Incline Chris Avellone Appreciation Station

[aweigh]

Chris Avellone

what is your favorite JRPG story

 

[Viata]

Chris Avellone

what is your favorite JRPG story

Clearly Planescape: Torment.

 

[Sordid MCA/Prosper Hybryd]

Chris Avellone

what is your favorite JRPG story

I bet this is either Chrono Trigger or Final Fantasy VI.

I have a special love Chrono Trigger, Wasteland 1, Final Fantasy III, but my favorite PC RPG is actually a tie between Fallout 1 and Ultima Underworld, although System Shock 2 came so close to being an RPG, it could have been a contender.

 

[aweigh]

good to knonw he has good tastes. A little bit of Chrono Trigger is always good for washing away the stink of nasty wolves

 

[Sordid MCA/Prosper Hybryd]

I definitely would like to see MCA work on a good jRPG one day. I was really excited when Feargus mentoned that they would like to work on a new Chrono Trigger game.

 

[AwesomeButton]

The first official style guide where this rule was laid out concretely was the one I wrote for Icewind Dale in 2001, and it was a compilation of what we’d learned from Infinity Engine games and from lessons on Fallout 2 and Fallout 1 – and “every node should have a way to back out of it” is embedded in the very first rule on how to structure responses. (It had a lot of other rules as well – make trade/services in the opening node of the NPC providing the merchant/healing service, quest structure testing, words we should use, ones we shouldn’t, etc.) That style guide kept getting added to, and each project usually has a specific one tailored to that project (ex: with Fallout, here’s how you spell “stimpak”) but the core principles are usually the same.

Specifically about merchant/healing service NPCs, I always liked the NPC "having the last word" better than an option which immediately opens the trade interface. It's the practice used most often in BGII, I believe, though not everywhere throughout BGII. I think one more line from the merchant after you request his services adds a little to the immersion.

the heavy-handed exposition in PoE

Reading dialogues in PoE, they are full of environment descriptions that should simply be cut - like the Vailian animancer in the Brackenbury Sanitarium who we see is standing on a red carpet, but the dialogue informs us anyway - or with multi-sentence responses which should have been cut into answers of separate questions. For example asking lady Webb's messenger who is lady Webb or what is Dunryd Row gives you a full paragraph of long sentences, where it could have been a separate dialogue tree with 3-4 separate questions, to make the dialogue sound more natural in the reader's head.

 

[Junmarko]

Chris Avellone - thoughts on Gothic 2? Always curious because I don't think I've heard a Western dev talk about it, yet feel like it's silently influenced a lot.

(#9 on Dex top 70 - built on Ultima VII's approach )

 

[Master]

Chris couldnt handle Arcanum wolves, how do you think he would those from Gothic 2?

 

[aweigh]

i found Chris Avellone posts on terra arcanum:

http://www.terra-arcanum.com/forums/index.php?threads/help-with-level-3-wolves-n00b.16524/

Hey... I have a bit of a problem right at the beginning of the game and I'd really appreciate your help in solving it. [I have all the patches installed.]
The problem (please, don't laugh) is that... I can't past the few Level 3 Wolves right at the beginning! (combat mode in turns)
What am I doing wrong? I tried with a few different characters but me and Virgil get killed on every try (tried at least ten times so far).
I'm pretty sure the wolves shouldn't be such a big problem so what am I doing wrong? What's the best combo of skills to get past these fuckers?
Thank you in advance for any help. I'm really frustrated that I can't go on playing...

 

[Stainless Veteran]

Chris Avellone Hey Chris, I know you're probably sick of it, but first I want to thank you for PST - the formative game of my youth, and for Fallout 2, the formative game for entire generation of Russian gamers. Oh, and also for KOTOR 2, and quite a few other games. I want to ask you a question, while you're generously answering us.

Have you played any Russian-made game that you've liked? If yes, then what was the game and what did you like about it?
Thanks in advance, much love and although I wish you would helm another project (really, I pledged to W2, TToN and PoE kickstarters only because of your, erm, involvement; imagine my surprise with how it all turned out ), and I will throw as much of my meager resources on it as I'm able, without question – if you would rather rest and recharge – I still wish you all the best.

 

[Darth Roxor]

Have you played any Russian-made game that you've liked?

inb4 "Pathfinder: Kingmaker"

 

[Junmarko]

Chris couldnt handle Arcanum wolves,

I don't think Tim could either, hence why RTwP is an option

Love Arcanum, but it wasn't polished to Fallout 1/2's extent - only fans can handle it.

 

[AwesomeButton]

Chris couldnt handle Arcanum wolves,

I don't think Tim could either, hence why RTwP is an option

Love Arcanum, but it wasn't polished to Fallout 1/2's extent - only fans can handle it.

It felt polished enough for me. Saving before each combat encounter was the norm as far as I remember. "Just in case something goes wrong".

 

[fantadomat]

I never felt that Arcanum is hard,just save often. Also golems are super annoying for a melee character,on my first playtrough a decade ago i had to pummel them with my fists.

 

[Junmarko]

It felt polished enough for me. Saving before each combat encounter was the norm as far as I remember. "Just in case something goes wrong".

Yeah. I just don't think the old BIS crew, non-Troika included, could enjoy it without picking it apart, in a good way (they never stop working).

 

[Roguey]

All right, I have an inappropriate, invasive question that I don't expect an answer to, but I'm going to ask anyway.

(spoiled so he doesn't have to look at her face again)

Spoiler

Why would someone who isn't already in a relationship object to getting sexually harassed by that cutie? I would have put the horns on Chris Parker if I were in that situation (after telling him his wife has a wandering eye [and hands?] of course. Slinking is so undignified). Not anymore since she's going bald and has the crazy eyes, but I'm reasonably confident she was still in the prime of her life when she was conducting herself in an inappropriate manner (the photo's from 2010).

(side note: I saw Sawyer being all friendly on her facebook page which I find extremely amusing. Guess she's not harassing him [or is she????])

 

[Sacred82]

 

[fantadomat]

All right, I have an inappropriate, invasive question that I don't expect an answer to, but I'm going to ask anyway.

(spoiled so he doesn't have to look at her face again)

Spoiler

Why would someone who isn't already in a relationship object to getting sexually harassed by that cutie? I would have put the horns on Chris Parker if I were in that situation (after telling him his wife has a wandering eye [and hands?] of course. Slinking is so undignified). Not anymore since she's going bald and has the crazy eyes, but I'm reasonably confident she was still in the prime of her life when she was conducting herself in an inappropriate manner (the photo's from 2010).

(side note: I saw Sawyer being all friendly on her facebook page which I find extremely amusing. Guess she's not harassing him [or is she????])

Crazy women mate,there is some gorgeous women that make your inner soul scream with all its might "Get away from her!". Fucking such woman can endup with your dick cut off in a few days.

 

[Roguey]

Crazy women mate,there is some gorgeous women that make your inner soul scream with all its might "Get away from her!". Fucking such woman can endup with your dick cut off in a few days.

But she's already married to someone else, shouldn't that be a buffer? Though I will admit that behavior like

Spoiler

comes across as a bit too intense.

 

[Viata]

Heh.

 

[Deadass]

Chris Avellone y u crying man?

 

[Trashos]

Dead Money is my 2nd favorite MCA work, right after PST. The atmosphere/execution is up there, gameplay is brutal, the characters are very intriguing/charming (Dean Domino is the most charming very evil character ever), the whole thing is a piece of art. But I did find the initial infodump tiring and unneeded the first time I played it. On the other hand, I did not and still don't mind OWB's starting conversation. OWB is half cuteness (even with the dark underbelly) and half "please, proceed to the gate where robots/cazadores/nightstalkers/trauma harnesses are going to have their way with you", so I cherish the cute parts.

I want the beans spilled regarding Dead Money. My understanding is that MCA wrote pretty much everything (is that correct?), but who else was involved? Who had the insane idea for the collars/radios (I sometimes imagine New Vegas players looking for an easier difficulty setting they might have missed- surely there must be a setting that turns the radios off!)? Who were the people, other than Chris, that burned the midnight oil so that DM would come out such a tense and coherent experience? Who put that fucking falling barrel on my way while I was running to escape the vault? Even if I never find out, know that you are all my bros and I owe you beers.

 

[Roguey]

Dead Money is my 2nd favorite MCA work, right after PST. The atmosphere/execution is up there, gameplay is brutal, the characters are very intriguing/charming (Dean Domino is the most charming very evil character ever), the whole thing is a piece of art. But I did find the initial infodump tiring and unneeded the first time I played it. On the other hand, I did not and still don't mind OWB's starting conversation. OWB is half cuteness (even with the dark underbelly) and half "please, proceed to the gate where robots/cazadores/nightstalkers/trauma harnesses are going to have their way with you", so I cherish the cute parts.

I want the beans spilled regarding Dead Money. My understanding is that MCA wrote pretty much everything (is that correct?), but who else was involved? Who had the insane idea for the collars/radios (I sometimes imagine New Vegas players looking for an easier difficulty setting they might have missed- surely there must be a setting that turns the radios off!)? Who were the people, other than Chris, that burned the midnight oil so that DM would come out such a tense and coherent experience? Who put that fucking falling barrel on my way while I was running to escape the vault? Even if I never find out, know that you are all my bros and I owe you beers.

https://forums.obsidian.net/blog/1/entry-144-dead-money-design-breakdowns/

 

[Sentinel]

Crazy women mate,there is some gorgeous women that make your inner soul scream with all its might "Get away from her!". Fucking such woman can endup with your dick cut off in a few days.

But she's already married to someone else, shouldn't that be a buffer? Though I will admit that behavior like

Spoiler

comes across as a bit too intense.

wtf that's kinda creepy lol

 

[2house2fly]

That bit about how if you give something hit points players will try to fight it makes me remember the early fight in torment tides of numenera which you're not meant to be able to win, but someone did and the developers weren't prepared for that