Incline Josh Sawyer appreciation station

[Oberon]

Josh "Prep the Bull" Goyer

 

[Dadd]

I'm not bothered by Josh, in fact, I've enjoyed most of his works rather than the opposite. His online persona is cringy, but I can feel the conflict within him. Devs from his generation sold themselves to the zeitgeist but he's not too comfortable with that, probably because he's read two or three books in his life, which is more than what your average tech guy has read in their lives.

How much deeper does he need to suck the Social Justice femcock for him to be "too comfortable" for you?

 

[BlackheartXIII]

The Original:

The Netflix adapation (https://nitter.net/jesawyer/status/1428428093018963968#m):

 

[Higher Animal]

I mean he’s not wrong about the dark knight, I do feel some legacy animosity towards to Christopher Nolan, but I suppose it’s a good thing he can make movies.

 

[Feyd Rautha]

I couldn't find the thread for Aliens: Crucible so I'll put it here:

 

[Baron Dupek]

 

[ADULF HITLOR FAN KLUB]

The germanophile just couldn't help himself.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merkel-Raute

 

[Morgoth]

Er sieht im Alter immer besser aus.

 

[0sacred]

gayyyyy

 

[mediocrepoet]

Er sieht im Alter immer besser aus.

Er sieht mit zunehmendem Alter schwuler und schwuler aus.

 

[Hagashager]

Ew, Germoids

 

[ADULF HITLOR FAN KLUB]

Ew, Germoids

Petri Heil!

 

[ItsChon]

Always self-aware:

What a shit take. While I understand what the person in the picture Josh posted is saying, and I can even empathize with them to a certain degree, there is no reason why you can't have a story that grounded and real and shakes your bones loose from one another. A story being "real" and/or "grounded" is an archetype, and this archetype has nothing to do with the actual setting itself. There is a reason why a story like Game of Thrones is considered real and grounded despite it have dragons, ice zombies, magic, and plenty of other fantastical elements. Similarly, there are certainly examples of stories that do not have any of the things that are typical in a fantasy setting, but still manage to be fantastical and the complete opposite of grounded.​

​

It is true that creating a story that is real and grounded in a fantasy setting is much more difficult than doing it in a nonfantasy setting, and similarly, creating a story that is fantastical in a "realistic" setting is much more difficult than doing it in a fantasy/sci-fi setting, but that doesn't mean it can't be done. In fact, these types of stories are often the ones that are the most interesting and capture the interest and love of the most people. Just because this guy and Sawyer himself are incapable of doing it doesn't mean that it can't be done and/or shouldn't be attempted/pursued. Instead, Sawyer attempts to mash things together to create some bastardized hodge podge that doesn't really do either thing well.​

​

Truly a shame that journalism is dead and no interviewer will ever pressure someone like Sawyer or Avellone with these kinds of observations/questions so that we may hear their responses, or even better, challenge their preconceptions which might lead to them improving their skills as game designers/writers.​

 

[S.torch]

Is great that realismtards are getting filtered out of the Fantasy genre.

 

[Shadenuat]

Sawyer utterly crushed:

playing pentiment

josh sawyer is great because he has really interesting ideas but no concept of subtext so he just has all of his characters loudly voice his themes so that you don't get confused

as opposed to chris avellone who really likes subtext and implications but is fucking stupid as shit

In The Dark Knight, almost every major character explicitly describes his or her role in the film (e.g. "I am an agent of chaos."). If you didn't catch what was happening at the end, Commissioner Gordon explains it to his child. The only real reason to include this sort of exposition is if you think your audience is as clueless as Gordon's kid.

The characterization is fine, it's just shallow. You pretty much get everything you ever need to get out of any given character from what they say, which I find uninteresting as a viewer.

He became the thing he hates. Accurate assessment of Avellone too.

chris avellone, famous for writing characters who don't look directly at the player and monologue on the game's themes

If monologue is fantastic and characters rant and descent into theatrical drama is entertaining who cares?

 

[9ted6]

The man who said he, quote, "literally was shouting" at other Obsidian developers to add more gay characters and "reign in gender stereotypes" in New Vegas. Truly a writer of all time.

 

[Diggfinger]

Sawyer receiving award...complains about lack of accessibility


Also,
in recent podcast with PC Gamer, Josh says "...the most compromised games I ever worked on were Pillars of Eternity 1 & 2"!
Basically, he was dissuaded by the audiences' lack of openness to change. He wanted to take his own ideas even further, and not just create a BG rehash

 

[0sacred]

After two games in the series, that ship has sailed. I now have zero desire to see a Sawyerian isometric RPG

 

[Kruyurk]

"people who don't necessarily look like me"

Come on, we cannot all pull off the Flanders look with such grace.

 

[toro]

After two games in the series, that ship has sailed. I now have zero desire to see a Sawyerian isometric RPG

You don't know what you are missing

 

[ADULF HITLOR FAN KLUB]

Basically, he was dissuaded by the audiences' lack of openness to change. He wanted to take his own ideas even further, and not just create a BG rehash

"It's not my fault that the PoE series failed"
"It's not my fault that the PoE series failed"
"It's not my fault that the PoE series failed"
"It's not my fault that the PoE series failed"
"It's not my fault that the PoE series failed"
"STUPID INFINITY ENGINE FANS ARE TO BLAME"

Literally Sawyer whenever he opens his mouth these days.

 

[MLMarkland]

Basically, he was dissuaded by the audiences' lack of openness to change. He wanted to take his own ideas even further, and not just create a BG rehash

"It's not my fault that the PoE series failed"
"It's not my fault that the PoE series failed"
"It's not my fault that the PoE series failed"
"It's not my fault that the PoE series failed"
"It's not my fault that the PoE series failed"
"STUPID INFINITY ENGINE FANS ARE TO BLAME"

Literally Sawyer whenever he opens his mouth these days.

Avellone a writer. Sawyer a designer. Have contracted both. Both have strengths and weaknesses.

If a game is bad though, look to the EP, SP and execs, not the creatives.

The creatives front stuff bc they have a name — but they don’t have much power over a budget and concept and execution (nearly none over execution).

Could a great creative seize control and enforce will or even just make it “easier” for people actually in charge to make a better game? Yes, in theory, in both scenarios.

Did I ever see that happen in past 18 years?

No. Not a single time.

 

[Tenebris]

Basically, he was dissuaded by the audiences' lack of openness to change. He wanted to take his own ideas even further, and not just create a BG rehash

Then why did he advertise it as such. People would have ate up any shit Obsidian put up on Kickstarter back then.

 

[MLMarkland]

Basically, he was dissuaded by the audiences' lack of openness to change. He wanted to take his own ideas even further, and not just create a BG rehash

Then why did he advertise it as such. People would have ate up any shit Obsidian put up on Kickstarter back then.

Josh doesn’t have control over advertising & marketing at Obsidian at any point in the past and present.

That’s an owners’ decision, and mainly a Feargus decision in the PoE / Kickstarter days. Mainly a Microsoft decision now — maybe with some veto power in the Obsidian equivalent of the subsidiary c-suite.

 

[santino27]

Advertising a spiritual successor to the old much-loved isometric games is unquestionably part of what netted them so much cash in the KS. Obsidian was on its last legs... they needed that KS to be a hit.

Sawyer's inability to do his job is not the fans' fault. He tried to make as many changes to the template as he could, and for the most part, those changes sucked.