the bar has been raised
Ygramul
Member Posts: 1,060
[Before hastily moving this to the "Off-Topic" boards, stay for a moment: this is, in fact, about EE games and the future Beamdog projects.]
Just started playing Pillars of Eternity. It features superbly written narrative (also, what seems to be very well balanced gameplay and a built-in no-reload feature that the game is balanced for).
I do believe that PoE has just set a new standard for the isometric CRPGs, a true inheritor of the BG legacy. Every future game of this genre will have to be compared to it.
I do hope the various Beamdog projects in the pipeline will pay equally strong attention to good writing and narrative as well as game balance.
Just started playing Pillars of Eternity. It features superbly written narrative (also, what seems to be very well balanced gameplay and a built-in no-reload feature that the game is balanced for).
I do believe that PoE has just set a new standard for the isometric CRPGs, a true inheritor of the BG legacy. Every future game of this genre will have to be compared to it.
I do hope the various Beamdog projects in the pipeline will pay equally strong attention to good writing and narrative as well as game balance.
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Comments
PoE was created with the financial help from more than 70000 backer. It gave Obsidian a much-needed source to work on the game in the most detailed way possible.
Beamdog, on the other hand, has had (at least, up until now) to work with the limited sources of a small company.
So, the starting conditions of Obsidian and Beamdog were different. Back in the day the Kickstarter option was dismissed after a dialogue with the rightholders of BG.
The Adventure Y has been in the works for a long time already and an announcement of its release is expected in the nearest 3 months or so. As I see it, the project now is in the stage of gathering your party all the created and thought-about pieces together. This is why I doubt much can be changed in it after the PoE impressions.
And to me, the Adventure Y doesn't need to take anything from PoE. All it has to do is to become a natural story between BG1 and BG2 that looks and feels like it was created by the original developers of BG and incorporates all the enhancing Beamdog has already done.
So, the Adventure Y has to live up to BG legacy and EEs combined, and not up to PoE.
We don't know what Beamdog will do after it: will they enhance Planescape or IWD2? Will they make IWD3? Will they try BGNext? Only knowing answers to these questions we realistically may discuss how something that looks and feels excellent in PoE can be used in the Beamdog's project.
The thing I'm sure about is the fact that any future "BG successor" (as media often labels it) will have to be a "PoE friend" as well. Beamdog's crew loves BG, starting right with Trent Oster and Cameron Tofer. I'm 100℅ sure that if we ask them about that, they'll happily agree.
And this is why I can bet that all the bright sides of PoE (and by that time, Torment: Tides of Numenera as well) will be taken into consideration if they decide to make "BG X".
To be clear: all that I said is in support of Beamdog, including their future projects.
We should all be cognizant (and grateful) of high quality projects being developed in this genre. I doubt there is any fan of BG that won't buy a good game of this kind.
I have also high hopes (and high expectations) from the new Torment.
(*) the actual human retina
(**) holographic
4 million compared to whatever was in Trent's pocket when he said "You know what'd be cool..."
I haven't had a chance to play it yet (and likely won't for a while yet), and sure, it'd be swell if the game is so amazing that even just dipping my toes in will be enough to convince me it's the best thing since sliced bread. But I can't help but be skeptical.
http://rien-ici.com/iemod/
I actually look at this situation as the opposite - Beamdog has set a new standard for good-quality games at affordable prices.
For the time being, I'm going to stick with my IWD:EE playthrough that cost me 2 or 3 times less and is probably at least as enjoyable.
I can die a happy man now.
Even if the remaining 90% of the game is junk, this moment alone had been worth the $45 I spent.
Halleluyah!
Perhaps I'm just getting old and don't have enough room left in my heart for learning new fantasy...
2ed d&d just seemed to mesh almost perfectly with the infinity engine and for all its polish PoE still feels rushed in the fluff department. (ironic as obsidian claim they were very proud of that side of things)
Open up the mobile market to more than just free-to-play but give-us-money-anyway-or-you'll-have-a-bad-time crap.
pillars of eternity. .. sounds like a really tall long-lasting drink. Perfect!
Incidentally, I'm now much farther into PoE, and I must say I'm quite liking it. I find the lore intriguing, the writing sharp, the voice-acting (where it exists) strong, the areas beautiful, and the rules system solid (as far as I can tell partway through one playthrough, anyway). I'm not yet entirely sold on the specific stronghold mechanics, and I wish there were more NPCs available earlier, but these are fairly minor complaints. I will say that the save time bug is getting annoying. Hopefully they'll fix that soon, although I understand other people are having more substantial, and thus higher priority, bugs.
Fixed save game issues with spells and abilities that place down traps. The loading time was due to this bug.
https://forums.obsidian.net/blog/7/entry-179-patch-notes-103/