Interview Power to the people - brought to you by Molyneux

[Vault Dweller]

Tags: Fable: The Lost Chapters; Lionhead Studios

Peter Molyneux has graced <a href=http://www.gamesindustry.biz>Games Industry</a> with his mighty presence and shared his latest discoveries in <a href=http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=29187>this interview</a>:
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<blockquote>It's really about trying to revolutionise something that has been standard - for us, anyway - for decades. What does it feel like to hold a sword, to fire a gun, to use magic, and how can I make that feel much more exciting than it ever has before?
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Our challenge is to make you feel cool about the buttons you press on the 360 controller. What you do to unlock the cool stuff that you see on screen is part of the revolution I'm putting forward.
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My dream for the perfect combat system is something where I can play Fable 2 for hours and be really good, and you can walk in having never played it before, and I'm desperate to go to the toilet so I throw you the controller - and you're able to not only hold your own but get through a battle.
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Then I come back and show you how immensely cool I could be, so neither of us feel stupid and <u>both of us feel powerful</u>. Accessibility but depth is the real core of it.
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People don't want more than button bashing. For a long time we said, 'Oh, people shouldn't button bash.' People like doing it; I don't want to make them feel stupid just because they button bash. </blockquote>God bless him.
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[Jasede]

 

[Micmu]

Looks like his games will require a warm jacket to play.

 

[Severian Silk]

LOL I thought this was one of your 'fake' articles where you made shit up. Alas, this is not the case.

Are you trying to bring an element of strategy into one-button combat?

Does not compute.

 

[Naked Ninja]

How can people take this guy seriously? How? I don't understand. How can anyone sit there with a straight face, nodding and listening intently as he says these things? Aaaargh.

This combined with that Mass Effect article scan is just too much bull in one day.

 

[MetalCraze]

People don't want more than button bashing. For a long time we said, 'Oh, people shouldn't button bash.' People like doing it; I don't want to make them feel stupid just because they button bash.

He is joking, right? RIGHT?!

 

[Deleted member 7219]

Then I come back and show you how immensely cool I could be, so neither of us feel stupid and both of us feel powerful

 

[JarlFrank]

Our challenge is to make you feel cool about the buttons you press on the 360 controller. What you do to unlock the cool stuff that you see on screen is part of the revolution I'm putting forward.

So it's neither about the challenge nor about the fun... it is about feeling cool while mashing the buttons on your controller.

Heck, I remember the good old times when nerds didn't want to be cool by mashing buttons but by being able to beat a ridiculously hard turn-based battle and shwoing their hand-drawn maps to their friends, in times when there was no auto-map feature.

But seriously, what the fuck? What the fuck? Since when were RPGs about being cool while mashing your buttons? And what the fuck is he saying about "And your friend who never played it before can feel cool, too! And when you come back you will show him how cool you really are!" What does he want to tell us with this? And where's the logic?

Let's assume I'm playing Fable 2 together with... let's say skyway. I try to impress him and show him that I'm cool by making some cool combat moves. Then I give him, who never played the game before, the controller so I can laugh about him because he sucks at the game. But nope, he manages to pull off the same combat moves as me without a problem! Now neither of us feels cool because we realize how unchallenging that game is, and how simple the combat plays. How can you be cool and impress your friends when the combat system can be mastered by every retard at the first playthrough? Well, you can't.

So what the fuck was going through Peter's head while he wrote that shitload of crap?

 

[Ion Flux]

How can you be cool and impress your friends when the combat system can be mastered by every retard at the first playthrough? Well, you can't.

What old Petey is talking about is the illusion of coolness. It's heavily abstracted and has nothing to do with actual mastery, system analysis, or problem solving. Obviously, Peter is very enthusiastic about making games for ADD console kids, and not for Codexicans.

What I can't understand is why this would be satisfying to a developer. Apart from the whole money thing, of course. Which is probably satisfying enough for most people. I guess.

 

[aries202]

People don't want more than button bashing. For a long time we said, 'Oh, people shouldn't button bash.' People like doing it; I don't want to make them feel stupid just because they button bash.

He is joking, right? RIGHT?!

No, he is NOT joking. He actually means what he's saying. His vision about the one-button mashing & bashing combat has been told for some time now. I don't why he says that people want more than button bash. I certainly do and I think that other people do to - even people playing Halo 1, 2 or 3. I've played Halo 1's trial demo. The combat is really that good. And it isn't just button mashing or a clickfest.

I'm mentioning this since Peter M. apparently seem to think that making RPG combat only mashing one button will get more people to buy RPGs. I think Peter M. apparently percieves combat in FPS games as button mashing so he maybe thinks like this 'hey, if we
make RPG combat like FPS combat, then more gamers will buy more RPGs.' I think this is a fawlty assumption since good rpg games always sell well.

 

[Oarfish]

PM could probably afford to retire next week and pull an Arthur C Clarke by living the rest of his life on a desert island surrounded by economically disadvantaged teenage boys. Unfortunately for us, he really seems to love accelerating the decline of the games industry with his boundless appetite for stupid ideas.

 

[Ismaul]

Let's assume I'm playing Fable 2 together with... let's say skyway. I try to impress him and show him that I'm cool by making some cool combat moves. Then I give him, who never played the game before, the controller so I can laugh about him because he sucks at the game. But nope, he manages to pull off the same combat moves as me without a problem! Now neither of us feels cool because we realize how unchallenging that game is, and how simple the combat plays. How can you be cool and impress your friends when the combat system can be mastered by every retard at the first playthrough? Well, you can't.

So what the fuck was going through Peter's head while he wrote that shitload of crap?

Yeah. Feeling cool with random button mashing only works if you're game-challenged, or rather mentally-challenged. Otherwise you'd be able to "understand" that this game requires no understanding whatsoever and is devoid of any other challenge than pressing more buttons more. It's the rock bottom of dumbing down.

I feel this is going to be the ultimate casual gamer game. It might also work when you're way too wasted to understand what's going on, but then if the same design principles premeate through the whole game, I don't see it being anything else than random shit that makes you feel cool if you're dumb. And even then, you only feel cool when you feel you deserve it. This game is even taking that away. It's going to be the egocentric retarded spoiled kids' game of choice.

 

[Gwendo]

What's so hard to understand. The one button in combat is the "Play" button. The next feature will be the "fast forward" button, so that you don't even have to waist time fighting enemies.

 

[Spectacle]

If we compare Fallout and PS:T to fine literature, the Fable games are trashy paperbacks sold at a petrol station.

It is about time that good games are recognized as culture, and trash games are recognized as trash.

 

[Texas Red]

So basically the goal of Molyneux is to make combat even LESS difficult than it is most games today? How is it even possible?!

 

[spacemoose]

What's so hard to understand. The one button in combat is the "Play" button. The next feature will be the "fast forward" button, so that you don't even have to waist time fighting enemies.

don't even joke about that. someone's going to make a console with just one "PLAY" button eventually. it will be hailed as the next gen revolution, capturing hordes of drooling mass market consumers greater than anything that's come before

 

[Cassidy]

What's so hard to understand. The one button in combat is the "Play" button. The next feature will be the "fast forward" button, so that you don't even have to waist time fighting enemies.

don't even joke about that. someone's going to make a console with just one "PLAY" button eventually. it will be hailed as the next gen revolution, capturing hordes of drooling mass market consumers greater than anything that's come before

I would rather a DVD player.

 

[Volourn]

If this article isn't a joke, Molyneaux is a joke.


That is all.

 

[Solaris]

Molyneux keeps going from strength to strength

Senile old cunt...

 

[Texas Red]

Senile old cunt...

ROFL

 

[AnalogKid]

How can you be cool and impress your friends when the combat system can be mastered by every retard at the first playthrough?

Obviously, everyone's missing the point. Combat can't be MASTERED by every retard, but only by the super-cool. Duhh! The retards get the equivalent of a silver medal for performing marginally less ... er ... masterfully. With the one button.

A shining example of C&C! You can master the button (master the button, Luke...) or you can mash away. Choices!!! You'll finish the game just the same, but you can claim to be cool or you can claim to be a retard. Consequences!!!

This is gonna be fucking awesome.

 

[Saxon1974]

Peter Molyneux has graced <a>Games Industry</a> with his mighty presence and shared his latest discoveries in <a>this interview</a>:

<blockquote>It's really about trying to revolutionise something that has been standard - for us, anyway - for decades. What does it feel like to hold a sword, to fire a gun, to use magic, and how can I make that feel much more exciting than it ever has before?

Our challenge is to make you feel cool about the buttons you press on the 360 controller. What you do to unlock the cool stuff that you see on screen is part of the revolution I'm putting forward.

My dream for the perfect combat system is something where I can play Fable 2 for hours and be really good, and you can walk in having never played it before, and I'm desperate to go to the toilet so I throw you the controller - and you're able to not only hold your own but get through a battle.

Then I come back and show you how immensely cool I could be, so neither of us feel stupid and <u>both of us feel powerful</u>. Accessibility but depth is the real core of it.

People don't want more than button bashing. For a long time we said, 'Oh, people shouldn't button bash.' People like doing it; I don't want to make them feel stupid just because they button bash. </blockquote>God bless him.

HE IS A FAG!

 

[fastpunk]

I remember the Zero Punctuation review for Halo 3 where the reviewer used this very appropriate title for next-gen games: Captain Bland's Monotonous Adventures. Molyneaux seems to fit perfectly into this category.

 

[Grandpa Gamer]

We've been through this before, when the one button combat system was first announced. And I still think Peter knows what he is doing. He might not be making games for us, but he's on to something here. If a game can make people feel cool, it will sell.

What old Petey is talking about is the illusion of coolness.

Of course it's illusion. But games are all about make believe anyway, so one more level of fake won't matter to those who buy into it.

If we compare Fallout and PS:T to fine literature, the Fable games are trashy paperbacks sold at a petrol station.

Fair enough.

 

[Chefe]

You insensitive bastards.

How are armless children going to play Fable 2 when it requires pressing multiple buttons?

I commend him for his efforts to reach out to a market that is usually rejected. Bravo, Peter.