It's been a journey, almost there . . .

[grumpymoose]

I just activated my Kickstarter Hero edition, it's installing as I type this.

 

This is the only Kickstarter game I've ever backed. Since I backed Pillars of Eternity, Project Eternity then, a lot has happened. Kickstarter games have come and gone, some successful, some not, some delivered on their promises, others did not - and some still have yet to be realized at all or have gone entirely silent. Seeing all this, I'll admit, I had moments of doubt or worry that what I backed with, and people have backed PoE with far more than I by far, might have been a mistake. Actually seeing the game come out is a relief, but more than that, it's nice to know the worry was for nothing. It's nice to know there are still people that make good on their word.

 

I have nothing but respect for Obsidian games, and that's not a blind fanboy speaking, your games have had flaws, bugs and all manner of issues. I don't enjoy your games and respect your work blindly, I know there's always room for improvement, and I backed this project knowing that full well. I backed the game because I've seen the people associated with Obsidian now do great work in the past, delivering some of my favorite characters (Atton and Kreia come instantly to mind, but many more), engaging dialogues, choices and stories, and I believed that they could provide such experiences again, whatever the style of game.

 

I've been playing games since I was little, not Obsidian, nor even Black Isle or Bioware, games were my first. Far from it. One of the first games I remember was a very old pixelated version of Rampage that ran on DOS, where three people could squish themselves together in front of a keyboard and play at once. It was not ideal. My parents got me into old Adventure games, complete with text parsers, Roberta Williams, Lori and Corey Cole and others were some of the first names I came to know in the industry, that were behind the games I enjoyed early on.

 

These games often had puzzles, but all were story and character driven, Space Quest, King's Quest, the laura Bow mysteries and others involved stories, characters and puzzles, even choices. The Laura Bow mysteries, like The Colonel's Bequest intrigued me because you could get it wrong, and the story would end differently, rather than just being a game over earlier in the game. It was the Quest for Glory series (an Adventure game and an RPG? Madness! Brilliant Madness! QfG is still one of my favorite series in existence!), and the Wizardry series, that actually brought me to the RPG space, and eventually to games like Thunderscape: World fo Aden and others, and eventually to the Black Isle (Fallout 2, Planescape: Torment, Icewind Dale, Heart of Winter, Trials of the Luremaster and Icewind Dale II), Obsidian and Troika games (Arcanum, Temple of Elemental Evil and my beloved Vampire:the Masquerade - Bloodlines), and, of course, Obsidian.

 

Obsidian brought me my favorite Star Wars RPG. They gave me wonderful experiences with Neverwinter Nights 2, Mask of the Betrayer and my favorite Storm of Zehir. They brought me to a setting I never thought I'd see from Obsidian with Alpha Protocol, and I was happily surprised. Obsidian Obsidian brought me back to Fallout with New Vegas. Obsidian brought me back to a very different Dungeon Siege, happily so. I even picked up the South Park RPG, not knowing what to expect, and it may not be to my partiular taste, but despite that, I can't help but recognize just how solid a game it is.

 

I haven't tried Wasteland 2, which Obsidian is partially credited, I notice, and obviously I have yet to try Pillars of Eternity. Armored Warfare looms somewhere on a distant horizon.

 

I don't know if I'll enjoy Pillars of Eternity. I do know I've been playing games for a silly amount of time, and have truly enjoyed those Obsidian has provided me. I don't know what the future holds for me, or for Obsidian, but I wish you all the best and thank you for delivering your product. Maybe thanks shouldn't be required, it's only sensible to expect to get what one pays for, but in an industry where Kickstarters, Indies and even AAA developers haven't bene delivering . . .  to an absurd extent, just . . . thank you for being amongst those that, those that keep trying. Thank you for all the stories, not just those that worked on PoE, but those past and present that have worked on all the games I've adored. Thank you. Just for existing. Just for trying.

 

Thank you, so very much.

[Darren Monahan]

Grumpymouse, on behalf of everyone here, thank you most sincerely for the kind words.