New stretch goals for companions and wilderness areas?

[Leewelo]

The better game the better.

I don't know how much budget increase these donations could represent at this stage. But keeping that gate open is something I favor, even if it comes in the way of 'free' DLC later.

[DC1000]

I can definately see what people are concerned about regarding the topic. Some of Obsidians past games have not been up to snuff polish-wise. However, one could argue that this should not be attributed to poor effort from the company, but instead to publishers demands that the game should be released at a certain time. Not totally unlike how people are arguing in this thread.

 

If the employees at Obsidian as professional gamemakers can justify the extra content, and if their case holds up to scrutiny from the backers (e.g us) I see no reason why stretch-goals should not be had. I simply require that Obsidian put forth good reasons why I should care about getting extra content into the planned game. As long as they are confident that the end result will be a superior game then I am all for it.

 

The addition of another companion or area in and of itself is in my opinion kind of meh. But in context of the overall product it may be a good thing. 

 

In conclusion, we as backers entrusted our money to Obsidian and put our faith in their good judgement. If they think that they can pull off more content without sacrificing the overall quality of the game...well why not. 

 

I probably forgot something. But I hope the point gets through:) So I say no unless good reasons are presented.

[bocsizoli]

Yes, creating more companions sounds like a good thing, but only if they integrate with the story, the already existing companions, etc. seamlessly. In that case, I think they would be a great addition.

 

In fact, I have already increased my pledge. But I probably would have without the new streatch goals anyway...

[lemonrev]

I havent bothered to read the rest of what others are saying, I did want to say that the poll is a little limited in what your actually asking, But i did say i would like to vote on new or content, regardless what it might be but i also think that wilderness however nice, can become somewhat a choore if your just trying to get from one spot to the next, I like depth.

 

Almost like d1 and d2, with dungions surounding an area or something to split the monotany when your in a barren place.

 

Anyways thats my thoughts good luck on the poll.

[Shiroco]

I voted for yes because after seeing the trailer I want as much game as I can get ;D It looks so awesome! But I have to agree that I would much rather prefer a release next year. I wouldn't mind an early q4 release, but please not 2015. That said I would love both more wilderness areas and more companions.

[Dragoon-]

Thanks to all your Kickstarter updates detailing the design and iteration process I understand now how complex and time consuming the process is to develop new areas and fill them out with content. Of course I would love more areas to explore and without hesitation invest an other $30 bucks to fiance the development.

 

But I would like to know more about the scope and more importantly the additional development time projected to go into this.

If that mean an other 3-4 months development added I am OK with it, but if it goes so far to push back the estimated release beyond 2015 I would refrain from giving any money at all, just to avoid this scenario.

 

Instead I would then prefer stretch goals for the promised expansion following the game release.

[GrayAngel]

I would love new stretch goals but it would delay the premier of the PoE so those goals be for Expansion or the Main Game?

[czert]

Just like others have said, I would prefer for the game to be released earlier and bug-free. Leave the stretch goals for expansions and sequels!

[FrostPaw]

I voted no, while I respect your ability to make great games I'm also aware we haven't actually played anything at all. Currently it is impossible to measure how much will already feature, so it makes it impossible to quantify if these additions would truly matter.

 

If other people want to give you guys more money then I'm fine with that, if you need to delay the game I'm fine with that, but to be brutally honest, I'd need to experience some gameplay for myself, before I could decide if I wanted to give any more money in the future.

 

Now if the issue is you feel that your current funding is running short of your estimation for whatever reason, I'd prefer that was what was said. I would be concerned but I'm also aware plans don't always work out and sometimes **** happens you simply cannot plan for.

 

Right now I literally have zero funds for further investment, Christmas has sucked it all up, perhaps after Christmas that will change. For these reasons, I voted no, if the game can be made to the standard expected, just do that. I'm actually not bothered if we don't have an npc class for every class available, it's more important to me that the characters are characters, not mechanics.

Edited December 11, 2013 by FrostPaw

[bragi]

It would be nice to have more wilderness areas in Baldur's Gate 1 style, but not at the cost of the former stretch goals.

[incubus9]

I'm down with getting some new content and seeing some additional stretch goals in the forms of wilderness areas and possibly a companion or two.  I'd like to see some fleshed out areas away from the quest line to explore, to give it that feeling of an open world.  That being said I'd rather not go over board on creating new companions.  I'd rather see lots of work done in improving the interaction and banter between the NPCs and the protagonist.  One of my favorite mods to BG1 and BG2 was the banter packs.  Having interesting conversation amongs party members that reflects their personalities really helps build a solid gameplay experience IMHO.  That being said, once you decide on how you want to go about doing the new stretch goals I'll be sure to toss a few bucks at you to keep this game going smoothly.   

[twincast]

I'll be honest: It's been bothering me since day one that there are more classes than proper companion characters, so I'm all up for more stretch goals.

 

Having a backer portal up and gameplay to show, it shouldn't be too hard to drum up some more support. Plus, ToN being confirmed as turn-based should drive some additional money toward PoE as well.

 

Anyway, there are indeed a couple of add-ons I've been considering getting, so if prices are still the same in February, consider me game.

[kwerboom]

I voted 'no'. I'm not opposed to more content, but I want what was promised to be worked on first and be the main focus.

[Plukh]

I went ahead and got some addons (hope they'll count towards the stretch goals too). My first choice would be more companions ('cause, in my personal experience, that's what I have most fun with - playing with different parties/characters), but more areas is good too.

[barmaglo]

This sounds slightly better than what I was imagining, but I'm still against stretch goals introduced this late in development. Keep that stuff for eventual expansions/add-ons and focus on the core game you've planned now. God knows you'll probably have to cut some stuff anyway.

 

+1

Add-on created in order to expand the game characters and additional territories. It is not necessary to increase the time to create the game, without sufficient need for it. Just follow what promised you give during the Kickstarter company's.

[baranek]

My thoughts on the further stretch goals - I think we got enough on a plate to make it a huge and fantastic game already and it would be better to just concentrate on polishing everything and making sure all the promissed aspects that has are well designed and bug free making it a solid, memorable game that will have a chance to get enough sales and good reviews to show that there is still interest in the genre. All the extra stuff can be added in the expansions later on making them bigger, juicier and more worth to be interested in (as it was in the good old pre-DLC era with Thron of Baal and Tales of the Sword Coast) - which approach of their design was also promissed for the first kickstarter-pre ordered expansion;) At the same time I trust you guys and I'd back you in any decision that'll be made. I won't give any additional money to the project but if others are willing to and it'll make the game bigger that's fine with me as ong as it won't affect the overall quality of the final product.

[Shadowmant]

I'll go out on a limb and say yes, but I think more detail is needed.  Are we talinking about pushing the game back a month or a year to add in the new content if the goals are met?

[Gecimen]

While I would love more companions, I just don't see what a stretch goal would be for.

 

First off, it's nigh impossible to create a new hype that'll collect a million bucks or so.

Secondly, most of us don't know what else to buy. For example, me, I live in Turkey and therefore selected "digital fun pack" for $50 (cause I don't trust any shipped item is guaranteed to reach me). I 'could' have paid more but one tier above, 'digital collectors edition' contains nothing extra, except for a beta invite, which I will not pay $60 - heck, I will not even pay $20 for that - beta testing is a service, not a priviledge. What else could've been added? No idea honestly...

 

Don't mean to sound pessimistic but I just don't know why people would raise their pledges. And any unfulfilled goals will just hinder the excitement.

 

Not to mention now I feel we won't get as big the game as we were promised without new stretch goals....

 

I just wish you guys just made the game, sold an extra million copies and kept earning money with expansions and sequels.

[digital_religion]

More fleshed out companions, with really detailed questlines, backstories and character... That would be no1 stretchgoal for me.

 

if you can do that, then add maybe two more additional ones.

 

Keep the cast big enough but detailed, and deeply developed.

[Bootsy81]

More game sounds good to me. If Obsidian can get the funding then I say go for it. The only real trade off is a bit more time to wait but I've achieved zen master levels of patience and serenity already so I can cope with that.

 

Also, I don't think it will take them as long as we might think, I have a sneaking suspicion they have some basic ideas in mind already for companions. Hopefully once these are fleshed out and the art for the new areas are done putting them in game won't take forever. They should be dab hands at it by then! lol.

 

So it's a yes vote from me.

[Lu Jo]

More content? More content! Yay!

[Helm]

More companions would be great.

 

I'd also like to see more animations and more/better magical effects (yes, I am aware of the fact that the animations in the video are still at a pre-alpha stage and not finished). If you think you can improve the animations by adding another animator to the team, then make that a stretch goal.

Edited December 11, 2013 by Helm

[Koru]

I'm for it... depending on what the content is and how it's done. My concern isn't with the money the new stretch goals would take since we know fans of Obsidian's games are.. well fanatical (speaking for myself at least). The cost in time to implement and of course test those stretch goal additions is more of a concern to me, and the only reason I add a caveat to my pro vote. The core game has to come first obviously, but if content can be added without significant delays, lowered quality, or bugginess then sure.

[Mils]

More stretch goals would be cool, but I'd rather see the time spent on making what we already have. You guys already have a 'fox' load of stretch goals to include, but perhaps stretch goals towards an expansion, or even post release content, would be worth considering?

[JFSOCC]

The character animations are all alpha.

Every time I'm worried you come to the rescue

--

I get many in this thread who are opposed, you bring good arguments. Those who are for more stretch goals, like myself, I think are just enthusiastic about getting as much as we can. Greedy as that may be, I've been following the interviews and this forum since the kickstarter ended, and every time the scope and time management is brought up, I can see how dedicated Obsidian is to structure and planning time for each feature. I'm confident that if new stretch goals were added, this scope management would still be up. Obsidian has a reputation to fix when it comes to releasing on time and bug-free, and I believe they are determined to make that happen.

 

Question for the devs: Would new stretch goals only include companions and wilderness areas? or would the backers be polled as to what they would like to see?

Edited December 11, 2013 by JFSOCC