Editorial Feargus leaving editorial at Arcadian Del Sol

[Saint_Proverbius]

Tags: Black Isle Studios; Fallout 3 (Van Buren); Feargus Urquhart

<A href="http://www.arcadiandelsol.com/">Arcadian Del Sol</a> has posted a rather <A href="http://www.arcadiandelsol.com/article.php?sid=181&mode=thread&order=0">questionable editorial</a> about <b>Feargus Urquhart</b> leaving <A href="Http://www.blackisle.com">Black Isle Studios</a> for this interesting in killing some time.
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<blockquote>The bottom line is that we've seen this all happen before. Those of you waiting for a true Fallout III - don't hold your breath. Many a good man died of asphyxia waiting for a true XCom II that never came. Instead, MicroProse leaped onto every flavor-of-the-month game design in the industry, and used a large rubber mallot to pound the XCom franchise into a square hole that it didn't fit in. There was an RTS XCom, a Space shooter XCom, and an FPS XCom. There was even a lame attempt at a Sim XCom City. But never a true XCom II (Terror from the Deep was a glorified graphical patch). Fallout 2 happened because Feargus, according to canonized legend, forced it out. The disagreement over this decision caused several key folks like Tim Cain and Brian Fargo to leave the company altogether. But fans had their Fallout 2 and they were happy. Cain and Fargo went their ways to try to make other titles, but fell down miserably (Arcanum ring a bell? If it weren't for the color blue, that game would be in greyscale).</blockquote>
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It's worth reading to play <i>Spot the Errors</i>, because there's heaps of them.
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Thanks <b>Briosafreak</b>!

 

[Zetor]

Bring back Lumthemad beey0tch!!1111
Seriously tho, Arc's been smoking something really funky lately... it's fun to play 'spot the errors' with this post of his, as well.

-- Z.

 

[Spazmo]

Speaking of Fargo, what has he been doing? Riding off the severance package?

 

[triCritical]

Speaking of Fargo, what has he been doing? Riding off the severance package?

I don't know but he sold the last of his IPLY stocks about 2-3 months ago (maybe more maybe less). Kind of funny since it was around 2 million and he got less cash then that.

 

[POOPERSCOOPER]

hey

I think he said he was taking a break and had plans of starting a new company, it was in an interview during the time he left Interplay.

 

[Rosh]

Bring back Lumthemad beey0tch!!1111
Seriously tho, Arc's been smoking something really funky lately... it's fun to play 'spot the errors' with this post of his, as well.

I still remember this bit of funney.

I'd consider Arcadian one of the more rational of those at the closing of SND, even if he does get some things a bit wrong.

Also, you might want to correct this, Saint:

PlaneScape: Torment was probably BIS's last, big HOORAH. Great game, and made good money, but cost a decent penny to make. This as opposed to IWD2, which made lots of money and didn't take much money to make.

That's basically why there's an IWD2. Herve Caen came down from on high and said, "Make IWD2, or sack half your people." Given that choice, I think it's clear to see why there's an IWD2 instead of something better.

First paragraph, should be just IWD. I also agree with you about the stuff concerning Feargus. We did give him shit, but that's mainly just to keep to the straight and narrow instead of calm nodding that makes most developers lazy. I do think that he did well for the position that he did, and while I do disagree with him about some design issues concerning various games, maybe TORN wasn't his fault.

 

[Sol Invictus]

Arcadian Del Sol has posted a rather questionable editorial about Feargus Urquhart leaving Black Isle Studios for this interesting in killing some time.

Was that an intentional reference to the Spot the Errors thing?

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

First paragraph, should be just IWD.

Torment was their last, big HOORAH in terms of a good roleplaying experience. That's what he was talking about, the role playing games they used to make.

 

[Starmaster]

Fallout 2 happened because Feargus, according to canonized legend, forced it out.

FALSE: Fargo wanted Fallout 2 out.


The disagreement over this decision caused several key folks like Tim Cain and Brian Fargo to leave the company altogether.

FALSE: The disagreement was between Fargo and Tim Cain over royalties for Fallout 1. Cain threatened to leave and Fargo showed him the door. Feargus took over the Fallout 2 duties after Fargo kicked out the Troika Three.


But fans had their Fallout 2 and they were happy.
TRUE.


Cain and Fargo went their ways to try to make other titles.
FALSE. Fargo never left Interplay during the Fallout 2 era. Fargo left after Titus forced him out in 2002. Long after Fallout 2 shipped.

 

[Spazmo]

Black Isle Studios hit the ground running with the decade delayed tributary sequel to Wasteland called Fallout.

*Sigh*

 

[Sol Invictus]

What an idiot. Someone should e-mail him a link to this thread.

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

He's not an idiot, he just doesn't have all the facts in proper order. It's kind of easy to think Fargo had something to do with Fallout considering one of the first things you see when you load up Fallout is Brian Fargo presents. The truth of the matter is he was really just the CEO then.

 

[Araanor]

Personally, I wouldn't write an editorial on a matter I'm not acquainted with...

 

[Sol Invictus]

Highly ignorant individual whose ignorance bounds on entering the realm of idiocy, then.

 

[Zetor]

He was one of the admins of lumthemad.net, though, and that was anything but an uninformed site.
I think his problem is that, based on his knowledge and insights of MMOGs (UO in particular), he thinks he knows all there is to know. That's not ignorance, more like arrogance... but if you read the thread, you'll see that he accepted the corrections and thanked SP for them.
Plus, finding stuff out like 'Fargo was the evil man behind the curtain' isn't exactly trivial if you weren't in the FO community at the time or aren't willing to do some very deep digging. 'Sides, it was an opinion piece, and FWIW I think that's how the "unwashed masses" see it, anyhow. I know I did -- from my cursory reads of the FO fansites 2-3 years ago, plus that infamous 'FO3-realtime' thread on the BIS forums (with our beloved Saint Proboscis ), I too got the impression that Feargus was the one who fux0red it all.

ymmv,

-- Z.

 

[Jack_Deth]

This guy really shoots himself in the foot. He has no credibility whatsoever.

 

[Major_Blackhart]

Damn, I gotta keep up with the times. What's Feargus "I want cool minigun effects in 3D" Urquhart gonna do now anyway? Personally, though its pretty crappy of me to say this, I'm glad Interplay is going down in flames. But back to the point. This guy is definitely misinformed about the info. :mrgreen: :D

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

IPLY's been shame spiralling for a long time, which has lead to many gamers dismissing them over the years. I even found a post on the Galactic Civilization forum where this one guy said he used to be loyal to two companies in the business, id software and Interplay. He then added that he doubts he'd touch an IPLY product anymore because the quality of their products has been slipping steadily for years and they now just seem intent on destroying their licenses.

It's really not hard to see that people don't like this company any more.

Trashing BIS, though, that's like throwing out the baby with the bathwater.

 

[Spazmo]

What, you love BIS all of a sudden, Saint? You've been vehemently ragging against them for ages. Me, I actually do like BIS, but I'd like to know exactly what prompted this reversal of position on your part.

 

[Major_Blackhart]

Well, I cant speak for Saint_P, but I've always had a small ray of hope in my heart for BIS. But, it seems that they cant really get their shit together, so they're fucked. Just like the rest of IPLY, and Feargus has nothing to do with that. They've been fucked from the beginning of Interplay's financial Descent.

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

What, you love BIS all of a sudden, Saint? You've been vehemently ragging against them for ages. Me, I actually do like BIS, but I'd like to know exactly what prompted this reversal of position on your part.

I've been ragging on them making Infinity Engine games for the last five years. That's why I rag on IWD2, because it's just YAIEG. I've said they're in a rut, which they have been by cranking out nothing but YAIEGs.

I've said I'm interested in seeing what Jefferson is, and Lionheart interests me a bit also. Both of those have been stated by me numerous times.

Though it's not hard to rag on IPLY for dicking around with BIS. After all, BIS is basically the lifeblood of the company. Without it, IPLY might as well fold up shop and die.

Get it, now?

 

[triCritical]

Though it's not hard to rag on IPLY for dicking around with BIS. After all, BIS is basically the lifeblood of the company. Without it, IPLY might as well fold up shop and die.

They could make Caesers from here to eternity. I seriously don't know how those cheap friggin card games sell so much.

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

Yeah, I don't get that either, considering many of those games you can get for free on the internet. The only thing you pay for with them are the graphics and sound quality.

 

[Spazmo]

You can get most of those games with a pack of cards.

All right then, Saint, I see what you mean.

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

You can get most of those games with a pack of cards.

All right then, Saint, I see what you mean.

Screwing with BIS when they start showing signs of pulling themselves out of the rut I didn't like for so long is what ticks me off. That and I think Feargus probably would have been more likely to give Fallout 3 a green light, or at least pushed for Fallout 3, than someone that Herve might put in charge. Even something on par with Fallout would have been great.