Incline Chris Avellone Appreciation Station

[ArchAngel]

Chris Avellone Thank you for Nok-Nok. A superbly written companion. Where does he rank among all the characters that you've created?
Jubilost was pretty amazing too.

Jubilost was only good because of amazing voice acting.. Nok Nok seems to have less VO than other companions. Like only companion that has zero VO when you first meet him.

I heard Chris Avellone was one in charge of picking VO actors for the game. He did an amazing job I must say.

 

[vazha]

Chris Avellone Thank you for Nok-Nok. A superbly written companion. Where does he rank among all the characters that you've created?
Jubilost was pretty amazing too.

Jubilost was only good because of amazing voice acting..

Wouldn't say so. He has that iconic English snob charm about him. If I didn't know better I'd say he was based on Edward Lucas, the former Economist editor / correspondent in Moscow. Has the same vain streak & exceedingly obtuse, conceited man-of-the-world aura. Also, Jewbilost.

 

[VentilatorOfDoom]

Jew-be-lost?

 

[Fairfax]

[Part 1/2]

 

[Sordid MCA/Prosper Hybryd]

Hi Chris,

TeenVogue wrote an article recently about how Cancel Culture is toxic so I'm currently uncancelling you atm over the Myron stuff

Since we only get one question and I don't think you know about Brockhampton (unfortunately!), here is mine: Which do you think is better Kanye's MBDTF or Yeezus and why?

(P.S. secret bonus question: Can you relate extra hard to Kanye's song Real Friends? i know its from a different album but i feel its thematically important)

Thx :heart emoji:

Here's your secret bonus answer: Please keep me on your ignore list, I don't want your support in any way, shape, or form. It would be a blessing to me if you didn't see another post from me, and you have the honor of possibly being the first "person" I've ever said that to.

And here's a "secret bonus" request from me: Before you add me to your ignore, "Sailor," would LOVE a link to your Pillars tumblr (?), as there is a distinct smell of bullshit floating in the feces motes around your profile, on so many levels. Prove me wrong.

wow, you really don't like kanye

J.E. Sawyer's alt, I presume?

 

[DeepOcean]

So they hate a spin-off made in 18 months by a studio with no experience with Gamebryo, which managed to be better game than their own Fallout 3 and Fallout 4 (and they spent 5 years on each). Have they considered maybe.. working harder?

Besthesda, the company that use the same engine for 20 years? Work harder? Never gonna happen.

 

[Delterius]

I read all of chris' posts with Chris' funny accent voice and that improves the quality of that drunk tirade by 200 percent.

 

[IHaveHugeNick]

Hahahahah savage!

Here is my ninja question for Chris Avellone :
Have you written any poems?

Yeah, he wrote this about his experience on Kickstarter:

"You need to start to stretch",
My doctor told me so.
And that's how I became
A human stretch goal.

And this about his work at Obsidian:

The sun works on my tan
Wind breezes through my hair.
I'm drawing up a plan.
To destroy Urquhart's lair.

I'll wait until the nightfall
This part should be a pickle
Then inside I will crawl.
And steal Sawyer's bicycle.

 

[FreeKaner]

Sawyer's bike is a heirloom from his grandfather, who was a SS officer in Austrian division. It possibly contains government secrets of Nazi Germany after Austrian anchluss. MCA would be doing world a favour by obtaining it to learn about hidden plans of Nazi upper management during holocaust.

 

[Sordid MCA/Prosper Hybryd]

Hahahahah savage!

Here is my ninja question for Chris Avellone :
Have you written any poems?

Yeah, he wrote this about his experience on Kickstarter:

"You need to start to stretch",
My doctor told me so.
And that's how I became
A human stretch goal.

And this about his work at Obsidian:

The sun works on my tan
Wind breezes through my hair.
I'm drawing up a plan.
To destroy Urquhart's lair.

I'll wait until nightfall
This part should be a pickle
Then I will sneak inside.
And steal Sawyer's bicycle.

Also this

 

[Chris Avellone]

Chris Avellone Thank you for Nok-Nok. A superbly written companion. Where does he rank among all the characters that you've created?
Jubilost was pretty amazing too.

Hey, thanks. I had a lot of fun writing Nok-Nok - and I've always liked Pathfinder's take on goblins (they have personality that goes beyond being swordfodder).

Also, thankfully, NN also seems effective in combat, which I was worried about (otherwise, he's just companion baggage). Also his unique Kingdom role tied into the game mechanics, too, so overall, I thought he covered most of the companion design bases I worry about when designing/writing companions.

I did proof/rewrite some of Jubilost's lines, but Jubilost was written by the Owlcat writers - I'll pass along the kudos.

 

[Roguey]

While searching for drama (goons and resetera really hate us) I found this bizarre mentally ill long twitter thread that's too long to read in its entirety but this part was funny https://twitter.com/StonedKrows/status/1057760036292870144

The introverted era had everything an introverted/autie youf could ever desire. In fact, when a dark triad personality was part of a developer, they stood out like a sore thumb. I know I've pointed this out, but #ChrisAvellone is a great example. Clear dark triad extrovert.

He tried to kill off the talking deathclaws because he was too lacking in the level of imagination that introverts possess to enjoy them, he was narcissistic in claiming credit for the work of other people, et cetera. He was generally an unpleasant sort of fellow.

I think he's gotten better since then but in his heydey he was such an obvious dark triad extrovert that it was funny. They stood out, and their arrogance never felt very welcome. The few extroverts that played games back then though latched onto them as a beacon.

I suppose, for extroverts playing games on computers back then, a man like Avellone must've seemed like a light in the darkness. All of those dark triad traits they so desire wrapped up in a markedly unpleasant little man. Not my cup of tea, mind you. I could never stand him.

And it's weird because I knew a few Fallout fans back when that felt the same way. These days you have extroverts singing his praises and it's bizarre. I feel that most of them likely haven't completed the isometric titles, they were just drawn into his cult of personality.

But I digress. I only wanted to bring up Avellone to show just how much of an inversion has occurred. How game development has gone from small teams of introverts to massive teams of extroverts, and how the dark triad traits of the latter have transmogrified video games.

Laughing at the claim that you're just too lacking in imagination and an extrovert if you hate talking deathclaws and don't think they should have ever been included in a Fallout game.

 

[TT1]

Chris Avellone Thank you for Nok-Nok. A superbly written companion. Where does he rank among all the characters that you've created?
Jubilost was pretty amazing too.

Hey, thanks. I had a lot of fun writing Nok-Nok - and I've always liked Pathfinder's take on goblins (they have personality that goes beyond being swordfodder).

Also, thankfully, NN also seems effective in combat, which I was worried about (otherwise, he's just companion baggage). Also his unique Kingdom role tied into the game mechanics, too, so overall, I thought he covered most of the companion design bases I worry about when designing/writing companions.

I did proof/rewrite some of Jubilost's lines, but Jubilost was written by the Owlcat writers - I'll pass along the kudos.

Congrats on Pathfinder Kingmaker. Probably the most incline and good vibe game I've ever seen on Codex. The game thread is just exploding with incline. Probably the best "D&D game"/ spiritual sucessor since BG2.

Can you talk a little bit more about Owlcat and how those guys (a pretty small/ indie studio) developed a huge game with so much incline? This was a pretty nice surprise.

 

[Luckmann]

Chris Avellone Thank you for Nok-Nok. A superbly written companion. Where does he rank among all the characters that you've created?
Jubilost was pretty amazing too.

Hey, thanks. I had a lot of fun writing Nok-Nok - and I've always liked Pathfinder's take on goblins (they have personality that goes beyond being swordfodder).

Also, thankfully, NN also seems effective in combat, which I was worried about (otherwise, he's just companion baggage). Also his unique Kingdom role tied into the game mechanics, too, so overall, I thought he covered most of the companion design bases I worry about when designing/writing companions.

I did proof/rewrite some of Jubilost's lines, but Jubilost was written by the Owlcat writers - I'll pass along the kudos.

I'm not sure if you've been to the Kingmaker thread, but if not, I can confirm that Nok-Nok is considered absolutely fucking beastly. He's in many ways the epitome of a frontline glass-cannon, and can be used with frightening efficiency.

And as a general comment on the game, which I've mentioned before, the thread is genuinely the most positive one I've experienced on the Codex, possibly ever. Even the dumps taken on the game's issues are usually prefaced with accolades of how great the game is at it's core.

Since I don't think anyone from Owlcat is here, I think you should tell it to the guys at Owlcat next time you speak to them. On the Codex, this.. thing that they've done, it's no small feat. I don't expect they'll give a shit, but I think it's pretty cool.

 

[Chris Avellone]

Congrats on Pathfinder Kingmaker. Probably the most incline and good vibe game I've ever seen on Codex. The game thread is just exploding with incline. Probably the best "D&D game"/ spiritual sucessor since BG2.

Can you talk a little bit more about Owlcat and how those guys (a pretty small/ indie studio) developed a huge game with so much incline? This was a pretty nice surprise.

I know sometimes developers/publishers toss this out as token commentary ("of course team X enjoys franchise Y!"), but the short answer: The Owlcat devs genuinely love Pathfinder (even before they had a chance to make a computer game, they were playing it and loving it).

Their Creative Director, Alexander Mishulin, is a nerd's nerd, and I mean that as the highest compliment: when we talked game design/narrative, he was 110% about how he was handling the systems, upholding the world, the choice of companions, etc.

 

[Chris Avellone]

I'm not sure if you've been to the Kingmaker thread, but if not, I can confirm that Nok-Nok is considered absolutely fucking beastly. He's in many ways the epitome of a frontline glass-cannon, and can be used with frightening efficiency.

And as a general comment on the game, which I've mentioned before, the thread is genuinely the most positive one I've experienced on the Codex, possibly ever. Even the dumps taken on the game's issues are usually prefaced with accolades of how great the game is at it's core.

Since I don't think anyone from Owlcat is here, I think you should tell it to the guys at Owlcat next time you speak to them. On the Codex, this.. thing that they've done, it's no small feat. I don't expect they'll give a shit, but I think it's pretty cool.

Thank you. One of the highest compliments was that the forums here seemed to like the game, flaws and all.

For me, I had no idea how it would be received. Devs, me included, get tunnel vision sometimes, which is a problem I recognize - the best you can do is try and make sure the parts you work on are the best work you can do [whether Durance + Grieving Mother or Nok-Nok], because otherwise regrets barnacle on your soul.

Even if people dislike the content you created (which has been true for many games I've worked on), the life preserver in the ocean of decline is you know that you did all you could, and if you fucked up, at least it came from a good place and wasn't a result of laziness/lack of will.

 

[Beastro]

Meanwhile for a lot of people this was the F:NV experience right after launching the game.

WTF would they "fix" this????

FNV was way more fun with bugs

What's the point of playing a gamebryo game without them?

 

[fantadomat]

I'm not sure if you've been to the Kingmaker thread, but if not, I can confirm that Nok-Nok is considered absolutely fucking beastly. He's in many ways the epitome of a frontline glass-cannon, and can be used with frightening efficiency.

Shame that i barely use him because i play rogue and have no need for another. Still i do agree with him,gnome women are yuk.

Thank you. One of the highest compliments was that the forums here seemed to like the game, flaws and all.

No true connoisseur of fine RPGs can discard how good the game is even with all its flaws . People who say other wise are part of the unwashed masses.

PS: Do you know who wrote the gnome journo? He wrote it spot on,it is truly annoying and makes you want to use him as pinata during a birthday celebration.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

talking deathclaws

It's the same furfag who goes on and on about talking deathclaws. AGAIN.

 

[aweigh]

Use two rogues. Each rogue will then create a sneak attack opportunity for the other when they attack same target, lol.

 

[Kruno]

Chris looks like the sexiest man alive.

 

[Latelistener]

That was 10 years ago. He's been drinking too much I think.

 

[vazha]

Chris Avellone

Also, thankfully, NN also seems effective in combat, which I was worried about (otherwise, he's just companion baggage). Also his unique Kingdom role tied into the game mechanics, too, so overall, I thought he covered most of the companion design bases I worry about when designing/writing

To put it mildly, that's a gross understatement. He is by far the best dps dealer in game and will outshine most of the non-optimized main char builds too. Him and the Hero of Wakanda are the staple of your team if you play on unfair difficulty.
That being said, Jubilost machine-gunning bombs is also a sight to behold and a force to be reckoned with in competent hands.
One glaring oversight re: Nok-Nok however : How come you cannot appoint him as an advisor? I see him as a terrific foreign policy mastermind, the Kissinger of Goblin Diplomacy, which is, as I am sure you would agree, the best diplomacy there is. Just imagine him sharing his thoughtful insights in negotiations with that Aldori woman.
Also, if you really are going to pass the word re: Jubilost to Owlcat folks, it would be terrific to see him assume a kind of a spin doctor role in coming DLC contents, to fully explore his journalist background. As in, how your noble ( and murderous) exploits are reported to mainstream audience. I am sure they ll find enough examples to parody and play with in the Russian "media".

 

[deuxhero]

Chris Avellone
How much influence, if any, did you have over Nok-Nok's mechanical build (class levels, feats, attribute placement ect.)? How much do you normally do with companions you write?

 

[Fairfax]

Don't bother, Chris. It's the talking deathclaw furry.