Has The Toy companion been cut from the game? ($2M stretch goal)

[kilobug]

And even if your point was true, it would still mostly affect _planning_ not _budget_.

How exactly are they not related?

Related doesn't mean identical, or that everything that affects one affects the other.

In fact, in project management, there is a rule called the "triangle", which is: « between "fast", "good quality" and "cheap" you can chose only two ». Like all project management rules it's not 100% exact, but it's still a good first approximation.

Here is a picture of it (since you like pictures)

If you don't plan well things cost more... If you spend an entire year longer on a game than you'd expected to, don't you think that directly affects their budget? I think you need to really think about what you're saying here. When you're paying people for an entire year longer for something than you'd expected, what do you think happens?

That's with lots of assumptions which don't match reality. For example, that's assuming the team size is fixed, that people work fulltime on the same project, ... which is exactly the opposite of what inXile is doing, by shifting resources from one project to another.

Yes, the planning fallacy tends to apply to both budget and planning, and inXile didn't underestimate both planning and budget for making all those stretch goals. But the specific part of allocating resources to work on other projects (like WL2DC or BTIV) in parallel to TTON, while it can impact planning, doesn't have much impact on the budget, and if it does it's more to _lower_ the budget, by allowing a better allocation of resources.

Why do you think they quickly crowdfunded 2 more games?

So they could more efficiently shift resources from one to the other ? Like give work to all the concept artists and area designers who no longer need to work on TTON ?

In the amount of time that Obsidian and Larian made 2 games Inxile made 1.

Hrm, not really. PoE, WL2 and D:OS were all released in late 2014-early 2015, and D:OS2, TTON, Tyranny were/will be in late 2016-early 2017, a 2.5 years between games. And PoE2 will probably be released more or less at the same time than BT4. InXile being slightly smaller, having slightly more delay is understandable, but the order of magnitude of time between release is similar.

[Woolfe]

Hrm, not really. PoE, WL2 and D:OS were all released in late 2014-early 2015, and D:OS2, TTON, Tyranny were/will be in late 2016-early 2017, a 2.5 years between games. And PoE2 will probably be released more or less at the same time than BT4. InXile being slightly smaller, having slightly more delay is understandable, but the order of magnitude of time between release is similar.

And don't forget that Larian had an actual working version of the game when they went to kickstarter. Kickstarter was for bells and whistles.

[MrBuzzKill]

This blows. This was a very good and interesting and ORIGINAL idea and it was destroyed. That coupled with the CE stab in the back, just keeps smashing my faith in this company...

[Serjo]

There's a mountain of info about Oom in the release files. He may have been cut relatively late in development.

A small excerpt:

He holds his hands near Oom's center of mass. "Oh my. Oh... *my*. This is truly fascinating. Is the thing psychically reactive? How does it learn? It seems to have formed a bond with you, but without a visible sensory apparatus... no, wait, is its entire *skin* a sensing organ? Oh, this one will do nicely."

Oom shrinks in on itself, and extrudes thorns as the duo close in on it.

It prepares to lash out at Demeray, and with remarkable speed Obervich sprays it with some sort of aerosol. Whatever was in the spray instantly destroys Oom's defenses, and Oom loses shape and collapses in a puddle on the floor. The two doctors scoop it up carefully and carry it to the table for careful examination.

Demeray nods respectfully to you. "We'll have your little friend back for you in no time."

At last they are finished, and Demeray reveals the table on which Oom sits. The little blob is quiescent until you approach, with none of the signs of personality that marked its character.

"A success!" Demeray announces. "Patient #28 was an admirable client, and should make a full recov-" He pauses and looks at Oom carefully. "Should mostly recover relatively quickly."

He steps in to cover for his partner's faltering explanation. "Quite a thrilling exploration, if I may say so myself. Quite an honor to study it. Quite an honor indeed!"

"Tell me what you learned about Oom."

"Did you realize this little fellow is reactive to psychic energies? Apparently it imprints on a single person, and feeds on a body of forces that we haven't quite been able to figure out. But it is a gifted mimic, of a nature we haven't seen before. By attuning itself to the psionic leak of its chosen partner, it is able to react in a way that should please its master." He looks carefully at Oom. "I would suspect he was a curio, perhaps a toy? Are there others like him in the world..."

"A toy? Perhaps, if you call every two-handed cleaver a knife. I submit that this creature was a *weapon*, a deadly fighting machine that... Well, maybe not so deadly anymore." He pokes Oom with his finger, and the ball of inky flesh barely reacts.

The files also confirm that the mysterious ninth companion was planned to be the Specter.

[Jernaugh]

Well, that at least bodes well for possible Director's Cut-style updates. It has, after all, already been announced that if such updates end up being released, they will be free to backers even if others have to pay.

The more content already exists, the more is likely far enough along in the planning stage to be close to implementation. The more of that, the easier restoring such content is. The easier such restoration, the more likely it will be a candidate for post-release extra DLC.

[Serjo]

Oom's remaining lines in the files have been translated into all the different languages. Either their script management screwed up and they paid for a translation of cut content, or he may already be planned for post-release DLC.

And I'm pretty sure he would have been my favourite companion if he'd made it into the game:

Oom turns its face to you, and a wave of sadness/regret/wounded-innocence pours from it.

"Oom, this is for the best. I need you here. I *trust* you here."

Oom coils into a compact ball and rolls over to your foot, where it extrudes tendrils to wrap around your leg. The emotion radiating from him is complex, but you can summarize it as: No way.

[Firkraag]

That's Spoiler-free section. Be mindful, please.

[prodigydancer]

They cut everything.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MSI21ZZlM4