Is Obsidian trying to rush this game?

[TheisEjsing]

Earlier in the project Sawyer talked alot about deadlines and how important they are. Dodging DA:I is one matter, but when the devs reflect on the IE games, one of their main lessons were to limit the game both in scale and the project time.

 

I don't think they are going stray far from the plan they made after the final pennies were in the bank, and they stated that we gave them too much for a summer 2014 release. 

 

On a sidenote and I might be wrong on this, but I don't think pcgamer would put PoE on the November cover, if the game were to arrive, let's say in May. 

But no matter how patient the good backers are, and how much we want a perfect game even if it takes more time, it's not about rushing anything for Obsidian. It's about running a business, and believe it or not, making the best game.

All we can do is judge them on the end result. 

Edited September 30, 2014 by TheisEjsing

[IndiraLightfoot]

I'm guessing this:

-They are sincerely set on trying to make it before X-mas

-Josh still recalls how rushed IWD2 was. They can do wonders in very little time, but I have a feeling that they want to achieve more polish, meat and bug-squashing if they can

-They are 100% ready for a delay into early 2015, but there has to be very good reasons for it (on the level of "a game not worthy to be released yet")

[NegativeEdge]

There's a pretty small window that's ideal for a release; Long enough after DA:I to be out from under its shadow but before the Witcher 3 begins its marketing blitz in earnest. Mid to late December is where they are hopefully aiming. Ideally Pillars would actually come out before Dragon Age but given that's 6 weeks away it seems extremely unlikely, but there's no way around the fact that those behemoths are going to have a big impact and releasing after both is going to draw comparisons that will not be favourable at all for PoE.

 

All you hear at pre release presentations now is devs saying 'see that mountain? you can climb it!'. Even the new  frickin Zelda game has this and its all thanks to Skyrim setting a new paradigm in 2011. DA:I and TW3 both have the potential to do something similar and PoE does not have any mountains. It has to be Winter this year. Summer 2015 is too late.

It's not going to look like a faithful, spiritual successor to a much loved game in a dead genre in Summer 2015, it's going to look antiquated and anachronistic. People are going to say 'didn't I hear about this six months ago, what happened? I guess bugs and Obsidian amirite?'.

 

But... seeing as though we don't have a release date and Feargus promised one by this time and judging by the glacial rate at which the beta is improving a delay looks more and more likely.

[archangel979]

PoE is not competing vs DAI and TW3, only vs spending cash of some of the people in same time periods. Most people don't buy many games in same month so PoE must not come in same financial month as the big RPG games. It will also have problems during Steam winter sale as most spent money on games on sale and not full price games. So it needs to find its own time.

Edited September 30, 2014 by archangel979

[NegativeEdge]

It is absolutely competing directly with DA:I and TW3, They're all going straight into the RPG category regardless of whether you think they have any equivalency.

This is supposed to be the foundation of a new IP, If it gets delayed to Summer next year people will start attaching the words 'troubled development' to it. Not releasing this year will hurt the game immensely.

[IndiraLightfoot]

 

All you hear at pre release presentations now is devs saying 'see that mountain? you can climb it!'. Even the new  frickin Zelda game has this and its all thanks to Skyrim setting a new paradigm in 2011. DA:I and TW3 both have the potential to do something similar and PoE does not have any mountains. It has to be Winter this year. Summer 2015 is too late.

 

Yeah, that catch phrase's brilliant. And Summer 2015 would be failure. It must, at the latest, sneak in before W3, and that with a margin.

[archangel979]

It is absolutely competing directly with DA:I and TW3, They're all going straight into the RPG category regardless of whether you think they have any equivalency.

This is supposed to be the foundation of a new IP, If it gets delayed to Summer next year people will start attaching the words 'troubled development' to it. Not releasing this year will hurt the game immensely.

No it is not. TW3 and DAI by now have a different audience. This audience will say PoE has weaker graphics and will not care about PoE. 

Some of the players overlap and they will play both games but not at same time. It does not matter to them if PoE comes out before or after.

[Sensuki]

I wouldn't say that's true actually. I think that if released at the same time and a buyer has a limited amount of money to spend, it's more than likely they'll get TW:3 or DA:I. However if there was nothing to buy except PE then they might get that.

 

Divinity:OS sold really well because there was literally nothing else out at the time, they lucked out there.

[archangel979]

 

No it is not. TW3 and DAI by now have a different audience. This audience will say PoE has weaker graphics and will not care about PoE. 

Some of the players overlap and they will play both games but not at same time. It does not matter to them if PoE comes out before or after.

So basically all the people that would like to play both will have the money to buy both and there is no way in hell they will need to choose the better of those titles? This is so narrow minded.

People who play modern RPG like TW and DA are the same audience that PoE have. I can bet PoE audience overlaps in something between 70% - 90% with modern RPGS audiences. I can bet most of them would like to choose the best games to play and most of them will have limited resources to do so.

Saying that PoE is the rare gem on the market that doesn't need to compete with anyone is just arrogant.

 

Considering TW3 and DAI are high action, great graphics, open world, full voice over games, I don't think they overlap as much as you think. I for one don't care for TW3 or DAI. TW1 and DAO are only games in their series that I cared about.

[NegativeEdge]

Even the bloody RPG Codex has threads on DA:I and TW3. I'm sure there are a lot of people there that would argue robustly and probably convincingly that DA:I at least is not going to be much of an RPG but they still have a thread. They allow that these games exist in the same genre and appeal to similar people.  They do not have threads for Alien Isolation or Borderlands though because they clearly exist in different genres.

[archangel979]

And I said they share some of the same audience that will buy PoE if it is released on another month but it does not need to be before TW3. 

[Guest 4ward]

i think that a shift of the release date to mid-March would be a benefit to us and Obsidian. In my opinion PoE doesn’t compete with the new witcher but only with the new DA. Since DA has been shifted from Oct to late Nov the holiday season is gone for PoE. A shift would give PoE a better review score since the game would be pretty bug-free and stable. There’s no worse thing than giving a reviewer a game where you have npcs running at the same spot or long loading times and such. That can make the difference between a low 80 and a high 80 rating. If PoE comes out several months later than the new DA it wouldn’t need a higher rating than DA. That would only be required if both games would get tested at roughly the same time. The additional time would give the devs less stress and they could reflect on issues in the game and consider implementing better solutions. It would be sad if two weeks after release Obsidian would realize they could have solved issues in the game better if they had more time.

[forgottenlor]

There's been conflicting interview content on this topic. Both Avellone and Sawyer have said something like "Obsidian has a reputation for releasing buggy games and we want to work against that." Fergus did say in the Matt Chat interview that he thought Dragon Age 3 was coming out around Christmas and he wanted to release before that. I have seen other Beta tests and where POE is now doesn't seem too worrisome to me, but it would be foolish to release it too early. Release a good game, and even if the sales are only decent you can start a new kickstarter, don't and you've shut that avenue off.

[archangel979]

 

Considering TW3 and DAI are high action, great graphics, open world, full voice over games, I don't think they overlap as much as you think. I for one don't care for TW3 or DAI. TW1 and DAO are only games in their series that I cared about.

 

Yeah, you. But the rest overlaps. You just delusion yourself.

 

Well I visit many forums and read twitch chat a lot. People that care about TW3 and DAI main features do not care for PoE features unless they are older players that played IE games. 

[archangel979]

Still does not prove that PoE would have problems if released in Summer 2015 or at any time 2 months after TW3

Edited September 30, 2014 by archangel979

[Captain Shrek]

Isn't DAI a RTwP game?

 

Also, it has "better" graphics, engine and an "open world (read skyrim magic)". Not to mention it has "romances". The only advantage PoE has is probably better writing.

[archangel979]

Isn't DAI a RTwP game?

 

Also, it has "better" graphics, engine and an "open world (read skyrim magic)". Not to mention it has "romances". The only advantage PoE has is probably better writing.

Kind of. It has that "option" to get more PC players to play. But it will be playable if you just control your one guy through over the shoulder camera and let AI control others and you will not need to pause. 

And in addition to what you wrote, it also has full voice overs as well as a huge marketing budget :D

[Ieo]

Pillars is competing against other CRPGs in the generic market sense but is definitely not competing against other games in terms of target audience. This is exactly why there was a Kickstarter in 2012.

[archangel979]

 

Still does not prove that PoE would have problems if released in Summer 2015 or at any time 2 months after TW3

But the most recent date we have is Winter 2014. So this implies competing with one or the other or both. 

 

Or that they are out of money to keep it in development longer. WL2 cost 6 Mil $ in the end and they got a smaller team and development was about the same time. I bet by now OE spent the KS money and are running on OE savings.

Edited September 30, 2014 by archangel979

[Sensuki]

They probably got some money by licensing the PE tools to inXile for Torment. Don't know how much those things are worth though.

[archangel979]

They got money for finishing South Park. And someone is paying for their World of Tanks. It is not hard to juggle money around and cover it with PoE earnings.

[Lephys]

LOL. Lephys isn't man enough to accept the facts.

I don't understand. I just accepted the facts above. Weren't you reading my concession of defeat?

 

Clearly, Obsidian's only goal is to release the game as early as possible. The only thing that stopped them was DA:I. Also, the beta isn't a beta.

 

Past yourself on the back, Hiro. You knew that from the get-go, and didn't need to reluctantly realize it like I did. 8D

[Hiro Protagonist II]

 

I don't understand. I just accepted the facts above. Weren't you reading my concession of defeat?

 

Clearly, Obsidian's only goal is to release the game as early as possible. The only thing that stopped them was DA:I. Also, the beta isn't a beta.

 

Past yourself on the back, Hiro. You knew that from the get-go, and didn't need to reluctantly realize it like I did. 8D

 

 

hehe. Can't admit defeat and you're back for more. Nice try Lephys.

 

Just man up and admit you're wrong. No need for the sarcasm. When has it been stated Obsidian's only goal is to release the game as early as possible? No one said that.

[Lephys]

What are you talking about? You're correct. What, you can't accept facts, now?

 

Back for more what? Discussion? When did I leave? o_o

[Hiro Protagonist II]

What are you talking about? You're correct. What, you can't accept facts, now?

 

Back for more what? Discussion? When did I leave? o_o

 

 

It doesn't sound like it when you laden your post with sarcasm. And it's not about me being correct, it's about the OP being correct which you were keen to dismiss with your trolling.

 

So are you still in denial or do you accept that 'little know fact' from the OP that the game (mentioned by a Project Director last year) was planned to be released earlier than December? Do you also accept that the OP was correct with when Dragon age 3 is coming out?

 

Come now Lephys, it's okay. It's okay to admit that the OP was right with these things with release date and DA:I.

Edited October 1, 2014 by Hiro Protagonist II