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

[Rake]

So, what are the chances of this being some kind of a foreshadowing for Obsidian's next Kickstarter?

It would be interesting if Obsidian tried to create a dynamic where they go up to publishers and tell them "Fund this game, or we'll Kickstart it and take all the money for ourselves!"

I don't much like time travel in stories, because it usually becomes either a nonsensical mess with plot holes that can be easily spotted by a small child, absolute "fill a notebook with charts to try to make sense of it all" exercise in spergery or a pretentious pseudo intellectual mind fuck. The gameplay aspect of it then always come with a monstrous amount of hype while being relegated to some half broken gimmicky implementation in the actual game.

Avelone loves his Crono Trigger though.

 

[Infinitron]

So, what are the chances of this being some kind of a foreshadowing for Obsidian's next Kickstarter?

It would be interesting if Obsidian tried to create a dynamic where they go up to publishers and tell them "Fund this game or we'll Kickstart it and take all the money for ourselves!"

As if anyone would back a Kickstarter for a Skyrim-clone.

Of course they wouldn't. It would be Kickstarted as a different type of RPG. But the basic idea behind the game would remain.

But it wouldn't sell 8M copies if it wasn't marketed as "sci-fi Skyrim", so maybe publisers won't care.

What I'm saying is, Obsidian could pitch a basic idea for a game to a publisher, and tell them, "You can fund this, or we can take it and convert it to a PC/oldschool/hardcore RPG and do it ourselves."

It gives Obsidian added leverage when making deals.

 

[evdk]

What I'm saying is, Obsidian could pitch a basic idea for a game to a publisher, and tell them, "You can fund this, or we can take it and convert it to a PC/oldschool/hardcore RPG and do it ourselves."

It gives Obsidian added leverage when making deals.

They can't run their huge company just by KS alone, so that leverage is not that strong.

 

[Vault Dweller]

So, what are the chances of this being some kind of a foreshadowing for Obsidian's next Kickstarter?

Wouldn't be surprised if this was a public reaction test.

 

[villain of the story]

What I find funny is how everyone here (including me) took time to post in a AAA game thread that has now reached more than 60 replies in less than a day just to dog on a game we never got to see.

At the same time, on the Classic RPG thread we have:

- A thread started at the same time of this one on a Spiderweb Software bundle sale selling early Jeff Vogel games which only now has 6 replies.
- A discussion started last week trying to spearhead an effort to create Stones of Arnhem from the current notes we collected, which only has 19 replies.
- A Sword of the Stars: The Pit discussion started in March that only has 54 replies.

And on and on...

In fact the AAA threads seem to get a lot more posts than the classic threads, despite everyone swearing up and down that the older games and current Indie games are superior. It seems that despite the talk, even at the Codex it's the new AAA games that get the attention. Stay classy 'Dex.

That's because we all want to move onto greener pastures. We all want our beloved classic RPGs to evolve the way they were supposed to, without the consoltard crap. We want AAA to go our direction, not The Way of the Popamole. We want that we can look at a new AAA game and finally say that "damn, for the first time, Fallout/Ultimas/Goldbox/whatever feel like ancient history, not a game that came out just the other day. This New Game Is Just That Good!".

And we are angry that our future is stolen from us. And Obsidian is partaking in the robbery.

Where is that Stones of Arnhem resurrection thread, by the way?

 

[Infinitron]

Where is that Stones of Arnhem resurrection thread, by the way?

http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/index.php?threads/stones-of-arnhem-re-creation.84406/ (nice job proving his point)

 

[Zero Credibility]

Man, someone really should make an Infinite Worlds cRPG.

Meh, something about that setting rubs me the wrong way. Note sure what it is - maybe Infinity patrol, the designated good guys.

I'd be much more interested in a GURPS game - say a Transhuman Space game.

 

[tuluse]

The article didn't mention anything about cover. If the levels were sufficiently large, that likely wouldn't even happen.

Also nothing wrong with fast action games as an idea. This one would have been bad though.

Fast action games using gamebryo

 

[villain of the story]

Where is that Stones of Arnhem resurrection thread, by the way?

http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/index.php?threads/stones-of-arnhem-re-creation.84406/ (nice job proving his point)

What? I barely have time to look at the forums anymore. Besides, fuck his point, I already replied to it.

 

[skuphundaku]

Well you could always limit it to a few select worldlines for some reason vital to both the Homeline and Centrum (also Reich-5 nazis, but more covertly), a reason which would be related to the main quest. The issue is that doing it properly, that is with 3-5 quest hub cities/locations that feel like real locations with local conflicts and issues (and not just the Homeline-Centrum multiversial shenenigans), rather than small themeparks with a few quest giver NPCs, would require considerable resources. Otherwise it would just feel cheap and honestly why bother using a multiverse with different timelines in the first place, if you're not going to let the player feel (*gasp* immershun!) like he's exploring different worlds rather than just another city with a different coat of paint on it.

Yeah also AAA would mean obvious decline and dumbing down, I would be content with a lower budget for a such a thing as long as the content and mechanics would be top notch. Fuck visuals and even voice acting.

I call for a "Hellraiser's Riftwalker Saga" by Obsidian! I'll be the first to kickstart the shit out of it!

 

[Severian Silk]

Is time linear or not? The same with this game.

 

[Gurkog]

Dimensional travel I would support, but time travel doesn't appeal to me. I guess time travel would allow them to use existing assets multiple times to pad out content though.

 

[hiver]

no soil erosion mentioned anywhere? it gotta be bad then.

Soil erosion on a space station sounds like a recipe for disaster.

Space Erosion.

 

[villain of the story]

Destabilization of Time-Space continuum.

 

[evdk]

Temporal Cold War

 

[Grunker]

Man, someone really should make an Infinite Worlds cRPG.

maybe Infinity patrol, the designated good guys.

They are not good guys unless the GM casts them in that role. The motives of both sides are so obscure that any GM could do anything with the setting. Which is pretty much the intention.

 

[Jarpie]

Temporal Cold War

Day one buy?

 

[Zero Credibility]

Man, someone really should make an Infinite Worlds cRPG.

maybe Infinity patrol, the designated good guys.

They are not good guys unless the GM casts them in that role. The motives of both sides are so obscure that any GM could do anything with the setting. Which is pretty much the intention.

Hence the designated part. They are certainly the main focus of the setting. And their motives are pretty clear - keep the jump tech for themselves, get the tech from the advanced worlds, drive the Centrum away, the standard things.

 

[Grunker]

Man, someone really should make an Infinite Worlds cRPG.

maybe Infinity patrol, the designated good guys.

They are not good guys unless the GM casts them in that role. The motives of both sides are so obscure that any GM could do anything with the setting. Which is pretty much the intention.

Hence the designated part. They are certainly the main focus of the setting. And their motives are pretty clear - keep the jump tech for themselves, get the tech from the advanced worlds, drive the Centrum away, the standard things.

Obviously. The entire point of Infinite World is just to give a loose setting that makes Infinite Worlds with an Anything Is Possible framework. It's the point of the setting to be as bare-bones as possible, so that anyone can shape it to their will.

Hence designated good guys, designated bad guys, world system - and on you go

Or am I misunderstanding you?

 

[Zero Credibility]

Obviously. The entire point of Infinite World is just to give a loose setting that makes Infinite Worlds with an Anything Is Possible framework. It's the point of the setting to be as bare-bones as possible, so that anyone can shape it to their will.

Hence designated good guys, designated bad guys, world system - and on you go

Yeah, but that's precisely the thing I dislike the most. It's like it's not a real setting, but more of an excuse to combine various world settings. I just find it bland as hell - Infinity patrol are the bland and boring good guys (compared to the alternative), Centrum are the bland and boring bad guys (again...). Many of the individual worlds are really interesting settings themselves (like say Reign of Steel), but the overlaying setting of Infinite Worlds is just boring to me.

 

[IDtenT]

While time-travel is a nice topic it is almost always handled retardedly. With Obsidian at the helm of this project, the outcome is pretty obvious.

 

[Grunker]

While time-travel is a nice topic it is almost always handled retardedly.

Mostly because when media use time travel they get all detailed. Looper is a p. good movie, and in it time travel isn't the focus of a movie, it's just a plot device. Doesn't matter how it works. Most media that use time travel get all caught up in it making sense and end up coming up with all sorts of bullshit explanations and the film/whatever ends up digging its own grave.

In Looper, the characters actually explain that shit to us. Jeff Daniels looking into the camera going "this time travel shit'll fry your brain like an egg" and the even better scene where Young Joe is asking all the questions the viewer has on his mind about time travel and Bruce Willis slams his hand into the table and shouts "Dammit, it's not important!" The viewer, as Young Joe, is getting caught up in shit that has no relevance to the movie, and Willis calls us back. He does that after having just said: "I don't want to talk about time travel because if we start talking about it then we're going to be here all day talking about it, making diagrams with straws." AKA: "Fuck that shit, it's not important, who cares how it works? We can tell this story fine without spending 10 minutes of exposition on some bullshit explanation."

The point being that if you make a film that happens to have time travel in it, it's much easier to just say "it works 'cause it works" than if you make a film about time travel. Because then you better make the fuck sure that your explanation is tight.

Obviously. The entire point of Infinite World is just to give a loose setting that makes Infinite Worlds with an Anything Is Possible framework. It's the point of the setting to be as bare-bones as possible, so that anyone can shape it to their will.

Hence designated good guys, designated bad guys, world system - and on you go

Yeah, but that's precisely the thing I dislike the most. It's like it's not a real setting, but more of an excuse to combine various world settings. I just find it bland as hell - Infinity patrol are the bland and boring good guys (compared to the alternative), Centrum are the bland and boring bad guys (again...). Many of the individual worlds are really interesting settings themselves (like say Reign of Steel), but the overlaying setting of Infinite Worlds is just boring to me.

You are mistaking blank for bland. Infinite Worlds is not supposed to give you everything on a silver platter, it's just a framework to use if you want a time-travelling, world-jumping campaign. If they had made the setting more detailed I don't think it would be of any use to me.

The only thing people come to that setting for is a rough framework so they don't have to invent the basics of how all that shit works. Details of the setting, its mysteries and its conflicts are made by the GM/the adventures/the worlds.

 

[taxalot]

"Bethesda is shit. Obsidian is shit. Sci fi is shit. Time Travel is shit. Skyrim is shit. New Vegas is shit. I'm glad this is not coming out because I know it's going to be shit because it'd be a new game New games are shit. Everything is shit. They should stop making games altogether. Who ? Everyone. Everyone is shit. So new games are bound to be shit. Man, old games are shit too. I'm replaying Baldur's Gate 2 and Fallout, god, what pieces of crap. But at least the latter one was turn-based."

- RPGCodex , every topic ever.

 

[Excidium]

It would be shit, though

 

[Spectacle]

So, what are the chances of this being some kind of a foreshadowing for Obsidian's next Kickstarter?

It would be interesting if Obsidian tried to create a dynamic where they go up to publishers and tell them "Fund this game or we'll Kickstart it and take all the money for ourselves!"

As if anyone would back a Kickstarter for a Skyrim-clone.

I'm pretty sure tons of people would back an Obsidian-made Skyrim clone, not so many on the Codex but from the general gamer population, sure. It's still unlikely to happen though, because a Skyrim clone will require a considerably higher budget than anything that's been raised for a game on Kickstarter.