Chris Avellone talks to The Star
Chris Avellone talks to The Star
Interview - posted by Vault Dweller on Fri 28 October 2005, 04:15:26
Tags: Chris Avellone; Obsidian EntertainmentA Malaysian site The Star has scored an <a href=http://star-techcentral.com/tech/story.asp?file=/2005/10/27/itfeature/12415623&sec=itfeature>interview[/url] with Obsidian's Chris Avellone:
When was the last time you played a game and thought “Oh, my god... why didn’t I think of that?â€
Aside from the chain weapon design in God of War (which I think was a great way to reinforce the action of the game as well as just looking cool), the next thing I can think of is Anachronox (an old Ion Storm game), the coolest part about it was that the interface was actually a character with its own personality, and it would talk to you through your journal, pop-up menus, and give you sass occasionally just so you didn’t take it for granted.
Other than that, there were some moments in Knights of the Old Republic (KOTOR) that made me throw down my controller because we were looking for features to place in Star Wars: KOTOR II: The Sith Lords, and it seemed like all the cool things we’d hoped to do they’d already taken a first shot at in Knights I.MCA: I have an idea! What if the Exile is actually some badass Dark Sith Lord with amnesia?!
The younger generation of gamers are known to be less interested in experiencing long dialogues in story-driven RPGs, preferring the (sometimes mindless) fast-paced action FPS and RTS games. With this in mind, what’s your take on the future of RPGs?
I think there’s been a trend to more instant gratification in RPGs, which I don’t think is a bad thing – I think a lot of older RPGs (and even some newer ones) tend to paralyse the player with dialogue and cutscenes that force you to wait before you actually do anything. Some of these things are critical for passing along story information, but at the same time, there may be a better way to present that information.Hmm, paralyze the player with dialogues... That's a new one. It would go nicely with Spector's "tyranny of choices" and Bradley's "plaguing TB combat".
When was the last time you played a game and thought “Oh, my god... why didn’t I think of that?â€
Aside from the chain weapon design in God of War (which I think was a great way to reinforce the action of the game as well as just looking cool), the next thing I can think of is Anachronox (an old Ion Storm game), the coolest part about it was that the interface was actually a character with its own personality, and it would talk to you through your journal, pop-up menus, and give you sass occasionally just so you didn’t take it for granted.
Other than that, there were some moments in Knights of the Old Republic (KOTOR) that made me throw down my controller because we were looking for features to place in Star Wars: KOTOR II: The Sith Lords, and it seemed like all the cool things we’d hoped to do they’d already taken a first shot at in Knights I.
The younger generation of gamers are known to be less interested in experiencing long dialogues in story-driven RPGs, preferring the (sometimes mindless) fast-paced action FPS and RTS games. With this in mind, what’s your take on the future of RPGs?
I think there’s been a trend to more instant gratification in RPGs, which I don’t think is a bad thing – I think a lot of older RPGs (and even some newer ones) tend to paralyse the player with dialogue and cutscenes that force you to wait before you actually do anything. Some of these things are critical for passing along story information, but at the same time, there may be a better way to present that information.
