People News Leonard Boyarsky has joined Obsidian Entertainment

[l3loodAngel]

Yay. At least one of those old farts (currently in Obsi) should have enough talent to pull off a decent title if given a chance. But that's a BIG IF and he (Leonard) will likely wither under Sawyers/Feargu's foot.

 

[FeelTheRads]

It wasn't about PoE in particular. What the fuck does my opinion of PoE even have to do with it? Fuck off with the strawmans.

It wasn't even about Avellone in particular, but about Obsidian's management in general.

 

[Mrowak]

The moment you stop giving fucks about e.g. authors of would be games just because they had an input on one sucessful product 15 years ago is the moment you become free...er of disappointment Codex.

 

[Paul_cz]

Vampire Bloodlines 2 published by Paradox here we gooooo

 

[Rev]

How can people wish he went to inXile, a studio that has yet to deliver a single good game (hopefully they will with Torment), over Obsidian is beyond me. At least Feargus and Co. managed to create good rpgs in the past.

Also, as much as anyone likes to bitch about MCA cut content here, I think Durance turned out pretty good all the same in the end (TGM not so much, but I'm not very fond of her), he didn't strike me as unfinished and adding more lines wouldn't necessarily made him nor the game better.
Then again, maybe if MCA only did minor works in the last five years (and before that, his last game, that he shaped from beginning to end and that was really the result of his vision, was KotOR II, more than ten years ago) there are some reasons that go beyond Feargus and Obsidian's wasting his talent. And as much as we all would want to see another Torment from him, even now that he's "free" from Obsidian he's not really doing anything other than writing some minor character or quest in some games.

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[Prime Junta]

Well, I'm pretty sure Avellone also didn't "sign up" to have 80% of his work cut.

I'm sure they cut his material just out of spite and pure hatred, trying to smoke him out of the company he founded with the rest of them.

Hurr durr.

No. But I'm also pretty sure they didn't cut it because it wasn't up to par with that amazing quality that Obsidian is otherwise known for.

They said why they did it: he exceeded his allotted line count by, like, a factor of three.

The game would not have been better if Durance and GM had had three times more dialog than any other companions. They would just have felt even more like a church organ in a Dixieland band.

 

[Russia is over. The end.]

How can people wish he went to inXile, a studio that has yet to deliver a single good game (hopefully they will with Torment)

Obsidian has yet to deliver a single good game since 2004.
Their last: 7 game(s) were shit.

InXile has yet to deliver a single good game since Kickstarter started.
Their last: 1 game(s) were shit.

One game - it could've been a mistake. Seven - it's a general rule.

Plus, Torment looks very good, unlike PoE that looked shit from the beginning.

InXile may be incompetent, but they can improve. Obsidian can't improve because they have destructive and egocentric personalities who will prevent the studio from ever releasing good titles.

 

[FeelTheRads]

there are some reasons that go beyond Feargus and Obsidian's wasting his talent

No, really, I'd like to hear what you think some of these reasons might be. Perhaps the standard of quality is so high at Obsidian (I mean clearly seen from all the amazing work they did) that he just couldn't compete?

Here's my theory: Obsidian/Feargus/Sawyer always talk about how they always walk the familiar path for their target audience and Avellone's work is not so easily digestible for that audience. Hey, it makes as much as sense as "hurr durr maybe there are reasons!!!".

 

[Duraframe300]

How can people wish he went to inXile, a studio that has yet to deliver a single good game (hopefully they will with Torment)

Obsidian has yet to deliver a single good game since 2004.
Their last: 7 game(s) were shit.

InXile has yet to deliver a single good game since Kickstarter started.
Their last: 1 game(s) were shit.

One game - it could've been a mistake. Seven - it's a general rule.

Plus, Torment looks very good, unlike PoE that looked shit from the start.

Yes, they did all those classics before like Bard's Tale, Choplifter HD and Hunted: The Demon's Forge. Nothing bad to say about those games.

And who could forget their foray into mobile games. Line Rider 2 is truly the game of a generation. Absolutly fantastic.

 

[J_C]

How can people wish he went to inXile, a studio that has yet to deliver a single good game (hopefully they will with Torment)

Obsidian has yet to deliver a single good game since 2004.
Their last: 7 game(s) were shit.

InXile has yet to deliver a single good game since Kickstarter started.
Their last: 1 game(s) were shit.

One game - it could've been a mistake. Seven - it's a general rule.

Plus, Torment looks very good, unlike PoE that looked shit from the beginning.

InXile may be incompetent, but they can improve. Obsidian can't improve because they have destructive and egocentric personalities who will prevent the studio from ever releasing good titles.

LOL at Obsidian's last 7 games being shit. Just LOL, nothing else.

Meanwhile dismissing all the shit Inxile produced since its foundation. Did you forget that Wasteland2 was not their first game?

 

[Infinitron]

Bester's just edgy, but it's an odd argument to make given that one of the great differentiating factors of inXile's next game is that the development team is partly ex-Obsidian.

 

[FeelTheRads]

but it's an odd argument to make given that one of the great differentiating factors of inXile's next game is that the development team is partly ex-Obsidian.

Or perhaps it's a good argument for Obsidian wasting talent.

 

[Prime Junta]

The Codex, living up to its "everything is shit" motto.

(It is BTW. It's just that some of the shit has redeeming qualities.)

 

[Russia is over. The end.]

Yes, they did all those classics before like Bard's Tale, Choplifter HD and Hunted: The Demon's Forge. Nothing bad to say about those games.

They're not RPGs. Clearly Fargo assembled a team to make RPGs, but couldn't get contracts. I absolve Fargo of these shit titles.

LOL at Obsidian's last 7 games being shit. Just LOL, nothing else.

They're shit. Let's discuss Alpha Protocol? Play Far Cry 4, play MGS5, and I don't even have to say anything more about that. Just LOL, nothing else.
Let's discuss FNV? It's Fallout 3's little brother that isn't a complete autist with tourette. But he's still a handicapped individual with an ugly ass face and soul, rotten teeth and a bunch of genetic diseases. Play Fallout 1, Fallout 2, and then JuSt LoL, NoThIng ELSe.

Bester's just edgy

I genuinely hate their titles, no edge here.

 

[Hoaxmetal]

Play Fallout 1, Fallout 2, and then JuSt LoL, NoThIng ELSe.

Carefuk there, you'Re slipping inTo hoPW roEwUr nE.

 

[FeelTheRads]

carefuk

 

[Infinitron]

The phenomenon of people who think that "KOTOR2 was Obsidian's only good game" is an interesting one. This isn't the first time I've seen it.

I think I can understand why they think that, but it's a sort of backwards logic. It's the opinion of people who are very very allergic to (what they consider) bad gameplay. They like KOTOR2 because it's the Obsidian game where the actual gameplay, while horrible, goes by the quickest. It's the game that most embodies the unfulfilled dream of Obsidian as an Avellone-dominated CYOA cinematic storyfag developer that gives up on combat entirely.

 

[Duraframe300]

Yes, they did all those classics before like Bard's Tale, Choplifter HD and Hunted: The Demon's Forge. Nothing bad to say about those games.

They're not RPGs. Clearly Fargo assembled a team to make RPGs, but couldn't get contracts. I absolve Fargo of these shit titles.
.

 

[ArchAngel]

The phenomenon of people who think that "KOTOR2 was Obsidian's only good game" is an interesting one. This isn't the first time I've seen it.

I think I can understand why they think that, but it's a sort of backwards logic. It's the opinion of people who are very very allergic to (what they consider) bad gameplay. They like KOTOR2 because it's the Obsidian game where the actual gameplay, while horrible, goes by the quickest. It's the game that most embodies the unfulfilled dream of Obsidian as an Avellone-dominated CYOA cinematic storyfag company that gives up on combat entirely.

kotor 2 was really good. Nwn2 was decent, MotB was decent, SoZ was decent, PoE was decent. The rest of Obsidian games is shit.

 

[Rev]

Obsidian has yet to deliver a single good game since 2004.
Their last: 7 game(s) were shit.

InXile has yet to deliver a single good game since Kickstarter started.
Their last: 1 game(s) were shit.

One game - it could've been a mistake. Seven - it's a general rule.

Plus, Torment looks very good, unlike PoE that looked shit from the beginning.

InXile may be incompetent, but they can improve. Obsidian can't improve because they have destructive and egocentric personalities who will prevent the studio from ever releasing good titles.

You do know that Wasteland was not their first game, do you?
If, for some reasons, you want to count games only since kickstarter then you have only one game for Obsidian as well. You didn't like PoE, but you've said it yourself: one game can be a mistake.

But I'll lough really hard if you want to convince anyone that inXile has a better record than Obsidian so far. Unless you really want to argue over The Bard's Tale (2004) and Hunted: the Demon Forge being better than MotB and New Vegas.

No, really, I'd like to hear what you think some of these reasons might be. Perhaps the standard of quality is so high at Obsidian (I mean clearly seen from all the amazing work they did) that he just couldn't compete?

Here's my theory: Obsidian/Feargus/Sawyer always talk about how they always walk the familiar path for their target audience and Avellone's work is not so easily digestible for that audience. Hey, it makes as much as sense as "hurr durr maybe there are reasons!!!".

I don't work for Obsidian, I don't know what those reasons might be (the same goes for everyone here).
I'm just saying that he didn't do any major work in the last years, and if that was just Obsidian's fault maybe he would be doing something more just one or two characters and quests on TToN, D:OS II, etc., wouldn't he?
But if you think it's more plausible that Feargus and Sawyer (who btw isn't even an owner, contrary to MCA) just hated him and wanted to ruin his content, then go ahed, I won't stop you.


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[Prime Junta]

The phenomenon of people who think that "KOTOR2 was Obsidian's only good game" is an interesting one. This isn't the first time I've seen it.

I think I can understand why they think that, but it's a sort of backwards logic. It's the opinion of people who are very very allergic to (what they consider) bad gameplay. They like KOTOR2 because it's the Obsidian game where the actual gameplay, while horrible, goes by the quickest. It's the game that most embodies the unfulfilled dream of Obsidian as an Avellone-dominated CYOA cinematic storyfag company that gives up on combat entirely.

kotor 2 was really good. Nwn2 was decent, MotB was decent, SoZ was decent, PoE was decent. The rest of Obsidian games is shit.

KOTOR 2 had really good characters and writing and it put some awesome twists on Star Wars dark-side/light-side bullshit.

It has shit gameplay, ugly and boring environments, bad pacing, and really fucking dumb mechanics.

I can't in all honesty call it "really good" because of that. Even with the RP -- which addresses a good many of these problems -- it's still remarkable more for what it could've been than what it actually is. I would like to like KOTOR 2 more than KOTOR, but ultimately I can't because while KOTOR 1's fanfic-level writing doesn't compare and the gameplay is only marginally less bad, it has more interesting locations and better pacing.

 

[J_C]

LOL at Obsidian's last 7 games being shit. Just LOL, nothing else.

They're shit. Let's discuss Alpha Protocol? Play Far Cry 4, play MGS5, and I don't even have to say anything more about that. Just LOL, nothing else.

Ok, let's discuss. AP is a better RPG than Far Cry 4 and MGS5, from which the first is a pure FPS and the second is a stealth-action game, made from several times the money Obsidian had. The only fault of AP is the gunplay, which doesn't feel right.

Let's discuss FNV? It's Fallout 3's little brother that isn't a complete autist with tourette. But he's still a handicapped individual with an ugly ass face and soul, rotten teeth and a bunch of genetic diseases. Play Fallout 1, Fallout 2, and then JuSt LoL, NoThIng ELSe.

And I say that FNV is a good RPG, despite the horrible framework Obsidian inherited from Bethesda.
Neverwinter Nights 2 was meh in retrospect, but I think I don't have to talk much about MotB.

And don't even start talking about PoE, which might be disappointing if we compare them to the IE games, but with the patches and the expansion, it is a genuinly good game.

In the end, for me, InXile and Obsidian both made RPGs I enjoy, so I can say Boyarsky would be in a good place at both of them. In the end he ended up at Obsidian, good, we'll see if he can elevate the team to make even better games.

 

[Volrath]

New Vegas was a masterpiece, their absolute magnum opus. Fuck anyone who doesn't agree with me.

 

[Athelas]

KOTOR 1 (...) interesting locations

 

[Sitra Achara]

I guess the next big Fig campaign approaches? Gotta milk them nostalgiabux.