BAdler Posted July 9, 2014 Posted July 9, 2014 Update by Rose Gomez, Associate Producer Hello backers! In today's update, we'd like to show off a few of our creatures that you might have heard us talk about in previous updates. With the end of production getting closer every day, we have some news about our backer updates, and we’re also pleased to announce a date for the upcoming Backer Beta! In our next update, we’ll get into more detail about that. First, let’s get to the creatures. Blight Blights are lost souls or soul fragments that have bonded with elemental substances. They are often victims of natural disasters (floods, rock slides, forest fires, etc.). They are incoherent, confused, and full of rage, an amorphous cloud that swirls endlessly and with great violence. Within the vortex, dozens of humanoid shapes materialize and vanish from moment to moment. Faces scream in silent agony while hands desperately clutch and claw at their surroundings, as though still trying to escape their tragic fates. Bîaŵacs, storms that can rip the soul out of a person’s body, often create blights. If souls are ripped free from their bodies and caught in the center of the storm, they may become stuck together and bonded with any other elemental substances in the maelstrom. They are pure chaos and confusion, and destroying them is considered by many to be a mercy to the souls trapped within them. Blights have been the subject of controversial research carried out by the animancers of Eora. On the one hand, attempts at vivisection have led to promising strides in treating patients who, for one reason or another, contain within their bodies two or more complete souls fused together, which has been identified as the root cause of a variety of mental and physiological disorders. On the other, however, some groups lament that there is a lack of transparency on the methods being employed in these experiments, the general concerns being that these might be somehow inhumane or present some broader risk to the surrounding populace. There are also some who accuse animancers of deliberately trying to create blights for study, but the veracity of these claims is difficult to substantiate. Xaurip This hairless humanoid is about the size of an orlan. It has an elongated snout and snake-like eyes, giving it a very reptilian appearance. Its legs end in three-toed feet, while its elongated arms end in three-fingered claws. Xaurips adorn themselves with the bones of fallen enemies - mostly xaurips from rival tribes. They also have an affinity for large feathers, which they hang and pin to their attire. Skin tones can vary from light green, to a rustic brown. Their elongated snouts (which makes speech impossible) and overly-aggressive behavior have hindered them from communicating with the more civilized races of the world. They live in secluded, tribal territories and are known for ruthlessly attacking any foolish enough to cross their path. Xaurips revere dragons as deities and build their communities around the lairs of these powerful creatures. It is not uncommon for a small tribe to wander until it has found a wurm to worship. Once a tribe dedicates itself to a dragon, they will defend it at all costs. Elaborate rituals, in which the dragon consumes xaurip sacrifices, are normal. As a dragon grows in age and size, these sacrifices become large religious events that cost the lives of hundreds of xaurips. The power and prestige of a xaurip tribe directly correlates with the age of its dragon. The most powerful tribes have existed for hundreds, if not thousands of years. Warriors and shamans of these large tribes typically paint their bodies to resemble their draconic overlord. Vithrack Extremely rare, very dangerous creatures with natural cipher powers. They are mostly humanoid in shape, slightly taller and thinner than humans, but with horrific, fanged spider-like heads. Like spiders, they are capable of spinning silk, though they use it to make their own very intricate and fine robes. Males and females are indistinguishable from each other. They are primarily spellcasters and mental manipulators, like ciphers, though they will also attack with their fangs when forced into melee combat. Despite their extreme intelligence and power, vithrack are not a major force in the world due to their extremely low birth rates. Given their arachnid appearance, it's no surprise that vithrack have traditionally used spiders as companions and minions. Though highly intelligent and socially organized, little is known about their culture as they are both hostile to outsiders and rare. Their psionic powers allow them to communicate mentally with one another. Like many social insectoids, their society includes a variety of specific roles, including scouts and defenders. While their low birth rates are likely responsible for their hostility toward other races, they have also made the vithrack highly altruistic when it comes to their own kind. They will defend their nests to the death. Update Schedule Hey, everyone. Brandon here. With production moving into the finalization phase for Eternity, the team and I are hunkering down to finish up the game over the next few months. Going forward, we will be spacing out our backer updates a bit more from now until the project ships. They’ll come a bit less predictably, but you can still expect updates as we have big announcements or special news for you. This will really help us focus as much of our efforts into putting out the best game we possibly can for everyone. In our next big update, we will discuss the upcoming Backer Beta in more detail as well as what it will entail and how to redeem your copy. Speaking of the Backer Beta... Backer Beta We will be releasing our Backer Beta on August 18th. As we mentioned above, we will get into all of the specifics about the Backer Beta in our next update. Be on the lookout for it over the next month. Documentary Reward We also wanted to let all of our backers know about a decision we'd recently come to about our Documentary DVD/Bluray item. We were faced with a bit of a dilemma when it came to the full documentary footage. In order to provide a physical copy of the documentary when the game shipped, we would be unable to show the final leg of production in order to have time to print all of the discs and packaging. We want our backers to be able to share the entire experience of making this game with us - from the earliest beginnings to the very end. To do this, we've decided to forgo making a physical copy of the documentary, and will instead release a digital downloadable extended version. We recognize that some of you may be upset by this decision, but we hope that you'll understand our reasoning. We will be replacing the DVD/Blu-ray with another reward though. Stay tuned for a future update to find out all of the particulars. That's it for this update, head over to our forums and let us know what you think. 34
mstark Posted July 9, 2014 Posted July 9, 2014 (edited) This looks far too awesome. The models are really well made! Love the Mindfla... *cough* Vithracks :D How did Vithracks evolve, by natural selection, or by more sinister forces being involved? The lightning/spark animation on the Wind Blight could do with some work. Digital download is preferable anyway! Edited July 9, 2014 by mstark 2 "What if a mid-life crisis is just getting halfway through the game and realising you put all your points into the wrong skill tree?"
rjshae Posted July 9, 2014 Posted July 9, 2014 Nice work! It's good to see original creatures like these. The animated form of the Rain Blight seems too stable given its watery nature, but perhaps that's because it is stationary. Otherwise they look good. A digitally downloadable copy of the documentary is fine with me. Thank you for the update. 1 "It has just been discovered that research causes cancer in rats."
Sensuki Posted July 9, 2014 Posted July 9, 2014 Nice sensible lore for the creatures. Would have been cool to see them from the isometric perspective as well. Don't mind about the DVD/Blu-Ray. I'd rather see a longer documentary than have a physical copy. 1
Valmy Posted July 9, 2014 Posted July 9, 2014 The Xaurips are pretty interesting, I like the idea of a horde of wimpy mooks being terrifying because you know they have a super powerful overlord lurking nearby. 2
O.DOGG Posted July 9, 2014 Posted July 9, 2014 Cool update. Nice to see these creatures in motion. Also a digital download of the documentary is even better for me. 1 Peace... piece... of mind
SunBroSolaire Posted July 9, 2014 Posted July 9, 2014 The creature lore is very cool I didn't get the DVD/Blu-Ray reward, but I'm glad the documentary will cover the entire production. After following this game so closely for two years it's going to be fascinating to see the whole process from behind the scenes.
Sensuki Posted July 9, 2014 Posted July 9, 2014 720 or 1080p in Matroska (.mkv) would be ideal for the Documentary 3
Technatorium Posted July 9, 2014 Posted July 9, 2014 (edited) Nice update. Can't wait for August 18th. A little sadden that there wont be a physical release of the Documentary but I guess I could just "burn" myself a copy anyways. Edited July 9, 2014 by Technatorium
Byeohazard Posted July 9, 2014 Posted July 9, 2014 It sure looks to be shaping up nicely! Looking foreward to playing! I guess I am one of the oddballs that was looking foreward to the dvd release (probably because I am a geezer...I still like a paperback vs my kindle) but a good call to include complete footage and offer an alternative goody! I'm good with that! 1
Technatorium Posted July 9, 2014 Posted July 9, 2014 It sure looks to be shaping up nicely! Looking foreward to playing! I guess I am one of the oddballs that was looking foreward to the dvd release (probably because I am a geezer...I still like a paperback vs my kindle) but a good call to include complete footage and offer an alternative goody! I'm good with that! I'm only in my early 30s and I like physical media more than digital. You can lose digital media more readily. But that's just me. 1
Yonjuro Posted July 9, 2014 Posted July 9, 2014 (edited) The Xaurips are pretty interesting, I like the idea of a horde of wimpy mooks being terrifying because you know they have a super powerful overlord lurking nearby. Now I'll feel guilty if I kill a dragon. These poor little saps will lose their deity and turn to drink. What have I done!?!!!!! The humanity!!! (er, xauripity?) It reminds me of the Xvart genocide I inadvertently committed in BG1 including their guardian cave bear. That was a dark dark day. Edited July 9, 2014 by Yonjuro 6
Gfted1 Posted July 9, 2014 Posted July 9, 2014 ^You wont have to worry about their feelings, sounds like you will have to slaughter them all just to get to the dragon. 3 "I'm your biggest fan, Ill follow you until you love me, Papa"
Yonjuro Posted July 9, 2014 Posted July 9, 2014 ^You wont have to worry about their feelings, sounds like you will have to slaughter them all just to get to the dragon. Nooooooooooo!!
Flow Posted July 9, 2014 Posted July 9, 2014 The Xaurips are pretty interesting, I like the idea of a horde of wimpy mooks being terrifying because you know they have a super powerful overlord lurking nearby. Now I'll feel guilty if I kill a dragon. These poor little saps will lose their deity and turn to drink. What have I done!?!!!!! The humanity!!! (er, xauripity?) It reminds me of the Xvart genocide I inadvertently committed in BG1 including their guardian cave bear. That was a dark dark day. Considering their "deity" ritually slaughters them by the hundreds, maybe forcing them to rethink their religious practices isn't the worst thing. 4
WorstUsernameEver Posted July 9, 2014 Posted July 9, 2014 They don't really offer themselves ritually to the dragons as sacrifices, that's just how Disney arranged it to look like for their documentary. 12
Valmy Posted July 9, 2014 Posted July 9, 2014 They don't really offer themselves ritually to the dragons as sacrifices, that's just how Disney arranged it to look like for their documentary. That is a fantastically hilarious and obscure reference. Awesome. 1
Yonjuro Posted July 9, 2014 Posted July 9, 2014 They don't really offer themselves ritually to the dragons as sacrifices, that's just how Disney arranged it to look like for their documentary. Hmm. Uh, yes mayor Ghastkill, it was the darndest thing, I went into this Xvart village and all of the Xvarts just stampeded off a cliff. Uh, yeah that's what happened. Yep. And the bear. Weird. 2
fortuntek Posted July 9, 2014 Posted July 9, 2014 (edited) They don't really offer themselves ritually to the dragons as sacrifices, that's just how Disney arranged it to look like for their documentary. That is a fantastically hilarious and obscure reference. Awesome. Which is from..? (I was actually immediately very curious about this but Googling it returned only confusing mixed results ) More on topic, I was hoping we'd be learning more about the Backer Beta this update. Creatures were decently cool, but not overly new except the Xaurips I think. The elementals looks about as standard as standard can get, but the written description sounds amazing! I love the backstory, but found it a bit disappointing that the shifting agonized figures described as inside the blights weren't visually depicted in the animations. Maybe the attack animations will have them? Edited July 9, 2014 by fortuntek
Greensleeve Posted July 9, 2014 Posted July 9, 2014 They don't really offer themselves ritually to the dragons as sacrifices, that's just how Disney arranged it to look like for their documentary. That is a fantastically hilarious and obscure reference. Awesome. Which is from..? (I was actually immediately very curious about this but Googling it returned only confusing mixed results ) It's the (confirmed?) urban legend that Disney staged a part of some nature documentary about lemmings. The idea is that lemmings will just follower the leader, even over a cliff and into suicide. This was then "confirmed" by a Disney documentary, that in actuality forced the lemming herd over the edge but then showed it as footage of the lemmings willingly killing themselves anyway. Don't have much to add. The animations look great, nice lore on the creatures. A pity there weren't any animations for the vithraks, but I suppose they're not properly done yet. I don't mind the lack of a physical DVD, as I didn't back to a level that would get me it any way. I do think you guys made the right decision though in making it all digital, but including all the development period. 1
fortuntek Posted July 9, 2014 Posted July 9, 2014 Interesting choice to specifically include Rain instead of the more typical Water. Any particular lore reason for that? 2
Yonjuro Posted July 9, 2014 Posted July 9, 2014 They don't really offer themselves ritually to the dragons as sacrifices, that's just how Disney arranged it to look like for their documentary. That is a fantastically hilarious and obscure reference. Awesome. Which is from..? (I was actually immediately very curious about this but Googling it returned only confusing mixed results ) It's the (confirmed?) urban legend that Disney staged a part of some nature documentary about lemmings. The idea is that lemmings will just follower the leader, even over a cliff and into suicide. This was then "confirmed" by a Disney documentary, that in actuality forced the lemming herd over the edge but then showed it as footage of the lemmings willingly killing themselves anyway. Yup, "White Wilderness." Apparently lemmings aren't that interesting on film unless you stampede them off a cliff: http://www.snopes.com/disney/films/lemmings.asp
Skie Nightfall Posted July 9, 2014 Posted July 9, 2014 Isn't the all fire,water, earth, air thing done with? I'd like to see more originality than that at least <.< 1 ✔ Certified Bat Food
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