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[SquiddyCracker]

That artwork is amazing.

I love the D&D, high-fantasy, stuff, and am quite pleased that it looks like this game will most certainly go in that direction

Some observations:

1. Human Warrior
2. Elf Wizard
3. ???? monk (Yes, I think this tattooed human-alike is actually a separate race. Maybe their tattoos are magicks)
4. Human Priest (or possibly ranger)
5. Dwarven Ranger (or possibly druid)

The "undead" have probably through some process had their souls removed by evil forces or the necromancer-equivalent of the Project Eternity world (maybe the Cipher has this power?), and those black glowy trails behind the heads of the "undead"s might represent the nether/abyssal/void forces/energies that replace a removed soul

The tentacle thing looks almost like something from the Outer Realm in D&D.

Other random observations:

They are fighting in a mausoleum, and there are bells around.
Perhaps one particular tradition is to ring the bells to signal the souls of those departed that it is time to leave for the next world. If one doesn't ring the bell, the souls remain in the dead body, atrophying and even decaying, which might be another origin of the "undead"s.

 

[Zeliard]

Third one is maybe one of those pseudo-planetouched 'godlike' races

A godlike fiery-fisted monk named Ted

 

[SerRodrik]

I am intrigued by the Cthulhu style tentacle maw, I do have a weakness for that sort of thing. And I like some of the twists on the classical formula, like the elven wizard that seems to be in leather armor and equipped with a rapier. Or the lady that I'm thinking might be a priestess, but has a gun and is wearing plate armor.

 

[Kimaka]

Does the Elf Wizard look like he's wielding a rapier to anyone else? Its hard to tell.

 

[zkylon]

Third guy is from the Larry David race.

 

[Sotha Sil]

I am intrigued by the Cthulhu style tentacle maw, I do have a weakness for that sort of thing. And I like some of the twists on the classical formula, like the elven wizard that seems to be in leather armor and equipped with a rapier. Or the lady that I'm thinking might be a priestess, but has a gun and is wearing plate armor.

Yeah, they're obviously not following standard D&D armor/weapon restrictions, thank God.

 

[SquiddyCracker]

I am intrigued by the Cthulhu style tentacle maw, I do have a weakness for that sort of thing. And I like some of the twists on the classical formula, like the elven wizard that seems to be in leather armor and equipped with a rapier. Or the lady that I'm thinking might be a priestess, but has a gun and is wearing plate armor.

The lady in plate armor is holding something glowy, so she might very well be a priest - which is pretty awesome, considering that she's using a rifle.

 

[dude]

That a a great update. I like the new stretch goals and the info about the classes (even though the Cipher sounds like a psionic) and the artwork is fucking cool.

All in all, it's all going pretty awesome.

 

[Nirolak]

Well, that's certainly vastly better than all the other art they've put out.

Does the Elf Wizard look like he's wielding a rapier to anyone else? Its hard to tell.

I would say yes.

 

[Glaurungr]

XP4T: Exclusive interview with Project Eternity’s Josh Sawyer

Also, distribution deals for Poland and Russia. CD Projekt and 1C, perhaps?

 

[Zeliard]

The Adventurer's Hall is somewhat interesting. Looks like it will allow people to go for some Icewind Dale-like makeshift party if they want, instead of set companions, or mix and match the two.

Personally I only see myself sticking with actual story-based companions since that tends to be one of if not the best part about these RPGs, but it's cool that the option is (potentially) there for people who want to create their own party.

 

[inky]

Don't love the designs, but hopefully I will love the world. In Obsidian I trust. Put my $25 down through paypal.

 

[EviLore]

So Forgotten Realms, argh. You have a new IP and no shackles, plus great creative writers...

Makes the most sense for a six person party tactical RPG, though, I'll admit. Hope the writing isn't held back by the D&D archetype focus.

 

[Meccanical]

Kinda wish they went with something that fused magic and mysticism with a with modern day setting.

But I'm biased on that as I love settings like that.

 

[Nirolak]

So Forgotten Realms, argh. You have a new IP and no shackles, plus great creative writers...

Makes the most sense for a six person party tactical RPG, though, I'll admit. Hope the writing isn't held back by the D&D archetype focus.

It does really look like it could be an illustration out of D&D 5th Edition, haha.

 

[Riposte]

So Forgotten Realms, argh. You have a new IP and no shackles, plus great creative writers...

Makes the most sense for a six person party tactical RPG, though, I'll admit. Hope the writing isn't held back by the D&D archetype focus.

Something like a Forgotten Realms comes off as dull compared to an Eberron.

EDIT: The character art is at least an improvement over the pretty lame ones I saw before.

 

[dude]

So Forgotten Realms, argh. You have a new IP and no shackles, plus great creative writers...

Makes the most sense for a six person party tactical RPG, though, I'll admit. Hope the writing isn't held back by the D&D archetype focus.

We've been through this though - This is a high-fantasy setting, there are elves, priests, dwarves and the likes. We know this, I don't understand why people are continuously disappointed by something we've known for weeks now.
There's no reason to fear the writing would suffer because of the setting, in fact, having a more standard setting can give place for a deeper story and characters. For example, the characters and some of the plots in BG2 easily triumphs those in PS:T despite their arch-typical D&D style. BG2 had the luxury of delving much deeper into its characters and made them very human, while PS:T had a harder time going beyond the superficial for some of its characters because of the setting. Keldorn, Anomen, Jaheira... Those characters are incredible and go to many depth that they couldn't have gone to if the player had not been as familiar with the setting. Forgotten Realms, as a setting, is only as boring as the DM or the writer makes it to be - There's a blog post by Sawyer on this that I wish I had a link to.

I would like to officialy and decisively resent the notion that creating a standard fantasy setting is somehow indicative of the creative level of the game. There is great merit in familiarity, and Obsidian has chosen to take advantage of it. Adding modern technology, or steampunk, or aliens, or whatever you see less of doesn't make the game any more interesting on their own... They mean nothing, they're just superficial additions if they're not there for a reason. And many times, they can get in the way of characterization and plot.

 

[SquiddyCracker]

We've been through this though - This is a high-fantasy setting, there are elves, priests, dwarves and the likes. We know this, I don't understand why people are continuously disappointed by something we've known for weeks now.
There's no reason to fear the writing would suffer because of the setting, in fact, having a more standard setting can give place for a deeper story and characters. For example, the characters and some of the plots in BG2 easily triumphs those in PS:T despite their arch-typical D&D style. BG2 had the luxury of delving much deeper into its characters and made them very human, while PS:T had a harder time going beyond the superficial for some of its characters because of the setting. Keldorn, Anoman, Jaheira... Those characters are incredible and go to many depth that they couldn't have gone to if the player had not been as familiar with the setting. Forgotten Realms, as a setting, is only as boring as the DM or the writer makes it to be - There's a blog post by Sawyer on this that I wish I had a link to.

I would like to officialy and decisively resent the notion that creating a standard fantasy setting is somehow indicative of the creative level of the game. There is great merit in familiarity, and Obsidian has chosen to take advantage of it.

Well put.

Some people are also not tired of the Forgotten Realms-type high-fantasy setting.

 

[Zeliard]

PS:T had a harder time going beyond the superficial for some of its characters because of the setting.

It's the complete opposite. Characters in PS:T can be likened to certain more common types but they subvert and rise above them in many ways largely due to how unique and bizarre the Planescape setting is, which allows for the character writing to twist and spin off into various unpredictable directions while still keeping things entirely consistent.

Dak'kon is a distant monk, Annah is a hardened thief, Morte is a wise-cracking fighter, etc, but they were put into an off-kilter setting and detailed in a way where transcending those archetypes became much easier. It allows for some level of familiarity, but those tropes fade into the background almost instantly; they aren't immediately apparent because everything else is askew.

 

[SoCoRoBo]

I'm genuinely amazed at my lack of excitement for this. Normally I'd have backed it just on the basis of their pedigree.

But from Day 1 its just been this slew of the most mundane info going, with the one exception of JE Sawyer's post about souls. Even look at that piece of artwork above, heroes in improbable action poses fending off hordes of blaah. It looks a little bit worse than something in a warhammer annual.

It's just a really strange phenomenon that you can get all of these amazingly creative people who must be tired of conventional RPGs at this stage, put them together on a team and come up with this. The obvious reason is that Obsidian is in dire straits at the minute but this is the Kickstarter of a much more mundane company than Obsidian should be.

I really hope I'm wrong, Obsidian have an amazing ability to promote their games in the least appealing, least attention grabbing way possible but I think I might give backing it a miss. I'm unwilling to give them the benefit of the doubt at this stage, as good as they are it's probably time that they made an effort to fix their constant failings.

 

[dude]

It's the complete opposite. Characters in PS:T can be likened to certain more common types but they subvert and rise above them in many ways largely due to how unique and bizarre the Planescape setting is, which allows for the character writing to twist and spin off into various unpredictable directions while still keeping things entirely consistent.

Dak'kon is a distant monk, Annah is a hardened thief, Morte is a wise-cracking fighter, etc, but they were put into an off-kilter setting and detailed in a way where transcending those archetypes became much easier. It allows for some level of familiarity, but those tropes fade into the background almost instantly; they aren't immediately apparent because everything else is askew.

None of the characters in PS:T has the humanity and depth of either of Anomen, or Viconia, or Keldorn or even Jaheira. I love PS:T and it characters to death, and sure, the setting let them play with some of tropes, but in the end, they didn't delve as deep into any of the characters because the setting was too distracting. How can you uncover hidden depth in Nordom when you didn't even know what he is 5 minutes ago?
I'm not saying BG2 was the better game, but it's clear as day its choice of setting provided it with many benefits in term of writing.

 

[EviLore]

It's an original IP trying to leverage specific creative ideas about soul manipulation. But this is not reflected whatsoever in the concept art, which is indistinguishable from D&D. That's a shame. Archetypes like fighter and wizard and monk make perfect sense for a tactical party based fantasy rpg, but that doesn't mean it has to play out like it's presented in the art above.

There are aren't any shackles, so why haven't you taken a step outside of the prison?

 

[SquiddyCracker]

It's an original IP trying to leverage specific creative ideas about soul manipulation. But this is not reflected whatsoever in the concept art, which is indistinguishable from D&D. That's a shame. Archetypes like fighter and wizard and monk make perfect sense for a tactical party based fantasy rpg, but that doesn't mean it has to play out like it's presented in the art above.

There are aren't any shackles, so why haven't you taken a step outside of the prison?

Because it's a really cushy prison, and who knows what awaits outside?

I wouldn't mind a totally original approach (as you correctly pointed out, the whole soul focus could lend itself for some interesting stuff) instead of taking standard D&D stuff and giving it a "soul"-twist, but on the other hand I'm not going to complain about a "just another" D&D RPG - because there's plenty of room for another good one.

A backer might be better off kinda treating this as a game based on a new D&D campaign setting.

 

[dude]

It's an original IP trying to leverage specific creative ideas about soul manipulation. But this is not reflected whatsoever in the concept art, which is indistinguishable from D&D. That's a shame. Archetypes like fighter and wizard and monk make perfect sense for a tactical party based fantasy rpg, but that doesn't mean it has to play out like it's presented in the art above.

There are aren't any shackles, so why haven't you taken a step outside of the prison?

Again, this is no prison, and these are not shackles. This is freedom, in fact. It's perfectly clear why they chose this path - It's easier to communicate to player with it. They can cut the bullshit and go straight for the nugget. They don't have to figure out the world and solve it, they have it, it works, now they can deal with the real issues, the things we care about - The people who live there.

This art was about excitement, it's about the old-school D&D feeling of a group fighting for its life against overwhelming odds. The soul stuff is under the surface, and it doesn't need to come up in this sort of piece, I think. But I can understand that they should show us more concept art that high-light things that make this world stand apart... But I think that right now they are trying to show the excitement and appeal to that very specific feeling.

I'm not against less traditional settings, but seeing people clamor for stuff like stemapunk, modern technology.. These things mean nothing, they are nothing. They do not make the world more interesting in themselves. I'd rather see a careful and masterful realization of a "standard" fantasy world than muddy a setting with pointless story-debris for no purpose.

 

[turk128]

The lady in plate armor is holding something glowy, so she might very well be a priest - which is pretty awesome, considering that she's using a rifle.

Yeah, gun-toting clerics are pretty badass...

 

[fizzelopeguss]

It's an original IP trying to leverage specific creative ideas about soul manipulation. But this is not reflected whatsoever in the concept art, which is indistinguishable from D&D. That's a shame. Archetypes like fighter and wizard and monk make perfect sense for a tactical party based fantasy rpg, but that doesn't mean it has to play out like it's presented in the art above.

There are aren't any shackles, so why haven't you taken a step outside of the prison?

You're getting NwN2 redux, Tim cain game mechanics is about the only thing i'm interested in at this point.

 

[zkylon]

I wish they just showed something that made me say "holy shit I need this game".

Kinda like this.

If it's gonna be something within known grounds, like traditoinal high fantasy, I wish it was at least more exciting. And since they have the whole Souls aspect of the world, I wish there was art evocative of the Souls importance in the world.

 

[adixon]

I'd say they aren't taking a step outside the prison because they're really trying to evoke the feeling of the old infinity engine games. Basically, they are looking at "make a game that feels like a classic infinity engine game" as their central promise to their backers, and it seems they don't want to stray too far from that target. Personally, I would be fine with them going far from the old infinity engine games in terms of lore, aesthetics, and ruleset, trusting that things like a top-down perspective and RTwP party-based tactical combat would capture the feeling of the infinity engine games. But Obsidian seems to think that getting too far from d&d would lose the feel of those games.

I disagree, at least for myself -- the fact that the infinity engine games were built from d&d rules didn't matter to me at all. But of course I can't speak for everyone. Maybe there are some people who wouldn't get the feeling they got from the old games if the world, or the classes, or whatever else, changed too drastically?

Or, it could be that a lot of people at Obsidian have played so much d&d, and found it such a formative experience as game makers, that they wouldn't be able to recapture the feeling of the old infinity engine games for themselves without going back to something very similar to d&d.

Anyway, I'm obviously just guessing here, but most of these thoughts are based on this interview with Feargus and Sawyer.

I thought it was a pretty good listen. Sawyer talks about recapturing the feel of the forgotten realms, but with some differences, at one point.

And for anyone who points out how different planescape was from the forgotten realms (thought of this myself as I was writing), remember that planescape = 1 game, whereas IWD, IWD2, BG, BG2, and all the expansions make up a lot more of the "classic infinity engine" experience.

 

[indigo-cyclops]

It's an original IP trying to leverage specific creative ideas about soul manipulation. But this is not reflected whatsoever in the concept art, which is indistinguishable from D&D. That's a shame. Archetypes like fighter and wizard and monk make perfect sense for a tactical party based fantasy rpg, but that doesn't mean it has to play out like it's presented in the art above.

There are aren't any shackles, so why haven't you taken a step outside of the prison?

You make a great point here; at first I was glad to see artwork with some more 'style' so to speak. But you've got me thinking about it; this is just as generic, and I really hope this game doesn't lose its focus in the boundaries of D&D.

 

[EndcatOmega]

Again, this is no prison, and these are not shackles. This is freedom, in fact. It's perfectly clear why they chose this path - It's easier to communicate to player with it. They can cut the bullshit and go straight for the nugget. They don't have to figure out the world and solve it, they have it, it works, now they can deal with the real issues, the things we care about - The people who live there.

While it does help the player writing, it does hurt the exploration value- a castle that wouldn't look out of place down the bloody road barring the elves, as well as art that looks similar to scenes in a game that overshadows the genre... it hurts that, it really does.

Characters are also at least partly a product of their environment. BG2's characters may be easier to sympathise with(I'm assuming here that BG2 is a huge step up from BG1, as Jaheira has all of 5 lines in that game) but Planescape's were also a window into an alien world at the same time as standing on their own. Same with Fallout's, despite being 'closer', perhaps, to modern day society, because it wasn't something you saw everyday in RPGs. Or look at NWN2 versus MOTB- despite being set in the same 'world', the more unfamiliar world of the expansion enriched the characters and the places you visited at the same time.

Familiarity breeds contempt. I'll probably take this all back when I finally play the game- it's Obsidian- but it doesn't stop the sense that I've seen this all before now.

 

[Sotha Sil]

None of the characters in PS:T has the humanity and depth of either of Anomen, or Viconia, or Keldorn or even Jaheira. I love PS:T and it characters to death, and sure, the setting let them play with some of tropes, but in the end, they didn't delve as deep into any of the characters because the setting was too distracting. How can you uncover hidden depth in Nordom when you didn't even know what he is 5 minutes ago?
I'm not saying BG2 was the better game, but it's clear as day its choice of setting provided it with many benefits in term of writing.

Familiarity is indeed a good way to trigger empathy, but I don't think originality and human depth are mutually exclusive. Three of the four BG2 characters you mentioned are romance options, and while that may be a coincidence, I think it's pretty telling: I love Avellone's characters, but they rarely open themselves to you emotionally; they're compelling and mysterious, but quite different from the BG2 NPCs. Jaheira is a Harper; I had no idea what it meant back when I played the game. Viconia belongs to a very peculiar culture, that resembles very few standard high fantasy settings. Yet empathy was here - mainly because they opened themselves to you in a way Avellone characters rarely do.

 

[dude]

While it does help the player writing, it does hurt the exploration value- a castle that wouldn't look out of place down the bloody road barring the elves, as well as art that looks similar to scenes in a game that overshadows the genre... it hurts that, it really does.

Characters are also at least partly a product of their environment. BG2's characters may be easier to sympathise with(I'm assuming here that BG2 is a huge step up from BG1, as Jaheira has all of 5 lines in that game) but Planescape's were also a window into an alien world at the same time as standing on their own. Same with Fallout's, despite being 'closer', perhaps, to modern day society, because it wasn't something you saw everyday in RPGs. Or look at NWN2 versus MOTB- despite being set in the same 'world', the more unfamiliar world of the expansion enriched the characters and the places you visited at the same time.

Familiarity breeds contempt. I'll probably take this all back when I finally play the game- it's Obsidian- but it doesn't stop the sense that I've seen this all before now.

The exploration value... In the visual sense, maybe, depends on how they choose to visualize their world. But, I'll again use BG2, exploring such places as Athkatla was anything but boring - They had depth, they had life, and that's what made exploring them interesting. When I played Morrowind I was bored as hell exploring the place after a couple of hours despite the scenery being amazing - The world itself was just not there to support it. It had no life to make me interested in seeing what it had to offer. Experiencing a living world is much more interesting to me than peaking through a window to one, and it's much easier to create this sort of world through something familiar.

Familiarity is indeed a good way to trigger empathy, but I don't think originality and human depth are mutually exclusive. Three of the four BG2 characters you mentioned are romance options, and while that may be a coincidence, I think it's pretty telling: I love Avellone's characters, but they rarely open themselves to you emotionally; they're compelling and mysterious, but quite different from the BG2 NPCs. Jaheira is a Harper; I had no idea what it meant back when I played the game. Viconia belongs to a very peculiar culture, that resembles very few standard high fantasy settings. Yet empathy was here - mainly because they opened themselves to you in a way Avellone characters rarely do.

I didn't mean to say they are mutually exclusive - Only that there is a trade-off on some level. It requires much, much more effort to create humanity and empathy for character you do not know. It is easier and usually more effective to use the familiarity and the expectation to build new things. Which is more than enough reason to support the game for going in this route.
The characters in BG2 obviously had elements to set them apart from the world around them, but they were so effective because of the particular setting they chose. I agree with your point on Avellone's characters, but it's not just a difference in stylistics... A setting you know is just a more fertile ground for exploring your characters. Even if Nordom opened up to me, I think I'll have a hard time getting past him being something I know nothing about...

 

[EndcatOmega]

The exploration value... In the visual sense, maybe, depends on how they choose to visualize their world. But, I'll again use BG2, exploring such places as Athkatla was anything but boring - They had depth, they had life, and that's what made exploring them interesting. When I played Morrowind I was bored as hell exploring the place after a couple of hours despite the scenery being amazing - The world itself was just not there to support it. It had no life to make me interested in seeing what it had to offer. Experiencing a living world is much more interesting to me than peaking through a window to one, and it's much easier to create this sort of world through something familiar.

I can't respond to the BG2 comment (except to say again to say if BG2's such a major approvement I'm regretting listening to people telling me to play through 1 first), but Sigil was both alien and living- it's not a case of one for the other, and it both it and its citizens would not have been as interesting and fascinating as they were without the city's otherwordliness and set-up- certainly not if they'd be from, say, Baldur's Gate or Neverwinter, where the most 'stereotypical' society would have robbed them of much of their colour.

 

[Mystic Theurge]

It's an original IP trying to leverage specific creative ideas about soul manipulation. But this is not reflected whatsoever in the concept art, which is indistinguishable from D&D. That's a shame. Archetypes like fighter and wizard and monk make perfect sense for a tactical party based fantasy rpg, but that doesn't mean it has to play out like it's presented in the art above.

There are aren't any shackles, so why haven't you taken a step outside of the prison?

Because it might not be a prison for them.

 

[Zeliard]

None of the characters in PS:T has the humanity and depth of either of Anomen, or Viconia, or Keldorn or even Jaheira. I love PS:T and it characters to death, and sure, the setting let them play with some of tropes, but in the end, they didn't delve as deep into any of the characters because the setting was too distracting. How can you uncover hidden depth in Nordom when you didn't even know what he is 5 minutes ago?

You get to know them very well through dialogue. You can enter Torment having no idea what a githzerai and tanari'i are and end up having a very clear idea of what they're all about through your extensive dialogues with Dak'kon, Fall-from-Grace with her succubus upbringing, and so on.

I'm not sure how the setting is "too distracting" when the backstories of the characters play directly into the setting; it's all intertwined. Dak'kon tells you all about the Limbo plane he comes from (a story which ends up connecting directly to the Nameless One), Nordom with Mechanus, etc. Countless characters big and small relate to you their feelings about Sigil and their particular relationship to it. The whole planewalking element plays heavily into character relationships with the Nameless One so it isn't just window dressing. You end up finding out that you're responsible for a lot of the circumstances surrounding them.

You have to talk to these people to get to know them. The game doesn't just present you with some character you can instantly relate to and deduce from their appearance, dialogue style, etc. With Nordom, you should have quite a good idea of what he's about even before meeting him from having talked to other characters about the highly orderly and logical plane of Mechanus, and you also meet Modrons before ever encountering Nordom. Even if that wasn't the case, simply speaking to and questioning the guy will divulge ample information.

 

[Tess3ract]

Yeah, gun-toting clerics are pretty badass...

I've seen that picture recently, what is that even from?

 

[zkylon]

I've seen that picture recently, what is that even from?

Equilibrium

 

[Sotha Sil]

I didn't mean to say they are mutually exclusive - Only that there is a trade-off on some level. It requires much, much more effort to create humanity and empathy for character you do not know. It is easier and usually more effective to use the familiarity and the expectation to build new things. Which is more than enough reason to support the game for going in this route.
The characters in BG2 obviously had elements to set them apart from the world around them, but they were so effective because of the particular setting they chose. I agree with your point on Avellone's characters, but it's not just a difference in stylistics... A setting you know is just a more fertile ground for exploring your characters. Even if Nordom opened up to me, I think I'll have a hard time getting past him being something I know nothing about...

You're right about Nordom, but I think you keep mentioning him because it helps your point . Annah, Morte and Fall-From-Grace are much more familiar characters, and the setting doesn't stand in the way in these cases.

 

[Lancehead]

If you want to create a wizard who wears plate armor and hacks away with a broadsword from behind a heavily-enhanced arcane veil, we want to let you do that. If your idea of the perfect fighter is one who wears light armor and uses a variety of dazzling rapier attacks in rapid succession, we want to help you make that character. So it's good to think of Project Eternity's classes as being purpose-ready but not purpose-limited.

If you're really going to give us that flexibility, you should've taken that extra step and gone for something like Arcanum or System Shock 2 type of character sheet. *sigh*

They excel at being in the one place where no one's looking, at kicking people when they're down, at taunting a foe into turning its back on the rogue's ally while he or she nimbly skips away, and at being just too damned slippery to pin down.

Hope we can do that in-game.

 

[Decado]

The Adventurer's Hall is somewhat interesting. Looks like it will allow people to go for some Icewind Dale-like makeshift party if they want, instead of set companions, or mix and match the two.

Personally I only see myself sticking with actual story-based companions since that tends to be one of if not the best part about these RPGs, but it's cool that the option is (potentially) there for people who want to create their own party.

This is definitely cool. I was asking for this for a while...though I can't remember if it was for this game or one of the other kickstarters.

This essentially allows you to solo and "hire" mercs as needed (at least that's how I read it...and hope it is).

 

[Zeliard]

This is definitely cool. I was asking for this for a while...though I can't remember if it was for this game or one of the other kickstarters.

This essentially allows you to solo and "hire" mercs as needed (at least that's how I read it...and hope it is).

Yeah that's pretty much exactly what it seems to be. You can replace story companions with mercs that can fit into various roles, or use a party made up of both types.

 

[EVOL 100%]

Art is okay. But it's just okay. There's nothing special about it, it's not great it's not bad, it's just average.

The only unique thing about it is the woman holding a gun I guess. Oh well.

 

[Grayman]

Cipher may be a class that has a lot of original options?

I agree with the art looking very generic. I am not going to pull funding or anything but I hope to see some areas that actually surprise me.

 

[DTKT]

Art is very "Forgotten-Realm"-esque. I have no issue with that. I just hope that they can deliver with the companions and quests in terms of writing and the "unique"-ness of those two things.

At the same time, it's hard to top Morde as a character.

 

[duckroll]

Holy shit! Huge update! I gotta catch up.

 

[Taruranto]

Can't say i'm impressed by the art honestly, it looks like some mix of BG2 (good!) and DAO (Ugh).

 

[Deraldin]

Forgotten Realms, as a setting, is only as boring as the DM or the writer makes it to be - There's a blog post by Sawyer on this that I wish I had a link to.

I think the post you're referring to is this one. Talking about examining all the interesting questions and conflicts that would come up in regards to the Red Wizards after their 3E move to a more trading nation than the "Mwahaha mustache twirling bad guys!" they were in 2E.

I'm pretty sure I saw this come up earlier in this thread and people were interested in the idea at the time.

 

[xenist]

I said I'd get out of this but I have to ask this because it's killing me.

All of you who don't like the art. Care to articulate your dislike?

Do you not like the drawings in terms of technique and color use? Would better drawings of the same characters please you?

Do you not like the general artstyle of the game? If so would you point to examples of other games doing it better?

Would you prefer a more phantastical/exaggerated style? Because I've seen a lot of armor and full plate can only vary so much before being unusable if you're going for a more realistic style.

 

[Ledsen]

I said I'd get out of this but I have to ask this because it's killing me.

All of you who don't like the art. Care to articulate your dislike?

Do you not like the drawings in terms of technique and color use? Would better drawings of the same characters please you?

Do you not like the general artstyle of the game? If so would you point to examples of other games doing it better?

Would you prefer a more phantastical/exaggerated style? Because I've seen a lot of armor and full plate can only vary so much before being unusable if you're going for a more realistic style.

Pretty sure with that avatar you already know the answer to that question.

 

[peakish]

I said I'd get out of this but I have to ask this because it's killing me.

All of you who don't like the art. Care to articulate your dislike?

Do you not like the drawings in terms of technique and color use? Would better drawings of the same characters please you?

Do you not like the general artstyle of the game? If so would you point to examples of other games doing it better?

Would you prefer a more phantastical/exaggerated style? Because I've seen a lot of armor and full plate can only vary so much before being unusable if you're going for a more realistic style.

Most who complain seem to want something different. I understand why, we've seen a lot of high (and low) fantasy over the years, while settings like Planescape are far and few between. A different setting in addition to good exploration of it is interesting.

But for me, I'll be quite satisfied with a well realised high fantasy setting. What these images have shown so far is good, imo.

What does bother me a bit is all this insistance on certain character systems. I really believe they know if the game they're aiming for fits the system they're creating better than Arcanum's, Lancehead