Pillars of Eternity - Post-Funding Update #74

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The lastest post-funding update for Pillars of Eternity was posted on the games website with information on a new publisher deal, and talks about Wizards & Druids.

Thanks for sending in the link purpleblob, and make sure the rest of you read the full update for more information. Here is the video part with Josh Sawyer.



Partnership

A few minutes ago, Obsidian made an important announcement about a new partnership with Paradox Interactive for Pillars of Eternity. We wanted to give some information to our backers to give you a full understanding of what this partnership means and to let you know that nothing has or will change when it comes to the making of Eternity. Pillars of Eternity is still our product, we're making 100% of the development decisions, and we will still be communicating directly with you every chance we get.

So, you are probably asking, why are we doing this? Obsidian is really good at making games. Everyone here is focused on that goal every day and we are heavily invested in our work. That said, Obsidian's focus is in creating games and not in marketing and distributing them. It takes a lot of time and effort to do those things properly - time and effort we want to use to make Eternity the best game it can be. We chose to partner with Paradox because they can help us with those things and really believe in PC games in particular. This lets us spend 100% of our time (and your money) towards making Eternity great. Every dollar you have given us will to go into making the game.

We have setup a FAQ on our forums that will go over any questions you may have about what this partnership means for Pillars of Eternity. Please take a look and let us know if you have any other questions. And now, on to the magic of the mob rulers!
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More information.
 
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Sumerisle said:
Paradox as publisher. Meh. It could been worse.
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I don't see the problem as Paradox is not a bad a choice. They will handle the marketing and distribution. It will allow Obsidian to focus on the game.

Anyway I can also think of a few worse publishers myself.^^
 
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They are distributing for some other kickstarters so I don't see a problem especially since they have no say in the development of the projects.
 
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Okay. Not the biggest deal, but: kind of weird, maybe?
 
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Weird?

No, I actually expected them to partner up with someone (now they don't have to deal with all the legal aspect) and Paradox is among the best choice for both Europe and NA market.
 
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They aren't the ones big KS with publisher contracts for retail distribuition, inXile made a contract with Deep Silver to distribute Wasteland 2 and probably Torment too, Larian is using a publisher for Divinity: Original Sin
 
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There is no controversy here :) Obsidian still has complete creative control over the game, and the publisher is just handling marketing stuff! I prefer this because it lets Obsidian focus their time and money on the game itself.
 
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Nobody is talking about the Druids and Wizards! (I finally had the time to read the rest of the update, busy morning at work)

I love how the gameplay mechanics are tied to lore. That's the right way to do it in my book. I can also see a lots of renamed/inspired D&D spells in there (not complaining).

Wizards can nasty (from the video, they can steal spells from enemy spellcaster grimoires with...a spell, lol). Beside that it's a rather D&D class.

Druids sound awesome (spirit-stag!), now the question is how good those spells are going to looks like. Might play one just to use overwhelming wave and Garden of Life.
 
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I have read that a pledgers vote has moved the game from real time with pause combats to turn based combats.

I would tend prefer TB but they shouldn't' have submit it to vote, it's good that some games other than made by Bioware are real time with pause during combats.
 
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Ihaterpg said:
I have read that a pledgers vote has moved the game from real time with pause combats to turn based combats.

I would tend prefer TB but they shouldn't' have submit it to vote, it's good that some games other than made by Bioware are real time with pause during combats.
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Really because this was posted in the forums today as a response to that question.
Like the Infinity Engine games, Project Eternity will support auto-pause features that allow players to establish conditions under which the game will automatically pause (e.g., if a party member becomes unconscious). It will also feature a slow combat toggle that can be used with or in lieu of the pause feature. In slow combat, players can manage the flow of combat without needing to halt the game entirely.
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So no it's not going to be a turn-based game. I think you have this game confused with Torment: Tides of Numenera as they already had the vote about Turn-based combat.
 
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Ihaterpg said:
I have read that a pledgers vote has moved the game from real time with pause combats to turn based combats.

I would tend prefer TB but they shouldn't' have submit it to vote, it's good that some games other than made by Bioware are real time with pause during combats.
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You're thinking of a different game; PoE is still RTwP.
 
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Hmm, good to know. I had fallen out of sync with PoE info, so this was good information. I think they are trying to answer the concerns as much as possible here... Good to see, really.
 
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Here are some of the answers and questions from the AMA on the games forum I posted yesterday. It should answer many of the problems backers have.:)

Re: European Distribution and associated costs

"We don't have the exact answers, but one of the reasons that we partnered with Paradox was because they understand fulfillment in Europe better than most companies. They will definitely do everything they can to make sure that everything is as smooth as possible for all of our European friends."

Re: the deal with Paradox affecting the DRM-free nature of POE:

"We will be providing both Steam and GOG digital versions of Eternity. The GOG version is still going to be released. The partnership with Paradox has not changed anything we have promised to our backers."

Re: regional pricing in different markets:

"To be honest, it hasn't come up in our discussions yet. We will do what we can to avoid unfair pricing, though."

Re: packaging of physical copies (eg. box vs DVD case):

"We are currently talking about the package design. Once we have the final details we will let everyone know."

Re: DLC:

"We aren't releasing small chunks of content. We will be doing a full fledged expansion on par with how CRPGs used to release expansions. The partnership with Paradox does nothing to change any of that."

Re: possibility of a bait-and-switch change to steam-exclusive mid lifespan:

"No chance."

Re: future POE projects (eg. expansion, POE2) still being DRM-free:

"I can't predict the future, but I can't imagine why we wouldn't release a DRM-free version in future releases."

Re: responsibility for packaging design:

"It depends on the title, the developer, and the publisher.On Storm of Zehir, for example, we did the box art. On other games we have put out, it was done by the publisher. Some games required a lot of back and forth collaboration. For Eternity, we are still deciding how we want to handle it. We would love to have Kaz or Rob create the box art, but it is a very time consuming process. It will likely be a collaboration between both companies."

Re: requirement for Steam activation of physical copy:

"…the physical copy shouldn't require Steam. We are releasing DRM-free builds, so the physical disks will probably be DRM-free or have a CD key."

Re: future boxed copies remaining DRM-free:

"We haven't had an in depth discussion, but what we offer to the backers is most likely what we will offer to non-backers."

Re: responsibility for QA processes:

"We are running the QA process on our side (including full control over the issue database). The main changes are that Paradox will handle the QA for things like localization and compatibility testing…"

Re: possibility of linux release through GOG, now that GOG have announced linux support in future:

"This should bode well for DRM-free Linux."

Re: transparency and the specifics of the deal:

"We are more than happy to open up the development process to our backers. I feel that we have done a great job (you might disagree) in letting everyone see what it takes to make a game like Pillars of Eternity.That said, we can't really discuss the business terms of the deal. From a practical perspective, we work with other companies and we can't disclose our inner business workings in that way."

Re: independence of development now that the deal is in place:

"Paradox will not have any direct control over any aspect of Eternity's development. They have some smart dudes over there and we have asked for their feedback on some of the areas of the game. Just because they suggest something doesn't mean that we have to implement it, but we would definitely talk about it internally. Same as if we saw good backer suggestions."

Re: GOG availability for non-backers:

"Our current plans are that we would release the DRM-free version of the game for sale on GOG to everyone."
 
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Sweet! Didn't know that they were releasing on GOG as well. I'm hoping that us backers that are getting the boxes will also get a way to get a GOG copy as well. That would definitely be nice.
 
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