Company News Is Troika Dead?

[Fez]

Another thought: Will they still be considered the heir to the throne of Fallout now that they have gutted the company? With only four left the justification seems thin.

 

[Killzig]

Another thought: Will they still be considered the heir to the throne of Fallout now that they have gutted the company? With only four left the justification seems thin.

what throne? Fallout's been dead for years now.

 

[Briosafreak]

Come to think of it Sawyer was right on Troika, but spoke too soon, like one year and a half too soon, right Killzig?

Rex moved to the Bioware fanboys topic about Troika at Obsidian forum, so maybe this topic can still bring some interesting thoughts from now on.

 

[Fez]

Another thought: Will they still be considered the heir to the throne of Fallout now that they have gutted the company? With only four left the justification seems thin.

what throne? Fallout's been dead for years now.

A few folk here claim that Troika can pretty much be considered the makers of Fallout. There have been many arguments over this.

 

[Killzig]

Come to think of it Sawyer was right on Troika, but spoke too soon, like one year and a half too soon, right Killzig?

Rex moved to the Bioware fanboys topic about Troika at Obsidian forum, so maybe this topic can still bring some interesting thoughts from now on.

something like that, sawyer's like Verbal Kint/Keyser Soze.

 

[kumquatq3]

Rex moved to the Bioware fanboys topic about Troika at Obsidian forum

maybe he didn't like the trokia fanboy topic here

 

[Seven]

You're too optimistic. For all we know they could announce some idiotic plan to start developing console titles, or worse, an mmorpg. That's certainly going to make them a lot more money than any RPG.

What the hell is wrong with you, and where do you pull these stupid theories out of? When you get like this you become half-idiotic and that's the good part.

I know I haven't posted anything (serious) in weeks, and I know I'm just responding to one snippet (of course I could respond to much more worst things that you've posted in this same thread). The point is that as a staff member you need to make yourself accountable for your statements (Do you recall the big stinks you make everything VD posts something which you disagree with, but which might not be controversial? Well this is the same thing, except you have nothing to base your opinion off of.); this means that perhaps you should adopt a measured tone.

 

[Major_Blackhart]

Seriously, where did all this dislike for Troika come from? And why are people gloating at their possible demise?

 

[Volourn]

If you don't know; you haven't been paying attention.

Many people didn't like Arcanum. i did; but my opinion don't count. It also bombed big time.

TOEE was a piece of shit which only did one thing right and still managed to fuck that up with bugbear mass parties.

BL was a good game; but it was too damn buggy. A game that shoulda been great turned out to be acceptable.

Let's not mention the arrogance of Troika (and their retarded fanboys) who dare claim to be the Creators of Fallout when they are not. Period.

The fact they make exuses, and no matter the problem; it's the publisher's fualt. It's always the damn publisher's fault. No, it's Troika's fault. Mnay dvelopers work with those three publisher syet managed to release relatively bug free games withd ecent support; but Troika cna't.

And, this coming from someone who doens't actually truly hate them. It's easy to imagine why someone would.

In essence, I hate 'em becuase I like 'em so much and know they could do better but lameness stops themf rom doing so.

Honestly, I hope they pull through - if only, to get their act together - maybe this scare will make them realize some things need to be changed (ie. get a damn QA team; even small dev houses need QA teams.).

Period.

That is all.

For now.

 

[Jed]

Seriously, where did all this dislike for Troika come from? And why are people gloating at their possible demise?

It's mostly only the dumbfucks, but yeah, it's pretty lame nonetheless.

 

[Volourn]

"It's mostly only the dumbfucks, but yeah, it's pretty lame nonetheless."

If Troika joins Interplay in the Junkpile they only have themselves to blame.

If people are willing to gloat over Interplay's fall than they should be able to gloat over Troika's. Afterall, Interplay's track record of creating greta games is far, far, far more impressive. Afterall, they created BG, BG2, FO1, FO2, PST, and a host of other awesome games. Troika hasn't done anything comapred to those games. Nothing at all.

Next.

 

[FireWolf]

The "free ride" that troika has had from RPG fans is, I think, the result of the bleak outlook of the RPG market. The RPG market isnt the most high-profile or successful genre. It hasn't been for years now. Troika has been popular with RPG fans because they've held on to concepts that other developers havent; such as true Turn-Based combat and not cookie-cutter D&D slash-em-ups. Their games havent been spectacular to date. Arcanum didn't sell too well, ToEE never had a great story going for it to balance the combat and bloodlines, it seems, failed to hold up to its first quater. Despite this less than stellar performance because some people live in the hope that troika will provide the games they crave: games with more depth than Kotor or NwN.

It is possible troika was mis-managed, since their titles (in particular Bloodlines) have shown great promise, but failed to deliver on the final sections. This could be either bad decisions during planning, spending more time on the first half than they should, or it could be other factors like publisher/intellectual property owners interfering in the direction, altering the story/script. Or it could have been the source issues. I'm pretty sure Troika and the bloodlines publishers were compensated by valve for the time lost and damage done by the source leak, but that kind of thing can, I imagine, halt game production and play merry hell with the existing content not to mention deadlines.

Troika containes or contained talent and made games that held more to RPG tradition than other developers have done recently. I've enjoyed Troika's titles, I hope they can survive this upset and get a publishing deal which allows them the time and money they need to work on an awesome title of their own design giving them their own IP to work with that reaches mass audience, showing people that RPGs are not just about +4 swords or statistics and revitalises the genre. That is, however, unlikely. We'll just have to live in hope that the European development houses are more successful in bringing our RPG hopes to life.

 

[M0rphz0rz]

If people are willing to gloat over Interplay's fall than they should be able to gloat over Troika's. Afterall, Interplay's track record of creating greta games is far, far, far more impressive. Afterall, they created BG, BG2, FO1, FO2, PST, and a host of other awesome games. Troika hasn't done anything comapred to those games. Nothing at all.

Interplay is a publishing company that has been around for ages, Troika a - relatively young - team of developers. Are you seriously comparing their game output? Talk about skewed.

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

Bullshit. Troika wanted to do sequels for both Arcanum, and TOEE; but the publishers in both cases told them to fuck off. Troika wnated to make sequels.

You're definitely wrong there.

 

[Andyman Messiah]

Priceless.

First of all:

I think Chris Avellone made a helluva lot good points with his post. Read it if you haven't and read it again if you already have and build this thread anew from there on.

Bloodlines and Arcanum are great games. They got bugs and some other funky shit, but once you fix these (or just understand that it's your computer that sucks and not the game) they were mighty fine entertainment that STOOD OVER the rest of all other fricking shitty RPG's and games.

Now then:

I doubt this is the upcoming demise of Troika Games. They might have trouble, but I'm an optimist enough to see through it as only temporary. Just because Activision pulled their funding doesn't mean it's the end. And royalties are afoot but on the other hand; who knows when they'll get to Troika or how much these will generate?

And even if the unspeakable would happen: Troika deserves fucking respect. It'll be a shame to see a talented developer go under with all their fine ideas and I'm sure most people'll miss them. Even the haters (compare it to the loneliness the Codex would suffer should Bethesda or BioWare disappear).

And lastly, some off topic bitching: some of the posters around here need to grow up.

 

[roguefrog]

Yes I concur. Trokia going down isn't good. If anything we need more companies like them developing cRPGs.

 

[Avé]

Just reading the thread on obsidian forums, pretty funny.

Once again we see rex using the exact same phrases.


"The buck stops here!"

"No more free rides for troika"


The funniest thing, is how he delivers them.

As if he is saying something profound/prophetic.

 

[M0rphz0rz]

Maybe he thinks if he repeats them often enough they'll start making sense?

 

[Sol Invictus]

You should look at the time stamps on those posts. I posted them while I was posting them here. There's such a thing as multitasking.

 

[Volourn]

"You're definitely wrong there."

Really? Are you trying to ignore the multitude of times where Troika explicitly stated that they wanted to do a sequel for Arcanum. That, in fact, they'd love to; but it wasn't their call? Or the fact, they even had a list of old GH modules they wanted to do as follow ups to TOEE even prior to its release which didn't materialize? Seriosuly, Saint, out of all the statements I've made, that isn't even opinion but a hardcore fact. Well, I'll give you this: I doubt the publishers in question actually used the words 'Fuck off!'. Heh.


"Interplay is a publishing company that has been around for ages, Troika a - relatively young - team of developers. Are you seriously comparing their game output? Talk about skewed."

Interplay was also a devloper. Afterall, THEY developed Fallout; NOT Troika. And, they earned their success; just like they have earned their failure.


"games with more depth than or NwN."

None of their games even come close to the depth of NWN. Not even close. And, not of their games even come close to the role-playing of NWN. Nice try in trying to make the tooth fairy real; though.


"And even if the unspeakable would happen: Troika deserves fucking respect. It'll be a shame to see a talented developer go under with all their fine ideas and I'm sure most people'll miss them."

Sure. Like I said, I like two of their games in spite of their fualts. Howevger, you earn respect. Troika hasn't earned that. Their arrogance over Fallout, the blaming of all their problems on publsihers, the obvious lack of care about the quality of their products don't earn their respect.

I hope they stay alive, if only to hopefully see them maybe learn from the experience of a close call and make better quality games without the arrogance and the finger pointing.


"And lastly, some off topic bitching: some of the posters around here need to grow up."

Waaa.. Poor little Troika. Theya re being picked on. Boo hoo hoo. Where was your sympathey when Interplay was/is crashing and burning and the vultures descended upon them. Afterall, Interplay has done a lot more for the roel-playing industry than Troika has. BG series, FO series, and PST are proof of this.

That is all. For now.

 

[Andyman Messiah]

Sure. Like I said, I like two of their games in spite of their fualts. Howevger, you earn respect. Troika hasn't earned that. Their arrogance over Fallout, the blaming of all their problems on publsihers, the obvious lack of care about the quality of their products don't earn their respect.

Lack of quality? See, that's where our opinions of quality go different ways. I find bugs as a sadly normal element in any game. All games have 'em and they're fixed with a patch or two. End of complaining and on with the playing. If something should be said about the quality, it's the overall features of a game.

Maybe Troika hasn't earned your marvellous respect, Volourn, but at least I, and a number of other people, are deeply impressed with their great storytelling and sense for atmosphere.

Waaa.. Poor little Troika. Theya re being picked on. Boo hoo hoo.

Nothing to do with Troika. Just my overall feelings for a number of the posters. Therefore the "off topic"-waving.

Where was your sympathey when Interplay was/is crashing and burning and the vultures descended upon them. Afterall, Interplay has done a lot more for the roel-playing industry than Troika has. BG series, FO series, and PST are proof of this.

Oh no, I've got Volourn on my tail!

My sympathy for Interplay has long ceased to exist, thank you. Right now I'm just yelling "drop dead" whenever the topic's at hand. They're (quite unfortunately) ready to die now.

And:

BG: developed by BioWare and Black Isle and distributed by Interplay.
FO: developed by Black Isle and distributed by Interplay.
PST: developed by Black Isle and distributed by Interplay.

Say whatever you want, but I find that there's a major difference between developing and distributing.

 

[DarkSign]

First of all, Troika may yet pull out of all this - so dont count your eggs before you eat them.

Second of all, as a term of art, "layed off" means that they are sent for other work or to collect unemployment, but can and usually are called back if they still want the job.

Third of all...there is no reason for all the vitriol from Exit towards Troika. They have kept the spirit and execution of cRPGs alive and done a damn fine job.

Lastly....I suppose I shouldnt let this cat out of the bag....but Interplay and Troika are combining to form InterTroika. That's right. Youve heard it here first.

 

[Volourn]

"Lack of quality? See, that's where our opinions of quality go different ways. I find bugs as a sadly normal element in any game. All games have 'em and they're fixed with a patch or two. End of complaining and on with the playing. If something should be said about the quality, it's the overall features of a game."

Sure, every game has bugs. However, there are bugs and then there are BUGS. And, talking about overall features; Troika's games aren't overly impressive either except for Arcanum.


"are deeply impressed with their great storytelling and sense for atmosphere."

WTF? TOEE had great story telling and atmosphere? R00fles! And, let's not get started on Vampire's crappy combat and control, and the last aprt of game that was just plain DSish for the most part. Arcanum was the only game that was great and even it had its problems though I enjoyed it nontheless. Though; it bombed.


"And:

BG: developed by BioWare and Black Isle and distributed by Interplay.
FO: developed by Black Isle and distributed by Interplay.
PST: developed by Black Isle and distributed by Interplay.

Say whatever you want, but I find that there's a major difference between developing and distributing."

You can make a case for BG; but you are dead wrong about FO and PST. Interplay both published AND dveloped them. You DO realzie that Interplay and Black Isle were not seperate companies, right? Theya re the same company. BIS is JUST a division. Theya re not on equal footing with BIO. Never were. One was/is a company; the other a simple division.

Once again, Interplay deserves credit for publishing BG series, and deserve credit for both publishing and devloping FO series and PST. Period. This is undisputable. If any company's loss should be mourned between them and Troika; it should be theirs.


"Lastly....I suppose I shouldnt let this cat out of the bag....but Interplay and Troika are combining to form InterTroika. That's right. Youve heard it here first."

LOL You consider that good news?

As for 'counting my chickens'. I'm hoping they don't die. But, fit ehy do, I won't exactly be crying. The weak should not survive in gaming.
_________________

 

[Andyman Messiah]

Sure, every game has bugs. However, there are bugs and then there are BUGS. And, talking about overall features; Troika's games aren't overly impressive either except for Arcanum.

There's bugs and there's glitches.

WTF? TOEE had great story telling and atmosphere? R00fles! And, let's not get started on Vampire's crappy combat and control, and the last aprt of game that was just plain DSish for the most part. Arcanum was the only game that was great and even it had its problems though I enjoyed it nontheless. Though; it bombed.

TOEE is the exception that however spawned the only combat system I've enjoyed so that's atmosphere for you. Storytelling in TOEE, however. Nah. But who cares?

You can make a case for BG; but you are dead wrong about FO and PST. Interplay both published AND dveloped them. You DO realzie that Interplay and Black Isle were not seperate companies, right? Theya re the same company. BIS is JUST a division. Theya re not on equal footing with BIO. Never were. One was/is a company; the other a simple division.

Yes, but: Black Isle was a division of Interplay. Interplay does not develop anymore. The Interplay-division that was Black Isle did.

Once again, Interplay deserves credit for publishing BG series, and deserve credit for both publishing and devloping FO series and PST. Period. This is undisputable. If any company's loss should be mourned between them and Troika; it should be theirs.

*sigh* Yeah, yeah, whatever you say. I'm too tired to "debate".

 

[kumquatq3]

"You're definitely wrong there."

Really? Are you trying to ignore the multitude of times where Troika explicitly stated that they wanted to do a sequel for Arcanum. That, in fact, they'd love to; but it wasn't their call? Or the fact, they even had a list of old GH modules they wanted to do as follow ups to TOEE even prior to its release which didn't materialize? Seriosuly, Saint, out of all the statements I've made, that isn't even opinion but a hardcore fact. Well, I'll give you this: I doubt the publishers in question actually used the words 'Fuck off!'. Heh.

Ya, there was alot of whispers about a sequel from Trokia (especially when the first game came out, the site hosting the interview is long gone, but here is the IGN lead too it http://pc.ign.com/articles/077/077811p1.html)

Maybe saint means in recent times they didn't want to do it anymore or something, dunno, but considering that they didn't have a choice about it...

Lastly....I suppose I shouldnt let this cat out of the bag....but Interplay and Troika are combining to form InterTroika. That's right. Youve heard it here first.

Couldn't you just see EA buying Troika?