exploring different planes.

[Failion]

I'm sure everyone that played the past infinity engine games enjoyed the diverse and strange locations there where to explore. The mordron maze in torment and the pocket planes in baldurs gate. Should project eternity have alternate dimension to explore? What strange realms would you like to see.

[Sacred_Path]

lol o noes here they go.

[JFSOCC]

I always loved the city of union from the DND supplement Epic level handbook. Something like that would be cool, but it doesn't have to be on a different plane.

[rjshae]

I kind of enjoyed exploring the shadow plane in MotB.

[Haerski]

In Planescape it was different as the whole plot revolved around planes, but overall I'm not really fond of getting suddenly thrown in different dimensions. Even though I loved Planescape: Torment I usually like more subtle fantasy so maybe dream sequences or other creations of imagination would be better if we want some weird places in Project Eternity.

[Failion]

In Planescape it was different as the whole plot revolved around planes, but overall I'm not really fond of getting suddenly thrown in different dimensions. Even though I loved Planescape: Torment I usually like more subtle fantasy so maybe dream sequences or other creations of imagination would be better if we want some weird places in Project Eternity.

Well maybe I should rename the topic, doesn't have to exactly be on another plane like planescape torment. But a far out weird place. They could have a inner earth or Alice in wonderland kind of thing. Example you find mysterious a hole in the ground outside a simple monastery  You use a rope and go explore it next thing u know u fell down 10 feet and are now on top of a slopped forested hill. You make your way down the hill to find a underbrush with another hole. You go down again and now you are in a dark slightly misty forested area with little monkeys and cocoons aligned along the trees.

[rjshae]

The Inside Out Plane

As with the Shadow Plane, this realm lives in parallel with our own, albeit in an entirely inverted manner. The realm of the Inside Out is the space traveled by spirits of the elemental earth; it is open where ours is filled by stone and is obstructed where we find air and ocean. The surface of this realm lies just beneath our feet, and it stretches downward like a crystalline ocean in a perpetual twilight of rosy heat.

 

The dwellers in this world gain sustenance from the heat of the inner earth, and thrive in those locales wherein the ground is most active. Hence, volcanoes and geothermal are hotbeds of Inside Out activity, whilst rich old loam and virgin forests form their barren deserts. The inside Out is a place of constant strife where tribes of earth spirits battle over rich resources and mysterious stakes. Their struggles sometimes spill over to create the earthquakes that can split the earth and flatten cities.

 

Travel to the Inside Out plane is not a simple task, as it requires a type of transmogrification understood only by the masters of elemental magic and certain powerful spirit guardians. But once it is achieved, the rewards can be breathtaking. The richest of the earth are at your disposal, requiring only that you find a means to extract it.

[Aqaba]

Does someone have ever read "Flatland" by Abbot?

From this: a door to a 2D dimension tring to escape

[forfs]

I hope for something similar to exploring different planes in torment but I don't really care if those are planes, dreams or what not, I just hope for really diverse environments, with interesting history, because at the end of the day that's what planes were. I'd love to see some hellish and celestial environments...

[IndiraLightfoot]

I absolutely loved that shadow plane in Mulsantir and elsewhere in MotB! 

[AGX-17]

Overdone, in my opinion. It's too much of a staple/token in RPGs. They're almost always functionally identical to your typical dungeon but with "CRAAAAAAAAAAAZY" art assets, floating platforms in a void, creepy faces on walls/acting as doors, etc. Possibly a teleporter maze, as well.

Edited March 11, 2013 by AGX-17

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

I don't know if we should be able to explore different planes in PE because I don't know if there will be different planes in the PE setting.

 

This is kind of like saying a steel sword should still be effective near the end game when you have no idea if steel is 1) present in PE or 2) if present, viable against other materials like adamantium, mithiral, vibranium, and any number of fictional materials used to craft weapons in the game world.

[JFSOCC]

The inverted mountain city of Mercadia from the Mercadian Masks set in Magic the gathering spoke to me. The Pocket plane of Rath as well. (staging area for the invasion of a world) The world rife with natural magic known as Kamigawa was a great inspiration as well.

 

Magic the Gathering has had some very interesting settings.

[Failion]

Overdone, in my opinion. It's too much of a staple/token in RPGs. They're almost always functionally identical to your typical dungeon but with "CRAAAAAAAAAAAZY" art assets, floating platforms in a void, creepy faces on walls/acting as doors, etc. Possibly a teleporter maze, as well.

It doesn't have to be that far out and not every crazy is the same crazy. Here is a cool gameplay idea I thought of, ties to that inside out plane and my post. Late in the game you can recruit a mystical shaman to your player fortress. And he can make a item for you and your party where you can travel into the souls and the mind of the naturals things in the world. Perhaps your party does this to figure out something relevant to the main plot or to simply fight secret bosses. 

[Alexjh]

In Torment: Tides of Numenera - yes. In Project Eternity - preferably not, or only in a way that very specifically ties to the setting (something connected with souls?)

 

 It's a potentially fascinating trope sure, but it's also one that you have to consider whether its inclusion has any benefit to the setting.  In Forgotten Realms it's tied to the P&P Origins, in something like His Dark Materials its fundemental to the concept, but nothing I've seen so far suggests this being the sort of adventure with Interplanar travel.  I'd rather they spent the time making one world with all sort of nuances and politics and whatnot than overextending to try and create an entire other setting.  I don't mind implying that such things exist if thats what they have in mind, but with the whole world as an open canvas right now it seems rather superflous to be exploring them this early on.

[Nonek]

I've got to say I did like the hints that were handed out over the course of the game in Arcanum, that the world had been involved in some kind of metaphysical coexistence with another realm of pure thought and magic, which might possibly be the void, and that this interaction had caused the supernatural selection process of Arcanum. It was handled very subtly, but with a pleasing pay off, as I was left wondering what effect the dwarves machine you use to return to Arcanum would have on the world.

 

The broken world of Dungeon Siege 3's 10th Legion causeways also fascinated me as well, hinting at far more than it revealed.

 

The shadow realm of Mask of the Betrayer is also of course absolutely brilliant, a refreshingly bold move on the developers part, to make that mechanic so central to the story, reminded me of Raziels spectral plane in the Legacy of Kain games.

[Failion]

In Torment: Tides of Numenera - yes. In Project Eternity - preferably not, or only in a way that very specifically ties to the setting (something connected with souls?)

 

 It's a potentially fascinating trope sure, but it's also one that you have to consider whether its inclusion has any benefit to the setting.  In Forgotten Realms it's tied to the P&P Origins, in something like His Dark Materials its fundemental to the concept, but nothing I've seen so far suggests this being the sort of adventure with Interplanar travel.  I'd rather they spent the time making one world with all sort of nuances and politics and whatnot than overextending to try and create an entire other setting.  I don't mind implying that such things exist if thats what they have in mind, but with the whole world as an open canvas right now it seems rather superflous to be exploring them this early on.

 

I agree with what your saying. I don't care about this interplanar stuff. I do like how they have this entire world to create. But from what I know they they have zero experience in crafting a world with politics and all that stuff.  

[Sacred_Path]

I do not get the appeal of throwing in some weird change of location in CRPGs, much less forays into other planes.

 

I didn't enjoy the shift to the Underdark in IWD1&2 and BG2. I didn't get why we needed to leave the atmospheric Chult behind for the dull Sword Coast in Storm of Zehir. I'd rather the effort to create that art, monsters, items etc. went into expanding the prime theater of the game.

[Lephys]

I do not get the appeal of throwing in some weird change of location in CRPGs, much less forays into other planes.

It is no different from the appeal of some non-"weird" change of location. Ooooh, a forest! Or a cave! Or some castle we haven't been inside! Look, varied architecture and gameplay factors!

 

I don't see the mysterious lack of appeal in locations that are dimensionally parallel to our own. It's like a really, really interesting locked door or hard-to-reach cavern.

 

Granted, it can be done poorly. It sounds as if you've been rubbed the wrong way by not-so-awesomely designed content that just so happened to involve "weird" locations and other planes. *shrug*

[Sacred_Path]

It is no different from the appeal of some non-"weird" change of location. Ooooh, a forest! Or a cave! Or some castle we haven't been inside! Look, varied architecture and gameplay factors!

actually it's more like... "this game takes place in the desert, so there are no forests. But I really like forests! So let's teleport the player to a plane where they can see the cool swaying tree animations one of our artist has been working on in his spare time."

 

it's like putting everything and the kitchen sink into the game, no matter if it goes against the concept/ premise of the game.

Edited March 16, 2013 by Sacred_Path

[Woldan]

Why not?

Almost all RPG's feature some sort of plane travel or dream worlds, etc, Baldur's Gate 2 had the planar sphere and the planar prison, Dragon Age has the fade.... Its a good opportunity to make the player explore very dramatic and alien looking environments with odd physical laws and creatures. It adds a lot of variety. 

Though I don't think that regular plane travel would be a great thing, maybe just a quest or two to keep it mystical and exciting. 

[JFSOCC]

 

 

It is no different from the appeal of some non-"weird" change of location. Ooooh, a forest! Or a cave! Or some castle we haven't been inside! Look, varied architecture and gameplay factors!

actually it's more like... "this game takes place in the desert, so there are no forests. But I really like forests! So let's teleport the player to a plane where they can see the cool swaying tree animations one of our artist has been working on in his spare time."

 

it's like putting everything and the kitchen sink into the game, no matter if it goes against the concept/ premise of the game.

 

 

If that forest he worked on in his spare time is really cool, and you can find an internally consistent reason for getting there, then hell, Awesome.

Why not?

 

Almost all RPG's feature some sort of plane travel or dream worlds, etc, Baldur's Gate 2 had the planar sphere and the planar prison, Dragon Age has the fade.... Its a good opportunity to make the player explore very dramatic and alien looking environments with odd physical laws and creatures. It adds a lot of variety.

 

Though I don't think that regular plane travel would be a great thing, maybe just a quest or two to keep it mystical and exciting.

As long as that quest isn't over in a heartbeat, like the pocket plane quest in DA:O Edited March 17, 2013 by JFSOCC

[Sacred_Path]

If that forest he worked on in his spare time is really cool, and you can find an internally consistent reason for getting there, then hell, Awesome.

Personally I'd rather play one game set in the desert and one in a forested area than two games that mashed both together. But that's possibly just me.

 

Now that I'm thinking about it, it was in IWD2 that we also got to visit Chult I think. It's called ICEWIND DALE people. A true "WTF is this ****?" moment.

[Crowseye]

I think to do a multi-planar game properly one has to do more than make it just another place to look at with different types of creatures inhabiting it.

 

Pen-and-paper Planescape achieves this by giving the planes their own physical/environmental rules, but my sense is that the overwhelming majority of players absolutely detest games that throw them curveballs that limit or penalize them over any substantial period of time (How dare you make me trade the 1337 helm I worked so hard to get for a lousy Helm of Fire Resistance!)

[Failion]

 

It is no different from the appeal of some non-"weird" change of location. Ooooh, a forest! Or a cave! Or some castle we haven't been inside! Look, varied architecture and gameplay factors!

actually it's more like... "this game takes place in the desert, so there are no forests. But I really like forests! So let's teleport the player to a plane where they can see the cool swaying tree animations one of our artist has been working on in his spare time."

 

it's like putting everything and the kitchen sink into the game, no matter if it goes against the concept/ premise of the game.

They do not have to do a mulitplanar game like dnd and whatever else. Problem with the infinity engine games there is so much they can do with the maps and they mostly take place in faerun a boring typical medieval fantasy world with predictable terrain. The planar travel spiced things up a bit when things got stale. I like the art design they have going for project eternity, the waterfall cave concept art looks great. If they make every map in the game look unique then the game would be fine and won't go stale like arcanums repetitive maps.