Interview Feargus Urquhart feargs out at Red Bull Games, reveals Obsidian turned down Game of Thrones RPG

[Hobo Elf]

How do you guys get the idea that ASoIaF is a High Fantasy deconstruction? All the fatso did was copy War of the Roses.

 

[Athelas]

inb4 this thread is merged with the GoT thread

 

[Israfael]

How do you guys get the idea that ASoIaF is a High Fantasy deconstruction? All the fatso did was copy War of the Roses.

I was speaking strictly about the first tome, not the rest. The rest is, as you said, typical medieval Lannisters Lancasters vs York (Yoren, perhaps?) sort of story, even with their own Warwick the Kingmaker...

 

[hiver]

No, thats just one of the plot characteristics, not all of it.

It is a partial (mostly but not all) deconstruction of high fantasy cliches, thats bloody obvious. Using the War of Roses as one feature of the plot design is a part of that.

 

[*-*/\--/\~]

Good, there is more than enough gotfaggotry around as it is.

 

[karnak]

How do you guys get the idea that ASoIaF is a High Fantasy deconstruction? All the fatso did was copy War of the Roses.

Mixed with the 12th century Mongol Invasions, bits of sumerian/babylonian culture, the great barbarian invasions of the germanic tribes upon the roman world, etc, etc...

Oh! And Zombie invasion too.

One big historical mash-up free-for-all with sex galore.

 

[Hobo Elf]

How do you guys get the idea that ASoIaF is a High Fantasy deconstruction? All the fatso did was copy War of the Roses.

Mixed with the 12th century Mongol Invasions, bits of sumerian/babylonian culture, the great barbarian invasions of the germanic tribes upon the roman world, etc, etc...

Oh! And Zombie invasion too.

One big historical mash-up free-for-all with sex galore.

When you put it that way, it's no wonder that this clusterfuck of a series is so popular with all the normalfags.

 

[hiver]

There was no sex galore in ASoIaF. It was barely mentioned a few times.

 

[Israfael]

Oh! And Zombie invasion too.

You also forgot the constant 'Food TV' episodes with the descriptions of various foodstuffs and wine-washing.

It was anti cheap repetitive derivative shit copies of LOTR. Anti - cliche.

Well, i woudl disagree - ASOIAF consistently portrays the story in the vein of the modern world's views on morality, chivalry, politics and so on (not sure if it was intended or Martin just genuinely cannot into heroic epics), while LoTR was an epic story about the dying world of old traditions fighting an uphill battle against the modernism in all its aspects (chivalry is good, loyalty is rewarded, heroes are heroes, kings are noble or at least just, enemy is bad, Manichean struggle of good against bad and so on). All that was lost after Martin switched to the 'chronicles of the 5 kings war' mode.

 

[hiver]

Thats a completely inaccurate description of Lord of the Rings themes and subjects or specific features.
Of course its nothing new or surprising, its just a stupid shit someone blurted out and that keeps reappearing every once in a while because its easier to repeat something idiotic simpletons splurged then to actually think.... which is the reason why such stupid superficial shit observations were made in the first place. The standard stupidity self reinforcing loop. (such idiotic superficial thinking is the reason for complete laughable shit of LOTR movies too)

For one thing Martin adores Tolkien and Lord of the Rings. So much so that one of his quotes say that he hopes that when he dies he would go to Middlearth, not heaven.

For another there is nothing in Lord of the Rings or other Tolkien works that is built upon or actually maintains that "chivalry is good, loyalty is rewarded, heroes are heroes, kings are noble or at least just, enemy is bad, Manichean struggle of good against bad and so on".
What Tolkien actually says is that chivalry is extremely rare and costly and dangerous, loyalty is difficult, hard to earn and hard to maintain, heroes are rare individuals who most often pay the ultimate price without anyone paying much attention or gratitude for it, that suffer and are mostly shunned and ridiculed by society... kings are no more and most of them are betrayers and power hungry imbeciles - meaning that just the position and title dont make anyone actually good and just and worthy. Enemy is bad because of things he does not because it is simply "evil" and that such animosity usually has much deeper roots - while the theme of circumstances greater then individuals tend to distort and change individuals - while extreme evil situations turn the best into similarly evil individuals... and that there is no simplistic struggle of good vs evil as such.


That is of course a very shortened version.

Not that it will make you change your mind, but thats what the Tolkiens works actually are about, simplified since i dont mean to write several pages about it.

You all can notice the huge difference between that original vision and superficial shit versions that was later abused to the point of vomit inducing cliche levels.

I trust most of readers will be able to figure out which characters and events my post is referencing.
Think about that fact.

 

[karnak]

There was no sex galore in ASoIaF. It was barely mentioned a few times.

I suppose we haven't read the same books.
Or am I just a pervert and I fixated on those sex sections.
I suppose me and Tyrion are a bit similar in that aspect.

Either way the books are really full of rape and plenty of dirty old men looking to bang some jailbait.

 

[hiver]

We read the same books but you are confusing something being barely mentioned from something being described or depicted in any kind of detail and pushed into everyone's faces.

And who the fuck would not look into such short "skirts"?
wtf?


full of rape?

gtfo.

 

[deuxhero]

But does it include a section about screwing over people who paid them 1000 dollars in favor of a genocidal tranny's screaming?

 

[Cazzeris]

I don't think Obsidian is capable to deliver a cRPG that resembled classics like Fallout or Arcanum anymore. It's sad to see how, after spending a decade developing slamdunks over other studios' popamole garbage and trying to grow big enough to take risks with their own classic-styled franchises they've ended playing it safe once again. Instead of creating a truly inspired gem while learning from their old projects' errors, they make another attempt to mimic Bioware's most popular farts. Sure, that's what most fans wanted but it's still a generic and boring inspiration.

Who the fuck cares if Tim Cain (creator of RPGs that tried to achieve what all fucking RPGs should be trying to achieve) is working there? Obsy won't ever try to make a full-inclined, turn-based and ambitious RPG no matter how much quality that would bring to the genre. It looks like they just don't care anymore, or simply there's no more passion in their developers' hearts (which would be quite comprehensible considering moral-destroying events like Troika's departure or all those cancellations).

The only rational movement in my opinion is to support only passion-fueled projects. I'd rather buy another Underrail copy instead of supporting next Obsidian's project (unless it turns out to be something risky, ambitious and inspired by the better classics).

 

[Rahdulan]

I'm pretty sure they care about a steady paycheck more, especially when you come so close to bankruptcy like they did this time before they were saved by Kickstarter. Ideals and pipe dreams are all well and good, but staying in business matters more. I just wish Urquhart would maybe expand his horizons a bit.

 

[hiver]

They came close to bankruptcy because they didnt believe there is a market for anything else but derivative garbage they did.

And then they got saved by this supposedly non existing audience, and then they made the game for casual retards again.


Im hoping Tim Cain will get a proverbial kick in the butt when he plays D:OS and then ... different kinds of things start to happen.

 

[Jedi Exile]

I don't think Obsidian is capable to deliver a cRPG that resembled classics like Fallout or Arcanum anymore. It's sad to see how, after spending a decade developing slamdunks over other studios' popamole garbage and trying to grow big enough to take risks with their own classic-styled franchises they've ended playing it safe once again. Instead of creating a truly inspired gem while learning from their old projects' errors, they make another attempt to mimic Bioware's most popular farts.

Obsidian always played it safe and this the the reason why they are still in business, unlike Troika.

 

[likaq]

I don't think Obsidian is capable to deliver a cRPG that resembled classics like Fallout or Arcanum anymore. It's sad to see how, after spending a decade developing slamdunks over other studios' popamole garbage and trying to grow big enough to take risks with their own classic-styled franchises they've ended playing it safe once again. Instead of creating a truly inspired gem while learning from their old projects' errors, they make another attempt to mimic Bioware's most popular farts. Sure, that's what most fans wanted but it's still a generic and boring inspiration.

Who the fuck cares if Tim Cain (creator of RPGs that tried to achieve what all fucking RPGs should be trying to achieve) is working there? Obsy won't ever try to make a full-inclined, turn-based and ambitious RPG no matter how much quality that would bring to the genre. It looks like they just don't care anymore, or simply there's no more passion in their developers' hearts (which would be quite comprehensible considering moral-destroying events like Troika's departure or all those cancellations).

The only rational movement in my opinion is to support only passion-fueled projects. I'd rather buy another Age of Decadence copy instead of supporting next Obsidian's project (unless it turns out to be something risky, ambitious, set in scifi setting and inspired by the better classics).

Small fixes.

 

[Ninja Destroyer]

Aliens
Seven Dwarves
Wheel of Time
Game of Thrones

Dammit Obsidian.

I wish Cyanide made another RPG in that universe. The first one had a really good down to earth story.

 

[Cazzeris]

Small fixes.

Yeah, I'm more excited for AoD's release than Underrail's due to subjective reasons.

But Underrail deserves more support in my opinion because it has a lower price, features more freedom in its gameplay, presents better systems and also feels technically more comfortable thanks to 2D graphics and its fixed camera. Both are as good and passion-fueled as it gets nowadays though.

 

[Hegel]

So, is there a reason why they went with Showelware: Kill the xaurip instead?

 

[Name]

Because they promised a BG/IWD game, so they made it with Xaurips.

The only problem is that there was some allusion to Torment and Arcanum possibly for hype only, which turned out to be never the intention for game itself.

At least you get guns from one and whole memories thing from another.

 

[Lurker King]

I don't think Obsidian is capable to deliver a cRPG that resembled classics like Fallout or Arcanum anymore. It's sad to see how, after spending a decade developing slamdunks over other studios' popamole garbage and trying to grow big enough to take risks with their own classic-styled franchises they've ended playing it safe once again. Instead of creating a truly inspired gem while learning from their old projects' errors, they make another attempt to mimic Bioware's most popular farts. Sure, that's what most fans wanted but it's still a generic and boring inspiration.

Who the fuck cares if Tim Cain (creator of RPGs that tried to achieve what all fucking RPGs should be trying to achieve) is working there? Obsy won't ever try to make a full-inclined, turn-based and ambitious RPG no matter how much quality that would bring to the genre. It looks like they just don't care anymore, or simply there's no more passion in their developers' hearts (which would be quite comprehensible considering moral-destroying events like Troika's departure or all those cancellations).

The only rational movement in my opinion is to support only passion-fueled projects. I'd rather buy another Underrail copy instead of supporting next Obsidian's project (unless it turns out to be something risky, ambitious and inspired by the better classics).

10/10

Andross,

If I mentioned to you that I know some gamers that like Skyrm, Diablo 3, FO3, The Walking Dead, openly despise hardcore cRPG gamers, have stupid ideas about mechanic systems and approve SJW shit publicly, would you like these guys or even consider invite them to a cup of coffee? Probably not. Now If I add that in the past these same gamers were responsible for, or at least directly involved with, PS:T, Arcanum, FO2, F:NV, MotB, V:TB, would you reconsider? Sure! Not only that, you would be kind enough to fund their next game! That sums up codexers divorce from reality when Obsidian is concerned.

 

[Lurker King]

I'm pretty sure they care about a steady paycheck more, especially when you come so close to bankruptcy like they did this time before they were saved by Kickstarter. Ideals and pipe dreams are all well and good, but staying in business matters more. I just wish Urquhart would maybe expand his horizons a bit.

Actually, it is the other way around. Making good games should matter more for passionate gamers. If their wages are too high or they are used to a standard of living in which they have to make causal shit to sell, they are all sellouts. They have to do anything in their power to adjust their needs to the requirements for making good games – cutting people, going full indie, etc. They won’t? So fuck them. I will give my money to indie projects who are passionate about games and respect passionate gamers.

 

[Turjan]

I would love a ancient world,Mesopotamia, 10000bc, Iliad, Argonauts rpg, its such a simple and beautiful setting. What was the last one? Titan Quest?

This here: http://store.steampowered.com/app/12770/

Also known as "how to work with one of the coolest settings in mythology and then completely ignore it".

As to GoT, please no.