Game News Animation reel from cancelled Aliens: Crucible RPG discovered on Vimeo

[Infinitron]

of the Codex. You guys sound like fucking Nathan Grayson. Seriously, fuck visual novels.

Imagine Sawyer quitting derping forever about game systems while delivering shit broken games.

Even you admit that FO:NV was their best effort, so what games are you talking about?

 

[Zeus]

I'm confused. Didn't the Codex used to respect non-combat solutions, boss battles you could talk your way out of in Arcanum, that sort of thing?

 

[Jasede]

I don't like them (visual novels) per se, but Torment would have been a flat-out better game without combat. MotB as well, I'm quite sure. And the less said about the KOTOR 2 combat debacle the better.

 

[Infinitron]

I don't like them (visual novels) per se, but Torment would have been a flat-out better game without combat. MotB as well, I'm quite sure. And the less said about the KOTOR 2 combat debacle the better.

It would have been a better game with better combat.

The hypothetical "Torment the Visual Novel", that so many people here wish had existed, is a game that would never have been as popular as the Torment that we actually got. It would have been lost among all the other unappreciated "weird" 90s adventure games like Sanitarium, Zork Nemesis and Grim Fandango.

The game's mock imitation of Baldur's Gate's RPG mechanics, and the freedom those mechanics gave you, made the game greater than the sum of its parts.

 

[Jasede]

Not sure I agree. But I'll say this, if Obsidian actually were capable of good combat, they'd probably be praised unanimously here.

 

[EG]

Obsidian redoing Alien: A Comic Book Adventure?

 

[villain of the story]

of the Codex. You guys sound like fucking Nathan Grayson. Seriously, fuck visual novels.

Imagine Sawyer quitting derping forever about game systems while delivering shit broken games.

Even you admit that FO:NV was their best effort, so what games are you talking about?

FNV, their best game to date, only so by virtue of being a standalone expansion to an preexisting game with most to all the necessary tools and even the assets ready for them. They took an already working base and improved it. It was a dream come true. And we still got people who refuse to play FNV because of its combat. So what I'm talking about is practically every game they have developed. Then there is this Sawyer guy who goes on and on about game systems, combat mechanics and the like as if he's some wise old fucking man, a guru of game design when in fact not a single of their games have had quality combat to give weight to a single word of his. Developer of shit talking shit and getting revered by Codex because he was involved with IWD series. A timeless Codex classic.

I'm confused. Didn't the Codex used to respect non-combat solutions, boss battles you could talk your way out of in Arcanum, that sort of thing?

Arcanum? What the fuck?

Anyway, yes, those are the things we respect. Those are the things that set Obsidian apart. Otherwise, Obsidian games are like any other game at the core. Games driven by shit combat. I'd love it if they just dropped all the pretense and developed visual novels but then they would go out of business before you could blink an eye.

I honestly think they shouldn't be involved in any original games or original IPs. They seem to be at their best when they take a pre-existing base with working systems and improve on it.

 

[Infinitron]

FNV, their best game to date, only so by virtue of being a standalone expansion to an preexisting game with most to all the necessary tools and even the assets ready for them. And we got still people who refuse to play FNV because of its combat. So what I'm talking about is practically every game they have developed. There is this Sawyer guy who goes on and on about game systems, combat mechanics and the like as if he's some wise old fucking man, a guru of game design when in fact not a single of their games have had quality combat. Developer of shit talking shit and getting revered by Codex because he was involved with IWD series. A timeless Codex classic.

Sawyer hasn't delivered any "shit broken games", either, though. I can understand why his behavior comes across as pretentious, but he does deserve the benefit of the doubt.

Also, he could have been equally pretentious about his views on game mechanics without expounding those views publicly on the Internet, and then we would never have known. Heck, who knows how many of the Codex's favorite games were made by douchenozzles with weird views on game mechanics, only we never knew it because the games turned out just fine?

 

[villain of the story]

Develop about a dozen games (Interplay + Obsidian) where only a few has enjoyable combat.

Get the benefit of

 

[Machocruz]

The sad thing is, some of those early Alien 3 concepts were insane.

"What if this Alien had been encountered somewhere in the distant past on Earth? People would have thought of it as some kind of devil. Then, what if you had like a sort of powerful sect on Earth (in the future of the Alien movies) who reject all technology beyond a certain date. So the ruling forces say to the sect, 'Okay, you wanna live this way? We have an old satellite - huge thing. We'll tow it into outer space and you can just live there on your own.' They just give them a place to live where they know inevitably they're gonna die.

"The sect agree, but they believe in having an environment that looks archaic. Within that environment - a huge, round satellite about a mile in diameter - you have maybe 16 floors, each one about 100 metres high. It's layered like an ant's nest, or bee's nest, and each layer has been largely clad with huge areas of sculpted wood. They can grow wheat there, and even have windmills and orchards. In a way it's like a monastery. The satellite [named 'Arceon'] has a range of technologies that allow it to survive in outer space: it has a means of dealing with gravity, and a means of dealing with air, and it has a low surface atmosphere. It looks like a meteorite on the outer surface." This was what has since been called the 'Wooden Planet' vision.

http://www.empireonline.com/features/alien-3-tale-of-the-wooden-planet/

http://vincentwardfilms.com/concepts/alien-3/graphic-novel-in-8-parts/part-1/

Production art from the "wooden planet" version compiled in sequential order, with text.

 

[Zeus]

Arcanum? What the fuck?

Yeah, like the P Schuyler and Sons basement encounter. In a lot of games, it'd be this big mandatory necromancer brawl. Instead you can politely navigate your way through it.

 

[villain of the story]

No, I mean Arcanum and Obsidian? Arcanum is Troika.

 

[Roguey]

I'm confused. Didn't the Codex used to respect non-combat solutions, boss battles you could talk your way out of in Arcanum, that sort of thing?

Many people did/do, I prefer having gameplay. Replace a combat scenario with a keyword:fun stealth section, puzzle, or some limited resource-expenditure then sure.

Not sure I agree. But I'll say this, if Obsidian actually were capable of good combat, they'd probably be praised unanimously here.

I disagree because a) not everyone here likes Obsidian writing even when it's at its best b) not everyone here can agree on what "good" combat is. I thought New Vegas and DS3 hit an acceptable standard when it came to quality-of-combat-systems-and-content unlike their other games, many others disagree. When (whee look at my confidence) P:E turns out to be a smash success when it comes to rtwp combat there will still be some/many people who won't be satisfied with anything less than turn-based. Or something more in line with their expectations.

 

[Surf Solar]

I don't like them (visual novels) per se, but Torment would have been a flat-out better game without combat. MotB as well, I'm quite sure. And the less said about the KOTOR 2 combat debacle the better.

I liked the combat in Torment just as it was.

 

[EG]

I liked the combat in Torment just as it was.

Playing it now and am enjoying it myself.

Then again, I didn't not-hate the combat in the KotoR series, either.

 

[villain of the story]

Combat in PST isn't horrendous. It is just completely underwhelming and boring in contrast to everything else about the game. For instance, I can stomach the very same system in IWD and BG series because it's a coherent part of the experience with the occasional well designed encounters. All parts of the games are on about the same level as combat and the overall experiences are positive ones for me. But in Torment, it feels like a corpse being dragged. A game like Torment deserved better where combat itself was given the same level of attention and narrative importance as was to the other parts.

 

[EG]

All parts of the games are on about the same level as combat and the overall experiences are positive ones for me. But in Torment, it feels like a corpse being dragged. A game like Torment deserved better where combat itself was given the same level of attention and narrative importance as was to the other parts.

Eh, I don't mind imbalance myself.

We're looking for different things, I suppose.

 

[St. Toxic]

It would have been lost among all the other unappreciated "weird" 90s adventure games like Sanitarium, Zork Nemesis and Grim Fandango.

Mass-appeal over quality? Those are some excellent games.

 

[Zeus]

No, I mean Arcanum and Obsidian? Arcanum is Troika.

Yeah, I'm not saying Arcanum is an Obsidian game. I'm just surprised at all the backlash at the thought of an Aliens RPG that didn't hinge on combat.

Seems like an Aliens RPG that let you either fight Xenomorphs head on, or talk your way out of stuff (conning Weyland-Yutani NPCs?) would be cool. Better than having no choice but to mow down wave after wave of aliens, anyway.

 

[Excidium]

Choosing between being fightie guy that fights and talkie guy that talks is primitive as fuck.

 

[Jasede]

I am inclined to agree somewhat.

 

[EG]

Can't we have both? Why be limited to the Fightie and Talkie class?

 

[villain of the story]

Rapey class is sorely missing.

 

[Jasede]

But can you romance the aliens?

 

[EG]

But can you romance the aliens?

Sure.

Face hugging and egg laying DLC available upon credit validation.