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Image credit: Obsidian Entertainment | Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire
Obsidian's studio design director Josh Sawyer has many famous games under his belt. He has worked on Pillars of Eternity, Fallout: New Vegas, Icewind Dale, and – relatively recently – Pentiment.
Pillars of Eternity only has two installments, and many fans would love to see more. However, it seems like they'd have to wait for a long time before it happens as Sawyer said he'd need the budget of one very popular RPG to develop it.
In an interview with Touch Arcade, Sawyer was asked which game he would create if he had unlimited money and time – Pentiment 2, Pillars of Eternity 3, or Fallout: New Vegas 2. He replied that PoE 3 would probably be his choice, but only if the budget was comparable to Baldur’s Gate 3's.
"I think if it truly was an unlimited budget, I think I would try Pillars 3 because I know what the budget was for [Pillars of Eternity 2:] Deadfire, which was not a whole lot and I have heard from multiple people what the budget was for Baldur’s Gate 3, and I’m not gonna talk about numbers, but if I got that budget, sure, I’ll make Pillars 3."
Image credit: Obsidian Entertainment | Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire
You can't blame Sawyer for thinking this way: Pillars of Eternity 2 was a huge crowdfunding success of $4.4 million, but it's not even close to Larian's money for BG3.
Interestingly, crowdfunding had its own effects on Pillars of Eternity's gameplay. Sawyer admitted that he would make it turn-based if not for the fans who poured their money into it.
"I’m pretty happy with Pillars and Deadfire, but I do think that if it were not crowdfunded, I would probably make it turn based. I’m not saying to not have a real time with pause system, but I do think that the Deadfire turn based system which I can’t take credit for, that Nick Carver and Brian MacIntosh, was really cool. But, the game wasn’t designed for it, so actually designing the game for turn based, fewer encounters, smaller encounters, but much more tactical, I think that would be a lot of fun, and having awesome cinematics and all that stuff. That would be great."
The turn-based vs. real-time debate is as old as time, with players having very strong opinions on why one or the other system is superior. I'm actually curious about how fans would react to a turn-based PoE. It worked well for Baldur's Gate 3, but I've seen plenty of people refusing to play it and sticking to its 20-year-old predecessor because of its combat system.
Image credit: Obsidian Entertainment | Pentiment
So there could be a Pillars of Eternity threequel but no Pentiment 2 in sight. The game is too fresh and already good in Sawyer's opinion, so there's no need for a sequel yet: "I don’t think I would make Pentiment 2. I really do feel very satisfied with that game. It’s not like I don’t wanna return to it ever, but I just did it, so I’d probably wait a little bit."
Fair enough, I think Pentiment is a complete game and wouldn't benefit from another part much, but it's just me. With the rise of endless continuations, I wouldn't be too surprised to see all kinds of unexpected games turn up.
As for Fallout, Sawyer doesn't say anything about it this time, but he has mentioned that he could work on a game in the franchise again, so who knows?
Read the full interview with Sawyer here and join our 80 Level Talent platform and our Telegram channel, follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn, where we share breakdowns, the latest news, awesome artworks, and more.
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