Update #50: So... Project Eternity!

[Woldan]

 

So, this fine lady here is actually an Aumaua-godlike? Nice.

Is she aumauan? Must've missed that tidbit of information. Regardless, Woldan, just grab those ears, bark "Giddy-up!", and hang on for a heck of a ride!

 

 

Oh come on Tsuga, just look at her, those who protect & serve mother nature deserve our utmost respect and support. 

 

I just assumed she is Aumauan because of her nose and eyes, the other godlike concepts look pretty human.  

Edited April 18, 2013 by Woldan

[LadyCrimson]

Thread pruned/pruning in progress. Accusing other members of being dense etc. because they have different opinions/expectations makes me frown. Let's try to stay away from that, please. And remember....you can always choose to not hit that reply button.

[ObiKKa]

Man! I can't wait to try either of the orlans and aumaua races. The godlike variation does seem interesting to me.

[J.E. Sawyer]

So, this fine lady here is actually an Aumaua-godlike? Nice.

 

 

She's a human godlike.  Sorry for any confusion!

[Tsuga C]

She's a human godlike.  Sorry for any confusion!

No confusion here! Hmm, I should've put some money on this...

[Woldan]

Oh, ok, thanks for the clarification.  The facial features of the Aumauan concept and the godlike artwork are very similar though. 

[Lephys]

We have not even started to figure out the total number of permutations of skin/eye/hair tones, hair styles, etc.  We are not going to offer "eye shape" customization because you're never going to see the character in enough detail for that to matter.  Those systems are extremely expensive to implement.

I understand perfectly that we won't have aesthetically-represented traits as small as eye shape and such, but it got me all curious...

 

Will we be able to pick notable features like that, such as facial scars or distinctive ear shapes (just a decent little variety, since it's not going to be visually represented anyway) that can be noticed and cause reactions in the world around us?

 

You know, "Hey, you're that elf with purple eyes that everyone's been talking about!", or "I recognized you by your burned left ear."

 

I know it's not necessary, but it would be pretty interesting. Although, I can't, at the moment, think of any functional difference between that and simply "You were recognized, regardless of how your face looks." The only function with things like that I could think of would come from race/ethnicity. Certain people might know one Dwarf from another just from their subtle differences in physiology and such, whereas other people wouldn't know anything beyond the fact that a Dwarf is a Dwarf. *shrug*

 

Like I said, that comment just made me think, "Would there be any value in having customizable features functionally represented in the game, even though they're too small to be visually represented?"

[Lephys]

So, for me, "spiritual successor" just turned into throwing $52 bucks in the toilet. No biggie, but lesson learned.

You could always sell your un-"opened" (if it's digital) copy to someone else and get your money back, if it ends up looking like something you really don't want to play. It will be most unfortunate if it ends up being so different from what you were expecting that it comes to that. But, at least ultimately your money would not end up "in the toilet," so-to-speak. 8P

[Osvir]

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.

 

I missed this tidbit! How? I don't know, I've read this update like 3 times xD science of animancy really drew me in. Anyways, the point I am underlining. Am I just putting things into context here or does the main character come from "another world"? (Another reality/universe/planet or whatnot) not space travel astronaut in any way, I'm playing with fantasy thoughts here (another magical realm or whatnot). Being teleported/sucked into a vacuum/black hole etc. etc. or is the main character from the same world and I'm just reading into it too much?

[Tsuga C]

Am I just putting things into context here or does the main character come from "another world"?

More likely just a different region of the same world. I don't recall reading anything about planar travel/gates/portals.

[Osvir]

 

We have not even started to figure out the total number of permutations of skin/eye/hair tones, hair styles, etc.  We are not going to offer "eye shape" customization because you're never going to see the character in enough detail for that to matter.  Those systems are extremely expensive to implement.

I understand perfectly that we won't have aesthetically-represented traits as small as eye shape and such, but it got me all curious...

 

Will we be able to pick notable features like that, such as facial scars or distinctive ear shapes (just a decent little variety, since it's not going to be visually represented anyway) that can be noticed and cause reactions in the world around us?

 

You know, "Hey, you're that elf with purple eyes that everyone's been talking about!", or "I recognized you by your burned left ear."

 

I know it's not necessary, but it would be pretty interesting. Although, I can't, at the moment, think of any functional difference between that and simply "You were recognized, regardless of how your face looks." The only function with things like that I could think of would come from race/ethnicity. Certain people might know one Dwarf from another just from their subtle differences in physiology and such, whereas other people wouldn't know anything beyond the fact that a Dwarf is a Dwarf. *shrug*

 

Like I said, that comment just made me think, "Would there be any value in having customizable features functionally represented in the game, even though they're too small to be visually represented?"

 

Here's something I don't think has been done before:

 

Text based appearance "sliders" (scroll bar).

 

In games like Skyrim, DA2 (the dress up RPG's, you know which ones), instead of sliders changing the physical appearance, what about the narrative appearance? Instead of choosing between "Scar 1" or "Scar 2" (and seeing it on your character), what about choosing between "You have a scar diagonally across your face" or "You have a scar on your lip" (and imagining it on yor character). My examples sound pretty lame but I hope it gets the concept across anyways.

Similarly, external artpieces (tattoo's, scars, accessories) could be placed on top of the portrait? (in essence: A different layer~). Perhaps even allow the Player to drag-n-drop. No functionality in-game, but...... girl games xD or they could be text-based as well with a scroll bar, and there doesn't have to be a visual representation of it at all.

 

Hm, in the same way a face could just be a blank face (portrait) and the player could be allowed to put different "eyes", "noses", "ears" etc. etc. on the face. Buuut probably not.

 

Text-based appearance would be cool.

 

 

Am I just putting things into context here or does the main character come from "another world"?

More likely just a different region of the same world. I don't recall reading anything about planar travel/gates/portals.

 

Yeah, I think so too I'm just analytical ^^

Edited April 19, 2013 by Osvir

[C2B]

Thread pruned/pruning in progress. Accusing other members of being dense etc. because they have different opinions/expectations makes me frown. Let's try to stay away from that, please. And remember....you can always choose to not hit that reply button.

 

I accused him of being dense, because he totally ignored my point that an opinion of 7 years ago may not be exactly the same today as a timespan such as this usually has an effect on people's opinion. (Not saying that there's not a possiblity Sawyer still dislikes it just as much. But it's a possibility, not a certainty until Sawyer states as much)

 

He's free to have his opinion of Sawyer *hating* Baldur's Gate, no question. But I'm also free to point out when the facts aren't straight.

 

(Not to mention his last post is accusing someone of hating BGII if he agrees with Sawyer's critisism)

Edited April 19, 2013 by C2B

[Helm]

I accused him of being dense, because he totally ignored my point that an opinion of 7 years ago may not be exactly the same today as a timespan such as this usually has an effect on people's opinion. This isn't exactly some wild speculation.

So 7 years ago Sawyer hated Baldur's Gate and now all of a sudden YOU THINK he loves it? lol, I love your wild and baseless speculation.

And that is why I accused you of being dense, because that makes absolutely no sense.

 

You know, Sawyer could try to clear this up, but he refuses to answer. Must be his hate for Baldur's Gate, I'm sure he would answer if he loved the game. Oh well, I guess I will just have to keep on pointing out how much he hates the series.

 

He's free to have his opinion of Sawyer *hating* Baldur's Gate, no question. But I'm also free to point out when the facts aren't straight.

That isn't an opinion, it is a fact. He says so right here: "Basically, there wasn't a whole lot I did like about [baldur's Gate 2]"

 

Either you have comprehension problems, or you are too stubborn to accept the fact that the lead designer of this game hates the Baldur's Gate series.

 

(Not to mention his last post is accusing someone of hating BGII if he agrees with Sawyer's critisism)

Sawyer hates Baldur's Gate 2, he said so himself. If this person agrees with Sawyer, then he must also hate Baldur's Gate 2. I guess logic is not one of your strengths either.

[Osvir]

Sawyer hates Baldur's Gate 2, he said so himself. If this person agrees with Sawyer, then he must also hate Baldur's Gate 2. I guess logic is not one of your strengths either.

 

*clicks link, clicks CTRL+F, types in "hate", 0 of 0 found*

 

EDIT: Quote was faulty~ someone else's words got caught into it.

Edited April 19, 2013 by Osvir

[C2B]

 

I accused him of being dense, because he totally ignored my point that an opinion of 7 years ago may not be exactly the same today as a timespan such as this usually has an effect on people's opinion. This isn't exactly some wild speculation.

So 7 years ago Sawyer hated Baldur's Gate and now all of a sudden YOU THINK he loves it? lol, I love your wild and baseless speculation.

 

Nope. I have no idea how he feels about it now. Neither do you.

 

The post was made seven years ago. This is a span of 7 years, and a lot can happen in those 7 years. Including more than possible changing people's outlooks on things. That's the only thing I point out in this regard. A lot of peole change their entire outlook on life in such a span. Taking that statement as a 100% fact now is a slippery slope unitl its cleared up.

 

So you're right, Sawyer is the only one who can clear it up.

 

And no, Homaklah agreed with Sawyer's critisism somewhat. That does not mean he agrees with the statement that there is not much to like about BGII. He even mentions twice that he thinks its a good game and put lots of hours into it. Drawing such a conclusion is ignoring the context. Which is also important in a logical conclusion.

Edited April 19, 2013 by C2B

[Helm]

 

Sawyer hates Baldur's Gate 2, he said so himself. If this person agrees with Sawyer, then he must also hate Baldur's Gate 2. I guess logic is not one of your strengths either.

(Not to mention his last post is accusing someone of hating BGII if he agrees with Sawyer's critisism)

 

*clicks link, clicks CTRL+F, types in "hate", 0 of 0 found*

Oh, I'm sorry. He (strongly) "dislikes" the Baldur's Gate series. Better?

[Lephys]

Here's something I don't think has been done before:

 

Text based appearance "sliders" (scroll bar).

 

In games like Skyrim, DA2 (the dress up RPG's, you know which ones), instead of sliders changing the physical appearance, what about the narrative appearance? Instead of choosing between "Scar 1" or "Scar 2" (and seeing it on your character), what about choosing between "You have a scar diagonally across your face" or "You have a scar on your lip" (and imagining it on yor character). My examples sound pretty lame but I hope it gets the concept across anyways.

 

Similarly, external artpieces (tattoo's, scars, accessories) could be placed on top of the portrait? (in essence: A different layer~). Perhaps even allow the Player to drag-n-drop. No functionality in-game, but...... girl games xD or they could be text-based as well with a scroll bar, and there doesn't have to be a visual representation of it at all.

 

Hm, in the same way a face could just be a blank face (portrait) and the player could be allowed to put different "eyes", "noses", "ears" etc. etc. on the face. Buuut probably not.

 

Text-based appearance would be cool.

 

Yeah, that's kinda what I was thinking. I mean, the point of these traits (scars were a good example) wouldn't be to give visual interest to the character model for the player's sake. But, they'd have actual effects on the gameplay. For example, if you chose Scar 1 (across the nose) instead of a different scar, or no scar at all, then, at some point in the game, you might get mistaken for some notorious bandit. "Hey, there are posters around town advertising a reward for an Elf with a scar across his nose. That looks like the guy in the poster! GET HIM!" You know, that sort of thing. Or, maybe some character at some point in the story says "... You remind me of my sister. She had purple eyes, too...", and they trust you and/or open up to you in a way they wouldn't if you hadn't had that specific trait.

 

Of course, it's essentially just an extra layer of reactive triggers for the world, so, like I said, I don't know that it wouldn't simply be overboard (really depends on a lot of development factors and such). If they happen to be looking for more reactivity factors at this point in development, then it might be something to consider. But, if they've got a lot of those hashed out or planned already, then it might just be overboard.

 

Oh, I'm sorry. He (strongly) "dislikes" the Baldur's Gate series. Better?

 

The simple fact of the matter is that he dislikes specific aspects of some of the IE games, and you seem to adamantly pretend that one can only either hate something as a whole, or like it.

 

I mean, someone might say "I don't like cats," and maybe it's because they're allergic to cats. If given the choice, they might be given the position of Lead Designer on a team of bio-engineers, to design an allergen-free cat. You would say "How can you design a cat if you HATE cats?!", but the cat they design bears COUNTLESS similarities to existing cats. They simply made what they believe to be a better cat, because they felt like people should be able to enjoy all the good things about cats without having to put up with allergies.

 

So, maybe you could ask Josh what he does and does not like about the Baldur's Gate games, so as to obtain actual useful knowledge about his stance on said games. OR, you know, you could just continue the leaping assumption that he despises entire games. *shrug*

 

It's really your call. I just try to provide decision support. 8P

Edited April 19, 2013 by Lephys

[Pandamaniac]

Guys, calm down. It was just constructive criticism. He just responded to my question about it on formspring.

 

http://mobile.formspring.me/#response/449392305086952316

[Tamerlane]

Don't worry about it, man. It's just Helm's favoured cross, is all.

[Lephys]

Don't worry about it, man. It's just Helm's favoured cross, is all.

 

Yeah... I just can't bring myself to actually give up on my belief in his ability to be reasonable.

 

I'm an optimist.

[Greensleeve]

Yeah, as I said previously. Helm is not interested in having a discussion about, so let's not try to engage in one. 

 

Edit:

 

 

Don't worry about it, man. It's just Helm's favoured cross, is all.

 

Yeah... I just can't bring myself to actually give up on my belief in his ability to be reasonable. 

 

I'm an optimist.

 

Oh, I'm sure he can be reasonable. I just don't think he wants to be.

Edited April 19, 2013 by Greensleeve

[rjshae]

Message redacted.

Edited April 19, 2013 by rjshae

[Elerond]

If we look BG2 has lot of things that one can criticize it.

 

For example CNPC (companion nonplayer characters): Aerie, Viconia, Jaheira, Anomen Delryn, Imoen, Haer'Dalis and Yoshimo  can be found from many most annoying companion in games lists and other companion character in BG2 can found from list that list what companions player didn't use (of course exception for these are Minsc and Edwin Odessieron). So maybe there is some critisim said about how they are writen and especially how companion conversation are started in BG2. Although those annoying companions are some of most memorable companions in video game history, but so are companions from PS:T and those very rarely get annoying list or list that player never used them (except Normdom, who some players didn't find.)

 

And level design in BG2 had its faults, like content overflow (which some players like and some don't), but from desing point of view it is fault as it usually causes plausibility of game to drop even among those players who liked the game.

 

And there was problems in some dialogs that there was not good neurtal choice to choose, and always dialog didn't give you good options to roleplay your character. (IMO)

 

And not speaking about absolute unnecessary skill like thieving (all IE games made thieving quite worthless skill, but BGs were worst of the lot)

 

Combats were nice puzzles sometimes but those puzzle often focus in around magic and magic user, which caused combats be much less enjoyable without magic users (IMO) .

 

Compulsory Imoen saiving quest was not best choice for plot forwarding especially when it was possibility that Imoen was died in first game permanently.

 

And AD&D ruleset itself has many problems in it.

 

 

But there is also lot of good in BG2, especially when you look it as whole, which is why it is still one of my favorite CRPGs ever. But not seeing its flaws would be much worse for PE than being too harsh.

[Sensuki]

 

Edited April 19, 2013 by Sensuki

[Lephys]

I'll save Helm the trouble:

 

"Man, why did he use SO many words to say 'Everything!'?"