Interview Teh White Council intarview at CVG

[Vault Dweller]

Tags: Electronic Arts; Lord of the Rings: The White Council

<a href=http://www.computerandvideogames.com>CVG</a> has scored an <a href=http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=143077>interview</a> with <a href=http://www.whitecouncil.ea.com/>The White Council</a>'s assistant product manager Tyler Vaught.
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<blockquote><b>What other RPGs would you compare the game to?</b>
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If I had to compare it to something it'd be Oblivion.</blockquote>Big surprise. Thanks a lot, Bethesda.
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<blockquote><b>Can you give us any details about the plot?</b>
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I'd rather not give away too much, but what I can tell you is that the basic idea is that you want to become a sufficiently powerful character...</blockquote>What a surprising twist of events.
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<blockquote>There's evil in the world that needs to be destroyed and they send you off to do it. </blockquote>You are ful of surprises today, Tyler.
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<blockquote><b>How much say will the player have over their alignment given the rigid storyline structure?</b>
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You cannot switch sides and become evil.</blockquote>Because that would be just wrong. Right, Tyler?
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<blockquote><b>How will/does the combat system work?</b>
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Fundementally, what we wanted to do was to take the best of The Two Towers, The Return Of The King and mix it with the tactics from The Third Age. <u>We wanted to make the front-end combat like the first two games where you have to use your button skills and make the back half <b>a tactical RPG system that's based on what armour you have on</b></u> and what skills you've developed. </blockquote>Signature material.
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Thanks, Bluebottle.

 

[Micmu]

Hey, another dumbfucked console action game with swords and magic marketed as an NEXT GEN RPG.

 

[Castanova]

There's evil in the world that needs to be destroyed and they send you off to do it.

You are ful of surprises today, Tyler.

You cannot switch sides and become evil.

Because that would be just wrong. Right, Tyler?

This game will no doubt be a pile of crap but c'mon. Is it really rational to hope for a LOTR game to break out of the epic-adventure-against-evil mold? Not even Tolkien himself could manage that.

 

[Bluebottle]

This game will no doubt be a pile of crap but c'mon. Is it really rational to hope for a LOTR game to break out of the epic-adventure-against-evil mold? Not even Tolkien himself could manage that.

I've only ever read the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings, so my Middle Earth knowledge is pretty slim. However I thought that one of the characteristics of Men (as a race) was that they were easily corrupted.

 

[Vault Dweller]

@ Castanova:

Well, there are many ways to make an epic game and going with the "evil that simply must be destroyed" cliche is simply lame. I'm not overly fond of Tolkien, to be honest, but even he didn't use it too often. The [in]famous trilogy is not about defeating evil, but about destroying the ring. That, of course, destroys the evil, but I hope you can see the difference. The characters are constantly tempted to join the Dark Side, and sometimes go far enough. Of course, it's a book, so Tolkien could only do so much with the Dark Side stuff, but I don't see a reason why a game can't take that trip until the end.

 

[Frau Bishop]

You are ful of surprises today, Tyler.

You have a typo there, VD!

You are ful of shit today, Tyler.

Fixed!

 

[Twinfalls]

You cannot switch sides and become evil.

Because that would be just wrong. Right, Tyler?

One wonders if these people are even capable of understanding the concept of "various groups with conflicting interests, none of which are clearly delineated as 'good' or 'evil', and the player can decide with whom to side". Bethesda once did (DF), but that was, of course, well before the Rule of Todd.

Mercifully there's still Gothic 3 in the 'big budget and shiny' category, though the Witcher peeps have talked the talk on this (haven't heard much about their 'redefining' progress lately)...

 

[ad hominem]

<b>What other RPGs would you compare the game to?</b>

If I had to compare it to something it'd be Oblivion.

AAAAAARGH!!! I mean, yeah, not surprising, but still....

EDIT: LOL at frau

 

[tarkin]

Here's Tyler Vaught himself (on the right i think).

Took it from here

 

[serch]

Comic value of this game will be unbeatable.

 

[Mr. Teatime]

The game is clearly being designed by a gay.

 

[psycojester]

Well at least the characters will have nice hair and good fashion sense

 

[Mefi]

This game will no doubt be a pile of crap but c'mon. Is it really rational to hope for a LOTR game to break out of the epic-adventure-against-evil mold? Not even Tolkien himself could manage that.

Not when made by EA no. Another games company might have considered how the whole of Middle Earth lore is about how the best of intentions can get perverted into evil. So much room for moral choices, for shades of grey...

And we get a game which is hacky-slashy, orcz are teh evil.

The Tolkien estate should be ashamed but they're too busy counting their pennies. Makes a mockery of their initial "we want things to be done right" stance.

 

[Elwro]

(haven't heard much about their 'redefining' progress lately)...

They've dropped the phrase. There's hope. And the E3 video I've seen is imo also a good sign for the future.

 

[Whipporowill]

I'd say this game would be even LESS an rpg without Oblivion being a commercial success. Not saying that that's a good thing, just that it probably would...

 

[Nutcracker]

Although i am a moralist myself, it would be a lot more appealing to the intelligent gamer if rpg developers could generate a world in which you have a lot of moral choices, and one in which there is a lot of moral ambiguity. Unfortunately, the inability to ponder these kinds of issues is one of the hallmarks of a simple mind (e.g. Todd Howard).

Brings to mind a point i read somewhere about how the recent Alexander the Great film didnt succeed in the american market because it lacked the traditional good/evil character delineation and quest/revenge plotlines.

 

[kingcomrade]

It more likely failed because it was stupid.

 

[denizsi]

Here's Tyler Vaught himself (on the right i think).

I can't believe obvious dumbfucks like these are given positions like production management (assistant). Really, where do they find these kind of people? I could pick a random guy on the street and the odds are that he would do things better. I wonder whose dicks they eat to reach such positions.

It more likely failed because it was stupid.

I've watched the 'behind the scenes' documentary for it. It was kind of sad in a funny way seeing Colin Farrel taking himself all too seriously, overacting himself while learning and practicing formation with all the other figurants, yelling out "phalanx!" like a homophobic gay.

 

[Twinfalls]

That'd be the movie with Colin dumbfuck farrell, Angelina Jolie, and Val Kilmer as a king! I cannot fathom why the public didn't take this

type of thing seriously.

As for the LOTR game, 'Assistant Product Manager' means 'assistant to the product manager'. Which sounds like box-stacker or something - but hey, he gets to do some low-level PR as well, bless his gay little soul.

I remember meeting a bloke at a party who bragged that he was '3rd assistant director' on a Joel Silver movie or some shit. I suggested that this would mean he was simply a runner (assistant to the assistant to the assistant to the director) and he grimaced then failed to convince anyone otherwise.

 

[Volourn]

"The [in]famous trilogy is not about defeating evil"

This is nonsencial. The netire story was based on defeatinge vil. The evil of Sauron. the evil of the ring. the evil within one's own sould. It was 100% about good vs. evil. It was all about black and white.


Anyways, this interview makes me shudder. Any game trying to be like any ES game is likely doomed to be disliked by me.

 

[hiciacit]

Those are the actual answers?! Fookin 'ell...

 

[Kendar]

We also have professions that have their own quests associated with them, which have their own quests that branch off the central story.

At least it is a better RPG than Oblivion, look at the (rare) good sides.

 

[StraitLacedDeviant]

@ Castanova:

The characters are constantly tempted to join the Dark Side, and sometimes go far enough. Of course, it's a book, so Tolkien could only do so much with the Dark Side stuff, but I don't see a reason why a game can't take that trip until the end.

Frodo went fully over to the dark side at the end. You had Boromir nearly killing Frodo over the ring.

 

[Vault Dweller]

Exactly.

 

[Jaesun]

Well since it is (so far) for only PS3 and XBox360 I really won't miss this game. Nor do I care, since it's EA.