anameforobsidian

Links for the item degradation in particular. http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/64048-update-58-crafting-with-tim-cain/?p=1348405 I actually liked the idea of item degradation, but most commentors did not.

Why? What data do you have that proves this? Baldur's Gate sold 2 million copies. If this game has half that number of sales from fans of the IE games, Obsidian would be in a much better place financially then they've been for a long while. Even more to the point -- the whole purpose of the Kickstarter (I thought) was to make a game that was highly unlikelly to be a mass market success because it catered to the whims and desires of a small "niche" audience of players. A project like that could only be funded through Kickstarter (or similar means) as people who actually expect a financial return on their investment would see it far high of a risk for far to small of a return due to the small known audience. Instead, as we now know, the actual purpose of the Kickstarter was to fund a game intended to be a mass market success that would normally be funded by publishers, but the publishers weren't interested. The opinions of the backers are totally irrelevant to the design of the game because they aren't and never were intended to be more than a small slice (say, 5%) of the total market for the game. How many conversations have they had / changes have they made about attributes, interfaces, class roles, and skills because of backer input? I know for a fact they've changed all of these things in one way or another due to backer input. They took a big look at the way shadows worked because of backer input on the video, and they're still working on that one. They're also doing a ****ton better at communicating than virtually every other kickstarter, many of whom have a separate blog and forget to repost things to kickstarter. I do think that sometimes people at Obsidian do act like a big company and maintain a certain closeness (Feargus), but in general they've been incredibly open with their thought process and responding to criticism. Especially JE Sawyer and Justin Bell.

What about them? Mages also toss insta-death spells at you. If you haven't learned from the mage fights you already had, then there's always the Shield of Balduran. If the Shield of Balduran (which you can buy in the FIRST city district you come across in the game) isn't enough, then you use your head. And if your friggin head is defective, then you memorize raise dead, then you rest then you resurrect the poor sods who died due to your stupidity. If you have no cleric, then you use the Rod of resurrection that you Bought in the same shop that has the shield of Balduran.... or found in the same sewers where you face your first beholder. (funny how that goes, eh. It's almost as if the Devs planned it that way!) If you're not a shopper....and not a looter, and not a cleric, and not a mage killer, and not an intelligent gamer then by all means.... Feel free to reload. Although I'm not quite how reloading is going to help you here. That beholder will just do the same thing to you again. Ironic though that you'd cite beholders. Beholders are just about the ONLY encounters in this game that Pre-buffing is pointless against. Their very first attack is a super-powerful mass dispel that removes all Buffs. The Shield of Balduran wasn't in all editions of the game. Resurrection breaks your ongoing relationships with other characters, and does nothing if your character gets targeted first. The beholders lair was the first dungeon I went into after escaping from Irenicus when playing the game the first time; it's pretty easy to find with minimal fights. And it's not obvious that beholders even cast spells until they're casting spells at you and you can see it in the window. Once that happens, if you're a character with midling HP, good luck getting away quick enough to not die. Or, if you're a noob wizard who barred abjuration, good luck beating a beholder without prior knowledge.

Why? What data do you have that proves this? Baldur's Gate sold 2 million copies. If this game has half that number of sales from fans of the IE games, Obsidian would be in a much better place financially then they've been for a long while.

They are bound by law. US courts have found that kickstarters constitute a contract, and in the kickstarter FAQ, it says backers can take legal action if creators don't deliver. That said, the real issue is whether someone wants to go to court for $15 to $5000 bucks over minutia.

When will it be ready to show as a video? I really want to see that coastline in action. Xaurips are probably the little kobold-lizard things they covered in the animation update (because they had a staff in the animation).

Stamina regeneration is also rapid outside of combat. I'm okay if you have to decide between a super-cool buff and health.

Your copy/paste list is meaningless. Then fix it instead of complaining.

I copied and pasted. You're welcome to look yourself / edit instead of getting snippy.

Dragon Age has more enemies as a series for about the same number of games. Lists included for those who doubt. The lists I found / compiled seem pretty complete, some stuff is missing (like demiliches). But! Dragon age includes a **** lot of palette swaps; 15 Genlocks and 12 Hurlocks! And a crapton of enemies on the Dragon Age list are use once (brood mother) or not actually enemies (nug). Even with this included they're almost certainly at least at parity, with DA probably winning. A lot of fights in DA feel same-y, but it didn't stop me from playing Origins twice. Baldur's Gate 1. Adamantite Golem 2. Air Aspect 3. Ankheg 4. Ashirukuru 5. Bandit 6. Basilisk, Greater 7. Basilisk, Lesser 8. Battle Horror 9. Bear, Black 10. Bear, Brown 11. Bear, Cave 12. Bear, Mountain 13. Bear, Polar 14. Beholder 15. Black Talon Elite 16. Bone Golem 17. Carrion Crawler 18. Clay Golem 19. Crypt Crawler 20. Djinni 21. Dog, War 22. Dog, Wild 23. Doom Guard 24. Doppleganger 25. Doppleganger, Greater 26. Duergar 27. Drow 28. Elder Orb 29. Ettercap 30. Ettin 31. Fire Elemental 32. Fire Giant 33. Fission Slime 34. Flesh Golem 35. Flind 36. Gauth 37. Ghast 38. Ghoul 39. Ghoul, Greater 40. Ghoul Lord 41. Gibberling 42. Gibberling, Diseased 43. Gnoll 44. Gnoll Chieftain 45. Gnoll Elite 46. Gnoll Slasher 47. Gnoll Veteren 48. Goblin 49. Gray Ooze 50. Green Slime 51. Guard 52. Half Ogre 53. Hamadryad 54. Helmed Horror 55. Hobgoblin 56. Hobgoblin, Chill 57. Hobgoblin Elite 58. Ice Salamander 59. Iron Golem 60. Imp 61. Invisibile Stalker 62. Kobold 63. Kobold Commando 64. Lich 65. Mephit 66. Mind Flayer 67. Minotaur 68. Mimic Killer 69. Mist, Horror 70. Mist, Poison 71. Mist, Vampiric 72. Mummy 73. Mummy, Greater 74. Mustard Jelly 75. Ochre Jelly 76. Ogre 77. Ogre Berserker 78. Ogre Mage 79. Ogrillon 80. Orc 81. Orog 82. Oytugh 83. Quasit 84. Shadow 85. Shadow Fiend 86. Sirine 87. Skeleton 88. Skeleton Warrior 89. Spider, Astral Phase 90. Spider, Giant 91. Spider, Huge 92. Spider, Phase 93. Spider, Sword 94. Spider, Wraith 95. Stone Golem 96. Tasloi 97. Troll 98. Troll, Giant 99. Troll, Ice 100. Troll, Sea 101. Troll, Spectral 102. Troll, Spirit 103. Umber Hulk 104. Vampire 105. Werewolf 106. Wolfwere 107. Wolf 108. Wolf, Dire 109. Wolf, Dread 110. Wolf, Vampire 111. Wolf, Winter 112. Worg 113. Wraith 114. Wyvern 115. Wyvern, Baby 116. Wyvern, Greater 117. Xvart 118. Yuan-ti 119. Yuan-ti, Greater 120. Yuan-ti, Mage 121. Zombie Dragon Age 1. Abomination 2. Ancient darkspawn 3. Ancient rock wraith 4. Ancient sylvan 5. Andoral 6. Arcane horror 7. Archdemon 8. The Architect 9. Armored ogre 10. Armored ogre alpha 11. Ash wraith 12. Bear 13. Behemoth 14. Bereskarn 15. Blight owl 16. Blight wolf 17. Blight wolf (thrall) 18. Blighted werewolf 19. Bloodcrow 20. Bronto 21. Broodmother 22. Cassian 23. Cave beetle 24. Charmed Templar 25. Charred sylvan 26. Children 27. Corpse 28. Corrupted spider 29. Corrupted spider queen 30. Deepstalker 31. Deepstalker (variation) 32. Deepstalker leader 33. Deepstalker matriarch 34. Desire demon 35. Devouring corpse 36. Devouring skeleton 37. The Disciples 38. Dog 39. Dog (Dragon Age II) 40. Dragon 41. Dragon (variation) 42. Dragon thrall 43. Dragonling 44. Drake 45. Dumat 46. Emissary 47. Emissary apprentice 48. Enraged corpse 49. Enraged spirit 50. Ethereal golem 51. Experimental subject 52. Fade beast 53. Fade Rifter 54. Fanged skeleton 55. Ferret the Packrat 56. Firesprite 57. The First 58. Flemeth the Shapeshifter 59. Forgotten spirit 60. Gangue shade 61. Gate guardian 62. Gatekeeper 63. Gazarath 64. Genlock 65. Genlock (thrall) 66. Genlock (variation) 67. Genlock alpha 68. Genlock archer 69. Genlock archer (thrall) 70. Genlock assassin acolyte 71. Genlock conjurer 72. Genlock emissary 73. Genlock forge master 74. Genlock master assassin 75. Genlock necromancer 76. Genlock rogue 77. Genlock runner 78. Genlock shadow 79. Genlock shapechanger 80. Ghast 81. Ghast brute 82. Ghastling 83. Ghoul 84. Giant poisonous spider 85. Giant rat 86. Giant spider 87. Giant spiderling 88. Glowing slime 89. Golem 90. Golem master 91. The Grand Oak 92. Griffon 93. Hafter (dog) 94. Halla 95. Harvester 96. The Herald 97. High dragon 98. Hunger demon 99. Hurlock 100. Hurlock (thrall) 101. Hurlock (variation) 102. Hurlock alpha 103. Hurlock archer 104. Hurlock archer (thrall) 105. Hurlock berserker 106. Hurlock bolter 107. Hurlock Dragon-Tamer 108. Hurlock emissary 109. Hurlock emissary (thrall) 110. Hurlock general 111. Hurlock grunt 112. Hurlock omega 113. Hurlock vanguard 114. Hybris 115. Indignant spirit 116. Inferno golem 117. Kitty 118. The Lady of the Forest 119. Legion spirit 120. Leopold 121. The Lost 122. Lusacan 123. Mabari 124. Malvernis 125. Mature dragon 126. The Messenger (Awakening) 127. Monstrous spider 128. The Mother 129. Nug 130. Ogre 131. Ogre (thrall) 132. Ogre (variation) 133. Ogre alpha 134. Ogre commander 135. The Old One 136. Phantasmal crossbowman 137. Phantasmal shadow 138. Phantasmal warrior 139. Poisonous spider 140. Possessed ogre commander 141. Possessed Templar 142. Pride demon 143. Primal phantasm 144. Queen of the Blackmarsh 145. Queen spider 146. Rage demon 147. Razikale 148. Red lion 149. Revenant 150. Risen ogre 151. Rock wraith 152. Runic Golem 153. Sand stalker 154. Sand stalker leader 155. Sand stalker spitter 156. Schmooples 157. The Seeker 158. Sentinel (golem) 159. Sentinel (suit of armor) 160. Shade 161. Shadow warrior 162. Shah Wyrd 163. Shambling corpse 164. Shambling skeleton 165. Shriek 166. Shriek (thrall) 167. Shriek alpha 168. Silent Crawler 169. Skeleton 170. Skeleton archer 171. Skeleton mage 172. Slave statue 173. Sloth 174. Sloth demon 175. Snug the Bronto 176. Spider 177. Spiderling 178. Spirit 179. Spirit of Faith 180. Spirit of Valor 181. Steel golem 182. Stone golem 183. Suit of armor 184. Swiftrunner 185. Sylvan 186. Thaig crawler 187. The Dark Theurge 188. The Forbidden Ones 189. Toth 190. Trickster Whim 191. Urthemiel 192. Varterral 193. Velghast 194. Velghastrial 195. Venomous spider 196. Walking corpse 197. Watcher 198. Werewolf 199. Wild sylvan 200. Wisp wraith

Okay. That still leaves the rest of games journalism. Eugh. Eurogamer is the best of the bunch, and I read that pretty frequently. Something Awful actually has pretty good game articles, but they come once every two or three weeks. RPG Codex delights in being offensive, picks dumb fights, and does cheap reposts, but they do look harder for new information. Gamasutra is good reading, but they're focused differently than a game-news site. IGN feels overtly commercial, and mediocre past that. Destructoid makes my computer hang every time I go there. I hate the format of most of the Escapist stuff, and find myself frequently disagreeing with the authors. ArsTechnica is prone to being not even wrong. Polygon refuses to recognize that concision is a virtue. I've never found Giantbomb interesting in the slightest. PC Gamer said Dragon Age 2 was the best game of the decade. Kotaku is Kotaku.

Grayson at RPS is pretty good at embarrassing himself. He doesn't need the Codex's help. I'm feeling particularly put out at RPS for ignoring Serpent in the Staglands, and then reading Grayson's hostile interviews is painful. That said, the comments section of the Codex is not the most magical place on the internet.

Good interview. She seems like she has a level head on her shoulders.

"While in actuality mythologies are mirrors in which we can relatively observe own collective subconscious. I do not expect to see a huge change in the industry though as the dominant theme of the Western society in general is the childish debate of religion vs atheism... Sadly very few people know these childish traps and go beyond these anthropocentric viewpoints... Anyway I got a little off-topic and I apologize for it but again I am really interested to see if the devs or musicians are going to add some Easterns themes into the game or not. That way I could probably share some ideas here which in my opinion could very well fit the theme and game environment." I think the schism is deeper even than a lack of effort or maturity. I would actually be pretty surprised if JE Sawyer hadn't read Manichean texts, given their importance to medieval philosophers. But it's one thing to read and appreciate some texts as an adult, and another to grow up enculturated with a steady stream of oblique references to your mythology. I had a primer on Norse mythology in 3rd grade and grew up reading comics where Thor would fight Hercules. I didn't grow up hearing about djinn (well besides Disney's Aladdin, but that's not much of a guide) or rusalka or naga or chinese dragons. Just as I wouldn't expect a Persian to know about Thor's rams, I expect there's a huge gulf of cultural concepts, references, jokes, and attitudes that I've been missing. And most Asian myth books I've read have been poorly written, and there are few in English that start on a child's level. Then there's the whole problem of association, where songs that are from a recognizable culture are assumed to represent a stereotype of that culture, and it creates a small but noticeable discord to use them out of that context. Then there's the other problem that this game in particular is bound by the conventions of culture. It is supposed to intentionally invoke nostalgia for older games that are themselves part of Forgotten Realms / D&D, which is a pretty conventional setting, even though it does have places like Calimsham and you could summon djinni. That said, if you're looking for an RPG with Indian flavor, Unrest looks pretty interesting. It's not Persian, but Persian art will continue to exert diminished global influence as it is suppressed by the current regime. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/pyrodactyl/unrest-an-unconventional-rpg-set-in-ancient-india And here's the music from Unrest: https://soundcloud.com/pyrodactyl/troubled-countryside?in=pyrodactyl/sets/unrest_sample

I don't know if it would suit the setting, which is pretty standard Early Modern Europe. That said, I certainly wouldn't mind an expansion pack that was more mid-eastern themed. As for Asian settings, I've never seen a Western developer do them terribly well. I certainly wouldn't be averse to Obsidian trying, but I think most Western devs lack the basic understanding to represent the mythology faithfully.

Huzzah! It just hit its final day. Shame the Kotaku article wasn't three weeks earlier. They got to the first expansion stretchgoal, but it is extremely unlikely they'll get to the next. Oh well, here's hoping for long shots. Here's a bug person from the game.

Discussed pretty heavily here. Rogues are not dependent on stealth at all. It's an out of combat skill that all party members can take. Rogues rely on quickly moving around the battlefield, disengaging, and backstabs. http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/64979-josh-sawyer-talks-about-stealth-mechanics/?hl=stealth

Wasteland 2 is in an early beta. The beta was a separate tier, so you're not likely to see it until it's completely done.

Did anyone notice "the Devil of Carroc" as a party member? It's probably a placeholder name, but still....

I don't think they are really swashbucklers, as the stereotypical swashbucklers in media do less damage not more, and rely on parry and dodge for defense. They are really ambushers, special forces, men of intrigue, enforcers, that kind of thing. Quite honestly, I think rogue fits perfectly. It's people conflating thief and rogue that is the problem.

I thought the spell combinations in Dragon Age were quite nice, and would like to see something similar in Eternity or its successors. I disliked the enemies autoleveling; fights with four party members are far less interesting; class selection wasn't great; the overuse of spell resistance; out of combat skills sucked; and I preferred the a la carte spell selection of D&D based games. Overall thought I thought it stood head and shoulders above its competitors though. How many other games were released that year with anything resembling tactical combat? It didn't match Baldur's Gate in a lot of respects, but it was water to cRPG player dying of thirst at the time.

Don't know how I missed that, sorry.

I think we're talking slightly at cross purposes here. I'm not saying that the dialogue won't be as interactive as PS:T. I'm saying that even if it is, the reputation system is unlikely to hold much depth. PS:T had very in-depth dialogue trees but in terms of reputation (in terms of Lawful/Chaotic/Good/Evil and faction rep) didn't have a substantial influence beyond the cosmetic. Yes, doors opened and closed but these were very limited in their scope. Even Fallout 2, which had probably the most extensive and flag-happy dialogue trees (and for some unfathomable reason gets glossed over when people are singing the praises of PS:T's dialogue), didn't have reputation affecting matters in the way that people like to dream about. I don't know. Just from my own experience as gamemaster, or writing stories for other gamemasters, I've always thought of a reputation or a faction-alignment system as a crutch. That someone who is too lazy to write more intricate dialogue with more branching, or scenarios that don't have enough conditions, will use to create short-cuts. "Oh, hello mr. [neutral effort +1 elf-lover], don't you belong with the [faction align] in the [north by degrees of hearth]. Reputation systems are almost certainly far better from a technical standpoint. You don't want to create a bunch of crazy conditions for each npc because that requires loading a ton of variables, creates an opaque logic chain to debug, and just generally would make the program hackish and harder to maintain. Since your brain does the heavy listing in pnp, you don't notice how precarious and fragile long strings of logic are. Also, you cover this later in your post, but systems have a higher base reactivity than individual hacks.

I started this because I didn't see any other place in the forums to talk about other kickstarters, and there have been a lot of good ones recently. Serpent in the Staglands is a RTwP RPG that takes some inspiration from Darklands. I love their creature design: and their UI design. Heartforth Alicia is a beautiful metroidvania that is currently getting all the money ever.