Project Eternity - Update #15, Classes, New Stretch Goals and More

Myrthos

Cave Canem
Administrator
Joined
August 30, 2006
Messages
11,223
In today's update for Project Eternity Josh Sawyer updates us on the following
I'll be talking about new stretch goals and the "core four" classes. We also have some fantastic art for you that illustrates five of our adventurers engaged in some classic dungeon exploration. Other great stuff going on includes Tim Cain’s reddit on combat and you can now pledge with PayPal over on the Project Eternity Site.
And, for our Polish- and Russian-speaking fans - we are very happy to announce that distributors in Poland and Russia will be handling localization for these two languages, so we will be able to provide them without requiring a stretch goal!
The new stretch goals are:
$2.5M and $2.6M Stretch Goals - Barbarian and Cipher, Adventurer's Hall with Party Creation
Since the days are counting down, we'd like to introduce two new stretch goals. As you'll read in a few more paragraphs, Project Eternity is currently slated to support seven classes. Our current roster includes fighters, priests, rogues, wizards, rangers, monks, and druids. We believe this represents the common core and several popular secondary classes that many players enjoyed using in the Infinity Engine games. We would like to use our $2.5M stretch goal to include two additional classes: the barbarian and the cipher.
Barbarians come from many of the more remote cultures found across the world. In the Dyrwood, they are commonly found among Glanfathan elf communities. They are distinguished from fighters by their recklessness, ferocity, and their predilection to substitute raw aggression for discipline. Barbarians are a challenge to deal with on a battlefield, though they are vulnerable to exhaustion if they don't pace themselves.
Ciphers are uncommon and often misunderstood individuals with extraordinary mental abilities. Like wizards and priests, they have many talents that draw directly from their souls, but ciphers have the unique ability to peer through the spiritual energy of the world to manipulate other souls. While wizards use complex formulae in large tomes and priests tap into the passion of their faith, ciphers are able to operate directly through the power of their minds... and yours.
But wait, we're not done yet! We've been reading a lot of feedback online about classes, companions, and party composition options. We want to give people the ability to build their parties as they like and we also want to allow people to experience the full spectrum of class mechanics. Companions go a long way toward achieving that goal while also providing a ton of reactivity in the world. Even so, we'd like to do more.
At $2.6M, we will add an Adventurer's Hall to the world. In the Free Palatinate of Dyrwood, adventurers and mercenaries from across the world are often employed as personal bodyguards, elite security, or salvage (plunder) teams that venture into the forgotten corners of Eír Glanfath. A lot of the folks who hang out as such places are robbers and miscreants, but reliable agents can be found and employed with a bit of patience.
What does this mean for you? It means that if you don't like a companion, or if you don't like any of our companions, you won't be cut off from having characters of their classes. Over time, you can build your own custom parties to play through the game. If you want a party of monks or all casters, this gives you the ability to do it within the game while still maintaining the pacing of the standard PC + companions play style.
More information.
 
Joined
Aug 30, 2006
Messages
11,223
At first, I was somewhat disappointed with the update as all these classes seem to remind me too much of D&D, (i.e. generic fantasy theme). Although after reading about them, I started to like them more as little by little my allergic reaction to the notion of D&D was wearing off.

I particularly welcome the idea that the classes are not artificially limted as in 2nd edition AD&D but instead they can adopt and develop skills that are traditionally belonging to other classes. But it is the Cipher class that has me especially excited and I really hope that we will see well developed non-combat uses such as mind reading and/or manipulation. (For me personally, it is the non-combat gameplay that makes a good RPG)

As for the artwork, I don't like it as it looks IMO too much like those typical generic high fantasy images…. in other words, plain boring and unimaginative.
 
Last edited:
Joined
Jun 22, 2011
Messages
613
Location
Madrid, Spain
@spiraling69

I suspect they are keeping the screenshot (they have at least one) for the last week.

As for the artwork, I don't like it as it looks IMO too much like those typical generic high fantasy images…. in other words, plain boring and unimaginative.

The wallpaper is showing the 5 characters and we are supposed to play a 6 characters party. We can also see Cadegund, who looks a Priest, and Edain in it. The Dwarf was in the 1st concept art as well.

We are just missing info about the wizard/rogue and the monk.
 
Joined
Oct 13, 2007
Messages
7,313
Stretchgoal 3 million: They post a screenshot. ;)
 
Joined
May 18, 2012
Messages
2,315
Not bad goals/plans, I won't complain.
Although… I'm not seeing me playing a barbarian. Unless ofc it would be the only role to get Red Sonya. I mean… Under her skirt. Yea, she doesn't have one. :)

Red-Sonja-21a.jpg
 
Joined
Apr 12, 2009
Messages
23,459
Love this update but then I like the standard high fantasy art style and the core classes. I happen to like the classics as well as newer games so happy to see they will keeping this closer to the classics.
 
Joined
Jun 4, 2008
Messages
3,946
Location
NH
The adventurer's hall teases. Are companions' generic, without any background or will every possible adventurer coming to the hall have a background, mini-quest associated to them? Will they be automatically generated or will they be hand made?
 
Joined
Mar 29, 2011
Messages
6,265
The adventurer's hall teases. Are companions' generic, without any background or will every possible adventurer coming to the hall have a background, mini-quest associated to them? Will they be automatically generated or will they be hand made?

In the video he explained that the adventurer's hall would let you create the other party members if you wanted. Since these are user created characters I don't see them having any background within the game (besides what you might write in their character blurb.) Think of the party generation in IWD.

In the video he also explained that you could use a mix of these player-created party members and the fully fleshed out ones you find and meet in the course of the game. Part of the reason to do this was, as he said, so that if you just really hated some of the NPCs you didn't have to miss out on having that class in the party.
 
Joined
Nov 20, 2006
Messages
1,710
I think the Adventurer's Hall is possibly the biggest RPG innovation that has been announced in this project. It's one of those things that makes so much sense, you start wondering why nobody ever tried it before.

In classic party-based games, there is always a pre-generated party, which all true RPG gamers quickly delete and never give another thought.

Eventually somebody had the bright idea that those pre-generated party members could be made part of the story, with their own quests, sub-plots, etc. That's all very grand in its own way, but there's something really enticing about making the exact party you want, with the exact blend of character types and skills. That has been lost for a long time, with Wasteland 2 being the only big project to fully embrace that concept again.

What the Adventurer's Hall is proposing is the best of both worlds. You can take your pick between the game's normal companions and all the content they offer, or go your own way. It's kind of like a classic party-based game with the pre-generated party again, except that you find those party members over time and they are part of the story.

I can easily see myself playing through once as a single character and pursuing all of the possible story content with my companions, and then doing another playthrough where I experiment with my own party that has a bunch of different class combinations that I'm still curious about.

Great update....
 
Joined
Mar 10, 2009
Messages
255
What the Adventurer's Hall is proposing is the best of both worlds. You can take your pick between the game's normal companions and all the content they offer, or go your own way. It's kind of like a classic party-based game with the pre-generated party again, except that you find those party members over time and they are part of the story..

It's not as innovative as you think. You could actually do the same thing in Baldur's Gate 1-2 even though it wasn't an advertised feature.
 
Joined
Oct 21, 2006
Messages
39,017
Location
Florida, US
It's not as innovative as you think. You could actually do the same thing in Baldur's Gate 1-2 even though it wasn't an advertised feature.

If I remember correctly one had to start a multiplayer game to get to pick all the characters, right?

I never had the patience to do this, but I know my brother did it.
 
Joined
Feb 15, 2009
Messages
1,950
Location
Sweden
Isn't it exactly the Adventurer's Inn from Might & Magic 8?

I like it.
 
Joined
Sep 28, 2009
Messages
837
If I remember correctly one had to start a multiplayer game to get to pick all the characters, right?

I never had the patience to do this, but I know my brother did it.

Yep, and it's not very complicated. You just save your game after creating your party in multiplayer and then transfer the save file to the single-player directory. I think there's a few more steps in BG2, but it's not difficult to do.
 
Joined
Oct 21, 2006
Messages
39,017
Location
Florida, US
Not a hack, rather an easter egg for people who like to build the team by themselves. Building your own party made not as much sense, storywise. But I'm sure they knew it was possible, and didnt prevent it.
 
Joined
May 18, 2012
Messages
2,315
The way it was implemented is a hack though. And, it should have been explained in the manual. If its an Easter Egg, it's a poorly designed one. Starting a multiplayer game before playing a singleplayer is a screwy design.
 
Joined
Aug 18, 2008
Messages
15,679
Location
Studio City, CA
The way it was implemented is a hack though. And, it should have been explained in the manual. If its an Easter Egg, it's a poorly designed one. Starting a multiplayer game before playing a singleplayer is a screwy design.

I kept it as a multiplayer personally, the only difference is that going in the map/inventory didn't pause the game.
 
Joined
Oct 13, 2007
Messages
7,313
Isn't it exactly the Adventurer's Inn from Might & Magic 8?

I like it.

it's not innovative, unless you only consider games made in the last 15 years or so, but it's welcome anyway. Might & Magic games had that, I think Wizardry games too right? if your party got wiped you could get a group from the tavern and go to where the original group died and resurrect them or something.
I don't think I'll use it though, because I would be missing out on the NPCs stories/chatter probably.
 
Joined
Sep 23, 2008
Messages
5,645
Location
Tardis
Back
Top Bottom