Game News Backspace: Obsidian's unproduced "Sci-Fi Skyrim"

[Vault Dweller]

I wonder how many people actually read the article.

WUT? SKYRIM? DO NOT WANT!

 

[abnaxus]

 

[Carrion]

I mean, are there even any romances in Skyrim?

You can even get married. Not sure if it's very "romantic", though.

 

[undecaf]

The concept doesn't sound too bad. Perhaps a bit cliched and mechanically (what little is said about the gameplay) not very revolutionary or overly interesting; but still playable, perhaps.

 

[evdk]

The actual article discussion is taking place over in Zed's thread.

 

[Name]

Why did skyrim put you guys off? It's just a word nowadays used to stand in for "open-world/sandbox/nonlinear rpg" in press.
Dragon Age 3 is going to be like skyrim... though it's about cinematics and dlcs.
The Witcher 3 is going to be like skyrim... though it's story-driven.
Now this keyboard game is going to be like skyrim... though it's going to be System Shock 3!

 

[Vault Dweller]

The concept doesn't sound too bad. Perhaps a bit cliched and mechanically (what little is said about the gameplay) not very revolutionary or overly interesting; but still playable, perhaps.

I think that this:

"...a technical error would fling your character ten years into the future, and you'd spend a bulk of the game hopping back and forth between the time of the attack and a dismal, alien-occupied future. Quests in the game would task you with hopping between timelines in an attempt to save humankind."

-sounds very interesting (as a gameplay mechanic, at least) and different. Same goes for the collection of different AI companions. Sure, it sounds like Mass Effect with the story, characters, and dialogues that aren't retarded, and being an action RPG in its core it's not exactly a dream come true, but if done right, it can be a game worth playing. Wasn't Bloodlines also labeled as an action RPG?

 

[Ramireza]

You people are fucking hopeless. For most of you, the state-of-the-art of computer games designs should have been frozen in time sometimes circa 2001. You already stopped making a difference between decline and evolving the state-of-the-art and you're stuck in this sad and pathetic reactionary mindset if anything post-2001 is implemented.

Thank you!

 

[Crooked Bee]

Cool, something good might've come from Skyrim after all.

 

[Infinitron]

I like how Vault Dweller periodically shows up on the Codex to remind everybody they can be a little less edgy.

 

[undecaf]

The concept doesn't sound too bad. Perhaps a bit cliched and mechanically (what little is said about the gameplay) not very revolutionary or overly interesting; but still playable, perhaps.

I think that this:

"...a technical error would fling your character ten years into the future, and you'd spend a bulk of the game hopping back and forth between the time of the attack and a dismal, alien-occupied future. Quests in the game would task you with hopping between timelines in an attempt to save humankind."

-sounds very interesting (as a gameplay mechanic, at least) and different. Same goes for the collection of different AI companions. Sure, it sounds like Mass Effect with the story, characters, and dialogues that aren't retarded, and being an action RPG in its core it's not exactly a dream come true, but if done right, it can be a game worth playing. Wasn't Bloodlines also labeled as an action RPG?

Yes, I agree. There are some neat ideas there, and who knows maybe the execution could deliver too (for what ever it means for a game of that sort). I'm not all that adverse to playing action RPG's every now and then. The initial vision I got from the article - a scifi F/TPS-RPG in ME environs; saving the world from aliens - just didn't rub me the right way.

 

[aleam iacis]

Once I got used to the fact that I could hardly move my mouse up and down, I liked Skyrim. Now by putting this in a SF setting, we basically have Doom again, right?

 

[Rake]

Good for what it would be

 

[Semper]

so that's where all the built crucible assets could be transferred to... the game doesn't read that bad, basically it's like mothership zeta new vegas in space. i wonder if the guys at obsidian leak those documents on purpose just to attract a potential publisher's interest.

 

[SuicideBunny]

You people are fucking hopeless. For most of you, the state-of-the-art of computer games designs should have been frozen in time sometimes circa 2001. You already stopped making a difference between decline and evolving the state-of-the-art and you're stuck in this sad and pathetic reactionary mindset if anything post-2001 is implemented.

we want to see state of the art rpg mechanics/systems design, world building and other stuff relevant to gameplay. skyrim, being an fps with some simplified 80ies jrpg mechanics and a skilltree tacked on top in a world full of very simplistic corridor map designs has none of those. the only thing that is remotely remarkable is the engine, but an engine does not make good gameplay.

 

[Cassidy]

skuphundaku overreacted, but seriously, if you're going to whine about every AAA RPG Obsidian tries to make, you have a lot of whining ahead of you

I have nothing to complain, because, being neither a popamoler or a retarded fanboy, I don't even expect anything good to ever come out of Obsidian since Mask of the Betrayer, but I'll surely be amused should PE become barely above Dragon Age or worse.

 

[Tigranes]

I'd have been interested. Using Skyrim as a base isn't actually a bad idea, because apart from combat, most of the core infrastructure in Skyrim was excellent from a user point of view. Allowing Obsidian to get on that and give it better world design, characters, writing, etc. and a time travel spin I think would have been great.

 

[MicoSelva]

I wonder how many people actually read the article.

WUT? SKYRIM? DO NOT WANT!

Yes, this.

it sounds like Mass Effect with the story, characters, and dialogues that aren't retarded

I'd actually like to play something like this.

 

[Cowboy Moment]

BackSpace is a single-player action-RPG set in a scifi space environment with simple elements of time travel. The combat is paced similarly to Skyrim, but slightly faster since there is no concept of blocking. The easiest way to look at it is a mix of Mass Effect, Borderlands, and System Shock 2 for gameplay and setting.​

​

I... errr...

 

[villain of the story]

My initial reaction before reading the article was that FNV was fucking A so why not? After reading the article, it doesn't sound that interesting or inspiring at all. Game elements certainly read console-inspired.

 

[Stabwound]

You people are fucking hopeless. For most of you, the state-of-the-art of computer games designs should have been frozen in time sometimes circa 2001. You already stopped making a difference between decline and evolving the state-of-the-art and you're stuck in this sad and pathetic reactionary mindset if anything post-2001 is implemented.

That's not what anyone is saying at all. I loved Morrowind, but the path that genre of game followed was nothing but unadulterated decline. Skyrim is distilled shittiness, and I find it hard to believe that anything in this genre of game will come out of a big-name publisher.

If we could take a game like Morrowind and expand upon it rather than restrict, lop off features and dumb it down, that would be awesome. Is it going to happen any time soon? Very fucking unlikely.

That, and I find sci-fi settings to be of little appeal to me personally.

 

[maverick]

Actually what turned me off was the time-travel stuff. Do not want that.

 

[undecaf]

That, and I find sci-fi settings to be of little appeal to me personally.

I agree to the extent spacebound scifi with aliens and shit. A bit more low key, down to earth cyberpunk style scifi on the other hand...

 

[Hellraiser]

Now if only Obsidian could make the action part of their action RPG good, while using bethesda's engine...

 

[Vault Dweller]

Actually what turned me off was the time-travel stuff. Do not want that.

Yeah, totally overused.