RPG Codex Josh Sawyer Q&A

[Infinitron]

http://www.rpgcodex.net/content.php?id=9059

 

Left: Sawyer before Q&A. Right: Sawyer after Q&A.

 

Here's a snippet to whet your appetites:

 

Hormalakh asked his cat, but his cat won't answer: Can you discuss what the different animal companions will be for the ranger and whether these companions will play any differently? Will they offer different tactical/strategic choices in combat, different choices in the story, or will their differences just be for flavor?

 

 

It is more likely that they will offer different tactical choices than story choices, but we want to make the differences more than just cosmetic. We don't have a full animal companion list yet because we're still developing our bestiary.

 

Kem0sabe has more faith in his question than in developers: At this point is there a risk that Obsidian is obsessing over particular areas of the game, like the design of rules and mechanics, leading to an over-designed game with too many discreet systems?

 

Given the choice between an over-designed game and an under-designed game, I'd prefer the former, but I think the risk is low. We design a lot of the fundamental mechanics up front and let the other systems or pieces of content develop more organically as the project progresses.

 

For example, the classes were initially designed from levels 1-5 and done in waves (starting with the "core four"). We're not going to develop the remaining character levels until we've played around with the classes in the low range for a while. Doing so will allow us to adapt the classes' remaining content and even adjust their core mechanics if we feel it is necessary.

 

Rake took a minute to describe the environment before asking: What are your thoughts on descriptive text in the log and in dialogues? It's more of a Fallout thing than an IE one, but Planescape:Torment had it and was better for it. Do you think it offers much to an isometric game fleshing out the world to be worth the effort?

 

We are currently writing our dialogues with descriptive text in the general style of Planescape: Torment. We don't use it on every node, but we do use it when we feel it adds something to the conversation.

 

 

Read the full thing here: http://www.rpgcodex.net/content.php?id=9059

Edited July 19, 2013 by Tale

[Chrononaut]

"The specific list may change, but the biggest difference players will notice in Attributes (compared to A/D&D ability scores) is that all of their bonuses are uniformly applied instead of being keyed to specific types of weapons or attacks. E.g. one Attribute affects bonus damage (and healing) and one affects bonus accuracy -- regardless of the weapons or spells being used."

 

 

This crap is pulled straight out of your garden variety Asian MMORPG, RIP in piece Project Eternity

[Jarmo]

This attribute thing does sound... odd.

Same attribute actually governs how hard I hit with an axe, how well I heal people and how how effectively I cast magic missiles?

[Gumbercules]

This crap is pulled straight out of your garden variety Asian MMORPG, RIP in piece Project Eternity

 

 

So what is the problem with that method aside from association with Asian MMORPGs?

[Chrononaut]

 

This crap is pulled straight out of your garden variety Asian MMORPG, RIP in piece Project Eternity

 

 

So what is the problem with that method aside from association with Asian MMORPGs?

 

The most obvious being that is removes most planning from chargen, makes it impossible to make/customize a character specialized in specific weapons.

 

I mean why should a character who has say a high Agility score be able to wield a Long Sword or a Spear with equal proficiency.

[Infinitron]

The most obvious being that is removes most planning from chargen, makes it impossible to make/customize a character specialized in specific weapons.

 

 

I mean why should a character who has say a high Agility score be able to wield a Long Sword or a Spear with equal proficiency.

 

 

1) You're assuming the game will have an "Agility" score. It probably won't.

2) You can customize your character with talents and class abilities, not just attribute scores. This isn't AD&D.

 

I made a thread about this here: http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/64157-josh-sawyer-reveals-some-information-about-project-eternitys-attribute-scores/

Edited July 19, 2013 by Infinitron

[Sarex]

 

This crap is pulled straight out of your garden variety Asian MMORPG, RIP in piece Project Eternity

 

 

So what is the problem with that method aside from association with Asian MMORPGs?

 

 

The problem is that it's a watered down system, and I'm being nice here.

[Chrononaut]

 

The most obvious being that is removes most planning from chargen, makes it impossible to make/customize a character specialized in specific weapons.

 

 

I mean why should a character who has say a high Agility score be able to wield a Long Sword or a Spear with equal proficiency.

 

 

1) You're assuming the game will have an "Agility" score. It probably won't.

2) You can customize your character with talents and class abilities, not just attribute scores.

 

I made a thread about this here: http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/64157-josh-sawyer-reveals-some-information-about-project-eternitys-attribute-scores/

 

Static feats and talents are not supposed to replace basic attributes, they are supposed to complement them and add to customization and more choice for the player. And those talents/feats are most likely going to be static benefits, probably with no ability to "build" upon them and upgrade them, say like upgrading skill in Poleaxe, Long Sword, Dagger, or any weapon you want your character to specialize in.

 

The overall motivation seems to be to make it impossible to mess up character generation/development and make it easy to switch to different types of weapons without needing any defined skill or training with that weapon to wield it effectively. But in so doing it removes a crapload of choice for the player.

 

It also makes no sense from the point-of-view of basic common sense, a character being strong or agile may help them in wielding certain weapons more effectively, but why should passive attributes and talents be the only determinant of how well your char wields a weapon? Where is the training?!

[Sarex]

I think the example is about old IE games where one attribute affects bonus damage regardless of weapon and one affectcts accuracy regardles of weapon or spell. PE will be different in that regard.

 

Nvm, but I still get that from what he was saying.

Edited July 19, 2013 by Sarex

[Infinitron]

Static feats and talents are not supposed to replace basic attributes, they are supposed to complement them and add to customization and more choice for the player. 

 

 

Says who? Different system, different rules. It's been very clear to me that Project Eternity is being designed with talents, skills and special abilities as the core of the system, the main differentiator between characters. But let's see if Josh has anything to add to this discussion.

Edited July 19, 2013 by Infinitron

[Chrononaut]

 

Static feats and talents are not supposed to replace basic attributes, they are supposed to complement them and add to customization and more choice for the player. 

 

 

Says who? Different system, different rules. It's been very clear to me that Project Eternity is being designed with talents, skills and special abilities as the core of the system, the main differentiator between characters.

 

Okay, "not supposed to" meaning "it's a bad decision to have it work that way". I'm a firm believer in "more stuff is better" when it comes to chargen and leveling. The more choices you give the player the better.

 

Perhaps MMO was a bad comparison, it sounds more like how heroes in Warcraft III work. Especially if certain attributes will give your character a % chance to do something like a critical attack or block damage.

Edited July 19, 2013 by Chrononaut

[mstark]

I'm also worried about the attributes thing, but will wait to see just how much it will affect gameplay. I've liked a number of games that focus more on what set of abilities you choose for your character, rather than how you choose to allocate your attribute points.

 

I do like the min-maxing of games of old though, it made sure your characters would become strongly unique and heavily specialized. I much prefer that to characters that are kind of good at everything but a little better at something.

 

Other than that, great article, thanks for the link.

[Infinitron]

Okay, "not supposed to" meaning "it's a bad decision to have it work that way". I'm a firm believer in "more stuff is better" when it comes to chargen and leveling. The more choices you give the player the better.

 

 

Perhaps MMO was a bad comparison, it sounds more like how heroes in Warcraft III work. Especially if certain attributes will give your character a % chance to do something like a critical attack or block damage.

 

 

Sure, I agree, the attributes system as described sounds like it might be too simplistic/boring. We'll have to wait for more information from the developers to see if that's really true, though.

 

Keep in mind that we don't even know yet whether PE will allow improving of attribute scores on level-up, as in D&D 3E, or whether they will remain mostly static after chargen, as in AD&D. That alone might have a huge impact on how this system works in practice.

Edited July 19, 2013 by Infinitron

[Cultist]

The most obvious being that is removes most planning from chargen, makes it impossible to make/customize a character specialized in specific weapons.

I mean why should a character who has say a high Agility score be able to wield a Long Sword or a Spear with equal proficiency.

Yeah, even now I can recall good memories about variety of attribute builds in BG and IWD, fighters with wisdom and charisma, wizards with str...oh, wait.

Edited July 19, 2013 by Cultist

[Chrononaut]

If the talents/feats can't themselves be leveled or upgraded, and are just a static percentile bonus that scales to whatever attack or save you character makes, that would make for a very boring character generation and progression, that's why I said that they should be used to complement an existing system not BE ONE.

 

I actually dislike the idea of "special abilities" acting as ultimate determiner in battle too, because well it doesn't sound very RPG-ish to me, more like a clicky/twitchy thing which is more about the player skill in clicking it it off at the right time and place in battle, and less about than the stats of your character.

 

Less Baldur's Gate, more League of Legends or Warcraft III.

Edited July 19, 2013 by Chrononaut

[Infinitron]

If the talents/feats can't themselves be leveled or upgraded, and are just a static percentile bonus that scales to whatever attack or save you character makes, that would make for a very boring character generation and progression, that's why I said that they should be used to complement an existing system not BE ONE.

 

I actually dislike the idea of "special abilities" acting as ultimate determiner in battle too, because well it doesn't sound very RPG-ish to me, more like a clicky/twitchy thing which is more about the player skill in clicking it it off at the right time and place in battle, and less about than the stats of your character.

 

Less Baldur's Gate, more League of Legends or Warcraft III.

 

Well, keep in mind that many of the class abilities and talents will actually be passive, ie, not so different from upgrading a numerical stat or skill.

Edited July 19, 2013 by Infinitron

[Chrononaut]

 

If the talents/feats can't themselves be leveled or upgraded, and are just a static percentile bonus that scales to whatever attack or save you character makes, that would make for a very boring character generation and progression, that's why I said that they should be used to complement an existing system not BE ONE.

 

I actually dislike the idea of "special abilities" acting as ultimate determiner in battle too, because well it doesn't sound very RPG-ish to me, more like a clicky/twitchy thing which is more about the player skill in clicking it it off at the right time and place in battle, and less about than the stats of your character.

 

Less Baldur's Gate, more League of Legends or Warcraft III.

 

Well, keep in mind that many of the class abilities and talents will actually be passive, ie, not so different from upgrading a numerical stat or skill.

 

Well, stuff like the Barbarians' wild charge thing, or the wound resource for Monk, seem to be very clicky

[Merlkir]

Can someone better explain the outrage here? (I'm yet to read the full interview, but the posts here caught my eye)

 

It sounds a bit like Mount and Blade to me. Your ability to fight with axes and spears is not based on two different attributes (strength for axes and agility for spears for example), rather strength determines how hard you hit and agility how fast you strike. Your ability to use the various weapons (technique we could say) is determined by a "weapon proficiency" level. Which makes sense, it's about HOW you use them, not just how strong or agile you are.

[Greensleeve]

 

 

If the talents/feats can't themselves be leveled or upgraded, and are just a static percentile bonus that scales to whatever attack or save you character makes, that would make for a very boring character generation and progression, that's why I said that they should be used to complement an existing system not BE ONE.

 

I actually dislike the idea of "special abilities" acting as ultimate determiner in battle too, because well it doesn't sound very RPG-ish to me, more like a clicky/twitchy thing which is more about the player skill in clicking it it off at the right time and place in battle, and less about than the stats of your character.

 

Less Baldur's Gate, more League of Legends or Warcraft III.

 

Well, keep in mind that many of the class abilities and talents will actually be passive, ie, not so different from upgrading a numerical stat or skill.

 

Well, stuff like the Barbarians' wild charge thing, or the wound resource for Monk, seem to be very clicky

 

 

It's been said over and over again that you can build any class and character to be more or less active in usage. You can build a bunch of characters who don't really need to activate very many abilities to make it through a fight, or you can build a character that relies on using lots of special abilities to make it through the fight. The choice will be up to you. 

[jethro]

In other news... I like very much what I heard about the crafting system of being complementary with the loot system.

 

 

Off-topic: Yeah, my 100th post. But I need to do something about my warning points, still at 0 ;-)

Edited July 19, 2013 by jethro

[Infinitron]

Can someone better explain the outrage here? (I'm yet to read the full interview, but the posts here caught my eye)

 

It sounds a bit like Mount and Blade to me. Your ability to fight with axes and spears is not based on two different attributes (strength for axes and agility for spears for example), rather strength determines how hard you hit and agility how fast you strike. Your ability to use the various weapons (technique we could say) is determined by a "weapon proficiency" level. Which makes sense, it's about HOW you use them, not just how strong or agile you are.

 

It's not just different melee weapon types. It's also ranged weapons, spells that do damage, abilities that do damage...

Edited July 19, 2013 by Infinitron

[Sensuki]

Yeah I'm not a fan of one ability governing damage with a sword and a magical attack personally. Two would be fine though. One for physical, one for magical.

[Tale]

I'm disappointed, but I'll get over it.

 

I really like stats to mean different things to different characters and classes. Your charismatic Sorcerer, your intelligent Mage. And then 4e gave me a constitution based Warlock! It feeds my imagination and character ideas. Not just because you have your character who also happens to have this stat, but because of the implications of using power through that stat presents.

 

But enough RPGs stick all casters to the same stat that I'm used to it. It probably makes more sense for their setting, with "souls" being the source of power. A constitution caster doesn't make sense when all magic comes from the soul.

[Gfted1]

I don't follow how shifting from weapons specializations to ONE STAT TO RULE THEM ALL in any way reduces dump stats. Wont everyone just pump that stat now?

[Greensleeve]

I don't follow how shifting from weapons specializations to ONE STAT TO RULE THEM ALL in any way reduces dump stats. Wont everyone just pump that stat now?

 

I don't understand that either, which is why I withhold judgement until we've been shown the system in full. It feels as though we're not getting very much (if any) of the picture, so I think it's very premature to say very much about it.