injurai

Yeah, it will depend on what the game modes are. I would rather game systems, then a mode that turns off and then on various things.

It seems like a sizeable amount of content. My guess is they want to release this now during lockdown, but it's an expansion that is not yet done being developed. So they will do a cascaded release instead of a monolithic expansion. Seems like a fitting approach for the times honestly. I guess we'll see if the content was really worth it once it's all launched, but I'm always glad to see Civ games getting more support.

DLCs in generally just seem to have a denser and better paced content, which benefits from the heavy lore lifting of the main game. Plus the main game's contents get deferred to dozens of writers, level designers, and artists. It's hard to get all of that to cohere. DLCs offer more freedom and opportunity to explore something unique that is hard to weave into the larger experience. So I do think they prove others are just as capable of taking over, I also don't think they are admonishments of Sawyer.

After that talk about dialogue, I'd actually like to see Josh take on a role primarily as the dialogue and relations designer. Focusing on the writing, characters, and world/lore. It would be nice if he was back in the seat largely as a creative lead, and someone else took on the role of directing, and maybe some fresh blood in designing combat as well. The Civ games have a new designer for each game, and the cite the reason being fresh eyes contribute more. Pillars could benefit from the same, but I think Josh still has a lot to add. Especially with his history background, and fact lots of this worlds lore, setting, and themeing comes from him.

I'm well aware of the fallacy, I wrote that as a facetious stinger to fess up to the fact I wrote such a wall of text. Because what I touch on is of existential in nature, saying "it's true that these things exist" is trivially tautological. I'm really just bringing these things into scope to defend RTwP and defend various positions held by that camp as valid, and pointing out that often you see RTwP communities being encroached upon and asked to pipe down their complaints. The whole post is a concession the the issue being one of value arguments, and that while both positions are equal depending on what you argue, I'm making the claim that RTwP gets encroached upon and the frustration of it is meet with unfair slander and unwillingness to break from the mold. The mold being the fix to RTwP is always TB, as if TB systems can't be garbage in their own right. The whole point is simply if there is more will for TB, then so be it, but that doesn't mean that RTwP systems are simply broken cludgey unfun systems that the market is adverse to. Dragon Age is essential RTwP and receives heaps of love. It's camera and modern graphics make it a much easier sell the the audiences that are looking for a fantasy rp kick. Many beloved TB systems are actually ATB-like, or have action queue and auto-play features. Which is really not that different from RTwP other than usually a fixed grid movement scheme. I simply don't buy the value claims against RTwP. I do buy that Larian is more comfortable, and that TB might be easier to adapt 5e into on behalf of Wizards who approached them. I'm not hating on Larian, I know it wasn't put up to vote like Torment was. But the frustration from RTwP fans is absolutely valid, and the market interest is absolutely there, so TB fans defending what they won't lose is just sour when it comes down to trashing RTwP to justify something that was done for totally different reasons.

What if the real treasure was all the -isms we coined along the way?

This talk has me really excited for the prospects of Pillars 3.

I see altering the quintessential RTwP series into TB one, fundamentally different than simply offering a new TB game. Fans of RTwP enjoy plenty of other TB games. It's understandable to be annoyed at such a switch. While TB people (at least the vocals ones) are diametrically opposed to letting RTwP games just be. We saw this with Torment and again with BG. At this point BG3 is just "A Forgotten Realms game set in Baldur's Gate." It's basically a marketing stunt to captivate new audiences off of the prestige of a series they would never actually take interest in. It's just fashion branding to be honest. So you might just say "well it wasn't ever really a BG3, let it go." And people are... but that's not how the game was spun when first being revealed, people had to attenuate to Larian's marketing garble. When RTwP advocates get annoyed you get the following: Yuppie trying to dismiss the merits of RTwP without engaging: "Ooh look I'm also "grognard" who likes BG, but I'm also hip and trendy who doesn't "reee" like those ugly old school grognards who can't get with the times." At which point the actual grognard points out that the yuppie is by definition not a grognard, and the yuppie responds "See what I mean, all that ugly gatekeeping. Good riddance." (I say this more as a yuppie millennial on the younger side myself, who prefers RTwP.) You have hoards of people who read lengthy fantasy books who would have no problem reading all of Pillars 1 text. Then you have people who moan about an RPG actually world building before their eyes; Who get upset that the game isn't mostly strategy, but then don't want to even grok the actual tactics and strategy of the RTwP system. I enjoy TB, but I'm frankly annoyed by how the vocal TB players portray RTwP games, and further how those same people want the rich text to be chopped down. PoE1 is really not a bad lore dump, and it's like reading a graphical novel at best. This isn't Game of Thrones. Live and let live, but this should go both ways. Why is RTwP always encroached upon? My point is vocal TB fans force preference falsification on RTwP communities, they manufacture consent, they lead devs away from the existing market base, convince devs that the market just isn't there. When in fact tons of people engage with all the aspects of narrative and tactics of these infinity-like games. At best you just need to offer an easy story mode for the few that just want story. Which Obsidian actually does! Bless them! Like, I can't imagine a more wholesome and thoughtful approach than Obsidian's, and yet you have InXile and Larian bending over backwards for people that really just prefer the flashy 3D graphics of Divinity to the flat look of Pillars. Once people actually play the games normally they cite Deadfire as being one of the most gorgeous games ever, but it looks flat in trailers. The problem is that these games can be a hard sell, especially in the manner in which the market understands marketing. How will you convince the fantasy reader to set aside FF14 and pick up Pillars when all you do is market it to people who most enjoy lighting barrels on fire to achieve sparkly dazzling easy wins, instead of DnD style tactical exploits. How do you draw in the RTS fans. How will you draw in the avid readers, the lovers of graphic novels, the lovers of visual novels? How will you make it a rich experience for grognards and new comers a like? I think Obsidian does, and mostly the issue is market exposure, not the market. Yeah, I'm saying a lot. But it's all true. Obsidian has been doing great work at modernizing RTwP and I'd hate to see it fall the wayside. A reason enough to be skeptical of fighting a two front war.

It's basically part of the Original Trilogy

Do tell

I voted for like in 1 & 2, because I don't want those systems compromised by TB necessities, though in theory I'd be fine with both. Generally it seems that TB folks are adamantly against RTwP while RTwP people will play games of both systems. The nature of these games being developed with feedback of the community makes me worry how design by committee will work when trying to please two very different camps.

Why would it need adjusting for smaller proportions...?

If you can augment it with LEDs does that mean you can create a hologram when you helicopter? These are the attentions to detail that earn you a 10/10

Woops, I've dropped my monster condom that I use for my magnum dong...

Leon the Professional was not the product of the right script and right director. The original was much more of a Lolita exploitation film, and the actors feeling uncomfortable worked with the executives to salvage the movie. It's a solid film, but more a product of chance than anything else.

Last word that I heard was something akin to "Deus Ex is a very important franchise for us that we plan to pursue in the future." - Eidos Montreal. Which I think can also be read as "That's our backup game when we don't have a Disney contract and need to return to our own IPs." edit: I also wouldn't be surprised if they are sitting things out until the Cyberpunk 2077 behemoth passes by, leaving them steadier waters to sail in.

Wow, old bump. So basically Obsidian's Mass Effect. We could use a good Space-Opera RPG to rival the ME series... Yeah, to me ME1 was the more interesting game, simply because it asked you to buy into the RP mechanics even if they were simple. They tactical squad commands were essential to wining many encounters, you couldn't just gun things down on your own. ME2 was probably better for it's tighter gameplay, but instead of opening up more tactics it just became a third person shooter with a branching non-linear story and customizable character loadouts. I can't remember the last "GOOD" Space-opera/Cosmic/Solar/Space cRPG... I guess you have things Stasis but that's only half-way there.

Likewise for New Zealand and it's Hobbits

Glad to see some of these games are still alive. edit: So this video is an investigative reporting on the development status of various as games "that seemingly vanished" IGN always with the **** titles....

Well, I think that pirate games are usually much much worse. They don't give you a feeling of being in a pirate world, or to do pirate things, this game starts do pull it off. It was also had one of the largest features added to the series to date. I'm not saying it's a particularly good game, by either AC standards or as a Pirate game. It just shows promise and squandered potential. As far as Pirate games, I think BG&E2 is probably the Ubisoft game to be looking out for.

I'd love a good Viking game, but even though the AC series has worked hard to revamp their gameplay with the last two games, I can only seeing the Viking setting held back by the Assassin roots. It seems they've also opted for extreme levels of rp mechanic padding. Already their best addition to the series of ship combat and one of the best pirate games to date, was 1.) held back by being an AC game even if the brand helped it get off the ground at all, and 2.) They are already breaking the ship part out into it's own series. Which proves the issue inherent in the series. Also I couldn't give a damn about the eternal Assassin/Templar b-plot anymore. They should just refit the series to be Vikings Creed, Pirates Creed, etc. Make historical set piece games. But maybe that wouldn't work because the kiddos need their annual holiday comfort food and all that...

I saw this thread and got excited there was a new development... Prior to selling Obsidian to Microsoft. Feargus mentioned they wanted to make PoE3. Interest was also expressed of using the IP for other sorts of games, I think the obvious and mentioned extension is an Elder Scrolls competitor. I say something akin the the following it in every thread speculating on the IPs future. They should make a proper PoE3 before going beyond. It will help tie off the established arc, and allow them to segue the world towards the future of the series. These games are cheaper than a AAA title, it will take a lot of work catching up with The Elder Scrolls and in the mean time they shouldn't let the IP fallow. Doing PoE3 would be good practice to handing the series over to a director other than Josh, who seems to want to work on Pillars as more of a creative designer than a director going forward. It will keep the creative pipe-line of Obsidian busy as the engine people of Microsoft help prepare for a fully 3D title. Lastly it will allow the series to grow in expose prior to delving into more expensive and riskier ventures by growing the exposure. Imagine a PoE3 with a proper Microsoft ad campaign. Deadfire had almost no exposure. Never mind the shear amount of good will for taking their time to turn the Pillars ship before squeezing Obsidian into alignment with the Microsoft Studios machine. A AAA Pillars could perfectly straddle the line between old and new Obsidian fans, but they need to play their cards right.

Movie adaption when?

Please don't look at the new Star Wars films with too much scrutiny, you might cause our own universe to collapse. I beg of you!

Yeah but those force powers were sick!