Obsidian teasing Pillars of Eternity 2

[Jastall]

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.

Yeah, Obsidian has always been in the shit financially. Had PoE been a failure, they would probably have gone down under. Even after its success, they're still not the richest kids on the block since they make niche titles by definition.

Still, the company has soldiered on since more than a decade. I backed POE1, did not regret one cent of it, and I'll do it for this one.

[Deleted]

I found the first game to be boring and confusing.

Same here and I loved the Baldurs Gates and Icwind Dales of old. I appreciate that lots of effort went into the game and especially the story, but Pillars somehow was a drag. Gave up after less than 10 hours iirc and still intend to give it another, longer try.

[Cairhiin]

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

Grieving Mother was very good but some of the others really could have used a bit more. I didn't really care for many of them.

[XDurionX]

I really hope they don't litter the world with backer npcs like in the first game, that totally ruined the immersion.

[Lord Pebbleton]

Same here and I loved the Baldurs Gates and Icwind Dales of old. I appreciate that lots of effort went into the game and especially the story, but Pillars somehow was a drag. Gave up after less than 10 hours iirc and still intend to give it another, longer try.

I didn't even get to that part, I think I gave up after the first zones. From the get-go, I realised I wasn't interested in its whole game style. The dialogues were uninspired (maybe it's the translation in my language?), and I got frustrated after 5 seconds because I'm a treasure hunter and I always have to check every corner, but the guy you control takes ages to go places. So I had my OCD to check every corner, in a game that (I was told) is fairly big, the guy is slow, and I don't even like a thing of it. So yeah... I couldn't give it another try even if I tried.

[Deleted]

I really hope they don't litter the world with backer npcs like in the first game, that totally ruined the immersion.

that's weird, for me they increased it

[Fencers]

As far as I am concerned Obsidian, Harebrained Schemes, InExile, Larian Studios can keep making games like Pillars, Tyranny, Shadowrun, Wasteland and Divinity forever. These are exactly the types of games I am almost exclusively interested in playing and have backed/bought all of these games in the CRPG revival.

Funny enough, I got the message Pillars 2 was being funded through Obsidian's (outstanding) mobile game Pathfinder Adventures a day or so ago. I immediately backed the game for the premium digital deluxe thingy.

I am fucking stoked. White March was kinda better than the main Pillars 1 campaign. If Ob improves on that even a tiny bit I am down.

[Wilian]

that's weird, for me they increased it

How did entirely disconnected NPCs that told non lore bullshit increase your immersion?

[Deleted]

How did entirely disconnected NPCs that told non lore bullshit increase your immersion?

For me it has to do with what the character is able to do. That is read souls, it is ok for a person with such ability to see a particular intense moment in the life of a person moments that theoretically remain imprinted on this person soul.

Let's consider the fact that in the lore the soul also contain information and memories of past lives, so much that judgement and recruitment procedures for certain orders, are based on those past lives.

It's not always about direct context, not *everything* need to be sealed into the lore like a neatly closed box. It's a matter of reading the souls of the individuals and read their past life or events, and that's part of what your character can do hence it increase the immersion for the main character.

If the piece of story does not talk directly that the character was from the Deadfire archipelago, but it's talking about a ship and pirates I can simply imagine it based on the information I already have, and place it there myself. If I can't place it I can simply imagine that what the character is seeing is a place that is unfamiliar or unknown to him.

[Fencers]

How did entirely disconnected NPCs that told non lore bullshit increase your immersion?

I didn't talk to most of the backer NPCs. Once I found that they just say random things, I took it as they were babbling ghosts that I could see in game because the lead hero was a 'watcher'. Which I did think was neat from a certain point of view.

[Cosmic Janitor]

As far as I am concerned Obsidian, Harebrained Schemes, InExile, Larian Studios can keep making games like Pillars, Tyranny, Shadowrun, Wasteland and Divinity forever.

Gotta agree with that. Even though I like games like the TES Series and others with a more action oriented 3D world as well, the ones mentioned by you certainly have their place and I await every new release. Btw, how is the state of the latest Divinity? I didn't want to ruin the experience with the early access stuff, but I'm definitely curious if it's already in a good state.

- - - Updated - - -

I didn't talk to most of the backer NPCs. Once I found that they just say random things, I took it as they were babbling ghosts that I could see in game because the lead hero was a 'watcher'. Which I did think was neat from a certain point of view.

I found them weird. Usually blabbering ghosts give you insight (like they would do in Divinity:OS) into the world and help you find secrets. I only stopped halfway through the game caring about them sinve I kept hoping I would get some good intel from them :/. Afterwards they were more of an alien presence and I could have done very well without them.

[Cakka]

Just a heads up to all the cool people who backed PoE. Check your email for $5 discount code from Obsidian for this campaign.

[zealo]

Most of the ones I did bother reading (up to about early Defiance bay) ranged from mediocre to god awful fan-fiction quality writing.

Aside from just running a basic spelling check, it was pretty thoroughly mediocre. Content written by people whom have no college/university level education in literature and language, and doesn't read a whole lot of more intermediate novels do tends to be at varying degrees of awful. This is also coincidentally why a lot of fan faction for media is such utter garbage.

[WarpedAcorn]

So a few days into their month-long Kickstarter and Obsidian is at double of what they were asking. Nice. =D

[Deleted]

So a few days into their month-long Kickstarter and Obsidian is at double of what they were asking. Nice. =D

I don't think is gonna budge much from there though, there's been a serious slowdown, and imho recent issues with nXile that dropped off italian localization of Torment has people thinking twice before putting money when so much localization is involved in the stretch goals.

I'm obviously always hopeful they will get as much money as possible!

[Cakka]

New stretch goal, announced on Valentine's Day of course, is companion relatioships. Which does not equal romances, but could go there in some cases. I know a lot of people wanted something like that in PoE so now you will have it. Also funniest video Obsidian has ever made!

[Puupi]

Wtf, can't they get their own funding? It's not like they produce total garbage at every turn..

Yes, they can. But idiots keep throwing money at these "crowdfunding" things so they keep begging. It's free money for them. It's not an investment, it's a giveaway. Do a 2 minute video and a webpage, get million dollars. It's worth it.

[Arrashi]

Yes, they can. But idiots keep throwing money at these "crowdfunding" things so they keep begging. It's free money for them. It's not an investment, it's a giveaway. Do a 2 minute video and a webpage, get million dollars. It's worth it.

Without those "idiots" most of those games either would never come out or came out in much worse state.

[Deleted]

Without those "idiots" most of those games either would never come out or came out in much worse state.

This. We've not been seeing a story centered CRPG in years since pretty much Baldur's Gate 2/Torment/ICD. The last one was the first Dragon Age, but that format was abandoned starting the second.

As usual for those who really don't understand why people are so fond of crowdfunding: Kickstarter give companies the ability to relinquish publishers that pretty much decide what is released or not, instead of the devs. Crowdfuding move that power to the consumer. Thanks to to it we have the ability, even if limited, to expand and direct where the industry is going or at least give devs the ability to make the game they want to make instead of compromising.

And yes I'm aware that certain campaigns in the end requested also the aid of publisher, shit happens and so on and so on.

Also we do get the game, so it's more "paying in advance" than a giveaway. Is there a risk? yes, also there's a risk every time I put my foot onto the stairs to get out of the house, going to a restaurant (due to possible food poisoning), take the bus, take the car and so on and so on.

If you don't like kickstarter feel free to, hopefully I've explained what are the benefits for us and the industry at large, and you can always buy the game when it's a finished product anyway.

[Halicia]

Yes, they can. But idiots keep throwing money at these "crowdfunding" things so they keep begging. It's free money for them. It's not an investment, it's a giveaway. Do a 2 minute video and a webpage, get million dollars. It's worth it.

I don't know if its "idiotic" in this respect. (Full disclosure, I've backed 3 items. All 3 very successfully, but one has left me unhappy with the whole process of how annoying it was to "keep up with")

This is the sort of title kickstarter is made for. An RPG of this type is very dependent on scale, and its difficult to judge how much you should invest in building the game/world unless you have a specific amount of pre-orders saying "You have already sold this amount."

Its like say, a restaurant going out on a limb with a very weird imported seafood. If people have already committed to eating the dish when it's available, its win/win. Yes, the dish could end up being awful... but if you trust the chef, you'll prolly be satisfied at the very least.

Even though I have yet to finish the original, I don't think it was wasted money. (unlike other AAA games...)