naossano
Cipher
Not being much a combatfag on InXile/Obsidian, i won't compare them much on that area. Although, i think Obsidian provides more option, including the options to avoid fights.
About writting, i would put Obsidian much, much higher than InXile.
About atmosphere, it really depends on the games, their budget & schedule, but i would say both are able to create great atmosphere, but are rarelly able to sustain it all the way. There are alway several moments that feel a bit off compared with the rest. Also, too much combat/emptyness can ruin the momentum, like in FoNV.
About C&C, comparing Fo1/Fo2/FoNV/Pillars with WL1/WL2/Bard's Tale (2004), i also much prefer Obsidian take on it. For most i have played from InXile, the choices you make often seem dark about the possible consequences. Sometimes, you can guess them, but more often than not, you pick a side without much knowing where you put your shoes into. On the other hand, those situations still exist with Obsidian, but more often than not, you are given (if you try to look into it), enough informations to actually weight the pros and cons of your decisions, which make them more meaningfull, and allow you to take a break and actually think about it. It is not like entering a town and see a guy drowing, leading you to lose all hope of peace if you don't save him within your first few minutes in the city. Also, the number of choices and their scope are often higher with Obsidian.
Exploration. It is entirelly up to anyone to decide what they call exploration. If it is seeing miles of miles of landscapes, i won't comment on it. If it is exploring societies, how people live in these fictionnals settlements, i would say i prefer Obsidian, InXile isn't so bad. If it is about discovering non obvious hidden content that lead to unexpected results, i would give props to InXile, with the so many easy to miss contents that you could find in WL1-WL2. If you aren't into the mind of looking into every bit of dirt, every furniture, checking every wall for possible flaws/irregularity, you are likely to miss half the games content. It seems that this kind of exploration is more rewarded with InXile.
Other than than, Obsidian wins overall. They also have a much higher number of games to refer too. I am quite in the Dark about pre-Fallout Interplay era (without the future Obsidian members) and InXile didn't do much since it existed. On the other hand, Obsidian did a lot of game with that name, and i credit them most of the games from the Interplay (from Fo1 onward)/Black Isle/Troïka era, since most the develloppers joined Obsidian afterward.
About writting, i would put Obsidian much, much higher than InXile.
About atmosphere, it really depends on the games, their budget & schedule, but i would say both are able to create great atmosphere, but are rarelly able to sustain it all the way. There are alway several moments that feel a bit off compared with the rest. Also, too much combat/emptyness can ruin the momentum, like in FoNV.
About C&C, comparing Fo1/Fo2/FoNV/Pillars with WL1/WL2/Bard's Tale (2004), i also much prefer Obsidian take on it. For most i have played from InXile, the choices you make often seem dark about the possible consequences. Sometimes, you can guess them, but more often than not, you pick a side without much knowing where you put your shoes into. On the other hand, those situations still exist with Obsidian, but more often than not, you are given (if you try to look into it), enough informations to actually weight the pros and cons of your decisions, which make them more meaningfull, and allow you to take a break and actually think about it. It is not like entering a town and see a guy drowing, leading you to lose all hope of peace if you don't save him within your first few minutes in the city. Also, the number of choices and their scope are often higher with Obsidian.
Exploration. It is entirelly up to anyone to decide what they call exploration. If it is seeing miles of miles of landscapes, i won't comment on it. If it is exploring societies, how people live in these fictionnals settlements, i would say i prefer Obsidian, InXile isn't so bad. If it is about discovering non obvious hidden content that lead to unexpected results, i would give props to InXile, with the so many easy to miss contents that you could find in WL1-WL2. If you aren't into the mind of looking into every bit of dirt, every furniture, checking every wall for possible flaws/irregularity, you are likely to miss half the games content. It seems that this kind of exploration is more rewarded with InXile.
Other than than, Obsidian wins overall. They also have a much higher number of games to refer too. I am quite in the Dark about pre-Fallout Interplay era (without the future Obsidian members) and InXile didn't do much since it existed. On the other hand, Obsidian did a lot of game with that name, and i credit them most of the games from the Interplay (from Fo1 onward)/Black Isle/Troïka era, since most the develloppers joined Obsidian afterward.