Hooray!!!.Wanted this :)

52,062
backers
$2,307,619
pledged of $1,100,000 goal
12
days to go
Definitely especially as they are games which fit the type of profile (more of less..) for the new games Gog want to sell (AAA+ games are really no hope considering the prices..).Kickstarter projects are a great opportunity for Gog. Someone in the upper echelon's pls look at them (if not already...)

You know, that's a great idea. While you're over there in Europe, pop on over to Poland and have a chat with the GOG guys.

The problem is, that would be turning Kickstarter into a pre-order forum. I assure you, while I'll be getting my P:E copy from GOG, they won't end up seeing a cent of that because I've been a backer since this started.

And on the very off chance that somehow Obsidian can't make the game, then GOG has a lot of problems from people who want the game. It's over a year before it comes out, so I'm sure we'll be seeing pre-order hype as the game gets close to release.

This is a good point as well. Perhaps GOG is waiting until the end of the funding period when everyone who pledged will finally be charged. Then the money is actually in Obsidian's hands and the project is officially greenlighted. I can definitely see that as a possible reason for the delay of anything concrete on GOG's part.

What GOG needs to do is to make sure GOG will be providing keys for drm free copies.

They need to get as many new users as possible, and every time they provide keys, they get some more users.

They would of course have to wait until people are actually charged to do any account linking. They could certainly promote the campaign before that though, and advertise GOG involvement on some level. GOG might not get a cut of the kickstarter pledge but it would bring in PR and new users as well as advertising the eventual GOG release which DOES give them a cut.

Big question about something that IMO has been missing in modern western RPGs:

Will there be Bosses, and I mean unique bosses that are not just "Boss" versions of Common enemies.

Another Feargus Q&A:

Question: Any change you guys will do a livestream during the last 2-hour countdown? :) A number of big campaigns have done that and it's pretty fun to share it all together..
Feargus: Absolutely, that's the plan. Should be a lot of fun!

Question: By my personal reckoning, the Kickstarter will get at least 3 million in pledges unless there is a very unexpected turn. With this in mind are you still looking at the Whiteboard Of Prospective Content and picking things on it going from one isolated Stretch Goal to the next, or are you looking at it with the eye of, "Hmmm. Let's choose the next 4 goals towards 3 mil that we definitely want to see in the game" ?

And it's always great when you join the Channel. I totally hope you continue to comment with us even after the Kickstarter has completed. Like maybe a once a week thing?
Feargus: (1) We are looking at the things we want to definitely do. A lot of them are already in the goals we've posted. We are talking about throwing out a farther one as well - but not sure yet.

(2) One of the things we want to do is setup a PE site that works really well for talking with everyone. So, while we might not do it here. We will do it somewhere. And I'll be absolutely dropping in.

Question: We're 20 days into your Kickstarter, and I'm curious, is Obsidian as excited about this process as fans are? I know Obsidian's been putting in extra time due to the fan reaction, and I curious if you guys are as obsessively checking the kickstarter page as some of us are?
Feargus: We are having a lot of fun with this Kickstarter. It makes me want to do more of them. Almost too bad that we can't do another game one before PE comes out. Or, do we have some ideas for something else? Hmmm.....

Question: Will the classes be extremely close to the old DnD style or are they going to have their own unique flavor?
Feargus: They will have the DnD feeling but with some fun twists. In other words, not that there will be Paladins, :), but if there were to be Paladins - they will feel like them but be tied into how magic and the gods work in the world of PE.

Question: Will the game have a 64bit executable? I likes using my RAMs.
Feargus: We are fairly sure that Unity will support 64bit fully by the time we come out. So, most likely.

Question: I have some questions regarding the mapping and loading. Will everything be more open world like Arcanum or split into sections more like Baldur's Gate II (or neither)? Also within each city map for example will it just be one seamless whole without any transitions between outside and inside, and between different levels?
Feargus: The game will be more like BG in that regard, including with cities. For cities that means that the interior areas will be considered children of the parent area (developer speak here). What that means, is that the children area continue to run even when you are running around the parent area. That let's NPCs transition between the parent and child areas and also reduces load times between them. We don't unload everything about the parent area when you go into a child.

Question: Hey, got a concern for you from the Russians from last night. Apparently 1C/Cenega have exclusive distribution deals with Bethesda. The folks over in Eastern Europe paid full price on Steam for various games, FO:NV, Skyrim, RAGE, etc. and got locked into the localized version only. The localized version was not compatible with any of the downloaded content and was lacking in other ways. They are VERY concerned about maintaining access to the original version of Project Eternity and not being locked into -just- the Russian version.

To sum up, Arteziya asks:

"So I repeat - please, could you answer - would backers from Russia (and Poland, though I don't know details of their situation, but doubt that their distributors behave themselves better then ours) would have an access to original version, or do you lock us to our regional?"
Feargus: We will make sure that the people we team up with do a good job. And, we've heard a lot of things about 1C now that will make us really ask them a lot of questions and require a lot from them - if we were to work with them. Not saying that we are working with them.

Question: probably something you don't even want to think about because of other... games that will be unmentioned ATM, but are there going to be planes in PE? not necessarily that we'd be able to go to, but in the lore/history of the game. like are the gods on the same plane, but just really far away, or maybe on a mount olympus type thing? or are they literally on a different plane of existence?
something that i think might be cool is if it were all one plane and you could get to the gods, if you were able to fly or something like that. or if they brought you managed to gain their notice and be brought there. always thought it would be interesting to have direct interactions with the gods, and either have the option of ultimately being in awe of them or realizing how... utterly insane/petty they really are. dependent on the god and what they represent and all.
Feargus: I think the guys are still talking a lot about things like gods and planes (if they are there at all). So, sorry nothing to talk about on this yet.

Question: Will there be spears and staffs in Project Eternity, and will they finally have different attack animations? (That always bugged me in the IE games)
Feargus: Sorry, don't know on that one - I'll add it to the list.

Question: Hmm, were we due an update today? Just curious given the getting to the next goal and all.
Feargus: We had not planned to do an update today. There will be one tomorrow from Adam (I think) and then one from Tim over the weekend.

Question: PE will have a "save anytime, save anywhere" system like the IE games?
Feargus: Yes, save anywhere you want.

Question: Any idea of when we get spoiled with information of the other classes? Do druids shapeshift? Do they tend to the souls of the trees, plants and animals? And names of the other companions? ;)
Feargus: That all rests within the great mind of Josh Sawyer.

Question: Do you know if the boxed copy of PE will be steam or gog?
Feargus: I believe we will be giving people the option.

Question: is it possible that we will get an update like today's including information on the other three classes? :) I'm especially interested in the Drya... Druids. ;) What kind of magic they're using... and their connection to the souls.
Feargus: A certain number of the updates really tie into what we are also announcing, so if we do something else that has to do with classes then we will probably talk more about them.

Question: So just to clarify. The world is split into different chunks known as parent areas and travelling between them will lead to loading screens and the unloading of the previous area. The inside of each parent area is considered to be one contiguous area for the purposes of the AI and the game world but transitioning between the parent area and a child area leads to a loading screen and limits direct interaction between them at any one time even as events can shift between them. What are the child areas? Are we talking every building or only special areas such as palaces or catacombs?
Feargus: All correct. Child areas though would be things like houses and shops within a village or city.

I was sort of assuming that if you got a boxed copy of the game, you could then play the game without messing around with digital download services. I guess not?

And the rest...



Question: And when we will know more about the already know races?
Feargus: We might be talking about another race next week.

Question: I wonder about the casters: have they to memorize a certain set of spell à la D&D or it'll be a totally different mechanic?
Feargus: I think Josh has talked a bit about that on our forums, but, to be honest, we have not completely determined the system yet. When we do have it solid, we are going to talk with everyone about it.

Question: Question related to companion behavior. Would they sound out if you commit acts that are against their view ir will they just willy nilly do anything you tell them to even if "wrong".
An example would be in NVN2 where my thief with Neeshka and Casavir (paladin) went around breaking into the nobles houses. At one point I was given a chance to spare some servants, I chose nit to, (no witnesses) however Casavir (paladin) happily helped me murder them. So, if we are to have companions (and pc) playing these classes, could thete at least be limitations to what they will do or when witnessing what you the PC do, react accordingly. If the PC is Playing a Paladin, tgen acts if murder should land him into deep water with his god too, no?
Feargus: I don't think Chris and Josh have talked about how we are handling that yet. What I do know is that we would have them react to things they are doing. The level of the reaction is what we still need to talk about.

Question: Recently, Rock-Paper-Shotgun has made an article about "The perils of Nostalgia."

In it they talk about how Kickstarter is bringing back the games and genras that had been abandoned by the games industry and that this is perhaps a devolution of the trend that video games had been taking since their inception; better graphics, more voice work, more detailed environments, lifelike animations, etc. That by having all the known names in the industry going back to the roots that games of today have been founded on, it will lead to a trend towards cashing in on nostalgia instead of heading towards innovation.

I personally see this "Bringing back the past" trend in Kickstarter as the Veteran developers going back to the projects they loved but had to abandon because of the march of time, and finally see their exiled children raised to adults and released into the world. But Project Eternity seems to be dedicated to not only bringing back the past, but innovating it in a new direction, with the inclusion of mixed 2D and 3D environments, as well as the creation of a brand new IP for the funds that have been donated.

Me, as a fan and a person who has interacted with you through text, I would love to see you have a chat with John Walker of RPS and talk about your views as a developer towards the opportunity of being able to chose between conventional Producers and Kickstarter backing, and the idea of combining Nostalgia with Innovation.

I feel that such a conversation would be truly enlightening, and I would love to read it.
Feargus: Sounds like a great idea - I'll throw that over there and see if we can't have that discussion.

Question: Will the battles have ques? Can we give a character more then one order at a time?
Feargus: Yep, we are doing queues.

Question: Regarding [the] question about companions behavior, we will see companions fighting because of different ideologies or enemy factions or even leaving forever the party?
Feargus: The magnitude of their response is what we will be talking about. While we want them to react correctly to things that they like and dislike, what they do beyond reacting is still on the table.

Question: So there's not going to be "You moved a fork, now the entire town wants to murder you" situations?
Feargus: Not totally saying that - I was more talking about the reaction of companions to your actions.

Question: I remember when I was younger I was curious as to why similar looking games such as Fallout and Baldur's Gate had a different way of treating areas even though they looked almost identical (ie. loading transition for all buildings in BG but only for larger areas in FO). What was the reasoning behind adopting the BG system in OE? Does it have certain technical, design or game-play advantages?
Feargus: That's a good question and I don't have a good answer exactly. The parent / child thing does exist in other game engines, but it is also something that is genre specific. For instance, you don't need that in linear FPS (in general) because the player is always moving forward and is not going in and out of things like shops in a village. The other reason for the transitional load screens is really due whether multiple areas can be loaded at one time (making switching between them not require a load) or if the load is going to be so small then you don't need the screen.
I think that answer is poorly worded (as was the question). Every tier that gets a boxed copy also gets at least one digital copy as well. You get to choose what digital version you want. The DVD won't be tied to a digital service*.

*edit* I should clarify: they haven't said anything about what DRM,if any, will be on the disc. But the disc won't be tied to Steam or GOG or any other digital download service. There still might be some form of DRM on the disc. No word yet on that as far as I've seen.

Agreed!

Aw come on we can have both common enemies that are challenging and bosses.

That's true, and I've played games that did have both, like Dark Souls.
However, they're much rarer than the games that had lots of boring fighting with a few difficulty spikes when you had to fight a mini-boss or boss.

Also, the other problem with bosses is that they tend to be unrealistic, especially when the bosses are human.
I disliked the boss fights in Alpha Protocol or Deus Ex: HR, because it just felt silly that a human enemy, boss or not, could take dozens of bullets and still live.

While it's possible, rarely does it work out that way. The problem is generally one of balance. If the mooks are a good challenge, then when you get to the boss, you have little to no resources left and you get waxed. If it's balanced so you have resources to draw on for the boss fight, it usually means the mooks are nothing but 'filler' combat. Unless you end up facing the boss without wading through room after room of mooks. But that doesn't seem to make much sense for him to be all alone.