pl1982

Thanks for the great update. Really liking all the classes revealed today. Paladin sounds very cool, and I love the fact that there are actually paladin orders that are more focused on the 'fanatic' side of being a paladin than on the good/noble side. Priests sound solid as well. Chanters: very cool and interesting; I really like how you implemented it with 'chant dancing' (akin to stance dancing using intricate overlapping mechanics). One thing I just want to mention that I would love is this: it would be very cool if we could actually discover somewhere in the game where those names of the chants originated from, either in some book or journal entry or even in the chant UI itself (akin to a spell description). That would be awesome. For example: 'Blessed Was Wengridh, Quickest of His Tribe'; it would be cool to somewhere actually discover who Wengridh and his tribe were and how this chant came to be. As for the spell effects: I have no problem with the overall look of these, but as some others have mentioned: the animation timing and quality still needs some work. Also: it would be good to actually see at least some sort of indication on the characters themselves that they are buffed (as in IE games); not every single buff needs to do this of course, but some of the 'major' buffs I believe should, even if it is just a little glow above their heads. That's about all the feedback I can muster now; thank you for the update. Really looking forward to the game.

Very happy about the pre-buffing change. That was the one thing that was always lame to me and actually felt cheap. Sadly, it was almost required for quite a few fights in BG/IWD series. So this is very well done, as long as it is balanced of course.

To be honest...I would not mind if the character progression system of PE is 99% akin to D&D3.5E. I personally think D&D third edition (and its extension 3.5) is an amazing system (far better than 2nd Edition). The only thing of D&D I would want changed (which they are doing anyway) is the Vancian system of magic. Other than that: Mr Sawyer and crew can copy D&D third edition all they like! The guys behind third edition knew what they were doing imho (feats, skill system mostly not tied to class, attribute progression system, DC20 & the structure of roll bonuses/penalties, etc.).

The game needs a manual. Period. However, digital is the way to go these days. I love manuals personally and also find great disgust in the lack of manuals these days, especially for complex RPGs...then again that might just be because there are so few complex RPGs these days... Point being, a game like Doom or COD probably doesn't need a manual, but a deep RPG like PE is going to be (hopefully) needs a manual (especially for things like referencing xp tables, progression charts, etc.). However, make no mistake, I believe awesome in game tutorials are a must as well, but with a game like this there will be certain things that I doubt they could cover in game. However, if they somehow incorporated an in-game encyclopaedia (which BIS did to an extent with IWD2) containing all information such as progression mechanics, tables, etc. then perhaps a manual is not needed. So I guess my conclusion would be: it depends on what the developers want to do/can do; if an in-game encyclopaedia can be included without breaking immersion to much then the game probably doesn’t need an external manual, otherwise it does, but from the sheer fact of the complexity of the game an additional source of elaboration on the games mechanics will definitely be needed (i.e. either in game as an encyclopaedia of sorts or as an external PDF document). I also however echo the above poster Eiphel in leaning more towards having all resources available in game (i.e. an in-game complete encyclopaedia would be ideal; akin to CIV4&5).

I actually wholeheartedly agree with the OP. I am not a late backer (backed first day), but "slacker backer" is a bit demeaning in a way for people that support you. And don't fool yourselves into thinking a pre-order, even after the initial KS run, is not supporting the developer. I also vote for a change in the title/name. It might seem a small thing, but imho it's the small things that matter.

I, for one, am glad that durability has been removed. I have never felt that it really adds much more to an RPG than boring mundane maintenance. It serves no purpose other than to irritate in my opinion. Glad it’s not in PE. Some might argue that durability is more "realistic"; to that I have two responses: firstly: I just don't care about "uber realism" (this is a fantasy RPG after all, I don't actually want it to be super realistic because...well reality is mostly mundane and boring crap); secondly: I don't think that in a world where magic exists and especially with the situation of magical equipment that durability would even exist on said equipment; i.e. magic equipment would not degrade in durability, but normal non-magical equipment could degrade; so you can justify the absence of durability in the game (i.e. make it more "realistic") by simply stating that magic prevents magical equipment from degrading in durability. Though of course this does not justify normal equipment not having durability, so for this there are two solutions: 1: the game designers implement a durability degradation for all normal non-magical equipment (you don't even need to make any repair/crafting skills for it, just make items degrade slowly over time to satisfy those that crave "moar realism") and 2: just ignore the stupid irritating mechanic and use your damn imagination. I prefer option 2, so I am glad that Mr. Sawyer and crew made this decision. Thank you.

I, for one, am glad that durability has been removed. I have never felt that it really adds much more to an RPG than boring mundane maintenance. It serves no purpose other than to irritate in my opinion. Glad it’s not in PE. Some might argue that durability is more "realistic"; to that I have two responses: firstly: I just don't care about "uber realism" (this is a fantasy RPG after all, I don't actually want it to be super realistic because...well reality is mostly mundane and boring crap); secondly: I don't think that in a world where magic exists and especially with the situation of magical equipment that durability would even exist on said equipment; i.e. magic equipment would not degrade in durability, but normal non-magical equipment could degrade; so you can justify the absence of durability in the game (i.e. make it more "realistic") by simply stating that magic prevents magical equipment from degrading in durability. Though of course this does not justify normal equipment not having durability, so for this there are two solutions: 1: the game designers implement a durability degradation for all normal non-magical equipment (you don't even need to make any repair/crafting skills for it, just make items degrade slowly over time to satisfy those that crave "moar realism") and 2: just ignore the stupid irritating mechanic and use your damn imagination. I prefer option 2, so I am glad that Mr. Sawyer and crew made this decision. Thank you.

Just so long as it isn't overdone! I actually quite dislike "breaking the fourth wall". It completely breaks immersion for me, and in RPGs immersion to me is everything, especially fantasy RPGs. I have no problem with well-placed humour in the game, but breaking the fourth wall is very difficult to pull off without doing great harm (at least in my eyes) to immersion.

I LOVE what I am seeing. Looking amazing already! Just a quick question though: will we be able to zoom in/out in the final game? I would actually love to be able to zoom in/out; for example during an intimate or intriguing convo I would love to zoom in for the mood or just zoom in to check out the details in the environment/characters.

I see quite a few posts here wishing to pretend that evil is non-existent. Some go so far as stating that "to state a category of evil exists is itself juvenile". I believe this to be an absurd position to take. Yes, evil is NOT a tangible thing, yes it is an idea...but that most certainly does not mean it does not exist...as an idea/concept. I do not wish to turn this into a debate regarding philosophical realism versus idealism (or even rationalism vs. empiricism), but suffice to say that for me when anyone says "do away with evil, there is no evil", that statement is...juvenile and the person uttering it is fooling themselves if they think they can escape the duality of evil and good. Even if evil is just completely subjective, that does not in any logical manner imply it does not exist (this again can form part of a much larger philosophical debate which is not my intention right now however). The fact (or if you then will: the assumption for the sake of this thread) is that moral judgements (i.e. what is simplistically labelled “good” and “evil”) do exist and even if you consider all moral judgments/categories as being on a "spectrum of grey" instead of black and white, well I got news for you: grey is a function of the interaction between black (or “evil” if you prefer) and white (or “good” if you prefer). Also, the question of “what evil is to me” is irrelevant to my request in this thread (in response to one poster asking me to actually define what evil subjectively is to me) as I will extrapolate below. It is quite obvious what is occurring here: some people are conflating the category in which “motivation/goals” falls with the category in which “evil” falls, mistaking these categories to be the same. If my post added to this confusion, I apologize; it was not my intention of conflating these two SEPARATE/DIFFERENT categories. Evil/Good we can say is of the category “morals” whereas “motivation” is of a different category, let’s say “human drives/emotions/impulses”. I was in fact asking that instead of the category “morals” being solely dependent (i.e. a function of) the category “drives/emotions/impulses” (in the context of the video game), I would like the developers to rather bring in a third category, let’s call it “the video game” and make BOTH morals and motivations dependent on this third category. This request and my analysis of the situation depends of course on a specific assumption: that morals and motivations (and thus their categories) depend upon the other, that even though they are NOT THE SAME, they are still co-dependent, i.e. you cannot consider the one without considering the other. Simply put: morals inform motivations and motivations in turn also inform morals. I simply asked that the developers, ensure in the context of the video game, that BOTH morals and motivations are informed by the video game itself. That is all. That is a bit more formal way to express what I requested from the developers. If you do not consider that morals and motivations are of different categories (which to me would be an absurd consideration) and if you do not consider morals and motivations to be co-dependent categories (which is a philosophically more defensible position), then this thread will not be about the above paragraph (i.e. the point/intent) for you and will transform into a philosophical debate regarding “what morals really are” and “what motivations really are”, which was not truly my intent, but hey…I guess it’s an interesting outcome of it.

I have to admit that New Vegas did indeed do a very good job of facilitating a fulfilling "evil" route. I have not played AP or DS3, but yeah, if anything NV is a good example of what the team at Obsidian should be aiming for in terms of depth of interaction and reactivity for an "evil" route. Contrast that with Fallout 3...which is a brilliant example of how not to handle roleplaying (i.e. juvenile, shallow, etc.). PST is indeed also a good example of how to handle fulfilling and deep "evil" routes (driven by in game/narrative motivations, and not solely player motivations).

@Obsidian: Please make playing evil worthwhile, fulfilling & not juvenile! Hi Obsidian, As per the title of the thread, I would greatly appreciate it if playing evil (this is after all a deep roleplaying game) in this game will actually be worthwhile, fulfilling and not juvenile. Let me elaborate: Worthwhile: Most RPGs simply don't reward evil roleplaying; i.e. you always get the best rewards for playing the nice guy; i.e. what I am asking for here is that you actually design the game and quests so that there is actually a good motivation in the game itself to play evil as opposed to merely my motivation as a player to play evil; i.e. that the game itself reacts "positively" to playing evil (just as it should react “positively” to playing good); don't confuse "positive" here with "good", they are in different categories. Moving on: Fulfilling and not Juvenile: Most RPGs treat roleplaying evil in a pathetic shallow fashion (even the Infinity Engine games are guilty of this) and give it only a fraction of the attention of the “good” path. Let me elaborate with an example. You meet an old lady with her cats in a hut (and she is known to love cats) and the "evil" option is usually something like this: slaughter (or torture) the cats in front of the woman and then laugh in her face. I simply ask for "deeper" roleplaying options that are not at the extremes of "save and hug everyone" to "slaughter everyone and urinate on their corpses". I know it is not easy to do and I won't give examples of “deep” roleplaying since that is your job as awesome game designers. I know this point is difficult to easily quantify (hence it can be construed in a very subjective manner), but I honestly feel that in terms of "depth of interaction/roleplaying", the "evil" side is far under-represented compared to the "good" side. I know Obsidian have said that they are going to avoid these "alignment" aspects of D&D, but ultimately the designers are human and it is very easy for them to fall into the same old trap of moral extremes when designing quests, gameplay and story without even realizing it. I.e. don't fool yourselves into thinking that you can easily get away from moral duality just because the game has no clear cut alignment system; the moral duality is built into human nature and "seeps through" into how you design the story, quests, etc. Try and temper the moral duality with a bit more "depth" and complexity, as in the real world, for as I am sure you know: in the real world nice guys do not always finish first and the best things do not always come to the most good, righteous, etc. of beings. That is all, thank you for your time Obsidian. Make PE something special; the series (and most likely any future crowd-funding endeavours of Obsidian regarding old school RPGs) will depend on how awesome PE will be; as they say: first impressions last. -pl1982

I am definitely for it (I made a recent thread requesting this)! However, one must be clear what is meant by "new game +". For me it is solely the ability to export/import my character (or party even) and play through the game again with him/her again (with all his/her gear as well). Ideally exactly like how heart of fury mode was handled in IWD1&2 where there is no new content (just better items). I.e. always same content, just ability to make game harder (and get better loot). That is what I want. They don't even need to spend too much time balancing it; I just like having the option of continuing to improve one character (or even better: and entire party) if I want to (whilst playing through an epic story/adventure). I don't care if it makes the game easy or breaks some challenges, I enjoy it and would really appreciate at the very least the option to export/import, just as the BG & IWD series had.

Hi Obsidian, As the title states, I would very much appreciate an import/export function (new game+) mechanism in the game, just like you had with IWD, IWD2, BG & BG2. I really enjoy playing through the game again with my high level characters and continuously improving them; I know some might say that it takes the challenge away, but I enjoy it nonetheless. Also, the "heart of fury" mode that you planned for PE can be facilitated via this in exactly the same fashion as IWD and IWD2. Something that would also be awesome is the ability to export our PE1 character/s and import them into PE2 with certain key decisions (and perhaps certain items) carrying over. This would in fact be an awesome feature for you to pitch during a PE2 KS campaign, i.e. the ability to import your PE1 character and have this wonderful continuous story of one character (akin to the Mass Effect and BG series). I know that doing an import/export (i.e. a new game +) function would probably entail some reconsiderations of some game systems, but please do consider it. I for one (and I am sure I am not alone in this?) would really appreciate such a feature. Regards, Phil1982

I wish to echo some sentiments already expressed, but also sympathise with Obsidian at how difficult it will be to efficiently implement a different UI from the one shown. As many have mentioned: 16:9 is the standard (and will most likely be the standard for many years to come), please rather go with left and right side interfaces instead of the bottom one (or just allow us to customize the UI) to give us more screen real estate for the actual game world. Many people suggest merely going with an interface on the left side, but they forget about things like dialogue UI and also spells/abilities UI. I suggest that with two side interfaces you can have your heroes (and the options button, pause, inventory, etc.) on the left/right and the abilities/spells on the opposite side. This leaves the problem of the dialogue UI. The dialogue UI I believe should simply be hidden by default (so as to again give as much "real estate" space to the actual game world) and only appear when entering dialogue; the dialogue UI itself can be centred in the screen or appear at the bottom; the manner Fallout1&2 did it will work well here I believe. Something else to consider is using the right click button on the mouse more in the game and implementing more detailed right click menus (i.e. as Torment and Temple of Elemental Evil used extensively); so for example you can have just a left side UI (with characters portraits) and in the game world you right click for spells/abilities; you can right click on the portrait for inventory or character sheet for example. So yeah, that’s another idea and one that I would have no problems with. As for the look of the interface, I quite like it as it is now, but would add (as a few have done already) that greater emphasis should be placed on the portrait borders of the heroes (they are the stars of the show after all) and perhaps a bit more detail in the UI itself (for example BG2 had these "vine" things twisting around the borders of the UI, I loved that, it made the UI feel "organic" and really "worn" and part of the world in a way). I also would prefer a darker blue for that stamina/mana bar. So yeah, that’s my opinion on the UI. I really appreciate you guys actually putting this out there for the community to discuss; this is what crowd-funding is all about: the developer and the fans/backers actually collaborating (to a limit of course) on the game. Keep up the good work.

As the thread title states, I just want to confirm that the actual title "project eternity" is just a placeholder name for the moment right? I surely hope the actual final game won't be called project eternity. Has Obsidian made any updates regarding this recently? -pl1982

@ Obsidian Just a request for awesome looking spell effects please! A big charm of the infinity engine games for me was the graphical representation of magic effects. I would love to see the same care given to the magic effects in PE. Please don't neglect it. I do however NOT want crazy over the top effects (ala Final Fantasy) as was done with certain spells in Torment. I don't want to sit and watch some effect/movie for 1min when casting a spell. At the same time though, the effects must not be too toned down as to be dull and dreary. When I cast an awesome level 9 (or whatever equivalent spell level progression will be in PE), I want the spell effect (within the context of what the spell does of course) to reflect the epicness of the magic being used. I am thinking for example of the spell "dragon's breath" from BG2 which literally had a dragon's head arise from the ground and breathe fire on all enemies. Especially with the game being mainly 2D, the intricate art detail of the magic effects should be showcased and not neglected. -pl1982

As the title states, and getting straight to the point: please do not make crafting in PE a complicated and cumbersome process! This is an IE inspired game, not an MMO. I don't want to sit there trying to figure out stupid crafting recipes and mechanics...I want to adventure and slay beasts, then loot their treasure. Nothing beats looting a nice shiny chest (or corpse) after a hard-won battle. Nothing is more anti-climactic than sitting there staring at crafting recipe pages clicking "CRAFT" and watching some progress bar/animation. I am not saying drop the feature completely (since that would not really be feasible seeing as how it was a stretch goal), but when you implement it, make it simple and something minor in the game (in my opinion of course). Something akin to how BG2 handled it is acceptable, not complex at all and still reasonably exciting (tracking down parts of epic items). But please...don't let me craft boot straps or potions or **** like that...then I will be displeased. Leave crafting for truly legendary stuff (again, BG2 did it fine, I suggest simply doing it like that in PE). That is all I wanted to say on crafting, hopefully Josh and crew take note of this. Thanks for your time! And might I add...I am incredibly excited to get this game in my hands, no other upcoming game excites me as much as PE. You guys have incredible hype and expectations to live up to, but when it comes to creating another isometric party based IE inspired deep RPG...I honestly can't think of a better group of people to make that a reality.

Just want to make a quick reply stating the interface look and feel is extremely important. I fully agree with Josh that it is imperative to capture that "feel" of the interface being an extension of the game world. I loved the IE interfaces for that reason, the interfaces seemed "organic" and "crafted from the world" (the stone like feel of the BG ones for example, I loved that). Also please give us a nice interface for our spellbooks! Make these look old and dusty (like old grimoires) and even better: when we browse them make the interface animate with a turning page (I am sure you know what I mean). I would love that; I doubt I am alone in this. Just wanted to mention that; interface is something that can so easily be neglected, but as I am playing through IE games again now, I am struck with how much the interface is part of the charm and "feel" of these games. Don't neglect it in PE.

I agree completely with the OP, this was a pet peeve of mine in the IE games. I think the suggestion from brtl33 is spot on, make it as it was in SoZ where you can choose who engages in a conversation/event. You could still have a "spoke person/leader" who is the default target for initiating dialogue with the party by NPCs or events, but then additionally this spoke person also can choose who can engage in the conversation/event (depending on specific skill sets or attributes). When running with companions, it would make for some interesting game play if the designated spoke person of a group is not the player character and can lend itself to exploring companion personalities/histories even more deeply (for example given a position of power/leader a companion might change his personality over time and perhaps even refuse to step down as party leader if the player tries to remove him and perhaps even turn on the party). A very important point Frostpaw made here and also a good contribution by brtl33. Take note Obsidian. - pl1982

Just want to add my opinion as well. I LOVE in game reading material such as books and scrolls; especially for fleshing out the lore of the world and as the OP mentioned sometimes rewarding the adventurer who takes the time to search through the dusty old bookshelves with a skill point or two! As for the person who said that books/scrolls cannot be in the game due to there being no printing press...WTF? My good friend, the art of writing, scribing and such was developed and practiced far before the printing press! I do agree however with said person that books and scrolls should not be lying around everywhere, libraries and tomes should be rare and special (almost mystical and wondrous) places akin to a place such as the Library of Alexandria. But yes, I am all for good reading material in the game that does not solely involve dialogue with other characters. If Obsidian could perhaps somehow give incentives for people to go book hunting that would great as well, perhaps some perks for wizard classes (perhaps only wizards can read certain books for example and augment their abilities with such) or perhaps you could have a private library in your stronghold displaying your collection of found tomes! So many possibilities. -phil1982

Fully agree with you Rahkir. As one is also versed in philosophy and passionate about it, I must say that this is a wonderful opportunity for the design and writing team of Obsidian to deliver not just a mature video game, but also one that (within the context and confines of its universe) explores deep scholarly aspects and weaves these into the game world itself (your examples are brilliant). I sincerely hope this is what PE will turn out to entail, ala Torment. For example: Mass Effect series is mature game and features some decent writing, but it is hardly what I would call a scholarly, truly philosophical game like Torment for example. Even though both games deal with certain moral and existentialist themes, Torment approaches it in a more philosophical manner where ME approaches the subject matter in more "pragmatic" or "application" manner. Please Obsidian designers and writers, listen to what Rahkir has to say, I echo his suggestions. Don't give us a ME fantasy game, give us a Torment game (in terms of writing), but on an even bigger scale!

Must say, from the quality of work on MoTB, getting Ziets and Chris together for PE would be amazing, a dream come true. And I must mention that even though there are indeed still a few brilliant CRPG writers out there, very few of those can create something like PST and MoTB dealing with deeper philosophical themes whilst still keeping players entertained solely through brilliant writing and characterization (both of the world and the "actors" in it) in a fantasy setting. In that, there are very few in the industry that can match (with a proven track record) Chris Avellone and George Ziets. Make it happen Obsidian .

Hi Obsidian, Firstly...this is awesome, I am so glad this is happening. About damn time! As a backer I want to mention again (already did so in the comments section at KS) that I am very glad about the DRM-Free version; thank you for listening to fans and going with GOG (they are awesome). Perhaps put the DRM-Free feature more prominently on the main page of Kickstarter for people who are concerned about it. This is post is just to clarify what I (and I would think most others contributing to this project) want and what would make PE taste like awesome-sauce: 1. beautiful hand painted/handcrafted 2D isometric backgrounds (characters can be in 3D, I don't have a problem with that). 2. touching music (I must admit that after listening to the background music of the pitch video...I like it allot, so give my appreciation to the composer/sound guy; if you use him I am sure the soundtrack will be good though bringing in Mark Morgan for some assistance would be awesome as well). 3. deep characters (quality over quantity please, about 10-12 possible party characters are enough imho). 4. detailed plot with an "unconventional villain" (ala Torment). 5. tactical combat (RTWP is perfectly fine for me). 6. well written mature thought provoking dialogue. 7. traditional fantasy and some "new" wacked out races/cultures (but still "grounded" and believable in the context of the world ala Planescape setting). 8. rewarding and flexible character progression system with cool loot. 9. lore tome and detailed NPC, faction and epic item flavour text (see second last paragraph below for details). The D&D progression system is an excellent template to build from for sure, but I echo the comments of some others on KS that something a bit more modern is needed; limiting spell casting per day for example is a bit outdated today. Perhaps a system where the amount and strength of your spellcasting or skills is linked to your "soul power"? I must confess, this link that you guys are exploring between "the nature of the soul" and "the nature of magic/ability/skill itself" is brilliant, I love it; making that an integral part of the theme of the game already makes me incredibly excited and intrigued. Most of the "awesomeness" expressed by the suggestions above has been covered by you guys though. I am just reminding you . I just want to place special emphasis on the painted 2D backdrops; please go this route and don't use a 3D engine; as much as I love Wasteland 2 (contributed heavily to that awesome project as well) and understand their usage of the 3D engine...something is lost in that and that something (that "magic feel") will be even more lost in a fantasy setting trying to hearken back to the "good old days" of infinity engine games. One final thing I want to add that is not often mentioned is this: unique/epic item flavour text. PLEASE do this again; I absolutely loved that from Icewind Dale, Torment and BG; I will never forget the awesome emotional response I got from reading through the text of "Pale Justice" from Icewind Dale...such an amazingly beautiful story behind the sword (brought tears to my eyes…). Please do that again, it adds tremendously to the world and allows you to flesh out your fantasy world even more through tying history to actual tools the player uses. Also please do Torment-like journal where as you explore the world your journal gets updated with new information on the lore of the world, so it becomes akin to a lore tome and not merely a quest-tracker. I loved that about Torment's journal with all the text descriptions of the factions and NPCs, please do that for PE. It's very cool feeling that you are "levelling your tome" and can perhaps even add another layer of character progression and reward for exploration. Well that’s my truckload of text; it just shows how passionate I am about this. Thanks for reading this. So happy this is happening... -pl1982