Update #8: New Digital Tier, Novella by Chris Avellone, and Translations at $2.2M

[Nonek]

The whip intrigues me on Edair, huntsman, slaver, Indiana Jones fan? That and the name reminding me of the legendary firefighter Red.

Edited September 25, 2012 by Nonek

[jarpie]

Edair looks a bit bland and uninteresting.

Edair is a man who does not want to draw attention to himself. I wanted his design (specifically) to be subdued.

 

Is Edair concept picture for the game, or made for the Kickstarter and will other concepts be as down-to-earth and 'realistic' as that is?

 

If yes, then it's a great thing. Lolrus approves.

[rjshae]

Yes, nice artwork. Not a glorified Lancelot type; just a regular Joe fighter in plausible looking armor.

 

The only oddity: what's he doing carrying a whip in his shield hand?

[norolim]

This is why I asked a question about the business side of this project. What were sales like in these countries of original Obz / Bio / BIS titles? What is the CRPG market like in those territories now? Does that data justify extra localisation and / or marketing?

 

The Polish version of Baldur's Gate II alone sold over 100 thousand copies (the article is in Polish, but some of you seem to believe that translating stuff is a waste of time, right? )

 

Josh Sawyer, if you have a minute, could you please have a look at the PM I sent you earlier today? Thanks.

Edited September 25, 2012 by norolim

[J.E. Sawyer]

Is Edair concept picture for the game, or made for the Kickstarter and will other concepts be as down-to-earth and 'realistic' as that is?

That's a concept for an actual character. Not all characters will be as subdued as him (like I wrote, he's specifically trying to look unassuming), but we're in the ballpark as far as proportions of characters and gear go.

[Hornet85]

Great updates, I'm happy for those users who were looking towards the confirmed translated language. Almost 2 million now. Time to prepare the 2.4 million stretch goal

 

Say, any update on the Paypal option? Would also love to have an option to upgrade our tiers long after KS, for those of us who can't afford putting down a huge sum at once

Edited September 25, 2012 by Hornet85

[jarpie]

It might also take day or two before the news about translations hits the german/french/spanish gaming news-sites so we might see the influx of pledges in day or two.

[MattH]

Maybe it's best from there on not to spread yourself too thin, and rather invest the resources (and time) in what you already have. I hope the translations will give an incentive for many more to pay. And Paypal should really improve things some more.

[Olauron Mor-Galad]

Say, any update on the Paypal option? Would also love to have an option to upgrade our tiers long after KS, for those of us who can't afford putting down a huge sum at once

Yes. From the FAQ on kickstarter page:

We will have a PayPal account set up on October 3rd. We want to make sure we have offered all the tiers and add-ons asked for by the Kickstarter community before offering Paypal, since modifying your pledge with Paypal is more difficult than with Kickstarter. Thank you for your patience.

[Darthturk]

A little off topic but, one thing about kickstarter i still havnt understood is why make those cheap pledges? like 20 dollar one, if that one wasnt there most of the people would most likely have taken the 25, cause 5 isnt really that much more. But when you have 25k people doing it, then its 5x25, which is 125k dollars. Anyone can explain it to me?

[Chippy]

Really like the art style and armour/weapons. No frills. I think Obsidian has always been on top of this (I particularly remember the lore screens of weapons from PS:T and IWD 1/2) and hope the engine from PE can allow for something in that vein. Not like some RPG's where it looks like the artist took their holiday in Amsterdam and came back with inspiration/tracings off their backside.

Edited September 25, 2012 by Chippy

[Calocidia]

As long as the translation has solid grounds for funding they are excellent. But otherwise i feel the money could be spent better but that is just a personal opinion as a swede who really feels the translations we get are a atrocity to gaming, writing and the English and Swedish languages.

[Semper]

A little off topic but, one thing about kickstarter i still havnt understood is why make those cheap pledges? like 20 dollar one, if that one wasnt there most of the people would most likely have taken the 25, cause 5 isnt really that much more. But when you have 25k people doing it, then its 5x25, which is 125k dollars. Anyone can explain it to me?

 

because when they started their kickstarter project there was no guaranty that it would be successful. 25k early birds is almost half of the initial budget needed and still 5$ more than the average minimal pledge to get a digital copy. plus the majority of pledgers use kickstarter like steam sales - they want to secure themself a cheap game and they expect a reward. bottom line is that an early bird special produces a mental pressure to pledge INSTANTLY!

Edited September 25, 2012 by Semper

[C2B]

I'm not a fan of literal translations in general, though.

 

nobody is. you can't translate literally without damaging the language you are translating to - that's the balance and what makes a good localization.

 

I'm well aware of the second part and I agree, but...

 

I've actually been in a lot of debates regarding that issue. There ARE people around that seem to think you're performing a crime against the original product if you don't translate everything literary.

[J.E. Sawyer]

It would be pretty weird if compound German nouns were translated literally, z.B. Augenblick as "eyes look".

[Semper]

I've actually been in a lot of debates regarding that issue. There ARE people around that seem to think you're performing a crime against the original product if you don't translate everything literary.

 

and there're also people claiming it a crime to translate proper names at all. would have been funny if they kept the names which usually come with eastern european literature. lots of knotted tongues among all those witcher fans :D

[dlux]

It would be pretty weird if compound German nouns were translated literally, z.B. Augenblick as "eyes look".

lol, indeed.

[The Dark One Avoozl]

wenn für dich weißlauf ausreicht, um eine übersetzung schrecklich zu finden, dann mangelt es dir ganz einfach an deutschem wortverständnis. überhaupt den kontext einer mittelalterlichen kulisse, in dem project eternity angesiedelt ist, mit den eigennamen neuzeitlicher comics zu vergleichen, zeugt von extremer engstirnigkeit. wenn, dann komm' wenigstens mit argumenten und nicht mit iwelchem scheiß, der bloß deinen vorlieben entsprungen ist.

 

Nicht um eine ganze Übersetzung schrecklich zu finden (und ich lebe schon mein ganzes leben lang in Deutschland. Danke.) Aber der Name Weißlauf hört sich einfach schrecklich an im Vergleich (oder Einsamkeit im Vergleich zu Solitude oder Flußwald im Vergleich zu Riverwood). Es hört sich einfach schlecht an. Und ich sehe Fantasy Spiele nicht als Mittelalterliche Kulisse sondern als *schock und horror* Fantasy Kulisse.

 

It's funny you should mention German; I've had German translation teams in the past be extremely aggressive about translating both common (e.g. Brigit) and fictional names into different versions. I didn't really (and still don't) understand why.

 

Neither do I. As most of the time. The results sound silly. So unless you give translation notes on how to translate certain stuff like Tolkien did. Tell them to keep original names. And not just make German **** up that sounds similar. Don't want another Jaina Prachtmeer.

 

it's because you need a versatile vocabulary and very good knowledge of german to translate names while keeping their meaning and the phonetic in balance. and a lot of germans do think that english is superior to their language. that's why they want their names sounding cool instead of a medieval touch which would fit the setting.

 

And most of the time. German game translators lack that skill. Major time.

 

 

Oh **** it. Why do I even argue. You have your opinion. I have mine. Let's keep it at that.

[anek]

How does Edair manage to keep his armor this spotless? No cuts, bruises, remnants of bloodstains...

[Wirdjos]

Am I the only one that thinks Edair looks like a haughty prince/pretty boy type? Still loving the design and concept art in general. Extremely excited for the novella as well. I love me some tie-ins. Every new announcement only inspires more confidence. I can't wait til I get paid so I can throw money at this.

 

Do you guys think we'll have a second go at some of these rewards? I would like a hardcover collector's book and cloth map, but I don't have $500 to spend getting them, least of all right at this moment. Also do we know what's in the collector's boxed edition yet?

Edited September 25, 2012 by Wirdjos

[Elerond]

In literal translations I really hate how they destroy meaning from wordplays.

 

Here is an classic Finnish wordplay, which purpose is to confuse another as it uses same words to mean different things in same sentence. But if you make literal translation to english then you lose whole meaning from it. As you can see.

Kärpänen (fly) toiselle (to another): Tuu (come) kattoon (to ceiling) kattoon (to watch) kun (how) toinen (another) tapettiin (was killed) tapettiin (on tapestry).

Edited September 25, 2012 by Elerond

[Semper]

Nicht um eine ganze Übersetzung schrecklich zu finden (und ich lebe schon mein ganzes leben lang in Deutschland. Danke.) Aber der Name Weißlauf hört sich einfach schrecklich an im Vergleich (oder Einsamkeit im Vergleich zu Solitude oder Flußwald im Vergleich zu Riverwood). Es hört sich einfach schlecht an.

 

das liegt aber einzig daran, dass der englische name schon total bescheuert und inspirationslos ist. für dich hat es aber sofort einen anderen klang, da du, bedingt durch die fremdsprache, nicht sofort die eigentliche bedeutung assoziierst, sondern einen "fantastisch" klingenden namen. jetzt stell' dir einfach mal die ganzen engländer/amerikaner vor, für die solitude eben "einsamkeit" ist. mal ganz davon abgesehen, dass es falsch übersetzt wurde.

 

wenn's dich also so stört, dann spiel' doch einfach auf englisch. deswegen aber direkt komplette teile des marktes zu ignorieren wäre keine alternative. viele kaufen sich eben spiele und leben mit einer evtl. schlechten übersetzung, sofern sie das überhaupt mitbekommen, wenn sie dafür dem spiel bzw. den texten ohne probleme folgen können. ständiges nachschlagen im wörterbuch nervt dabei einfach nur.

Edited September 25, 2012 by Semper

[dlux]

wenn für dich weißlauf ausreicht, um eine übersetzung schrecklich zu finden, dann mangelt es dir ganz einfach an deutschem wortverständnis. überhaupt den kontext einer mittelalterlichen kulisse, in dem project eternity angesiedelt ist, mit den eigennamen neuzeitlicher comics zu vergleichen, zeugt von extremer engstirnigkeit. wenn, dann komm' wenigstens mit argumenten und nicht mit iwelchem scheiß, der bloß deinen vorlieben entsprungen ist.

 

Nicht um eine ganze Übersetzung schrecklich zu finden (und ich lebe schon mein ganzes leben lang in Deutschland. Danke.) Aber der Name Weißlauf hört sich einfach schrecklich an im Vergleich (oder Einsamkeit im Vergleich zu Solitude oder Flußwald im Vergleich zu Riverwood). Es hört sich einfach schlecht an. Und ich sehe Fantasy Spiele nicht als Mittelalterliche Kulisse sondern als *schock und horror* Fantasy Kulisse.

Not if you ask me. The English names are just as good/bad as the German translations.

[Jon of the Wired]

The whip intrigues me on Edair, huntsman, slaver, Indiana Jones fan? That and the name reminding me of the legendary firefighter Red.

 

It was mentioned that one of the uses of guns in the setting was piercing Arcane Veils, which are a standard defensive measure among wizards, and which don't stand up well to fast moving projectiles. In the gun thread, someone speculated that one weapon that could achieve velocities similar to that of a bullet would be a whip. So, it's possible that Edair's whip is actually for fighting wizards. If he is a wizard hunter, or something like that, it may also be why he prefers to look unassuming.

[Nakia]

Having the game in other languages not only benefits Obsidian now and in the long run but it is simply the right thing to do. I have played games from other countries which have been translated into English, sometimes the text and sometimes by voice over. I would not have been able to play those games without the translation. Not every one can learn a foreign language easily and it takes time. Some of you probably learned English in grade school.

 

I applaud Obsidian for doing this. It is the right thing to do.