Game News Ken Rolston's RPG is announced. Sorta.

[M0RBUS]

What a jerk. At least he is away from Fallout 3

 

[OSK]

What a jerk. At least he is away from Fallout 3

Somehow, I don't think he could hurt it anymore than it will be.

 

[Avu]

Well at least he would have tried ...

 

[Paranoid Jack]

Usability. I was shocked to discover how difficult getting started in Oblivion was for some casual gamers, and even for some experienced fans of the genre. And the interface is an amazing triumph in many ways, but still requires way too many clicks and too much of a lifetime spent in 'Menuland.'

I think his sarcasm and the irony of his statements went over the heads of almost all of you.... or I could be wrong. He could be a complete idiot.

 

[Claw]

Sometimes it's really had to tell the difference.

Shocking, really.

 

[Greatatlantic]

I think his sarcasm and the irony of his statements went over the heads of almost all of you.... or I could be wrong. He could be a complete idiot.

Well, maybe he is being sarcastic. Unfortunately, the internet is a terrible medium for sarcasm unless you really know the poster (like KC and his political posts). Then, he's an idiot for trying to be sarcastic online. He's thrown himself into his own Catch-22 Hell!

Fortunately, that doesn't preclude him from doing a worthwhile RPG game. Interfaces are something that can be simplified with out necessarily reducing the RPG experience (less loot, fewer stats, etc.)

 

[Lumpy]

He must be sarcastic in the blatant PR-bullshit part.

 

[Donkey]

Ken stay retired you twat

 

[Kingston]

Well that was worth registering for.

 

[Donkey]

Well that was worth registering for.

More than worth it!

 

[Shannow]

Big Huge Failure on why your RPG will suck if you take out the RPG elements.

 

[elander_]

Must be the reason why he left Bethesda, when he announced that he wanted to retire from making games. Oblivion is notorious for being the crpg with less crpg elements that was ever made and those that exist are completely worthless.

"You know Ken's old because he still calls them CRPGs."

LOL. So true.

Nelson. "I think I should have mentioned it when I first interviewed in fact. We tried big battles in Oblivion and if any of you played it you may remember the battle of Bruma. The battle had about eight people in it and their AI was turned off. That's what allowed it to run. Big battles, they weren't something we were going to get to work right."


"The real reason we didn't put factions in," said Rolston, "is that we made the decision that we wanted to have a streamlined RPG because we were trying to find a blue ocean strategy. We didn't actually want to copy the work that we'd done before, so we were trying to organize an experience around a very linear main narrative. And deliberately, to avoid complicating things, we stripped out factions. It turns out we were good at factions, we were expected to have them, so it sucked if we didn't do it."


"Nelson dug into the issue of the drawbacks of trying to make a streamlined RPG. "I think we made a mistake trying to make RPG 'lite.' We had this idea that we could strip out all this stuff that isn't necessary for the player to see. He doesn't need to see all those numbers on the screen, he doesn't need to see every stack on his piece of armor, every stack on his weapon. We failed to remember that RPG players like that stuff. That's the stuff that makes RPGs kind of rich, kind of fun. I want to look at those stupid numbers. Yes, they clutter up the screen, and I know it offends the artists and it offends the UI guys, they say 'do we have to put so much information on there?' Yeah, we do."

Too late to wisen up Nelson.

 

[Maia]

[quote="elander_], quoting Roleston: "Big battles, they weren't something we were going to get to work right." [/quote]

And what kind of BS is that? Total War series has no problems with huge and pretty battles. All that Big Huge Ken had to do was to go lighter on the polygons. But noes, couldn't do _that_, of course. Phat grafix rule supreme and everything else is sacrificed on their altar.

 

[Vault Dweller]

The session primarily served as a warning to those who might try to set grand goals with any kind of role-playing product without understanding what might be involved in getting it done.

Fascinating.

 

[Lingwe]

The session primarily served as a warning to those who might try to set grand goals with any kind of role-playing product without understanding what might be involved in getting it done.

Hey guys,

I'm going to make a whole new total conversion mod for Oblivion that adds a whole new landmass preferably the size of earth, but I can't do it alone. So I'll nee level designers, interior and exterior designers, modellers and texturers, quest designers, animation creators, character artists, public relations managers, secretaries, producers, janitors, the lot.

I don't have any modding experience though, so I'll just lead the project and contribute ideas.

 

[Vault Dweller]

As long as you have a genre-blending, awe-inspiring, paradigm shifting plan A and a bulletproof "there is no fucking way it will fail" plan B...

It seems the initial idea for their RPG project was to make it a sprawling, genre-bending experience. "We tried to do a mid-stream change on our IP," said Rolston. "I admittedly had a proposal that was kind of risky, but in the long-run since it didn't prove out, I had a plan B that was going to work. And then plan B didn't work…I still think I should have stuck by that plan B."

 

[Shannow]

And what kind of BS is that? Total War series has no problems with huge and pretty battles. All that Big Huge Ken had to do was to go lighter on the polygons. But noes, couldn't do _that_, of course. Phat grafix rule supreme and everything else is sacrificed on their altar.

Well, he was talking about an RTS/RPG hybrid and giving the example of a "huge" battle in Oblivion (with 8 combatants on one side and probably not many more on the other). So it is pretty safe to assume they wanted huge battles but with the player right in the middle similar to "normal" aRPGs only on a larger scale. That is clearly impossible. More than 8-16 fighters per side can obviously not be done. As can be seen in Mount&Blade where you have up to a hundred men fighting in battles. A number that could be increased by some modding...
But who'd expect such top devs with a real studio behind them to keep up with some indy devs from Turkey?

 

[Gnidrologist]

I thought Rolstone was dead.

 

[AlaCarcuss]

Oh come on. I know little about this guy, but that first part's obviously sarcasm - um...isn't it?

I mean who call's 'themselves' a visionary and then uses words like brilliant, secret , original, amazing, major and perfect all in the same fucking sentence?

 

[BethesdaLove]

I mean who call's 'themselves' a visionary and then uses words like brilliant, secret , original, amazing, major and perfect all in the same fucking sentence?

You obviously havent met Moulinex (cant remember his faggot name) - he can do scientific breakthroughs and change the world! and Cleve.

 

[sheek]

Conclusion 2 years later: what a relief Rolston got kicked out ("retired", yeah right) before Fallout 3.