Interview Interview with the Tyranny Writing Team at Game Revolution

[Infinitron]

Dear Obsidian,

Here's a list of some inspiration for your game:

1. Moby dick (Captain Ahab is the villain) - it's all about revenge obsession.
2. Gladiator (the movie) - Commodus takes power.
3. Real life (our World controlled by religious).
4. Breaking Bad - a story of a teacher who becomes a kingpin.
5. Meshuggah (the band) - lyrics about human nature ; the future ; the end of humanity as we know it.
6. A song of ice & fire (The books!!!).

And I can think of hundreds more inspirational ideas in a sec.

All they need to do is to think of figures who obsessed with something (Power ; Control ; money) and the way they trying to achieve that goal.

They don't kill everybody.
They use people weaknesses, fear, poverty and manipulate them for their own benefit.

What a shitty list they gave... I'm surprised the power rangers weren't there...

TL;DR "Why isn't this game a psychological thriller about the rise of a dictator rather than a fantasy game about serving under the rule of an unseen totalitarian overlord? HOW IMMATURE!" *goes back to geeking out over Warhammer 40k lore*

A lot of people on this forum are being really disingenuous and intentionally obtuse with regard to this game.

 

[a mod]

TL;DR "Why isn't this game a psychological thriller about the rise of a dictator rather than a fantasy game about living under the rule of an unseen overlord? HOW IMMATURE!" *goes back to geeking out over Warhammer 40k lore*

The disingenuousness and intentional obtuseness some people on this forum have with regard to this game is incredible.

So it should be about the invisible fetters of the patriarchy? Don't shoot, my hands are up boss #BlackLivesMatter

 

[a mod]

So what precisely would you use as inspiration along those wishywashy lines, shillitron? You are not even making any fucking sense, you might need to have crooked bee service you.

 

[an Administrator]

Who not inspirations from 1984?

 

[Russia is over. The end.]

Governor or the people running Terminus in The Walking Dead

Edgy teen villain tier inspirations.

 

[Haba]

The moment you need to label the overlord as "evil" you have already lost.

That is why Kellhus is the most superior kind of "evil" one can write. Manipulative and ruthless, but without malice. Tramples over human dignity but at the same time can undeniably be the messiah that saves the humankind. Superhuman but completely alien.

But that is only the man you know, the Lesser Proyas. The man I know, the Greater Proyas, I hold in shackles of iron. I am Dûnyain, my friend, exactly as Achamian claimed. To merely stand in my presence is to be enslaved.

Serving a contradiction like this would be far more interesting premise than simply labelling it "evil overlord". I'm guessing Obsidian will be approaching this to some degree, but on the other hand they know meatbags need their labels and stereotypes.

 

[Roguey]

My favorite is when they praise lord of the rings...THOSE WERE THE BEST MOVIES EVER BRO

They're over a decade old, they're classics now.

 

[Fenix]

3. Real life (our World controlled by religious).

Actually by bunch of superwealth people, who use variuos sects and heretics for that reason. True religion can be controlled.

4. Breaking Bad - a story of a teacher who becomes a kingpin.

Nope, it is a story that once you made a step on a crime path, driven by ambitions and ego, the logic of crime world itself lead you to a certain end.

 

[Roguey]

I'd like to walk back some of my defense of Starks.





The current generation of Tim Cain-approved Obsidian game designers.

On the upside, the future generation will have some people who grew up with D:OS, Wasteland 2, Pillars, Underrail, and AoD so maybe it won't be so bad.

 

[Athelas]

I guess she didn't like New Vegas.

 

[Latelistener]

The current generation of Tim Cain-approved Obsidian game designers.

 

[an Administrator]

plz, dear newfag, don't bring pepe meme here.
thx

 

[I ASK INANE QUESTIONS]

Are we treating fantasy novels as unapproachable high literature now?

Of coursh. There's no nerd cred in reading Black Company these days, these books are #oldandbusted

Of course they read it.

Well, some of them did.

 

[Neanderthal]

Some o pulp shit I first read as a young un now seem like fucking Shakespeare compared to most o modern shit, might be just me getting old but I don't think so, i'd rather have any kid o mine read Moorcock than Martin and LeGuin rather than that Harry Potter bird.

 

[an Administrator]

I'd like to walk back some of my defense of Starks.





The current generation of Tim Cain-approved Obsidian game designers.

On the upside, the future generation will have some people who grew up with D:OS, Wasteland 2, Pillars, Underrail, and AoD so maybe it won't be so bad.

"co-op Fallout 4"

 

[mutonizer]

So this dude's vision of "a world where evil won" is actually "a world where some capitalist or a nationalist or maybe just about anyone I don't quite agree with, won"? His worst possible visions of evil in an heroic fantasy settings, worth of spending years to make a video game about, are shit like Mussolini, Kim Jon-il and fucking Allen Dulles.

"[..]fascism, American exceptionalism, drug cartels, capitalist corporations, and militaries through the ages have all provided a great deal of inspiration as to how evil wins". What..the..fuck? I knew they had no idea of what evil could be beyond their retarded, pathetic, narrow, ideological views before but now, all I can say is:

Spoiler

So at least that's done. Any new bits about actual gameplay to redeem this disaster?

 

[Sacred82]

I wonder what their dark, enigmatic overlord will be like.

Kim Jong-Il

A world wherein there’s one big evil dude on top really only works when it’s sold with great big lies that get the average person invested in the evil (or just dependent upon it), instead of willing to resist it.

So they're looking for realistic psychology in high fantasy behaviour patterns (fighting evil for the sake of it)?

This isn’t a game of running an empire, so it’s safer to say the choices are all about surviving in a world where being a decent person rarely gets you very far. So your options run from deceptive, to abusive, to professional, to charitable, to terrifying, to passively indifferent. Generally speaking, you can attempt to inspire love and loyalty in others, but often that means doing sick and twisted things to earn the affection of evil people. Or if you get sick of people taking advantage of you, you can inspire fear and hostility in others.

All the while being careful not to create any connections to real world SJW Topics

 

[I ASK INANE QUESTIONS]

I'd like to walk back some of my defense of Starks.





The current generation of Tim Cain-approved Obsidian game designers.

On the upside, the future generation will have some people who grew up with D:OS, Wasteland 2, Pillars, Underrail, and AoD so maybe it won't be so bad.

Oh come on. She's basically a younger version of Annie Mitsoda, right down to writing style. Nothing Obisidian hasn't seen before.

 

[Azarkon]

Leftist detected.

Spoiler

Evil doesn't actually exist; or rather, it is just what those in power don't agree with.

The fact that no one in the interview even mentioned this basic argument, but simply act as though it's right and obvious to apply modern moral standards to people thousands of years ago, makes me think this game will be shit.

 

[an Administrator]

Evil doesn't actually exist

So does magic

 

[Azarkon]

Yes...? You're arguing with an imaginary friend. As an academic I am well aware of how useless 100% 95% of my expertise is for any aspect of making video games. The point I'm making is that I agree with someone like Chris Avellone when he says the real world and its histories is such a rich source of inspiration and more game writers could benefit from it.

Also " a lot of stuff sounds really pedestrian and lacking quality", I believe is the bit you left out when you were trying too hard to be a tabloid magazine

It doesn't matter from where hack writers get their inspiration, because what defines a piece of writing is not its source of inspiration, but what the writer does with it.

Make hack writers read history, and they'll come up with Dragon Age Inquisition. Sure, it's based on medieval European history, and it obviously takes various facts and narratives from medieval European history, but you know what, it's still shit.

By contrast, Chris Avellone has stated many times that his main sources of inspiration are comic books and other games. Planescape Torment is a perfect example, as the game is practically an intentional deconstruction/subversion of the fantasy CRPG. But we can all agree that Planescape Torment and much of Avellone's work is excellent, not because he uses excellent sources but because he is an excellent writer.

 

[undecaf]

A lot of people on this forum are being really disingenuous and intentionally obtuse with regard to a good number of games.

Fixed that for you.

 

[Bubbles]

I wonder why they didn't make a reference to Communist regimes; there's plenty of reasonably high-profile sources to choose from, be it Bulgakov, Herta Müller, or more US-friendly stuff like The Americans. The European book market has had Soviet narratives pouring out of every orifice for a good while now, so they can't be that unpopular.

Ken Russel's The Devils also seems like it would have been a good inspiration for "evil" as a political force (and in an uncommon incarnation). Or Flaubert's depiction of Satan as an enlightened evolutionist, which I always found promising. And some other of Flaubert's stuff too. The depiction of the child sacrifices to Baal Moloch in Salammbô was some of the most vivdly wirtten stuff I've ever read. Or Bertolucci's adaptation of The Conformist. Or some of the Fall of Rome stuff, as stated by others.

And though it might have sounded pretentious, why not namedrop Dostoyevsky, Brecht, Kafka, or Robert Bresson and see what happens? It's likely that the writers are taking inspiration from their work anyway.

In comic books, you could cite Morrison's and Moore's early work for a pop culture friendly reference. It really didn't need to be The Governor from Walking Dead and the raiders from Fallout 3.

Failing upward I see.

Are you implying that Wildstar had bad writing?

 

[Roguey]

Oh come on. She's basically a younger version of Annie Mitsoda, right down to writing style. Nothing Obisidian hasn't seen before.

Fortunately, Annie gushed over a different set of games on account of her age.

 

[Schizophrenic monolog]

Dear Obsidian,

Here's a list of some inspiration for your game:

1. Moby dick (Captain Ahab is the villain) - it's all about revenge obsession.
2. Gladiator (the movie) - Commodus takes power.
3. Real life (our World controlled by religious).
4. Breaking Bad - a story of a teacher who becomes a kingpin.
5. Meshuggah (the band) - lyrics about human nature ; the future ; the end of humanity as we know it.
6. A song of ice & fire (The books!!!).

And I can think of hundreds more inspirational ideas in a sec.

All they need to do is to think of figures who obsessed with something (Power ; Control ; money) and the way they trying to achieve that goal.

They don't kill everybody.
They use people weaknesses, fear, poverty and manipulate them for their own benefit.

What a shitty list they gave... I'm surprised the power rangers weren't there...

TL;DR "Why isn't this game a psychological thriller about the rise of a dictator rather than a fantasy game about serving under the rule of an unseen totalitarian overlord? HOW IMMATURE!" *goes back to geeking out over Warhammer 40k lore*

A lot of people on this forum are being really disingenuous and intentionally obtuse with regard to this game.

Acctualy, I'm really looking forward to this game.
And I'm pretty sure the writing will be better than most of the games this year.

It's just weird that this is the list that they've chosen to be their inspirational source...