To all of our backers and fans...

[Lephys]

Don't be silly, everyone knows Orlans ride battle-dogs into the fray.

The feline race rides battle-dogs into the fray?! Feh I say to that...

 

They ride enchanted stacks of papers and keyboards, u_u.

 

 

Ehhh, serious question... hmmm... could you give us some hint as to where/when those illustrated scripted events (like the attempt to jump the gap in the fallen bridge, or finding the huge egg in a little mountain alcove) are likely to fit into the gameplay? They could appear in all manner of situations, so I was wondering what the plan was for them. Or, you know... as much of the plan as you're allowed to reveal.

 

You can totally give us classified information. This is just the internet. WHO'S going to see it, really?

 

(Happy Friday to you, too, Adam, and all the team! And hopefully a happy Saturday and Sunday to follow, eh? ^_^)

Edited October 25, 2013 by Lephys

[Adam Brennecke]

How many spells can one grimoire hold at once? Are there variable size grimoires?

 

How frequent are the dedicated rest locations?

 

There's a max number of spells per level for each grimoire - I think it's variable. I'm not certain of the number right now, but the max is likely to change a number of times before we ship.

 

Frequent enough. It depends on the size and number of levels of the dungeon/area, and it's something that we will continue to tweak and modify based off of internal playtesting. There's also a good number of Inns and other rest locations.

[Adam Brennecke]

Just wanted to say thank you for making the effort and being in touch with the community. It's always nice.

 

One quick question - since you happen to work with Zbrush and/or Mudbox, are you planning to utilize those packages for sculpting rock formations and/or other terrain features? (I'm referring to those last environment screenshots that you guys posted lately - rock monuments looked weird). AFAIR Zbrush/Mud is perfect for this kind of tasks. 

 

Hail,

 

We use zbrush extensively in our hi-poly modelling for environments. I don't know what screenshot you are talking about, so I can't comment on it.

 

-Adam

[Adam Brennecke]

Will PE run in windowed mode?

 

Yes.

[Adam Brennecke]

 

Happy Friday!

 

I'll answer a few questions throughout the day today. About anything. Ask away.

 

Cheers,

Adam

 

I guess it has been answered somewhere, but it seems difficult to find: how long is PE going to be and how much content do you plan on having? Someqhere I read PE is going to have "IWD 2-length" which could mean 60-100 hours. Any update on that?

 

Is there anything "secret" you can share with us? Maybe a roooough description of one of your favourite quests so far? Or the coolest NPC? I don't actually think you'll answer this one, but hey, I tried :D

Great to see you anwering questions again!

 

 

Hail,

 

We don't have the entire game playable, so I can't comment on length. We are shooting for the largest game we can make within our constraints of time/budget/staffing vs quality.

 

I don't have any "secret" information for you. No spoilers.

 

-Adam

[WorstUsernameEver]

Hail,

 

We use zbrush extensively in our hi-poly modelling for environments. I don't know what screenshot you are talking about, so I can't comment on it.

 

-Adam

This screenshot.

[WotanAnubis]

So. Druids. They can change into animals apparently. But I want to know if you already know which animals.

 

Also, can Druids theoretically change into whatever animal they want (assuming there are multiple possibilities) or are they constrained to a single animal form?

[rjshae]

Thank you, Adam. I'm curious how the custom elements from the high-end contributors are coming along. Have you received a lot of interesting ideas?

[Solviulnir the Soulbinder]

Dolph... errrm, WorstUsernameEver linked the screenshot I was referring to Sorry for being blunt but these rocks are ugly as hell. Since you have the advantage of using only prerendered backgrounds I think that there's no reason not to use only high density meshes with displacement maps and all that "jazz" - e.g. there's huge difference in quality between said rocks and trees. 

But, maybe it's just me :D


 

[Adam Brennecke]

do you have a rough idea of what the ratio of dungeon crawling to (peaceful) overland travel is going to be?

 

Hail,

 

I don't know the ratio of game time between outdoors and indoors because we aren't done yet. We have a good number of dungeons and a good number of outdoor or wilderness maps. We will have more indoors than outdoors because outdoor maps take significantly longer to create than dungeons or interiors. However, you might be spending more time outdoors because that's the mode of travel between everything, if that makes sense.

 

-Adam

[Adam Brennecke]

Is there going to be a pony? I want a pony.

 

Hail,

 

Sorry, no ponies.

 

-Adam

[Quadrone]

Is there going to be an update (not necessarily the big one) next week?

[Adam Brennecke]

Could you tell us something about the factions we're likely to encounter? even a tidbit? It's one of the things I'm really looking forward to.

 

Hail,

 

I wouldn't be a good person to tell you about factions. It would be a good topic for a future update, but we would have to be careful to avoid spoilers because many of the factions play an integral part in the story.

 

-Adam

[Lephys]

Dolph... errrm, WorstUsernameEver linked the screenshot I was referring to Sorry for being blunt but these rocks are ugly as hell. Since you have the advantage of using only prerendered backgrounds I think that there's no reason not to use only high density meshes with displacement maps and all that "jazz" - e.g. there's huge difference in quality between said rocks and trees. 

But, maybe it's just me :D

Is it possible you're seeing the specific aesthetics of those rocks as "this is just what random stone jutting from the ground is supposed to look like," when it's really that those particular rocks are supposed to look exactly like that (with the little layers/ripples in them and such)? Because, otherwise, they look like pretty darn-good-quality rocks to me. I mean, as that screenshot is mildly old now, and the game still has months to go, I'd wager they'll tweak some things a bit more before we play the game. But, I don't really see any blatant inferiority in the rocks... *shrug*

[GhoulishVisage]

Could you do a little bit of lore for us? Just something to sate the tastebuds.
Tell us about Valarian trading routes or something stupid so you aren't eaten by Josh next time he sees you.
Or something else, how do the Valarian Republic and the Aedyr Empire view each other? Uneasy allies? Rivals? Fast friends? Trading partners? Colonial buddies?

 

 

Also, if you can tell us, why aren't you guys doing a vertical slice video?

When you said there'd be a big announcement I thought it'd be some vertical slice footage for sure, but you guys then said that it definitely WOULDN'T be that.

Edited October 25, 2013 by GhoulishVisage

[Solviulnir the Soulbinder]

I see your point Lephys and I as well think that those are just prealpha visuals which can be modified to some degree sooner or later along the way. I'm not saying that the game will be broken for me if the rocks stay like that. I mean, these are just rocks hehe. I was simply asking to what extent Zbrush or other sculpting tools will see use for the environment graphics as they are perfect for organic modelling. Rocks just happened to be the first thing that I frowned upon when I first saw the screenshot, hence the example. 

[Guest]

Happy Friday!

 

I'll answer a few questions throughout the day today. About anything. Ask away.

 

Cheers,

Adam

This reminds me of devs popping in on Saturdays to answer questions while code compiled, etc during the months leading up to SW:KotOR2. Thanks for being awesome, Obsidian.

[Hassat Hunter]

Cats.

Will they be ingame (pretty sure it was a backers rank we made), feature cute dialogue (like in Icewind Dale 2), and perhaps be a pet/disguised noble/lucky charm if kept alive the entire game...?

[Lephys]

I see your point Lephys and I as well think that those are just prealpha visuals which can be modified to some degree sooner or later along the way. I'm not saying that the game will be broken for me if the rocks stay like that. I mean, these are just rocks hehe. I was simply asking to what extent Zbrush or other sculpting tools will see use for the environment graphics as they are perfect for organic modelling. Rocks just happened to be the first thing that I frowned upon when I first saw the screenshot, hence the example.

No worries. Just androiding my way in with observations and questions like C3PO, as I tend to do. 8P

 

Because, those ripples do look a bit odd, but then, if those rock formations are just supposed to look like that intentionally, then cool. But then, if that was just supposed to be "this is a generic stone surface" texture, then yeah, they'd look quite strange and out-of-place in that environment snapshot.

 

I am ignorant of further technical details, as well as this Zbrush (though I've heard of it), so, I'll just stick to my androidish interjections,

[Adam Brennecke]

Will I be able to rob almost every house in Defiance Bay (like I did in Baldur's Gate, Athkatla, Tarant, New Reno etc)?

 

Hail,

 

yes.

 

-Adam

[Adam Brennecke]

 

Don't be silly, everyone knows Orlans ride battle-dogs into the fray.

The feline race rides battle-dogs into the fray?! Feh I say to that...

 

They ride enchanted stacks of papers and keyboards, u_u.

 

 

Ehhh, serious question... hmmm... could you give us some hint as to where/when those illustrated scripted events (like the attempt to jump the gap in the fallen bridge, or finding the huge egg in a little mountain alcove) are likely to fit into the gameplay? They could appear in all manner of situations, so I was wondering what the plan was for them. Or, you know... as much of the plan as you're allowed to reveal.

 

You can totally give us classified information. This is just the internet. WHO'S going to see it, really?

 

(Happy Friday to you, too, Adam, and all the team! And hopefully a happy Saturday and Sunday to follow, eh? ^_^)

 

 

Hail,

 

I'm not exactly sure what you are asking - scripted interactions will appear everywhere. It's like talking to NPCs, but instead of speaking you perform actions. I hope that cleared something up.

 

-Adam

[J.E. Sawyer]

 

Is it possible you're seeing the specific aesthetics of those rocks as "this is just what random stone jutting from the ground is supposed to look like," when it's really that those particular rocks are supposed to look exactly like that (with the little layers/ripples in them and such)? 

 

They're pillars of adra and aren't supposed to look like ordinary rock.

[Adam Brennecke]

So. Druids. They can change into animals apparently. But I want to know if you already know which animals.

 

Also, can Druids theoretically change into whatever animal they want (assuming there are multiple possibilities) or are they constrained to a single animal form?

 

Hail,

 

They can transform into many different forms.

 

-Adam

[Pipyui]

Will I be able to track my fantasy team from my smart device?

No, wait a minute...

 

What is there to do outside of combat and questing?  Will there be gambling, dogfights (goblin fights?), opportunities for fishing (every good rpg has a fishing mechanic ), an arena, entertainment at the stronghold, drunk-tipping?

 

How frequently can we expect to see area transitions?  Are we going to see a loading screen after every few yards, or does the majority of a full environment pan?

 

Thanks!

[iseijin]

Will there be a big difference in fighting strength between beginning level characters and leveled characters near the end of the game?

 

Will the combat be very tactical from beginning levels on?