At this point, what are the Facebook likes good for? Couldn't they add another level to the dungeon without getting likes on Facebook? How are likes on Facebook and dungeon levels in the game even related in the first place?

It's just soulless marketing. Which doesn't quite fit with what Kickstarter should be about.

Biggest one was them talking about no combat XP, and bantering about a little bit how much level scaling to use. For me, combat XP is a must, and some form of level scaling* is greatly preferred, allowing me to wander away from the plot and play, or follow the plot.. whichever I feel more like at the moment.

*I prefer level-scaled encounters, not creatures. For example: Level 1- a wolf. Level 10- several dire wolves. I find the 'level 1 wolf' or 'level 10 wolf' to be a cheap cop-out that is only suited in Diablo-esque action RPG.

There were a few other elements being discussed as well that put me off a bit.. but at the end of the day, I've been dying for a good isometric RPG, and most of 'theirs' I liked... (Fallout, Fallout 2, IWD, Arcanum, ToEE, IWD2 in theory but I haven't been able to play it.)

Had they not had the stretch goal that let you build your own party though.. I probably would have dropped my pledge.

Gonna buy it if it's being released sometime in 2015.
Just because they got the cash doesn't mean the product will be finished, just ask 3D Realms.

To ride the coattails of the pledge drive and get people who missed the campaign to donate via paypal. More likes = more publicity = more backers = more money, or so they hope. Of course it's soulless marketing, the day something good happens on facebook is the day it closes.

I didn't back it.

1. I don't pay for games that haven't been released yet, don't invest in projects that have no prospects of returns, and don't subscribe to the concept of patronage to complete strangers.
2. I have a stupidly huge backlog of games that I will never work off before the game is released.

I did back for $20, although I'm not all that enthusiastic about the project. I backed it mostly for Planescape: Torment's memory, but I think it will not have a lot of things I liked about Torment and will have a lot of things I don't like.

That said, I'm looking forward to see what Obsidian does with this. The background they showed looked good, the plan is ambitious enough (even if I think it's uninspired) and they have enough money to make something good.

I resemble that remark. My Facebook page is a good thing. And really, Facebook is a good place to follow things you like. Hatred like this is irrational.

I consider the OP's question pointless but whatever... I don't like Obsidian. So much that I didn't even take a look at their new project.

Edit: Also they can go fuck themselves for ingame content exclusive to backers.

When you say build, do you mean create the entire party in the beginning, gaining companions as you make progress or both?

As for combat xp and level scaling, I prefer combat xp as well.

I'm pretty sure they mentioned that the items are for appearance only, they won't help in combat or to progress the story.

To quote the kickstarter:

Then you probably can never take part in almost all Kickstarter projects. I supported DoubleFine and Wasteland and Broken Sword and Legends of Eisenwald although the persons behind these are more or less strangers to me. The prospect of return is that I get a game but I also want to support them, even if the game has not been released.

My idea is that fans get better games if they support promising, well explained small dev teams who would otherwise find no or only difficult financing of their projects. I trust them partially go for the somewhat safe but interesting projects. Not too many and not too much money per project (<15$ and DRM free), but some of them. I hope by making the devs more independent, the games get better in the end.

But I only do it for devs that are kind of small sizes studios, but professionals or really enthusiastic amateurs and for games I really want to have made.

What is the most soulful method of marketing?

They can't put another level in the dungeon for free; since they don't want to lose money on this project, they do need to market it, and Facebook is one way to do that.

I haven't backed any Kickstarters. I've considered it a few times but never done it.

Need the money.

"Hey, if you are excited about the project, have you already liked us on Facebook to spread the word even further? Also, if we have enough time and money, we might add another level to that dungeon of ours, but we'll see about that when we get there."

But I'll admit I am not a fan of the concept of stretch goals as such. I mean, stretch goals are fine, but I find it dishonest when they try to quantify things that absolutely cannot be quantified at this stage of the development process. Even so, linking features to money makes sense. Linking features to likes on Facebook is just ridiculous.

I make $200 a month as a volunteer.

Yeh, that's fair.

My concern for stretch goals is that it causes the developers to have to make firm commitments early on in the process; if they later realize, for example, that their story really doesn't work well for the number of companions they promised, and the best thing would be to cut down the number, it's too bad, because they have to have that many companions. The story will now involve two big cities, and if that doesn't happen organically, they'll have to make it involve two big cities, because that's what they promised. I'm not sure how realistic those concerns are, but they are what they are.