Interview Emil Pagliarullo interviewed by Playstation Magazine

[Dogar]

What exactly was the alternate ending?

 

[DraQ]

What exactly was the alternate ending?

Orginally they intended to make Junktown flourish if you helped Gizmo but were pressured to swap the endings and do away with that twist.

 

[Texas Red]

What exactly was the alternate ending?

Orginally they intended to make Junktown flourish if you helped Gizmo but were pressured to swap the endings and do away with that twist.

And this is the mentality of game marketing people in a nutshell, basing their decisions on stupid suppositions or "marketing research". That owner guy, whatever his name, was reluctant to change the ending from the generic vault party to what we have, thinking that such a drastic turn of events would confuse and infuriate the players, hurt sales or whatever.

 

[Brother None]

That owner guy, whatever his name, was reluctant to change the ending from the generic vault party to what we have, thinking that such a drastic turn of events would confuse and infuriate the players, hurt sales or whatever.

Actually, no.
I have a few favorite memories. I think one of the best is when we came to the conclusion that the player was going to have to get kicked out of the vault at the end of the game. Leon and I shared an office and he was struggling to think up an end movie for the game. Originally, it was going to be a celebration... You are the returning hero of the vault in classic rpg fashion. This was decided on early in the game's design. And while we sat there wracking our brains trying to figure out how to make the movie work, it dawned on us that the whole idea of this celebration sounded kind of ordinary and lame.

Leon made the comment that, through the whole game, the vault dwellers are completely xenophobic... I mean, why would they even *let* you in? And I responded, well, then we should just have the movie being them kicking you out.

It was so funny. Over and over again we said we can't do that! But we absolutely loved the idea - it was just so cool! So we went to tell Tim. Tim wasn't sure of the idea. He thought it would flop with the fans, nothing like that had ever been done. But he finally gave in (we could be pains in the asses when we wanted something our way.) That movie is one of my favorite parts of the whole game - the returning hero getting kicked out. Absolutely perfect!

Tim Cain isn't some "owner guy", he's the guy that started project GURPS to begin with

Orginally they intended to make Junktown flourish if you helped Gizmo but were pressured to swap the endings and do away with that twist.

To be more exact:
Original endings:
Killian wins:
With Gizmo out of the way, Killian enforces his brand of frontier justice on Junktown. The city remains orderly but small, as travelers steer away from his rigid sensibilities.

Gizmo wins:
Under Gizmo's leadership, Junktown becomes a trading center and resort, where people come from miles around to gamble, spend money and enjoy themselves in relative safety. Gizmo keeps the town prosperous but healthy, as he has no desire to injure his own affluence. The inhabitants of the town become wealthy and famous.

Endings that made it into the game:
Killian wins:
Killian Darkwater takes firm control of Junktown, drives out the last of Gizmo's kind, and then enforces his own brand of frontier justice. Life is fair and safe under his law.

Gizmo wins:
Junktown becomes the new boomtown under the careful, and profitable, guidance of Don Gizmo. He profits the most, and continues to increase the size of his casino, and the scope of his power, until he chokes to death while eating some Iguana-on-a-stick.

 

[Lord_Fish]

Iguana-on-a-stick is the best food name ever.

 

[Keldorn]

Make this Wizardry 8. You shouldn't introduce people to 2d iso, TB and post-apocalyptic retrofuturistic SF that abruptly and all at once. It might kill them or at least traumatize them so badly that they'll no longer able to do anything but stare at generic sugary landscapes shrouded by soothing bloom and listen to familiar chit-chat about mudcrabs.

Whoa there... "generic sugary landscapes shrouded by soothing bloom" ?

That's lyrical and lively !


It's Keldornian !!!


*SALUTE*.