Incline Chris Avellone Appreciation Station

[Yosharian]

RES - low, he can't even have a proper conversation with the Watcher without whining that he's being asked too many questions and going off in a huff, he relies desperately on a God that despises him and treats him like shit, that's not resolve that's dependence.

Resolve reflects a character's internal drive, determination, fearlessness, and the emotional intensity they can project to others.

It's basically Charisma. He has none. He's a cunt.

But yeah, fine, dump all his points into Res. Fucking useless stat for nearly every character. Bah.

 

[ga♥]

I'm super late to this thread and not about to read through 241 pages of spew, but I just gotta say... I don't really think Chris Avallone's writing is all that good anymore. For like the past 7 or 8 years now all of his characters almost always come across as sterile try-hards with the personality of an old brick. Extremely verbose, but without ever actually saying anything. Granted he *used* to do some really good stuff, but everything that he's put out since after Fallout: New Vegas has been straight-up dull. He's lost his touch and his modern relevance rests almost entirely on games that he worked on a decade ago.

How many post-Fallout: New Vegas Avellone characters can you name other than the two from Pillars of Eternity?

He wrote for Pillars of Eternity, Torment: Tides of Numenera, Into the Breach and Prey and did world and story design for Tyranny. The writing in all of them is mediocre at best. He also worked on Pathfinder: Kingmaker, which I admittedly like a lot, but as far as I am aware he only worked on maybe one character in it.

I found Into the breach writing very good. Even if there's not much of it, the pilots shortlines do wonder for the immersion. And If I am not wrong he did all of them.

 

[Roguey]

It's basically Charisma. He has none. He's a cunt.

If it was charisma, they would have called it charisma.

 

[Lhynn]

Resolve does what charisma does in the same way might does what strength does. Retarded concepts for a retarded system from an autistic guy and his bikes.

He should have gone with geometrical shapes instead.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

RES - low, he can't even have a proper conversation with the Watcher without whining that he's being asked too many questions and going off in a huff, he relies desperately on a God that despises him and treats him like shit, that's not resolve that's dependence.

Resolve reflects a character's internal drive, determination, fearlessness, and the emotional intensity they can project to others.

It's basically Charisma. He has none. He's a cunt.

But yeah, fine, dump all his points into Res. Fucking useless stat for nearly every character. Bah.

you can be a cunt and still be charismatic

Resolve isn't charisma though, and Durance isn't charismatic. The problem is that they put too many things into one attribute.
Durance has high resolve because him having high mental resistances fits his character.

 

[Yosharian]

you can be a cunt and still be charismatic

Resolve isn't charisma though, and Durance isn't charismatic. The problem is that they put too many things into one attribute.
Durance has high resolve because him having high mental resistances fits his character.

Alright. But what kind of hero has low mental resistances? Do any of the Pillars 1 companions have low mental resilience? Even Aloth, who is the wimpiest of the bunch possibly, is having to deal with an arsehole living inside his head. You could argue that not going insane from that requires very high mental resilience, and you could also argue that having that arsehole in his head makes him quite mentally resilient. Of course, you can also argue the opposite.

'Mental resilience' as an attribute in a role-playing system ends up being retarded, because what kind of hero has shit mental resilience? A character that keels over at the first sign of trouble, can never make up his mind, is easily persuaded by others, this is not a heroic character.

If you look at the companions in Pillars 1, you could make the argument for every single one of them that they should have high or very high Resolve, because Resolve as a concept is pretty much required for a heroic character. A character with shitty Resolve isn't going to be an adventurer in the first place, they'd just stay at home and work all day on a farm, or tend a bar, or be a homeless beggar.

How can you role-play a Watcher with 5 Resolve? He would fail at every step of the quest, because he'd just give up, maybe go get drunk in the tavern instead.

Anyway look at what Resolve actually does in Pillars 1, nobody gives a fuck about Deflection unless you're building an ultra tank, the other attributes are far more useful. Aside from that, Resolve is useful in conversations, as a 'persuade' attribute.

That's why I said Resolve is effectively Charisma, from a gameplay perspective, if you put the Deflection mechanic aside, which most players do. Except, you can easily imagine a hero who has low Charisma, as someone who either can't talk his way out of a paper bag, or is just unpleasant to be around. Whereas Resolve is basically un-dumpable from a role-playing perspective, unless you want to role-play a librarian.

 

[WilliamLarrySwirl]

https://youtu.be/vFkRzC7HWr8?t=4065

"Obs tried non-compete-clause on Chris & he took it too personally" this dude says, saying he's met Chris twice :D

Hey quill, awesome video!!! Did you also listen to all of it just before the chris talk at the end (around 40-50? minutes into the youtube video)? According to his insider info Outer Worlds is maybe going to take place all on a giant space ship, be what fallout did to the 1950s but instead its the 1910s-20s (he said steampunk but more advanced) and be maybe the biggest announcement of the games awards (unless something called border lands? is revealed instead)!

He also said Obsidian was given "a lot of money and a legit awesome deal by Microsoft", told they have as much time and resources to make games and if there are any problems during development to contact Microsoft and legit experts will be available to help them make the best games ever (I'm so close to being an xbox girl next gen I can't even)

He also mentioned they've been stiffed on payments by loads of companies

(not just the publicly known ones) and gives insight on some of the sad stuff they had to do during the struggle

sorry for any left out info listened to some of it before field hockey practice so can't remember everything!

The part about maybe taking place on a space ship but being 1920's advanced steampunk got me more excited for this game.

 

[Roguey]

'Mental resilience' as an attribute in a role-playing system ends up being retarded, because what kind of hero has shit mental resilience? A character that keels over at the first sign of trouble, can never make up his mind, is easily persuaded by others, this is not a heroic character.

Courage the Cowardly Dog, among other cowardly heroes in fiction.

 

[Yosharian]

'Mental resilience' as an attribute in a role-playing system ends up being retarded, because what kind of hero has shit mental resilience? A character that keels over at the first sign of trouble, can never make up his mind, is easily persuaded by others, this is not a heroic character.

Courage the Cowardly Dog, among other cowardly heroes in fiction.

Ok but is that a d&d character

 

[Roguey]

Ok but is that a d&d character

Khalid and Xan.

 

[Yosharian]

Ok but is that a d&d character

Khalid and Xan.

Ok but Khalid is barely an adventurer really, he's more like Jaheira's footstool.

I must admit I haven't ever used Xan; although you might have a point there, I'm still not convinced overall. I think an adventurer without resolve would quickly fall out of such a lifestyle.

 

[Curious_Tongue]

Chris Avellone

May I ask you a question?

What would be stopping you from developing a modest scale game independently?
You've stated in the past that you're financially independent, and you've been in drivers seat on multiple, large(ish) scale projects. It seems to me that you're in a good position to work the indie route.

 

[TemplarGR]

Ok but Khalid is barely an adventurer really, he's more like Jaheira's footstool.

I must admit I haven't ever used Xan; although you might have a point there, I'm still not convinced overall. I think an adventurer without resolve would quickly fall out of such a lifestyle.

You are thinking with a modern day mindset, that's why...

It is not like most adventurers had a choice.

They don't live in modern western world, were they can apply for an cubicle office job in front of a computer and pretend to work while playing farmville.

In Faerun, it is either this, or diging dirt all day in the fields. The choice is simple if you have any talent for fighting...

 

[Quillon]

What would be stopping you from developing a modest scale game independently?
You've stated in the past that your financially independent, and you've been in drivers seat on multiple, large(ish) scale projects. It seems to me that you're in a good position to work the indie route.

Dude, are you crazy!? He's freelancing it out, yo! He gets to work on multiple vastly different cool franchises from home and he's getting to know new minds & learning new things every day! He's improving himself constantly. Why would he want the pressure of expectations from us or risk failure when he can just slowly cruise through the industry until he retires?

 

[Curious_Tongue]

Dude, are you crazy!? He's freelancing it out, yo! He gets to work on multiple vastly different cool franchises from home and he's getting to know new minds & learning new things every day! He's improving himself constantly. Why would he want the pressure of expectations from us or risk failure when he can just slowly cruise through the industry until he retires?

So he just ekes out an existence in the shitty modern games industry? Freelancing from one meaningless project to the next until death finally ends the charade?

 

[Quillon]

Dude, are you crazy!? He's freelancing it out, yo! He gets to work on multiple vastly different cool franchises from home and he's getting to know new minds & learning new things every day! He's improving himself constantly. Why would he want the pressure of expectations from us or risk failure when he can just slowly cruise through the industry until he retires?

So he just eeks out an existence in the shitty modern games industry? Freelancing from one meaningless project to the next until death finally ends the charade?

Where did you get that idea? I have no idea what you are talking about

 

[Curious_Tongue]

Why would he want the pressure of expectations from us or risk failure when he can just slowly cruise through the industry until he retires?

So he just eeks out an existence in the shitty modern games industry? Freelancing from one meaningless project to the next until death finally ends the charade?

Where did you get that idea? I have no idea what you are talking about

 

[Quillon]

Why would he want the pressure of expectations from us or risk failure when he can just slowly cruise through the industry until he retires?

So he just eeks out an existence in the shitty modern games industry? Freelancing from one meaningless project to the next until death finally ends the charade?

Where did you get that idea? I have no idea what you are talking about

Dude what are you on about? Games industry is beautiful when you are MCA, freelancing in it. Meaningless projects? f.i. Dying Light 2 is very ambitious project, too ambitious for a studio who's never made an RPG before, you call pushing reactivity to another level meaningless? And why are you interpreting what I said? It was clear enough ffs what is this charade?

 

[Curious_Tongue]

Chris has shown that he can do more than write side characters and advise on the reactivity of modern games.

I want to see if he has it in him to create something I want to play.

Edit: Dying Light 2 actually looks interesting. But my point remains valid.

 

[Haba]

I want to see if he has it in him to create something I want to play.

How? Snatching him and dissecting him in your cellar?

 

[Curious_Tongue]

By asking him politely.

 

[IHaveHugeNick]

This thread badly needs some new content, so I'll start.

 

[Wunderbar]

 

[aweigh]

https://rpgcodex.net/forums/index.php?threads/which-oblivion-dev-lied-the-most.15427/

 

[Grotesque]

Now we know why Avellone's Arcanum playthrough will never see the light of day.
He's too busy looking stylish flaunting his rodent eaten hillbilly cap at grand events such as Game Awards 2018.


https://www.ebay.com/itm/Arcanum-of...h=item3d73644370:g:JH0AAOSwNnRYhkfn:rk:1:pf:0
^ here you go Chris Avellone
buy the manual and learn where is that "show map" button on the UI