[Pro Hoops 2K14-2K15]

This made me smile today:

 

 

[Favourite Companions]

Tough one. I'm having a hard time deciding, so I'll just list all my favorites:

 

PS:T: Morte, Dak'kon, Annah, Grace, Vhailor, Nordom

BG: Jaheira, MInsc, Edwin, Imoen, Jan, Sarevok, Mazzy

KotOR: Kreia, HK47, Visas, Handmaiden, T3, Jolee 

DA:O: Dog, Shale

NWN1: Deekin

 

Honorable non-companion mention for Strauss from Vampire Bloodlines.

[Name a single writer whose work you hope most influences the story/tone of P:E]

Jorge Luis Borges.

[Should P:E have time limits?]

Utter BS

Broad timers and timer effects on main quests are the BEST kinds.

You also need to have some modicum of honesty and intelligence to understand it.

Because what I said about who sets what for the "pace" is not debatable. It is not an opinion. It is FACT.

I see no space at all for disagreement.

Like usual, I am ****ing spot on with my suspicions.

Posting stuff like this (and using CAPS, oooh), I don't think you really need my (or anyone else's) feedback. I'm sure you think it adds to your point, but it doesn't. And it makes me care even less about your posts.

 

But I'll say this. The Fallout mention is just an example to illustrate a point. Which is, a timer that adds a sense of urgency and difficulty to the game also implicitly categorizes in-game content. whatever doesn't relate in some way to the timer is secondary, and going against this order of things will be penalized (in FO1 it likely meant losing the game). In the end, the game sabotages some of its own content to promote another.

 

If you meant to say that plot is related to the timer just because, since it requires an ingame objective to be met, then what a marvelous and obvious observation. Unless of course you think that a timer means exactly the same in P:E or in Street Fighter.

[Do you like PE Paladin class concept?]

From something that Adam said, I glanced that paladins aren't the typical paladins, while clerics are the typical paladins, only they use firearms.

 

No, I'm not liking the class' concept so far. But it's a very early stage still, so things might change.

[Tool-Kit]

A tool kit would be awesome, regardless of the painted maps.

[Should P:E have time limits?]

Utter BS. Read my post right above yours, and the one I wrote on p.3 of this thread. They explain everything. Broad timers and timer effects on main quests are the BEST kinds. The main reason for adding strategic elements like timers is to improve "gameplay quality". It has nothing to do with "realism", except at the very extremes. Unless you are reaching for the 3D free roaming genre with this game, it is inappropriate to even be talking about "realism". In any case, it is not useful from a design standpoint.

I don't think so.

 

For instance, if I'd rather search for Bassilus than going straight to the Nashkel mines (and maybe get wayward while doing so), penalizing me for not following the timed quest plot makes for lesser gameplay than it could be.

 

Or, if everyone I know will die if I don't find the water chip, it's not realistic that I simply go wandering endlessly in the opposite direction (assuming of course a degree of empathy with my vault's plight). With this in mind, chances are I probably won't care about the people and quests I come across if they don't somehow relate to the water chip, or if I do, get tangled and miss the chip's deadline.

 

I dislike both of the above situations. In the first, I don't think the situation justifies the timer. The second one does, but it doesn't lead to more enjoyment on my part, but rather the opposite.

 

As for "pace": the pace you explore the gameworld is ALWAYS set by you. And the pace you need to do things in order to win the game or get good results is ALWAYS set by the game. Read the thread. People are annoyed when a game has a pace that onlypretends to have challenge, but doesn't really have any challenge whatsoever.

Don't agree, see above. Also, I'm not trying to discern what passes for "challenge", real or pretended, for everyone else. If a quest is marked as urgent but doesn't actually have any consequence in not following that regard, it's an oversight, but unless it's a big one (either because it's plot related or the overall presentation is poor), I'm not terribly annoyed by it.

 

Your complaint, I suspect, is actually a story complaint. It has nothing to do with pace except at the superficial level of the story. You should read my posts.

Your suspicion is utter BS.

 

Again, I don't mind it in small quests, because they're small. Otherwise, I'd rather not have them.

[Should P:E have time limits?]

I don't mind time limits for "normal", non-mandatory quests, but I dislike them for main quests. I find that whatever "realism" is gained by following a specific plotted-timeframe, is more than compensated by the loss in gameplay quality. I'd rather the pace I explore the gameworld is set by me rather than the game (within the usual parameters of course, I'm not advocating for infinite resting or anything of the like).

[Post release bugs?]

Well, they *have* to make an expansion, we paid for it already.

So no worries, be happ(il)y (bugfree)...

Actually, we didn't pay for it already. All KS funds are supposed to go to the base PE game proper, and the expansion is supposed to be developed with post-ship funds. At least that was the last I heard from somewhere... This, I think, was to separate the expansion from the bad feelings about "day one DLC" where stuff is actually cut from a base game to be resold later.

From the Kickstarter page:

 

New Add-On

 

Due to popular demand and for a limited time, we are offering the ability to add our first expansion pack, due out approximately six months after Project Eternity ships. Any money contributed to add-on the expansion now will be used to make the main game larger. The expansion budget is not being created by money from this Kickstarter.

 

I believe you're both correct, you're just saying different things. The ones that got the expansion add on, they paid for the right to have it when it's out (Hassat Hunter), they did not pay it in the sense of directly funding it/covering its cost like a "normal" expansion buying process would've gone (Ieo).

[How long do you think until PE is finished?]

I'd guess two years, give or take. I don't think they had in mind the second city when they posted the april estimate date, A few months delay is perfectly fine by me, I'd rather wait a couple of months than having a rushed game. Even more so now that there is no developer's pressure.

[Stronghold Prison]

A simple prison where, once your stronghold has it, you could choose to capture defeated enemies (or at least key characters) instead of murder them and then visit them later for future conversation in your dungeon!

Something like this is present in Cyanide's Game of Thrones, where after a while you can offer some of the prisoners to be released if they agree to take on the black. Not much comes out of it, but the interaction is somewhat nice and is there. I wouldn't mind a similar thing being included in P:E's stronghold.

[Gambling]

If done right, these are fun things. MCA has already mentioned that he considers all the mini-games in KOTOR2 one of the mistakes made in development.

Pity. I rather enjoyed playing pazaak.

 

I think the issue was less that he did not think the mini-games were fun, but that they did not contribute enough to the game and considering the unfinished state the game was released in, those resources (man-hours and money) could have been spent in better places.

That would make sense, yes. But I thought the game was rushed by LucasArts' initiative? I mean, Obsidian couldn't have possibly known that the resources spent on minigames would be needed afterwards because of publisher's meddling...

[Gambling]

If done right, these are fun things. MCA has already mentioned that he considers all the mini-games in KOTOR2 one of the mistakes made in development.

Pity. I rather enjoyed playing pazaak.

[New interview with Adam Brennecke (small spoiler for a new character)]

Thanks for sharing. The orlan cipher sounds interesting, looking forward to that one.

 

 

[Adam] Several of the classes function differently than they did in DnD. The Paladin is a little different. They function more like the Warlord class from DnD. The Priest is a little more like a traditional paladin. They like to use firearms, which are good weapons to use against wizards. We want to keep a lot of things familiar for fans, but we also want to twist them. That’s what we like to do here at Obsidian. Firearms are another twist that, while present in DnD, weren’t really used commonly.

Paladins are not paladins, and clerics are paladins with guns. This doesn't sound too good.

 

On the other hand:

[Marceror] It would be awesome if this engine became the catalyst for a whole new set of CRPGs that are built using the 2D isometric model.

[Adam] That’s what we’re hoping for. We really want to see where we can take this.

[Imagine P:E is released, sells quite well, and Obsidian decides to use the traditional publisher model to fund the sequel]

They won't. Like, there's a less than 1% chance.

 

However using the publisher model in the sense of self-publishing

 

**** yeah. They already said as such.

Pretty much this. If it bombs, no publisher will want to touch it. If it does good, and they went to a publisher for the sequel, Obsidian would be renouncing a share of the profits for no apparent reason. If they were short on funds for the sequel (unlikely if this one goes well), they'd just do another kickstarter.

[Do you like to see some "weird" companions?]

I'd like that. But seeing the concept art, ehh, I dunno, they all seem kind of bland to expect some PS:T weirdness.

 

Edair

 

Dak'kon

 

Or maybe I just don't like the P:E NPC's concept art. AT ALL.

 

Perhaps the aumaua could lend themselves to this?

[Talking about graphics = missing the point?]

I can't help but notice that everyone's talking about the such things as boobplate, PAULDRONS, weapon bling and all that stuff.

What I'd like to ask is: Aren't these pretty much trivial?

Not to me. The IE games looked beautiful, and they still do. Part of the charm of this "revival" is getting another game that looks as good as those did.

 

Storyline and mechanics are important. But as the IE game sproved, you can have them both with good graphics too.

[What kind of content you want in the ENDING!]

I'd like multiple endings, possibly based on final choice(s), decisions made during game, class/race/culture; detailed epilogues for companions; minor epilogues for notable NPCs and quests/game storylines. As P:E is promised to be low on cinematics, the ending is a good place to have them.

 

I wouldn't like endings disconnected from the game (Diablo I), incomplete/non-existant (KotOR2, such a shame), lame or 'trollish' in nature (NWN2 OC), and much less a combination of those (Mass Effect 3?). Come to think of it, I'm somewhat wary that two of those are Obsidian's :S.

[Chris Avellone's thoughts before starting the Project Eternity's Kickstarter]

I mean: to me Planescape was one of the best RPG ever because of its features. I'm talking about the user interface, the possibility to "use objects", the factions system, the variable alignment system, the way stats were used (If you were very intelligent or very stupid you had different dialogue options) and so on.

What I didn't like was the PT's narrative thematics and setting. It was a really sad story, set in a strange, violent and unforgiving world that I didn't particularly enjoy.

I think the exact opposite. User interface was similar in other IE games (actually the radial menu made it the worst of the bunch), same for using objects, factions system was nice but surely not what made the game what it was (and every faction background was setting-based), and stat-based dialogue is a landmark of the RPG genre (or perhaps more accurately, a base requirement to be able to be classified in the genre).

 

What made Planescape great besides the writing, was the setting. The world of Planescape practically lends itself to the story (if it didn't motivate it in the first place). Demons just walking the streets as regular bystanders next to humans, telepatic-levitating workers, portals appearing anywhere, pure belief (not merely religion-based) directly afecting the world --all of the setting's lore lent itself to Avellone's crusade against the clichés of the genre. I think there's no way he could've gotten away with it so brilliantly if the game's focal point happened in Waterdeep or another main city of the Forgotten Realms.

[Should food and food quality have any impact in the game?]

No.

 

It's annoying and I personally don't get anything out of the realism this mechanic brings.

[Do you want your character portraits to be like Baldur's Gate or NWN2?]

I prefer BG option, but having the option to use custom portraits solves this issue in a satisfactory manner for everyone.

[Rarity of magic items?]

While I can appreciate the "standing out" of an item due to general rarity, I think such impact is overstated. I remember my whole party equipped with magic items in PS:T and the game wasn't worse for it at all. BG1 had plenty of generic magical armor and weapons for everyone. BG2 was abundant with magical items of every nature (and even the discarded items were good for background lore by reading the descriptions). IWD was somewhere in between BG1 and BG2. Since P:E is said to be of a low-medium level scale, BG1 or IWD magic item rarity would be my preferred choice.

 

Also, what would be an example of a party-RPG where everyone doesn't get magical weapons and armor? Can't recall any at moment.

[Don't make the mega dungeon too easy to exit and re-enter]

PE is supposed to pay tribute to the IE games, taking the best aspects from them - not necessarily copying every last detail. There's certainly room for changes and improvements, while still staying true to the IE experience.

Certainly. What I meant was, allegedly the immediate points of reference and inspiration for the dungeon (DT and WK) are directly against what you're advocating for and in favor of what you think several are asking for, so a revaluation of expectations might be in order.

 

Also, I agree about being able to retrace your steps and go back the way you came in. Perhaps I should have made that clearer in my original post.

As others have said, you assumed several things in your OP, which is only natural since there isn't any actual information on the game. Ultimately, I guess I'm in the camp of letting the dungeon design deal with this particular issue in the most appropriate way according to its nature (but even then, there's always a compromise between realism and gameplay).

[Favorite Game and Which game do you hope Project Eternity is most like?]

Weird not seeing KotOR 2 as an option. Also, I would've voted for DA:O in the multiple choice, but it being paired with DA2 prevented me from doing so. Similarly MotB.

[Which game hook brought you to Project Eternity and interests you the most?]

Planescape: Torment, Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale, Knights of the Old Republic 2. In that order.