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[Zeliard]

Why not buy it on GOG, Stu?

 

[EatChildren]

What's with the Avellone / Arcanum joke? Has he never played it or something?

 

[SquiddyCracker]

Alright, thread will go up then so we can get started on Planescape: Torment as it looks like Arcanum is some time away still!

 

[Zeliard]

What's with the Avellone / Arcanum joke? Has he never played it or something?

Yep.

 

[Perkel]

What's with the Avellone / Arcanum joke? Has he never played it or something?

yes. He didn't played it yet and his coworker is Tim Cain.

Every designer should play arcanum in my opinion

 

[Violet_0]

Every designer should play arcanum in my opinion

to learn from their mistakes?

I want an updated The Endless Paths pic

 

[Labadal]

What's with the Avellone / Arcanum joke? Has he never played it or something?

He has never played it. Would play if PE reached $4 million.

 

[SquiddyCracker]

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=496227

Super let's play thread is up!

 

[EatChildren]

Yep.

yes. He didn't played it yet and his coworker is Tim Cain.

Every designer should play arcanum in my opinion

He has never played it. Would play if PE reached $4 million.

I should never have donated.

 

[Azih]

Shouldn't we link to New Vegas JSawyer Mod to rebalance and/or the cut content restoration mod?

 

[Zeliard]

I'm fond of the JSawyer mod myself.

It's also a good idea to link it since it gives an idea of some of his game design sensibilities, which is relevant to Eternity.

 

[SquiddyCracker]

Jsawyer mod has been added.

 

[Eusis]

I should never have donated.

Blood on your hands?

I was torn between voting BG and Torment, my heart says Torment but following BG's footsteps would likely lead to a more robust game. Nice to see the vote's 50/50 though!

 

[dude]

Blood on your hands?

I was torn between voting BG and Torment, my heart says Torment but following BG's footsteps would likely lead to a more robust game. Nice to see the vote's 50/50 though!

Even though some people in this thread might be surprised, I voted Torment. THe game is already taking a clear steer towards the BG series, which I love, but I also want them to take some of the things that made PS:T great into acount, so I think reminding them that we want the game to also be a bit like Torment is a good thing.

 

[inm8num2]

How confident can we be that Project Eternity will be relatively stable? Is Unity known for not having many bugs?

 

[EndcatOmega]

I'd imagine the engine choice has no real impact on the bugs for Eternity- it'll be from branching quests and things that they'll start adding up and leading to weirdness.

 

[Eusis]

Even though some people in this thread might be surprised, I voted Torment. THe game is already taking a clear steer towards the BG series, which I love, but I also want them to take some of the things that made PS:T great into acount, so I think reminding them that we want the game to also be a bit like Torment is a good thing.

True, though the setting already sounds to be more interesting than vanilla fantasy, so I'm reasonably confident there. Plus BG struck a good story/gameplay balance as far as I recall in contrast to Torment and IWD inhabiting the two extremes.

I'd imagine the engine choice has no real impact on the bugs for Eternity- it'll be from branching quests and things that they'll start adding up and leading to weirdness.

Nevertheless it IS supposed to be easier to use than the likes of Infinity Engine were, so hopefully keeping it easy to develop in will make bugs less frequent, or at least that QA can focus more on scripting errors than anything else.

 

[Shaheed79]

I just want to come in here and congratulate Obsidian for one of the largest goals reached for a VG on KS to date. Brings a tear to my eye to see a community of gamers come together and make something like this happen.

Every one of these major projects that gets funded kicks a stingy smarmy publisher square in the nutz.

Now who has the Planescape Torment license?

 

[jb1234]

Even though some people in this thread might be surprised, I voted Torment. THe game is already taking a clear steer towards the BG series, which I love, but I also want them to take some of the things that made PS:T great into acount, so I think reminding them that we want the game to also be a bit like Torment is a good thing.

I'd like a good melding of BG and Torment. The combat options of BG along with the heavy storytelling and dialogue trees of Torment.

 

[Erethian]

How confident can we be that Project Eternity will be relatively stable? Is Unity known for not having many bugs?

Unity is just a tool, it's how it's used that determines whether the end product (game) has bugs.

 

[Strummerjones]

How confident can we be that Project Eternity will be relatively stable? Is Unity known for not having many bugs?

I think it's fair to say Obsidian got its "buggy" reputation primarily from two games: KOTOR 2 and Alpha Protocol. Both of these games were never finished properly and were rushed out of the door early by the publisher without Obisidian's approval. In the case of Alpha Protocol it was then stuck in limbo for months and they weren't even allowed to fix the problems with it.

This time there's no publisher to appease or more importantly to cut six months off the development schedule without actually telling them (famously they found out they had to have KOTOR 2 finished immediately when they saw a magazine article for it, no one even bothered to tell them). They've got no excuse not to get this thing tight and polished before release, especially if they have a meaningful "beta".

 

[Eusis]

I think it's fair to say Obsidian got its "buggy" reputation primarily from two games: KOTOR 2 and Alpha Protocol. Both of these games were never finished properly and were rushed out of the door early by the publisher without Obisidian's approval. In the case of Alpha Protocol it was then stuck in limbo for months and they weren't even allowed to fix the problems with it.

This time there's no publisher to appease or more importantly to cut six months off the development schedule without actually telling them (famously they found out they had to have KOTOR 2 finished immediately when they saw a magazine article for it, no one even bothered to tell them). They've got no excuse not to get this thing tight and polished before release, especially if they have a meaningful "beta".

No, they got it just as much from NWN2, but that may've been due to using a quickly dated engine far beyond what it was meant for. The Witcher probably looks/runs about as well as you could with that engine, and that was almost entirely rewritten while STILL failing to hit 60 FPS on any normal high end computer.

There was New Vegas too, albeit with the same excuse that those other two got. At least they had ample opportunity to patch that up, similar to NWN2. Really, the big exception was Dungeon Siege 3, and hopefully Stick of Truth is the same way while being more interesting of a game to play.

 

[StuBurns]

Why not buy it on GOG, Stu?

Well I most likely will because it's been on Steam's registry for months with no appearance in the store. I don't have any objection to using GoG, I'd just rather use Steam.

 

[SquiddyCracker]

Well I most likely will because it's been on Steam's registry for months with no appearance in the store. I don't have any objection to using GoG, I'd just rather use Steam.

I kinda prefer to have my old-school games available to me in an old-school format.
As it's a bit of a pain to track down actual physical copies of some games, GOG does a good enough job of providing DRM-free copies so I end up buying those kinda games from them.
For everything else, I try to keep it on steam if it's cheaper as it saves me so much hassle having one singular location to download all my games from (and automatic updating).

 

[Wanny]

Real-time + pause combat that doesn't rely on haste spell please.

 

[Violet_0]

Real-time + pause combat that doesn't rely on haste spell please.

yeah, I'm not much of a fan of abusing haste in D&D either. Also, I'm really glad that they've decided to ditch healing and resurrection spells (well, mostly). I wonder if there will be out-of-combat regen, though I doubt it. I think they'll probably use the tested and tried 'rest'-mechanic (which isn't exactly ideal either)

 

[EndcatOmega]

yeah, I'm not much of a fan of abusing haste in D&D either. Also, I'm really glad that they've decided to ditch healing and resurrection spells (well, mostly). I wonder if there will be out-of-combat regen, though I doubt it. I think they'll probably use the tested and tried 'rest'-mechanic (which isn't exactly ideal either)

They're planning to use two health bars- Stamina and Health.

Edit: Wait, if you saw the mortality stuff, you must've seen it. Nevermind, sorry.

 

[Count of Monte Sawed-Off]

I think it's fair to say Obsidian got its "buggy" reputation primarily from two games: KOTOR 2 and Alpha Protocol. Both of these games were never finished properly and were rushed out of the door early by the publisher without Obisidian's approval. In the case of Alpha Protocol it was then stuck in limbo for months and they weren't even allowed to fix the problems with it.

This time there's no publisher to appease or more importantly to cut six months off the development schedule without actually telling them (famously they found out they had to have KOTOR 2 finished immediately when they saw a magazine article for it, no one even bothered to tell them). They've got no excuse not to get this thing tight and polished before release, especially if they have a meaningful "beta".

New Vegas is one of the buggiest games I've ever played. Really good, but had so many bugs.

 

[EviLore]

BUGS

 

[Count of Monte Sawed-Off]

BUGS

BUNNY?

I think New Vegas has been out two years today, I've been meaning to play it again. I may have to dive in for a bit. Maybe go melee weapons this time.

 

[SquiddyCracker]

BUGS

Preferably giant ones which we can squash in-game.

 

[Lancehead]

I've been a bit out of the loop, is Sawyer's account approved yet?

 

[szaromir]

I'd imagine the engine choice has no real impact on the bugs for Eternity- it'll be from branching quests and things that they'll start adding up and leading to weirdness.

They said they have developed tools for their Onyx engine that makes stuff like branching dialogues, branching quests, reputations system etc. much easier to implement and test and that they'll use those tools for P Eternity as well, so I think it could be much more polished than your usual Black Isle/Troika/Obsidian game at release.

 

[StuBurns]

I kinda prefer to have my old-school games available to me in an old-school format.
As it's a bit of a pain to track down actual physical copies of some games, GOG does a good enough job of providing DRM-free copies so I end up buying those kinda games from them.
For everything else, I try to keep it on steam if it's cheaper as it saves me so much hassle having one singular location to download all my games from (and automatic updating).

I've never cared about getting anything DRM-free. I love having the Steam library, I want as few accounts as possible. It's just much easier, and nicer.

I don't really understand why Steam is so lackluster in terms of old games though, they don't even have Duke 3D, that's insane to me.

 

[Wallach]

They said they have developed tools for their Onyx engine that makes stuff like branching dialogues, branching quests, reputations system etc. much easier to implement and test and that they'll use those tools for P Eternity as well, so I think it could be much more polished than your usual Black Isle/Troika/Obsidian game at release.

The combination of team size, budget and ambition/scope pretty much guarantee this game is going to have a sizeable amount of issues at launch. What people should more realistically hope for is easily fixable issues or ones that don't critically impact progress. So long as those are minimized they'll have the time and peoples' patience to get everything post-launch sorted. Especially if they have their toolset out day and date, because the community will surely have their back when it comes to user-created fixes if they have the ability to help.

 

[RealMeat]

I wonder if they'll have a beta for Kickstarter backer's? Could help find the bugs before the official release.

 

[Jibbajabbawockky]

I think it's fair to say Obsidian got its "buggy" reputation primarily from two games: KOTOR 2 and Alpha Protocol. Both of these games were never finished properly and were rushed out of the door early by the publisher without Obisidian's approval. In the case of Alpha Protocol it was then stuck in limbo for months and they weren't even allowed to fix the problems with it.

This time there's no publisher to appease or more importantly to cut six months off the development schedule without actually telling them (famously they found out they had to have KOTOR 2 finished immediately when they saw a magazine article for it, no one even bothered to tell them). They've got no excuse not to get this thing tight and polished before release, especially if they have a meaningful "beta".

Even then though, when I played KOTOR2 and Alpha Protocol, I rarely had any bugs or glitches. Stability wise they were fine for me. With KOTOR2 the ending was a hot mess, sure, and with Alpha Protocol, any problems I had with it were the terrible minigames and getting used to the stat based shooting.

I never had any major technical issues with New Vegas on PC either (although I got it several months post release) but I know other people did there.

I wonder if they'll have a beta for Kickstarter backer's? Could help find the bugs before the official release.

Well, one of the reward tiers and add-ons was early beta access.

 

[Eusis]

I've never cared about getting anything DRM-free. I love having the Steam library, I want as few accounts as possible. It's just much easier, and nicer.

I don't really understand why Steam is so lackluster in terms of old games though, they don't even have Duke 3D, that's insane to me.

It's mainly due to older games that GOG's been my secondary online store to go to. Well, DRM-free is very nice, but I only really care if a game got saddled with more than Steamworks such as Riddick. That's definitely a game I'd rather get DRM free, because the main DRM is TAGES. Well, and the fact I didn't get it at Steam, but at D2D, and GOG got it shortly after that Gamefly implosion. NWN2 just cemented why I need to rebuy anything I got from D2D that isn't Steam activatable.

 

[peakish]

yeah, I'm not much of a fan of abusing haste in D&D either. Also, I'm really glad that they've decided to ditch healing and resurrection spells (well, mostly). I wonder if there will be out-of-combat regen, though I doubt it. I think they'll probably use the tested and tried 'rest'-mechanic (which isn't exactly ideal either)

They're planning to use two health bars- Stamina and Health.

Edit: Wait, if you saw the mortality stuff, you must've seen it. Nevermind, sorry.

When Sawyer (?) talked about the magic system and that certain spells will regenerate between battles while more powerful ones will require proper something, I assume that something similar will carry over to the health system. Ie. my guess is that stamina will regenerate, health won't.

(Sorry if they've actually specified what they're planning, if so I missed it)

 

[Violet_0]

When Sawyer (?) talked about the magic system and that certain spells will regenerate between battles while more powerful ones will require proper something, I assume that something similar will carry over to the health system. Ie. my guess is that stamina will regenerate, health won't.

(Sorry if they've actually specified what they're planning, if so I missed it)

I think this was the only info we got:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/obsidian/project-eternity/posts/328976

Stamina and Health
In Project Eternity's combat, players need to be concerned with two elements of a character's vitality: Stamina and Health. The majority of damage a character takes is subtracted from his or her Stamina. Stamina represents how much general abuse a character can take before falling unconscious. Characters lose it quickly and regain it relatively rapidly, even without assistance. Soul-based abilities are able to help replenish or regenerate Stamina and are often used on the battlefield to turn the tide of combat. If a character hits 0 Stamina, he or she is knocked out. Intervention from another character can bring an unconscious character back into a fight.

For players, the Health of their party members is a tether that makes them consider how far they are willing to venture from a safe resting spot. Though Health is typically lost at a lower rate, when the PC or a companion hits 0 Health, he or she is maimed (in standard play) or killed (in Expert mode or as an option in standard play). Magic may help mitigate damage to Health and slow the tide, but once characters have died (in Expert mode), there is no known magic that can bring them back.

from the sound of it, stamina seems to kinda work like the DA health system

"Soul-based abilities are able to help replenish or regenerate Stamina and are often used on the battlefield to turn the tide of combat"

I'm beginning to believe that healing (stamina-replenishing) magic might actually much more potent than I thought, since stamina seems to replace hitpoints in normal combat-situations for the most part. It's just that once your stamina is down and your character is unconscious , that it becomes difficult to undo the damage that is done to your 'real' health. Not sure if I'm liking this system, if that's how it works.

 

[Erethian]

They said they have developed tools for their Onyx engine that makes stuff like branching dialogues, branching quests, reputations system etc. much easier to implement and test and that they'll use those tools for P Eternity as well, so I think it could be much more polished than your usual Black Isle/Troika/Obsidian game at release.

Yeah, if Obsidian have the necessary tools in place to support the quest and dialogue systems they want to create with Project Eternity, I'm expecting the game to have a lot less bugs than something like New Vegas. Making complex, branching quests and dialogue trees in Gamebryo is, and always has been, a gigantic pain in the ass.

New Vegas also had the extra layer of game engine bugs that had been in there since Oblivion, and some of them are (or were) still present in Skyrim as well.

 

[Glaurungr]

Project Eternity - The Game That Almost Wasn’t - An Interview with Adam Brennecke

 

[Violet_0]

quite interesting, thanks

 

[inm8num2]

Hey guys, just a minor shout out (ok, spam) that if you're curious about another RPG check out "Hero-U: Rogue to Redemption" from the creators of Quest for Glory.

It's more of an RPG/adventure hybrid, but more emphasis on RPG.

I won't post a link to avoid spamming the thread, but you can find the Hero-U thread or the kickstarter page pretty easily.

 

[Eusis]

I wonder if removing the Ouroboros has to do with them also working on the Wheel of Time RPGs (whenever that happens)? Whether that's still going or not it might've been a potential cause of confusion given how tightly the symbol is tied to the setting and Aes Sedai, so better to dump it whether or not it shows up in-game.

 

[Labadal]

So an Orlan Cipher that is a detective? Wonder if that could be a companion.

 

[SerRodrik]

So an Orlan Cipher that is a detective? Wonder if that could be a companion.

Oooh, sounds great. Love me some detectives.

 

[indigo-cyclops]

Hey guys, just a minor shout out (ok, spam) that if you're curious about another RPG check out "Hero-U: Rogue to Redemption" from the creators of Quest for Glory.

It's more of an RPG/adventure hybrid, but more emphasis on RPG.

I won't post a link to avoid spamming the thread, but you can find the Hero-U thread or the kickstarter page pretty easily.

Damn thank you for bringing this to my attention. Had no idea they were working on something new...

 

[MesserWolf]

Project Eternity - The Game That Almost Wasn’t - An Interview with Adam Brennecke

cool interview .

I am really looking forward to this game .... but at the same time it really seems unlikely that theywill create everything by April 2014

 

[Eusis]

cool interview .

I am really looking forward to this game .... but at the same time it really seems unlikely that theywill create everything by April 2014

Yeah, I definitely expect a delay. As long as the end product is great though (and we get it period of course) I won't be too bothered by it.