main quest so long as it doesn't preclude us from experiencing certain content because we're rammed into a plot tunnel. 3. Wherever time is limited or action needs to be taken, it should be clear. Where you are free to roam, that should also be clear. Simple enough.
  9. I have to admit, I hate this idea. And yes, I do at times also participate in the bioware forums. One of my great frustrations with traditional P&P roleplaying is when a great idea goes down to exceptionally poor die rolls. This feels like that result. Once I figured out that choice results were random I would end up either a) reloading every situation 25 times to see what outcomes were possible or b) quitting the game for good because nothing I choose to do matters. Probably option a for an evening or two then direct to option b. No offense at all intended, its a novel idea and I appreciate you proposing it. But if I find out a game does this, I am flat out not buying it.
  10. Like many here I think ideas 1,2, and 4 are great. I particularly like games that allow you to rest until X where X is an obvious time that you would want to do something, like dawn, midday, dusk, midnight. I personally don't care about day / night being the same length of time, but I agree that them lasting 10 minutes of realtime is obnoxious. I would love to see seasons done artfully in a game, but that will only matter if the story they intend to tell lasts a whole year. Maybe PE is the right game to finally do this, or maybe its not. I'd leave that up to the devs to figure out. All-in-all, another sensible, not at all psycho post. I think your screen name is ill-conceived, PsychoBlonde.
  11. I like the minigame method fine in solitary games like Skyrim or Alpha Protocol. In those games it breaks the montony of shooting or slicing things. But the IE games don't fit that schema for me. Party balance requires lockpicking characters to be useful. If I can compensate with player skill (or totally suck at it and ruin my badass rogue's reputation) then it messes with the entire party dynamic.
  12. Ditto KaineParker. I voted "yes", but barely. Managing material components is obnoxious busy work, IMO. But having some powerful spells which require specialized or even unique ingredients is the stuff of legend. That part is cool.
  13. I agree with others here that the best thing is to make a new estimate now-ish based on the current scope expectations, team size, etc Then if they think they need to adjust the target adjust it now. But deadlines serve a key purpose as do the milestones along the way. I think they get that.
  14. Its not just the hair. Its the hair and the eyes. I don't mind the old guy thing. I can live with the stereotypical bare chest and baggy pants. The scars and the tattoo are OK. But the hair is just incredibly dorky. And the eyes look sort of sad and defeated. Its incongruous with the hardened body and the defiant stance. Anyone who has fought long enough to make that age and had their body take that much abuse should have eyes that convey steely resolve and / or otherworldly wisdom. Luckily its just concept art. I've seen enough of the concept art for game characters to know that there are often many changes (some subtle, some dramatic) before the character is fully realized.
  15. I agree that this particular scene veers over into melodrama, but I did like the setup. If Connor's mom hadn't had such a lackluster voiceover (rare for Bioware, at least anymore) it might have worked even a little better. And yes, there is an "optimal" solution where nobody loses. And knowing its there actually diminishes the impact of the whole affair, IMO. I may prove to be in the minority on the board potentially, but I think Bioware has done a number of quality plots and scenes that worked emotionally at least for me. One problem if you were trying to slap Roger Ebert with them though is that the best ones all require major setup. Mordin's sacrifice only means something because you have dozens of hours with that character, many of them hilarious. So you remember the character fondly. You understand his underlying moral conflicts. You realize his age and how he has few years left and looks back on all the things he's done. You need all that experience to make that one scene hit home. Just posting a single clip on YouTube couldn't possibly make that work. Its like trying to post just a clip of the end of GodFather 2 where Fredo goes out in the boat and gets shot and saying "OMG, so moving!" You need the entire previous film series to build the weight of that moment. They've also done some good uplifting emotional bits at various points. There are big ones like the entire Tuchanka bit after you cure the genophage, assuming you have the right charcters in play there for it to feel like the rebirth of a species. There are smaller ones too. One of my personal favorites is in ME2 when harassed by the reporter about the choice to sacrifice human ships in defense of the council. If you take the paragon option Shepard interrups and recites every ship that was lost and the casualties of all the races in that battle with this pride and indignation that just swelled in her voice. I was like "YES! Eat it, you idiot! You don't understand one thing about this war." I get goosebumps even now remembering it. Maybe you thought it was dumb. But it worked for at least one person who played the game. And incidentally, I can't imagine how that scene works without full voiceover. So I think the way you work your narrative magic is dependent on the medium you're using. Fundamentally I agree (again) with PsychoBlonde. You have to throw a number of things at the wall and see which ones stick for which players. I can personally say that some of the plots about losing children, even some of the cheap ones, had much more impact on me personally once I had children of my own. So some things will work better on different players and its a big diverse world. (But that stupid child at the beginning of ME3 as far as I can tell works on no-one.)
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