Josh Sawyer VGRevolution Interview

[C2B]

Among other things, reveals the Female Dwarf Rangers name to be Sagani

 

http://www.vgrevolution.com/2012/10/interview-with-project-eternitys-josh-sawyer/

 

1. I grew up on classic RPGs, Baldur’s Gate was actually my first ever. I loved creating my character more than anything and assembling a rag-tag party to join me in Lord of the Rings fashion to accompany me on my adventure. I know the game will feature those classic options like race, class, alignment, et cetera, but will there be any newer elements to customizing your character?

Yes, although I should start by saying we won’t have alignment in Project Eternity. Instead of a morality meter, you will have reputations with various factions in the world that you interact with over time.

We want to allow players to select few more elements during character creation to define their background a bit. One of those elements is the character’s Culture, which is where he or she was raised. In our setting, race and culture are not intrinsically linked, so you can have people of various races growing up all over the place. We can then use the character’s Culture to unlock different dialogue options with and reactions from NPCs as well as open up character options in a manner similar to 3E Forgotten Realms’ Regional Feats.

So, for example, you might make a boreal dwarf (like Sagani, the female ranger we’ve shown) and decide that he was raised in the remote southern island of Naasitaq, where many other boreal dwarves share the rocky tundra and snow-covered forests with far-roaming caravan elves who drift near the shoreline. Alternately, your boreal dwarf may have been raised in the cramped, humid, towering cities of Aedyr, among the aggressive explorers who crossed an ocean to colonize the Dyrwood. Ideally, we want your race and culture to help inform both how you role-play your character as well as how you mechanically play your character.

[Osvir]

Interesting. Thank you

[Piccolo]

Nice interview. I like this part:

 

We are likely to include some bigger stretch goals (larger monetary gap between goals) for big features since many Kickstarter campaigns see an upswing in pledges toward the very end.

 

-

 

It really bugs me that people keep asking the console question though. Why can't they get it into their heads that this kind of game just doesn't belong on consoles? It's bad enough that the vast majority of action-RPGs are dumbed down by consoles.

Edited October 11, 2012 by Piccolo

[Shades]

So the dwarf finally has a name. Always good to have more info, can't wait to see what the next stretch goals will be.

 

I'm not sure where the interviewer was getting all this design an enemy monster stuff from though (they mentioned it at least twice), far as I know none of the tiers offer that. They must have been thinking about a different project. It makes me think though, by the time this finishes we will potentially (in the best case scenario where everything sells) have 3 inns/taverns, 6 groups of enemy adventurers, 20 portraits, 50 high level items, and 200 non-companion NPCs... Seems like an awful lot and it could end up a little bit squished (I'm thinking in terms of the IE games), however they could be planning quite a large world for us, in which case there might be plenty of room. I'm hoping for the later, I cannot wait to see how this game turns out.

[norolim]

Do you have any other tricks up your sleeve if this is reached? Clan houses? PvP? Waved combat mode?

Which planet did this guy come from? Is he aware that PE is not an MMORPG?

[Lorfean]

Maybe he's confusing it with a sequel to Neverwinter Knights II.

 

(seriously, whenever the first sentence of an interview contains a mistake like that it makes me sigh, roll my eyes, and brace myself for the rest of it while expecting the absolute worst)

[Lysen]

Interviewer: I grew up on classic RPGs, Baldur’s Gate was actually my first ever

 

Yeah...

 

Josh: One of those elements is the character’s Culture, which is where he or she was raised. In our setting, race and culture are not intrinsically linked, so you can have people of various races growing up all over the place. We can then use the character’s Culture to unlock different dialogue options with and reactions from NPCs as well as open up character options in a manner similar to 3E Forgotten Realms’ Regional Feats.

So, for example, you might make a boreal dwarf (like Sagani, the female ranger we’ve shown) and decide that he was raised in the remote southern island of Naasitaq, where many other boreal dwarves share the rocky tundra and snow-covered forests with far-roaming caravan elves who drift near the shoreline. Alternately, your boreal dwarf may have been raised in the cramped, humid, towering cities of Aedyr, among the aggressive explorers who crossed an ocean to colonize the Dyrwood. Ideally, we want your race and culture to help inform both how you role-play your character as well as how you mechanically play your character

 

Sounds very intriguing, though I don't remember regional feats in IE 'classic' games (didn't play PnP). The last part is a bit confusing - does it mean that your race and culture will affect game mechanics? Will there be class restrictions or something?

[curryinahurry]

Interviewer: I grew up on classic RPGs, Baldur’s Gate was actually my first ever

 

Yeah...

 

Josh: One of those elements is the character’s Culture, which is where he or she was raised. In our setting, race and culture are not intrinsically linked, so you can have people of various races growing up all over the place. We can then use the character’s Culture to unlock different dialogue options with and reactions from NPCs as well as open up character options in a manner similar to 3E Forgotten Realms’ Regional Feats.

So, for example, you might make a boreal dwarf (like Sagani, the female ranger we’ve shown) and decide that he was raised in the remote southern island of Naasitaq, where many other boreal dwarves share the rocky tundra and snow-covered forests with far-roaming caravan elves who drift near the shoreline. Alternately, your boreal dwarf may have been raised in the cramped, humid, towering cities of Aedyr, among the aggressive explorers who crossed an ocean to colonize the Dyrwood. Ideally, we want your race and culture to help inform both how you role-play your character as well as how you mechanically play your character

 

Sounds very intriguing, though I don't remember regional feats in IE 'classic' games (didn't play PnP). The last part is a bit confusing - does it mean that your race and culture will affect game mechanics? Will there be class restrictions or something?

 

More likely it will give you skill bonuses. In his example, the Boreal Dwarf Ranger might have points in Climbing & Foraging/herbalism while the character from Aedyr might get points in sailing (ships), streetwise skills (city), certain combat skills (aggressive explorers), etc. That is what I'm imagining at least, sort of what is in the elder scrolls games, but possibly more fine grained. Sounds great if that is what it is.

Edited October 11, 2012 by curryinahurry

[IchigoRXC]

The real question is, can I have my background as a Pirate. That is all.

[DRevan]

I'm not sure what he means when he says that Obsidian "helped make some that are near and dear to my heart. They’ve been a part of Knights of the Old Republic II, Fallout: New Vegas, Neverwinter Knights II".

They didn't "help" to make these games, they were the sole developers of these titles.

Edited October 11, 2012 by DRevan

[Krios]

I was surprised to read Josh stand on Multiplayer is it is a feature which is typically under-utilized by players. Personally I am glad Obsidian is trying to keep their focus and stay true to their vision of no consoles and single player. Thanks for the share.

[nikolokolus]

That interviewer ... nevermind, I've got nothing constructive to say.

 

I'll just be over here to the side, rhythmically banging my head against my desk if anybody needs me ...

[GhostofAnakin]

So faction reputations ... I like that. It'll be interesting to see how exactly it's implemented (probably similar to FO:NV).

[AwesomeOcelot]

The answer about culture sounds interesting. Is Sagani a nod to Carl? I think there's been a few co-op games recently: Borderlands 2, War in the North, Left 4 Dead, and Dead Island, it wouldn't be that much of a stretch to have a game that was like them but isometric with more RPG elements, but you'd be losing a lot of the experience of Project Eternity, controlling a squad and dialogue (which isn't fun if you're waiting around for someone to talk to a NPC, and solutions like TOR are very limiting).

Edited October 11, 2012 by AwesomeOcelot

[BSoda]

I'm not sure what he means when he says that Obsidian "helped make some that are near and dear to my heart. They’ve been a part of Knights of the Old Republic II, Fallout: New Vegas, Neverwinter Knights II".

They didn't "help" to make these games, they were the sole developers of these titles.

They helped to make games (as in some of them, not all) that are "dear to his heart", however.

[Metabot]

"One of those elements is the character’s Culture, which is where he or she was raised. In our setting, race and culture are not intrinsically linked, so you can have people of various races growing up all over the place. "

 

Very cool

[jivex5k]

The real question is, can I have my background as a Pirate. That is all.

Yes but only if you pirate the game.

[kenup]

Lol at the PvP question!

1. I grew up on classic RPGs, Baldur’s Gate was actually my first ever. I loved creating my character more than anything and assembling a rag-tag party to join me in Lord of the Rings fashion to accompany me on my adventure. I know the game will feature those classic options like race, class, alignment, et cetera, but will there be any newer elements to customizing your character?

Yes, although I should start by saying we won’t have alignment in Project Eternity. Instead of a morality meter, you will have reputations with various factions in the world that you interact with over time.

We want to allow players to select few more elements during character creation to define their background a bit. One of those elements is the character’s Culture, which is where he or she was raised. In our setting, race and culture are not intrinsically linked, so you can have people of various races growing up all over the place. We can then use the character’s Culture to unlock different dialogue options with and reactions from NPCs as well as open up character options in a manner similar to 3E Forgotten Realms’ Regional Feats.

So, for example, you might make a boreal dwarf (like Sagani, the female ranger we’ve shown) and decide that he was raised in the remote southern island of Naasitaq, where many other boreal dwarves share the rocky tundra and snow-covered forests with far-roaming caravan elves who drift near the shoreline. Alternately, your boreal dwarf may have been raised in the cramped, humid, towering cities of Aedyr, among the aggressive explorers who crossed an ocean to colonize the Dyrwood. Ideally, we want your race and culture to help inform both how you role-play your character as well as how you mechanically play your character.

 

That's very interesting, sounds promising. Would also be interesting if we had a companion specific to some background(s), or get one of the default/established ones earlier.