Interview Josh Sawyer Interview Roundup: On grognards, illiterates, and murdering dudes

[Volourn]

"You won’t, he said, boot up the game only to be greeted with blocks of text explaining its systems in the most alienating fashion, something that’s made it difficult even for me to revisit old classic CRPGs like Baldur’s Gate."

What BG did he fukkin' play?


"is being eagerly anticipated by hundreds of thousands of RPG lovers around the world."

HAHAHAHA! I'm surpriused they just didn't go with millions. If youa re gonna use hyperbole might as well go all the way.

 

[J_C]

You won’t, he said, boot up the game only to be greeted with blocks of text explaining its systems in the most alienating fashion, something that’s made it difficult even for me to revisit old classic CRPGs like Baldur’s Gate.

Ah, the great Sawyer. And people badmouth MCA for not being able to fully understand Arcanum. I was a noob in DnD 20 years ago, and I'm a noob in DnD now, but I can start any Infinity Engine games at any time and play with it. Because it is shit easy to grasp the basic rules, which are enough to play the game.

It's really easy to create a bad character in Baldur's Gate.

No it is not. You can make characters which are not as efficient as they could be, but you can still play the game with ease, because you have a whole party to play with. At least if you have some common sense.

 

[nikolokolus]

The only bit I really take issue with, is Sawyer citing the example of grogs (whatever the fuck that means in this context) telling him how much fun feature "X" is and then his unequivocal statement that, "No, no it isn't."

Oh my bad. Thank god he's here to tell me I'm doing fun wrong. I'll get right on to fixing that.

 

[Duraframe300]

You won’t, he said, boot up the game only to be greeted with blocks of text explaining its systems in the most alienating fashion, something that’s made it difficult even for me to revisit old classic CRPGs like Baldur’s Gate.

Ah, the great Sawyer. And people badmouth MCA for not being able to fully understand Arcanum. I was a noob in DnD 20 years ago, and I'm a noob in DnD now, but I can start any Infinity Engine games at any time and play with it. Because it is shit easy to grasp the basic rules, which are enough to play the game.

? That is the article author speaking, not Sawyer.

Sawyer just wants to prevent said situation.

 

[Infinitron]

The only bit I really take issue with, is Sawyer citing the example of grogs (whatever the fuck that means in this context) telling him how much fun feature "X" is and then his unequivocal statement that, "No, no it isn't."

Oh my bad. Thank god he's here to tell me I'm doing fun wrong. I'll get right on to fixing that.

Well, you can test that pretty simply. Try to imagine a game that's exactly like Baldur's Gate 2 but doesn't have the issues he mentions. For example, a Baldur's Gate 2 where thieves and fighters have some innate abilities that allow them to participate more actively in dismantling enemy mage defenses in so-called "mage duels".

If that seems less fun to you, then you're right and he's being an arrogant git. If it's equally or more fun, then he's right and the things you thought were important aren't really that important.

 

[J_C]

You won’t, he said, boot up the game only to be greeted with blocks of text explaining its systems in the most alienating fashion, something that’s made it difficult even for me to revisit old classic CRPGs like Baldur’s Gate.

Ah, the great Sawyer. And people badmouth MCA for not being able to fully understand Arcanum. I was a noob in DnD 20 years ago, and I'm a noob in DnD now, but I can start any Infinity Engine games at any time and play with it. Because it is shit easy to grasp the basic rules, which are enough to play the game.

? That is the article author speaking, not Sawyer.

Sawyer just wants to prevent said situation.

 

[Sranchammer]

When did people start using grognard as an offensive term? Should I be offended?

 

[Cosmo]

When did people start using grognard as an offensive term? Should I be offended?

Grognard means here what it has always meant : someone loyal but who grumbles all the time, so yes you can stop crying like a bitch.

 

[ZagorTeNej]

What BG did he fukkin' play?

He didn't.

 

[Darth Roxor]

"You won’t, he said, boot up the game only to be greeted with blocks of text explaining its systems in the most alienating fashion, something that’s made it difficult even for me to revisit old classic CRPGs like Baldur’s Gate."

What BG did he fukkin' play?

He probably means the teachers in Candlekeep.

I don't think I've ever spoken to more than one of them after the first one turned out to just be a tutorial infodump.



Also, all these interviews make me glad I didn't back this.

 

[Volourn]

"He probably means the teachers in Candlekeep."

So.. he is an idiot. "walls of text" lmfao

 

[80Maxwell08]

Well then...I'm not sure what to think here. Also for all you who said you didn't back it well I guess I was here to fill in for all of you. I'm in for $250. Let's hope I didn't make a huge mistake here.

 

[Darth Roxor]

Well then...I'm not sure what to think here. Also for all you who said you didn't back it well I guess I was here to fill in for all of you. I'm in for $250. Let's hope I didn't make a huge mistake here.

RIP

 

[tuluse]

Well then...I'm not sure what to think here. Also for all you who said you didn't back it well I guess I was here to fill in for all of you. I'm in for $250. Let's hope I didn't make a huge mistake here.

It's gonna be a fun game if you like IE games.

 

[hiver]

infinitron news posts makes codex doubly retarded as it usually is.

and then infinitron thinks he is some sort of really smart guy... ffs...

 

[Perkel]

Not efficient in BG ?

You mean dying like the bitch without using game knowledge if you fuckup your stats. His point are viable imo. For example AD&D and 3.5 wisdom and int stat being responsible for max level of your spells. As new player you don't fucking now this is super important and in BG or BG2 you couldn't increase stats so if you choose 14 int for a mage then you essentially fucked it up and you would need to start all over again.

To me more proper design of BG stat sytem would be to decrease intial stat points to use and give player stat point every two levels so he would have chance to learn that int is important. That is also beside points like giving you vague therms like 2d4 which would confuse new players.

That is why ToEE was awesome. Because it had terrific manual+ingame helper that thought you what means 2d4 just simply clicking on damage dealt.

 

[himmy]

Sawyer did also promise that it’s not “fucking dumb baby crap.”

Now there's a quote for the back-cover!

 

[J_C]

Not efficient in BG ?

You mean dying like the bitch without using game knowledge if you fuckup your stats. His point are viable imo. For example AD&D and 3.5 wisdom and int stat being responsible for max level of your spells. As new player you don't fucking now this is super important and in BG or BG2 you couldn't increase stats so if you choose 14 int for a mage then you essentially fucked it up and you would need to start all over again.

Sure, if you are a complete noob in RPGs, and can't even read the attribute text during character generation, then you can fuck up. That's why I wrote that you have to have some common sense. But FFS how difficult is this: Mage=needs intelligence. This is so trivilal, so banal, if you have played any RPGs, you know this.

 

[Infinitron]

Well then...I'm not sure what to think here. Also for all you who said you didn't back it well I guess I was here to fill in for all of you. I'm in for $250. Let's hope I didn't make a huge mistake here.

RIP

Let the butthurt flow! I can't wait until we discover how Torment is crap too so everybody here can kill themselves

Sure, if you are a complete noob in RPGs, and can't even read the attribute text during character generation, then you can fuck up. That's why I wrote that you have to have some common sense. But FFS how difficult is this: Mage=needs intelligence. This is so trivilal, so banal, if you have played any RPGs, you know this.

But, if you want to roleplay a smart fighter you're SOL

 

[Athelas]

But FFS how difficult is this: Mage=needs intelligence. This is so trivilal, so banal, if you have played any RPGs, you know this.

Not in this game!

 

[J_C]

But FFS how difficult is this: Mage=needs intelligence. This is so trivilal, so banal, if you have played any RPGs, you know this.

Not in this game!

Yeah, I still can't wrap my head around this.

 

[tuluse]

But FFS how difficult is this: Mage=needs intelligence. This is so trivilal, so banal, if you have played any RPGs, you know this.

Not in this game!

Yeah, I still can't wrap my head around this.

Magical power is tied to your soul energy not intellect.

 

[Perkel]

Sure, if you are a complete noob in RPGs, and can't even read the attribute text during character generation, then you can fuck up. That's why I wrote that you have to have some common sense. But FFS how difficult is this: Mage=needs intelligence. This is so trivilal, so banal, if you have played any RPGs, you know this.

Sure i played, it is still bad design imo. And no D&D BG stat system isn't like any other stat system in games. Most of people choosing int think they will get additional points along the way. Thing is as you know those are your final stats and without exploring every hole you can't up them. Game tells you that spells require int10+spell level but it doesn't tell you that you won't be able to increase it later and how many levels of spells are there.

I am not arguing about concept of BG system but actually showing players how it works. BG and most of the time old RPG want you to dump points into things you simply don't now about unless you will have experience with game. Imo skills that are event based should also be attainable via events or should i say their path unlocked upon reaching event in which you experience first time that you need some specialized skill.

It's not about dumbing down systems but making them more readable.

I love deep interesting systems but giving player ability to use one and fuck up rulebook for that system is definetely imo shit tactic.

This is why again ToEE is fantastic. Because from start you have ingame handbook and everything is explained via hyperlinks. You roll a dice and outcome is described in clear way so that even dude who doesn't play D&D will understand it. Your fireball did small damage you click damage and you see that monster had succesfull save and so on you know the drill.


Still i fear they will downgrade a lot character skill customization....

 

[Abu Antar]

I for one, don't disagree with most of what he is saying. I don't mind what DnD did, but it'll be interesting to see what Obsidian come up with. I'm surprised at all the negativity this gets here, but maybe I shouldn't be?

 

[Duraframe300]

Let the butthurt flow! I can't wait until we discover how Torment is crap too so everybody here can kill themselves

Not having too high expectations helps. But I'm reasonably confident that Torment isn't going to be anyones magnum opus for the same reason Wasteland 2 isn't. Though I have a lot of confidence in Kevin Saunders, so I expect it to do better.