Falkon Swiftblade

Good update, my internet stinks back here, so the interviews should be finished buffering by morning I like the animations, if you guys have time to go back to them in the end and play with the timing a bit more to pause and speed them up, I think it would lend more emotion to the creatures. Right now everything looks ok, but they just don't feel scary or threatening cause the cadence is a little too predictable. Maybe the slow guys could stumble a tad then almost trip but speed up like they're trying to keep from falling over. Also maybe the wolf attack could have some quicker pouncing strikes, or more assertive lunging, etc. I'm expecting when things see us in game they want us dead bad is all I'm saying. At the moment the animations seem to serve their purpose but lack that bit of personality that makes them feel like they have weight or oomf in them. I know it's alpha, and I'm not saying they suck, just something to think about as ya move forward over the next several months.

If I understand correctly, godlike get a bonus to dex, and since I always play a speedy stabber or boxer I'll likely go that rout. I do hope you can be a short godlike being though.

That was kind of my thoughts too after watching part of the obsidian d&d playthrough on youtube, and the video update where Josh was bringing out the toys playing d&d with showing a game mechanic. I barely remember this game on PS2 but this was an extra scene at the end, and I can totally see something like this added into the game as an easter egg of some kind. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zng5kRle4FA

I have an idea of what the secret project might be. They're currently hiring for developers on a "highly stylized MMO." Feargus fairly recently mentioned some ideas. "There's something we're talking about that would be really cool, but it's not an original property," he revealed. "It's a licensed property. But it's not Alpha Protocol! "It's something we can still do a ton of creative stuff with, though. And then the other thing is an original property. Also, there's a third thing that somebody approached us with, but I really don't think that's going to work out." This is forward-thinking and a necessity for a 100-plus-sized studio such as Obsidian. Only 15 people are making Eternity, more or less, while the rest are finishing South Park: The Stick of Truth, now a Ubisoft game. That's a lot of people to keep busy. " I feel like I also read somewhere he was exploring the idea of creating procedurally generated maps but for the infinity engine styled games, so it would be kind of like Skyrim but in the style of the IE games. However I don't know if I'm confusing this with the same article I referenced above, either way that would be cool. http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-12-17-what-will-obsidians-second-kickstarter-project-be

woohoo who knew we raised over $4.5 million and more coming in every day! That's fantastic and should cover a lot more art in the game. I wish I had context of how the costs dictate what is being divvied up to which department. I hope they use it towards animations and spells.

They also announced new maya 2015 version coming out in a few weeks with a whole slew of new features that a couple guys I follow who've been using it since the 90's said it's first huge leap they've seen in many years. I'm particularly interested in Bifrost tech since the game world is surrounded by so much water. That makes me wonder if it would benefit them to upgrade to that as well. However the unity upgrade would seem to be a big help if it's not much of a learning curve. Fun stuff

One of the unique things that got me interested in this game was when they mentioned if we got a specific stretch goal it would include developer commentary in the game. We definitely made that goal, so this has me very interested in how this could be implemented. I wonder how they plan on including these in the game. Such as will it be something already in there we find a rock and click on it and it's like an easter egg, or will it be an unlockable after you beat the game, or will it be unlockables as you collect stuff, etc? What kind of stuff would you guys want them to have in there? One thing I really hope they have is the tone and fun they present in the updates. Hopefully they can make fun of themselves a bit too. I wonder if there'll be a hidden dev room like there was in some of the old NES games. What do you guys want them to talk about? I would like The art team to discuss the evolution of how a particular set piece evolved, maybe how it started as x idea and grew into y quest chain and eventually lead to z. Or maybe monster y was stupid hard to create right but this is how we created a solution for it... And maybe Tim and Josh can describe what their meta theme(s) were for x game mechanic and how it evolved from previous projects into this one...

Did they ever state what fighting style will the monk utilize? Will they be brawlers like boxers, or martial artists, or some other styles? I hope that they don't have the standard unarmed fighting stance everyone else uses only with minor tweaks. Many monks I've played get shafted in animations and the types of loot they can use is so sparse it almost seems unfair. Hopefully these guys get some love! If I had my .02 I'd ask for qi gong style since they seem to take physical damage and redirect the power similar to how mr cain explained it and they have a history of being swords masters and healers on the field which could be useful in this game.

fwiw I've not played a difficult rpg in like 15 yrs. Unless it was a broken glitch, I feel like dev's should be able to take the kid gloves off a bit more these days, especially if they're designing a balanced game that allows us tactical options to play through instead of just mashing one two three four on the keyboard.

what are the chances we can have battles in areas like in marshes where water covers our feet and on beaches with waves coming in? I figure you guys can pre render it if it's too processor heavy, but stuff like that is fun and immersive.

Can we have a place to display our armor and weapons in our homes like you see of the old knights suits of armor in hallways in castles today instead of just putting it into an inventory box? Will there be a weather system in game? I don't know why, but I feel like it would be cool to have snow, and our heros have little breaths coming out from their mouths showing as they march through a cold region in the game. Of course rain and lightning is always fun. I'm picturing a big battle with thunder snow on a mountain peak that would be fun.

I'm curious was the decision to have 6 party members strictly because of the old IE games, or is there a genuine benefit to doing so? Why not use 2-3, or squads of up to 3 each and have like party's of 6-9? Not that I'm saying you should, I was just wondering tactically would it matter one way or the other? Especially since the game seems very combat and tactics based. It sounds like we're going to have to pause and reposition a lot anyway in combat. Having a squad system almost seems more natural fit.

Can you give us an example of an idea for game play mechanic that was implemented that you either brought into this game that is unique, or maybe something you liked in another game and you borrowed it to fit into your game? An example might be how Gears of War introduced cover based shooting in a way that was unique at it's time, and since then other games use that tactic now. Similarly in that context, is it possible to use the environment for strategic use in combat? Such as maybe an archer or mage can attack a bunch of barrels that explode, or shoot down a hanging lantern that would catch something on fire...

Hey Adam, that's super of you to offer your time like this. I watched a pal play South park and I feel like the execution was amazing. One thing though I hope doesn't translate into Pillars of Eternity was the amount of choices to have in combat felt way too samey throughout the game. The attacks are kind of fun to watch once in a while but not hundreds of times. If there is not a budget for a lot of tactics, is there anything you guys can do so each encounter feels unique? Whether it be quips by the npc's like you did in south park, or some randomness. Maybe Enemy's can swap weapons in battle to change tactics or something?

I don't know for sure, but I remember several developers saying its very easy to translate their pc games to ps4. Warframe took 3 months to do from pc to ps4. I feel optimistic it could happen. It might depend on how successful this is over the next 90 days.

It'll be 20+ easy.

I enjoy the obsidian teams humor and witt. Nice update, the types of things that make companions the most enjoyable to me are ones with very interesting personality's. Like minsc, he was an odd ball, but was fun. I also really like when they have something about them that reflects a strong sense of discipline. Master Splinter in teenage mutant ninja turtles, or yoda in star wars were awesome because they were old, wise, but bad ass mofos that could fight. Sometimes a companion can be awesome because they seem very average then unlock their true potential, Jean Grey who became phoenix in xmen was a cool character because of that. I think its good to have a mixture of seasoned veterans & clumsy adventurers new like you. Neera the wildmage in the new baldurs gates enhanced edition is a good ecample. That's another thing, she's likable because she's random, sometimes she's a big help, other times she goofs up and ruins things. That humor is fun.

i suspect it'll be 3, maybe even 4 based on the first quest 3+ you=4. I remember an interview where they said they were adding more and more content to the game at the time it was 800 pages long, so i can't see that being just for one or two characters.

Major spoiler, short answer maybe.

What, is it really only like 4 wilderness areas? That should have been made much more clear. I don't want 87% of the game to be inside buildings and the same dungeon loops. I really hope we get a substantial space to explore. Exploration was one of the primary things I loved about these games.

I agree you need conflict to keep things interesting, but couldn't they address that based upon your reputation rather than your race or gender? It's one thing to not like someone because you're at war with them, but make the war interesting. Maybe they're at war because someone stole technology or someone's life work for example and they want it back. I'm pretty sure that was already addressed by Josh already regarding there would be a reputation system already, so that serves the purpose for needing cultural perks. I totally get you want to feel special based upon the type of character you play as, and have some personality to keep things interesting, I just can think of like 5 ways off the top of my head on how to do so without creating a situation that poo poo's on someone's race or gender.

I don't mean to sound negative or come off as a troll, however It dawned on me recently these types of requests are how we teach racism to people. You can show a baby to children of different cultures and nationality's who are between the ages of 4-10 and ask them between a black and white baby, which is the good one, pretty one, ugly one, the one that looks most like you, etc? You're not telling them which to choose, but by your asking them, 15 out of 20 of them will say the white baby is the superior one and the black baby is bad, ugly, etc. You are asking for the same thing in the game, only asking for it in a different way. Why should anyone be penalized because they're different? I understand this is a mature game for mature adults, but do you really want to play a game that rewards a system that reinforces the hate and negativity that is in the world? Does it bring you joy to know you can manipulate a situation by putting someone in a role that just because of their skin color, race, or gender they get preferred treatment? That's what the groups like the Illuminati want you to think and do, but it's not right. You are just as special as the next person. In Fact that's the beauty of it. It's a choice, you're not predestined to live a life as a pauper because your family has always been poor, and just because you came from a generation of people who always were fighting in the war shouldn't make you have to do that as well. You can create your day every day, you don't have to let someone else choose for you your circumstances in life. I think it's fair to get special perks based upon the class or role you play, but I really hope the mature thing to do in this instance is treat everyone with gender and racial equality. In fact, even this week- that seems to be a hot button in the olympics.

+1 for this guy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=110iUX1Ursk

I have always loved story tellers in games and movies. It was wonderful memories for me in the IE games, and to this day I fondly remember The Princess Bride for the way the story transitioned from scene to scene. Not to mention when Bastian came out a few years ago I thought that was very touching how it was done too.

I can understand the concept of this game was being created for PC, however they also said the game is going to be created for Mac. Which I'm not sure if you own a Mac, but it's funny to me that people are OK with that but don't want this on a PS4. My Mac came to me with no mouse at all. It came with one button and it works much like your smart phone. You use one or two fingers and drag it like a mouse, and you know what? I think I like it much better than my mouse and keyboard on my PC. I can right click or left click on it even though it's only one button. Keep in context the PS4 controller is set up with the same type of button already there and there's something like 14-16 buttons on there and even more if you consider holding a shoulder button down can basically double or triple that. Other than a keyboard allowing you to type your name, I don't see it function in a manner that does anything specifically different that a game pad can't do? Honestly the last time I played an IE game I used my mouse to point on screen and click a space to walk to, or highlight my party to move them. I only used a handful of keys on my keyboard, so I genuinely wonder what is the problem with creating another outlet for the game? Especially when it has support for Unity already, and a license for PS4 I believe is $2500. That's barely tapping into the 4.1 or 4.3 million they raised. Not to mention the time to have it up and running is merely weeks.