Update #9: The power of MODES and Godlike Races: Our $2.3M Stretch Goal

[Wintersong]

First: those options are awesome. And that you can combine them like a bunch of Constructicons into Devastator is even more awesome. Really great stretch goal.

 

Just try to add as soon as you can something at bigger money amounts. Altough we still have more than two weeks, the sooner the people know, the better than they can be achieved. Not that PE isn't generating money everyday in good quantity.

 

Oh, if there is an easy mode, could be get some of those visual indicators out of the normal mode or maybe have them as optionals? Maybe I don't want to play Expert my first time but neither want to see how the influence with my companions flows. Just checking before the development starts rolling an its too late.

 

Along with these modes, we also want to introduce the Godlike races. These folks have been described previously as being similar to the humanoid "planetouched" in D&D: aasimar, tieflings, and genasi. That is a good high-level description of them, but they are viewed differently by various factions, faiths, and cultures in the world of Project Eternity. Godlike were "blessed" before birth by one or more of the meddling deities of this world. Though their appearances vary, they are unmistakeably otherworldly when anyone gets a clear look at them. Sometimes, the reaction they get is overwhelmingly positive. Many times, the reaction is overwhelmingly not. For better or worse, the physical "gifts" that mark them as Godlike always come with supernatural blessings (and curses) of their own.

 

The first question you may have after reading this may be, "Hey, what about the other races that have already been funded?" Those races are in the process of being fully designed and concepted -- and they can't be summarized quite as simply as "sort of like planetouched". We'll have more for you on those guys in the not-too-distant future. Thanks again for your support, your patience, and your questions.

Not really sure I understand the "Godlike".

 

Old AD&D 2E, aasaimar are descendants of angelical beings that had kids with mortals, tielfings are descendants of devils/demons that had kids with mortals, and genasi more of the same but with elementals.

 

Are these "Godlike" similar in the idea of "descendants of mortals that had some romance* with divine beings"? These divine beings are just the Gods or do other kind of divine beings exist as servants of the gods? Is the "divinie blood" of these races actualled diluted over time or has it remained a strong influence despite the generations?

 

 

 

* Muahahahahaha!!!

[Branimir]

Ooo I'm really excited about the godlike races :D The special modes sound cool too.

[Killroy]

Godlike races would be cool if they were immune to damage (melee and magic)

[Kilroy_Was_Here]

having companion influence messages turned off, you can just select that feature (and/or other story/dialogue-based elements).

 

Is this an unintended confirmation of explicit comapnion approval/disapproval like KOTOR2? First time I can remember seeing this stated directly...

[J.E. Sawyer]

No.

[theseez]

TBH I'm not really enthused about this latest news. As a story driven player, I'm not too fussed about hardcore modes and the like, and I know for a fact that I will not be using any of the features included in the stretch goal except for the new race, possibly. Hopefully the next one will include further content or mechanics that I find useful (e.g. UI features, in-game refinements) instead.

Edited September 26, 2012 by theseez

[leshy]

Expert Mode seems very interesting. However I'd prefer something that such more realistic gameplay elements like eating, sleeping, health management etc. but with all ease-of-use helpers - I'm a very absent minded person

Edited September 26, 2012 by leshy

[l3loodangel]

Update from Josh Sawyer

 

And at last you nailed it. Awesome update and awesome goal!

Edited September 26, 2012 by l3loodangel

[Odarbi]

Since the update has talked about modes: What are the chances of having a mode where quests will have a certain time frame in the game world to be completed?

 

eg: The idea of having 7 game days to rescue a hostage before they are killed.

[Auxilius]

I'm not a fan of the Expert Mode. I guess it helps to have a better feel of the game and help you to roleplay but to cut access to info looks frustrating. I like to metagame after all. Maybe I understood it the wrong way though.

Trial of Iron and Path of the Damned sound cool. But boy, do you need balls of steel to activate them together and/or on your first run. It comes for a roguelike fan but such things for a story-driven game, a RPG to boot... To replay the story the exact same way because I want the character I want to play to reach the ending...

[Inertia]

That's good to hear =D because mass effect 3 seemed to have cordoned off the gameplay from the story and i think it was mostly the fault of the story mode and if the same were to happen to this game i feel like something like... a fight breaking out in a town or w/e wouldn't be possible.

[rjshae]

TBH I'm not really enthused about this latest news. As a story driven player, I'm not too fussed about hardcore modes and the like, and I know for a fact that I will not be using any of the features included in the stretch goal except for the new race, possibly. Hopefully the next one will include further content or mechanics that I find useful (e.g. UI features, in-game refinements) instead.

 

If you're story driven, then you might like the ability to turn off the clues about internal mechanics, such as how much rank in a particular social skill you need to succeed or by how much you failed a particular check. Instead you'll have to rely on other clues.

[Skie Nightfall]

Now I wonder how influence work with companions.

 

Also, godlike races were mentioned much earlier, I thought they are already part of the first 5 races. Doesn't matter much though Just means we got 2 more races, yay!

Edited September 26, 2012 by Skie Nightfall

[Kai]

 

But I was wondering how much effort would be required to have the game react to the actual race you pick. For example; in DA:O elves were either slaves or a rebel race that were treated with disdain. Yet I never felt an ounce of racism towards my dalish character.

 

I expect that as a stretch goal (at this stage) race reactivity would not recieve as much enthusiasm, and even if it did it's probably too much work to really make the player feel like a Dalish/Drow.

 

But I thought I'd raise it anyway.

 

This is some I'd love to see as well, there's pretty few games, if any, where your race has made any difference frequently during dialogues. Usually you see racism towards everyone else but your character, I'd love to have to prove why my human should be allowed to enter a dwarven city, or having my dwarven companion speak up for me when it happens.

[Progressive_Stupidity]

TBH I'm not really enthused about this latest news. As a story driven player, I'm not too fussed about hardcore modes and the like, and I know for a fact that I will not be using any of the features included in the stretch goal except for the new race, possibly. Hopefully the next one will include further content or mechanics that I find useful (e.g. UI features, in-game refinements) instead.

 

This. I was hoping for a mod kit confirmation. Or a well loved voice actor volunteering to voice a companion at 2.3 or something but that one is pure wishing.

[Arundor]

Fantastic update. I'm strongly considering increasing my pledge now.

 

Question about Path of the Damned mode. Being a spiritual successor to Heart of Fury, does this mean it can be used to do a second playthrough with a high level character who already completed the campaign? Or is it just a higher difficulty setting that you can select with a newly created character?

[ShadySands]

How many races does that bring us to and will it be a blanket godlike race (from which you pick a sub race) or multiple godlike races?

 

 

Anyone?

[Sylvius the Mad]

Okay, this update is unequivocally good news. I love that we'll be able to set various gameplay preferences independently. That's something all games should offer, but basically none of them do.

 

Great job, Obsidian.

[Tychoxi]

Yes, thank you thank you thank you for differential switches for several gameplay/mechanics options. I was really looking forward for something like that.

 

EDIT: as someone who has experienced savegame corruption and loss, it would be good to consider having the game have a behind-the-scenes-auto-backup for the single "Trial of Iron" savegame.

Edited September 26, 2012 by Tychoxi

[SgtGriff]

It would also be nice to have some sort of reward for playing in one of these modes. It need not be extreme but something other than bragging rights might be nice. Greater likelihood of special equipment, or a unique ending come to mind.

 

I'm opposite on this one. I wouldn't want any in-game benefit for doing this at all. The only thing I would want, and this is only if they include achievements in the first place, would be achievements for those modes and maybe one extra for completing on all three in the same run. If there's an epilogue or summation at the end, maybe they could give a nod to the mode, not overtly but clearly enough that it gives a little ego-stroke.

 

I've often heard this opinion from difficulty hounds. I agree to some degree that challenge is its own reward. And I agree that showering characters with gifts just for playing hard mode is counter productive. However, with greater risk ought to come greater reward.

 

It's like life! I could take the easy road and have a still have good time. Or I could take the hard road and experience things I'd never get to experience otherwise.

 

Let's have some experiences of some kind reserved for those who want to take the hard road. Nothing broken. And nothing arbitrary. I don't want a bunch of equipment to appear in my inventory, for example. But appropriate rewards for accomplishing a greater task would be welcome.

[Metabot]

I'm not a fan of the Expert Mode. I guess it helps to have a better feel of the game and help you to roleplay but to cut access to info looks frustrating. I like to metagame after all. Maybe I understood it the wrong way though.

Trial of Iron and Path of the Damned sound cool. But boy, do you need balls of steel to activate them together and/or on your first run. It comes for a roguelike fan but such things for a story-driven game, a RPG to boot... To replay the story the exact same way because I want the character I want to play to reach the ending...

 

Basically all it is is that you won't know how much speech you need to pass a speech check, which is nice.

[Capitalism]

This goal is very interesting. I'd love to use one or more of this modes on my second walkthrough (especially Trial of Iron).

[Metabot]

TBH I'm not really enthused about this latest news. As a story driven player, I'm not too fussed about hardcore modes and the like, and I know for a fact that I will not be using any of the features included in the stretch goal except for the new race, possibly. Hopefully the next one will include further content or mechanics that I find useful (e.g. UI features, in-game refinements) instead.

 

Go watch a movie or read a book.

[Cantousent]

Not that consensus really matters, and heaven knows my views have kind of lost out in the few cases I've expressed them so far (especially regarding kill xp), but I wouldn't mind some specific in-game reward that doesn't completely go hog wild. I would still prefer no in-game rewards, especially since I firmly believe (believe and therefore can't prove :Cant's glaring at Vol icon:) that most folks who would complete a game from start to finish in pain and iron modes would have played those modes without any incentive. ...But I don't have the fire in my belly to fight over these things so I'll just give my opinion. Either way, I'll play the game on regular the first couple of times and after that, since I assume I'll do at least three runs, I'll go hardcore all the way. Believe me, Sarge, I'll argue against in-game rewards, but I'll use the hell out of them if they're included. :Cant's wry grin icon:

 

EDIT: Geez, I've gotten to the point where I can't write a post without leaving out critical words that change the meaning of the sentence.

Edited September 26, 2012 by Cantousent

[Elidar]

Seems like a solid update. I am really happy about the diversity you guys are giving the players. Even if some might not actually go for different modes it is always good to have the choice.

Personally I feel it's going to be very excitig, especially with the ability to turn different modes' features on and off at will. Keep up the good work!

Edited September 26, 2012 by Elidar