Gamebanshee: Feargus Urquhart Interview
Gamebanshee: Feargus Urquhart Interview
Interview - posted by VentilatorOfDoom on Sat 3 July 2010, 12:30:06
Tags: Dungeon Siege III; Feargus Urquhart; Obsidian EntertainmentAfter his interview with Chris Avellone Gamebanshee chief BuckGB now put up another one of his E3 interviews, this time Feargus "Slam Dunk" Urquhart is the subject.
<span class="question">GB: So moving on to Alpha Protocol, what are your feelings on its reception? We really liked it at GameBanshee, thanks to its strong story, excellent dialogue system, reputation system, item upgrades and modifications, and the types of elements that we love about RPGs. Do you think that maybe the action-loving crowd sort of missed the point of the game, simply because they went into it thinking it was going to be "just another third-person shooter"?</span>
<span class="answer">Feargus: Yeah, Alpha Protocol delivered on the character story, and all the RPG stuff. And, everyone I’ve talked to and all the reviews that I’ve read, unless someone was being completely dismissive for whatever reason they felt that way. If they were being dismissive, then we've got the sense that it was just fun to write their review that way and make fun of the game. But, I’m not going to name names, but... [laughter] ultimately, I think we hit it on the RPG stuff. The action elements were always a concern to a point, because it’s something we had not done as a studio before. And, It was really action-focused in most areas. I think in some ways we maybe got into a "no man’s land". It was trying to be too much an action game – or it was trying to be so much of an action game that we didn't hit all the features an action gamers' wants to see at the level they want to see them.
I’ll use cover as an example. Let’s say we didn’t have cover. There probably would have been some reviews that remarked about us not having cover, but then we wouldn’t have had a cover system that frustrated some people. You see what I mean? Maybe action gamers would have liked it less because there’s no cover system, but then we wouldn’t necessarily have been showing a flaw in the game if the cover system wasn’t there.
In some ways we’re pretty aware of what our game is good at, what it’s bad at, and things like that. I think what we also feel is that there’s more we could have done, but it just wasn’t in the cards.</span>
Well, I think if you're pretty aware of what's good or bad with AP... then it's all good.
Spotted at: GB
<span class="question">GB: So moving on to Alpha Protocol, what are your feelings on its reception? We really liked it at GameBanshee, thanks to its strong story, excellent dialogue system, reputation system, item upgrades and modifications, and the types of elements that we love about RPGs. Do you think that maybe the action-loving crowd sort of missed the point of the game, simply because they went into it thinking it was going to be "just another third-person shooter"?</span>
<span class="answer">Feargus: Yeah, Alpha Protocol delivered on the character story, and all the RPG stuff. And, everyone I’ve talked to and all the reviews that I’ve read, unless someone was being completely dismissive for whatever reason they felt that way. If they were being dismissive, then we've got the sense that it was just fun to write their review that way and make fun of the game. But, I’m not going to name names, but... [laughter] ultimately, I think we hit it on the RPG stuff. The action elements were always a concern to a point, because it’s something we had not done as a studio before. And, It was really action-focused in most areas. I think in some ways we maybe got into a "no man’s land". It was trying to be too much an action game – or it was trying to be so much of an action game that we didn't hit all the features an action gamers' wants to see at the level they want to see them.
I’ll use cover as an example. Let’s say we didn’t have cover. There probably would have been some reviews that remarked about us not having cover, but then we wouldn’t have had a cover system that frustrated some people. You see what I mean? Maybe action gamers would have liked it less because there’s no cover system, but then we wouldn’t necessarily have been showing a flaw in the game if the cover system wasn’t there.
In some ways we’re pretty aware of what our game is good at, what it’s bad at, and things like that. I think what we also feel is that there’s more we could have done, but it just wasn’t in the cards.</span>
Spotted at: GB
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