# The Gaming Den

Welcome to the Gaming Den.

Skip to content

## New Infinity Engine style game in the works...

Discussions and debates about video games

Moderator: Moderators

Post Reply

- Print view

200 posts

- Page 1 of 8
  - Jump to page:
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- …
- 8
- Next

Lokathor
  Duke
  Posts: 2185
  Joined: Sun Nov 01, 2009 2:10 am
  Location: ID
  Contact:
  Contact Lokathor
  Website

### New Infinity Engine style game in the works...

- Quote

Post by Lokathor » Fri Sep 21, 2012 5:57 am

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/obs ... t-eternity
Obsidian (makers of Icewind Dale, Planescape: Torment, Neverwinter Nights 2, etc.) is going to be making a midieval fantasy RPG in the style of the Infinity Engine games. No one's posted about it yet, and it seems like they're going to have an interesting sort setting.
So, give it a look and maybe talk about it I guess.
[*]The Ends Of The Matrix: Github and Rendered
[*]After Sundown: Github and Rendered
Top

FatR
  Duke
  Posts: 1221
  Joined: Tue Dec 16, 2008 7:36 am

### Re: New Infinity Engine style game in the works...

- Quote

Post by FatR » Fri Sep 21, 2012 7:31 am

> Lokathor wrote:http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/obs ... t-eternity
> Obsidian (makers of Icewind Dale, Planescape: Torment, Neverwinter Nights 2, etc.) is going to be making a midieval fantasy RPG in the style of the Infinity Engine games. No one's posted about it yet, and it seems like they're going to have an interesting sort setting.

Um, no. It seems like they're going to have another collection of DnD cliches.
Anyway, I'll check this game when it is out, but I'm not very optimistic about it. Obsidian is a bug factory that can't make a realistic development plan to save their lives, and P:T was pretty much the last time when they delivered an above-average story.
Top

ishy
  Duke
  Posts: 2404
  Joined: Fri Aug 05, 2011 2:59 pm

###

- Quote

Post by ishy » Fri Sep 21, 2012 9:37 am

I did read this article about project eternity:
http://www.cinemablend.com/games/Publis ... 47113.html

> Gary Gygax wrote:The player’s path to role-playing mastery begins with a thorough understanding of the rules of the game

> Bigode wrote:I wouldn't normally make that blanket of a suggestion, but you seem to deserve it: scroll through the entire forum, read anything that looks interesting in term of design experience, then come back.

Top

ModelCitizen
  Knight-Baron
  Posts: 593
  Joined: Fri Sep 23, 2011 3:53 am

### Re: New Infinity Engine style game in the works...

- Quote

Post by ModelCitizen » Fri Sep 21, 2012 10:04 am

> FatR wrote:Anyway, I'll check this game when it is out, but I'm not very optimistic about it. Obsidian is a bug factory that can't make a realistic development plan to save their lives, and P:T was pretty much the last time when they delivered an above-average story.

In fairness, Obsidian's unrealistic development plans are often forced on them from outside (KotOR II, Alpha Protocol). I'm not about to say Project Eternity will be the next Torment and if it falls short of that EVERYTHING IS RUINED FOREVER, but I'm not about to write the game off either.
Top

Avoraciopoctules
  Overlord
  Posts: 8624
  Joined: Tue Oct 21, 2008 5:48 pm
  Location: Oakland, CA

###

- Quote

Post by Avoraciopoctules » Fri Sep 21, 2012 9:35 pm

I posted about Project Eternity in the Video Games thread before, but there's actually some information about what the game is going to look like now.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/obs ... sts/310512
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/obs ... sts/312639
Top

Lago PARANOIA
  Invincible Overlord
  Posts: 10555
  Joined: Thu Sep 25, 2008 3:00 am

###

- Quote

Post by Lago PARANOIA » Fri Sep 21, 2012 9:40 pm

> Lokathar wrote:is going to be making a midieval fantasy RPG in the style of the Infinity Engine games.

Err, why?
Even back in 1999-2000 when Baldur's Gate II mods were all the rage, the Infinity Engine was notorious for being clunky to modify and edit. Even the more advanced engines like Jade Empire and Knights of the Old Republic barely have more player customizability. Jade Empire In Style took several years to come out and it was basically just changing a few text things, activating dummied-out content, and redirecting a few animations.
Goddamn 2das.

> Josh Kablack wrote:Your freedom to make rulings up on the fly is in direct conflict with my freedom to interact with an internally consistent narrative. Your freedom to run/play a game without needing to understand a complex rule system is in direct conflict with my freedom to play a character whose abilities and flaws function as I intended within that ruleset. Your freedom to add and change rules in the middle of the game is in direct conflict with my ability to understand that rules system before I decided whether or not to join your game.
> In short, your entire post is dismissive of not merely my intelligence, but my agency. And I don't mean agency as a player within one of your games, I mean my agency as a person. You do not want me to be informed when I make the fundamental decisions of deciding whether to join your game or buying your rules system.

Top

nockermensch
  Duke
  Posts: 1896
  Joined: Fri Jan 06, 2012 1:11 pm
  Location: Rio: the Janeiro

### Re: New Infinity Engine style game in the works...

- Quote

Post by nockermensch » Fri Sep 21, 2012 10:13 pm

> Lokathor wrote:http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/obs ... t-eternity
> Obsidian (makers of Icewind Dale, Planescape: Torment, Neverwinter Nights 2, etc.) is going to be making a midieval fantasy RPG in the style of the Infinity Engine games. No one's posted about it yet, and it seems like they're going to have an interesting sort setting.
> So, give it a look and maybe talk about it I guess.

One week after the kickstart launch, they're at 1.8M...
In other kickstarter related news, Rich Burlew hurt his hand. OotS on hold until gods know when.
@ @ Nockermensch

> Koumei wrote:After all, in Firefox you keep tabs in your browser, but in SovietPutin's Russia, browser keeps tabs on you.

> Mord wrote:Chromatic Wolves are massively under-CRed. Its "Dood to stone" spell-like is a TPK waiting to happen if you run into it before anyone in the party has Dance of Sack or Shield of Farts.

Top

erik
  King
  Posts: 5847
  Joined: Fri Mar 07, 2008 7:54 pm

###

- Quote

Post by erik » Sat Sep 22, 2012 1:32 am

Ouch it sucks to get hurt like that.
Isn't a majority of the drawing just done with a mouse and copy-pasted shapes? Perhaps he may learn to use a mouse left handed.
For all my griping I do from time to time, I do wish him all the best in getting well.
Top

Avoraciopoctules
  Overlord
  Posts: 8624
  Joined: Tue Oct 21, 2008 5:48 pm
  Location: Oakland, CA

###

- Quote

Post by Avoraciopoctules » Sat Sep 22, 2012 2:18 am

So apparently wheel-lock pistols are a big deal because they are super-effective against the staple mage defense spells. This is forcing casters to start investing in real armor. Don't think I've seen that in a game before.
Top

Lokathor
  Duke
  Posts: 2185
  Joined: Sun Nov 01, 2009 2:10 am
  Location: ID
  Contact:
  Contact Lokathor
  Website

### Re: New Infinity Engine style game in the works...

- Quote

Post by Lokathor » Sat Sep 22, 2012 5:34 am

> FatR wrote:Um, no. It seems like they're going to have another collection of DnD cliches.

There's only so much you can ask from a group that's going for crowd-sourcing. They've gotta cater to mostly the lowest common denominator, so it'll be mostly tropes. The details so far seem nice enough.
First, there's the part about guns being available on the small scale, and good against magic defenses, so mages are starting to wear armor, even though armies aren't full of musketeers.
Also, the part about how your soul affects the amount of personal power you can have for yourself, which is pretty much the luminary/extra sort of thing that After Sundown had, which is good because settings often have a "why isn't everyone just learning to be a wizard or cleric?" issue.
[*]The Ends Of The Matrix: Github and Rendered
[*]After Sundown: Github and Rendered
Top

Avoraciopoctules
  Overlord
  Posts: 8624
  Joined: Tue Oct 21, 2008 5:48 pm
  Location: Oakland, CA

###

- Quote

Post by Avoraciopoctules » Mon Sep 24, 2012 5:42 pm

New post says that characters have combat and non combat abilities, and they pay for them out of separate resource pools. Looks like a major improvement over Baldur's Gate.
Top

mikayel
  NPC
  Posts: 7
  Joined: Thu Sep 27, 2012 5:29 pm

###

- Quote

Post by mikayel » Thu Sep 27, 2012 5:36 pm

Hey, old user who still lurks re-registered to post.
Mask of the Betrayer was a great game, and one of the very few that could satisfy an actual 'evil' playthrough. It alone is reason enough to buy NWN 2, even if you end up skipping the OC. Likewise, KotOR 2 was bugged to hell and incomplete, but the content there-in was great, as were the characters.
I don't think it'll be chock-full of tropes as this is their own setting and they can go in whatever direction they want. The team is pretty solid in terms of design/writing, the only issue is having enough time and not catering to the slackjawed half-wits who think cRPGs are romance sims and should be full of skill-minigames.
It is unfortunate that they chose a RTwP combat system, but provided they build it from the ground up it can still prove to be fun.
The Infinity Engine was originally designed for a real time strategy game, but Black Isle suggested Bioware go an RPG route because their engine just wasn't fit for an RTS, hence the IE games.
Still, if this is their attempt to give an IWD-esque game in an original setting, with better combat, and a game system that was designed for real-time and not a turn or phase based system that is being converted to real time, then I'm game.
IWD 1 and 2, despite having pretty standard storylines, actually had very good writing and the dungeons were great. IWD 1's art was amazing as well, places were just gorgeous to behold.
Basically, it's clear I'm looking forward to this, and since there's no publisher to blame any shortcomings on this time around, it will also prove if Obsidian can pull its own weight. After the whole meta-critic score fiasco with Bethsoft, I hope they come out on top and prove that some of the larger names can still develop decent cRPGs that aren't just FPS games with stats.
Last edited by mikayel on Thu Sep 27, 2012 5:39 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Top

Kaelik
  ArchDemon of Rage
  Posts: 14491
  Joined: Fri Mar 07, 2008 7:54 pm

###

- Quote

Post by Kaelik » Thu Sep 27, 2012 7:42 pm

I think the best thing they could do with a new IP is completely abandon vancian per day stuff.
That is just a really dumb thing to have in a Baulder's Gate/Icewind Dale like game.

> DSMatticus wrote:Kaelik gonna kaelik. Whatcha gonna do?

The U.S. isn't a democracy and if you think it is, you are a rube.
That's libertarians for you - anarchists who want police protection from their slaves.
Top

Blicero
  Duke
  Posts: 1131
  Joined: Thu May 07, 2009 12:07 am

###

- Quote

Post by Blicero » Thu Sep 27, 2012 7:50 pm

> Kaelik wrote:I think the best thing they could do with a new IP is completely abandon vancian per day stuff.
> That is just a really dumb thing to have in a Baulder's Gate/Icewind Dale like game.

I'd agree with that. Honestly, I think that Dragon Age: Origins had a pretty nice chassis to use for a cRPG.
Out beyond the hull, mucoid strings of non-baryonic matter streamed past like Christ's blood in the firmament.
Top

mikayel
  NPC
  Posts: 7
  Joined: Thu Sep 27, 2012 5:29 pm

###

- Quote

Post by mikayel » Thu Sep 27, 2012 8:41 pm

They haven't really specified much in way of system/mechanics, unfortunately. I'm honestly ok with Vancian casting so long as resting is not extremely simple (it was ridiculous in NWN). If they go for some kind of mana/mp route then I'm ok with that as well, as long as potion chugging isn't viable.
Top

sake
  Knight
  Posts: 400
  Joined: Fri Mar 07, 2008 7:54 pm

###

- Quote

Post by sake » Fri Sep 28, 2012 5:32 am

So when they say "style of the Infinity Engine games" do they mean that in a vague style sense, or in the Mega Man 9 sense where they''ll deliberately ignore every bloody improvement made to the genre over the last 20 odd years for the sake of wanking off to nostalgia? I'm sorry, but as it is I can't stand going back to play the old Infinity Engine games due the lack of any sort of zoom, rotatation or movable camera features... and that's with the benefit of nostalgia goggles.
Top

Avoraciopoctules
  Overlord
  Posts: 8624
  Joined: Tue Oct 21, 2008 5:48 pm
  Location: Oakland, CA

###

- Quote

Post by Avoraciopoctules » Fri Sep 28, 2012 5:51 am

> sake wrote:So when they say "style of the Infinity Engine games" do they mean that in a vague style sense, or in the Mega Man 9 sense where they''ll deliberately ignore every bloody improvement made to the genre over the last 20 odd years for the sake of wanking off to nostalgia? I'm sorry, but as it is I can't stand going back to play the old Infinity Engine games due the lack of any sort of zoom, rotatation or movable camera features... and that's with the benefit of nostalgia goggles.

> http://www.gamrreview.com/article/89290/interview-we-talk-kickstarter-and-project-eternity-with-tim-cain/ wrote:Chris: While Project Eternity is about taking RPGs back to their roots, will you be looking to change things up and tweak that classic formula at all?
> Tim: Certainly we plan to make changes. We are not the same designers that we were five, ten or even twenty years ago, and we want the game to reflect that. Besides, there are some rough edges around all of the games we are being inspired by, so we plan to make some improvements along the way. As long as we keep to the spirit of those earlier games, we will be happy and we hope you will be too.

Top

Voss
  Prince
  Posts: 3912
  Joined: Fri Mar 07, 2008 7:54 pm

###

- Quote

Post by Voss » Mon Oct 01, 2012 3:27 am

Well, maybe the empty marketing speak makes you feel better, but... eh. Obsidian has been trying to ride the 'some of us where on the teams that made planescape torment and the original fallout' train for far too long now.
Their own games (by which I mean the sequels to other games that other companies have let them juggle to massively mixed success) and terribly rough around the edges, and fall prey to all sorts of bullshit issues, particularly in the endgame.
Top

Whipstitch
  Prince
  Posts: 3657
  Joined: Fri Apr 29, 2011 10:23 pm

###

- Quote

Post by Whipstitch » Mon Oct 01, 2012 4:08 am

> Voss wrote:Obsidian has been trying to ride the 'some of us where on the teams that made planescape torment and the original fallout' train for far too long now.

I think that's more outside perception than reality.
Top

John Magnum
  Knight-Baron
  Posts: 826
  Joined: Tue Feb 14, 2012 12:49 am

###

- Quote

Post by John Magnum » Mon Oct 01, 2012 5:16 am

The entire first paragraph of Project Eternity's Kickstarter's "Who is Obsidian Entertainment?" section consists of all the projects that people in Obsidian worked on before they were at Obsidian. The paragraph after that has a handful of mentions of Fallout: New Vegas, but is mostly describing... the pre-Obsidian projects of individual contributors to the team. They don't actually mention any game they've developed as Obsidian except New Vegas. They don't describe themselves as "The team that brought you KotOR II and Alpha Protocol". They're "The team that has the same guys that brought you Icewind Dale and Planescape Torment".
Last edited by John Magnum on Mon Oct 01, 2012 5:17 am, edited 2 times in total.
-JM
Top

theye1
  Apprentice
  Posts: 66
  Joined: Sun Sep 12, 2010 5:41 am
  Location: Darwin, Australia

###

- Quote

Post by theye1 » Mon Oct 01, 2012 7:14 am

I want another game in the Planescape Torment universe.
Top

Voss
  Prince
  Posts: 3912
  Joined: Fri Mar 07, 2008 7:54 pm

###

- Quote

Post by Voss » Mon Oct 01, 2012 2:34 pm

Yes, well. Odds are bad that anything is really going to happen along those lines. Just the license issues alone are laughable, partly because although hasbro currently has it back, they haven't done jackshit with it, and probably won't until 5e becomes an actual thing (if it even does). Then digging in to issues about moving it from 2nd edition, and digging up a setting that WotC binned... yeah. No.
@Whipstich- what John said. And Avellone in particular mentions it a hell of a lot.
Check the current poll on obsidian's website- it is asking what game do people want PE to be like.
Options include:
Baldur's Gate
Icewind Dale
Planescape Torment
Temple of Elemental Evil (and I can only assume they mean 'horribly buggy' by including this as an option)
and for no apparent reason, Call of Duty.
Actual Obsidian games aren't even in the running.
The results are a bit amusing considering how often they shill for IWD. Its BG and PST all the way.
Last edited by Voss on Mon Oct 01, 2012 2:37 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Top

Starmaker
  Duke
  Posts: 2402
  Joined: Fri Mar 07, 2008 7:54 pm
  Location: Redmonton
  Contact:
  Contact Starmaker
  Website

###

- Quote

Post by Starmaker » Mon Oct 01, 2012 3:35 pm

I want Journey to the Centre of Arcanum.
Top

Kaelik
  ArchDemon of Rage
  Posts: 14491
  Joined: Fri Mar 07, 2008 7:54 pm

###

- Quote

Post by Kaelik » Mon Oct 01, 2012 4:29 pm

I want actual turn based comment like ToEE, but that's about all I want from ToEE.
Aside from that, I'd probably want BG more than IWD. But honestly, while Planescape is great, let's be honest, anything made to be "in that style" now would involve people not understanding the style, screwing it up, and making a bad/mediocre game.

> DSMatticus wrote:Kaelik gonna kaelik. Whatcha gonna do?

The U.S. isn't a democracy and if you think it is, you are a rube.
That's libertarians for you - anarchists who want police protection from their slaves.
Top

Whipstitch
  Prince
  Posts: 3657
  Joined: Fri Apr 29, 2011 10:23 pm

###

- Quote

Post by Whipstitch » Mon Oct 01, 2012 4:45 pm

> Voss wrote:
> @Whipstich- what John said. And Avellone in particular mentions it a hell of a lot.
> Check the current poll on obsidian's website- it is asking what game do people want PE to be like.
> Options include:
> Baldur's Gate
> Icewind Dale
> Planescape Torment
> Temple of Elemental Evil (and I can only assume they mean 'horribly buggy' by including this as an option)
> and for no apparent reason, Call of Duty.
> Actual Obsidian games aren't even in the running.
> The results are a bit amusing considering how often they shill for IWD. Its BG and PST all the way.

Game company asks what Infinity Engine game people want their Infinity Engine-like game to be the most like! This shocking news at 11!!!
I get that this project has inspired a helluva a lot of nostalgia fueled fan wank. But this particular vein of criticism isn't recent at all, it's been in place since before Obsidian even released anything and it's a touch silly at this point.
Top
Post Reply

- Print view

Display:
Sort by:
Direction:

200 posts

- Page 1 of 8
  - Jump to page:
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- …
- 8
- Next

Return to “I Gave the Mouse a Cookie...”

Jump to

- Main
- ↳ About the Gaming Den
- ↳ In My Humble Opinion...
- ↳ I Gave the Mouse a Cookie...
- ↳ In The Trenches
- ↳ It's My Own Invention...
- ↳ MPSIMS