Update #22: Q&A with Tim, Cooking?, and Avellone Trolls You!

[RTWAP]

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I gotta say, though that your in-game journal thing was what I was getting at from the start. If they could put something like that in, and have it get updated as my character collects letters/makes charcoal rubbings/etc, I would be thrilled.

 

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You know what would be awesome?

 

Reading your in-game journal idea made me picture a guy sitting around a campfire with a candle, book and pen/charcoal, adding to his journal. You could actually see a map in the journal grow as he filled in the details since the last update. Or see him choose to commit to page all he's learned so far about the Mystical Mushrooms of Midlothia.

 

You as the player would decide which nuggets to write down, and the act of writing them down is what actually give you your first view of the details. This allows you to have an effective "Unread" tag for the new or unread entries without having it show up explicitly in the world. It would be implied by whether or not your character had written it down.

 

At any particular point in time you might have 5, 10, maybe even 20+ things to add to your journal. But until your character takes the 'time' to organize your thoughts and put them to paper the details aren't accessible to the player, just the summary that the player remembers when the information was first found.

 

Getting a little long here, but I just wanted to add that journal entries describing recent events or discoveries is a great way for game designers to draw attention to connections that a player somehow missed. I had a P&P DM who provided a written summary of the previous session for the start of the next session. It was correct (he didn't add anything) but he could draw our attention to overlooked threads in the tapestry just by how he phrased things.

[Leferd]

Hmm...maybe instead of justifying spending $750 on a computer game...how about $750 for fine original artwork, with a video game kicked in?

 

...wish I had that type of disposable income....

[Daimon]

Obsidian forums

rjshae asks...

Back in the BG series, experience growth was relatively slow and it felt like an accomplishment to reach a new level. Since then, D&D v3.5 rules came out and level up began to feel almost like a cheesy accomplishment that didn't require much effort. That has become the trend in modern games: leveling up after every few battles. I have to wonder how this will be handled in PE? It sounds like Obsidian wants to return to the style of the BG series, which would seems to entail a return to slower level progress. If they do allow a more rapid level up, I hope they tone down the power growth rate so that lower level monsters remain a challenge for longer periods.

 

We are working hard to make Project Eternity revive the spirit of the older IE games, and this includes making leveling up an important accomplishment, one that makes your character feel substantially more powerful afterward. I agree that frequent level-ups make the event feel less special, so we plan to space out these events over the course of our storyline. The first few level-ups will occur relatively early in the game, but the pacing of the subsequent level-ups will be much slower.

For people who enjoy level-ups, they are free to use our Adventurer's Hall to swap out new companions frequently, so they are always leveling up new characters to use in later parts of the story. For people who aren't sure what character classes they will want to have available in the end game, it's always nice to have the choice of having all of them.

 

Does this mean that leveling up is tied to your progress on the story or something like having level caps for each part of the story until you progress forward?

 

If that is what this means then what is the point on doing side quests or anything else than main story if you do not want to level up each of the possible companions?

 

I hope I have understood this in a wrong way and it just means that first few levels will come fast and after that takes lot more experience and time to achieve a level.

[BlackCanopus]

I am sure they are going to have lots of books inside the game (which is great), so it wouldn't hurt to add a modified version of the recipe book to the game, or as an Easter egg. I must add I was a big fan of newspapers in Arcanum too, and I liked them even more than books, mostly because the text inside newspapers is a reflection of the player's actions. Reading about yourself is always a lot more interesting than reading about other people. I suppose they are not going to have newspapers in PE, but one can never stop dreaming.

 

They have not. The printing press hasn't been invented yet in the world of eternity.

 

Books existed before the printed press was invented. Copies were made by clerks and monks in monasteries. This mean books were very expensive and rare, but it didn't matter because the majority couldn't read anyway...

 

I was talking about newspapers.

Very true, but it doesn't necessarily mean that news should come in printed 'modern newspaper' form (as it did in Arcanum). Mass Effect did this by the means of radio news (in elevators), Project Eternity can make use of Town Criers, Wanted Posters, etc. I am not sure if they are going to make use of any those, though; because they probably think their efforts will be wasted (I am referring to an RPGCodex interview with Tim Cain here).

[ravenshrike]

I am sure they are going to have lots of books inside the game (which is great), so it wouldn't hurt to add a modified version of the recipe book to the game, or as an Easter egg. I must add I was a big fan of newspapers in Arcanum too, and I liked them even more than books, mostly because the text inside newspapers is a reflection of the player's actions. Reading about yourself is always a lot more interesting than reading about other people. I suppose they are not going to have newspapers in PE, but one can never stop dreaming.

 

They have not. The printing press hasn't been invented yet in the world of eternity.

 

Books existed before the printed press was invented. Copies were made by clerks and monks in monasteries. This mean books were very expensive and rare, but it didn't matter because the majority couldn't read anyway...

 

I was talking about newspapers.

You could have woodcut broadsheets. Expensive, and crude, but for things like wanted posters or really important information, they would be available.

[hideo kuze]

I am sure they are going to have lots of books inside the game (which is great), so it wouldn't hurt to add a modified version of the recipe book to the game, or as an Easter egg. I must add I was a big fan of newspapers in Arcanum too, and I liked them even more than books, mostly because the text inside newspapers is a reflection of the player's actions. Reading about yourself is always a lot more interesting than reading about other people. I suppose they are not going to have newspapers in PE, but one can never stop dreaming.

 

They have not. The printing press hasn't been invented yet in the world of eternity.

 

Books existed before the printed press was invented. Copies were made by clerks and monks in monasteries. This mean books were very expensive and rare, but it didn't matter because the majority couldn't read anyway...

 

I was talking about newspapers.

Very true, but it doesn't necessarily mean that news should come in printed 'modern newspaper' form (as it did in Arcanum). Mass Effect did this by the means of radio news (in elevators), Project Eternity can make use of Town Criers, Wanted Posters, etc. I am not sure if they are going to make use of any those, though; because they probably think their efforts will be wasted (I am referring to an RPGCodex interview with Tim Cain here).

Another vote for Town Criers and other assortments like wanted posters or rumors about a group of adventures (or bandits depending on the deed).

I'm already seeing a funny interaction on this:

You start talking with an NPC about rumors and he tells about a group of foul bandits who beat up some old lady on this other village (yeah, the player did that). Now he and the locals are setting up a vigilante group so it doesn't happen in their village. So, you tell him how terrible that all is and that you know who they are since you barely escaped alive from them "very mischievous and treacherous" you say... Them you describe them as the group of righteous adventurers that was on your trail to beat you up.

[Terikan]

Ok so since when is leveling up a special accomplishment that people feel proud of, so much so that we now have to slow it down compared to *insert vague notion of game someone supposedly played*?

 

Leveling up isn't an accomplishment unless it involved doing a lot of an activity that isn't fun, like mob grinding in mmorpgs. In single player RPGs, it's just something that happens as we play.

 

It doesn't matter if there's lots of small levels, or fewer big ones. If you had to go back and forth trying to get a big level because the game was too hard without it, then that was just bad game design, not something to be look at with nostalgia goggles.

 

I hope the answer to the leveling question doesn't involve a lot of grinding or very little character progression. If I don't feel like my characters are getting stronger regularly, then the game is going to become very dull in that aspect. Especially if it mimics D&D type progression where each level involves very little in the way of actual improvement.

 

IE: Yay I get 4 more hit points, no feat for two more levels, and I can memorize a spell I already know a whole 1 more time per day! Definitely don't want that after playing a several-hour long session.

[MusedMoose]

The best part of this update is Tim "teh AWESOMENESS" Cain's RPG Eats Cookbook. hehe

Seconded. It might just be because I'm waiting for my cooking to cool, but I'm always looking forward to new recipes. If they come from a game like this, so much the better.

 

I can just imagine bringing a new dessert to a work potluck, and when someone asks me where I got the recipe, I rattle off a bunch of world details from PE, and confuse the hell out of them. ...moreso than usual, I mean.

[Hassat Hunter]

Does this mean that leveling up is tied to your progress on the story or something like having level caps for each part of the story until you progress forward?

No.

That would be as stupid as level scaling, so obviously OE would not do that.

I hope I have understood this in a wrong way and it just means that first few levels will come fast and after that takes lot more experience and time to achieve a level.

Pretty much...

Very true, but it doesn't necessarily mean that news should come in printed 'modern newspaper' form (as it did in Arcanum). Mass Effect did this by the means of radio news (in elevators), Project Eternity can make use of Town Criers, Wanted Posters, etc. I am not sure if they are going to make use of any those, though; because they probably think their efforts will be wasted (I am referring to an RPGCodex interview with Tim Cain here).

Yay. Return of the town crier. Gone due to "too costly to VO", back in all it's glory in PE (hopefully). :D

[Tigranes]

Just means you won't level up every 30 minutes anymore.

[tomas.cz]

Yeah Leveling... AD&D make BG pretty hardcore to understand of principle, you need a read "few" information if you want to understand and make your fight-living easier:-) In fact I enyoed that in BG and IceWind series but not in NeverWinter, dont know why but I feel like ot ot too much, I want play the game... I like also Fallout system, one of the best in history!

We will see what will brings the Eternity

[Vasid]

I am so elated about the low Int dialogue. THANK YOU!

[Chaos Theory]

So...  Am I still able to get a troll portrait at my pledge level?  I figured I'd let the dust settle and Avellone's hands uncramp before asking.