Update #50: So... Project Eternity!

[Monte Carlo]

But they don't look very aquatic to me. Why do they have hair, for example?

 

And do they make for good sushi?

[Mico Selva]

Arcanum is a ~50 hour game. Playing it in chunks of 20 minutes every two weeks, it will take Chris 300 weeks (6 years) to complete his LP. Project eternity indeed.

 

That's fine, if the game is not meant to be completed. But if Chris wants to finish it, I'd suggest a more natural approach - he should play it normally, when he has the time, with commentary, and not worry so much abut the feedback. If we get 3 hours of play one week, that's fine. It can be released in 6 20-minutes episodes anyway.

 

The feedback problem mentioned earlier was because of the large time gap between releasing episodes (a month, or even more). With bi-weekly release it should not apply anymore.

[Sensuki]

I'm actually most interested by the story setup. It sounds very different to most games.

 

I'm not very familiar with factional gameplay besides the The Witcher series because I haven't played New Vegas, but there's a lot of potential here for different ways to play through the main story sided with different factions in the game. Depending on whether you were siding with one of the Colonials or one of the Native Tribes.

It kinda sounds like despite having many factions you'll either be helping the natives defend the ruins against the Colonials (Aedyr? Vailians?) while exploring them yourselves to try and discover information about the supernatural event or you'll be helping one or more of the Colonials infiltrate the ruins protected by the natives ... or just barging, sneaking or talking your way in siding with anyone.

 

There might be more variation than that of course

[eirik]

Project Eternity will support auto-pause features that allow players to establish conditions under which the game will automatically pause (e.g., if a party member becomes unconscious).

 

Please make my characters mortal.

 

While it was one of the frustrating things early on in BG and IWD, it was also one of those things that actually taught you how to play the game and utilize all of your characters' abilities, and in a way also made you bond with them.

 

Having characters revive automatically after being burned to ashes (well...) by a dragon, really breaks immersion : \

 

While save games makes your characters immortal, having them not automatically revive after a conflict, means you actually have a struggle in you encounters, rather than a "last man standing" kind of gamestyle.

[Laroux]

Any word on playing through the game with a single character. Would be great to see a similar system to that of IceWind Dale 2, as far as multi-classes and solo play are concerned.  

 

Also, will the game be modder friendly? I know there is a nice mod in IWD 2 that imported all weapons from IWD1 into it.  These things just add so much replay value to the game.  Torment, IWD 1&2 have high replay value, as well as Baldur's Gate.

[Sensuki]

Having characters revive automatically after being burned to ashes (well...) by a dragon, really breaks immersion : \

 

While save games makes your characters immortal, having them not automatically revive after a conflict, means you actually have a struggle in you encounters, rather than a "last man standing" kind of gamestyle.

 

Play on expert mode or turn on permadeath in the options I suppose, problem solved

 

Any word on playing through the game with a single character. Would be great to see a similar system to that of IceWind Dale 2, as far as multi-classes and solo play are concerned.

 

Yes,you are absolutely not required to recruit any companions at all.

 

Also, will the game be modder friendly? I know there is a nice mod in IWD 2 that imported all weapons from IWD1 into it. These things just add so much replay value to the game. Torment, IWD 1&2 have high replay value, as well as Baldur's Gate.

Refer to update 16.

Mod Support

From Neverwinter Nights 2 to Fallout: New Vegas, we've enjoyed supporting the mod community, and we are continuing that with Project Eternity. It is awesome to see how you extend the worlds we make.

 

To make getting mods easy, we are excited to announce that our friends at the Nexus will be the official spot to download Project Eternity mods once the game is released. They have been a great host for mods for our past games, and we want to continue the trend with the Project Eternity Nexus. Check out the Nexus Network at www.nexusmods.com.

 

Our plan is to release our file-format information and expose as much of the data in the game as possible for you to extend and edit. We traditionally do not "hard-code" numbers so that our designers, and you, have the power to easily change and iterate on RPG data. We also plan on releasing localization tools to let communities around the world create localized versions for languages we are not translating Project Eternity into.

 

As we get more familiar with Unity during production, we will be extending Project Eternity even more for mod makers. Look forward to announcements in the months ahead as we make further progress and can provide you with more information about tools and mod support.

Edited April 17, 2013 by Sensuki

[pipboy2000]

Thank you for this update!

A good friend of mine recently became interested in Project Eternity (obviously I did a bad job, when I tried to raise his interest during the kickstarter campaign...) and instead of writing a summary for him, I could just forward this update.

Keep up the good work!

[eirik]

 

Play on expert mode or turn on permadeath in the options I suppose, problem solved 

 

 

That was all I wanted to hear. Thanks!

 

 

Traditional classes vary in how high- or low-maintenance they are based on their traditional counterparts. E.g. fighters are generally lower maintenance than wizards. However, the advancement system allows players to bend those roles, making higher-maintenance, active-use fighters or more passive wizards (for example). Class balance is important to us, but we also want playing each class to feel distinctive and complementary to other classes.

 

I really like this. It would make the experience alot more engaging for those who prefer fighters over spellcasters. If you find the time on your hands and decide to make a multiplayer mode, it'll also make sure that everyone can enjoy the game, instead of just twiddling their thumbs while the spellcasters decide on what spell to cast next

[Hormalakh]

hello. nice to see you again. thanks for the update. surprisingly informative.

 

one question. i am assuming that the PLAYABLE ethnicities and cultures (unsure about races) in this game are limited only due to the limitations of time, money, budget, computer, whatever. thus there are other ethnicity and cultures in the game that we are just unable to play, is that correct? 

Edited April 17, 2013 by Hormalakh

[deserk]

Cool update.

Though I find the names of the human ethnicities quite odd and vague to be ethnicity names. Shouldn't the names be more specifically tied to a country or a nation of people i.e. an actual ethnicity, like Aedyran or Vailian?

I mean, are NPCs really going speak of my character's ethnicity like this?: "Hmph, you're an ocean human, ain't ya? Bastard."

It just sounds pretty strange in my opinion.

Edited April 17, 2013 by deserk

[Sensuki]

hello. nice to see you again. thanks for the update. surprisingly informative.

 

one question. i am assuming that the PLAYABLE ethnicities and cultures (unsure about races) in this game are limited only due to the limitations of time, money, budget, computer, whatever. thus there are other ethnicity and cultures in the game that we are just unable to play, is that correct?

Also remember that they only started creating this world in the second half of last year sometime. I assume that you would be able to mod in your own cultures I suppose.

 

To be honest they sound like they're more for flavor. You'll probably get a few minor bonuses to skills and the like, as well as access to cultural talents and several extra dialogue options & different reactivity throughout the game.

[Helm]

The update is mostly just a summary of known info, but thanks anyway.

What is Project Eternity?
Project Eternity is a party-based fantasy roleplaying game inspired by the Infinity Engine games (Baldur's Gate 1 and 2, Icewind Dale 1 & 2, and Planescape: Torment) and Darklands set in an original world created by Obsidian Entertainment.

Seeing that the lead designer Josh Sawyer does not like Baldur's Gate, and is borrowing many mechanics from Darklands, I took the time to fix the update.

You're welcome.

[Sensuki]

IIRC It's just BG2 he doesn't like.

[JFSOCC]

What will the art style be like?

 

Our art style is fairly realistic and uses a somewhat subdued, natural color palette,

NO! nonononono! not subdued! nooooooh! Why can't it be vibrant?! Why would you ever choose "subdued" over beaitiful and colourful? Have you seen nature? Nature is not subdued!

[SunBroSolaire]

 

What will the art style be like?

 

Our art style is fairly realistic and uses a somewhat subdued, natural color palette,

NO! nonononono! not subdued! nooooooh! Why can't it be vibrant?! Why would you ever choose "subdued" over beaitiful and colourful? Have you seen nature? Nature is not subdued!

Dude, nature is also "realistic" and has a "natural color palette". Did you see the demo? Do you have any issue with the goat girl or any of the other concept art? I think by "subdued" they mean it is going to be a little less goofy than some of the old D&D artwork, not that they're taking inspiration from Battlefield 3 or something. Think The Witcher 2 vs Kingdoms of Amular.

[Sensuki]

I believe he was joking

[Helm]

IIRC It's just BG2 he doesn't like.

Well, they are quite similar. BG2 + ToB is just generally regarded as being even better than BG1.

 

But oh well. Wut eva.

[LadyCrimson]

I demand fuchsia colored crates and rainbow hued plumes.

[Sacred_Path]

yeh, 'nature' not poking you in the eye with garish pinkish and yellowish tinges everywhere is just welcome. Even if that sort of goes against the Baldur's Gate heritage.

[Sensuki]

 

 

IIRC It's just BG2 he doesn't like.

Well, they are quite similar. BG2 + ToB is just generally regarded as being even better than BG1.

 

But oh well. Wut eva.

 

 

Yeah they're similar, but not really I guess. Tonally they have a completely different feel.

 

BG1 has a different style of dialogue and character writing and is less linear; Didn't have a quest every 20 metres in game etc. BG also had better atmosphere I guess?

 

I do agree that it is strange to not like both, perhaps there's something more to it than that (David Gaider).

[C2B]

 

IIRC It's just BG2 he doesn't like.

Well, they are quite similar. BG2 + ToB is just generally regarded as being even better than BG1.

 

But oh well. Wut eva.

 

The issues he has with BGII mostly apply to it alone

 

I really disliked most of the CNPCs, I really disliked being forced to go find Imoen, I really disliked the style of dialogue, and I really disliked being flooded with a million quests by every shmoe on the streets of Athkatla. Basically, there wasn't a whole lot I did like about it.

 

Also be aware that that post is more than 7 years old now.

[PrimeJunta]

Maybe I wasn't paying attention, but I only caught this conquistador vibe now. I dig it. It gives the setting a dynamic tension that's different from most fantasy settings.

 

Also, cool aumaua head. Also digging the idea of fantasy Polynesians. Really happy to get these twists on generic western pseudo-medieval fantasy; I did not expect that when backing the project and I salute Obsidian for having the stones to depart from the BG-IWD formula in this respect.

[Archmage Silver]

Nice update, now I can refer to this update when people ask me what Project Eternity is about. I also like the new Arcanum playthrough video release schedule.

[Jhonrock]

Hey, talking about party members AI, can we expect some kind of control system like the one used to control party behavior in Dragon Age?

 

For me, that system was perfect! I loved the way that i could specify the companion response for almost all kind of situation he/she could encounter in battle.

 

If you fight a strong enemy, do this and that; if you fight a weak enemy, do this and that; before you engage an enemy, do this and that; if the HP of a party member reach X%, do this and that... and so on.

 

I never had any problem with my party in that game, the AI control was so good that i hardly needed to be giving orders to my party all the time.

 

So, i think that a system like that, with this high level of control, could fit very well with PE. You could make some pre-made scripts of AI behavior to player to choose (like the ones in Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale), and make an option to player make his own scripts (like in Dragon Age).

[Lysen]

The central character in the story is a newcomer to the Dyrwood, a man or woman who is caught up in a bizarre supernatural phenomenon.  This event puts them in a difficult position, where they must explore the new world to solve a series of problems that have been thrust upon them.

 

So I can't be a native, Glanfathan elf for example?