Obsidian teasing Pillars of Eternity 2

[May90]

Ahh yes! Pillars of Eternity was what Baldur's Gate should have been; it is my 2nd favorite isometric game of all times, after Planescape: Torment. Pillars of Eternity 2 would be a killer.

Definitely adding it in my "to play in the distant future" list!

[Demoncrash]

Well crowd funding seems to be working pretty well for them. In just 1 day they're already at $910k out of the $1.1 million goal with the top tier bundles of $1250 and $3000 sold out.

[Aeula]

Aww, was hoping for a new Fallout game, guess Bethesda won't grant them the rights.

I have pillars, but never finished it. Couldn't get into the story, ended up running around killing everything and I couldn't remember why by the time I got to the place I had to massacre.

[Cosmic Janitor]

Well crowd funding seems to be working pretty well for them. In just 1 day they're already at $910k out of the $1.1 million goal with the top tier bundles of $1250 and $3000 sold out.

Well the lower tiers of funding can be viewed as a glorified preorder if you scroll down, so a lot of people probably just "preordered" a game they like. Not sure I like the funding policy, especially from an accomplished dev studio, but it appears to be one of the more forgivable types (people buying the high end ones are kinda crazy though imho), even though I'd like to make a spell as well .

[Akka]

Reminds me, I still need to finish the DLC for Pillars.

I did enjoy what they did with Pillars, but I hope they make some more memorable characters, side quests, and main plot if this is PoE 2. For me, PoE was fun to play, but I never really cared about the world or characters.

As much as I am an Obsidian fanboy, I agree with this.
I was much more excited by Tyranny (despite the very huge flaws it had) than PoE.

[Deleted]

aaaaand backed!

- - - Updated - - -

funded and first stretch goal Published. And I do like me some subclasses

[Lord Pebbleton]

I found the first game to be boring and confusing.

[takolin]

Backed.

I just hope they revamp the at rest for priests/wizards/druid spells though I doubt it. The system is hard to balance because resting is merely a nuisance and if you can put up with it, you're blatantly overpowered after you're past the first levels.

I'll have to replay the game in order to "set up the world" considering (some) choices are carried over to the next game.

[Afrospinach]

I found the first game to be boring and confusing.

This is the great thing about crowdfunding, no? These games just have no place in the mainstream.

[Deleted]

Backed.

I just hope they revamp the at rest for priests/wizards/druid spells though I doubt it. The system is hard to balance because resting is merely a nuisance and if you can put up with it, you're blatantly overpowered after you're past the first levels.

I'll have to replay the game in order to "set up the world" considering (some) choices are carried over to the next game.

Yeah me too, I'll take chance to try a different class maybe I'll try a Barbarian, or.. or something something... I was curious to see if maybe DPS 2H war is viable

[Graeham]

I enjoyed the original - it was a pretty neat throwback to some of the older RPG's out there. It had its flaws, certainly, but I'm sure the developers will have learned from them and the sequel may end up being even better.

[WarpedAcorn]

This is the great thing about crowdfunding, no? These games just have no place in the mainstream.

Exactly. There is a niche of people that enjoy the isometric style game. Games like Pillars and Shadowrun proved that this niche is worth marketing to and are hungry for games like it.

[Cairhiin]

Pretty excited for this. Loved the first one, while I like the lore of Tyranny more, I enjoyed the more challenging combat in PoE a lot more. Hope they spend more time on NPC development this time around.

[Deleted]

Pretty excited for this. Loved the first one, while I like the lore of Tyranny more, I enjoyed the more challenging combat in PoE a lot more. Hope they spend more time on NPC development this time around.

tbh I was fine with certain characters development, certains were a bit bland but some like Grieving Mother were awesome, I liked Eder too

[Deleted]

Off-topic. but subject to the game series.

As someone who's only played the original for a few hours (maybe 4). Did anything happen with removing the micro managing of how combat worked. What i mean was after 1 enemy died i'd have to get all my melee to attack another target instead of "auto" selecting a new target. Maybe this is the point of the game, but i kinda found it hard to play because of this reason.

Don't get me wrong the game is awesome. The story and characters i only met for the first 4 hours were great.

[Wilian]

especially from an accomplished dev studio,

As I already explained, being accomplished studio has in the end very little to do with finances and Obsidian has struggled with them in recent and distant past.

[Deleted]

Off-topic. but subject to the game series.

As someone who's only played the original for a few hours (maybe 4). Did anything happen with removing the micro managing of how combat worked. What i mean was after 1 enemy died i'd have to get all my melee to attack another target instead of "auto" selecting a new target. Maybe this is the point of the game, but i kinda found it hard to play because of this reason.

Don't get me wrong the game is awesome. The story and characters i only met for the first 4 hours were great.

you can configure AI in the game or select behaviors for the various characters to do that in automatic, however at the highest difficulty levels micromanagement is necessary cause there's a higher tactical need so having AI attacking casual NPCs does not work well

[Cosmic Janitor]

As I already explained, being accomplished studio has in the end very little to do with finances and Obsidian has struggled with them in recent and distant past.

Considering what other garbage gets funded by publishers I don't see how Obsidian isn't in a considerably better position.

[Aeula]

Considering what other garbage gets funded by publishers I don't see how Obsidian isn't in a considerably better position.

Bad luck. Making Fallout: New Vegas almost made them go bankrupt because Bethesda wouldn't pay them their bonus due to it getting a 1% lower score on metacritic than they needed for the bonus.

Also isometric games are probably seen as niche titles by potential backers, they probably don't want to risk it just yet or don't think the gains are worth it.

[Wilian]

Considering what other garbage gets funded by publishers I don't see how Obsidian isn't in a considerably better position.

Making good games doesn't mean you are financially well. Being funded well does. As Aeula mentioned, Obsidian nearly went bankrupt after Fallout NV despite the game sellings a shitload of more than Fallout 3, just because they had clause in the contract that said "You get X money for developing it, and Y money if you hit 85% metacritic score"

They hit 84% which led the the entire company nearly collapsing despite it being one of the most succesfull RPG titles to this date.

The prolonged developement of Stick of Truth had also similiar issue. (As well as prior the cancellation of their Alien Project, or at later date, downgrading their status with a tank game they co dev) When Ubi bought the rights of South Park and practically forced them to remake the game, (be it for better or worse), the company was against stretched thin and had to make massive layouts despite it being smash hit of a game.

Developing games is not cheap. Developers of shit games in general get by because those shit games sell just well enough for continued publisher funding and that funding is usually just about enough to keep the lights on.

If Obsidian tried to do game based on their own funding alone, they'd go bankrupt sooner than you can blink.

The cycle is Funding -> Game -> Making even -> The profit on top from which publisher gets largest cut if you bow to corporate

Going with Kickstarter/Fig is no different, except by the end they might end up with more money in general but even that usually is eaten up by increasing costs and necessary investments into more modern software and hardware. It's not a simplistic case of making a game and then money just floods in, not for middle tier companies trying to make it on their own.