Interview Feargus strikes again: NWN, KotNR, and IWD2

[Sammael]

644 Lakeshore Dr Unit 36 North Bay, Ontario, Kanada

I am going to send a postcard to this address just to see what happens. I'll even address it to "Volourn Hono(u)rblade", since gods know American and Canadian postal services don't even bother reading addressee names.

 

[Jed]

Or what? You gonna come to 644 Lakeshore Dr Unit 36 North Bay, Ontario, Kanada and teach me a lesson? I'll be waitin'...

Oh god, you're such a drama queen. You couldn't pay me $10000 to brave the polar bears in your neighborhood, much less kick some pasty lady's ass up and down the street. Just tell me how whitemithrandir's two posts on the previous page aren't worthy of discussion. He makes cogent, apparently experientially informed points, and does'nt call anyone names, not even you when you dismissed his first post.

If you're answer is "b ut he is teh tr;oll! R00fles!," then don't even bother (even though I know you will).

 

[Volourn]

Sammael: Okay.

X: I'm not the one who started the drama. All I did was ignore someone.Geez.. whiz..

"You couldn't pay me $10000 to brave the polar bears in your neighborhood, much less kick some pasty lady's ass up and down the street."

Ha. Sweet stuff.


"apparently experientially informed points"

No, he doesn't. I don't need to make it any clearer than that nor do I need to explain myself. I chose to his ignore his posts which shouldn't hurt you; but it seems to. Move on. I know I'm trying to.


"There are many reasons why developers release a crappy, in our understanding, game."

Yup. So true.

 

[Whipporowill]

I think Vollie's lonely considering he spams his adress all over the net. Poor sob probably can't get anyone to visit him voluntarily...

 

[Volourn]

You are right, Whip. That's got to be the reason.

 

[Vault Dweller]

Or doesn't live there and some poor granny doesn't understand why she gets tons of "you suck" letters every week.

Anyway, I guess Volourn strongly objected to this comment:

As for HoTU being a single player campaign: where'd you hear that? I went through it twice with my family on LAN.

Isn't it a common knowledge that HotU was a SP game?

 

[Jed]

No, he doesn't. I don't need to make it any clearer than that nor do I need to explain myself. I chose to his ignore his posts which shouldn't hurt you; but it seems to. Move on. I know I'm trying to.

You didn't ignore, you dismissed something that was thoughtful as a "troll" when it clearly wasn't. Where's the honor in that Volourn? It's just lame, and probably falls somewhere under your "lies, rumors, & speculation" fixation. Lame.

 

[Volourn]

"honor"

Oh, come on. Honour? We're talking about me dismissing a few posts. Geez. give me a break with the dramatics. I dismissed 2 posts and now we are exchanging silly posts on a silly issue. But, hey, if you have all day I can make time for the sparring. Your choice.


"Or doesn't live there and some poor granny doesn't understand why she gets tons of "you suck" letters every week."

Hahahaha. Shh.. You are ruining my devious plot, you.

 

[Sol Invictus]

Some people have blind faith in something, some don't. After Feargus "participated" in the development of FO and PST, he also did Torn, IWD games, and Lionheart (in an overseeing capacity). More then enough to give you a reason to doubt his words. But, hey, Rex, if you want to believe that he will do great deep games, that's fine with me, and unlike you, I won't flame you for your point of view.

Feargus had nothing to do with Lionheart. He was never in charge of any overseeing operations or line producing. That was all Chris Parker. Lionheart's issues were threefold:

a) Ion Hardie wanted ARCADY ACKSHUN A LA GAUNTLET. This generally does not coincide the development of a good RPG
b) Reflexive didn't get paid
c) Interplay didn't want to pay Reflexive for the state of their development.

Won't somebody call the fucking waaaaaaambulance for VD?

So original and funny.[/quote]

Are you gonna whine about this, too? Waaaaa waaaaaa.

 

[Jed]

Oh, come on. Honour? We're talking about me dismissing a few posts. Geez. give me a break with the dramatics. I dismissed 2 posts and now we are exchanging silly posts on a silly issue. But, hey, if you have all day I can make time for the sparring. Your choice.

I was making a play on your chosen name...whatever. No. I don't have time to "spar" with you all day, though god knows you do. I just get so tired of you being so dense all the time. Is it just an internet thing with you, or are you like this in real life too?

 

[Volourn]

"Is it just an internet thing with you, or are you like this in real life too?"

You'll never know. be happy you won't suffer my retardedness in RL.

 

[Diogo Ribeiro]

I think Vollie's lonely considering he spams his adress all over the net. Poor sob probably can't get anyone to visit him voluntarily...

That would explain why he says 'R00fles!' so many times... it must be to make people hate him to the point of going to his house!

 

[mr. lamat]

i still can't believe anyone would voluntarily admit living in north bay...

 

[Jed]

You'll never know. be happy you won't suffer my retardedness in RL.

Consider my blessings counted.

 

[Vault Dweller]

Feargus had nothing to do with Lionheart.

Let me get this straight, a guy in charge of a department had nothing to do with one of the project the department was involved in?

The inspiration for the game came during discussions between Lars Brubaker, the CEO of Reflexive Entertainment, and Feargus Urquhart, the president of Black Isle Studios. They felt that Reflexive was in a good position to work with Black Isle to create an RPG using their Velocity Engine, and from this, Lionheart was born.
...
Feargus Urquhart from Black Isle had done a lot of early concept work in how the system could be modified to take into account the transition to real time and the inclusion of magic. He had been interested in trying it out, and we at Reflexive had plenty of experience working in real time

Sounds like he did have something to do with it after all. Btw, good work on that modified RT with magic SPECIAL.

Lionheart's issues were threefold:

While what you listed have affected the development, there were other reasons like SPECIAL that sucked ass, and every design flaw possible, even for an action a-la gauntlet game. It's hard to believe that Feargus wasn't aware of that.

Won't somebody call the fucking waaaaaaambulance for VD?

So original and funny.

Are you gonna whine about this, too? Waaaaa waaaaaa.

Now that's just sad.

 

[littleboy]

Oh, let me jump in the fray :D


VD in your' above thread you quoted "Fergus has done a lot of the early concept work". Now without having played it and read only a few review and looked at the original site (whaaaay back when it was still up) it looked like the only good things about the entire game where "the early concept work" ie. the original setting (real world meets magic ala rifts), the explanation of the use and power of magic (spirtis that are hosted in a spellcasters body provied the means), and a few parts of the S.P.E.C.A.L system that servived the hack into the game. That's not to say Fergus had absolutely nothing to do with the rest of the game, but if he did he was not given credit for and did not admit to doing it. So I think all in all it would be unfair to blame that particular peice of coal in our stockings on Fergus.

Flame on boys

 

[J.E. Sawyer]

I also had a lot to do with the "initial concept work" on Lionheart. However, I certainly had nothing to do with the implementation of those ideas, the design of areas, the design of the system, or writing any of the dialogues. Feargus did more work on it than I did, but he was still not heavily involved in the development process. Yes, he's the division director. However, Black Isle as a division was going through a lot at that time and he certainly had more important and pressing matters (like the state of the internal studio) to deal with.

I know it's easy for everyone else to suggest that they would be capable of breakdancing while spinning plates on poles, but for us regular human beings it's a little more difficult. Feargus, like anyone, made and makes plenty of mistakes. Blaming him for Lionheart is, in my opinion, unfair.

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

I blame Darth Molitor.

 

[Vault Dweller]

However, Black Isle as a division was going through a lot at that time and he certainly had more important and pressing matters (like the state of the internal studio) to deal with.

It seems to me that Black Isle was always going through some pressing matters and in such a case, it's customary to blame the guy in charge. There were a lot of mistakes, and while some mistakes were forced on BIS by Interplay, some should have been avoided, unless Feargus had absolutely no say in these matters.

but for us regular human beings it's a little more difficult

I'm not asking for much, am I? Is it unreasonable to expect a manager to manage? Isn't that basically what you wrote in your article?

Feargus, like anyone, made and makes plenty of mistakes. Blaming him for Lionheart is, in my opinion, unfair.

I wasn't blaming him for Lionheart, as that game was a team effort, but I noted his participation in it, no matter how small that was. If he had anything to do with that SPECIAL as Hardie says, then he shares a lot of blame, because the system was godawful. If he was aware that the game is crap, and did nothing, then he shares the blame as well.

 

[Sol Invictus]

Feargus took all the blame instead of IPLY Marketing because he was, and still is, for the most part - a company man. He can't let the boss take the heat for all the stupid marketing decisions they make, so he has to fall in line as the PR guy and take the blows as they come.

This, I think, is wholly undeserved.

On the other hand, I don't think there's anything intuitive about tapping the w button twice to perform 'power strike'. What's wrong with the keypad activated toolbar? WOW has that, and it works great - though the balance in the latest patch is ABSOLUTELY ATROCIOUS. It's been dubbed the EQ push, but I digress.

 

[Whipporowill]

but I digress.

Yes you do, indeed.

 

[Vault Dweller]

Now without having played it...

Without having played it, you have no idea how awful the game is. Read my review if you didn't. That represents only my opinion, of course, but it explains my position here better.

it looked like the only good things about the entire game where "the early concept work" ie.... and a few parts of the S.P.E.C.A.L system that servived the hack into the game.

Like I said above, Lionheart's SPECIAL sucked, so it wasn't one of the only good things about the game, it was one of the worst, imo.

So I think all in all it would be unfair to blame that particular peice of coal in our stockings on Fergus.

Maybe, maybe not. I prefer to blame and praise people in charge for successes and failures of projects. Sure, Feargus wasn't directly responsible for Lionheart, but BIS was working with Reflexive, and Feargus was in charge of BIS. I don't claim to have the inside knowledge of these events, if there were some extraordinary circumstances, I apologize to the man, if not, I stand by my opinion, but, like I said, wish Feargus all the best and hope that he will make great games.

 

[Vault Dweller]

Feargus took all the blame instead of IPLY Marketing because he was, and still is, for the most part - a company man. He can't let the boss take the heat for all the stupid marketing decisions they make, so he has to fall in line as the PR guy and take the blows as they come.

What is he? A fucking samurai who can't let his master dishonor himself?

 

[mr. lamat]

no, just beholden on idiots to sign his paycheque.

 

[J.E. Sawyer]

I'm not asking for much, am I? Is it unreasonable to expect a manager to manage? Isn't that basically what you wrote in your article?

It's unreasonable to expect a manager to manage a large number of projects with dwindling resources under duress.

If he was aware that the game is crap, and did nothing, then he shares the blame as well.

Did you not get a good enough idea of Feargus' opinion of his ability to accomplish what needed to be accomplished by the fact that he left Black Isle? I don't want to speak for Feargus, but if he believed he could have actually "fought the good fight" for us and won, he wouldn't have left. You can only take slamming your head against a brick wall for so long. Feargus was gone before Lionheart was through development.