Obsidian's Pillars of Eternity [BETA RELEASED, GO TO THE NEW THREAD]

[Smarts]

All this smells like Planescape.

It won't be Planescape, I know. But there's just a flavour. Same smell. Hints of different deities and myths, battles between powerful forces and divine champions, same feeling of bleak inevitability, dying gods, the power of belief and the unity of rings.

Specifically, Planescape: Torment, if there's a character who struggles in pain to escape a cycle.

What's the phrase? Spiritual successor? Yeah, put my bet down on that one, bookie.

 

[kaizoku]

Considering his latest blog entry, Sawyer has probably been creating his own game world.

So maybe we end up with something better than the Planescape setting? :hopeful:

 

[Infinitron]

All this smells like Planescape.

It won't be Planescape, I know. But there's just a flavour. Same smell. Hints of different deities and myths, battles between powerful forces and divine champions, same feeling of bleak inevitability, dying gods, the power of belief and the unity of rings.

Specifically, Planescape: Torment, if there's a character who struggles in pain to escape a cycle.

What's the phrase? Spiritual successor? Yeah, put my bet down on that one, bookie.

ALL Obsidian titles smell like Planescape.

 

[Smarts]

Huh. I'd never heard of this before. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Isle's_Torn

"In Torn, the player assumed the role of a wanderer, who was cursed to bring misfortune to people and places around it. Under a king's orders, the player undertook quests to clarify a series of conflicting prophecies. Unlike several other Black Isle Studios games, the game was to take place in an original world titled "Torn" instead of a traditional Dungeons & Dragons location."

"Torn was to contain four types of magic: Chaos, Order, Alchemy and Summoning. Order magic primarily consisted of healing, protective, and empowering spells. Conversely, Chaos magic was to have consisted of harmful elemental attacks, detrimental status afflictions, and invisibility spells."

I'm not sure if that's possible, but... well, it does feel kinda similar.

ALL Obsidian titles smell like Planescape.

Ha, true. This time, though, they might be working with their own thing instead of trying to retell PS:T in Star Wars or something.

 

[Executer]

No sleep for the wanderer?

 

[GarfunkeL]

Well, cautious fapping then.

 

[skuphundaku]

Huh. I'd never heard of this before. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Isle's_Torn

"In Torn, the player assumed the role of a wanderer, who was cursed to bring misfortune to people and places around it. Under a king's orders, the player undertook quests to clarify a series of conflicting prophecies. Unlike several other Black Isle Studios games, the game was to take place in an original world titled "Torn" instead of a traditional Dungeons & Dragons location."

"Torn was to contain four types of magic: Chaos, Order, Alchemy and Summoning. Order magic primarily consisted of healing, protective, and empowering spells. Conversely, Chaos magic was to have consisted of harmful elemental attacks, detrimental status afflictions, and invisibility spells."

I'm not sure if that's possible, but... well, it does feel kinda similar.

ALL Obsidian titles smell like Planescape.

Ha, true. This time, though, they might be working with their own thing instead of trying to retell PS:T in Star Wars or something.

No sleep for the wanderer?

I think you guys nailed it.

Torn is Interplay's only unfinished project that wasn't based on a licensed setting, so, in that respect, it makes more sense than IWD3, TBH or anything like that. From the point of view of the fact that MCA was talking about a spiritual successor to PS:T, Torn fits like a glove because its setting is very Torment-like and, then there's this gold nugget from Black Isle's Torn Wikipedia page: "Announced during GDC 2001, Torn was subject to much interest by the press, because the team behind the cult classic Planescape: Torment was revealed to be developing it", so the Torn team was the PS:T team... the plot gets thicker.

The protagonist of Torn was said to be "a wanderer, who was cursed to bring misfortune to people and places around it" (Black Isle's Torn Wikipedia page again), so I would bet money on the fact that "no sleep for the wanderer" is the correct interpretation.

Now, as to the Obsidian website hints: the word puzzle points to "Eternity" and the Ouroboros symbolizes cyclicity, eternal return, all of that pointing to a very PS:T-like plot, where the protagonist struggles to escape a never-ending cycle... this is the "no sleep" part from the "no sleep for the wanderer" tagline. At this point, all the little quotes fit right in with this setting.

Now, for my opinion of Obsidian rebooting Torn:

 

[Menckenstein]

Huh. I'd never heard of this before. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Isle's_Torn

"In Torn, the player assumed the role of a wanderer, who was cursed to bring misfortune to people and places around it. Under a king's orders, the player undertook quests to clarify a series of conflicting prophecies. Unlike several other Black Isle Studios games, the game was to take place in an original world titled "Torn" instead of a traditional Dungeons & Dragons location."

"Torn was to contain four types of magic: Chaos, Order, Alchemy and Summoning. Order magic primarily consisted of healing, protective, and empowering spells. Conversely, Chaos magic was to have consisted of harmful elemental attacks, detrimental status afflictions, and invisibility spells."

I'm not sure if that's possible, but... well, it does feel kinda similar.

ALL Obsidian titles smell like Planescape.

Ha, true. This time, though, they might be working with their own thing instead of trying to retell PS:T in Star Wars or something.

No sleep for the wanderer?

I think you guys nailed it.

Torn is Interplay's only unfinished project that wasn't based on a licensed setting, so, in that respect, it makes more sense than IWD3, TBH or anything like that. From the point of view of the fact that MCA was talking about a spiritual successor to PS:T, Torn fits like a glove because its setting is very Torment-like and, then there's this gold nugget from Black Isle's Torn Wikipedia page: "Announced during GDC 2001, Torn was subject to much interest by the press, because the team behind the cult classic Planescape: Torment was revealed to be developing it", so the Torn team was the PS:T team... the plot gets thicker.

The protagonist of Torn was said to be "a wanderer, who was cursed to bring misfortune to people and places around it" (Black Isle's Torn Wikipedia page again), so I would bet money on the fact that "no sleep for the wanderer" is the correct interpretation.

Now, as to the Obsidian website hints: the word puzzle points to "Eternity" and the Ouroboros symbolizes cyclicity, eternal return, all of that pointing to a very PS:T-like plot, where the protagonist struggles to escape a never-ending cycle... this is the "no sleep" part from the "no sleep for the wanderer" tagline. At this point, all the little quotes fit right in with this setting.

Now, for my opinion of Obsidian rebooting Torn:

 

[J_C]

Damn you guys! You come up with a plausable scenario in every 5 minutes, and I can't stop getting excited about all of them. Warhammer 40K RPG, Torn, The Black Hound.

 

[Mrowak]

I cannot get excited about the announcement of an announcement of a game they are trying to make.

I must have gotten old.

 

[gromit]

TORN would be interesting, now that they have an engine that's not a piece of shit...
...BUT that was Dave Maldonado's baby, not Josh's.

Why wouldn't they do like any artist/author/entity who has had several projects rejected, and just recycle the best bits and pieces into something new, yet cohesive within "house style?"

 

[Haba]

Josh Sawyer just tweeted this:

NO
SLEEP
FOR
THE
CODEXER

 

[Turisas]

Wouldn't using TORN mean they have to pay monies to that french wanker?

 

[Rivmusique]

Mmm Torn sounds delicious. This speculation is definitely working on me, though I fear the disappointment if what they announce isn't as interesting as what is being proposed in this thread.

 

[Merkwürdigliebe]

Considering the commercial success of Skyrimjob and the picture of a serpent biting it's own tail, it's gonna be based on norse myth.

 

[evdk]

Which is why they're using Gaelic in the teaser.

 

[skuphundaku]

Wouldn't using TORN mean they have to pay monies to that french wanker?

I remember reading quite recently somewhere (maybe it was right here on the Codex, but I don't remember exactly) about Feargus saying that when Interplay broke up and they left to form Obsidian, he made sure he acquired some unnamed valuable assets from the corpse of Interplay. The rights to TORN may be the assets he was talking about.

 

[Infinitron]

If TORN was supposed to be a PS:T spiritual successor, then it won't be TORN.

 

[MicoSelva]

TORN license + new Obsidian Kickstarter profile + all the talk about Torment's successor =

 

[Jedi Exile]

I am amazed that you people still remember TORN. That project was cancelled ages ago. Personally, I hope it will be something new.

 

[skuphundaku]

I am amazed that you people still remember TORN. That project was cancelled ages ago. Personally, I hope it will be something new.

We'll find out tomorrow if it is TORN or something entirely new. My money is on TORN (even if they may change the title to something else, I mean to say that the core idea is based on TORN).

 

[Turisas]

I remember reading quite recently somewhere (maybe it was right here on the Codex, but I don't remember exactly) about Feargus saying that when Interplay broke up and they left to form Obsidian, he made sure he acquired some unnamed valuable assets from the corpse of Interplay. The rights to TORN may be the assets he was talking about.

Well hell, if that's the case I'm all for it.

 

[DwarvenFood]

I am amazed that you people still remember TORN. That project was cancelled ages ago. Personally, I hope it will be something new.

The Codex never forgets.

 

[Roguey]

Not convinced.

But we'll see soon enough.

I hope Sawyer's latest blog entry did it.

Wouldn't using TORN mean they have to pay monies to that french wanker?

I remember reading quite recently somewhere (maybe it was right here on the Codex, but I don't remember exactly) about Feargus saying that when Interplay broke up and they left to form Obsidian, he made sure he acquired some unnamed valuable assets from the corpse of Interplay. The rights to TORN may be the assets he was talking about.

He was referring to art. He bought a lot of art from Icewind Dale in particular.

I doubt it's TORN since that was some Dragon Age-esque shit and I'm hoping they're going to be a little more creative than that. I don't recall anything Scottish about it from what we saw either.

 

[skuphundaku]

He was referring to art. He bought a lot of art from Icewind Dale in particular.

I doubt it's TORN since that was some Dragon Age-esque shit and I'm hoping they're going to be a little more creative than that. I don't recall anything Scottish about it from what we saw either.

Do you have a link to that post, by any chance? I don't remember which thread it was in and my search-fu is failing me today.