Interview DS2 is da bomb says Chris Taylor

[Vault Dweller]

Tags: Chris Taylor (Gas Powered Games); Dungeon Siege 2

Yep, that's pretty much what he said in a recent <a href=http://www.computerandvideogames.com/r/?page=http://www.computerandvideogames.com/news/news_story.php(que)id=121914>interview</a> brought to you by <a href=http://www.computerandvideogames.com>CVG</a>: "Dungeon Siege II represents one of the highest density experiences you'll ever get in a box":
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Some hype:
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<blockquote>If you look at everything I've done over the past 17 years, Dungeon Siege II absolutely represents the very highest quality of product in terms of craftsmanship and polish that I've ever been involved with.</blockquote>
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Some personal growth:
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<blockquote>Well, I went through some personal growth where I came around to a realisation about what storyline gives the player. On top of that, it's amazing how much fun it is to go into a room and say, "okay, we've got to come up with a really interesting backstory and fictional universe," and then put the game inside that. It actually makes the whole design job easier, so I've come around!</blockquote>
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On challenges of making games for morons:
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<blockquote>You just have to kill every damn thing. And why would one person be motivated to do that unless someone evil has pissed you off and you have to kill everything. We toyed with the idea of having your enemy be the 'good' guy, but that just confused people.</blockquote>
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Some bullshit:
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<blockquote>I don't think we'll see a game that's this big again. We're looking at over 70 hours of gameplay with Dungeon Siege II, but it's getting harder and harder to deliver that many hours of gameplay. This might be the last big RPG before you start looking at 20 or 30 hours, maximum.</blockquote>
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Is he taking lessons from DW Bradley?
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[Ap_Jolly]

Chris Taylor fails at hype. This is got to be the most ridiculous thing I read this week.

 

[Kraszu]

You just have to kill every damn thing. And why would one person be motivated to do that unless someone evil has pissed you off and you have to kill everything. We toyed with the idea of having your enemy be the 'good' guy, but that just confused people.

Rotfl, i read on gamespot in some comment that kotor II sux because it is too complicated to choose respond that would lead you to the light side.

 

[Naked_Lunch]

We toyed with the idea of having your enemy be the 'good' guy, but that just confused people.

What kind of people? 4-year-olds? Retards?

 

[Spazmo]

Dungeon Siege II represents one of the highest density experiences you'll ever get in a box

There's no doubt that somebody in all this is fairly dense.

 

[Surlent]

So how did this ex fo-dev and strategy designer end up hyping action rpgs ?

 

[Vault Dweller]

Two different people. One's ex-Fallout developer, another is responsible for TA, the DS games, and the upcoming RTS.

 

[corvax]

And if you're going to be sitting in front of your monitor for that long it's lucky that there's actually a storyline in Dungeon Siege II. An evil force has discovered a long lost power, and unless you do something about it the world will be destroyed.

Finally a game with a good story

 

[Ap_Jolly]

1985 called, they want their game story back.

 

[Surlent]

Two different people.

Whups, my bad. No wonder these Chris Taylors get everywhere.

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

There's actually three or four Chris Taylors in the industry. I know there's one that's an artist on the East Coast. I personally think they should all get together and form their own company, just to confuse the hell out of people.

 

[roguefrog]

Total Annihilation rocked, Dungeon Siege was meh. 70 hours of gameplay is pretty rare though.

 

[Vykromond]

That Taylor guy sure is a fucking retard. Dungeon Siege II will be the last big game? You forgot Grimoire, dumbass.




:wink:

 

[jiujitsu]

Phew.. For a second there I thought it was ChrisT spewing forth all that shit.

 

[Ap_Jolly]

70 hours of what again? Micromanagement, and killing shit?

 

[HangFire]

Doubtful that its 70 hours. Its easy to inflate the game's lenth, if you factor in things such as multiplayer and replaying the singleplayer in a different fashion.

Its probably 5-8 hours in lenth for the singleplayer campaign.

 

[Sol Invictus]

Chris Taylor is awesome. You guys are fucking morons for calling him a 'moron'. He was personally responsible for the greatest, and this is unarguable, real time strategy game of all time. DS was a letdown, certainly, but if the beta of DS2 is any indication of the final game, it's a lot closer to Diablo 2 than it is to Dungeon Siege.

Yes, the graphics are nothing to gasp at. They look average. The storyline is simplistic, and as a dungeon hack, isn't really a big deal anyway. Chris Taylor's definitely overblowing the 'greatness' of DS2, but he is no fool. I'd like to see someone make a better RTS than Total Annihilation. 70 hours of gameplay, minimum, sounds pretty damn cool - even if it is a hack and slasher (so what?). Just hope that the loot system and skill system and levelling isn't as poor as Dungeon Siege. There was a serious imbalance (and a few built in flaws) with the rate at which you gained experience and loot in Dungeon Siege. Monsters were often too powerful for you in the middle of the game, so you couldn't really complete it. Multiplayer was okay, because you could just level up in areas safe to your level and ability.

I'm cautious about this one, but hopeful.

 

[Gromnir]

the original ds did ok... so ok that they is making a ds movie. you think that maybe, just maybe, chris is trying to sell ds2 to fans o' ds1? make ds2 for folks who hated ds1 or for folks that liked ds1? folks who liked ds1 were happy with the diabloesque model, but they wanted maybe a little more story... so that is what chris is telling them they is gonna get.

as to the prediction 'bout game length... we hope he is exaggerating a tad as developers of games like da and nwn2 is at least suggesting that their games is gonna be longer than jade empire, but there has been many folks in the industry who keeps pointing out that with the ever increasing emphasis on snazzy 3d graphics, it is harder and harder to makes long games. is just too expensive.

HA! Good Fun!

 

[Sol Invictus]

I personally hang out with the DS crowd, and I can tell you that folks who liked DS1 are unhappy with the way GPG treats its modders (mainly because of Microsoft's hand in the whole situation), and not all of them are happy with the direction that DS2 is heading - e.g. it's like Diablo 2 with the clickety click, loot, and skill systems, and not Dungeon Siege. It doesn't have the automation, either. That was a big deal with DS.

I think that Chris is trying to reach out to the Diablo 2 crowd who have long been ignored or merely catered to by smaller companies (Master Creation).

Of course he's exaggerating. That's what game creators do. They're proud of their work and so they boast about it. But one thing's for sure is that he's not lying out of his ass like Peter Molyneux.

Most of the development of DS2 went on rehauling the gameplay in its entirety. The graphics engine is the same old one they used to make Dungeon Siege with a few modifications, like DX9 stuff and engine optimizations that the original suffered from, due to being processor dependent rather than GPU dependent.

They've spent most of their development time lenghtening the game, adding features, and interesting stuff, instead of working on making the game pretty. Just take a look at the screenshots: they're only slightly better than the original game, and while there's Dx9 filters here and there, it looks like utter crap compared to games like Age of Empires 3.

 

[Atrokkus]

Ya know, we should nickname those different CHris Taylors in order to avert confusion.

 

[Ryuken]

I recall that Gabe Newell once said that HL2 was gonna take 40 hours to complete, or even Infinity Ward stating that CoD would definitely take 20 hours to play out, NWN OC 60 hours etc.. A lot of people are trying to sell their product with lies like this idd.

Dunno if CT is lying but 70 hours for a game just doesn't happen anymore. I think it must have been since BG2 that I ever spent more hours on a single playthrough. For an action rpg it might be too much... we'll see.

 

[Ap_Jolly]

There never was any confusion. Whenever Chris Taylor is mentioned in the same text with strategy games, you know it's talking about GPG Chris, not Fallout's Chris.

 

[corvax]

Chris Taylor is awesome. You guys are fucking morons for calling him a 'moron'. He was personally responsible for the greatest, and this is unarguable, real time strategy game of all time. DS was a letdown, certainly, but if the beta of DS2 is any indication of the final game, it's a lot closer to Diablo 2 than it is to Dungeon Siege.

I believe this site's focus is rpg's something you tend to forget. Dungeon Siege was utter crap in terms of gameplay, period. As of now Taylor hasn't earned much respect in the rpg world. No free rides here.

 

[Claw]

We've gotten a lot closer to making the combat feel really good.

Is that hype? Because I don't feel it. I feel like I want a game with really really good combat rather than close to.

 

[roguefrog]

I won't be getting DS2 unless it does a 360. I haven't read anything about it. Waiting on Supreme Commander.