Exile2k4

I agree completely that it'd be good to see an absence of the giant Final-Fantasy style weapons. I think though there's a tendency to slightly increase the weapon size beyond real-world equivalents just because it makes them more visible, especially from a pulled-back isometric perspective. Historically accurate weapons like warhammers might be hard to distinguish from a stick depending on how zoomed out the camera is.

I thought they'd said they deliberarely weren't going for voice acting on PE? While full voice acting's great in theory, I thought Chris Avellone made some compelling arguments a while back as to why modern game's demand for it gets in the way of good writing? Personally, I'll be happy if they go for either completely non-voiced text or the occasional voice actor like in Fallout, voice acting's rarely that great in games especially on a tight budget, and to me it takes away from the atmosphere more often than it adds to it.

I've pledged $110 via Paypal so far, and will probably up that before the Kickstarter closes. I count myself lucky on the global wealth scale to be in the position to afford that. For me the money that I pledge to this Kickstarter doesn't reflect the amount I think the game will definitely be worth when it's finished, it's donating money because I'm genuinely interested to see what a company like Obsidian makes when they're not constrained by a publisher. Obviously I'm hoping for a fantastic game at the end of it, but it's entirely possible that with that degree of freedom they'll actually crash and burn. I'd hate to see that happen, but I still wouldn't feel that I'd wasted the money - my payment's a donation to see what a team who've made some games I've loved over the last 15 years come up with, and for the fun of following their progress over the next 18 months. As for the announced stretch goals - I think they're something that needs to be done to advertise the kickstarter, so they have something to talk about. If they kept saying "New stretch goal - $2.8 million and we'll make the game deeper" it would start to sound a little stale, even if ultimately that's what they're really doing. Maybe there'd be a different way of doing it where they clearly talked through where the money was going (staff costs, rental costs, software/hardware costs, marketing costs etc.) and showed how each budget was increasing, that'd be more interesting to some people, but personally I think it probably works like it is now.

I respect people's different opinions on this, but personally I like the option of playing as a monk, even if it is a shaolin-style monk. They could end up being a poorly designed cliche, but so could all the other classes if they're badly designed, and with Obsidian's track record I'm interested to see what they do with it. To me, the Monk would work if it's an ascetic character who's based around self-reflection/self-improvement/self-denial, differing from the Priest who's more about religious fervour and zealotry. If it is that the Monk eschews armour and weapons, I would think that was more about the idea of self-reliance, and about forgoing material things in order to focus on the training of the soul, which with enough training and dedication powers them to superhuman feats of strength and endurance. Also, I would think they would do this even if it wasn't always the most efficient way of fighting, as they would be focussed on more philosophical and lofty goals than the more prosaic classes like Warriors or Rogues, even to their immediate detriment. Also, at the risk of muddying my argument - I think people overrate plate armour, and armour in general, in these types of games. I really enjoy the armoured knight archetype in games, but historically armour was something that was situationally very useful, and at other times a real hinderance. I think we've just got too used to the idea of armour adding to an "armour value" and being a great bonus, but really it was great up until the moment when something could go through it, and then it was just a hinderance. I'm not particularly arguing for semi-naked monks or chainmail bikinis, but as much as "reality" matters in these sorts of thing, I think people too often assume that running around on an adventure clad head to foot in plate and mail is more "realistic" than it perhaps would be. Whether Monks are "Asian" or not doesn't really bother me, although as a white guy who lives in England, personally I like to see more diversity in these games. I think the idea of a handful of outlandish characters who've arrived from across the water, and the potential for religious/philosophical/cultural clashes they bring are something Obsidian could portray in a really interesting way. If I want to be surrounded by white people who talk like they're in the middle ages I can just go to the local Asda.