What I'd love to see from Obsidian and the future of POE

[Dragosani]

Well I've been enjoying POE immensely and the nostalgic factor alone for this game is just off the charts.   It feels very much like the first Baldur's Gate and I've read that they plan on putting out an expansion sort of like Tales of the Sword Coast which is just all kinds of awesome news.  I loved that expansion but I'd love to see evem more.  Actually I'd love it if Obsidian would just follow the whole chain of IE games and do something like this:

 

1. Expansion for Pillars of Eternity similar to Tales of the Sword Coast.

2. Pillars of Eternity 2: Much like BGII.  Allow us to import our characters, increase the level cap like in Shadows of Amn allowing us to hit those powerful levels.  And an epic continuing storyline of course :D More npc's, more zones, more spells, more classes and races, etc.

3. Expansion for Pillars of Eternity II: in the spirit of Throne of Bhaal allowing characters to reach lv. 30 -40 depending on their class.  New classes, new races, new spells, just more more more.  Also must have the epic conclusion to the storyline :D 

4. Somewhere inbetween POE 1 expansion and POE 2 I would love to see maybe a game or two like Icewind Dale: where you can create a full party and the game places more emphasis on combat over story but still has a great story.  An expansion would be awesome too.  Think Heart of Winter.

5. Obviously a second game like IWD II.  More classes, races, spells, enemies, etc. Again an expansion would be great too.

6. Go crazy with it and make a game like Tomb of Elemental Evil.  It had the best turn based combat ever but sadly the story was lacking.  Also skills were pretty useless since there was nothing to interact with in the game. No npc's, no treasure chests to pick, nothing outside of the dungeon which is a shame.  Make a game like that with the POE universe and make the combat turn based.  There's just so much room to make a better game than the much loved while simultaneously hated TOEE.

 

I'd love to throw out the idea to make a sequel to Vampire Bloodlines but that's a whole different property lol.  Anyway I would literally love to take the whole trip down memory lane and add to all my fond memories of playing all of the classic IE games.  Why not make that whole trip?  Or at least part of it anyway.  At the very least I really hope that there will be an expansion as well as a sequel for POE and anything after that would just be icing on the cake. 

Would anyone else be willing or want to go down that whole road too?  I don't want them to exactly copy those games but just kind of take us down a new road following directions already laid out by what's come before.  Obviously there's a lot of room for them to do their own thing just like they did with POE.  While it feels like BG it's still it's own game.  Anyway, I'd just love to take that full journey down IE lane.

 

[Starwars]

I think the one thing that really gets me excited (and I've posted it several times before) is the prospect of a BGII-like sequel to PoE. Personally, I'd rather have it be with a fresh character (but no a deal-breaker) but yeah... Just the thought of using the systems in place now, and just going crazy with the content. PoE is a really big game, make PoE2 freakin' enormous!

[Jotra]

Pretty sure they've already said that your first two wishes at least are going to happen.

[k1rage]

I think your getting a little ahead of yourself lol,

#1 for me would be fixing curent bugs impacting pillars (im sure they will)

 

if they are going to make another game is the style of Pillars I would want something along the lines of planescape torment

 

planescape torment was one of the best RPGs ever, the wrighting was so good I could just watch it like a movie lol

[termokanden]

1. Bugfixing.

2. Some balancing changes to the stronghold.

3. Expansion(s) with higher level cap. We already know that one expansion is coming, so yay.

 

And of course I'd love to see a sequel, but I agree with k1rage that we're getting ahead of ourselves here

[Jimmious]

I think your getting a little ahead of yourself lol,

#1 for me would be fixing curent bugs impacting pillars (im sure they will)

 

if they are going to make another game is the style of Pillars I would want something along the lines of planescape torment

 

planescape torment was one of the best RPGs ever, the wrighting was so good I could just watch it like a movie lol

You do know that there is a Torment game coming eh?

[TheUsernamelessOne]

 

I'd love to throw out the idea to make a sequel to Vampire Bloodlines but that's a whole different property lol.

 

Yeah, you and me both. Especially if it's not a bug-ridden mess that the fans had to patch for them. It'll never happen though.

 

Like I said in some other thread, Pillars =/= Baldur's Gate, Pillars = Icewind Dale, which isn't surprising since it was made by a lot of the same people. I think a lot of the people complaining about the things Pillars does that are different from Baldur's Gate should recognize that it isn't a new Baldur's Gate, it's Icewind Dale with a much bigger budget.

[complexmath]

6. Go crazy with it and make a game like Tomb of Elemental Evil.  It had the best turn based combat ever but sadly the story was lacking.  Also skills were pretty useless since there was nothing to interact with in the game. No npc's, no treasure chests to pick, nothing outside of the dungeon which is a shame.  Make a game like that with the POE universe and make the combat turn based.  There's just so much room to make a better game than the much loved while simultaneously hated TOEE.

 

I'd love to throw out the idea to make a sequel to Vampire Bloodlines but that's a whole different property lol.  Anyway I would literally love to take the whole trip down memory lane and add to all my fond memories of playing all of the classic IE games.  Why not make that whole trip?  Or at least part of it anyway.  At the very least I really hope that there will be an expansion as well as a sequel for POE and anything after that would just be icing on the cake. 

 

ToEE was mechanically the best CRPG I've ever played.  It provided an incredibly authentic tabletop experience.  As for the story... it is an implementation of a classic pen and paper dungeon, so there's not much to say there.  Bloodlines was a bit the opposite in that the writing was fantastic but the mechanics were really just passable.  I guess Arcanum bears mentioning here as well, though that game never really grabbed me for some reason.

 

Given the success of PoE, I suspect that this isn't the last we'll see of the property.  Which I find very encouraging as well.  I really like the writing so far, and it's soooooo nice to be playing in a world that isn't the core D&D campaign setting for once.  Between this and Numenera, it's a good time to be a fan of classic CRPGs.  I've got to say that I'd also like something that isn't about saving the universe (and PoE may not be, though the "chosen one" vibe is already definitely in effect).  Dragon Age 2 was a refreshing change for this reason, for example.

[k1rage]

 

I think your getting a little ahead of yourself lol,

#1 for me would be fixing curent bugs impacting pillars (im sure they will)

 

if they are going to make another game is the style of Pillars I would want something along the lines of planescape torment

 

planescape torment was one of the best RPGs ever, the wrighting was so good I could just watch it like a movie lol

You do know that there is a Torment game coming eh?

 

I have heard of such a game but I fear it will just disappoint me lol, ill still probably buy it though

[SeekDWay]

I kind of agree with OPs wish list, excluding ToB. Epic levels is where most games fail, ToB certainly felt like crap to me. Even if I've played BG2 more than a few times, I couldn't force myselft to complete the mess that ToB was more than once.

 

Keep it low level and stray away from epic god spanking goodness.

Edited April 1, 2015 by SeekDWay

[k1rage]

I kind of agree with OPs wish list, excluding ToB. Epic levels is where most games fail, ToB certainly felt like crap to me. Even if I've played BG2 more than a few times, I couldn't force myselft to complete the mess that ToB was more than once.

 

Keep it low level and stray away from epic god spanking goodness.

Well not all epic level games are bad neverwinter nights 2: mask of the betrayer was crazy good, better that the base game by leaps and bounds

[Archaven]

I kind of agree with OPs wish list, excluding ToB. Epic levels is where most games fail, ToB certainly felt like crap to me. Even if I've played BG2 more than a few times, I couldn't force myselft to complete the mess that ToB was more than once.

 

Keep it low level and stray away from epic god spanking goodness.

 

I love high level gameplay.

[TheUsernamelessOne]

I've got to say that I'd also like something that isn't about saving the universe (and PoE may not be, though the "chosen one" vibe is already definitely in effect).  Dragon Age 2 was a refreshing change for this reason, for example.

 

 

You are literally the first person besides myself I have ever seen to pay Dragon Age 2 a compliment.

 

I kind of agree with OPs wish list, excluding ToB. Epic levels is where most games fail, ToB certainly felt like crap to me. Even if I've played BG2 more than a few times, I couldn't force myselft to complete the mess that ToB was more than once.

 

Keep it low level and stray away from epic god spanking goodness.

 

The problem is that in most settings, you can't fight anything interesting until you hit higher levels.

[rjshae]

Higher level play usually involves travel to where the challenges are located. I'd love to see some type of connection back to where the game started. Perhaps move the stronghold to a pocket plane with a dimensional portal.

[k1rage]

 

I've got to say that I'd also like something that isn't about saving the universe (and PoE may not be, though the "chosen one" vibe is already definitely in effect).  Dragon Age 2 was a refreshing change for this reason, for example.

 

 

You are literally the first person besides myself I have ever seen to pay Dragon Age 2 a compliment.

 

I kind of agree with OPs wish list, excluding ToB. Epic levels is where most games fail, ToB certainly felt like crap to me. Even if I've played BG2 more than a few times, I couldn't force myselft to complete the mess that ToB was more than once.

 

Keep it low level and stray away from epic god spanking goodness.

 

The problem is that in most settings, you can't fight anything interesting until you hit higher levels.

 

Dragon age 2 is way underrated it was pretty good aside from a few annoying flaws 

[aenemic]

I would prefer to keep it to low and mid levels, to be honest. Granted, I don't know how higher levels in PoE would look. But one of the many reasons I'd take BG1 over BG2 any day of the week is because of the high levels. Combat often boiled down to a rock-papers-scissor match between mages. And everything tried to out-epic the previous epic thing.

[jones092201@gmail.com]

I love the OPs list- literally asking OE to make ever game Black Isle put out, pretty much in the same order. Of course, that would be awesome

[complexmath]

I kind of agree with OPs wish list, excluding ToB. Epic levels is where most games fail, ToB certainly felt like crap to me. Even if I've played BG2 more than a few times, I couldn't force myselft to complete the mess that ToB was more than once.

 

My biggest issue with ToB is the setting.  You're in Faerun and yet random bandit encounters include spellcasters with the ability to cast timestop.  Once a D&D game hits epic levels, you really have to leave the Prime Material in order to provide a plausible challenge in a party-based adventure game.  Watcher's Keep has its moments though.

[Osvir]

Adding my voice again to this discussion.

Pillars of Eternity II starting wherever you left off, but keeping the areas or allowing you to return to the Dyrford at some point (obviously with new content, and bringing your consequences with you to the areas). One of the things I wanted to do in Baldur's Gate II was to have the ability to travel back to the Sword Coast, back to Baldur's Gate City. Of course, Baldur's Gate II's story wasn't supporting of that idea, and the plot didn't really have any room for that either. That is why I am bringing it up here. Pillars of Eternity 2 could support content and plot happenings in the Dyrford and Eastern Reach areas

It also would give Obsidian the ability to make Eora two times the size bigger in a sequel (Imagine how big Baldur's Gate II would've been if you'd be able to travel back to Baldur's Gate 1? :D BGT does this, but there's no new content or plot, making it feel somewhat flat).

The simplest solution, an abstraction: The Stronghold, and keeping it as a "proxy" of some sort. "Whilst you travel to foreign lands, you will have an emissary that you can send to your Stronghold to manage your relations and trade in the region" or something.

Though, most of all, dream-scenario, would be to have a massive world (Like the earlier Final Fantasy games, Tales of... games, Star Ocean 1 & 2, with continents and travel across the seas to foreign lands and a large massive campaign spanning maybe even years).

Why are jRPG's so goed at creating world maps, and why are cRPG's and wRPG's so centered around a specific location? (<- curiousity around design philosophy)

Edited April 1, 2015 by Osvir

[Hybridsalmon]

Haven't seen all the endings of PoE but it seems to me that doing a continuation (not a side-tracked expansion) would be a buttload of work in making all the endings compatible with the new expansion. Of course if it's a good continuation I won't mind at all, but I'd prefer not feeling like your choices didn't really matter that much. 

 

I would love to have a giant city (not to be confused with a city of giants) to roam around. Defiance Bay was fun, but I wouldn't have minded it if it were 2 or 3 times bigger.

[Dragosani]

_{Haha, yeah I know I'm getting way aheaHd of myself but I can dream right?  Lots of great ideas here.  Mainly I just want MORE :D.  Glad they're working on an expansion and probably a sequel some day.  I truly wouldn't mind if they added different characters instead of allowing us to import ours.  Whatever they decide to do I'll be on board.  Surprises are good too..  Really just anything set in the POE world would be awesome.} 

Edited April 2, 2015 by Dragosani

[Dragosani]

 

 

I've got to say that I'd also like something that isn't about saving the universe (and PoE may not be, though the "chosen one" vibe is already definitely in effect).  Dragon Age 2 was a refreshing change for this reason, for example.

 

 

You are literally the first person besides myself I have ever seen to pay Dragon Age 2 a compliment.

 

I kind of agree with OPs wish list, excluding ToB. Epic levels is where most games fail, ToB certainly felt like crap to me. Even if I've played BG2 more than a few times, I couldn't force myselft to complete the mess that ToB was more than once.

 

Keep it low level and stray away from epic god spanking goodness.

 

The problem is that in most settings, you can't fight anything interesting until you hit higher levels.

 

Dragon age 2 is way underrated it was pretty good aside from a few annoying flaws 

 

I really enjoyed DA2.  Although I didn't care for them reusing a lot of the same scenery but I had a good time with it.  I loved the first one more though.  Oh and the Torment sequel looks really awesome.  Really excited for that one, almost as much as I was for POE.

 

TOEE was a really great game.  I just wish that it had offered just a bit more of things to interact with in the environment though and a few more npc's would have been nice in town but the combat was literally perfect.  I still love that game.