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Update #10: Characteriztion with Chris Avellone


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Today's Project Eternity update is shorter and sweeter than usual (at least on the text side), and instead is a fun video from Obsidian's creative director, Chris Avellone. In the video, Chris talks about birthdays, gratitude for fan gratitude, his one really @$!$ messy desk, and some extrapolation of characterization in Project Eternity.

 

The video is a follow up to his Project Eternity and Characterization blog post over on the Obsidian forums from a few days ago. We encourage you to check it out first if you haven't already, particularly if the process of character design interests you, and then watch the video!

 

Our next update coming this weekend. Oh, and for those of you who might not know, we successfully hit the $2.0M stretch goal, so chillaxing (that is, chilling and relaxing, in elvish) with some of your favorite companions in your player house is now one more thing you can do in the game!

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Aaah love this; it's like the beginning of Frankenstein where Mr. Narrative Framing Device is sending letters, some short and some long but each excited and telling of great things he hopes to see realized, to his sister.

 

I just hope he never actually meets Dr. Frankenstein in them, or gets caught in the ice.

 

Keep it coming!

CORSAIR, n. A politician of the seas. ~The Devil's Dictionary

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I see hey have Obsidian mugs. Why are those not for sale as merchandise???

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“He who joyfully marches to music in rank and file has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would surely suffice.” - Albert Einstein
 

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Happy birthday Chris!

 

I agree on all your points except for ego-stroking the player. I'd strongly argue that your party members always fawning over you is a horribly boring idea mostly used by most crappy RPGs Characters who you have to earn their respect and friendship or characters that can lie, manipulate, or hold information from you are far more interesting; it makes them more like real characters with their own motivations and desires instead of just being wish-fulfillment mindless sycophants that follow you around for little reason. For example, one of the best twists of Planescape: Torment was that Morte and Dak'kon were both lying to you the entire time. Also Ignus and Vhailor were interesting in part because to keep them in your team you have to pretty much lie to them because they utterly hate you but don't recognize who you are. Games need to betray or twist player trust like that more often because due to the interactivity of the medium it's more of an emotional gut punch to have a character that you believed to be a trusted ally turn out to have been using you the entire time. Bioshock is also another great example to this, so much so that it wouldn't work nearly as well in any other medium.

 

I'm hoping you guys steer way from such pandering pap because you've all proven that you make characters far better than that.

Edited by Zap Rowsdower
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...happy Gift o' Life day, Avellone...buy yerself somethin' nice... ;)

 

 

...WHO LUVS YA, BABY!!...

A long, long time ago, but I can still remember,
How the Trolling used to make me smile.
And I knew if I had my chance, I could egg on a few Trolls to "dance",
And maybe we'd be happy for a while.
But then Krackhead left and so did Klown;
Volo and Turnip were banned, Mystake got run out o' town.
Bad news on the Front Page,
BIOweenia said goodbye in a heated rage.
I can't remember if I cried
When I heard that TORN was recently fried,
But sadness touched me deep inside,
The day...Black Isle died.


For tarna, Visc, an' the rest o' the ol' Islanders that fell along the way

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I agree on all your points except for ego-stroking the player. I'd strongly argue that your party members always fawning over you is a horribly boring idea mostly used by most crappy RPGs Characters who you have to earn their respect and friendship or characters that can lie, manipulate, or hold information from you are far more interesting; it makes them more like real characters with their own motivations and desires instead of just being wish-fulfillment mindless sycophants that follow you around for little reason. For example, one of the best twists of Planescape: Torment was that Morte and Dak'kon were both lying to you the entire time. Also Ignus and Vhailor were interesting in part because to keep them in your team you have to pretty much lie to them because they utterly hate you but don't recognize who you are. Games need to betray or twist player trust like that more often because due to the interactivity of the medium it's more of an emotional gut punch to have a character that you believed to be a trusted ally turn out to have been using you the entire time. Bioshock is also another great example to this, so much so that it wouldn't work nearly as well in any other medium. I'm hoping you guys steer way from such pandering pap because you've all proven that you make characters far better than that.

 

I would like to see the devs answering to this one comment, you make a very good point there!

Edited by Elthosian
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Happy birthday oh Great One. 402 trips around the sun is not so many for an immortal such as yourself. I always suspected that anyone who could write PS:T was not human or frankly of-this-earth.

 

I am also disappointed that ego stroking is considered a necessity in a crowdfunded game like this. I'd actually prefer that the NPC like or dislike me based on my choices in the game or just because, not because the player himself needs ego stroking. I would like to think that no one at least here on the forums would want or expect their ego to be stroked by their companions.

 

About the only concession I'd want for game play purposes is to have the option of not allowing them to leave the party if they dislike you, although this might require a certain minimum intimidation skill (or equivalent).

 

I don't consider that desk to be messy. I hate to think of Master Chris Avellone (I believe it is Master, not Mr.) wasting time on organizing the stuff on his desk into neat piles. Total waste of time. Embrace Entropy.

JoshSawyer: Listening to feedback from the fans has helped us realize that people can be pretty polarized on what they want, even among a group of people ostensibly united by a love of the same games. For us, that means prioritizing options is important. If people don’t like a certain aspect of how skill checks are presented or how combat works, we should give them the ability to turn that off, resources permitting.

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