[Update 02.10.12] Project Eternity: Known Information

[IEfan]

Honestly, GJ to OP for info gathering, the total picture gets clearer and bigger this way.

 

EDIT Argh, there's a seperate Update 3 topic, nvmind.

Edited September 18, 2012 by IEfan

[Volourn]

"Their inclusion would mean this is not a D&D game

 

(the 2nd Ed Php did have arquebus weapons but no one used them)"

 

People did use them. Why do you talk for others? I had campaigns make use of them.

[KateM]

Their inclusion would mean this is not a D&D game

I hope not. I do not want another DnD RPG and have to cheese around with multiclassing instead of just making the character I want to play.

 

I'm also pretty tired of playing in worlds where 16th century plate armor is commonplace but firearms are either unheard of or just a niche gnome weapon.

[Nivenus]

Their inclusion would mean this is not a D&D game

 

I think Obsidian has been pretty upfront that this is not using either the D&D license or d20 mechanics. They've said from the beginning that they'll be making the game with their own rules system.

 

Additionally, given Obsidian's track record, I'd say it's fair to say the game will try to subvert several expectations about the genre (both as an RPG and a fantasy game).

[Pop]

FYI, Sawyer's twitter is saying that to commemorate the breaching of the second goal, our dear leader, Chairman Urquhart, will be recording an address. Long live the proletariat, etc

[rf5111918]

Source: http://www.eurogamer...14-release-date

 

Important bits I picked up:

 

1.) Cain: "We have an engine already..."

 

2.) Josh is project lead, Cain is prog and mechs, Chris will "be doing writing on this project" (unclear to what extent that means).

 

3.) They are interested in doing multiplayer but unsure if they can swing it.

 

4.) Cain: "[PE] will have guns"

 

Clarifies a few points people have been asking about but have been lacking a definite answer. That said, opens up more questions about the engine for me...

 

I am so glad that the Obsidian forum moderators aren't like the satanic overlords in the Bioware forums who lockdown any thread that doesn't automatically fawn over the majestic masterpieces that is Dragon Age and Mass Effect.

 

I have to say I am pretty impressed by how quickly some of the questions I had about the game were answered. The Obsidian team seems a heck lot more responsive to feedback than Bioware.

They actually listen!

[Wombat]

To be fair, I have never gotten even a single warning form Bioware (well, or any other boards) and designers were open to my criticism (Some of them even replied to me). However, I haven't been to their boards for a long time. The last time I visited there, there was no DA or ME. Simply, their works have gone out of my interest.

[Cantousent]

No, Obsidz really is permissive. Fionavar is particularly adept at navigating between the rocky shoals of total clamp down control and the stormy seas of trawling trolls. I myself have been a moderator here and been warned several times before my time as mod and after. hehe

 

Also, several of the devs come here. I see Alvin quite a bit and Sawyer has always been good about dishing out the appropriate amount of dirt. All in all, I like the way Obsidz, and BIS before them, managed the community. Interplay, where I was also a moderator, was a little bit pyschotic about deciding whether or not to be the wild and wooly west or the newest province of the Reich.

 

The big thing is, we're keeping ourselves entertained right now, but things will die down a bit now, I think, until we get our first batch of real news. Unless, of course, FU dishes out some real dirt in his statement. Then all hell might break loose right away.

[Wombat]

@Cantousent

You actually replied to Visceris. While he could be very annoying at times, he wasn't malicious to my eyes. So, simply, I have never reacted to him. Well, even Sawyer tended to react to the worst posts in threads (I guess he was trying too hard to convince every single person, which cannot be a winning battle).

 

As of me, during the course of "consolization", I was worried if Obsidian is going down the same way as BIS and Troika. However, after the Kickstarter project started, suddenly, I find myself releaved (My brains keep telling me it's still in early stage, though). If it goes well, Obsidian is going to have a nice way of continuing their business. A sad thing is that Obsidian needed to lay off some young talents but, well, at least, some of them may come back.

[CommissarMega]

To be fair, I have never gotten even a single warning form Bioware (well, or any other boards) and designers were open to my criticism (Some of them even replied to me). However, I haven't been to their boards for a long time. The last time I visited there, there was no DA or ME. Simply, their works have gone out of my interest.

 

I used to visit the Bioware forums, and it really went to pot after Mass Effect 2. The moment you didn't verbally pleasure anyone who worked on Bioware's masterpieces or said anything that would hurt the feelings of said people and/or masterpieces, it was End of Line (sic) for you.

 

EDIT: Hell, people were being banned for complaining about TOR's service policies, posting silly but harmless memes (i.e. "I am 12 and what is this" met with a ban)- it was crazy, man.

Edited September 19, 2012 by CommissarMega

[Wombat]

I used to visit the Bioware forums, and it really went to pot after Mass Effect 2. The moment you didn't verbally pleasure anyone who worked on Bioware's masterpieces or said anything that would hurt the feelings of said people and/or masterpieces, it was End of Line (sic) for you.

 

EDIT: Hell, people were being banned for complaining about TOR's service policies, posting silly but harmless memes (i.e. "I am 12 and what is this" met with a ban)- it was crazy, man.

Two sources already. O.K., then. I guess the pastral days on their boards are the thing of the past. One of the reasons why I'd like PE to stay low-budget is, once people find it's a possible way to make good money, things began to be complicated.

cf

The best one:

 

@Steven We were actually contacted by some publishers over the last few months that wanted to use us to do a Kickstarter. I said to them "So, you want us to do a Kickstarter for, using our name, we then get the Kickstarter money to make the game, you then publish the game, but we then don't get to keep the brand we make and we only get a portion of the profits" They said, "Yes".

[Mayonaise]

I really hope that guns don't mean Steampunk setting. Steampunk is way played out

Edited September 19, 2012 by Mayonaise

[teknoman2]

why must guns mean steampunk? pirate themed games and movies have guns but are not steampunk... their settings are closer to fantasy. dont be confused with arcanum! the fact that the first game to put elves, dwarves, gnomes and guns in the same setting was steampunk, does not mean that all games with that setup will be steampunk. take warcraft 3 or wow as an example

[CommissarMega]

I really hope that guns don't mean Steampunk setting. Steampunk is way played out

 

See the firearms thread for a longer discussion, but yeah, guns don't mean steampunk. Guns have been around for centuries, with gothic platemail coming AFTER guns. We're talking 16th Century wheelock rifles here.

[Luckmann]

To be fair, I have never gotten even a single warning form Bioware (well, or any other boards) and designers were open to my criticism (Some of them even replied to me). However, I haven't been to their boards for a long time. The last time I visited there, there was no DA or ME. Simply, their works have gone out of my interest.

That's a long, long, long time ago, man. Mass Effect was released in 2007, so it's at least 5 years since you sat your foot near a Bioware forum.

 

I'm one of those lucky people that managed to get banned on the social site for calling Ray Muzyka a lying hack, which also resulted in me getting my EA account banned, which effectively means that when I got banned on the Bioware forums, I lost all the DLCs I had for Mass Effect 2 and Dragon Age: Origins. Yes, that includes all Collector's Edition, Pre-order, etc promos.

 

That's what this glorious age of digital distribution and rampant DRMs have given us. Zero accountability and forum overlords capable of revoking your right to bought goods/licenses.

 

I really hope that guns don't mean Steampunk setting. Steampunk is way played out

While it seems fairly obvious to me that they're not going to Steampunk route, I must ask you; What?! I can think of exactly one Steampunk RPG, which had a great story and atmosphere, but was also one of the mechanically weakest games I've played, to not speak of the mass amount of bugs - and that's Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura.

 

I can think of at least 20 - and I can say that without even needing to think about it - generic fantasy games, set in generic fantasy settings, give or take a handful of unique aspects.

 

How can you possibly think that Steampunk is "way played out"?

Edited September 19, 2012 by Luckmann

[Enoch]

Backers should check their email-- I just got Update #4.

[C2B]

Yup #4 is out. Talking about new reward tiers.

[Tale]

#4 included information on a DRM free option, so I've updated the FAQ.

[Majek]

Hmm even more incentive to save up for 160$.

[Sinistas]

 

I'm one of those lucky people that managed to get banned on the social site for calling Ray Muzyka a lying hack, which also resulted in me getting my EA account banned, which effectively means that when I got banned on the Bioware forums, I lost all the DLCs I had for Mass Effect 2 and Dragon Age: Origins. Yes, that includes all Collector's Edition, Pre-order, etc promos.

 

That's what this glorious age of digital distribution and rampant DRMs have given us. Zero accountability and forum overlords capable of revoking your right to bought goods/licenses.

 

I still find it ridiculous that EA's accounts are tied to their forums for this very reason. I didn't like DAII, but saying so shouldn't mean I lose access to my other games.

[Nivenus]

I really hope that guns don't mean Steampunk setting. Steampunk is way played out

While it seems fairly obvious to me that they're not going to Steampunk route, I must ask you; What?! I can think of exactly one Steampunk RPG, which had a great story and atmosphere, but was also one of the mechanically weakest games I've played, to not speak of the mass amount of bugs - and that's Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura.

 

I can think of at least 20 - and I can say that without even needing to think about it - generic fantasy games, set in generic fantasy settings, give or take a handful of unique aspects.

 

How can you possibly think that Steampunk is "way played out"?

 

As you say, Project Eternity isn't steampunk anyway, but I agree with your central point. Compared with classical high fantasy, steampunk isn't all that played out at all - at least not outside of fan works or anime.

[Chaos Theory]

In the next week or so can we please get some more information regarding the extent to which we can customize Items/NPCs for those of us kicking in at the Grover Cleveland level? Questions can be found here. Thanks!

[Kai]

why must guns mean steampunk? pirate themed games and movies have guns but are not steampunk... their settings are closer to fantasy. dont be confused with arcanum! the fact that the first game to put elves, dwarves, gnomes and guns in the same setting was steampunk, does not mean that all games with that setup will be steampunk. take warcraft 3 or wow as an example

 

agree, although wow have dwarves and especially the gnomes who are tech crazy, the game really doesn't feel like steampunk at all. Arcanum was great, I liked the balance between tech and magic, but don't think P:E will be too much like that.

[bigdogchris]

I have a question for J.E. or anyone in the community that may know.

 

In the recent video it was mentioned that you can solo the game if you choose to. I was wondering if the team has a plan for how to balance the game? Examples of concerns like, will encounteres spawn different based on how many party members you have? As a party of 6, will there be stronger enemies that you can battle, that in solo game you won't? I ask because, to me, it would seem that as a party you could face more challenging enemies than a solo player and that the rewards would be greater.

 

I would be disappointed if encounters were set, regardless of group size, so that the NPC's would just scale down for solo players. I believe the community would much rather see encounters scale up for party's. Another option could be that the basic story segments be easier, for solo players, but optional content/dungeons/enemies could be designed for party's.

 

What is Obsidian's stance on this?

 

Thanks.

Edited September 19, 2012 by bigdogchris

[Tigranes]

In IE games, everything was the same, but you got 6 times the XP, since XP was given to the party and even split. So this also balanced out 3-man or 4-man parties.

 

To me this makes the most sense, since it requires no level scaling - and generally, people who play with smaller parties are doing so for the additional challenge.