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Questions for Chris Avellone radio interview - now updated with additional answers from MCA!

Athelas

Arcane
Joined
Jun 24, 2013
Messages
4,502
He was only quoting you. :M
 

sstacks

Arcane
Joined
Jan 30, 2014
Messages
1,151
Hi all,

Thanks for the questions.

I'll post a link to the podcast as soon as it's up, tonight or tomorrow.

Chris said he will come here and answer questions we didn't get to.

Best,
Shane
 

Immortal

Arcane
In My Safe Space
Joined
Sep 13, 2014
Messages
5,059
Location
Safe Space - Don't Bulli
Hi all,

Thanks for the questions.

I'll post a link to the podcast as soon as it's up, tonight or tomorrow.

Chris said he will come here and answer questions we didn't get to.

Best,
Shane

Right after he finishes Arcanum - Amiright? :smug:

Please answer Elephant in Room Question Senpai MCA.
 

CreamyBlood

Arcane
Joined
Feb 10, 2005
Messages
1,392
I'm glad he didn't ask about leaving Obsidian. It is very unprofessional. Its like asking a divorcee "Hey so who was screwing around the other's back?". This is an industry not the Jerry Springer show. If Chris Avellone or Obsidian had something to say on the subject they would have said it.

My opinion is that there's nothing wrong with asking. He can say, "I'd rather not talk about that right now". People are assuming mellow drama. When any group of humans get together there is usually that.

Has nobody ever asked you: "Hey Creamy, why'd you quit your job?"

"I didn't quit, I didn't survive the second round of lay-offs after MCI bought us out".

"Hey Creamy, why'd you quit your new job?"

"I quit because I'm sick of office culture and wanted to start my own company".

I don't think it's a hard hitting or offensive question and when you're part of the public lime light (in whatever small niche of light this is) it's not a big deal. People are curious. If you don't want to talk about it, fine. It's nobodies business but your own, I respect individual privacy but I'd imagine here at least, it's probably kind of the first thing on many people's minds.

Shane Stacks has his own style of interviewing, or 'conversation' as he prefers it, it's his show and he did a good job. I liked the whole thing. MCA will answer in his own time if and when he wants to. I agree that he doesn't have to explain himself to anyone, but I would have asked.
 

Deleted member 7219

Guest
The questions around Chris' departure from Obsidian will be answered in the fullness of time. I think right now it may be too raw.

I'm much more interested in his opinions about the games he has made, and other RPGs that have a narrative focus (like The Witcher, Shadowrun etc). I'm watching his Arcanum playthrough and it is fascinating seeing his critique. He is bringing up the game on precisely the right things, like bad writing in conversations, railroading the player to go down one personality etc.
 

Neanderthal

Arcane
Joined
Jul 7, 2015
Messages
3,626
Location
Granbretan
Neanderthal "Is Annah one of Ravel's daughters?"

A: No she is not. "I saw Ravel as being more night-haggy. Annah has demonic origins."

Cheers Ninjerk and sstacks, leaves me with more questions though: Wonder why Annah went to Pregnant Alley, why Ravel was nice to her and why her blood reacted to getting frisky with Nameless?

Nice to finally know though, been bothering me for a decade or so.
 
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sstacks

Arcane
Joined
Jan 30, 2014
Messages
1,151
Hi all.

Here's the podcast version, posted here before promoted around the netz in general. Thanks for all the Qs!

http://shaneplays.com/podcast-episode-9-siege-of-avellone/

shane-plays-podcast-title-7-25-2015.png


Best,
Shane
 

Rivmusique

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Mar 14, 2011
Messages
3,489
Location
Kangarooland
Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire
If MCA does ever get around to checking this thread's questions:

Can you give any background on the Holy Avenger fight from IWD2? I just really enjoyed it and read that it was designed by you, so any thoughts on it (having your content be optional/somewhat easy to miss, giving (vital) tactical hints in game through the item description, did you enjoy playing it? etc.) would be great.



Rivmusique Q: Who was Mira's true father?

A: MCA refused to answer that question categorically.

What's this? KotOR 3 confirmed?

Wait you actually said that? Well that's cringe inducing.. :?

He laughed, you're practically best friends now.
 

Zed

Codex Staff
Patron
Staff Member
Joined
Oct 21, 2002
Messages
17,068
Codex USB, 2014
Does he say anything new about anything..?
 

naossano

Cipher
Joined
Aug 26, 2014
Messages
1,232
Location
Marseilles, France
Dunno if it is too late.
Some pal asked why he wanted so much money to join Bard's Tale IV team, if he would join them despite the goal not reached.
 

sstacks

Arcane
Joined
Jan 30, 2014
Messages
1,151
Dunno if it is too late.
Some pal asked why he wanted so much money to join Bard's Tale IV team, if he would join them despite the goal not reached.

Speculating here, but I don't think its so much that he wanted a lot of money, but rather that inXile wanted a high end stretch goal.

Curious on whether he will still end up working with them myself... great question, kicking myself for not asking this one during the interview!

Shane
 

sstacks

Arcane
Joined
Jan 30, 2014
Messages
1,151
Does he say anything new about anything..?

CRPG wise, yes I think so... some of the stuff that impressed him about the writing for Siege of Dragonspear and answering a character question in Planescape Torment come to mind right off the bat.
 

Infinitron

I post news
Staff Member
Joined
Jan 28, 2011
Messages
97,109
Codex Year of the Donut Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
Dunno if it is too late.
Some pal asked why he wanted so much money to join Bard's Tale IV team, if he would join them despite the goal not reached.

Speculating here, but I don't think its so much that he wanted a lot of money, but rather that inXile wanted a high end stretch goal.

Curious on whether he will still end up working with them myself... great question, kicking myself for not asking this one during the interview!

Shane

Don't, he would have given you a non-answer.
 

Darkzone

Arcane
Joined
Sep 4, 2013
Messages
2,323
Dunno if it is too late.
Some pal asked why he wanted so much money to join Bard's Tale IV team, if he would join them despite the goal not reached.

Speculating here, but I don't think its so much that he wanted a lot of money, but rather that inXile wanted a high end stretch goal.

Curious on whether he will still end up working with them myself... great question, kicking myself for not asking this one during the interview!

Shane
I agree with Infinitron on that one, that he would have given you a non-answer. I also thought about this question for a while (see the BTIV threads) , but i think that if an answer comes, then it will be an official inXile Bard's Tale promotion answer in a important game magazin or media, like ign or something like this. Because currently the official state is that we have not reached the Avellone stretch goal and therefore Avellone will not work on Bard's Tale 4. And if the media begins to cover WL2 again if it is released as the DC and the questions arise about BTIV, then we might hear an answer to promote BTIV. And till then this is in a closure state, by all involved parties.
 

Perkel

Arcane
Joined
Mar 28, 2014
Messages
15,764
Dunno if it is too late.
Some pal asked why he wanted so much money to join Bard's Tale IV team, if he would join them despite the goal not reached.

Speculating here, but I don't think its so much that he wanted a lot of money, but rather that inXile wanted a high end stretch goal.

Curious on whether he will still end up working with them myself... great question, kicking myself for not asking this one during the interview!

Shane

CA is one of the owners of Obsidian.
I don't think he has problem with cash.

Like many said. Doing story work for bunch of bullshit is probably why he quit as worker Obsidian. He is still owner so it isn't like he quit it completely.
 

Deleted member 7219

Guest
Dunno if it is too late.
Some pal asked why he wanted so much money to join Bard's Tale IV team, if he would join them despite the goal not reached.

Speculating here, but I don't think its so much that he wanted a lot of money, but rather that inXile wanted a high end stretch goal.

Curious on whether he will still end up working with them myself... great question, kicking myself for not asking this one during the interview!

Shane

CA is one of the owners of Obsidian.
I don't think he has problem with cash.

Like many said. Doing story work for bunch of bullshit is probably why he quit as worker Obsidian. He is still owner so it isn't like he quit it completely.

Obsidian have never had a slam dunk game except for KOTOR 2 (I think someone said KOTOR 2 sold very well and Obsidian still get royalties from it). Infamously, the royalties deal for New Vegas required that the game got at least an 85 rating on Metacritic. Pillars of Eternity might count as a slam dunk as they own the IP.

Anyway, my point is that Obsidian are not known for being a wealthy company. They had to keep laying off people because of failed projects, and Obsidian people have said many times - on this forum too - that the owners didn't take their own paychecks sometimes, just to keep people in work. I don't know how you can think MCA is a particularly wealthy guy. Everyone has problems with cash except for the mega rich.

We also don't know if MCA is still an owner. It would be odd if he left Obsidian but remained an owner - that doesn't really count as leaving. Feargus' statement to Eurogamer about his departure was very terse and gave the bare minimum "Chris Avellone is no longer at Obsidian". I imagine the other owners all bought him out.
 

Perkel

Arcane
Joined
Mar 28, 2014
Messages
15,764
We also don't know if MCA is still an owner. It would be odd if he left Obsidian but remained an owner - that doesn't really count as leaving. Feargus' statement to Eurogamer about his departure was very terse and gave the bare minimum "Chris Avellone is no longer at Obsidian". I imagine the other owners all bought him out.

You don't need to work somewhere to own something.
As for being wealthy. I think Obsidian always aspired to do AAA games but they didn't have slamdunk hit for that.
They always fish for those big contracts in range of 20mln+ thus they need bigger teams but they don't have many project so when projects come down then they need to fire people.

Being big has its downsides.
 

Infinitron

I post news
Staff Member
Joined
Jan 28, 2011
Messages
97,109
Codex Year of the Donut Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
Obsidian have never had a slam dunk game except for KOTOR 2 (I think someone said KOTOR 2 sold very well and Obsidian still get royalties from it).

No, they get royalties (or are supposed to) from NWN2.
 

Immortal

Arcane
In My Safe Space
Joined
Sep 13, 2014
Messages
5,059
Location
Safe Space - Don't Bulli
Remember when MCA said he was gonna come by this forum and answer questions..? Sorta like that Arcanum playthrough.


Ill-Just-Wait-Here.jpg
 
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