Countdown to Eternity!

[Sensuki]

names of companions spoilers:

 

With Eder being the only tank/frontline-class of the companions, will some of the other companions , e.g. The "leaders of the band" be build in such way that they could also function in the tanking role? Pallegina, kana Rua or Durance?

 

 

Chanters are really good if you build them as a tank, because they only really need to be able to cast invocations. I just made a defensive Chanter last night and it worked like a charm. Kana Rua is a chanter, and apparently beefy.

Edited February 25, 2015 by Sensuki

[Shiroco]

@lightblade

 

Interesting ones. I'll add to this another one: How much of the pledged money was actually used to fund development? Because that huge number you got is quite misleading if one actually considers that there is a kickstarter fee and reward fullfillment. As far as I know I havn't seen a single project that revealed how much of the pledged money was left over after subtracting ks fees, reward fullfillments etc. It would put the work you've done and what you were able to achieve with the money you got more into perspective. I myslef find it a bit strange to call out projects and say: They got this huge amount of cash and they couldn't do more?

[Namutree]

 

names of companions spoilers:

 

With Eder being the only tank/frontline-class of the companions, will some of the other companions , e.g. The "leaders of the band" be build in such way that they could also function in the tanking role? Pallegina, kana Rua or Durance?

 

 

Chanters are really good if you build them as a tank, because they only really need to be able to cast invocations. I just made a defensive Chanter last night and it worked like a charm. Kana Rua is a chanter, and apparently beefy.

 

Chanter tanks are boss!

[lightblade75]

@lightblade

 

Interesting ones. I'll add to this another one: How much of the pledged money was actually used to fund development? Because that huge number you got is quite misleading if one actually considers that there is a kickstarter fee and reward fullfillment. As far as I know I havn't seen a single project that revealed how much of the pledged money was left over after subtracting ks fees, reward fullfillments etc. It would put the work you've done and what you were able to achieve with the money you got more into perspective. I myslef find it a bit strange to call out projects and say: They got this huge amount of cash and they couldn't do more?

 

Yes, I think you are right - and I hope we will get an answer on this. I do not see why this should be a secret of Obsidian for any reason...

[Gorbag]

Well, since you, Obsidian, went and called your game "Pillars of Eternity", you kind of brought this one on yourselves:
Active cats (felis catus) in the game: how many?

Active cats in the game that can interact with your character and/or eat your food, consumables, camping supplies and/or your character: how many?

Druids don't count.

Edited February 25, 2015 by Gorbag

[Abel]

@lightblade

 

Interesting ones. I'll add to this another one: How much of the pledged money was actually used to fund development? Because that huge number you got is quite misleading if one actually considers that there is a kickstarter fee and reward fullfillment. As far as I know I havn't seen a single project that revealed how much of the pledged money was left over after subtracting ks fees, reward fullfillments etc. It would put the work you've done and what you were able to achieve with the money you got more into perspective. I myslef find it a bit strange to call out projects and say: They got this huge amount of cash and they couldn't do more?

 

If i remember well, KS takes 5% and amazon 3 to 5% of the pledged money. Don't know if the "service" provided deserves such a ratio. If the PoE wiki is right, then more than 60 different people worked on PoE. I guess it's more than 200 000/ 250 000 dollars/month, maybe 300 000 (they hired people from other companies to do some work, e.g.: wilderness areas). I don't think i'm wrong if i say here that the 4,1M grabbed during the KS campain are already gone for months, or maybe nearly a year. And once more, if i remember well, Brian Fargo said that Inxile spent during the dev of Wasteland 2 several Million dollars of its own money they earned during the developement time to fully finish the game (besides the money from late backing of wasteland, already invested in the game). As for the people who say "they had so much money and they didn't make a full 3D open world??" suffice to use wikipedia to see that AAA games have from 50 up to 100M dollars budget (and i've read some had even more, up to 500M for Destiny oO).

 

What i mean is that even without that KS and reward fees, crafting a game with "just" 4,1M is pretty hard (well, even if there are not so much marketing fees here). At this point 3,5M or 4,1M don't make a huge difference regarding the 500M budget. You're true, but i think it's worthless to take account of the fees in such comparisons for people who imagine that 4,1M is HUGE. My opinion is that Wasteland 2 and (i hope) Eternity made incredibly well.

 

Don't know if i could explain my point well enough. Sorry if it's not the case, but once more, english is definitely not my first language .

 

Still, i would be very interested to know how much money Obsidian will earn with Eternity. And i'm agree that it would be cool to know exactly how much money was spent in it. Very informative i think. I've looked on the internet to learn about Wasteland 2, but i couldn't find anything more than 1,5M in 4 days. Which is obviously not enough yet. It would be cool if Inxile and Obsidian could at the end self produce. Kinda think that it would be a good thing for us, players, too, granted they don't make the same choices that Bioware made.

Edited February 25, 2015 by Abel

[lightblade75]

@Abel: Very interesting your point of view. I guess it could be very close to the truth...

 

BTW: I think "Kickstarter" normaly means that you only get the first money that is needed to start (kickstart?) a project.

[Hrist]

Is the 15 level dungeon in the game?  I only ask because another game that had something similar as stretch goals ended up not really including in the way you'd expect.  It was fine that they did that, as the game was still amazingly fun, I'm just curious if we are still getting our mega dungeon in PoE!

[Shiroco]

@abel

 

Yeah, we can take an educated guess and I know that 4m isn't much but I kinda get annoyed reading how much money a project got to develop a game without mentioning how much actually could be spent for the development. The news sites create a false "picture" inside the minds of many readers. The huge number on a project might be still a huge number but maybe not as huge as perceived. If Obsidian answers this question I'm happy and if not it's okay as well. I just thought it would be really interesting.

[Shiroco]

@Hrist

 

Well, they already said several times that that one is in and it is located under your stronghold. If it lives up to your (or anyones) expectations.... we'll see ;D

[Hrist]

@Hrist

 

Well, they already said several times that that one is in and it is located under your stronghold. If it lives up to your (or anyones) expectations.... we'll see ;D

Thanks!  I don't follow the development and such because I want to be surprised and experience the game when it's released.  The tweet about asking questions is what brought me here.  After being a little bummed that last time this was promised by a company and not getting it, I wanted to at least know going in to this one.

[Valmy]

I just cannot get over the fact the biggest dungeon is actually under the stronghold.  How badass is that?  As you clear each level do you annex it to your stronghold and put it to some use?  Not sure what use I could put to a 15 level dungeon but maybe I take lots of prisoners.

[Abel]

@abel

 

Yeah, we can take an educated guess and I know that 4m isn't much but I kinda get annoyed reading how much money a project got to develop a game without mentioning how much actually could be spent for the development. The news sites create a false "picture" inside the minds of many readers. The huge number on a project might be still a huge number but maybe not as huge as perceived. If Obsidian answers this question I'm happy and if not it's okay as well. I just thought it would be really interesting.

 

Yeah, i guess many people can't be bothered to think for themselves. I read last time a guy saying "This game is ugly, and they had so much money from KS. They must have just kept the most part for their own purse". 4M is huge for them as individuals, so even if it's to craft a game or build a spaceship, it's huge. Nonsense. That's all. And it's true that we don't know how much of the 500M for Destiny was spent in expensive advertisement or something else that is not really a developement-cost thing. From what i've found in various researches in the past, it seems that some AAA games spent more than 50% of their money in advertising, while others around 15% "only". Agree that knowing more about PoE would be interesting. And i guess it was to spare money for the developement that they chose Unity rather than developing their own engine. Want to know too, not to judge, just for the sake of the information.

 

@Lightblade: Dunno about the philosophy behind "Kickstarter". But i guess some projects can't find another funding along the road than KS and have to rely entirely upon these "starting" founds.

Edited February 25, 2015 by Abel

[Mikey Dowling]

We're getting close to the end time for this. About two more hours to get your questions in!

 

I said it before, but it bears repeating, you have come up with some incredible questions for us. While we won't be able to answer everything, we will give you something between now and release from what you've asked.

 

That said, let's bring it home strong everyone!

[Labadal]

How many people have worked on the game? Both people that have quit to work someplace, moved to other projects or people joining in the middle of development?

 

I have read during the development of the game that Unity have caused some issues with the backgrounds because of the 2D nature. Will you consider a new engine for the sequel that can better cope with this, or will you constitute to use an updated version of Unity?

 

If/when you guys make a sequel, would you guys be interested in doing another Beta in the same way as PoE or is that off the table? It seems to have been productive. There have been complaints but it has also been fun to watch the game improve.

[Doppelschwert]

What's the standing of the natural sciences (mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology) compared to animancy in the world of PoE?

Is there some faction that is all about gathering knowledge like the one in las vegas i don't remember the name of?

Which kind of people are educated?

...

Can i make a mathematician that fits into the setting?

Also, what about dinosaurs?

[Miquel93]

Storyfaaaaa.... aan, yes, storyfan question:

 

How much involvment George Ziets had with the writing in the project? I know he worked a lot in the early stages on the lore and helped Eric with the main plot stuff (at least I recall being that way), but how many of his ideas, withouth going into any specifics and just to have a vague general idea about his contribution, have been kept for the final iteration of the story, or if there have been many ideas of his that have been iterated by others writers without scraping them? 

[Leferd]

What are some lessons you have learned from this Kickstarter and what would you would change for future Kickstarter campaigns, should you go this route again?

[ShadySands]

Am I the only one that sings the final countdown every time I read this thread?

 

I don't really have any questions that haven't been asked already so I'll just add them below and spoiler tag it

 

 

 

What's the standing of the natural sciences (mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology) compared to animancy in the world of PoE?

Is there some faction that is all about gathering knowledge like the one in las vegas i don't remember the name of?

Which kind of people are educated?

...

Can i make a mathematician that fits into the setting?

Also, what about dinosaurs?

 

 

What are some lessons you have learned from this Kickstarter and what would you would change for future Kickstarter campaigns, should you go this route again?

 

 

What is the feature / thing that the dev team is most proud of?

 

 

Life expectancy for each of the races we get to pick in the game.

 

 

Did the Aedyr Empire and Old Vailia have contact with each other before the colonization of the Eastern Reaches? If yes, what kind of contact: explorer's stories and rumors only -- private trade -- state-level trade -- political contact with ambassadors -- all-out war -- skirmishes over islands -- proxy war through vassals between them, etc? How far are the two empires from each other, a) geographically and b) in seafaring days?

 

 

 

[Bryy]

 

After you finish the main story line can you go back and complete unfinished quest like the 15 level dungeon?

 

I sure would hope not. I'd be extremely surprised if.

 

Yeah, this isn't a sandbox game. There's no point in continuing to do quests after the game ends.

[Tamerlane]

I just cannot get over the fact the biggest dungeon is actually under the stronghold.  How badass is that?  As you clear each level do you annex it to your stronghold and put it to some use?  Not sure what use I could put to a 15 level dungeon but maybe I take lots of prisoners.

 

Really big swimming pool.

[Mikey Dowling]

All righty everyone, you have all been awesome! We really appreciate all of the questions and we will be going through these to get you the answers that we can within the next four weeks.