Interview Feargus Urquhart babbles about ideas for future Kickstarters at Rock Paper Shotgun

[Chaotic_Heretic]

Please for the love of all that is Holy make a Sci-Fi game Obsidian.

Or a horror cRPG.

 

[cherry blossom]

Hard Sci Fi Horror.

 

[cherry blossom]

Who am I kidding. Even their console popamole corridor shooter "RPG" set in present day is riddled with magic powers. They could never do a hard sci fi or horror game. They just can't help themselves bloat a game with gamey superpowers because it is a game! Not even a Firefly type RPG with that mindset. The best we could hope for is a SW / ME type space opera.

 

[Roguey]

Who am I kidding. Even their console popamole corridor shooter "RPG" set in present day is riddled with magic powers. They could never do a hard sci fi or horror game. They just can't help themselves bloat a game with gamey superpowers because it is a game! Not even a Firefly type RPG with that mindset. The best we could hope for is a SW / ME type space opera.

Horror RPGs are tough because one of the things that makes something terrifying is our reaction to things that are unknown and that we don’t think we can deal with. On the flipside, RPGs generally follow a power fantasy arc where things may be scary at first but as you defeat them, you become more powerful and they lose their ability to frighten you. Making an enemy or enemies that remain scary in the long term throughout a game while maintaining the core RPG power fantasy is very tricky. I think there are a few games that have done a pretty good job at taking steps to merge the two (System Shock 2 is probably the best example I can think of) but I haven’t really seen a standout example yet.

 

[hexer]

Horror RPGs are tough because one of the things that makes something terrifying is our reaction to things that are unknown and that we don’t think we can deal with. On the flipside, RPGs generally follow a power fantasy arc where things may be scary at first but as you defeat them, you become more powerful and they lose their ability to frighten you. Making an enemy or enemies that remain scary in the long term throughout a game while maintaining the core RPG power fantasy is very tricky. I think there are a few games that have done a pretty good job at taking steps to merge the two (System Shock 2 is probably the best example I can think of) but I haven’t really seen a standout example yet.

He's thinking too much inside game boundaries. Why not brake those boundaries with a phobia different than harm or death - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_phobias

 

[cherry blossom]

I doubt the major heads at Obsidian are generally interested at all in creating different and interesting gameplay experiences. Their main concern is always characters and narrative and after building a game around those, they slap mostly a half-assed system on it to make it into a game. At least that is how their games all play. For the same reason, I doubt they could be arsed to work with any other game elements than power progression and death.

Who am I kidding. Even their console popamole corridor shooter "RPG" set in present day is riddled with magic powers. They could never do a hard sci fi or horror game. They just can't help themselves bloat a game with gamey superpowers because it is a game! Not even a Firefly type RPG with that mindset. The best we could hope for is a SW / ME type space opera.

something something sufficiently advanced technology something something magic

"Magic" stuff in Alpha Protocol isn't technology. It's just magic stuff to make the game more fun and gamey and the game is quite unapologetically clear about that. For that quote to have any relevance, there needs to be a subtext, mystery and background lore. Obviously, the only mystery in AP was figuring out how to get laid with the all ladies.

 

[A user named cat]

Veil of Darkness, Waxworks, The Legacy - Realm of Terror and Jaws of Cerberus proved horror RPGs are quite doable. None of them were exactly top notch and could be argued they were more adventure-based (at least the Elvira games) but they did a decent job at blending in RPG elements. So I don't see why Obsidian couldn't.

Personally I'd love to see a remake for Waxworks pop up with better combat and exploration because both the movie and game had a great premise. Unfortunately Horrorsoft sucked at execution.

 

[Chaotic_Heretic]

Who am I kidding. Even their console popamole corridor shooter "RPG" set in present day is riddled with magic powers. They could never do a hard sci fi or horror game. They just can't help themselves bloat a game with gamey superpowers because it is a game! Not even a Firefly type RPG with that mindset. The best we could hope for is a SW / ME type space opera.

Horror RPGs are tough because one of the things that makes something terrifying is our reaction to things that are unknown and that we don’t think we can deal with. On the flipside, RPGs generally follow a power fantasy arc where things may be scary at first but as you defeat them, you become more powerful and they lose their ability to frighten you. Making an enemy or enemies that remain scary in the long term throughout a game while maintaining the core RPG power fantasy is very tricky. I think there are a few games that have done a pretty good job at taking steps to merge the two (System Shock 2 is probably the best example I can think of) but I haven’t really seen a standout example yet.

Veil of Darkness, Waxworks, The Legacy - Realm of Terror and Jaws of Cerberus proved horror RPGs are quite doable. None of them were exactly top notch and could be argued they were more adventure-based (at least the Elvira games) but they did a decent job at blending in RPG elements. So I don't see why Obsidian couldn't.

Personally I'd love to see a remake for Waxworks pop up with better combat and exploration because both the movie and game had a great premise. Unfortunately Horrorsoft sucked at execution.

Just because Nathaniel Chapman is comfortable in his ineptitude and mediocrity doesn't mean we castrate our demands.

 

[Menckenstein]

Who am I kidding. Even their console popamole corridor shooter "RPG" set in present day is riddled with magic powers. They could never do a hard sci fi or horror game. They just can't help themselves bloat a game with gamey superpowers because it is a game! Not even a Firefly type RPG with that mindset. The best we could hope for is a SW / ME type space opera.

Horror RPGs are tough because one of the things that makes something terrifying is our reaction to things that are unknown and that we don’t think we can deal with. On the flipside, RPGs generally follow a power fantasy arc where things may be scary at first but as you defeat them, you become more powerful and they lose their ability to frighten you. Making an enemy or enemies that remain scary in the long term throughout a game while maintaining the core RPG power fantasy is very tricky. I think there are a few games that have done a pretty good job at taking steps to merge the two (System Shock 2 is probably the best example I can think of) but I haven’t really seen a standout example yet.

Should just borrow from horror games without combat and base the character system around tertiary skills with very little means of defending yourself. Lots of unexplored territory there honestly.

 

[cherry blossom]

Veil of Darkness, Waxworks, The Legacy - Realm of Terror and Jaws of Cerberus proved horror RPGs are quite doable. None of them were exactly top notch and could be argued they were more adventure-based (at least the Elvira games) but they did a decent job at blending in RPG elements. So I don't see why Obsidian couldn't.

Personally I'd love to see a remake for Waxworks pop up with better combat and exploration because both the movie and game had a great premise. Unfortunately Horrorsoft sucked at execution.

It's not a question of "could they?" but "would they?" and the answer is "no, they wouldn't". Obsidian is not the type of developer to risk making a game that doesn't rely on the instant gratification of combat feedback. Read Urquhart's words; they are interested in making a 50+ hour open world game. You don't do that kind of game without combat as the center piece of attraction. Well, you can but not Obsidian.

 

[Volourn]

"'But I always look at the example of what we did back at Black Isle with Baldur’s Gate and Icewind Dale. And then Torment on top of that. Those games used the exact same engine, but they all felt very distinct."

Bullshitz. Double bullshitz.

 

[A user named cat]

Veil of Darkness, Waxworks, The Legacy - Realm of Terror and Jaws of Cerberus proved horror RPGs are quite doable. None of them were exactly top notch and could be argued they were more adventure-based (at least the Elvira games) but they did a decent job at blending in RPG elements. So I don't see why Obsidian couldn't.

Personally I'd love to see a remake for Waxworks pop up with better combat and exploration because both the movie and game had a great premise. Unfortunately Horrorsoft sucked at execution.

It's not a question of "could they?" but "would they?" and the answer is "no, they wouldn't". Obsidian is not the type of developer to risk making a game that doesn't rely on the instant gratification of combat feedback. Read Urquhart's words; they are interested in making a 50+ hour open world game. You don't do that kind of game without combat as the center piece of attraction. Well, you can but not Obsidian.

I know that they wouldn't, I was just giving examples to show it's not as "tough" as Chapman made it sound or some impossible task. A shame really since the closest we have to anything resembling a horror RPG is Dead State. I'd like to see the genre come back in some form. Hell, even a Silent Hill RPG could work if done properly.

 

[Zombra]

An episodic, open-world game, huh?

 

[Smejki]

“We have other ideas too,” he enthuses. “Like Eternity has a big party size, but what happens if we render in close and have a smaller party? Make it more about the characters and less about the tactics?”

Yuck! What a terrible idea. Isn't Bioware already doing this...?

I would gladly have a new Bioware overshadowing BioEA writing- and design-wise

 

[Humanity has risen!]

An open world with RTwP combat, no thanks.

 

[octavius]

That was a terrible oversell at the end of the last interview. I honestly don't even know how much input Feargus has creatively. Either way, the timeline is nice.

I'd like to see some weirder settings. Stuff to rival Geneforge, Arcanum, and Planescape. Hell, even some of the weirder D&D settings like Spelljammer and Dark Sun.

I'd love to see a CRPG based in the Malazan world

Should be better than the books based in the Malazan world.

Personally I'd like to see a game using Arcanum's setting, having ToEE's combat engine, and encounter design at least as good as Icewind Dale.

 

[Irxy]

I can't imagine Skyrim with this engine. Badboring plot, lots of filler combat, isometrics and a party... hey, sounds like IWD to me. Bring on housing and that's it.
Anyway, episodic/open word/smaller party just doesn't sound fun at all. They should just really consider doing something other than fantasy.

 

[Ismaul]

I think Feargus is just trying to hide his true intentions by staying abstract. "Skyrim-like" is just how he describes a sandbox to the masses, and "reduce the party size" is how he describes a personal story like Torment, as opposed to PE which is a BG wannabe. The sandbox doesn't have to be trash combat stuff, it can be a SoZ done right, that overland map would be perfect for it. It can be about exploration, travel, survival, maybe even territorial control.

I don't see any commitment to a specific setting, even if Skyrim is fantasy. Though if they want to do a good SoZ, they might still do it in the Eternity world, as can they do a Torment-type thing in that world too, what with the souls and shit. Reskinned assets for a slamdunk, right?

 

[Minttunator]

Quite a vague article.

Personally, I'm hoping that whatever they end up going with, it's not generic fantasy or generic sci-fi - there's enough of that already. Hell, people are even making cyberpunk games now - but there's one fairly popular genre that's gone nearly untouched for quite a while. I'm talking about some fuckmothering STEAMPUNK! They don't have to make an Arcanum sequel (I don't think they even could - Activision owns the rights now, I think?), but there are other interesting settings they could license (or just create their own).

Also, I really wish everybody would stop using "it's like Skyrim" when describing open-world games. Skyrim isn't the only open-world game around - it's not even the best one, it's just cheap clickbait at this point.

 

[cherry blossom]

I think what Feargus really wants is for PE's profile to grow bigger to the point they will be able to cut an AAA deal with a big publisher with better terms than they usually do and then do a open world 3D popamole console corridor shooter.

 

[Infinitron]

open world corridor shooter.

Hmmm.

 

[Irxy]

open world corridor shooter.

Hmmm.

Far Cry 3.

 

[eremita]

So whose relative is this guy that he's still working there?

He's CEO dummy...

 

[eremita]

Hard Sci Fi Horror.

I'm okay with hard. Just hard...

 

[Servo]

Also, I really wish everybody would stop using "it's like Skyrim" when describing open-world games. Skyrim isn't the only open-world game around - it's not even the best one, it's just cheap clickbait at this point.

No, the award for best open world sandbox goes to Just Cause 2.

He's thinking too much inside game boundaries. Why not brake those boundaries with a phobia different than harm or death - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_phobias

How would you implement chaetophobia in a CRPG? Discuss.