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Project Eternity - Interview @ PureSophistry

Feargus Urquhart is interviewed by Pure Sophistry on Project Eternity. It is a video interview where they list these as the highlights:

Quote:

Is the development side of the game going to be that different from previous titles you’ve made?
Now that we’ve gone through the funding, what’s different is that we are publishing it. So that is going to be something a little new. On the development side a lot of us have been doing this for 20 years, but the one big change is ensuring fan involvement. Really invite people into the process, we are working on how we are going to do that right now, websites, webblogs and constant updates for the fans. On the publishing side, we have had a lot of contact in the publishing world but it is a little bit different , but we’re up for it.

Have there been any ideas from the nearly 75 thousand contributors that you’ve heard, or read that maybe you never considered for the vision of Project Eternity?
That’s a good question, whats interesting about RPG’s, the games are huge and broad and come from a rich pen and paper foundation, so I don’t want to say there’s no new ideas. But a lot of what we do is adapted on already proven methods. An example would be someone was saying in the comments section the other day, and I know this may sound dorky- but he said, “Wouldn’t it be cool if after I come back from a quest, instead of just selling off my stuff to a vendor I could invest my money into a store? Earning money that way?” It’s nothing something we ever considered and we are actually talking about and looking at if we can add that to the game.

Obsidian has these really robust features like perma-death and low intelligence characters are you considering bringing back that way to play?
Games have changed a little bit since then, it’s one of those thing where we have to think about what’s right for Project Eternity. Is it about the player playing someone who goes, “Ugh Urgh Ooh” while it was entertaining in Fallout, it still a conversation tier that made sense. In the end when it comes to the companions and perma death; RPG’s are all about options and choices, and even in choice in how you want to play this version of the game and that’s something Josh REALLY feels strongly about. Having features like that, that can be turned on.
Sometimes people think adding options to a change is just designer and game developers not making a choice (laughs) “we’ll just give a players a choice, makes it easy” that sorta thing! In the case, for an RPG I think that’s appropriate. When you go back to the DnD games, we made a choice in Icewind Dale to have Max Hitpoints on by default- a lot of times…because wizards would get killed in the first 7 minutes of the game. But for those who want a true DnD feeling they could turn it on.
So that’s how we look at it, with perma death you can have that experience. We also know the side effects of that though, usually when players turn on perma death all it does is force them to reload when someone dies. For the people who want to have that Ironman experience, we have you covered.

More information.

"usually when players turn on perma death all it does is force them to reload when someone dies."

I must be getting old, because this seems, to me, how video games should work.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Santos (Post 1061170772)

"usually when players turn on perma death all it does is force them to reload when someone dies."

I must be getting old, because this seems, to me, how video games should work.

Then it's mainly just an annoyance. I'd prefer it either like in FO3/FO:NV where the companion(s) will be knocked out, or i'd prefer true perma death (like in a Rouge-like game), then there will be a true sense of loss, something that you will never have otherwise.

I dislike the 'knocked out'. I am a big fan of can be killed but resurrected. Of course since healing and such is going to be so limited in PE, that makes it a bit difficult to have death that is not permanent.

Quote:

Originally Posted by vurt (Post 1061170774)

In FO3 I've had a companion knocked out then permanently killed by a deathclaw, so it's not out of the question. But it would be good to make true permadeath an option in every cRPG.

I like that it is an option - think that is the best way to go.

Personally I don't like perma-death. I am going to be dying in real life, far as I know, and prefer to not have the experience in my recreational gaming :p

A dead companion will make me reload and play the fight again. So permadeath for me only makes the game longer without adding to the fun.

Permadeath, I feel, is great for a turn-based game. It adds that little extra motivation to strategize your battle(s). In more fluid and chaotic (non-turnbased) gameplay, I don't really care for it since so much is left up to chance.

Not sure how I feel about permadeath in Eternity's realtime w/ pause gameplay, though. If the Infinity Engine games are any evidence, it would likely just lead to more reloading (unless a resurrection skill is easily had - which, from what I've gathered, it won't be).

Good interview.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Santos (Post 1061170772)

"usually when players turn on perma death all it does is force them to reload when someone dies."

I must be getting old, because this seems, to me, how video games should work.

Your old like me but sorry that game mechanic is just a pain in the ass. It works for certain games but not most rpg's.

I like the idea of permadeath and how it can make you be more careful and more attached to your companions. But when your companion dies because he walks into his own mine or grenade or charges 5 enemies in power armor while wielding a knife, permadeath just becomes a source of frustration.

If they had smart enough AI that when they die you could say they fought well, instead of "what the heck was he thinking?!" I'd consider permadeath again.

Permadeath with optional resurrection should be the obvious alternative. Make it costly and log it somewhere on the sheet.

If a battle is really tough and one character dies, I wouldn't just reload if I could resurrect the character in question, going through some costly process.

Conan the Barbarian has an excellent scene to demonstrate how this can add meaning and depth to a character.

It would mean extra caution during battles, and by logging the death - it adds meaning to the experience and you can immerse yourself in the event, rather than just gaming it.

So, I'm definitely FOR permadeath if handled correctly.

Exactly like the PnP experience should have permadeath as a threat looming. I mean, everyone knows that the campaign would end if characters just died without any possibility of resurrection or rerolling a new character. But the illusion of threat is VITAL - and if it's not there, combat starts losing its meaning.

Not that I would expect modern developers to understand the finer points of these things.

Permadeath for companions should ONLY be allowed in games where you have real control over your companions. In the mentioned Fallout games, you do not have that, and the AI is far less than ideal. No really, it plainly sucks. I can hardly imagine a more effective way to kill my fun than having to deal with idiot companions on a suicide trip.

In PE on the other hand, I assume direct control will be possible. So here permadeath could be an option?

Dragon Age had an OK compromise with the injuries, imo.

Like taking a character out of combat ala ME? And them automatically coming back after it was over? I should remember this. :/

Never mind - I remember the injury system now. Was it 3 injuries and the character was killed, permanently?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thrasher (Post 1061171021)

As I recall, the injuries had a significant impact on performance in combat - and "kits" to cure them was quite rare and valuable. It was a decent enough compromise that made you careful in combat without necessarily having to reload if someone suffered an injury.

I still prefer my own way - but for some reason it's not considered "meaningful" to have the threat of death in games anymore.