Interview Matt Chat 433: George Ziets on Mask of the Betrayer

[Deleted Member 22431]

From the perspective of some gamers. I'm not gonna complain if a game is 150+ hours and amazing all the way through, but would honestly prefer a more manageable 30-50 hours (or even less) with replayablity. The level of replayability is pretty key to a quality RPG for me, with different builds making for significantly different playthroughs. Long games are less likely to be replayable in this sense and less likely for me to replay in full.

I've also never played a long game with consistently quality content. That length is almost always bolstered by trash mob after trash mob.

You can see that a giant world with 90hs of exploration is a bad idea from a replayability point of view in FO:NV. You finish the game and you wonder if you have the energy to do that all over again.

 

[hexer]

The longest game I replayed the most times is Fallout 2. It wasn't a chore, but a way of life.
If you have to push yourself when replaying a long game, just drop it altogether.

 

[Tim the Bore]

I replayed New Vegas so many times, it's probably a problem at this point. Never really get bored with it.

 

[Shadenuat]

k guyz we do small hack n slash addon, 6 months, we chill--

WE ARE GOING TO STAND ON AVELLONE BONES ON ASTRAL PLANE AVELLONE IS IT OK
avellone: is ok.

and thus actual game you buy NWN2 for was born.

u glorioys motherfuckes

 

[Max Edge]

I still wait for "Matt Chat with Manveer Heir "

 

[Kyl Von Kull]

George’s recent posts have me replaying, but I downloaded the GOG version and I’m getting a weird bug where Okku won’t show up outside of Mulsantir. Gann gives me the lowdown and then... no bear. Okku’s spirit army is just chilling out there leaderless—can’t even get a fight started by dropping meteors on them.

Anybody else ever have this problem?

Edit: apparently picking up Kaelyn was the problem

Edit2: or possibly destroying the phylactery? maybe it was a weird one off.

 

[Trashos]

You can see that a giant world with 90hs of exploration is a bad idea from a replayability point of view in FO:NV. You finish the game and you wonder if you have the energy to do that all over again.

I don't even know how many thousands of hours I have on New Vegas. And I am pretty sure that there are other people with thousands of hours here too. As mentioned, when a long game is good, it becomes a way of life. People have been playing Kingmaker and Underrail for thousands of hours as well.

Anyway, creators should do what is best for their vision.

 

[Deleted Member 22431]

I don't even know how many thousands of hours I have on New Vegas. And I am pretty sure that there are other people with thousands of hours here too. As mentioned, when a long game is good, it becomes a way of life. People have been playing Kingmaker and Underrail for thousands of hours as well.

Anyway, creators should do what is best for their vision.

I love the writing and the world-building in FO:NV. It is immersive as fuck. But the fact that you have to walk around in a giant map killing stuff only to try different things is a bit silly. It is not easy to satisfy big world to explore and reactivity.

Creators should do what is best for their vision when they do have a vision and are not pressured by financial constraints.

 

[Tim the Bore]

I don't even know how many thousands of hours I have on New Vegas

That's a... well, okay, maybe it's not me who have a problem after all.

I love the writing and the world-building in FO:NV. It is immersive as fuck. But the fact that you have to walk around in a giant map killing stuff only to try different things is a bit silly. It is not easy to satisfy big world to explore and reactivity.

Clearly, F: NV would be a better game if they just used the teleportation system, like in your beloved AoD. Just teleporting yourself from Goodspring to New Vegas in a second!

Okay, but seriously - different strokes for different folkes, I suppose. For me the giant spaces of desert wasteland were a crucial part of NV world-building. The visuals reinforced the main ideas of the game and since they were done properly, they weren't boring at all - or at least they weren't for me. And NV was one of the very few Obisidian games that actually used visuals to build the main core of the experience - the city of New Vegas always at the end of the horizon, lonesome roads stretching endlessly and so on. For me it created an amazing atmosphere, so I didn't mind walking at all (especially since I fucking love "Johnny Guitar" and you can carve this on my grave). And without this the world of NV wouldn't made sense. But I guess it could be annoying for some - yeah, there's a lot of walking.

(since we at this, I'd love to hear your opinion on "Morrowind" tho)

 

[Deleted Member 22431]

Okay, but seriously - different strokes for different folkes, I suppose. For me the giant spaces of desert wasteland were a crucial part of NV world-building. The visuals reinforced the main ideas of the game and since they were done properly, they weren't boring at all - or at least they weren't for me. And NV was one of the very few Obisidian games that actually used visuals to build the main core of the experience - the city of New Vegas always at the end of the horizon, lonesome roads stretching endlessly and so on. For me it created an amazing atmosphere, so I didn't mind walking at all (especially since I fucking love "Johnny Guitar" and you can carve this on my grave). And without this the world of NV wouldn't made sense. But I guess it could be annoying for some - yeah, there's a lot of walking.

(since we at this, I'd love to hear your opinion on "Morrowind" tho)

Sorry. That's your larpist MMO inner self talking. I can't share your enthusiasm for this, since most exploration in FO:NV is an empty desert with meaningless trash combat here and there. The desert would be immersive if resource management were a real thing. It isn't. The interesting content is inside a few locations in between. Do you know what happens between those? Hours and hours of walking? I mean, there is a reason why fucking FO2 had a fucking car, right? Do you remember, this? FO2? It was a game that came before FO:NV.

 

[Deleted Member 22431]

Case in point: one of the reasons why Mask of the Betrayer is more enjoyable from a C&C point of view is the fact that is smaller than the likes of FO:NV.

 

[Tim the Bore]

I mean, there is a reason why fucking FO2 had a fucking car, right? Do you remember, this? FO2? It was a game that came before the FO:NV.

Ignoring your obnoxious dumbfuckery for a moment - yes, I played Fallout 2, I remember being somewhat dissapointed by its tone (I prefered the atmosphere of the first one, still my favourite).

Sorry. That's your larpist MMO inner self talking. I can't share your enthusiasm for this, since most exploration in FO:NV is an empty desert with meaningless trash combat here and there. The desert would be immersive if resource management were a real thing. It isn't. The interesting content is inside a few locations in between. Do you know what happens between those? Hours and hours of walking?

I don't give a flying what it is as long as I have fun with it. If you want to call it "my inner larpist MMO" (and I've never played any MMO longer than 15 minutes in my life) so be it, what does it matter? And I didn't ask you to "share my enthusiasm", I literally started by writing that we have different tastes; learn to read, son.
I wasn't bored while trekking through Mojave desert, I appreciated the atmosphere that it could created - for that to happen, the game couldn't assault me with something shiny every five seconds or so. For me the game had more or less the right amount of content to keep gameplay from getting stale while travelling through Mojave. Usually, anyway, it wasn't perfect. And if the game can keep me entertained through its visuals, fine, as long as it's working. That doesn't mean I don't appreciate robust gameplay, that depends on my mood. So I had fun while I was walking, while I was taking, while I was choosing... less when I was shooting.
I could go into detalis why, but what's the point? No one is going to convice the other person to his opinions anyway.