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[EndcatOmega]

Have they talked about audio production values, specifically voice work? Because I don't want them to feel the necessity to have every single line of dialogue spoken, when they could pad the game with so much extra story, conversation and lore with text, voice work reserved for essential/important characters (eg: companions).

From the Game Banshee Interview:

Our goal is to use voice over as flavor and not as something that exists for every written word in the game. We don’t want to cut down on the depth of dialogs or the number of choices that players have because we are counting voice over dollars.

 

[hemtae]

Have they talked about audio production values, specifically voice work? Because I don't want them to feel the necessity to have every single line of dialogue spoken, when they could pad the game with so much extra story, conversation and lore with text, voice work reserved for essential/important characters (eg: companions).

There was something about that in the GameBanshee interview

Buck: Speaking of dialogue, are you also using the Infinity Engine games as a source of inspiration for how to handle dialogue trees and voiceovers? Will there be voiceovers for major cutscenes and for flavor at the start of a conversation, but vast branches of dialogue that are text-only? Will our attributes, abilities, or previous actions affect our dialogue choices?

Feargus: Our goal is to use voice over as flavor and not as something that exists for every written word in the game. We don’t want to cut down on the depth of dialogs or the number of choices that players have because we are counting voice over dollars. That means, like practically every Obsidian project to date, we are going to push the boundaries of reactivity in our dialogs. And, the more we get funded the more we can do that.

 

[wrowa]

Annoying, but I think we all knew this was coming. Glad they're at least not making them mono-culture stereotypes.

Well, we knew that since the very first day of the Kickstarter.

"Josh Sawyer has been leading the charge with the world and race creation—at first glance, players will recognize archetypes and seemingly-familiar landscapes, but often, we just use that as a means to draw you in and let you begin to see the subtleties and differences."

 

[Zeliard]

Have they talked about audio production values, specifically voice work? Because I don't want them to feel the necessity to have every single line of dialogue spoken, when they could pad the game with so much extra story, conversation and lore with text, voice work reserved for essential/important characters (eg: companions).

The majority will be textual.

 

[EatChildren]

Excellent. Thanks guys.

 

[Minsc]

I think I really want only 5 companions. I don't want to have to make an arbitrary choice and miss content because the game is locking me out. That's an issue with Mass Effect, if you don't bring specific characters to some places, you miss out on some great stuff. :|

How do you incorporate good / bad companions then if there's just one master set? The game is going to have lots of choices in it, not just one path. It's a lot of fun sometimes to mix up companions that don't get along and see them go at

 

[The Technomancer]

Formations
A key element of the classic party-based tactical combat that we are developing is the use of party formations. As in the good ol' games, you can arrange your party in a large number of set formations. You can also construct your own formations if you want to get fancy. When moving companions, you have the ability to rotate formations for more precise positioning.

Yay!

The Nature of You
Your character is not required to be of any particular race, cultural background, sex, class, moral outlook, personality, organization, etc. The premise is that you are a victim of circumstance. How you choose to deal with your situation is up to you. You can bear it with stoicism and restraint or fly off in a rage at anyone who gets in your way. The world will react to your choices, but the game is designed to give you the freedom to play your character the way you want to.

Yaaaay!

We are still developing the races of Project Eternity, but we are creating a range that encompasses the recognizable (e.g. humans, elves, dwarves), the out-of-the-ordinary (e.g. the so-called "godlike"), and the truly odd (?!). Races and subraces differ from each other culturally, but the races also have different physiological factors that can contribute to friction and confusion between them.

Boo!

 

[Perkel]

Update #3

Me: "They get it !"

edit:

Dwarf, Elf, human ranting.

It's freaking Obsidian. Trust them a little.

When last time MCA did succubus it was angel.

 

[SerRodrik]

There is nothing in that update that wasn't awesome.

 

[EndcatOmega]

Well, we knew that since the very first day of the Kickstarter.

"Josh Sawyer has been leading the charge with the world and race creation—at first glance, players will recognize archetypes and seemingly-familiar landscapes, but often, we just use that as a means to draw you in and let you begin to see the subtleties and differences."

There was just enough wriggle room that I could hope. Ah, well, the rest of the post just about makes up for it!

 

[dude]

Which is funny considering Torments low sales numbers.

If I remember correctly, didn't the developers say that was a myth and that Torment sold decent?

EDIT: Man, I forgot to refresh the page! Update 3 has me erect. Finallt, a story that is personal, and not something external you have to do. Sniff, thank you based MCA.

EDIT2: Hmm. THey didn't mention romancing. I know you hate it, Chris, but they better be in! Don't let BioWare run them to the group completly, please!

 

[HP_Wuvcraft]

They mentioned subraces.

I'm betting those are different from races proper.

4 races, 56 subraces?

 

[Adnor]

They have also updated the Kickstarter page with a video! http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/obsidian/project-eternity/posts/310512

 

[water_wendi]

If I remember correctly, didn't the developers say that was a myth and that Torment sold decent?

EDIT: Man, I forgot to refresh the page! Update 3 has me erect.

Its been years but iirc it was sub-100k until a year or two after release when it was bundled with Soulbringer for $20. i might be wrong though.

 

[The Technomancer]

Shit, I had literally just registered for their forums and then it looks like they got hammered.

 

[hemtae]

They mentioned subraces.

I'm betting those are different from races proper.

4 races, 56 subraces?

I'm thinking that might be more about the whole culture thingy. Like you could choose to be a dwarf then either the northern or southern dwarf.

 

[Jon of the Wired]

I have no problem with elves and dwarves per se; they're only obnoxious when they're depicted as the typical shallow stereotypes (the same can be said of humans, for that matter). The update certainly implies that Obsidian isn't falling into that trap, and I'm excited to see how they handle what sounds like it's going to be a wide range of nations and ethnic groups.

Edited to add: Also, the art looks great.

 

[Zeliard]

Boo!

They can potentially put a neat spin on those basic races, especially in the intermixing with the stranger races.

 

[dude]

Let me just vent and say..
FUCK YES FORMATIONs.

That was so missing in MotB it's not even funny. I missed the superior T formation from BG2, gald the video showed it!

 

[Jon of the Wired]

So what will they use, I wonder? The same thing that Wasteland 2 is using?

If they're not using Onyx, using Unity would be a pretty good move. Given the close relationship Obsidian and inXile have built over the process of their Kickstarter campaigns, it would make a lot of sense for them to adopt similar technology stacks and be able to pool resources, share information, and assist each other during the dev process.

 

[Perkel]

Looks like they didn't asleep this time

"WoW 1 500 000 amazing "

Also it would be amazing if humans wouldn't be mayority but rare vilages or characters.


edit:

btw Obsidian forum imploded.

 

[erpg]

As for formations, please, just give me a grid to drop characters into instead of BG's icon select style.

 

[Trigger]

I'm fine with normal Tolkien races honestly. I always play humans in most fantasy games anyway.

If they're not using Onyx, using Unity would be a pretty good move. Given the close relationship Obsidian and inXile have built over the process of their Kickstarter campaigns, it would make a lot of sense for them to adopt similar technology stacks and be able to pool resources, share information, and assist each other during the dev process.

That would make sense and maybe speed the process on a technical front.

 

[Delusibeta]

edit:

btw Obsidian forum imploded.

Considering that they've linked to it in their Kickstarter update and I would wager at least one videogames website (or Reddit) would have linked to it, plus it appears that the server their forums are on is a bit weedy, not terribly surprising.

 

[Perkel]

I'm fine with normal Tolkien races honestly. I always play humans in most fantasy games anyway.

Same here. I don't know why but i just can't be gnome or dwarf. Same as i always play as white male.

 

[Sothpaw]

All this AND I get to make my PC a dwarf? Well played Obsidian, here's another round of funding from me.

All this info is making a hilarious mockery of the Dragon Age announcement.

 

[DiscoJer]

I'm fine with normal Tolkien races honestly. I always play humans in most fantasy games anyway.

Yeah, to me, using races from mythology/folklore give the game's lore added gravitas that made up races lack.

If they could come up with a truly convincing fictional race, but all too often they are like on Star Trek - just a parody or caricature of a human culture with some stuff glued to their forehead or ears.

It would be nice to expand it to the mythology of other cultures though.

 

[Perkel]

That would make sense and maybe speed the process on a technical front.

Doubt it, in interview they already said that they have something on mind that will be quite innovative in therm of rendering.

My bet it's 2.5D enigine.

As of onyx looks like it depend too much on plugins which are costly to license (like havoc).
I would love if their engine would be like upgrade to IE engine. Meaning same aspect ratio same responsivness but upgraded GFX so scenes like in BG2 would be rendered real time.

 

[inky]

Can't get too excited about this game. I don't even know if I'll still live be time this comes out!

 

[ElectricBlue187]

Can't get too excited about this game. I don't even know if I'll still live be time this comes out!

Are you on your deathbed or something? It should be out in a few years

 

[arglebargle]

So? I don't get why you're so obsessed with this. We have all the incentive to pledge money because pretty much the best WRPG developer & best creative minds right now are behind this project. That's all I and many others need to know. They could make an RPG about My Little Pony and I'd still buy it day 1 or pledge money for it.

No one is denying there's very little info about the game, but you're making it seem like that's some huge issue. It's not. They'll give us more info as this Kickstarter goes forward, I think Sawyer already said they are planning to give a lot more info about the world & stuff. They don't need to get all of the pledgers day 1, they can lure them in as time goes by with new information.

I do wonder if there is anything they could announce that would make me rethink this. If there was its possible the complaint that we dont know enough about the world could potentially be validated. In reality though, I can’t imagine a realistic scenario that would turn me off. Though I guess the definition of realistic could be the sticking point.

 

[The Mana Legend]

So is the combat going to be REAL real-time, or the fake MMO version of real-time?

 

[Perkel]

Can't get too excited about this game. I don't even know if I'll still live be time this comes out!

April 2014 estimated delivery date. I personalty wouldn't mind waiting few months more if that mean better polish.

 

[Sentenza]

There was something about that in the GameBanshee interview

Barely related to that, but I just found this little bit in that old interview from 2010 they mentioned at the start:

GB: See, as a PC gamer myself, a zoomed-out viewpoint is my first choice. The Infinity Engine had about the perfect perspective for me.

Feargus: Infinity Engine games, I love them. I didn’t play as many hours as Ray did, but I put like 150 hours into Baldur’s Gate II. I loved it. The games were awesome, and it's strange because it’s not like the sales on them went like this [makes a downward slope with his hand]. We just stopped making them. It wasn’t like, "Oh, no one’s buying them anymore, let’s stop making them." It wasn’t that consumers weren’t interested, it was the publishers that weren’t interested.

EDIT: also...

GB: It'd be great to see you guys go and do your own thing. I mean, look at the success of the Infinity Engine. I'd like to see BioWare release it to the community or let you guys go crazy with it with a small team of five or six guys. You wouldn’t have to sell millions of copies. Maybe just do a small project, because there’s a lot of people out there who would just love to play a new Infinity Engine-style game again.

Feargus: I don’t want to say it’s a remark on our industry or anything like that, but I remember when we started up Obsidian and I was trying to talk about a lot of different kinds of games. And one of them was to go off and do something like that. Part of it at the time - I think it would maybe be a little bit different now - but part of it was just the PC was a persona non grata in the 2003-2004 timeframe.

Everybody just wanted console. Console this, console that. The publishers, they’re seeing that GameStop doesn’t carry much PC. It’s not sexy anymore. WoW is taking all the money. I don’t know, I think it might be easier now just because you have Steam, you have Direct2Drive, and all these other distribution methods to do something like that.

Have you played A Farewell to Dragons?


GB: It's part of my Steam collection, but I haven’t tried it yet.

Feargus: Yeah. See, it’s... it’s not great. That’s kind of the gist I got out of it. I tried because I was thinking it was going to be kind of a Baldur's Gate-style/Infinity Engine kind of game and it didn’t turn out that way. There are elements that are good. It’s just kind of rough. But for a couple million dollars, I know we could make a really good Infinity Engine game.

 

[DTKT]

So is the combat going to be REAL real-time, or the fake MMO version of real-time?

Pretty sure they said real time with pause.

 

[dude]

I don't understand why so many people are against romances. I know it's the cool thing to do because BioWare ran the concept to the group with their newer games, but we have to remember how great they can be.
In BG2 and PS:T, romances were amazing, they were a great bonus that made really made the companion interactions. Especially in BG2. Hell, even games as recent as MotB had decent romanced.
The problem with romances now is that they're too prominent, and in games such as DA2, that they are just badly executed. Having all the characters bisexual just cheapens the whole thing, for example.
But if done as in BG2 and PS:T, only with more options (like non straight and such), it could be amazing and I really hope it'll be featured in the game. Screw the haters.

I also don't mind the generic races - Commonly used tropes can be good, you have more options of subversions when the audience is familiar with the trope. People should stop hoping that the weirdness is going to be on the surface.

 

[DTKT]

I don't understand why so many people are against romances. I know it's the cool thing to do because BioWare ran the concept to the group with their newer games, but we have to remember how great they can be.
In BG2 and PS:T, romances were amazing, they were a great bonus that made really made the companion interactions. Especially in BG2. Hell, even games as recent as MotB had decent romanced.
The problem with romances now is that they're too prominent, and in games such as DA2, that they are just badly executed. Having all the characters bisexual just cheapens the whole thing, for example.
But if done as in BG2 and PS:T, only with more options (like non straight and such), it could be amazing and I really hope it'll be featured in the game. Screw the haters.

I also don't mind the generic races - Commonly used tropes can be good, you have more options of subversions when the audience is familiar with the trope. People should stop hoping that the weirdness is going to be on the surface.

There is nothing inherently wrong with a romance option. It's just most Bioware romances feel like cheap dating sim-esque sequences that are simply there to satisfy a subset of the player base. There is very little depth or character development done within the romances and they feel unrelated to everything happening around them.

Don't get me wrong, they work and I'll be the first to admit it. But I also know how terrible and contrived they are.

 

[HoosTrax]

And we have a bingo, ladies and gentlemen.

I did get a slight deja vu feeling as I read the #3 update.

To be fair though, Baldur's Gate had all three of the tropes I mentioned:
- young adult coming of age (Gorion's adopted child making their mark on the world)
- chosen one (aka Bhaalspawn prophecy)
- happy, innocent world turned upside down, now off to fight the great evil

You can make a memorable game by breaking the mold like with PS:T, but sticking to the common tropes doesn't preclude making a great game either.

 

[Sentenza]

I don't understand why so many people are against romances. I know it's the cool thing to do because BioWare ran the concept to the group with their newer games, but we have to remember how great they can be.

I don't think people are strictly against romances.
What many (included myself) have probably grown tired of is too much emphasis resources and efforts put in romances, turning some of this games in some sort of dating simulators instead of offering more complex and interesting branches for the narrative and character interactions.

To be fair though, Baldur's Gate had all three of the tropes I mentioned:
- young adult coming of age (Gorion's adopted child making their mark on the world)
- chosen one (aka Bhaalspawn prophecy)
- happy, innocent world turned upside down, now off to fight the great evil

To be completely honest many of these tropes are just part of pretty much any heroic tale, they didn't even start with RPGs.

 

[Fine Ham Abounds]

I hope truly odd races will be werescarabs, lizardmen, gelatinous cubes, and Mass Effect fanboys.

 

[Sharp]

I did get a slight deja vu feeling as I read the #3 update.

To be fair though, Baldur's Gate had all three of the tropes I mentioned:
- young adult coming of age (Gorion's adopted child making their mark on the world)
- chosen one (aka Bhaalspawn prophecy)
- happy, innocent world turned upside down, now off to fight the great evil

You can make a memorable game by breaking the mold like with PS:T, but sticking to the common tropes doesn't preclude making a great game either.

It's been written that there are only two types of stories: two men go on a journey, and a stranger comes to down. That may be oversimplifying things a tad, but the point is that pretty much every story has already been done before (or at least, all its individual elements have) and I don't think trying to be different just for the sake of being different is terribly worthwhile. Particularly with video games, but really with any form of media, I've always felt it's not so much about how good or innovative a plot is, but how well it's executed.

 

[CrunchyFrog]

It's true you don't see many dwarf women. And in fact, they are so alike in voice and appearance, that they are often mistaken for dwarf men. And this in turn has given rise to the belief that there are no dwarf women, and that dwarves just spring out of holes in the ground!

 

[dude]

There is nothing inherently wrong with a romance option. It's just most Bioware romances feel like cheap dating sim-esque sequences that are simply there to satisfy a subset of the player base. There is very little depth or character development done within the romances and they feel unrelated to everything happening around them.

Don't get me wrong, they work and I'll be the first to admit it. But I also know how terrible and contrived they are.

They can be, but I think that when they work they are well worth the risk.

I don't think people are strictly against romances.
What many (included myself) have probably grown tired of is too much emphasis resources and efforts put in romances, turning some of this games in some sort of dating simulators instead of offering more complex and interesting branches for the narrative and character interactions.

Personally, I think romancing adds a whole new level of interesting dynamics to the party. The question is, basically, if you'd choose that Obsidian waste time and money and developing these romances, and I personally think they're worth it. It just seems, from looking at other forums and /v/, that people are very hostile to the idea of romances for some reason, which I find odd considering they were prety popular and loved in games like BG2.

 

[superdeluxe]

Love the update! Love 6 member party, Elves etc doesn't bother me just as long we have stereotypical standard cliched archetypes

 

[Llyranor]

For those of you upset about the traditional fantasy races, here's JE Sawyer's recent blog about his Black Hound project and how he was working with the Red Wizards of Thay.

http://twofoldsilence.diogenes-lamp.info/2012/09/the-black-hound-what-its-deal-was.html

We *know* elves and dwarves. This allows Obs to flesh them out in ways that we're not used to, rather than just creating new races and having to reexplain everything again (don't get me wrong, I'd love brand new races too).

 

[HoosTrax]

It's true you don't see many dwarf women. And in fact, they are so alike in voice and appearance, that they are often mistaken for dwarf men. And this in turn has given rise to the belief that there are no dwarf women, and that dwarves just spring out of holes in the ground!

I think it says something when it's almost jarring when a dwarven woman character doesn't fit the expected mold. Like Sigrun, for example. Her voice acting confused me so much, as it's a generic American accent with no hint of fantasy influence. Plus her mocking you whenever you failed to open a locked chest: "Faaail!"

I don't know if the VA didn't have a clear idea of how to portray her, or if Bioware was pulling one of those heavy-handed break-the-mold/tongue-in-cheek things, like the self-deprecating rat killing sequence at the start of DA:O.

 

[Trigger]

I like the way Baldur's Gate handled romances. They weren't completely boring and were woven into the story in a way that wasn't intrusive.

Doubt it, in interview they already said that they have something on mind that will be quite innovative in therm of rendering.

My bet it's 2.5D enigine.

As of onyx looks like it depend too much on plugins which are costly to license (like havoc).
I would love if their engine would be like upgrade to IE engine. Meaning same aspect ratio same responsivness but upgraded GFX so scenes like in BG2 would be rendered real time.

I know nothing about tech so I'll take your word on it.

 

[insane0hflex]

Have they talked about audio production values, specifically voice work? Because I don't want them to feel the necessity to have every single line of dialogue spoken, when they could pad the game with so much extra story, conversation and lore with text, voice work reserved for essential/important characters (eg: companions).

I agree 100% with this. I think if they style it after morrowind it will be perfect. Voice for greetings/passing by, but when you want to talk to someone text comes up.

 

[Zeliard]

We *know* elves and dwarves.

Alright there Dak'kon.

 

[CrunchyFrog]

I think it says something when it's almost jarring when a dwarven woman character doesn't fit the expected mold. Like Sigrun, for example. Her voice acting confused me so much, as it's a generic American accent with no hint of fantasy influence. Plus her mocking you whenever you failed to open a locked chest: "Faaail!"

I don't know if the VA didn't have a clear idea of how to portray her, or if Bioware was pulling one of those heavy-handed break-the-mold/tongue-in-cheek things, like the self-deprecating rat killing sequence at the start of DA:O.

It's a quote from LOTR, but your point's valid too

Alright there Dak'kon.

I lol'ed