Development Info Aliens RPG cancelled, Obsidian fires staff, future in doubt

[Foamhead]

And what did you contribute to the world?
I'm whiny little douche? The one who is whining is you, because I dared to talk bad about your favorite developer studio that made only 1 good game, while making 4 mediocre ones.
You see - when I'm criticizing something - it is whining - it needs to die but somehow you forget that I equally wank to the good games.

It is better to be an elitist wanting good things than a moronic fanboi who will accept any shit coming his way just because that studio has some man who did a good game 10 years ago.

Being an "elitist" about video games ranks right up there in coolness along with checkers suspenders and giving up a hot date to play scrabble with your mom. All you are is just a big mouth attached to a rudimentary system of nerves and glands. I have never once seen you state that you like anything. I thought it was pretty nasty saying someone deserves to lose their job for not producing anything you like on a forum you know they visit was pretty nasty. But then I remembered that you have never held a job let alone ever had a wife so the burden of supporting them doesn't reflect with you. So c'est le ve I guess.

 

[MetalCraze]

I have never once seen you state that you like anything

Well it is hard to see it when you visit only 1 thread (and even have problems reading it)

But then I remembered that you have never held a job let alone ever had a wife so the burden of supporting them doesn't reflect with you.

Everyone who criticizes Obsidian for doing shit games has no life! Bawww

I thought it was pretty nasty saying someone deserves to lose their job for not producing anything you like on a forum you know they visit was pretty nasty.

Sorry man - next time when they will make a game that has more bugs than holes in cheese I will praise them. Well let's hope that next dungeon crawl from them will have dungeons and will look more like a full game and not an amateur mod for NWN2 that is being sold for a price of expansion.

Well I will also not say a bad thing about SEGA for showing fuck you to Obsidian because you know SEGA bosses must feed their families too - if we are not to act like fucking hypocrites eh?

 

[denizsi]

It's silly to think that studios going out like punks for either reasons -making good niche games, or mediocre-to-shitty AAA titles- will have any effects on the industry, so I don't see why anyone would give a shit about its relevance in the big picture.

They were also "catering to the lowest common denominator" with Bloodlines.

For all its flaws, Bloodlines is a good game on its own, and every aspect of it contributes to that. It wouldn't be the same as an isometric game or with a cursor driven interface. It wouldn't have the same atmosphere of night-life, or the whole creepy sequences if it was done any other way. I tend to think that the choice of first person was as much an exploration into new territories and trying out new things as it was a marketing and hyping ploy.

And again, Bloodlines is hardly catering to the lowest common denominator. Throw it at any console kiddie and the whiny faggot will be bitching 10 seconds into the game, crying "Dialogue? WTF is that, where's my action?".

Slapping "dumbed down" on a fine game only because it's first person, or the first first person game in a series of games by the same people is just daft.

But it's not your fault. Not everyone can appreciate fine things in life, and I love you just the same.

It's called empathy.

I forgot to pre-order one when I was born.

:D (hint: I'm skyway's alt).

Moar rumars suggest that Sega might have put it on hold so that OE can get Alpha Protocol out as soon as possible. They've thinned their staff until after AP ships & ARPG picks back up. This way Sega can get their AP money faster. ARPG can wait until after AvP3 ships.

Apart from that the fact that the official announcement is biz-talk for saying it's dead, Sega also "pushed" Gearbox's "Aliens: Colonial Marines" beyond AVP3. Unlike ARPG, ACM isn't cancelled, yet, and 3 subsequent game releases in the same franchise would be senseless, even for SEGA. So, suffocate that bit of hope you still got now.

edit: Screw the mentality that fails to distinguish between "games as fun" and "games as entertainment". Not really relevant with the subject, but I had to spew it out.

 

[Forest Dweller]

They were also "catering to the lowest common denominator" with Bloodlines.

For all its flaws, Bloodlines is a good game on its own, and every aspect of it contributes to that. It wouldn't be the same as an isometric game or with a cursor driven interface. It wouldn't have the same atmosphere of night-life, or the whole creepy sequences if it was done any other way. I tend to think that the choice of first person was as much an exploration into new territories and trying out new things as it was a marketing and hyping ploy.

And again, Bloodlines is hardly catering to the lowest common denominator. Throw it at any console kiddie and the whiny faggot will be bitching 10 seconds into the game, crying "Dialogue? WTF is that, where's my action?".

Slapping "dumbed down" on a fine game only because it's first person, or the first first person game in a series of games by the same people is just daft.

Well, I was speaking in relative terms. Considering skyway's standards, Bloodlines should fall under that heading, even though I don't really believe it myself. Basically I was just trying to point out the bullshit.

 

[Foamhead]

They can do - but they don't want to. And that's why they deserved this.

Nobody stops them from doing a good game without any unneeded for RPG genre fancy graphics, with a budget of Arcanum and the team of the same size as Troika - but whoops! It won't bring as much profit as a generic console shooter with stats (and will tank because Obsidian can't program and optimize for shit)

That's right they deserve to lose theirs jobs and not feed their families because you aren't getting your precious Might and Magic 1 and Wizardry clones. You remind me of an old hippie who thinks no music released after Woodstock is worth listening to. You never ever have anything remotely intelligent or constructive to say whatsoever do you? I'd tell you to go shoot yourself in the head but seeing at your skull is completely hollow the impact might cause your head to totally collapse around your neck.

He has a valid point though. There's loads of smallish independent studios who turn a tidy profit, by focussing on the niche they excel at. Take Kereberos, the team behind Sword of the Stars. They like making 'hardcore' 4X space games. They know full well it won't make as much $$$ as Gears of War, that it won't appeal to the casual crowd, but hey there's a captive market for that sort of game! By keeping their studio lean and mean and focussing on what they do well, they turn a tidy profit and have a loyal fan base. They didn't really sacrifice anything either visually. You don't need to spend a fortune these days to make a game look 'nice'.

Obsidian seem intent though on becoming Bioware Jr, looking at their product lineup, their expansion, etc. Going for the epic slam dunk. There's more money there, if they are very lucky, but the risks are much, much higher and they aren't necessarily the best suited to it. Good cRPG designers don't necessarily make good 3rd person shooters, etc. Take Bloodlines, you could tell from a mile away Troika had been struggling with it. The repetitive/actiony combat was fucking awful, the level design quality was all over the show, only really coming together for the first hub, even the quality of character models was inconsistent (check out the people in the clubs). But luckily the dialogue was consistently awesome -- lucky for us that is.

It's tight for the guys who have lost/are going to lose jobs, but it doesn't change the moral of the story: Trying to be everything, to everybody is a sure fire way to end up in tears.

I actually liked Bloodlines quite a bit although I agree that some of the level design is not the best. The haunted house kicked ass though.

You don't have to go far to convince me that there is a lot of crap being made. I grew up on Kings Quest, Ultima, Wizardry and all the tactical games that most people here love too. My only point is that in the end they are just video games and I would not wish harm on anyone or take pleasure in their troubles, (financial or otherwise) over them. I think your comments already have the answer...it is up to smaller studios to take up these niches. Iron Tower is making Age of Decadence which I am really looking forward to and I know I am creating a niche genre title (although it isn't strictly an RPG) and there are others that are slipping my mind right now.

As far as the little Bioware comments my only retort is that they are doing other things now and if you were starting up a studio and your friends threw you a couple of big projects like Star Wars and Dungeons and Dragons, would you really turn that down? If their next games are Dragon Age 2 and Mass Effect 3 THEN maybe the stone throwing is warranted.