Project Eternity characters and parties explained

For those who'd like to know more about Obsidian's old-school RPG, codenamed 'Project Eternity,' before Kickstarting it, the Fallout: New Vegas developer has shared new details on making your own character, forming a party, and more. It's also for, you know, those who already helped the game blast past its funding goal, and who are now hoovering up all information to sustain them for the long, long wait before it's released.

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For those who'd like to know more about Obsidian's old-school RPG, codenamed 'Project Eternity,' before Kickstarting it, the Fallout: New Vegas and Alpha Protocol developer has shared new details on making your own character, forming a party, and more. It's also for, you know, those who already helped the game blast past its funding goal, and who are now hoovering up all information to sustain them for the long, long wait before it's released.

Obsidian's update post explains character creation will let players choose their own "name, sex, class, race (including subrace), culture, traits, ability scores, portrait, and the fundamental starting options of his or her class (gear, skills, and talents)." The game kicks off when you witness "an extraordinary and horrific supernatural event," then set off into the world to clear it all up.

If you don't want to wander alone, you can recruit up to five companions to your party, who "exist for both narrative and mechanical purposes." They'll all have an interest in your quest, and react to what happens, plus they also help you beat the heck out of enemies if you're a violent sort.

Do check the full update for more info from Josh Sawyer, or read our interview with Obsidian CEO Feargus Urquhart for more on their dreams for the game.

With 28 days still to go, Project Eternity's Kickstarter campaign has blown past its $1.1 million goal and started on stretch goals, closing in on the $1.6 million needed for a Mac version.

From The Chatty
  • reply
    September 18, 2012 6:50 AM

    Alice O'Connor posted a new article, Project Eternity characters and parties explained.

    For those who'd like to know more about Obsidian's old-school RPG, codenamed 'Project Eternity,' before Kickstarting it, the Fallout: New Vegas developer has shared new details on making your own character, forming a party, and more. It's also for, you know, those who already helped the game blast past its funding goal, and who are now hoovering up all information to sustain them for the long, long wait before it's released.

    • reply
      September 18, 2012 9:58 AM

      I was showing the kickstarter page to a friend who hasn't seen a game dev kickstarter yet. Long story short, the question eventually came up what happens if the game never gets released? It happens. Games get canned all the time, though usually by publishers not developers. That kinda got me thinking. There's always a change a game doesn't get finished; Duke Nukem basically comes to mind? Or, it could still suck worse than Daitakana.

      That gave me pause from instantly hitting the button.

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        September 18, 2012 10:01 AM

        If it were some random guy begging for money to make something stupidly amibitious, sure, that would be a concern. But this is fucking Obsidian man. They might produce something buggy as all hell, but it's just about guaranteed to be awesome nonetheless.

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      September 18, 2012 12:39 PM

      The stretch goals really sucked the hype out of it for me. 200K more and there will be a player house to "chillax" in. That doesn't sound like a goal they want to reach because they want to do it and they just need 200k more to be able to pull it off. Instead it comes across to me as pandering at best, and a lack of vision at worst.

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        September 18, 2012 12:51 PM

        I would guess it's more like "Hey, we hit our goal and people seem to like stretch goals, so let's think of some other things we could do".

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          September 18, 2012 1:16 PM

          The planetary annihilation guys had a clear idea of what they wanted to achieve. Because of this, I think, they were able to communicate, clearly, a list of goals that added value to the game in proportion to the money they asked for. "Tthis is so awesome, we would love to be able to add it." If you want my confidence, and money, that's how you do it.

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        September 18, 2012 1:13 PM

        I kinda agree that some of the goals seemed half-hearted. More platforms makes sense, but I could see more funding also meaning more language support. $$ = EFIGS, $$$ = even more and $$$$$ = spoken language support etc. Or $$$$ = Extra high res texture support Support for additional DX 11+ features, etc. The real polish stuff that usually has to get dropped due to a lack of funding; really speed to market because they see a point they can't make payroll.

        Or, the real truth: !=$$$ means we move some of these things into DLC, which is probably the real story behind some of these goals like player housing.

        1.8 million, New Playable Race, Class, and Companion!
        Perfect example. It's just the kind of thing that usually gets moved to an expansion or DLC. But for $600k more upfront we'll make sure to include it in the initial release.

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        September 18, 2012 1:16 PM

        I think i can understand the point about the player house, but the stretch goals for class options, more companion NPCs and extra quests and main storyline all sound great to me.


        I'd like to see a player house if only just to have somewhere safe to store stuff... i tend to hoard cool weapons and armor, haha.

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          September 18, 2012 1:30 PM

          Yeah, player housing is something I have a hard time caring about. I can't think of many, if any games that've featured it in a way that was fun.

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