Obsidian's Stormlands (the canceled Xbox exclusive game) detailed with screenshots

[Fairfax]

The downside is that Stormlands had a far more unique setting than Pillars.

Less of a cliché, but not really unique. It sounds a lot like a The Stormlight Archive ripoff.

 

[IHaveHugeNick]

Eh. It looks to me they had a completely generic fantasy game pitched, so generic that even fucking Microsoft thought is was generic. So they were told to make it weirder and after 20 fruitless brainstorming meetings and ocean of coffee later, someone went "yo, how about we add some bigass storms and shit".

 

[RepHope]

I probably would have picked it up to see what it was but being Xbox One exclusive would have killed that idea from the start, I was stupid enough to buy an Xbox One (PS3 broke, needed a bluray player, it was on offer) but none of the people I play co-op with have consoles at all.

After reading the article I have no idea if the game was meant to be co-op, MMO, Singleplayer with companions, co-op with AI companions, etc and from the article it looks like Obsidian had no idea either.

It doesn't sound like it was Obsidian's fault either, Microsoft have been fucking over every first party exclusive game developer they got their claws around for a while now.

Microsoft definitely take a lot of blame, especially all those stories about MS execs coming up with Big Revolutionary Ideas that Obsidian didn't know what the fuck do to with, that shit is hilarious.

That said, it was also Microsoft who were paying for this whole party, and by the sound of it they weren't exactly pinching pennies, they were willing to throw shitload more money at it if the game really caught their attention.

Ultimately it's Obsidian's job to come up with a compelling game, and obviously they haven't done that. It looks fagotty and plastic and the entire concept is underwhelming as fuck. "A world with magic storms" - wow man I am so hooked. Not.

Yeah I'm going to have to second this. Nothing about Stormlands as it's laid out here really grabs me as an "oh shit Day 1" kinda game. I can't see this appealing to the kiddies whose first RPG was Skyrim which is what MS was looking for it seems like.

 

[Wirdschowerdn]

Don Mattrick was a dick and probably responsible for the Stormlands cancellation, just like he was responsible for shutting down Ensemble. Fuck that loser.

Now with the much more sensible Phil Spencer as MS gaming head, there might be a chance for a second go.... but, ya know. W10 Store and sheeet.

 

[Mojomancer]

Don Mattrick was a dick and probably responsible for the Stormlands cancellation, just like he was responsible for shutting down Ensemble. Fuck that loser.

Now with the much more sensible Phil Spencer as MS gaming head, there might be a chance for a second go.... but, ya know. W10 Store and sheeet.

Generic Console RPG and Windows Store exclusive? No thanks.

 

[Wirdschowerdn]

I'd play "generic" console RPGs like Fallout: NV, Alpha Protocol or Kotor 2 over "hardcore" snorefests like PoT or Tyranny anytime.

 

[Background Character]

Goodbye horses

 

[Nano]

Stormlands was going to be a Ziets-written game. I'd take the generic console RPG over PoE based on that alone.

edit: Rev

My “real” canceled project – the one I actually spent a few months on - was North Carolina. Its secrets are bound by an NDA, so I can’t say any more than what’s in the Kotaku article.

http://www.rpgcodex.net/article.php?id=8692

 

[vonAchdorf]

Currently, however, Obsidian's hands are full, the 175-person studio occupied across four and a half projects: the Tyranny expansion, Pillars of Eternity 2, a small Pathfinder card game, a small idea the studio is "spinning up" and a considerable something else. And I'll tell you a bit more about that next week as well.

Which game/idea is this, Infinitron ?

 

[Quillon]

Something that has magic in it.

 

[Infinitron]

Project Mississippi? How should I know, I don't even know what Indiana is.

 

[LESS T_T]

Maybe relevant to that small idea, from a 2016 interview: http://www.gamebanshee.com/intervie...eternity-ii-deadfire-interview/all-pages.html

I also talk about how we could take the Eternity engine and make a film noir RPG you know, black and white. I don't know. It sounds totally silly but with that kind of, like, how people talk and just that vibe. But we're talking about a lot of stuff and we're going to be pitching people. And also, I'm looking at other ways to get funding for games so we can maybe try some of this stuff and not spend Pillars of Eternity level money. We can try unusual things and we can make money even if 200,000 or 300,000 people buy it, and if they enjoy it, that's awesome. And that can get maybe some funkier games out there in the market.

[...]

Yes, yes. I think Urban Fantasy is interesting. Urban Fantasy being like Vampire. The Urban Fantasy in the last two years is a little too – I'm not against romance and all that kind of stuff but some of it has gotten a little too romance-y for me. And I've probably talked to you about this before but the flavor that I think is interesting is Neil Gaiman's Other World. I think it's a novel called Other World or something like that. There was even like a BBC miniseries on it and it's about guy who falls into this other world of weapons.

And then there's a series of books by Simon Green about the Nightside which again is this kind of world where demons and angels and goblins just hang out in a city. So it's interesting. We actually have a pitch called "Hidden" which is about this darker city and it's about, sort of the real elements. We probably wrote the pitch nine years ago and it's maybe a darker, less Disney version of “Once” was kind of the concept even though there was no “Once” at the time.

I don't know. I think it would be cool to play in that kind of world, as well.

 

[badler]

I always really loved the look of the Stormlands demo. It had this haunting moving painting look to it. It was like I was finally able to see into Justin Cherry's mind.

Also, I remember the day of the layoffs well (because I was one of the people that was laid off). It was definitely a sad time, but it was a lot different than other layoffs I've been through. Way more somber. TBH, I thought it would tank the studio. A lot of talented people were let go that day and a lot left shortly after.

Also, something that made me care about Obsidian on a personal level was how deeply the layoff affected the owners. When I was given my paperwork I remember that Parker couldn't even really look anyone in the eye. It wasn't because he was ashamed (I don't think), I just think he genuinely felt like he was losing family that day. It's one of the reasons I came back to Obsidian. As strange as it sounds, I knew that they gave a shit about me and my personal well being. You don't get that everywhere in the games industry.