New stretch goals for companions and wilderness areas?

[szczypior84]

First I voted yes, but now I've revoted for no.

Of course I'd like to get more content into the game, even I had to wait half year more to release. But it cannot affect quality of content previously set.

If you have extra money, I would prefer to record voice dialogues instead of wilderness areas. The game is huge, and you won't be able to record even 1/5 of all dialogues, but even that it will add something special to the game.

[Messier-31]

More content, a better game.

 

Quantity and quality are not always the same.

[Hassat Hunter]

Can we please NOT have "back X and get ingame profits like vendors and special items"... Pre-order exlcusives, DLC and all that crap is the current time I want to get away from with PE. Seriously, it's bad enough that some publishers DO it, it gets even worse if some gamers actually WANT that to happen... like what?

[Hiro Protagonist II]

On the subject of encouraging higher pledges if these stretch goals do in fact go ahead, would anyone be opposed to the following hypothetical 'reward'? Just throwing out ideas here.

 

Reward: Animat Guardian - Animats are animated by the souls of ancient warriors that are extracted, purified, and bound into armor. This construct occupied the ruins of your stronghold before you took possession, and still remains to ward off those it perceives as a threat to its home. [increases Stronghold Security, Lowers Stronghold Prestige]

 

Requirement: Have a total combined pledge of $75 or more.

 

Too much?

 

No thanks. I dislike pre-order exclusive DLC. The BG2 merchants you mentioned before were available to everyone when it was released via the internet. It wasn't hard to find them. And eventually included in a patch by Bioware. Needs to be something else imo.

[Elithranduil]

 

On the subject of encouraging higher pledges if these stretch goals do in fact go ahead, would anyone be opposed to the following hypothetical 'reward'? Just throwing out ideas here.

 

Reward: Animat Guardian - Animats are animated by the souls of ancient warriors that are extracted, purified, and bound into armor. This construct occupied the ruins of your stronghold before you took possession, and still remains to ward off those it perceives as a threat to its home. [increases Stronghold Security, Lowers Stronghold Prestige]

 

Requirement: Have a total combined pledge of $75 or more.

 

Too much?

 

 

No thanks. I dislike pre-order exclusive DLC. The BG2 merchants you mentioned before were available to everyone when it was released via the internet. It wasn't hard to find them. And eventually included in a patch by Bioware. Needs to be something else imo.

Very reasonable and I think I agree with you. But I can't think of anything else to drive the stretch goals. Second expansion pack pledge?

 

Perhaps it's best we don't have these stretch goals at all - I don't see how we can hit the targets.

[Paulicus]

I'd be happy to throw my spare change at this game all day long if it turns out to be half as good as I hope it will be and I also don't mind waiting a few months longer than the slated release date. My only request if you decide to do this is can you add in some more pledge levels as I pledged at the $250 level and the next is double that (since the $350 was all gone) which is a bit much for just stretch goals. Add in a $300 level and I'll happily up my pledge!

[mwinding]

I don't understand all this talk about new rewards. Isn't the reward of reaching the new stretch goals that we get more wilderness areas and companions? I'd probably give $5 for that alone.

 

Also, there are plenty of people who didn't back during the kickstarter and are now. Perhaps Obsidian's gotten a bit more money already and that's why they're asking about stretch goals. I think it's more important to get new backers, not increase pledges of old ones

Edited December 14, 2013 by mwinding

[rjshae]

Here's a pledge reward idea that I think won't drain too much from the coffers: a sticker that can be applied to the lid of a laptop...

 

[Baldr]

I vote for quality based stretch goals rather than quantity.  If the devs think the game would be better balanced with more outdoor areas but there isn't time/budget ... or if you NEED more outdoor areas to fully develop plot lines I'm all for it.   If the new areas are going to be (primarily) new content just for the sake of a bigger world I'm against it.  Once you hit what you consider to be a good  balance I'd consider funding a stretch goal for more enemy diversity or story (quality).  

 

More companions are always welcome but, I'd prefer deeper interactions with the existing companions, or adding companions if you have identified an area you are light (tank/healer/etc) rather than creating a bunch of new companions just because someone gave you money tagged for that.  

 

The bottom line: I'm against arbitrary each $X will get the game another thing Y goals.  If the devs come up with a prioritized list of items they feel would add to the quality of the world and that's what I'm funding then sure, let's go with the stretch goals.  That may complicate building excitement since someone's pet peeve item may be WAY down the list.  

 

PS.  Whatever you come up with be sure you don't give us the ability to unbalance the game if "the crowd" allocates it's funds in an irrational way.  

[Abel]

Also, there are plenty of people who didn't back during the kickstarter and are now. Perhaps Obsidian's gotten a bit more money already and that's why they're asking about stretch goals. I think it's more important to get new backers, not increase pledges of old ones

 

yeah dude, very very true. As an example, i didn' backed PE yet... at all even if i read the updates since months. I just missed kickstarter and was short on money after. Besides, i linked this thread to french video game forums and website yesterday. After all, it's true that we all just keep crying about everything everytime just doing nothing and watching Obs work. But PE community is a great community too. And maybe we all have something to do in this project.

 

It's true that PE wouldn't exist without backers, but it's true too that being part of such a project can be somewhat fun for backers.

 

I consider games like PE like a piece of art. You can't craft a piece of art without passion and pouring your soul within it. Obsidian is a well known studio. I really think that this kickstarter project is about - at least - deep interest in crafting such a game. It would be easy to craft another ****ty piece for a ****ty publisher (yeah, i really DEEPLY hate some of them...). What i mean is that Obs would not have submitted the idea of stretch goals now if they didn't think it is usefull to improve their beloved game. And i think J.Sawyer said precisely that. So for me, no doubt, theses goals are usefull. Companions are usefull for replayability, wilderness for not just dungeon combat-oriented maps.

[robersend]

I would like new stretch goals as long as they're just the same kind as those mentioned in the update, more wlderness/enemies, i think new gameplay elements should be added in the future expansion, so they don't cause a big delay in the developement of the game- the entire map or, at least, parts of it would need to be partially remade in order to fit those new gameplay features in the already-written content-. 

[forgottenlor]

I voted yes too.

 

More content, a better game.

Unfortunately this is not true, though its often marketed that way. I can't begin to count the number of games which would have been vastly improved if they had been cut down from 40 to 20 hours. Normally this would simply involve reducing repetitious gameplay which becomes extremely tedious. Off the top of my head is Cyanide's Diablo clone Loki, which has 2-3 maps in each game segment which are more or less identical. If each area had been reduced by a map it would have cut down the gameplay by a third, but made the game much better. New content is only good if its not filler,  and if the quality is identical to that of the core game.

[Cubiq]

Unfortunately this is not true, though its often marketed that way. I can't begin to count the number of games which would have been vastly improved if they had been cut down from 40 to 20 hours. Normally this would simply involve reducing repetitious gameplay which becomes extremely tedious. Off the top of my head is Cyanide's Diablo clone Loki, which has 2-3 maps in each game segment which are more or less identical. If each area had been reduced by a map it would have cut down the gameplay by a third, but made the game much better. New content is only good if its not filler,  and if the quality is identical to that of the core game.

 

That' really doesn't matter if the extra content is optional.

 

 

I vote for quality based stretch goals rather than quantity.

We have already paid for an extra polish (enhance) of the game with the 4milion goal

[lightblade75]

I would like to see more companions, more areas to explore and everything else - if it does make PoE a better game. Even if it would cost more.

[Warren]

Seeing as everyone has 2 or 3 things that they would personally like to see, how about stretch goals where you can contribute to funding a particular part of the game?

 

For example, I might donate $20 specifically for wilderness, $10 for companions, and $7 for class quests. 

 

Personally, I would really like more wilderness. When I played BG2 I thought that it was too small. If we are currently looking at something smaller, I would happily pitch in for a larger area. 

[Abel]

Actually BG2 wasn't small. But i deeply understand what you mean... Besides Athkatla, there were 3 or 4 places you could go... And all were some dungeon things related (though not to the extend of the 2 IWD :s Saved!). BG1 had more wilderness, but that was rather small maps with funny and intriguing scripted encounters, no huge content. But all this stuff just made the whole game much more... ALIVE, and worth exploring.

 

About your funding idea, it's great on the paper, but i'm afraid that there are nearly as much differents expectations as there are backers.

[Zaccaro]

As my two cents for this go: If you believe that you have great ideas for these then I'd love it! As long as the world itself is finished and great with them. If they are extra. I'd love them in an expansion pack to increase the game variety.

[Kevin Lynch]

While I appreciate that Obsidian wants to create this amazing game with everything the fans would want, I feel that there's enough already included that everything else can wait until an expansion comes along. Having said that, new stretch goals wouldn't bother me terribly.

[axan22]

Well I think from the vote so far it is going to happen but I think we all just need a lot more info. It also depends how they are going to deal with expansion, is it going to be BG1 where it can played in with the main game or BG2 where you play it after or could it be both?

[talharbash]

I revised my vote to no since I do not want to see the game delayed.

 

You're already charging $20 for an expansion. I'd focus on finishing what you have and then starting to work on the expansion.

[rjshae]

Well I think from the vote so far it is going to happen but I think we all just need a lot more info. It also depends how they are going to deal with expansion, is it going to be BG1 where it can played in with the main game or BG2 where you play it after or could it be both?

 

There's a selection bias here because the people voting are the ones who are already showing a strong interest in the game. But there's enough of a margin that they're probably fairly safe looking into the concept.

Edited December 15, 2013 by rjshae

[WorstUsernameEver]

 

Well I think from the vote so far it is going to happen but I think we all just need a lot more info. It also depends how they are going to deal with expansion, is it going to be BG1 where it can played in with the main game or BG2 where you play it after or could it be both?

 

There's a selection bias here because the people voting are the ones who are already showing a strong interest in the game. But there's enough of a margin that they're probably fairly safe looking into the concept.

 

I'm not sure if there's much of a point in asking people that aren't interested and haven't backed the title whether they want more stretch goals or not.

[Rahelron]

To me this first game has to be a test drive for a new franchise.

It doesn't need to be huge in terms of content, not bigger than it already is at least.

The developers need to focus on delivering it as polished as possible and, even more important, they need to use it as a test to understand what to keep and what to throw away in terms of "Infinity Engine Look and Feel".

 

 

 

In my opinion this game looks too much like a Baldur's Gate ripoff. The new gameplay video has confirmed this feeling that I always had. This is not what I wanted.

 

I didn't pledge my money to this game because I wanted to play Baldur's Gate in a new setting, I pledged my money because I wanted a great new roleplaying game with branching storylines, great agency for the player, a great story and choices that mattered. Dragon Age II had greatly disappointed me at that time and I was looking for something better. I was hoping that the developers were going to keep some basic IE features (like the isometric view, the six players party and the real-time-with-pause combat system) and ditch pretty much everything else in favour of a more modern approach, but so far I've been disappointed.

 

That's why I'm not interested in pledging more money for further stretch goals. As far as I've seen Pillars of Eternity is shaping up to be a dive in the past that will involve too much reading, an outdated combat system and parhaps a painful inventory system. Add to this the fact that it is not going to introduce any groundbreaking gameplay feature in the RPG landscape and you can understand how I feel.

 

I'll be glad to play Pillars of Eternity, but it will probably rank after The Witcher 3, Dragon Age 3 and even Torment in my personal 2014 RPG Game of the Year chart.

 

I hope PoE will sell well though so that the developers next time will be able to take more risks, innovate more and start a real groundbreaking franchise in the RPG genre.

Edited December 15, 2013 by Rahelron

[Cubiq]

In my opinion this game looks too much like a Baldur's Gate ripoff. The new gameplay video has confirmed this feeling that I always had. This is not what I wanted.

Dude what?

[Rahelron]

 

In my opinion this game looks too much like a Baldur's Gate ripoff. The new gameplay video has confirmed this feeling that I always had. This is not what I wanted.

Dude what?

 

 

I know it can sound odd. This game aims to be the Baldur's Gate rightful heir after all.

But let me tell you something: being a rigthful heir doesn't mean to mirror your predecessor in every aspect. It means going on without betraying your predecessor's legacy.

 

Obsidian's developers aren't certainly betraying any legacy.

What they are missing (at least judging from what I've seen up until now) is the MOVING ON part.