Josh Sawyer says he would happily make Pillars Of Eternity 3 if the budget was available
Director and RPG legend Josh Sawyer would return to Eora if given the option to make Fallout New Vegas 2, Pillers of Eternity 3, or Pentiment 2. However, this would only happen if he received the same funding that Baldur’s Gate 3 is rumoured to have received.
In a conversation with Touch Arcade to mark the first anniversary of Pentiment, Sawyer is questioned about his choice among the trio of cherished RPGs to revisit “without budget or time limitations.” His response points to none other than a spiritual successor to the Baldur’s Gate and Icewind Dale series.
“I think if it truly was an unlimited budget, I think I would try Pillars 3 because I know what the budget was for 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,” he says.
“I think that would be a lot of fun to do, to create a high production value party-based fantasy RPG. I’m quite content with Pillars and Deadfire, but I do believe that if it were not crowdfunded, I would likely opt for a turn-based approach. I’m not suggesting abandoning a real-time with pause system, but I do believe that the turn-based system in Deadfire – which I can’t take credit for, that was Nick Carver and Brian MacIntosh – was truly impressive.”
“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.”
Building on Sawyer’s discussion about the contrast between turn-based combat and real-time action with a pause feature, the seasoned RPG designer is then queried about how they would approach a game without having to consider the desires of the player base.
“I’m still concerned about what the audience wants, but I prefer turn-based as well,” he responded. “I just think it’s easier to design more intricate combats. I like games with a lot of stats, obviously. But the problem with real-time with pause is that it’s honestly very difficult for people to actually parse all of that information, and one of the things I’ve heard a lot from people who’ve played Deadfire in turn-based is that there were things about the game, like the affliction and inspiration system, that they didn’t really understand very clearly until they played it in turn-based.
“Other mechanics like penetration, they didn’t fully understand until they played it in turn-based. So I’m not saying that all those systems are perfect, but I do think like I like doing more crunchy stuff with systems, and that is it’s just easier to make that stuff clear and work in a turn-based setting.”
It’s not the first time Sawyer has talked about Pillars of Eternity 3. Just last month, he joked with one fan that he was waiting for “Xbox to call and tell me they want Pillars 3 with a $120M budget”, before adding “any day now, I’m sure.”