# Obsidian's Old-School RPG Kickstarter, Project: Eternity



## Vintage Paw (Sep 14, 2012)

http://kotaku.com/5942307/the-people-behind-fallout-and-planescape-are-making-my-dream-rpg
and
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/obsidian/project-eternity

So they are crowd-funding the rpg they've always wanted to make, and that they say the fans have always wanted. It's going to be old school, isometric, with the 'best of' all the things we love: exploration, strong narrative, customisation, lore, combat, etc.

I expect Epona to have a small hyperventilate about it  Anyone else excited at the prospect?

I came to rpgs later than this era, and having had a go at playing Planescape, I kinda fizzled out and stopped after a while. Maybe I've been conditioned to like my glossy graphics and 'interactive cinematic experiences?' That said, it's a project worth supporting, I think. If you like that sort of thing, obviously. And, of course, cutting out the publisher-driven production model is what kickstarter clearly was for. I wonder if it will lead to other high profile developers following suit?


----------



## FridgeMagnet (Sep 14, 2012)

If they were doing a mac version I would put money in. Otherwise I won't.

I am increasingly sceptical about the retro gaming movement though. Fine, back to old school qualities of plot and depth and interaction rather than flashy graphics etc, I'm all for that, and it works well on mobile. But it also needs to be innovative and move on within that medium. I don't see a lot happening there. The best retro stuff is shooters tbh.


----------



## tommers (Sep 14, 2012)

Yes.  I am in.  Brilliant.


----------



## tommers (Sep 14, 2012)

I'm a bit scared to look at how mental RPG Codex are going.


----------



## Vintage Paw (Sep 14, 2012)

FridgeMagnet said:


> If they were doing a mac version I would put money in. Otherwise I won't.
> 
> I am increasingly sceptical about the retro gaming movement though. Fine, back to old school qualities of plot and depth and interaction rather than flashy graphics etc, I'm all for that, and it works well on mobile. But it also needs to be innovative and move on within that medium. I don't see a lot happening there. The best retro stuff is shooters tbh.


 
Well, this is just it, isn't it. I expect there will be more enthusiasm and support for the project than there will be people actually playing it (and playing it to completion). There's a great deal of love for old school rpgs, as many people cut their teeth on them back in the day. But how much of that is cuddly nostalgia, and how much honestly represents a desire for games to still be like that in their entirety? A fair few people I know wax lyrical about those older games, and yet when they've gone back to play them again recently, they've ditched them after a few hours, because they just don't feel the same any more.

I look forward to seeing how it develops though, but I do hope there is some innovation in there to make it more than just a straight return to the old. They say that if it's successful it'll be the beginning of a franchise, but to be quite honest, unless it does progress somehow I can't see it being anything other than a one-off trip down memory lane, with a new story, and all the bits you wished were in the first rpgs you ever played. I think it'll be hard to sustain interest in a longer series.


----------



## tommers (Sep 14, 2012)

They'll probably reach their goal by tomorrow morning.  There's a real market for this.  Lots of people are very dissatisfied with the way RPGs have gone.  I know what you're saying but lots of people still play those old games over and over again.


----------



## Stigmata (Sep 14, 2012)

Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer was a very good RPG of the old school. It's not entirely a lost art, and the genre can reflect improvements in technology.


----------



## tommers (Sep 14, 2012)

It's certainly not lost by them.  If anybody can, then....  Even New Vegas compared to Fallout 3.


----------



## Epona (Sep 15, 2012)

Vintage Paw said:


> I expect Epona to have a small hyperventilate about it  Anyone else excited at the prospect?


 
Just seen this, hyperventilation occurring as predicted


----------



## Vintage Paw (Sep 15, 2012)

I knew it 

Well, they reached their target, very quickly.


----------



## Epona (Sep 16, 2012)

Dead State is the other RPG I'm looking forward to, they also went the kickstarter route which will hopefully speed things along a bit, I've been following development on this thing for a good couple of years now!

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/70755535/dead-state-the-zombie-survival-rpg

http://www.deadstate.doublebearproductions.com/


----------



## tommers (Sep 16, 2012)

Yes, Dead State looks very good.  Any ideas when it will arrive?


----------



## tommers (Sep 16, 2012)

Suggested stretch goals...

$1.5 million  - we'll write romances
$2 million - we won't let Chris Avellone write them


----------



## Chz (Sep 16, 2012)

Obsidian are brilliant and all, but there's no way in hell with their track record they're getting any money from me until I can actually _see_ a finished game!

I put my money into Planetary Annihilation instead. TA with dropping moons on things - how can it go wrong?


----------



## FridgeMagnet (Sep 16, 2012)

Has anyone been following how Project Zomboid is doing btw? On the subject of old school crowd funded RPGs. I did put in some cash for it a while back but it was pretty alpha at the time, and I haven't been keeping up.


----------



## Epona (Sep 16, 2012)

tommers said:


> Yes, Dead State looks very good. Any ideas when it will arrive?


 
They're saying December 2013 at the latest, I'm taking that as a very rough estimate rather than set in stone 

I have also just found the public beta of Age of Decadence which I am currently downloading.  Apparently combat is absolutely unforgiving, so not sure how far I'll be able to get, given that I'm a bit shit at games really


----------



## Stigmata (Sep 16, 2012)

If you pledge 10K you can play a board game with the dev team


----------



## Epona (Sep 17, 2012)

Epona said:


> I have also just found the public beta of Age of Decadence which I am currently downloading. Apparently combat is absolutely unforgiving, so not sure how far I'll be able to get, given that I'm a bit shit at games really


 
Reporting back on this, in case it's news to anyone else who may be interested.
It is utterly unforgiving and difficult, but not in a button-mashing way (which I am shit at), but a turn-based-combat old-school RPG, difficult in the sense that you'd better have planned your character build and equipment well, and you'd better be proficient at using terrain/obstacles to your advantage in combat and learn what type of attacks work best in which situations. Charging into combat with an ill-thought-out mix of skills (at least at the start of the demo, there is a bit of leeway to diversify later, and there is no alchemy in the demo - I daresay once healing stuff/buffs and the like are included in the full version there will be a bit more wiggle-room), weapon and armor that doesn't fully play to your strengths, not understanding how to best use the different types of attack, and hoping for the best, is going to have you reloading. A Lot. It's also old-school in that an unlucky roll can ruin your day - but as an old P'n'P-er, that feels comfortable to me.

Where it is a little different is that it includes text adventure style dialogue-driven segments, which took me a little getting used to at first, but I think it seems to work well to deliver the story and give a lot of information about characters, factions, and the political intrigue etc. The setting is very Roman in flavour, but with fantasy twists - although it's not high fantasy, there's no dragons or spellcasting that I've come across so far, but mysticism and superstition are part of the world and mages used to exist but magic has died out.

I'd urge anyone who enjoys (or has in the past enjoyed) that type of game to give the beta a try - I found it pretty stable and bug-free, which is also encouraging.  I've also had 2 playthroughs of the demo using completely different styles of character and in different factions, the plots interweave brilliantly but the playthroughs were very different.

Download Links
(Obviously the PirateBay link is now out of date, I got it with no problem from Atomic Gamer)


----------



## FridgeMagnet (Oct 3, 2012)

Here's another kickstarter old school RPG project: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/lootdrop/an-old-school-rpg-by-brenda-brathwaite-and-tom-hal

Some people involved there from classic games of yore, and the base level will be PC and Mac - I'm considering putting in some cash.


----------



## golightly (Mar 28, 2015)

Big bump!

This has just been released as Pillars of Eternity. 

I am sorely tempted.

Epona, Vintage Paw. What are you thoughts?


----------



## Vintage Paw (Mar 28, 2015)

Yes! I've seen a few people playing it and enjoying it. I know someone else who tried it out and it reminded them of Neverwinter Nights (2, probably, can't remember) and they really hate that game so they don't like this either. I'm going to keep an eye on it, seems like a possibility, definitely!


----------



## FridgeMagnet (Mar 28, 2015)

They did do a Mac version in the end, then.


----------



## golightly (Mar 28, 2015)

Vintage Paw said:


> Yes! I've seen a few people playing it and enjoying it. I know someone else who tried it out and it reminded them of Neverwinter Nights (2, probably, can't remember) and they really hate that game so they don't like this either. I'm going to keep an eye on it, seems like a possibility, definitely!


 
Neverwinter Nights 2 was a great disappointment to me. I loved the original, though. Hmm... I suppose I have enough games to keep me occupied at the moment but a new RPG is always tempting.


----------



## Epona (Mar 29, 2015)

golightly said:


> Big bump!
> 
> This has just been released as Pillars of Eternity.
> 
> ...



Nah, I am having trouble trying to not be evicted due to a massive bill right now, I will look at it at some point when shit has settled down.  Looks awesome, and good reviews.


----------



## golightly (Mar 29, 2015)

Epona said:


> Nah, I am having trouble trying to not be evicted due to a massive bill right now, I will look at it at some point when shit has settled down.  Looks awesome, and good reviews.


 
Yep, some things have to take priority. I hope things sort out soon.


----------



## Vintage Paw (Mar 30, 2015)

Yes, I hope everything goes well for you, Epona


----------



## Cid (Apr 5, 2015)

Got it... It's great so far. Very much what it says it is. Pause, plan combat very carefully, unpause, watch in dismay as your tank gets knocked down and everything goes to shit. Also no scaling, so it has that element of 'hmm, can I take that thing on? ohshitno'.


----------

