Update #12: Reddit Q&A with Tim Cain

[Andtalath]

Will there be exceptionally powerful enemies outside of heart of fury mode?

 

One of the things I really liked about Baldur's Gate was beating Drizzt, especially as early as possible.

In BG II, the hidden bosses and dragons where some of the finer points of the game, I remember trying to take out Firkraag for an hour and finally giving up.

Actually returning later in the game and beating him really gave you a sense of accomplishment.

 

I also really liked the telthor badger in Mask of the Betrayer, pretty much the only battle in the game which actually challenged you somewhat.

 

Will being evil be made an attractive choice?

I ask because in most of your games (barring PsT and MotB) being non-heroic has been kinda tacked-on.

 

Will there be clashes between characters?

For me, the actual conflicts arising between characters in BGII was what made them feel real.

For instance, Mazzy threatening (and attacking) Edwin if he damages her with AoE spells.

 

Will spells be diverse or specced?

I really liked having loads of different spells with many different functions.

Having Aoe cone, aoe burst and solo target as your three damage types (like in Dragon Age) is really boring and definitely rules out the whole "Cool new spell!" effect.

 

Will the game be made to be broken?

Meaning, will true power gaming be possible?

I love games where you struggle the first time but later on you can handle things which would seem impossible before.

For instance, I've soloed BGII tactics.

 

Loads of questions, I'm vageuly hopeful for answers

[Vampero]

Great questions I need to think of a good one to ask !

[Starwars]

I'm ecstatic to hear that a there's a lot of reactivity based on character races and such. I can't wait to explore these options!

 

Also, Tim is good at answering questions and is pleasant to listen to. I would certainly welcome more Q&As, I quite enjoyed this one.

[mes]

Microing party member positioning... yes!!!

 

Modding or at least custom campaign creation would be really great. New mods coming out would significantly extend the life of the game. Look at what it did for NWN. Do a stretch goal for it--I for one would increase my donation.

 

@Andtalah: Excellent points!

[FlintlockJazz]

I just want to say for what this Rabbit's thoughts are worth I like the answers given to the questions, and it gives me confidence that the devs have put some serious thought into all these aspects. That is all, you may resume your previously scheduled programming.

[Stun]

NeuroArcanist asks…

What aspect of cRPGs missing from modern games do you most want to recapture with Project Eternity?

 

Answer: I can answer that in one word: parties. I like playing cRPG's that allow the player to control big parties of characters, and by control, I mean you can pick the actions of each party member if you want. We will have lots of pause conditions in our combat, and if you want to have the game pause whenever a party member can perform a new action, you can do that. Most modern games only let you control one character, or if they give you a party, you only control one member of that group. In this game, I want to control all of them.

I hope that doesn't mean too much micro management, and that they can handle their inventories on their own if you so please. Or better yet, have a large shared party inventory, instead of being split between multiple characters.

God I hope not. Never played a game with decent enough AI that I could trust my companions to intelligently "handle their inventory on their own". In systems like that, your companions inevidably make the most retarded choices. They'll use up the charges on their best wands when fighting.... goblins. They'll chug down all their healing potions when the fight is almost won. They'll use up all their summoning devices regardless of the threat in front of them etc.

 

And shared inventory? Kill it with fire, as you guys like to say, here.

 

No. The way the IE games did it worked well, and with a little bit of 21st century tweaking, they can take the IE systems and make them work VERY well.

 

PS: Micro-management is a loaded term. There's a negative stigma attached to it that doesn't do it justice. How about "Full Control". Yeah, when I'm playing a party-based RPG, I want full control.

Edited September 29, 2012 by Stun

[Nakia]

I am also a little disapointed that armour will be usuable by anyone regardless of class or race.At least the non-enchanted armour. I always take the attitude with enchanted armour that a "stretch or shrink to fit" spell is included.

[Piccolo]

Nice update.

 

I was a little apprehensive about RTwP at first, as I generally find turn-based to be a lot more enjoyable. In some ways though, I'm relieved that Tim and the other devs are sticking to their guns on the issue. That to me says they're not only very confident about delivering a great combat system, but also that they're determined to follow their own vision and not fall into the trap of trying to appease the fans too much (which is perhaps my biggest concern about the Kickstarter approach).

Edited September 29, 2012 by Piccolo

[Metabot]

Classes are definitely fine, especially in a party based game. I just hope that they make interesting classes with unique options and gameplay for each.

[Elidar]

NeuroArcanist asks…

What aspect of cRPGs missing from modern games do you most want to recapture with Project Eternity?

 

Answer: I can answer that in one word: parties. I like playing cRPG's that allow the player to control big parties of characters, and by control, I mean you can pick the actions of each party member if you want. We will have lots of pause conditions in our combat, and if you want to have the game pause whenever a party member can perform a new action, you can do that. Most modern games only let you control one character, or if they give you a party, you only control one member of that group. In this game, I want to control all of them.

 

What I'd really like to know is if there's going to be something like in BG, Icewind Dale, etc., meaning scripts or some kind of AI based sets of behavior for certain classes during combat?

While I am looking forward to being able to control the whole party, I also don't want to go too deep into micro management for some easier fights and in case of a difficult fight I also would like to see my companions being able to handle themselves without me telling them their every single move.

[Shardbearer]

NeuroArcanist asks…

What aspect of cRPGs missing from modern games do you most want to recapture with Project Eternity?

 

Answer: I can answer that in one word: parties. I like playing cRPG's that allow the player to control big parties of characters, and by control, I mean you can pick the actions of each party member if you want. We will have lots of pause conditions in our combat, and if you want to have the game pause whenever a party member can perform a new action, you can do that. Most modern games only let you control one character, or if they give you a party, you only control one member of that group. In this game, I want to control all of them.

I hope that doesn't mean too much micro management, and that they can handle their inventories on their own if you so please. Or better yet, have a large shared party inventory, instead of being split between multiple characters.

God I hope not. Never played a game with decent enough AI that I could trust my companions to intelligently "handle their inventory on their own". In systems like that, your companions inevidably make the most retarded choices. They'll use up the charges on their best wands when fighting.... goblins. They'll chug down all their healing potions when the fight is almost won. They'll use up all their summoning devices regardless of the threat in front of them etc.

 

And shared inventory? Kill it with fire, as you guys like to say, here.

 

No. The way the IE games did it worked well, and with a little bit of 21st century tweaking, they can take the IE systems and make them work VERY well.

 

PS: Micro-management is a loaded term. There's a negative stigma attached to it that doesn't do it justice. How about "Full Control". Yeah, when I'm playing a party-based RPG, I want full control.

 

I wouldn't want shared inventory, but it would be nice to have all the inventories open at once, so I don't have to keep clicking back and forth between characters trying to remember where I last stuffed something

[Tigranes]

You could use 1-6 hotkeys in IE games.

[Stun]

 

While I am looking forward to being able to control the whole party, I also don't want to go too deep into micro management for some easier fights and in case of a difficult fight I also would like to see my companions being able to handle themselves without me telling them their every single move.

In the IE games, there was a 'select all' button that became quite useful for those easier fights where you didn't feel the need to stop and assign everyone a unique action.

 

For example, you come across a group of about 5 Orcs. No need for micro-management in such a situation. Simply click "select all" then point your curser at one of the orcs, and your entire party will just start attacking the orc you clicked on until he dies, then they'll automatically move on to the next orc, then the next, then the next until there's none left.

[rjshae]

Good answers.

 

The component I don't particularly like about RTwP is when the party members just start running all over the place, attacking whomever, without trying to maintain decent group cohesion. I'd like the characters to fight as a team and not have to be constantly yanking them back into formation.

 

Modding may be a nice addition, but I'll bet most people can probably live without it. There are plenty of other game engines out there where people can spend their modding energies. Still, modding does seem to extend the life of games, so, if the game is a retail success, it wouldn't surprise me to see it made available at some point.

[Knott]

-- Double-post

Edited September 29, 2012 by Knott

[Knott]

AtheistBots asks...

Class vs. Classless systems You're most famous for classless systems involved in Fallout and Arcanum. It sounds as if Obsidian will be using a class based system. What do you see as being the advantages of a class based system that you're hoping to leverage in Project Eternity?

 

Answer: We are designing a class-based system because we want the different characters in your party to fill different roles, and classes are the best way to achieve this goal. In a skill-based game, it's harder to tell if a companion gives you the skills you are looking for, especially before you recruit them. In a class-based game, you know what each class can do, so you can decide that you want a particular class even before a potential companion offers to join you. And when you have a lot of companions and can choose which ones you want to take on a particular adventure, classes make it easier to form the group and be assured that you have your skillsets covered.

 

Bonus question: Are you considering multiclassing?

 

Answer: Bonus questions are cheating…but yes, we are considering adding multi-classing to the game. A better way to put this answer is that we are not ruling them out at this time. If they work well with our final system, we will offer them.

 

*Sigh*

So they are making it safe for the "Creatively and cognitively challenged"..

I can't beleive they'd settle for that after MCA's wonderful blog-post: http://forums.obsidi...l-set-symphony/

 

but oh well, One can only hope that multi-classing will be intelligently designed.

[RosesandAshes]

Great update! The racial traits stuff sounds interesting, and I like that my human character can finally wear elven armor (even though it might involve breastplate stretching) because it's always frustrated me when I find a cool piece of armor and WHY DO I HAVE TO GIVE IT TO MY PARTY MEMBER?! I WANT IT!

[Ieo]

I wouldn't want shared inventory, but it would be nice to have all the inventories open at once, so I don't have to keep clicking back and forth between characters trying to remember where I last stuffed something

 

I rather like the overall micromanagement/AI combination in BG (though I didn't do the more custom AI scripts), but the inventory thing always bugged me. It was worse in BG1 because going into inventory unpaused the game during combat! It's true that having limited inventory per character is realistic, but having to manage the consumables/ammo among the party was annoying to me.... It's one thing I did like about DA's shared inventory setup--I didn't have to worry about different characters suddenly running out of stuff in the middle of combat and then having to drag-n-drop things across characters. I'd rather be deciding which enemy to attack with what spell or something.

 

I wouldn't mind a hybrid inventory system of some kind, where we still have our static character-specific inventory and quick-slots but maybe 1-2 special 'shared' quick-slots only for consumables like potions/ammo. But the option of having everyone's inventory open at the same time, like pausing in the middle of combat to redistribute potions, would greatly increase convenience as well.

[Elidar]

While I am looking forward to being able to control the whole party, I also don't want to go too deep into micro management for some easier fights and in case of a difficult fight I also would like to see my companions being able to handle themselves without me telling them their every single move.

In the IE games, there was a 'select all' button that became quite useful for those easier fights where you didn't feel the need to stop and assign everyone a unique action.

 

For example, you come across a group of about 5 Orcs. No need for micro-management in such a situation. Simply click "select all" then point your curser at one of the orcs, and your entire party will just start attacking the orc you clicked on until he dies, then they'll automatically move on to the next orc, then the next, then the next until there's none left.

 

Thank you, but I am quite aware of this option as I've played all IE games. I was making a different point.

[Oner]

Am I the only one who thinks that an explorable world, tight story, reactivity, party managemen, IWD quality combat and dungeons are too many focus points? I don't know how they want to make all those aspects as good as possible. Not that I mind Obs trying, far from it, but it just seems too good to be true on such a (relatively) low budget.

[Ieo]

Am I the only one who thinks that an explorable world, tight story, reactivity, party managemen, IWD quality combat and dungeons are too many focus points? I don't know how they want to make all those aspects as good as possible. Not that I mind Obs trying, far from it, but it just seems too good to be true on such a (relatively) low budget.

 

Virtually all the devs involved with PE have been involved in other games that cover the gamut. For example, Josh Sawyer on IWD's great mechanics, Chris Avellone on PS:T's ridiculously good writing, and while I'm not sure just how much dev input they had with Baldur's Gate, Obsidian/Interplay (Tim Cain) published BG so they must have had some input for the product to have panned out the way it did.

 

They can make the Holy Trifecta work together because they don't have to worry about the larger publishers of current passive gaming audiences trying to cater to only one type (e.g. dungeon hack) and because they're stripping out those items that add giant budget requirements---full VA work, cut-scene cinematics, 3D talking heads, multiplayer.... and marketing (marketing costs can be ridiculous--twice the budget of actual development for some current AAA 3D games).

 

Just remember--the people at Obsidian has been in the gaming industry for a very long time, so they're very much aware of budget limitations on various aspects of content development; that they decided to make the Kickstarter a $1.1m minimum target means that's what they analyzed as possible even for that combination of Great Stuff.

Edited September 29, 2012 by Ieo

[Archon]

 

There were a fair number of auto-pause combat conditions in Baldur's Gate.

 

Enemy Sighted

Weapon Unusable

Character Hit

Character Death

Character's Target Destroyed

Trap Found

Spell Cast

 

And any others I might've missed. I always went with Weapon Unusable (typically out of ammo) and Spell Cast (easier to manually chain spells without losing too much time). Everything else I managed with manual pause in combination with specifically chosen AI scripts. My friends ended up using most of the autopause options. Options are good.

 

Indeed, options are good :D

I suppose the 14 years since my last BG / BGII playthrough is ( a little ) too long because I didn't remember those conditions... Hopefully BGEE will help getting back into the mood before PE.

 

 

"Get the Breastplate stretcher!" One of my favorite scenes with the king from Game of Thrones season 1

 

There's a bit of Lancel Lannister in every videogame designer who take the shortcut to "stretch metal" :D

 

 

 

They can make the Holy Trifecta work together because they don't have to worry about the larger publishers of current passive gaming audiences trying to cater to only one type (e.g. dungeon hack) and because they're stripping out those items that add giant budget requirements---full VA work, cut-scene cinematics, 3D talking heads, multiplayer.... and marketing (marketing costs can be ridiculous--twice the budget of actual development for some current AAA 3D games).

 

Indeed. For example, Swen Vincke from Larian Studios penned some blogposts where he explained how marketing can be terribly expansive, amongst many other things publishers charge on developpers.

[C2B]

Virtually all the devs involved with PE have been involved in other games that cover the gamut. For example, Josh Sawyer on IWD's great mechanics, Chris Avellone on PS:T's ridiculously good writing, and while I'm not sure just how much dev input they had with Baldur's Gate, Obsidian/Interplay (Tim Cain) published BG so they must have had some input for the product to have panned out the way it did.

 

Tim Cain had nothing to do with Baldur's Gate. I'm pretty sure you're thinking of Feargus.

 

Tim *created* Fallout, Arcanum and was the Project Lead/Lead Designer of TOEE, which is the single best D&D implentation to date (as in gameplay systems/combat).

 

Which is why I'm regarding him as a CRPG designer even more important than Avellone and Sawyer. And why this is a incredible trifecta.

Edited September 29, 2012 by C2B

[Ieo]

Virtually all the devs involved with PE have been involved in other games that cover the gamut. For example, Josh Sawyer on IWD's great mechanics, Chris Avellone on PS:T's ridiculously good writing, and while I'm not sure just how much dev input they had with Baldur's Gate, Obsidian/Interplay (Tim Cain) published BG so they must have had some input for the product to have panned out the way it did.

 

Tim Cain had nothing to do with Baldur's Gate. I'm pretty sure you're thinking of Feargus.

 

Tim *created* Fallout, Arcanum and was the Project Lead/Lead Designer of TOEE, which is the single best D&D implentation to date (as in gameplay systems/combat).

 

Which is why I'm regarding him as a CRPG designer even more important than Avellone and Sawyer. And why this is a incredible trifecta.

 

Ah crap, why is the edit window so short. Factual! Error! Suck!

[swordsandroses]

Best update yet! They basically admitted they are catering for infinity engine fans, and as a guy who's beaten Baldur's Gate saga with every race, and each race with every class, I am happy. Honestly, I have yet to see an RPG that can tactically outdo Baldur's gate and Icewind dale. It's fantastic!