Obsidian Entertainment - Project Eternity Stretch Goals

I already think the Kickstarter community expectation for a Linux version is a waste of time and money (yes, feel free to berate me) and an editor is another expense I'm dubious they can afford.

I pledged for the characters and stories of Chris Avellone and the design mechanics of JE Sawyer and Tim Cain (et al). That's my first interest. I can get community content from Skyrim and other places - I want content from Avellone.

I understand and personally, I don't care at all whether they ever make Linux, OSX or DRM-free versions either, perfectly happy with Win7 and Steam DRM. However, official mod tools would mean a game I can play over and over for years and also enjoy making my own content.
 
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That house thing is less interesting to me than anything. I don't even bother with crafting in games, if I can avoid it, and for some reason it makes me think of crafting.

If it's a narrative device rather than a sandbox to play in, that's different! But if I'm going to be collecting wood to build additions, yuck. :p

I guess I've never played BG2 long enough to experience the stronghold portions... so I guess I dunno what they have in mind.
 
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That house thing is less interesting to me than anything. I don't even bother with crafting in games, if I can avoid it, and for some reason it makes me think of crafting.

If it's a narrative device rather than a sandbox to play in, that's different! But if I'm going to be collecting wood to build additions, yuck. :p

I guess I've never played BG2 long enough to experience the stronghold portions… so I guess I dunno what they have in mind.

Well your hero needs a home or stronghold you know. Sleeping in tents or inns gets old fast. ;) I think it adds immersion if done right. Just like NWN 2.
 
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The NWN2 keep sounds awful. I'm reading about it now.

I really don't want to have to micro-manage a keep to get a "best ending". This isn't supposed to be a management sim, they're calling it an RPG so I expect it to be an RPG.
 
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The NWN2 keep sounds awful. I'm reading about it now.

I really don't want to have to micro-manage a keep to get a "best ending". This isn't supposed to be a management sim, they're calling it an RPG so I expect it to be an RPG.

It's a house and skyrim proved thousands if not millions love house mods. It's not going to ruin the game. Moving on now since this isn't even a big issue as I'm more interested for the other goals.

Before I forget you seriously never played NWN 2 yet and have to read about the stronghold part?:lol:
 
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Having a house might be a good thing. People automatically think of Skyrim when they hear houses but my guess is that it's going to be more in the BG2 stronghold area. It will probably have alchemy benches, room for all your gear and you could leave your companions there instead of dumping them at the inn.

Getting it in the lore should be easy enough too. You could probably get a different looking house depending on race or class.
 
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Yeah. NWN2 has the worst camera controls ever. Combined with pathfinding and AI more retarded than even Baldur's Gate, I find it a grueling chore to play. I even started another attempt last week and have slogged through further than I have ever previously managed to get, but I find I have to force myself to even load it up so I probably won't get much further this time either. :/

Last time I played I had to replay an entire dungeon because my idiot party decided they had to dance back and forth over a trap repeatedly until they all died because one of them decided to stand in a doorway. The second time I got to the same traps I thought it'd work better, I figured it was scripts breaking the first time. But then they all started doing the same stuff and I barely shut off their AI's and got them out of the way in time.

It's pretty much unbearable.
 
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5 companions in the base game? And a chance for…..2 more with stretch goals? This is not what I was hoping for. I want loads of OPTIONAL companions a la Baldurs Gate, Arcanum etc. I do NOT want the Neverwinter Nights 2-Kotor-DA:O version where almost all companions are forced upon you.

And 5 classes? I suppose they could have subclasses bat to me so far the things they HAVE released are underwhelming….
 
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Why are ppl assuming it'll be Sims or NWN2 stronghold (um, really, NWN2 had stronghold? never knew about that as after lousy get the inn in NWN only to not be able to return to it later I've decided not to buy NWN2 ever). Did everyone already forget that BG2 also had story based strongholds?

Also the comments about 300K or 200K is too much for just another party NPC… Ppl please. It's not just graphics (and sound maybe). Adding a different NPC to the game means more working on the game balance. As it's a new class, it means spreading the rules more. And since that class will also be a playable class things get a bit more complicated. We're also talking about story rich game, that NPC will have his story I'm 100% sure and it'll not be one stupid fetch quest and that's it, you have to integrate his/her story with the game. Etc etc.

Port to Mac and Linux sounds great, hell if TW2 has the Mac version it'd be pretty unfair not to make that one. I only hope that doesn't mean a port to iOS smartphones.

Modding tool is something I don't care for but I'll be honest and say there are so many ppl who want it so why not? I'll add +1 on the wishlist for future stretches.
We also don't know anything about music in the game. I just hope for more Vivaldi's masterpiece covers (hint: PS:T) so that would also go on my wishlist. I mean, it's fantasy, can't ask for Vault City fascinating theme here.
 
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5 companions in the base game? And a chance for…..2 more with stretch goals? This is not what I was hoping for. I want loads of OPTIONAL companions a la Baldurs Gate, Arcanum etc. I do NOT want the Neverwinter Nights 2-Kotor-DA:O version where almost all companions are forced upon you.

And 5 classes? I suppose they could have subclasses bat to me so far the things they HAVE released are underwhelming….

This. I was hoping for companions along the lines of BG as well. I'm hoping the party size will be 5-6 as well. Only 5 classes seems limited too though it's hard to say since we don't know what type of game system it will have.
 
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Yeah. If I could choose I would just say use DnD 3,5, but I realize that probably isn't an option. I'm a bit scared this will turn into something more like DA:O than BG. And although DA:O wasn't horrible, to me it wasn't anywhere near the classic infinity games.

And the reason to me was partly that all the companions were forced upon you, but mainly that the character development never felt satisfying. Neverwinter Nights 2 was to me a far better game, the problem there was more the linerarity. But DA:O was just as linear, but had nowhere near the depth in regards to character builds.
 
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For me, there's something very much missing from the stretch goals, and I hope as such that that's because it's in the base game. I want a remarkably fledged out spell and counter spell system worthy of comparison to BGII. Dragon Age, in addition to its other issues, felt very watered down when it came to magical combat - it just couldn't compare to the retinue of arcane cantrips I had grown accustomed to in D&D.

If you're going to go down the [tired] road of fantasy and magic, give us a magic system with incredible breadth!
 
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Before I forget you seriously never played NWN 2 yet and have to read about the stronghold part?:lol:
The stronghold part and the game´s latter parts are generally good, but before getting there one has to trudge through some of the most boring 15-20h in RPG-ing. I´d say there´s nothing ":lol:" about not playing the game :).

5 companions in the base game? And a chance for…..2 more with stretch goals? This is not what I was hoping for. I want loads of OPTIONAL companions a la Baldurs Gate, Arcanum etc.
It´s 3 more.
Personally I first and foremost want companions with depth á la Planescape: Torment and that game worked with 7 companions just fine, storywise.
However, I´d like P:E´s companions to be more customizable character development wise, which goes hand in hand with hoping that each of the 7 available classes (taking stretch goals into account) will offer a good variety of possible development paths.

Also, the initial amount of companions raises a question of max party size. I mean, if the max party size was planned to be 6, then only 5 available companions would mean same party for everyone. Taking the stretch goals into account, 8 companions would indicate more strongly that max party of 6 could be in the plans (and in the update vid, behind Adam Brenneke there´s a board with what seems like some possible party formations and these consist of 6), but I have to wonder what party size was planned originally.
Personally I´d be quite disappointed if the max party size will end up being pc + 3 companions, for example.

Anyway, hopefully they´ll whip out some more meaty info fast. While I was perfectly fine with the initial presentation, currently the stretch goals ring a bit hollow to me due to general lack of tangible info on the game.
 
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You're correct about the 8 companions, I missed the last one.

How many companions are there, roughly, in Baldurs Gate 2? At least enough to have a full evil, neutral or good party right? So 15+. I do agree with you on Planescape though, you can make a fantastic game with "only" 7 companions. Max party size was 4 in planescape right?

The thing is if I want to roleplay an evil character, I don't want to be forced to work with your friendly neighbourhood paladin. Unless I get the chance to pretend I'm good and trick him into working for me. And the other way around, I shouldn't have to tag along with evil necromancer of evil stuff either if I'm playing a good guy (nor should I be able to trick him, because that would be evil).

I'm ranting, but you get my point. What I want is a fleshed out "main" story where most of the companions fit in but aren't necessary, a la BG. Give them interesting sidequests instead!!!
 
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Those stretch goals don't look very enticing. For an extra million, roughly double the budget... I'd expect new land masses, plots etc.
 
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How many companions are there, roughly, in Baldurs Gate 2? At least enough to have a full evil, neutral or good party right?
Not really, there were only 3 evil characters in SoA, plus a fourth one added in ToB.
The alignment party member selection was even only in BG1, though both games were skewed towards good/neutral approach in terms of quest design.
Max party size was 4 in planescape right?
6
The thing is if I want to roleplay an evil character, I don't want to be forced to work with your friendly neighbourhood paladin. Unless I get the chance to pretend I'm good and trick him into working for me. And the other way around, I shouldn't have to tag along with evil necromancer of evil stuff either if I'm playing a good guy (nor should I be able to trick him, because that would be evil).
Personally I hope that PE won´t use alignment categories, I´d like morals involved in party relations and quest solutions to be more granular and basically left to player to judge. I also expect companions not to be as one dimensional as "evil necromancer of evil". :)
 
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They are really going to need to start trickling out some more details than this if they want to keep the momentum going. I think expecting a sustained growth like one saw in the "Bones" miniatures project might be overly optimistic at this point. 3.3 million still seems very doable though.
 
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Not to (continue) to hijack this thread, but how can folks who hang out at an RPG-dedicated site not have played NWN2? It was a mess at release (bugs) but they've had a few years to work out the kinks. It remains one of my best RPG experiences— and I would argue the first expansion, Mask of the Betrayer, had the neatest story/characters of any RPG I've ever played. It's not perfect, but well worth the current price.

Anyway, the keep portion was cool I thought, and almost completely optional (you'll just have a tougher battle later, but it's not unwinnable). Just play it.
 
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Not really, there were only 3 evil characters in SoA, plus a fourth one added in ToB.
The alignment party member selection was even only in BG1, though both games were skewed towards good/neutral approach in terms of quest design.

6

Personally I hope that PE won´t use alignment categories, I´d like morals involved in party relations and quest solutions to be more granular and basically left to player to judge. I also expect companions not to be as one dimensional as "evil necromancer of evil". :)

Granted, I prefer it if most of the companions aren't quite that one dimensional (although it's kinda fun if some of them are). My piont remains though, I don't want my companions to adjust to my decisions, I should be forced to adjust my decisions to them if I want to "keep" them. And that can't be possible without optional companions.

I actually like it when there's some kind of alilgnment system, but it's fine by me if it's "under the cover". But som characters should be plain evil, some should be real do-gooders. And those two extremes should abolutely not get along.
 
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