Interview Leonard Boyarsky Mega-Interview at PCGamesN

[Russia is over. The end.]

and it's still quite a bit more than what PoE initially got

Infinity Engine was written from scratch. With POE they had the renderer and a lot of tools jewnity provides. That's a big part of the game right there already. Stop defending the undefendable, you inexcusable shill.

 

[Russia is over. The end.]

If I could be anyone in the entire gamedev industry, I'd be Leonard. He seems like the most creative and dedicated (to RPGs) guy out there, maybe surpassing MCA at this point in time.

 

[Goral]

BTW, can someone explain to me what's the point of this all secrecy about this new title? Seems counter-intuitive to not hype it already. Obsidian isn't Bethesda, people don't eat every game they serve (no matter how shitty it is) so not talking about this new title seems illogical to me. Especially now that Take Two is involved. I don't think PoE 2 is the answer unless it's also a fantasy game (it's not).

Private Division has been incredibly supportive of our vision, our creative freedom

Creative freedom maybe, but they can't even say the title or tell any details. WTF?

 

[Sentinel]

BTW, can someone explain to me what's the point of this all secrecy about this new title? Seems counter-intuitive to not hype it already. Obsidian isn't Bethesda, people don't eat every game they serve (no matter how shitty it is) so not talking about this new title seems illogical to me. Especially now that Take Two is involved. I don't think PoE 2 is the answer unless it's also a fantasy game (it's not).

Private Division has been incredibly supportive of our vision, our creative freedom

Creative freedom maybe, but they can't even say the title or tell any details. WTF?

It's still 3 years away from release. No point hyping it this early. By the time it's out no one cares everyone already forgot about it.

 

[Goral]

It's still 3 years away from release. No point hyping it this early. By the time it's out no one cares everyone already forgot about it.

People used to say that about Grimoire and look at them now... *points at DarkUnderlord*

 

[Rinslin Merwind]

Axie
I agree. This bit is especially disturbing and a total decline:

If you're a Dwarf, you immediately get penalised if you try to use magic, vice versa with Elves and technology. Which made [it possible to make] non-viable characters, but we were like 'oh it's so cool, people will love playing this!'. If we went back and did it now, we [could] say it was a racial thing [where] Dwarves are not able to use magic [and] cut out some of those things that were not viable builds, save ourselves a lot of headaches and still pretty much have the same game. Just things you realise in hindsight.

Non-viable characters are a must in a good RPG and often, with enough intelligence and creativity these non-viable builds are viable and very fun to play. Having more options is always a plus, the fact that only 1% of gamers will appreciate it is another matter. The reason why games such as Fallout, Arcanum or Age of Decadence have cult status is because they have so many hidden paths/options that make them very replayable and with each playthrough you discover something new. If they're going to change that (and judging by what Tim and Leo say they surely will) I doubt their new game will be anything interesting.

I agree about characters, but I hope his words would not mean total decline, let's hope they will not to do that. He not one person in studio and I hope someone suggest that repeat same cliche "HOLY META BE PRAISED game, where you can play in only way and with only one combination of stats, because other stats SUCKS" is bad.

It's not a plus if it costs development time that could have been used better elsewhere.

Ah, that beatiful land of Elsewhere, which have to be seen by all people in different way.

Making games for the one percent who want to RP crippled Dwarf Wizards is great in an ideal world, but in reality, if you want to keep making games and not fold (as they did) you have to prioritise--at least aim for features for the 5% and not the 1%.

Ironically this feature aim on 99% auditory of video games, because people can create characters which appeal to them estetically, not create same ugly *insert ugly xenos race* all over again if they wanted just play game again. There are a plenty of games where people created "MUSTHAVE, META,META" characters and was pissed of after another update where their "META" was fucked so badly, that they was about to create new characters.

And you might say "it's just an option, it takes less time to allow it than to code it out" but the more options you have the more time you need to spend in QA etc., or else ship with piles of bugs.

And 99% modern devs choosing last way, because it's easier to test game with players than only with forces of devs.

Sawyerism just means "realism".

I don't even know, should I laugh or cry. Because Sawyer by himself admitted that they doing games based on nostalgia and they mostly copied D&D mechanic. I not one of these guys that shitting on PoE (look at my avatar), but it's just Sawyer's view on games, it's not should become standard or something.

While Goral's post was more about non-viable build, another thing we need to think about regarding Leonard's answer about magic-using dwarf is that in Arcanum there's a magic-using dwarf companion who even have a quest related to him. This might just be one example, but what would be affected in other parts of the game if Leonard apply his new mindset to the rest of it? What opportunity they might miss by outright restricting a character from accessing some gameplay features?

As a companion, the magic dwarf sucks, but I think his presence doesn't detracts anything from the game, and adds to it with an interesting content.

Agreed.

As a companion, the magic dwarf sucks

Why not just make the dwarf character a different race then?

Why not change all companion's races in PoE to orlan or Godlike? All companions in PoE had mediocre stats for their classes, I had to watch a special 2 hours guide "how fix their builds" because I don't like companions without story.

It's not like there was some deep story attached to how he's a dwarf who uses magic.

You not played Arcanum, I am right? This dwarf had very deep story which explained in dialogues with him and quest. His story and quest actually explain shitload of lore, without hypelinks and other fancy things. In his quest also included very deep moral choice. Don't get me wrong, I like PoE. But I don't think there should be only games with extremely restricted character creation and limited styles to play.

 

[l3loodAngel]

Non-viable characters are a must in a good RPG and often, with enough intelligence and creativity these non-viable builds are viable and very fun to play. Having more options is always a plus, the fact that only 1% of gamers will appreciate it is another matter.

It's not a plus if it costs development time that could have been used better elsewhere. Making games for the one percent who want to RP crippled Dwarf Wizards is great in an ideal world, but in reality, if you want to keep making games and not fold (as they did) you have to prioritise--at least aim for features for the 5% and not the 1%. And you might say "it's just an option, it takes less time to allow it than to code it out" but the more options you have the more time you need to spend in QA etc., or else ship with piles of bugs.

It's not an accident that the studios who do this kind of stuff either go under, or else learn to stop doing it. Those are the choices. I loved KotOR2 way more than I liked PoE, for example, but if the choice is nu-Obsidian or nothing, I prefer nu-Obsidian. Something OK, but not great, is better than nothing at all, especially since at least there's still potential there to do something good in future. I love games by MCA, but if I were running a game company and it was my own money and my own economic future at stake, and the choice was hiring either MCA or Sawyer, I'd choose Sawyer every time. (At least until MCA shows he can take charge of a project and ship it successfully, in reasonable time and in good condition, something he's never done and is now avoiding having to do).

Oh for FUCKS sake. It almost always says in fucking games that such character will incur heavy penalties. Why da fuck everything has to be catered to people who can't fucking read and their retarded incloosive apologist buddies.

But hey at least fucking fucking dwarf mage knows he's a cripple...

 

[Roguey]

Why not change all companion's races in PoE to orlan or Godlike? All companions in PoE had mediocre stats for their classes, I had to watch a special 2 hours guide "how fix their builds" because I don't like companions without story.

Their builds didn't need "fixing" because the content is tuned around their jack-of-all-trades stats.

You not played Arcanum, I am right? This dwarf had very deep story which explained in dialogues with him and quest. His story and quest actually explain shitload of lore, without hypelinks and other fancy things. In his quest also included very deep moral choice. Don't get me wrong, I like PoE. But I don't think there should be only games with extremely restricted character creation and limited styles to play.

I played it years ago and I don't even remember this guy. I'm sure he could have had a story with lore and choices with any race other than elf that isn't overtly tech-inclined.

 

[Zeriel]

Whenever I hear "That flawed masterpiece we made was too ambitious, next time we won't try to do anything difficult" I start to worry. I like Leonard, but talk like this should worry you too. The only reason Troika games were so good was their really idiosyncratic approach to always wanting to do more than they should have done. If they now just content themselves with the "proper" level of ambition, moderated by what they learned people "want" from working at other companies, they might not be very Troika-like anymore.

Not that that should be very surprising.

 

[Iskramor]

Non-viable characters are a must in a good RPG and often, with enough intelligence and creativity these non-viable builds are viable and very fun to play. Having more options is always a plus, the fact that only 1% of gamers will appreciate it is another matter. The reason why games such as Fallout, Arcanum or Age of Decadence have cult status is because they have so many hidden paths/options that make them very replayable and with each playthrough you discover something new. If they're going to change that (and judging by what Tim and Leo say they surely will) I doubt their new game will be anything interesting.

Did you have actually have fun playing a magic-using dwarf in Arcanum?

Masochism a hellava drug

Oh, common, it was not so really hard. Maybe annoying sometimes, but not really hard at all.

Im joking relax

 

[Humanity has risen!]

I always found it sad how Codexers are clinging to the words of game developers who used to make hardcore games 10 or 20 years ago. "Look, look!!! XYZ says he is still hardcore!! See, SEE, he still cares about us!!! I know he is making a free-to-play moe anime MMO now, but just wait, just WAIT until the conditions are right! THEN you will see!!!!"

Guys, THEY STOPPED MAKING THEM 20 YEARS AGO, THEY DON'T CARE. THEY JUST WANT TO PAY THEIR BAY AREA MORTGAGE AND THEIR KIDS' COLLEGE TUITION.

IF they did, they wouldn't accept to make free-to-play moe anime MMOs for 15 years in a row.

The funniest is that those same people often ignore the guys who don't compromise and try to make TRUE RPGs with meager means, that are not a slap in the face to our sensitivities.

You guys really have nothing but what you deserve. I don't care about whatever Leonard comes up with. It's going to be another pretentious pseudo-philosophical convoluted mess with hours and hours of boring, excrutiating lore like Tyranny, at best. I care about what those who are really making REAL games are doing NOW.

 

[Kyl Von Kull]

I always found it sad how Codexers are clinging to the words of game developers who used to make hardcore games 10 or 20 years ago. "Look, look!!! XYZ says he is still hardcore!! See, SEE, he still cares about us!!! I know he is making a free-to-play moe anime MMO now, but just wait, just WAIT until the conditions are right! THEN you will see!!!!"

Guys, THEY STOPPED MAKING THEM 20 YEARS AGO, THEY DON'T CARE. THEY JUST WANT TO PAY THEIR BAY AREA MORTGAGE AND THEIR KIDS' COLLEGE TUITION.

IF they did, they wouldn't accept to make free-to-play moe anime MMOs for 15 years in a row.

The funniest is that those same people often ignore the guys who don't compromise and try to make TRUE RPGs with meager means, that are not a slap in the face to our sensitivities.

You guys really have nothing but what you deserve. I don't care about whatever Leonard comes up with. It's going to be another pretentious pseudo-philosophical convoluted mess with hours and hours of boring, excrutiating lore like Tyranny, at best. I care about what those who are really making REAL games are doing NOW.

Who are these mythical uncompromising REAL RPG developers? Wake me up when they make something better than Fallout or Arcanum or (admittedly fan-patched) Bloodlines.

More seriously, I don’t think it’s crazy to hope for a good RPG that also has a decent budget for once. If Boyarsky just wanted to pay the bills he would’ve stayed at Blizzard.

 

[Sentinel]

who the fuck has been making f2p moe anime MMOs for the past 15 years?

 

[Black Angel]

Why not just make the dwarf character a different race then? It's not like there was some deep story attached to how he's a dwarf who uses magic.

There are mainly two kinds of Dwarves in Arcanum, which is traditional, mountain-dwelling Dwarves, and city-dwelling Dwarves. If I'm not mistaken he's from traditional clan but doesn't actually have any affinity to technology and was more drawn towards magic. While this is not exactly all that 'deep', what happens next to this background detail is that he's under tutorial of an Elf from Qintarra, with whom he made contract that will only ends after said Elf's death. Now here's the catch: an Elf's life could last hundreds to even thousands of years, so Jormund kinda screwed himself by signing such contract. But here's yet another catch: the Elf committed suicide, but you have to find evidence of it so you can prove Jormund's innocence, since being an apprentice to the elf AND a dwarf put him as the prime suspect (hence why being different race would be much more difficult to work with). This might've been better written and/or designed, but the solution definitely wouldn't be to just outright restricting a character from accessing certain gameplay features.

 

[Roguey]

There are mainly two kinds of Dwarves in Arcanum, which is traditional, mountain-dwelling Dwarves, and city-dwelling Dwarves. If I'm not mistaken he's from traditional clan but doesn't actually have any affinity to technology and was more drawn towards magic. While this is not exactly all that 'deep', what happens next to this background detail is that he's under tutorial of an Elf from Qintarra, with whom he made contract that will only ends after said Elf's death. Now here's the catch: an Elf's life could last hundreds to even thousands of years, so Jormund kinda screwed himself by signing such contract. But here's yet another catch: the Elf committed suicide, but you have to find evidence of it so you can prove Jormund's innocence, since being an apprentice to the elf AND a dwarf put him as the prime suspect (hence why being different race would be much more difficult to work with). This might've been better written and/or designed, but the solution definitely wouldn't be to just outright restricting a character from accessing certain gameplay features.

This plot can still work by making him a human or a half-elf.

 

[Black Angel]

This plot can still work by making him a human or a half-elf.

Except a human or a half-elf would just go to Tulla, City of Mages. A Dwarf definitely would find it much more difficult, if not impossible, to find Tulla, hence much easier to just find an Elven tutor in Qintarra.

 

[Dorateen]

I always found it sad how Codexers are clinging to the words of game developers who used to make hardcore games 10 or 20 years ago. "Look, look!!! XYZ says he is still hardcore!! See, SEE, he still cares about us!!! I know he is making a free-to-play moe anime MMO now, but just wait, just WAIT until the conditions are right! THEN you will see!!!!"

Guys, THEY STOPPED MAKING THEM 20 YEARS AGO, THEY DON'T CARE. THEY JUST WANT TO PAY THEIR BAY AREA MORTGAGE AND THEIR KIDS' COLLEGE TUITION.

IF they did, they wouldn't accept to make free-to-play moe anime MMOs for 15 years in a row.

The funniest is that those same people often ignore the guys who don't compromise and try to make TRUE RPGs with meager means, that are not a slap in the face to our sensitivities.

You guys really have nothing but what you deserve. I don't care about whatever Leonard comes up with. It's going to be another pretentious pseudo-philosophical convoluted mess with hours and hours of boring, excrutiating lore like Tyranny, at best. I care about what those who are really making REAL games are doing NOW.

Who are these mythical uncompromising REAL RPG developers?

 

[Russia is over. The end.]

"Look, look!!! XYZ says he is still hardcore!!

What if he is?? We don't know. He's been taking some time off after his burnout. Now he's back. Maybe he's his old self!

 

[Roguey]

This plot can still work by making him a human or a half-elf.

Except a human or a half-elf would just go to Tulla, City of Mages. A Dwarf definitely would find it much more difficult, if not impossible, to find Tulla, hence much easier to just find an Elven tutor in Qintarra.

This can be smoothed over with writing. Maybe he was banned from Tulla or failed to solve their puzzle or whatever.

 

[Zeriel]

"Look, look!!! XYZ says he is still hardcore!!

What if he is?? We don't know. He's been taking some time off after his burnout. Now he's back. Maybe he's his old self!

Leonard actually does seem more dedicated to his ideals, but Tim "RPGs should be about shapes!" Cain is a lost cause, so it's not unreasonable to have doubts about over veteran developers.

 

[FeelTheRads]

This can be smoothed over with writing. Maybe he was banned from Tulla or failed to solve their puzzle or whatever.

And all of these just to not have a suboptimal companion, I think it's totally worth it!

 

[Roguey]

And all of these just to not have a suboptimal companion, I think it's totally worth it!

What good is a companion if no one ever uses him?

 

[Zeriel]

And all of these just to not have a suboptimal companion, I think it's totally worth it!

What good is a companion if no one ever uses him?

Most people don't use companions for their gameplay mechanics, Roguey. I know this could be hard to understand for an actual autist like yourself, but they're mostly a vehicle for story beats in games like these.

 

[Roguey]

Most people don't use companions for their gameplay mechanics, Roguey. I know this could be hard to understand for an actual autist like yourself, but they're mostly a vehicle for story beats in games like these.

The vast majority of Arcanum followers don't have any dialogue or story attached to them outside of recruiting. Virgil and romances like Raven are exceptions.

 

[Infinitron]

The REAL Sawyerization would be to just make Dwarves less bad at magic.

Maybe there's a solution along those lines, though? Like giving Dwarves some serious spellcasting penalty that also has an interesting tradeoff (also for spellcasting)?