Obsidian wants to make a game for you

[thesisko]

"Now, Dungeon Siege 3 is not really a game for the hardcore old-school RPG fan. Those guys, the guys from sites like Duck and Cover, or NMA Fallout, they haven't said much about Dungeon Siege 3, but overall they don't seem terribly hopeful that any developer is going to sell them the game they want to buy. Do you think those days are over?"

Rich Taylor:
I don't think those days are over. We have some ideas, and we talk about them, and exploring ways to make that possible. You have to figure out, what would be the market for it, what's a way we could release that and actually have it be viable. There are a lot of things we have to solve for.
We talk about it. A lot.




Source: http://www.atomicgamer.com/articles/124 ... -interview

 

[Roguey]

Maybe they should spend less time talking and more time becoming better managers for the projects they already have going.

AG: On that topic, Obsidian would probably be the best guys to ask about this, but do you think the days of turn-based RPGs are done? Are we just gonna get some mix of action and RPG from here on out?

RT: I think it's still doable. Dragon Age was quite successful. It wasn't necessarily turn-based, but it was very much pause-and-play, especially if you kicked the difficulty up. It was very challenging if you did not play is it as a tactical RPG. I thought that was a fantastic game, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

 

[SuicideBunny]

if it wanted to make a game for me it would make a cyberpunk rpg where you also get to drive a spaceship around the solar system.

 

[SCO]

Read the news about Soldak.

 

[J_C]

"AtomicGamer": But they're moving away from that. With Dragon Age 2, there's no more tactical view. So it seems that even Bioware has decided -

Rich Taylor: Yeah, it does seem like a dying genre, doesn't it? Kinda sad."

:D

 

[thesisko]

"AtomicGamer": But they're moving away from that. With Dragon Age 2, there's no more tactical view. So it seems that even Bioware has decided -

Rich Taylor: Yeah, it does seem like a dying genre, doesn't it? Kinda sad."

:D

"even Bioware has decided"

Yes, implying that Bioware is some last bastion of hardcore old-school CRPG is funny

 

[Micmu]

Talk talk talk

 

[SuicideBunny]

Read the news about Soldak.

no cyberpunk, no playing character, possibly rt, upgrading ship through leveling...
northstar scores more brownie points, although every additional sci-fi rpg is a good thing.

 

[Achilles]

They kinda did that with New Vegas. They made a good game and dressed it up in shitty brown next-gen clothes in order to lure in the sheeple.

 

[KalosKagathos]

AG: On that topic, Obsidian would probably be the best guys to ask about this, but do you think the days of turn-based RPGs are done? Are we just gonna get some mix of action and RPG from here on out?

RT: I think it's still doable. Dragon Age was quite successful. It wasn't necessarily turn-based, but it was very much pause-and-play, especially if you kicked the difficulty up.

Why do I like these guys again? The idiocy of this statement hurts physically.

They kinda did that with New Vegas. They made a good game and dressed it up in shitty brown next-gen clothes in order to lure in the sheeple.

Right. NV is the exact same game as 3, VATS and all. They just dressed it up with nice writing and C&C, so that storyfags who have no clue about what makes games good would buy it. It worked spectacularly.

 

[Xor]

NV was a pretty good game crippled by a shitty engine. Obsidian doing an actual old-school RPG? That could be fucking awesome.

 

[thesisko]

Why do I like these guys again? The idiocy of this statement hurts physically.

What's wrong with it?

Dragon Age was quite successful.

True.

It wasn't necessarily turn-based, but it was very much pause-and-play, especially if you kicked the difficulty up.

Also true. He didn't say it had good encounters design or that the combat system was good. He's acknowledging that a game that plays similarly can be very financially successful.
Or do you really think that Origins would have sold less if it had better encounter design, less filler combat and was better written?

 

[Admiral jimbob]

I'm sure they want to. I'm sure they'd also like to give all their fans a free car. Doesn't really mean shit.

 

[KalosKagathos]

What's wrong with it?

He's asked if a TB game can be successful. He says it can because DA is a success. He sees TB and RTwP as slightly different, but otherwise completely interchangeable. He's an idiot.

 

[tennishero]

maybe they should stop making bug ridden pieces of shit that are (admittedly) well written but shit awful to actually play

fallout
planescape
etc

 

[Jaesun]

I'm sure they want to. I'm sure they'd also like to give all their fans a free car. Doesn't really mean shit.

Agreed. With the current Publisher/Developer model Obsidian is stuck too, it's never going to happen.

There is NO Publisher on earth that is going to approach or that Obsidian can approach and would even consider a "Old School cRPG Game". None.

 

[sea]

So Obsidian, does that mean you guys are making the Victorian-era isometric paranormal investigation CRPG I always dreamed of? The one which combined technology, gypsy magic and logical deduction in order to solve crimes and eventually get to the heart of a deep and deadly conspiracy? Wow, thanks!

In all seriousness, I'd love it, and I think they could pull it off wonderfully, but they'd need money, and as far as I know they aren't exactly rolling in it if the recent layoffs are anything to go by. Still, you could probably make a great 2D CRPG for less than a million or two if you had the talent... release it on Steam, maybe the iPad etc. for $20 and you'd almost surely make a profit if you marketed it well.

 

[thesisko]

What's wrong with it?

He's asked if a TB game can be successful. He says it can because DA is a success. He sees TB and RTwP as slightly different, but otherwise completely interchangeable. He's an idiot.

No, he says very clearly that it wasn't turn-based.

If you go look in the manual of Icewind Dale, it says that it can be played "like a turnbased game" if you set it to pause after each round so it's not like it's a new and idiotic statement to claim that RtwP can be played out similarly to turnbased.

I don't think there's anything wrong with the RtwP system in Origins and the engine feels vastly superior to the NWN2 games. Combat using the tactical view reminds of the Infinity games and I can easily see a game like Icewind Dale playing very nicely in that engine.

 

[thesisko]

I'm sure they want to. I'm sure they'd also like to give all their fans a free car. Doesn't really mean shit.

Agreed. With the current Publisher/Developer model Obsidian is stuck too, it's never going to happen.

There is NO Publisher on earth that is going to approach or that Obsidian can approach and would even consider a "Old School cRPG Game". None.

Doesn't that depend on the budget? How did they manage to make the NWN2 expansions? What about European publishers? Or do you think that it's outside the realm of possibility that Obsidian would make a low/mid budget game?

Considering Rich's wording here and Feargus "You can't spend $20 million on it, but why not go make it?" comment about Icewind Dale 3 it sounds like that's what they are trying to pitch. I don't see why not, if a small team could make MotB/SoZ they could do something similar with their new engine.

 

[KalosKagathos]

No, he says very clearly that it wasn't turn-based.

And still uses it as an example. Which is why he's an idiot.

If you go look in the manual of Icewind Dale, it says that it can be played "like a turnbased game" if you set it to pause after each round so it's not like it's a new and idiotic statement to claim that RtwP can be played out similarly to turnbased.

It's still not similar to TB because of simultaneous movement.

I don't think there's anything wrong with the RtwP system in Origins and the engine feels vastly superior to the NWN2 games. Combat using the tactical view reminds of the Infinity games and I can easily see a game like Icewind Dale playing very nicely in that engine.

You and he are free to like what you want. The point is that Origins is not TB, is not similar to TB, so its success can't be used to gauge potential success of a pure TB game.

 

[thesisko]

You and he are free to like what you want. The point is that Origins is not TB, is not similar to TB, so its success can't be used to gauge potential success of a pure TB game.

I highly doubt he meant a pure TB could sell 3 million copies, but if there's a large market for a tactical RtwP game then there's probably a decent (even if much smaller) market for a pure TB game, hence his comment that "I think it's still doable. ".

 

[Jasede]

If Obsidian made a game all of us liked they'd go out of business, like Troika.

True story.

 

[Mastermind]

If Obsidian made a game all of us liked they'd go out of business, like Troika.

True story.

There is no game all of usyou will like. Despite codex delusions of being human computers making all decisions based on cold, calculated logic, the codex hive mind has no idea what the fuck it really wants.

 

[Bluebottle]

If Obsidian made a game all of us liked they'd go out of business, like Troika.

True story.

There is no game all of usyou will like. Despite codex delusions of being human computers making all decisions based on cold, calculated logic, the codex hive mind has no idea what the fuck it really wants.

Bet you'd get a fairly unanimous yes to Chris Avelonne Strip Poker 2011.

 

[Jasede]

I bet it'd have choices and consequences and skill checks.