Question:

is this game going to take place in a traditional european setting ala Dragon Age or something original like Morrowind and Planescape: Torment?

Hm, now the Cipher sounds really interesting. If they integrate that class properly into the game (not only in terms of gameplay but into the story telling, as well!) this could prove worthwhile.
Artworks shown so far suggest a more traditional "European" setting, nothing like PST. That said, Obsidian claim that they want to develop diverse cultures for their game, so hopefully it's not just gonna be the same old, same old.

Normally for me I don't mind the same old since I like it, but still good to have variety.

The problem is, you're going to have them ANYWAY. You really can't escape Generic base characters. Some people just want to swing a sword, others want to cast magic. The fact that they're setting it up so you can make a Sword Swinging Wizard is actually pretty interesting to me. It shows that while the base is generic, what you can do with it isn't.

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I gotta say, I'm looking at the same class based rut that every other RPG goes into. He just names them something different. You can name them different things, you can add small things here and there lore wise, but ultimately you're going to see the same classes, a physical damage dealer, a dex-based rogue, a caster of some kind, a healer, etc. There's only so far you can go away of these bases right away.

I'm not bothered by basics, it's where you go from the basics that interests me though. Although that KS looks interesting...maybe I can pitch in $15...

Sold! Ahhhh, my work here is done. ;-P
Indeed, he does have classes that are familiar, but the way that they develop is quite different, and that's what I was "meaning" to say, but you see, the advertisement limited my vocabulary. ;D Sure you can play with a wizard, fighter, rouge, or a healer. But, by no means will it level like any other RPG that I know of. When your equipment really helps determine what type of a player you are, well it sounds really cool to me at least. And if the end product is even half as unique as the kickstarter portrays, I will be very happy with helping him out. And, now you will be too, am I right, eh? Eh? :-p

*Everyone is doing it.

Hah, good work. :D And yeah, it's definitely hard to get away from the standard group o' four, but I like the unique stuff Arakion's doing with character customization. If it's gonna be a class system (I prefer classless or partial classless [Demon's Souls, for ex]) then at least have unique ways of customizing or playing the archetypal classes.

Kind of weird art, but character races I haven't seen a thousand times before and a unique skill-progression method? Sounds interesting.

A little more Q&A with Feargus:


Question: I love the new stretch goals!
Feargus: Fhew.... We talked a ton about them and tried to take a lot of the feedback that people had about our previous ones into account.

Question: do you have plans how you will distribute non-steam (aka drm-free) version of game for linux/mac?
Feargus: Not sure yet. Our hope that is that GOG will be supporting all of that by then. I don't know that they will or anything - but we are hoping. If not, we will figure something else out. Maybe ourselves.

Question: are you going to be showing us how much money/many backers you're getting from paypal so we're aware of what goals have been reached, and what's left to get to them? would be kind of useful for people who aren't sure what level they're going to go for, or how much they want to push others to get in on it. if they see we're like 100 backers away from a new dungeon level when adding in the paypal numbers, i can see people going to try to get people to just pledge even a dollar to get there.

Feargus: Yes, we are going to do that. I am not sure how often we are going to do it, since it is a little more manual. We are talking about it more tomorrow and we will then have a better answer.

Question: You may want to look at the Humble Store for multi-platform distribution. They support multi-platform, DRM free, and can even work with you to offer Steam and/or Desura keys. Legend of Grimrock and Trine 2 use them, and it works great for me.
Feargus: We will absolutely check that out.

Question: Courtesans are mentioned in the back story of rogues. Does this imply that there will be any adult based thieving skills, sexual appeal checks, or something similar?
Feargus: I need to get Josh on to cover stuff like that. Which means, I'm not sure on that one. Sorry.

Question: I like the typical fantasy tropes as much as the next guy, but will there be any love for the bizarre in PE, maybe in some side quests? I'm talking David Lynch levels of weird here. I love me some mind-bending surreality.
Feargus: I don't know about Twin Peaks weird, but one of our goals/pillars with the project is to have that part of it be different. We can have the traditional with a twist, new that really ties into the world and then a bit that is weird/different

Question: Will character classes have specific base character models for them? Or will you be able to create a character that will look the same (physical appearance) no matter what class he is?
Feargus: We are still talking about that. I think there will be a certain amount of sharing though - the reason is that if we go with lots of unique models then we can make less things for each model. So, we want to make sure there are a ton of options for each model that we do create.

Question: So... kits?
Feargus: Josh question.

Question: Are there any ideas on how combat skills will be learned? Are you thinking of doing skill trees or something like that? I don't recall reading on that aspect of things yet, though there was that nice writeup on non-combat skills. How many white boards have you guys gone through?
Feargus: We are definitely due for some more of them - they are looking a little ragged. As for learning the skills, Josh has put a system together - but he'd like to wait to talk about the details on it.

Question: Are we going to see things like spells that teleport, read minds, create stuff, view far locations and other interesting things powerful people can do outside combat?
Feargus: We haven't really talked about spells of that magnitude yet. I would expect that we will work on a limited number of some really cool big spells though.

Question: on skills in general... have you thought about having some of them be taught by NPCs? like some special skills that aren't necessarily class specific, but are learned in a more natural way of master teaching apprentice? just something that occurred to me all of a sudden, and i think that would be really cool.
Feargus: I'll throw that over to Josh in e-mail right now and see if wants to cover that in an update.

Question: How long do you estimate pre-production might be for PE if you have any estimates at all in that department? Sorry if that seems a silly question. Just curious. I know this has been brought up several times, but are we likely to see any far reaching goals much farther off than the current ones? I love what we have so far though. Are there any chances of seeing a goals featuring more classes or is 9 going to be the cap on classes so it doesn't get too bloated? I do love the idea of a possible documentary on the making of the game. I love hearing from all of you on the work that goes into it all and how things are progressing.
Feargus: Pre-Production Time - We generally do 1/3, 1/3, 1/3. So with a project that is 18 months, that means 6 months in pre-production, 6 months in production and 6 months in post-production. We have a leg up with the Unity engine and already have basic movement and formations working, so it might be more like 5 , 7, 6 for PE. Longer Stretch Goals - There is one up on the whiteboard right now. We talked about it a lot last night, an bit tonight and agreed that we would decide tomorrow about it. Documentary - We actually met with a group about that. Trying to figure out if the cost is something that should go into it or the game.

Question: Will the people who pledge via PayPal be counted towards the 2,500 new backer per level goal?
Feargus: Yes they will be. We are trying to figure out when to do those updates.

Question: Hey I was thinking about the nature of the soul as it was represented in D+D, and came across something you guys might like (if you haven't considered it already). Elementals and creatures of the Outer Planes had souls that were inseperable from their bodies, meaning that if their body perished then so would their soul...
Would there be creatures like this in P:E? Perhaps mortals would be special in that their souls would "live on" whereas other creatures would not be so fortunate?
Feargus: Let me send over to Josh on the souls question. That is all him. You'll find that with class, some combat, some skills and soul questions - I like to defer to him. He's the man on that stuff.

Hmm mentioning Humble Store. Gog get your act together....

They achieved the 2.3M stretch goal, with the godlike race and the challenge modes.

RipTen interview with Chris Avellone.

GOG really need to realize all these kickstarters are targeted at the same exact audience and do some teaming up. Imagine kickstarting through GOG, or getting the games on our account after pledging is confirmed and getting updates and goodies as extras leading up to release.

There are a ton of things GOG could do to boost pledges and in return get their cut.