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Abel

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  1. Abel
    As far as I've seen Pillars of Eternity is shaping up to be a dive in the past that will involve too much reading Well, you don't like to read, but you like to write :D (joke inside). If you have any hope yet about Dragon Age, i'm afraid that you would be an eternal deceived guy. Same thing if you hope Torment for 2014. The Witcher is really a great license, but i never could play it... In my opinion, and like said a website i read, to me PE is both old and new. Just matter of taste here. But your post surprised me a lot. Last but not least, i would say once more than i don't think you can bring the elements we speak about here in an add on. Just too hard to make these elements blend into the core game.
  2. Abel
    Thanks, really usefull
  3. Abel
    Actually BG2 wasn't small. But i deeply understand what you mean... Besides Athkatla, there were 3 or 4 places you could go... And all were some dungeon things related (though not to the extend of the 2 IWD :s Saved!). BG1 had more wilderness, but that was rather small maps with funny and intriguing scripted encounters, no huge content. But all this stuff just made the whole game much more... ALIVE, and worth exploring. About your funding idea, it's great on the paper, but i'm afraid that there are nearly as much differents expectations as there are backers.
  4. Abel
    I'm not agreee with all myself. But it's hard to judge something without an entire vision of the game. Some features seems to be inspired by Lionheart, Legacy of the Crusader. This game was great but there were some details i was really not fond of.
  5. Abel
    I think Obsidian just CAN'T copy Skyrim. I'll try to explain it... In New Vegas, i felt that the plot was weird. If i was shot in the head and barely survived after having watched the guys digging my own grave, i would be just in kind of trauma state, and run away very very far from them. But no choice, my character wants to pursue them, and... well strange. He's just a longtime postman and becomes a hero just because of this headshot. Strange too. Games like Skyrim are just something like the result of Bethesda applying numerous mathematic formulas in all the aspects of the game. It's impersonnal, and if it was a car, it would be a Volvo... No place for mistake, nor fun, nor wacky things or out of place... It's just... a grey and flat mathematic world, and even the emotions are scripted... beark... The plot of New vegas was just so wacky that i said "well, no choice, but... quite fun! These guys are crazy and their brain is just ****ed of. I love that." New Vegas has a soul... Skyrim has one just because of its artistic direction. Just examples: the way games are designed is hugely different from the start. But i'm kind of worry that Obs speak about the Skyrim example. It's just not them from the very start. That's all.
  6. Abel
    if people look at who voted what, you can see that few members of Obs team voted... All for Justin Bell. And it's obvious. PE is his baby and the baby of each dev in here. I can't understand how someone could even think about giving the track work to anybody else...
  7. Abel
    I don't know why such a question poped out... For me, the answer is just obvious. Justin Bell has to do it for so many reasons that i will just list a few here: -He has proven he's great. -He is invested in the project since the start. Music is the most important piece of art of a RPG (look at the arcanum one). Nobody more than Justin Bell can pour his soul in it better. -Great names does not always mean great work. Look at previous point. -Mark Morgan, Jeremy Soule and co were once unknown. They are well known today for the only reason they had opportunity to prove their talent. J.Bell may become a great reference too soon. -I loved Soule's tracks for IWD but there is more at stack here. As for Mark Morgan's style, i feel that J.Bell caught well the PE's idea. New license, new talent, it's just obvious. -The legitimity of J.Bell to do it is just obvious. -PE is kind of family affair. Stop thinking the same way as publishers. It's... well... It's sad (to be polite). -...
  8. Abel
    I say no too. I don't like fully voiced games. I by far prefer some cool voice hooks, like in BG. In french version, many are pretty ridiculous, but hey... just some fun. Furthermore, it has already been pointed. No voice actor = possibility to change and adapt dialogues when needed, even during beta. Just a little tweak needed.
  9. Abel
    héhéhééééé... I believe you, my friend, no problem. But, really, just try the french voice acting of many US games (Skyrim, New Vegas and some even worse). It's easy with steam if you save your orignal voices.bsa before switching language. It's just... well, my baker may voice the game the same way. Truly, i play these games with US voices and french subs (pity that the NV radio is not subbed :s). The only way not to be disgusted. But i agree with your entire post. All is true. And more. Hum, Skyrim can eventually become a great game, but needs at least 60 mods well picked. Strangely enough, New vegas needs less of them. The VERY WORSE was the UI.. PAD UI, Atrocious UI... Unmanageable UI... I'm not found of the ideas i read on the interview too. But i prefer to say wait and see, i may be surprised (well, i would be very surprised if such a game eventually comes to be great). The only way is that such a game uses 3D not just for 3D but in order to serve a deep purpose. And to achieve that, devs need to rework from scratch the entire concept of using full 3D... A brand new way to think the entire game experience.
  10. Abel
    You are interested in it. I am, too. I would like you to get carry away I've quite understood your meaning (even if that "albeit" is a problem for me. Even with the dictionnary, i can't figure out the meaning of this sentence "...were imported into the game, albeit the texture data." Sorry, it's a typo. "...were imported into the game, albeit without the texture data." is correct. By the way, Albeit is a conjunction and is synonymous with "although". Ok, make more sense now, thanks. About full 3D, i'm not of these guys. I played skyrim with many mods, and some really wonderful graphics mods. Was really beautiful, great. But 3D games are too descriptive, and just break my imagination. The immersion power of Skyrim is more about tourism than Roleplay in my mind (even if i dont point the problem of Roleplay being really difficult in a franchise like The Elders Scrolls). Was a problem too with New Vegas. I've the feeling that the game would be much more flavoured if rendered in the old Fallout 1&2 iso engine. Music is a great part of immersion in such games, and this trailer has a great soudtrack. Didn't said it, but love the portraits too, very IE feeling, and great piece of art. Magic and animations sound great. Or, at least, i like the directions it took. Waiting for further development.
  11. Abel
    I think it's just about the game mechanics. Game mechanics for PE allow RtwP. While Torment is inspired by a real tabletop game. I didn't read the rules of the game, but maybe Turn based combats is a better choice for Torment. I have no idea at all, and i'm not game designer. That's why i just let people who know about this stuff make the decisions. I remember that the first time a ran BG i was quite of "Ow! What is this?? Real time? Erk!". Finally it was a wonderfull experience. And the turn based fallout 1 and 2 were pretty good too. Today i can't imagine BG in turn based, and fallout in RTwP. And no, Torment is not about combat, like Planescape in its days.
  12. Abel
    All animations are not here yet, and others are alpha.
  13. Abel
    You are interested in it. I am, too. I would like you to get carry away I've quite understood your meaning (even if that "albeit" is a problem for me. Even with the dictionnary, i can't figure out the meaning of this sentence "...were imported into the game, albeit the texture data." Someone said in the thread some time ago that he showed the trailer to a friend who said "looks generic". I showed it to a friend today who isn't really concerned by games too, he said "looks beautiful"
  14. Abel
    yeah dude, very very true. As an example, i didn' backed PE yet... at all even if i read the updates since months. I just missed kickstarter and was short on money after. Besides, i linked this thread to french video game forums and website yesterday. After all, it's true that we all just keep crying about everything everytime just doing nothing and watching Obs work. But PE community is a great community too. And maybe we all have something to do in this project. It's true that PE wouldn't exist without backers, but it's true too that being part of such a project can be somewhat fun for backers. I consider games like PE like a piece of art. You can't craft a piece of art without passion and pouring your soul within it. Obsidian is a well known studio. I really think that this kickstarter project is about - at least - deep interest in crafting such a game. It would be easy to craft another ****ty piece for a ****ty publisher (yeah, i really DEEPLY hate some of them...). What i mean is that Obs would not have submitted the idea of stretch goals now if they didn't think it is usefull to improve their beloved game. And i think J.Sawyer said precisely that. So for me, no doubt, theses goals are usefull. Companions are usefull for replayability, wilderness for not just dungeon combat-oriented maps.
  15. Abel
    Great post Lephys, very long for a foreigner, but great For my part, while a have a huge respect for every opinion in the world, i don't understand them all. My guess may be simplistic but here it is... One of the major thing a like very much about kickstarter is the idea that the game will be released "when it's done". So, the only thing that preocupied me at first sight was "what is needed to make the better game possible with the funds they have?". And about the new stretch goals, the only question is "Does this new stuff usefull in order to make this great game?". My answer is yes, so, i said yes to stretch goals. Simple. Some people spoke about saving the add in for a future add on... I don't understand this guess as well. I mean, all add on of all RPG i ever seen was about NEW places and NEW characters in NEW places. BAdler explained us in a previous update how it coud be time consuming to change stuff already done. So! I think that adding companions and areas that blends well into the core game is very difficult if not developped alongside the rest of the game. I feel it's a very bad idea for the team to come, modify and patch existing areas/quests/NPCs/dialogues in the core game to help new companions/quests/areas of an add on to blend with the already published game. We don't want companions' existence to be noticed only in 3 maps of the game. We want them to blend with the entire adventure, like all other companions. I don't want 5 wilderness areas in an add on, separated of the main storyline, where i can find a new guy for my party while my game is already at its end. i want these areas to be part of the main plot, not like "well, we added some wilderness areas, but it's not needed to visit them unless you want to start a brand new adventure". It would be painfull... Does anybody reminds where you find Skye in BG1? Rather too late for her to be usefull. and TotSC was cool, but didn't blend better in the core game than mods like Secret of Bonehill. I just don't want stuff like DLC that does not blend well with the base game. And like someone said here, i waited for such a RPG since i finished "Lionheart, Legacy of a crusader". It was in 2003... 3 months, or even 6 or 10 isn't a big deal for me. Nowadays, people are all in a hurry, they all want things to be done before even asked. I can't help but think this is somewhat linked to the "crunch" problem in game industry... I really like to "laisser le temps au temps" like you say here...
  16. Abel
    I think that pre rendered 3D allow you to craft "screens" that look much more... "deep" (?) than if it was actually just made with a photoshop-like soft. I feel it works very well in this preview trailer. Images are somewhat deep, with foreground, background and all the stuff. I think the only difference between 2D and pre rendered 3D is just that. 3D helps you rendering some perspective mechanics and animations with the soft 3D engine that is really hard to animate or render with just a pen. But a the end, it's just kind of a "photo" taken in the 3D soft layout renderer and then applied on a plain 2D surface. But still, like i said, there are some things i can't understand. And all i said is just theory because i didn't any 3D work since 10 years. And i'm really curious about the stuff they made that can't be done with the method i spoke about below... Don't know if i was of some help for you, and if i understood your meanings well let me know so that i can improve my english further. EDIT: yeah Faster than light dude :D
  17. Abel
    Well i like the water, especially the fact that there are various kind of textures for it depending of the place. I wasn't shocked at all. Perhaps, in the third, there are too many ripples and the water should be still... But well, maybe there is a reason for it to be animated and highlighted... The trailer does not show enough to be sure there isn't.
  18. Abel
    That is because PoE is not a true 2D game. The game uses 3D models; the particles and dynamic lighting are 3D effects. Only the backgrounds are 2D (pre-rendered 3D to be exact) Oh yeah, i saw a video from J.Sawyer explaining this in an old update few months ago. I really had a hard time understanding this english video :D And what was awesome to me back then was that the point light hightlited the edges of the statues and brought shadows too, like if the statue were eventually a 3D model and not imported 3D model in 2D environment. I did some 3D modelization in my time (10/15 years ago) with Lightwave, but i can't really figure out the process used here. The only way i can figure out is that the 3D model was rendered with the highlights in 3D environment, and then converted into sort of animated texture in the 2D thing. But i kind of understood that dynamic lightning should do this in PE (spells etc) in real time, and then, impossible to use pre rendered lighting animations. I'm not sure my english is good enough to explain well all this stuff... Still, awesome.
  19. Abel
    I've just looked the trailer around 10 times just now... It is even better than i thought at first sight... Yes, animations are just alpha and are quite placeholders, but whatever. I love the artistic design (very much) and the details of the characters' gears , i love too the way they bring their weapon on the back or the side. The creatures are just all wonderfull, and i have no doubt than the so-called troll will be pretty nice too in such a kind of general design. Environments are wonderful. The effects of light, climates are awesome, and i can't really understand how it's possible to do this on a 2D game... The dragon is just amazing (perhaps a few too small) but really, really (!!!) impressive. I wonder too how you have animated both the dragon flying and his shadow on the ground. I mean, it's no secret if the game were 3D, but, here, there is no sunlight, just we feel there is one. There are 2 different animations? Some parts of the trailer reminded me Baldur's Gate (the guy crossing the river with his mace), some (with the spiders) reminded me the first time i saw the IWD I trailer (on the Baldur's Gate 2 CD!), others (the bridge and the 3vs3 in a village) reminded me some Planescape (Sigil for most part)... But i wonder one other thing. Dragons and ogres must be quite powerfull opponents. I've red somewhere that Eternity should be a saga (and the trailer reminds it). If it's the same kind of saga than BGate (with the same character i mean), then we must have a quite low level in the end of the present game... That's why the dragon (but is it really a dragon?) and the ogre surprised me here. Well, if the game is well balanced between dungeons, dialogue, exploration, combats and questing, Eternity may become a great game
  20. Abel
    You have a point. PST companions were awesome. But the matter is i played 10X more times BG than PST. And the amount of possible companions was one reason for it. Because i think one of the biggest problem of the best game ever (PST) was its lack of replayability. More companions help to change the party you gather for different playthrough. I mean, once you've played 5 times with Fall from Grace, you may just want to try another priest in your party... No? BG1 had 25 companions and BG2 had 16. BG1 ones were not as developped as the ones of BG2. But to tell the truth, even with 16 i've always felt BG2 lacks companions. (yeah, i'm greedy, and i don't ask for so many in PE anyway)
  21. Abel
    The trailer video lasts for less than 2 minutes. Strangely enough, i spent near 10 minutes watching it. Sounds like a resurrection of something long time lost. The update is not so "Big", but is "Great". Because the trailer is just something that is "big" and "great". So, thanks for it I look for it since at least 6 months. All is not perfect, but i would say, i don't care. Some spoke about animations, i would say that while they are not perfect, they have someting very unique that is very "Eternity". I don't look for perfection because perfection is like "no identity" for me. While i look for some Baldur's Gate is PE, i look too for some PE in PE. Furthermore, it's really hard for me to make constructive criticism about a point without beeing acknowledged of the entire set of features, because some weird designs (as an example) may become really obvious and in place if seen into the whole game. So, as it is only my 2nd post, just 2 things: 1) I voted yes on the poll about extra stretch goals. because choices into companion matters is great for replayability, and dungeon combat-oriented only extra areas is cool, but boring over time (like in IWD). Plus, i missed kickstarter so... 2) It's not quite the right update to speak about this but well... Just a word about crafting (because the concerned update is outdated). The only crafting system i fell right about was the arcanum one. Because, unlike moderns RPG, you was not able to become a master in every crafting domains (maxed out skills). Plus i feel weird that you can craft better weapons than a master blacksmith after just having killed some hundreds mobs (no link between mobs and forge)... And beeing at the same time a master scientist, master medic, master puncher, master sniper, master magician, and master toasters repairer at the same time. And finally, crafting a sword must take some time, not just few seconds in game... I really hope these immersion breaking problems won't happen in PE. I stop here the out of topic. This part does not really need a reply. And finally, thanks for the great work, for Arcanum, Fallout 1&2, Planescape Torment and all these games i still play nowadays. (And sorry if my english is poor. French people are not known for their mastery with foreign languages (skill really not maxed out here :D)). Was quite hard writing this.
  22. Abel
    Well, i keep an eye on Project Eternity since this spring, and i missed the kickstarter, but there is my first post. I didn't read all 17 pages, and i'm not sure this comment will be noticed by the dev team but... One feature i think is really important in a game like Project Eternity or Baldur's Gate is the companions. I mean, replayability relies much on this aspect. If i need to make the same party each game i try, it would be boring quite fast. I really think we need choices. Various wizards to pick, or warriors, priests-like... Part overlap of the NPC abilities is not a really big deal. As an example, for a ranger in BG2, i sometimes pick Minsc, and sometimes Valygar. Just refreshing beeing allowed to change The other point was wilderness areas. I don't really understand what is a "wilderness area" for you. Because for me there was very few in BG2, and a huge amount in BG1. For me Thetyr Forest is wilderness while Arnise Keep is not. But well, i just hope PE won't be as dungeon diving as IWD, because while quite fun, it was boring over time. So, yes, wilderness areas and not combat oriented places in such areas would be really good. A final note to say that i like the game, the art and all this stuff until now. Even if i'm not agree with all the features, the overall sounds nice. So, i voted YES, because wilderness and companions are, for me, the very core of a BG like game. Thanks for all the stuff until now.
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