Pillars of Eternity - New Interview & Previews

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PCGamesN has a new interview with Obsidian about how they hope sales for Pillars of Eternity will help fund the sequel without using Kickstarter again.

Kickstarter funded Wasteland 2 and Torment: Tides of Numenera from InXile, and Pillars of Eternity and its expansion pack from Obsidian - essentially plotting out the second Infinity Engine Age in advance.

For Obsidian, the hope is that initial kick will be enough to see them through Eternity’s sequel, too.

“That’s the dream of any independent developer,” said project director Josh Sawyer. “That they get the cash reserves that they don't need to ask anybody for money.”

“What I would like, and this is true of any independent developer, is for this title and the expansion to be successful enough that we don't have to go back to Kickstarter to make the sequel,” Sawyer told PCGamesN.

Project Eternity’s campaign in October, 2012 raised $3,986,929 in a month - more than tripling the developers’ initial goal.

“That was rapido,” recalled Sawyer. “The rate that the campaign took off, we did not expect it. At all. We had to come up with where we wanted to take it very, very quickly.

“We had two or three stretch goals planned. We launched it on a Friday and we had to come in on the Saturday and discuss how we were going to approach it.”

While “very rewarding”, Sawyer said it was “hard to describe” just how gruelling the Kickstarter process is.

“It’s 30 straight days of campaigning,” he explained. “It's rough. You’re constantly talking to the fans, you're constantly thinking of new stretch goals, you’re constantly generating new content.

“That process is something I could never look forward to but the overall result of it can be very effective. I wouldn't shy away from using it in the future if I thought here's an idea for a game that a publisher's not going to touch.”
I also found two more previews this week.

USGamer

If it seems like Obsidian is taking extra care with Pillars of Eternity, it's probably because they have big plans for the series going forward. Should it prove to be a hit, they will move forward with a sequel, and possibly other games like it. Sawyer isn't willing to say that Obsidian will only focus on isometric RPGs from now on, but it's apparent that they've found a business model they like.
Strategy Informer

Even now Pillars of Eternity looks like the real deal, though Sawyer assures me that there's still work to be done getting it ready for a planned launch sometime late this year. Still, what I saw was enough to leave me with a big smile on my face. Obsidian don't want a simple retread of past glories, instead they're taking a beloved genre and looking closely at what it did well and what its weaknesses were.
More information.
 
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If you make up stretch goals on the fly during the campaign, it's no miracle if it ends up being shitty or getting cut. I have faith in Obs to deliver anyway. It's gonna be especially interesting to see things like the concept for the megadungeon.
 
Combat is not that great.

I saved the IGN preview video and making specific care, that in my turn based fighting RPG the physical feedback should be there, when characters are hit. It gives the necessary immersion like Grim Dawn or XCOM EU has in this regard.

Every bullet / weapon hit must have an effect on the enemy, because every attack represents strategic efforts from the player, hoping that those efforts will bring a satisfying result.
 
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No, the footage we've seen isn't especially graphically thrilling -- but is that really what you were looking for in this game?

Reaction animations for combat are the sort of thing that I'd expect to be aded in very late -- no surpise not to see them at this stage.

I'm curious to see how the camping-supplies-as-save-resource works out, because it's the exact plan I had for my own imaginary RPG project.

Will people grumble like they did about Shadowrun's limited saves? I hope not, since although limited this leaves control of when and where in the hands of the player.
 
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Of the games making up the RPG renaissance (WL2, DOS, Torment, PoE, etc.), I'm betting this will be the best. I can't wait until it comes out.
 
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Will people grumble like they did about Shadowrun's limited saves? I hope not, since although limited this leaves control of when and where in the hands of the player.

The thing I'm most pumped for is non-combat skills; i.e. what does my party do when they rest. I'm so looking forward to crafting and whatever else might sweeten up time around the campfire.
 
If limited saves means that save games are a limited resource and there may be times when I might choose not to save the game due to that, then I very much dislike that to the extreme.

Unfortunately, life gets in the way sometimes and I need to save and quit (though I can wait a few minutes if I need to) plus there are times when I might need to reload due to a crash or a poorly designed quest or dialog.

I remember the first Realms of Arkania had you lose experience points each time you saved outside of a temple and I hated that. Plus of course there are console-type games in which saving is automatic only at checkpoints which might be okay if checkpoints were frequent but in some games they are not.

No limited saves please!
 
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I'm curious to see how the camping-supplies-as-save-resource works out, because it's the exact plan I had for my own imaginary RPG project.

Will people grumble like they did about Shadowrun's limited saves? I hope not, since although limited this leaves control of when and where in the hands of the player.

yikes. i backed the game but haven't being following the progress but limited saves means i will more or less never play this.

as a parent, it's hard enough to find time to sit down and play a game but if i don't have the ability to save whenever i want then there's no reason to play - unless these resources are so abundant that i can save more or less whenever i need to anyway. i shouldn't be punished as a player because i can't dedicate enough time to just sit and play or punished in having to replay content because i didn't reach a save point when i had to stop playing.

they could, at least, include an option to use limited saves vs a save all you want so that if people with lots of time want to approach the game in that way they still can.

i gave up on Shadowrun because of checkpoint saves - although I think they may have patched in saves since then?
 
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Will people grumble like they did about Shadowrun's limited saves?
Where did you see that?
Grumble? Just grumble?

Hear me now. If game saving outside of combat is impossible unless on some wifi low range hotspot and the game is turned into a phonegame or some alphaprotocolized design, their forum will burn.
That's not the game I backed.

I'll personally lead the lynch mob.
 
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Of the games making up the RPG renaissance (WL2, DOS, Torment, PoE, etc.), I'm betting this will be the best. I can't wait until it comes out.

I'm betting the first release will be at least decent, but will improve greatly with the expansion pack and sequel. They'll have plenty of feedback by then and know what to improve and polish up further.
 
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I'm still trying to find where did he seen those limited saves and in what way limited, does it mean ZX Spectrum technology in anno domini 2014, or it's just some alpha footage.

Can't afford dropping on exBIS forums shooting blanks.
 
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The requirement of "camping supplies" may apply only to rest/recharge/heal saves -- basically the equivalent of a Final Fantasy "tent" -- there may be a completely separate quicksave function that can be done at any time.
 
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I don't get why they would want to skip Kickstarter in the future. 90%+ of the revenues from Kickstarter go straight to Obsidian, while only 70% of the revenues from Steam do. Everyone wins. Except Valve.

Does a company get penalized by Steam in any way for issuing Steam keys that were sold outside the Steam system? (ie: via KS)
 
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I imagine because they want to do their own thing and not be beholden to anyone - public or publisher. If a developer is timid and has absolutely no clue about what it wants to put out, then, sure, a constant stream of 99% detritus and 1% useful information from backers may intrigue them.
 
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But with Kickstarter, you're not beholden to anyone unless you decide to let yourself be.
 
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I've watched most of these videos and read most of these articles and I don't recall any mention of limited saves. He has mentioned resting is limited by camping supplies, but not saves. This sounds much like the system used in Might & Magic games where you need to have food to rest.

I could be wrong, but this is the impression I'm left with.
 
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I imagine because they want to do their own thing and not be beholden to anyone - public or publisher. If a developer is timid and has absolutely no clue about what it wants to put out, then, sure, a constant stream of 99% detritus and 1% useful information from backers may intrigue them.

Obs changed a few things about the game going by the feedback they got on the forums, without people having played a beta. Did they only do that because they felt beholden to backers? *shrug*

I feel for a sequel they should go the Larian route - pay for the fundamentals, but turn to Kickstarter to enhance the game.
 
I'd imagine the player-made content is part of the reason they want to avoid KS in the future. Not only is it an incredible pain in the ass to track everyone down, get their NPC/item in the game the way they want it, and make it work within the story, but I'm sure there was 'that guy'out there (or several) that wanted too much or tried to be cute by designing an NPC named "The Situation".

I had read on the PE forum that one of the $5k tavern design backers disappeared from the time his pledge was taken to the time they were ready for his input. Now... What do you do in that case? Go forward, and then refund his money if he shows up later? Either way, I don't think Obsidian realized just how much work this all was going to be when their project quadrupled in size.

It's obviously a good thing, but it has side effects when you have to include player-made content.
 
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