Yeah, I think they'll get to the Linux tier no matter what; above that will depend on how well they manage to add new tiers to convince people at $20 to bump up their pledge.
Would it be premature to say that this will reach all of its listed stretch goals?
Wasteland 2 reached almost 3 million after all.
It's hard to say...
Kickstarters usually have their biggest pushes on the first and last days.
I'm sure they'll hit 2 million
But 3 million may be a bit of a reach.
Basically that. I honestly didn't believe Planetary Annihilation was going to reach the 1.8M stretch goal, but it flew past it and then over the last goal at 2.2M in the last couple of days.
I doubted the Wasteland 2 kickstarter at pretty much every turn - I was happily wrong, I should say - so I'm reluctant to put a number on this one. This is a new property, but Avellone and Obsidian are more well known; I'd say 3 million is not unrealistic. Of course they haven't even specified what happens that far out... more languages, content, mod tools maybe?
I'll take that bet! There's no way it hits 4 million. A million dollars is a lot of money. 3 million is almost a million more than other games have made. And 4 million is a million more than 3 million! MILLION.
Wasteland 2 made 3 million and Double Fine Adventure made 3.4 million, so I don't think it's a long shot for Project Eternity to make 3 million. My guess is 3.5 million at the very least.
I think you'll find that this game will get tested very well. We control the testing this time around and we are not going to ship until the game is solid.
Random Information:
Their current QA Head is the same person who was responsible for leading Dungeon Siege III QA. He was brought in by Square Enix, then later hired by Obsidian directly. Ofc. this project is going to be much more complex than DSIII.
I think you'll find that this game will get tested very well. We control the testing this time around and we are not going to ship until the game is solid.
Random Information:
Their current QA Head is the same person who was responsible for leading Dungeon Siege III QA. He was brought in by Square Enix, then later hired by Obsidian directly. Ofc. this project is going to be much more complex than DSIII.
Obsidian has constantly bemoaned the fact that their games have not been tested to their satisfaction because of publishers expecting turnaround. To think that their kickstarter that's already paid for will end up not as well tested seems far-fetched.
Dungeon Siege III was a relatively simple game, but I couldn't find a single bug, and there were some complexities to it (the order of events varies somewhat based on which character you start as, and what choices you make).
I can't imagine why some people think that it's a "disaster," unless there's just lore problems from previous games (which I did not play, and had the understanding that lore was one of the least important elements of).
DS3 is a solid game, it just wasn't really a DS game. The first one had basically click and forget gameplay and was mostly known because it had a fantastic modding community. The second one actually got skills and tried to get serious about a plot, but the community didn't take to it. They were both about just mowing down hordes of enemies for tons of loot, you ignored the story and just vegged out playing.
That said, if they can get the level of polish they did with DS3 in Project Eternity, that'd be great. It was probably the least buggy Obsidian game I've ever played.
I really, really wanted to see 4E in a game like ToEE. It would've been glorious. More on topic, yeah, DS3 was polished, but I never understood why it was even called Dungeon Siege. It shared nothing at all with party based Diablo that made up the first two games.
When someone like Bioware says they're going to tackle mature themes I groan a little bit and put my head in my hands. Retardation lies ahead.
When Obsidian says it, I nod my head because that sounds completely plausible given their track record.
Really? I can't think of any particularly "mature themes" prevalent in all of Obsidian's games. MotB and FONV being the exceptions.
Given the games they've released, I'd tend to agree. But looking at the other games they are calling back to, there's plenty of games both "mature" in a content way, and "mature" in a theme/nuance way.
To feel for characters at all, we need to make a connection with them. To make a connection with them, we need to believe that if we were put in their shoes, maybe we'd follow the same path they're on. When we talk about mature themes, we're not describing arterial spray. We're talking about character motivations that we sympathize with in the setting. When we get to our nemeses after hunting them down for 50 hours and they say, "Man, do you see what I have to deal with?" we nod and say, "Yeah, I guess I do..." even as we're reluctantly beating their faces in with a morningstar.
Also, MotB and FONV at this point represent a sizable portion of Obsidian's catalog, and I would say that KOTOR II is one of the most mature takes on the Star Wars mythos that you could conceivably have.
To feel for characters at all, we need to make a connection with them. To make a connection with them, we need to believe that if we were put in their shoes, maybe we'd follow the same path they're on. When we talk about mature themes, we're not describing arterial spray. We're talking about character motivations that we sympathize with in the setting. When we get to our nemeses after hunting them down for 50 hours and they say, "Man, do you see what I have to deal with?" we nod and say, "Yeah, I guess I do..." even as we're reluctantly beating their faces in with a morningstar.
Also, MotB and FONV at this point represent a sizable portion of Obsidian's catalog, and I would say that KOTOR II is one of the most mature takes on the Star Wars mythos that you could conceivably have.
Also, their other games do have a few mature themes to them even if its not as much (with the exception of Alpha Protocol which essentialy was fun spy fiction). Earlier in this thread I talked about 2 examples in DSIII (Odos refusal of reality and Jeynes backstory)
When someone like Bioware says they're going to tackle mature themes I groan a little bit and put my head in my hands. Retardation lies ahead.
When Obsidian says it, I nod my head because that sounds completely plausible given their track record.
Really? I can't think of any particularly "mature themes" prevalent in all of Obsidian's games. MotB and FONV being the exceptions.
Given the games they've released, I'd tend to agree. But looking at the other games they are calling back to, there's plenty of games both "mature" in a content way, and "mature" in a theme/nuance way.
Plenty? Fallout 2 and PST, sure, but the IWD games were comparatively lightweight. They don't seem to tackle mature themes unless the game is set in a setting designed for it (post-apocalyptic or Planescape) or they're intentionally subverting the setting's tropes (KotOR2).
We know this isn't post-apoc. So I'm guessing on a setting tailor-made for some of these issues. With the talk of one's soul being a kind of literal power source, and the teaser quotes of "What levy must be paid for [one good life]?", "No sleep for the Watcher"... that's some Planescape shit. Magic is plentiful, but not everyone uses it? My bet is on a heavily stratified society mixed with a moral quandary. Like the exploitation of the masses is needed in order to provide resources against an external threat. Or maybe not. Maybe it'll be just straight up fuck you feudalism, all gray area with might making right.
To feel for characters at all, we need to make a connection with them. To make a connection with them, we need to believe that if we were put in their shoes, maybe we'd follow the same path they're on. When we talk about mature themes, we're not describing arterial spray. We're talking about character motivations that we sympathize with in the setting. When we get to our nemeses after hunting them down for 50 hours and they say, "Man, do you see what I have to deal with?" we nod and say, "Yeah, I guess I do..." even as we're reluctantly beating their faces in with a morningstar.
Also, MotB and FONV at this point represent a sizable portion of Obsidian's catalog, and I would say that KOTOR II is one of the most mature takes on the Star Wars mythos that you could conceivably have.
Creating characters instead of caricatures is definitely a hallmark of Obsidian, but I wouldn't call that "maturity" in the sense of "creating an M rated game" (which is something that Tim Cain explicitly calls out in the Kickstarter vid).
And when Chris Avellone is talking about touching on mature themes, and the depths to which they seek to explore them, they display art for two characters from KotOR2: Darth Nihilus and Kreia. Characters that represent the corruption inherent in a quest for power, and the guiding hand of deception. Hunger and the unreliable narrator.
They then cut to Ammon Jerro, another example of the loss of self in the search for power. A character that was willing to do anything and everything that would help him on his quest, and crush anyone beneath his heel for the temerity of getting in his way or merely being weak within his sight.
You know, I take it back, NWN2 touched on some pretty good themes, too. I would be super pumped to get some party members like Bishop.
To feel for characters at all, we need to make a connection with them. To make a connection with them, we need to believe that if we were put in their shoes, maybe we'd follow the same path they're on. When we talk about mature themes, we're not describing arterial spray. We're talking about character motivations that we sympathize with in the setting. When we get to our nemeses after hunting them down for 50 hours and they say, "Man, do you see what I have to deal with?" we nod and say, "Yeah, I guess I do..." even as we're reluctantly beating their faces in with a morningstar.
Also, MotB and FONV at this point represent a sizable portion of Obsidian's catalog, and I would say that KOTOR II is one of the most mature takes on the Star Wars mythos that you could conceivably have.
Creating characters instead of caricatures is definitely a hallmark of Obsidian, but I wouldn't call that "maturity" in the sense of "creating an M rated game" (which is something that Tim Cain explicitly calls out in the Kickstarter vid).
And when Chris Avellone is talking about touching on mature themes, and the depths to which they seek to explore them, they display art for two characters from KotOR2: Darth Nihilus and Kreia. Characters that represent the corruption inherent in a quest for power, and the guiding hand of deception. Hunger and the unreliable narrator.
They then cut to Ammon Jerro, another example of the loss of self in the search for power. A character that was willing to do anything and everything that would help him on his quest, and crush anyone beneath his heel for the temerity of getting in his way or merely being weak within his sight.
You know, I take it back, NWN2 touched on some pretty good themes, too. I would be super pumped to get some party members like Bishop.
Kreia is a bit more complex than that.
If you use Ammon Jerro as a companion, he will begin to regret a lot of the decisions he has made and depending on your dialogue choices, he'll either remain determined that all those sacrifices were necessary or realize that he brought on a lot of the trouble upon himself due to his harsh ways.
Yeah, I figured.... But hopefully the requirements aren't troubling; I had to tweak freaking NWN2 just to avoid texture blurring on the sky textures. Though I can play TF2 without much trouble (though it's a bit laggy).
Yeah, I figured.... But hopefully the requirements aren't troubling; I had to tweak freaking NWN2 just to avoid texture blurring on the sky textures. Though I can play TF2 without much trouble (though it's a bit laggy).
NWN2 was a real bastard to get running well, don't feel too bad.
As far as motivation and characterization? Not really. Her big twist is that she was really evil the whole time! Gasp! Darth beTRAYAr. She wants to kill the Force because she got kicked out of the club for being evil.
She has a super detailed back story, and she's well written, but complex? Not really. She's as straightforward as Nihilus and Scion, just way more haughty about it.
If you use Ammon Jerro as a companion, he will begin to regret a lot of the decisions he has made and depending on your dialogue choices, he'll either remain determined that all those sacrifices were necessary or realize that he brought on a lot of the trouble upon himself due to his harsh ways.
True, but that's with the Guiding Hand of the Player. Prior to that point, dude seemed like an unstoppable, tyrannical monster. Typical antagonist material.
As far as motivation and characterization? Not really. Her big twist is that she was really evil the whole time! Gasp! Darth beTRAYAr. She wants to kill the Force because she got kicked out of the club for being evil.
She has a super detailed back story, and she's well written, but complex? Not really. She's as straightforward as Nihilus and Scion, just way more haughty about it.
Except it wasn't a twist. It was never supposed to be a twist. She tells you from the very beginning not to trust anyone, including her. You actually gain influence with her when you say that you won't trust her and that you'll use her as a tool. They actually show you how she tricks and manipulates everyone.
This is what she says when you ask her about her past:
“What do you wish to hear? That I once believed in the code of the Jedi? That I felt the call of the Sith, that perhaps, once, I held the galaxy by its throat? That for every good work that I did, I brought equal harm upon the galaxy? That perhaps the greatest of the Sith Lords knew of evil, they learned from me?“
And she didn't want to kill the Force, she wanted to destroy all the dogma surrounding the Force and have people see it for what it was.
If you use Ammon Jerro as a companion, he will begin to regret a lot of the decisions he has made and depending on your dialogue choices, he'll either remain determined that all those sacrifices were necessary or realize that he brought on a lot of the trouble upon himself due to his harsh ways.
True, but that's with the Guiding Hand of the Player. Prior to that point, dude seemed like an unstoppable, tyrannical monster. Typical antagonist material.
Except he only seemed like an unstoppable, tyrannical monster because you were mistaking him for the King of Shadows. You only fight him once before you go into his sanctum, most of the other conflicts in the game were with the Gith, the Luskans, and the King of Shadows.
Everyone should play KotOR2, it's a great game even with all the bugs and it's just 10$ on steam. Even better than playing it yourself, though, is watching Scorchy from SA play it: http://lparchive.org/Knights-of-the-Old-Republic-II/
More about Kreia's motivations here: http://lparchive.org/Knights-of-the-Old-Republic-II/Update 59/
Her betrayal was never supposed to be a big twist, and everything she does is supposed to culminate in you defeating her.
I think from her point of view killing the Force would be a good thing, and it's not because she got kicked out of the club.
If you use Ammon Jerro as a companion, he will begin to regret a lot of the decisions he has made and depending on your dialogue choices, he'll either remain determined that all those sacrifices were necessary or realize that he brought on a lot of the trouble upon himself due to his harsh ways.
True, but that's with the Guiding Hand of the Player. Prior to that point, dude seemed like an unstoppable, tyrannical monster. Typical antagonist material.
I'm not going to address the Kreia point because I'm sure others will, but -
You are led to believe Ammon Jerro is an/the antagonist because throughout Act 1 it's a clusterfuck and you have no idea who the real antagonist is (Black Garius/Ammon Jerro/The King of Shadows all blend together). But almost none of the stuff you think Ammon did, he actually did. The only bad stuff he was responsible for was murdering the nobles in Neverwinter for their silver shards, and obv. killing Shandra.
He's hardly tyrannical, anyway.
He entreaties demons, devils, and the githyanki in a bid for power. Ammon makes a literal deal with a devil when he goes to Hell looking for allies. He thought nothing of the suffering of innocents, and he murders his granddaughter in a blind rage.
He only makes the bargains that he does for the greater good - if the King of Shadows isn't stopped, everyone in the former Illefarn empire would die. So yes, he does evil things, but for a 'good' reason, not just to grow his own personal power (as you claim). re: killing Shandra - didn't know it was Shandra, he's remorseful after the fact, etc.
As far as motivation and characterization? Not really. Her big twist is that she was really evil the whole time! Gasp! Darth beTRAYAr. She wants to kill the Force because she got kicked out of the club for being evil.
She has a super detailed back story, and she's well written, but complex? Not really. She's as straightforward as Nihilus and Scion, just way more haughty about it.
Except it wasn't a twist. It was never supposed to be a twist. She tells you from the very beginning not to trust anyone, including her. You actually gain influence with her when you say that you won't trust her and that you'll use her as a tool. They actually show you how she tricks and manipulates everyone.
This is what she says when you ask her about her past:
“What do you wish to hear? That I once believed in the code of the Jedi? That I felt the call of the Sith, that perhaps, once, I held the galaxy by its throat? That for every good work that I did, I brought equal harm upon the galaxy? That perhaps the greatest of the Sith Lords knew of evil, they learned from me?“
And she didn't want to kill the Force, she wanted to destroy all the dogma surrounding the Force and have people see it for what it was.
Heh, it is a twist, because she puts on these airs of being ex-Jedi/Sith. "I once", "I felt", "once, I held", all past tense. It's a twist because she's really still an evil-to-the-core, mustache-twirling Sith.
And, yeah, she wants to destroy the Force. That's the whole reason for her interactions with the Exile. "The death of the Force." To exploit the wound in the Force to create a galaxy lacking the Force altogether.
If you use Ammon Jerro as a companion, he will begin to regret a lot of the decisions he has made and depending on your dialogue choices, he'll either remain determined that all those sacrifices were necessary or realize that he brought on a lot of the trouble upon himself due to his harsh ways.
True, but that's with the Guiding Hand of the Player. Prior to that point, dude seemed like an unstoppable, tyrannical monster. Typical antagonist material.
Except he only seemed like an unstoppable, tyrannical monster because you were mistaking him for the King of Shadows. You only fight him once before you go into his sanctum, most of the other conflicts in the game were with the Gith, the Luskans, and the King of Shadows.
He entreaties demons, devils, and the githyanki in a bid for power. Ammon makes a literal deal with a devil when he goes to Hell looking for allies. He thought nothing of the suffering of innocents, and he murders his granddaughter in a blind rage. Dude was evil.
I would expect that this game will never see a console release. They've been pretty clear in their pitch video that they're not interested in making the gameplay sacrifices necessary to facilitate controller support.
Posts
(Please do not gift. My game bank is already full.)
Wasteland 2 reached almost 3 million after all.
It's hard to say...
Kickstarters usually have their biggest pushes on the first and last days.
I'm sure they'll hit 2 million
But 3 million may be a bit of a reach.
Basically that. I honestly didn't believe Planetary Annihilation was going to reach the 1.8M stretch goal, but it flew past it and then over the last goal at 2.2M in the last couple of days.
Edit: Over 3 million actually, once you add the Paypal pledges (which I remember being something like $110k).
Random Information:
Their current QA Head is the same person who was responsible for leading Dungeon Siege III QA. He was brought in by Square Enix, then later hired by Obsidian directly. Ofc. this project is going to be much more complex than DSIII.
Obsidian has constantly bemoaned the fact that their games have not been tested to their satisfaction because of publishers expecting turnaround. To think that their kickstarter that's already paid for will end up not as well tested seems far-fetched.
Dungeon Siege III was a relatively simple game, but I couldn't find a single bug, and there were some complexities to it (the order of events varies somewhat based on which character you start as, and what choices you make).
I can't imagine why some people think that it's a "disaster," unless there's just lore problems from previous games (which I did not play, and had the understanding that lore was one of the least important elements of).
Found my CDs last night. Will re-install.
Critical Failures - Havenhold Campaign • August St. Cloud (Human Ranger)
You know of the Circle of 8 mod, right?
That said, if they can get the level of polish they did with DS3 in Project Eternity, that'd be great. It was probably the least buggy Obsidian game I've ever played.
I know I have mine somewhere... Tried it once, without the fan patches, so I never got far in it...
When Obsidian says it, I nod my head because that sounds completely plausible given their track record.
White FC: 0819 3350 1787
As far as an engine capturing the feel of table-top DnD, it was tops.
Critical Failures - Havenhold Campaign • August St. Cloud (Human Ranger)
Penny Arcade Rockstar Social Club / This is why I despise cyclists
Steam: BrocksMullet http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197972421669/
Given the games they've released, I'd tend to agree. But looking at the other games they are calling back to, there's plenty of games both "mature" in a content way, and "mature" in a theme/nuance way.
Also, their other games do have a few mature themes to them even if its not as much (with the exception of Alpha Protocol which essentialy was fun spy fiction). Earlier in this thread I talked about 2 examples in DSIII (Odos refusal of reality and Jeynes backstory)
We know this isn't post-apoc. So I'm guessing on a setting tailor-made for some of these issues. With the talk of one's soul being a kind of literal power source, and the teaser quotes of "What levy must be paid for [one good life]?", "No sleep for the Watcher"... that's some Planescape shit. Magic is plentiful, but not everyone uses it? My bet is on a heavily stratified society mixed with a moral quandary. Like the exploitation of the masses is needed in order to provide resources against an external threat. Or maybe not. Maybe it'll be just straight up fuck you feudalism, all gray area with might making right.
Dunno man. But I'm excited.
Penny Arcade Rockstar Social Club / This is why I despise cyclists
And when Chris Avellone is talking about touching on mature themes, and the depths to which they seek to explore them, they display art for two characters from KotOR2: Darth Nihilus and Kreia. Characters that represent the corruption inherent in a quest for power, and the guiding hand of deception. Hunger and the unreliable narrator.
They then cut to Ammon Jerro, another example of the loss of self in the search for power. A character that was willing to do anything and everything that would help him on his quest, and crush anyone beneath his heel for the temerity of getting in his way or merely being weak within his sight.
You know, I take it back, NWN2 touched on some pretty good themes, too. I would be super pumped to get some party members like Bishop.
Penny Arcade Rockstar Social Club / This is why I despise cyclists
Kreia is a bit more complex than that.
If you use Ammon Jerro as a companion, he will begin to regret a lot of the decisions he has made and depending on your dialogue choices, he'll either remain determined that all those sacrifices were necessary or realize that he brought on a lot of the trouble upon himself due to his harsh ways.
XBL: GamingFreak5514
PSN: GamingFreak1234
Wouldn't sell well. No cover system and too many numbers, you see.
<insert pc elitist trollface here>
Currently playing: GW2 and TSW
If so, after release.
But, no. Not in the kickstarter.
If it's anything like the old infinity engine games, it should be very lax on system requirements.
XBL: GamingFreak5514
PSN: GamingFreak1234
NWN2 was a real bastard to get running well, don't feel too bad.
She has a super detailed back story, and she's well written, but complex? Not really. She's as straightforward as Nihilus and Scion, just way more haughty about it.
True, but that's with the Guiding Hand of the Player. Prior to that point, dude seemed like an unstoppable, tyrannical monster. Typical antagonist material.
Penny Arcade Rockstar Social Club / This is why I despise cyclists
Except it wasn't a twist. It was never supposed to be a twist. She tells you from the very beginning not to trust anyone, including her. You actually gain influence with her when you say that you won't trust her and that you'll use her as a tool. They actually show you how she tricks and manipulates everyone.
This is what she says when you ask her about her past:
“What do you wish to hear? That I once believed in the code of the Jedi? That I felt the call of the Sith, that perhaps, once, I held the galaxy by its throat? That for every good work that I did, I brought equal harm upon the galaxy? That perhaps the greatest of the Sith Lords knew of evil, they learned from me?“
And she didn't want to kill the Force, she wanted to destroy all the dogma surrounding the Force and have people see it for what it was.
Except he only seemed like an unstoppable, tyrannical monster because you were mistaking him for the King of Shadows. You only fight him once before you go into his sanctum, most of the other conflicts in the game were with the Gith, the Luskans, and the King of Shadows.
More about Kreia's motivations here: http://lparchive.org/Knights-of-the-Old-Republic-II/Update 59/
Her betrayal was never supposed to be a big twist, and everything she does is supposed to culminate in you defeating her.
I think from her point of view killing the Force would be a good thing, and it's not because she got kicked out of the club.
He's hardly tyrannical, anyway.
And, yeah, she wants to destroy the Force. That's the whole reason for her interactions with the Exile. "The death of the Force." To exploit the wound in the Force to create a galaxy lacking the Force altogether.
He entreaties demons, devils, and the githyanki in a bid for power. Ammon makes a literal deal with a devil when he goes to Hell looking for allies. He thought nothing of the suffering of innocents, and he murders his granddaughter in a blind rage. Dude was evil.
Penny Arcade Rockstar Social Club / This is why I despise cyclists