Content Stretch Goals

[Mygaffer]

I know after the scope creep of the first game Obsidian is probably leery of stretch goals that include actual game content, i.e. cities, the Endless Paths, etc. BUT those types of stretch goals also tend to be the most exciting.

 

This thread will hopefully provide an opportunity for us backers and fans to say what kind of content we would want for stretch goals. So post your top wish for a content stretch goal here.

 

Mine goes like this:

 

I envision a fighting arena in these savage lands, where skilled combatants of all stripes and backgrounds come once a year to compete in a tournament and prove themselves as the best fighter in the Deadfire. This fits in with the theme of constant fighting warring among the nations of the region

 

Lot's of narrative opportunities here. We will meet many different characters. A young boy and budding warrior who has disgraced himself in the eyes of his tribe. Instead of protecting his family from some danger he dropped his weapon and ran, now he is mocked and can't look his father in the eyes. He comes to prove to his tribe, his family and mostly to himself that he can be brave and  he can fight. The player can counsel him to forget this and go home before he gets hurt or worse, the player could give him equipment and/or lessons in how to fight, or the player could mock him, crushing his spirits and causing him to abandon his tribe all together, all of these outcomes would have different consequences.

 

We meet an aspiring pirate captain who hopes that by doing well in the tournament he can not only win the money he needs to buy a ship but also prove himself worthy enough to attract a fearsome pirate crew.

 

We will meet a grizzled vet and victor of several tournaments who, if we're perceptive and pay attention to various clues, we learn will be throwing a match. Is he doing it for the money? For some other reason? Who else is involved? Can he be convinced to fight fair, can we help him fix his reason for throwing the fight in the first place, or do we expose him and the people involved? There will be different consequences depending on how we handle it.

 

We will meet a young woman who comes from a tribe where only men can rule. Her brother is preoccupied with wine and women and she believes he would lead their people to ruin at the hands of a rival nation that has been prodding their borders with increasing boldness. Her father believes she deserves to win but that the only way their people will accept a female ruler is if she wins the tournament.

 

I envision a relatively large but simply constructed arena, mostly wood and clay. Shaded balconies for the rich and powerful to watch from, stadium style seating out in the sun for everyone else. Vendors selling consumables. A locked and barred area to place bets at. A room for the combatants to wait for their turn with some equipment for warming up and practicing with their weapons.

 

The player would be able to enter these battles. Preferably full party encounters. There is a prize for winning, top prize gets the belt that signifies they're that year's champion, perhaps this is an enchanted wearable item. Prize money and reputation. It would also be neat to be able to have unique encounters happen here.

 

Anyway, that's my idea, hope to hear other people's ideas too.

[Ganrich]

Josh has mentioned a Stronghold replacement, and that there will be stretch goals associated with it.

 

More reactivity, and all that too.

 

More talents/feats than the first game would be great. Perhaps some requiring subclasses, and/or certain Multiclassing combos.

 

That's really all I want, or that I can think of.

[Messier-31]

Everytime I see an arena and tournaments in a cRPG I go "not this again".

[IndiraLightfoot]

Everytime I see an arena and tournaments in a cRPG I go "not this again".

Yeah, that kind of content is a blemish on any CRPG (only exceptions: the start of the first Dark Sun game and the NWN2 OC story-based arena event).

[rjshae]

Trainable pets -- have them wander around nearby searching for hidden stuff or bark a warning, &c.

[Tigranes]

Stretch goals often cause all kinds of problems for development, and I've always donated based on the core pitch, and I intend my donation to go towards devs designing and creating a game they think will best achieve that core vision. I think this is the most sensible strategy, even though individual stretch goals can be extremely exciting. I don't want to lecture devs on how to make a game, because sometimes that actually hinders them on delivering on their core pitch. (Of course, I don't want devs to do whatever they want, but if I thought they wouldn't deliver on their core pitch when left to their own devices, I wouldn't trust them or back them in the first place.) 

 

In that respect I'm OK with them going with more modular features for stretch goals so far, including localisation. And honestly, if I could have any stretch goals I wanted, I would rather that they use each extra 200k for things like increased quest reactivity across the entire game, better animations, more man-hours spent on encounter design per map, etc. - rather than a stronghold or a new city. Sadly, that's probably very unattractive to put up as a stretch goal in many cases.

Edited February 2, 2017 by Tigranes

[IndiraLightfoot]

@Tigranes: Gratz on 10K posts btw. You beat Sensuki by just a few posts. (Said by someone a bit compulsive about even numbers.)

Edited February 2, 2017 by IndiraLightfoot

[Mygaffer]

 

Everytime I see an arena and tournaments in a cRPG I go "not this again".

Yeah, that kind of content is a blemish on any CRPG (only exceptions: the start of the first Dark Sun game and the NWN2 OC story-based arena event).

 

I know the history (Dark Sun is awesome, still have my physical disc and manual), and I know it divides the fanbase down the middle, but I think like all things it comes down to execution.

 

Arenas can feel like they're just thrown in to pad the playing time and are combat heavy. But, an arena with a narrative focus can change that. You brought up Dark Sun's opening. Even though that game is so old it kind of is a little bit of what I'm talking about.

 

There you start at the mouth of the arena and you see a little old man. He's up against a big, powerful looking enemy. He's going to get slaughtered you think. But boom, he's got some psionic powers and almost takes out his enemies. You then enter, have some entertaining banter with the announcer, and have a pretty easy fight, but of course this is your first encounter of the game. If you do well the crowd is awed, they throw money at your feet. It's great!

 

Then you go back to the pens. You meet the different factions. You explore. There is a zombie ghost. There's a traitorous ****. There's leg crusher, the dumb as rocks trainer who will tell you what you're fighting next. The fights get harder and harder as you go. You meet someone looking for the "veiled alliance." You get some slightly better gear. You plan your escape. There are multiple ways to do so. It's awesome.

 

The added bonus is that if, like me, you are someone who really enjoys the core combat mechanics of Pillars, has mastered them and plays on PotD, you get the opportunity to have some truly unique and awesome encounters.

 

I'm not saying it should be half the game. I'm not saying it should be 25% of the game. I'm definitely not saying the game should revolve around it. I just love the idea, even though I know it will probably never make into a Pillars game.

Edited February 2, 2017 by Mygaffer

[IndiraLightfoot]

@Mygaffer: Indeed. It is possible. You just need to do it right.

[Mazisky]

I prefere map content the most, new areas, cities, etc.

[AndreaColombo]

More full-fledged companions, possibly written by the likes of George Ziets, are at the top of my list. I wouldn't want to have a boatload of them as I realize they're a lot of work and I appreciate Obsidian's desire to make them deeper and more reactive, but 1-2 more would be nice.

 

Extra areas and quests/subquests, a wider bestiary, and more customization options for the main character (e.g. more portraits to choose from; more voiced sets; more hair and beard styles; more tattoos; etc.) would also be groovy.

 

My inner powergamer also loves level cap increases.

[evilcat]

Depends of the possibility of OE to create more work hours. If they think abotu 2018Q1 they cant just add more and more content hoping it will just squize.

Maybe there should be goal: After release we will release free dlc with something, so the veteran players will have more content. More casual players dont always finish game (25% do) so they do not care.

 

As for content:

• Companions, if each companion have banters, input to dialogues, personal quest and so on it is fine amount of work
• "Stronghold" quest and tasks (but not forced encounters with trash)
• Quest related to class or race. Especialially for Godlike.
• Optional boss fights, bounties, pirates, dragons and other monsters.
• Quests like Rodericks Hold, optional, with ok plot, but also mini sandbox. This quest was cool since player have options how to aproach stronghold. It is not small sidequest but bigger sidestory.
• Big dungeons, but not that big. Dungeon crawl is to alter with more story questing, so we can just go kill some monsters, and unleash all powers we posses.
• Eploration zone, map where we just go in, and see what we will find.
• Content with different type of sensation to the rest of the game, like stealth level, or quests where we really talk alot.

Even within isometric crpg players prefer different things, so give optional contetn appealing to different taste.

Edited February 3, 2017 by evilcat

[the_dog_days]

Trainable pets -- have them wander around nearby searching for hidden stuff or bark a warning, &c.

This could lead to hilarious results given Josh Sawyer has basically confirmed your pets from POE will transfer over and the fact that I've got a petting zoo's worth of critters. They'd have any new map strip-mined within a few minutes.

[Carados]

• Random encounters!

More potential companions for the party roster.

Naval warfare and even capturing enemy ships like true pirates! Arrrrr!

Hireing crew for your ship (perhaps even former companions).

Extra maps like dungeons, villages and wilderness areas is always welcomed.

Gambling, drinking and all kinds of sideactivities.

Edited February 2, 2017 by Carados

[Ganrich]

 

• Random encounters!
• More potential companions for the party roster.
• Naval warfare and even capturing enemy ships like true pirates! Arrrrr!
• Hireing crew for your ship (perhaps even former companions).
• Extra maps like dungeons, villages and wilderness areas is always welcomed.
• Gambling, drinking and all kinds of sideactivities.

Naval warfare is a grand hope of mine, too. Many people, myself included, expect the "Stronghold Replacement" is a ship. I keep crossing my fingers that the stretch goals allow for combat with it in a RtwP scenario. All the upgrade systems from PoE1 would still work, but this time they could be functional. Add DR, damage, movement speed, etc. Hirelings could effect certain things too such as reload speed, maneuverability, etc. All those systems could allow you to design your ship to your specifications. Then they can have a small handful of ocean maps for traveling between the islands, and bam! You've got something pretty sexy, imho. It's a pipe dream, I think, but I'm eager to hear about the Stronghold update before giving up hope.

 

Edit: they could even add special ship abilities based on the Watcher's primary class. It has a lot of potential.

Edited February 2, 2017 by Ganrich

[Shiroco]

I'd like to see one or two new baseclasses e.g. a base class which revolves around animancy comes to mind. Besides that I'd like to see just more content in any way. I'm optimistic that PoE2 will be as good as PoE1 and every bit of good content that enables me to savor it longer is appreciated.

[Mygaffer]

 

• Random encounters!
• More potential companions for the party roster.
• Naval warfare and even capturing enemy ships like true pirates! Arrrrr!
• Hireing crew for your ship (perhaps even former companions).
• Extra maps like dungeons, villages and wilderness areas is always welcomed.
• Gambling, drinking and all kinds of sideactivities.

 

I love the idea of random encounters. That feels like a content stretch goal that wouldn't really contribute to scope creep either.

[wuthering20]

For me, more sects of priests and paladins (Galawain, Woedica, Rymrgrand etc. or orders corresponding with their favoured disposition in paladin's case) would be enough. As much as I like the concepts of these two classes, sometimes the character I want to role play just doesn't fit with the current five sects in POE. More is always better!

 

Of course, I still don't know how the sects in POE2 will be designed to combine with subclasses. But I'm sure the devs will come up with something  

[Andraste]

The only content stretch goal I'm really keen on seeing is an eighth companion, to match the number in the POE1 base game. (Especially since they've yet to show us a dwarf. Although maybe the mysterious Companion #6 is a dwarf. I certainly hope so!)

[Adam Brennecke]

Thanks for the feedback everyone! We are reading and taking notes.

[Heijoushin]

Tournament/arena might be okay purely for some extra 1-vs-1 or team battles to test your character. Vs. some interesting opponents that you wouldn't normally fight. Like the quests in... Oblivion was it? One of the Elder Scrolls anyway. It wasn't mind mindbogglingly deep, but since there are no trash mobs in PoE2, some extra fights might be fun. 

 

Otherwise, all I want to see is:

- More companions

- More spells

- More portraits

- More weapon types

 

I trust them to get the dungeon size right. We don't need more of that promised to us. 

[keriana]

I would like the following:

• class quests
• more reactivity
• branching stories
• mages' guild
• more in-depth companions (more companion quests, dialogue/interactions both with pc and with the group, banter, etc.)

[evilcat]

It would be greatest cool if godlikes have some quest related to deaity, where we can either tell foster god to either go to Hel or be good grandchild and do something nice for it (not to mention unlimited power).

As well as npc reacting to smoking hot body. At least asking how we feel as godlike.

[DozingDragon]

I think a multi-part treasure hunt with island hopping would be preferable to another mega dungeon, but that's just me.

 

In terms of other content that would be good to see:

 

-High difficulty optional fights that are supported by a more detailed narrative framework than the bounty fights in PoE. Not that the narrative framework has to be that elaborate, but something more than a large group of enemies who just happen to be hanging out in a zone you cleared out some time ago (compare that type of setup to the Twisted Rune fight or the Slaver's Compound in BG 2). A band of vithrack pirates traversing the sea on a giant diving bell spider might be appropriate here.

 

-Spell/Grimoire Creation: It's a bit odd that we're told in the lore that powerful wizards will develop spells for their own use but we cannot do that for a player character or party member. So getting the opportunity to have a quest to craft at least one powerful and customizable spell and/or grimoire would be great. Additionally, similar subquests could be implemented for the crafting of a custom trinket for each class.

 

-Improved in-game lore books: where appropriate, some extra text or added illustrations (or illuminations) would be a great addition to the in-game reading selection. Throw in a whole quest requiring a hunt for rare books to solve an in-game historical mystery and that might just be the best thing ever.

[AndreaColombo]

A big fat yes to naval warfare.

 

A stretch goal for extra reactivity is also something I'd love. E.g. More reactivity to your race, class, or choices; low-INT dialog options.

 

And a stretch goal for better A.I. (At least at higher difficulty settings) that makes use of consumables, item and class abilities--that would be fantastic.

 

Last but not least: High-resolution art assets download package for people who play at higher resolution than 1080p, don't mind the large download size, and prefer not to upscale 2D assets.

Edited February 3, 2017 by AndreaColombo