Obsidian and inXile acquired by Microsoft

[Makabb]

All the developers need to do to make a great RPG is look at the top 10 list of Codex best RPGs ever, but they fail to do even that !

Stared at my screen displaying Codex top 10 for several hours. Did not make a great RPG. Why do u lie?

you are staring at your screen wrong !

 

[Roguey]

according to everyones favourite Microsoft insider Klobrile nearly all current Microsoft studios are now making their games with unreal engine 4, including Obsidian and the lesser known Inxile! Is it just a coincidence that all the studios they've bought had games being made with UE4 or was this in the plans for years?

Quote:

This is going to be so cool because now all the studio experts can help each other out and improve each others games! And this secret upcoming rpg game called Fable by Playground games will get to use Obsidians cool dialogue tech tree!

Wasteland 3 is using Unity. It would be a huge mistake to switch over to Unreal.

 

[moon knight]

So...I stopped following them months ago and some days ago I saw the video where they announced their prostitution.

What happened? Financial problem?

 

[2house2fly]

I don't know if you mean InXil or Obsidian, but in both cases the answer is: yes, their most recent game bombed

 

[LESS T_T]

In case any of you worried about Wasteland: Frost Point (multiplayer VR survival/battle royale/RPG thing), inXile is still working on it!: https://uploadvr.com/inxile-is-still-working-on-its-big-vr-rpg-and-mages-tale-psvr/

inXile Is Still Working On Its Big VR RPG and Mage’s Tale PSVR

Yesterday, we reported that The Mage’s Tale developer inXile Entertainment was set to be acquired by Microsoft, becoming a member of its Microsoft Studios family. Given that the Xbox-maker currently doesn’t have its own VR headset for consoles (and only partners with others on its PC devices), this threw into question the status of inXile’s upcoming VR projects. Well, worry no more.

Speaking to UploadVR, inXile CEO and founder Brian Fargo confirmed that both the company’s unrevealed open-world VR role-playing game (RPG) and the long-awaited PSVR port of The Mage’s Tale are still on the way. “We still have our big VR game coming that I’ve been hinting about so no worries there,” Fargo said. “And Mage’s Tale PSVR is wrapped up and we are working with Sony on a release date.”

Well that’s good news all round, then. Perhaps we could even see news on The Mage’s Tale PSVR before the year is out.

The Mage’s Tale was one of our favorite VR games of last year and we can’t wait to see how it shapes up on PSVR. As for that other game? We know it’s an open world survival RPG, but that’s all that’s been officially announced thus far. A recent financial report from inXile investor gumi does suggest that the game’s going to be a spin-off of the developer’s Wasteland franchise, though.

 

[Latelistener]

What happened? Financial problem?

Execs wanted a big fat paycheck and they just got the right offer. Has nothing to do with how their games performed. Obsidian was open for acquisition for years.

 

[moon knight]

What happened? Financial problem?

Execs wanted a big fat paycheck and they just got the right offer. Has nothing to do with how their games performed. Obsidian was open for acquisition for years.

Was this the reason Avellone fought with Fergus?

 

[Latelistener]

What happened? Financial problem?

Execs wanted a big fat paycheck and they just got the right offer. Has nothing to do with how their games performed. Obsidian was open for acquisition for years.

Was this the reason Avellone fought with Fergus?

He despises the whole upper management for the lack of managerial skills, business ineptness, nepotism, inability to negotiate with publishers and a lot of other things he listed in that thread. It's only because of Armored Warfare the company survived.

 

[Wunderbar]

And this secret upcoming rpg game called Fable by Playground games will get to use Obsidians cool dialogue tech tree!

1. yes
2. no
3. burp
4. fart

 

[TemplarGR]

I completely disagree that the game was a slog and there is a big contradiction on your claim, since when C&C isn't gameplay? This claim that the game was a visual novel generally come from people that actually never got beyond the Mortuary. Would Planescape be a better game with well done TB combat? Sure, no doubt about that but to claim it was a visual novel is to simplify things to absurd levels.

This idea that the game was a visual novel was one of the reasons why Numanuma was such a shit game.

I don't care if you and other butthurt storyfags disagree, i am still right and you are still wrong.

C&C obviously IS gameplay, but it is instant gameplay. For how long do you press a button to make choices? The more a game takes control from your hands to deliver text, video, and audio, the less gameplay there is. C&C is fun but cannot CARRY GAME. I simply fail to grasp why you people don't fucking understand it.

And before another butthurt clown mentions ADD and "attention span issues", only around 1/20 of people who bought the BG games bought PS:T... That should tell you everything you need to know. Oh, please tell me how BG didn't have any text at all...

 

[Big Wrangle]

I don't care if you and other butthurt storyfags disagree, i am still gay and you are still gay.

ftfy

 

[Black Angel]

i am still right and you are still wrong.

Top kek

 

[moon knight]

I don't care if you and other butthurt storyfags disagree, i am still right and you are still wrong.

C&C obviously IS gameplay, but it is instant gameplay. For how long do you press a button to make choices? The more a game takes control from your hands to deliver text, video, and audio, the less gameplay there is. C&C is fun but cannot CARRY GAME. I simply fail to grasp why you people don't fucking understand it.

And before another butthurt clown mentions ADD and "attention span issues", only around 1/20 of people who bought the BG games bought PS:T... That should tell you everything you need to know. Oh, please tell me how BG didn't have any text at all...

Maybe it doesn't carry a game, but it makes or breaks an RPG.

Fallout wouldn't be Fallout without its C&C system.

 

[Whisper]

Vault Dweller I realize that as an indie RPG developer you have a need to believe that the traditional RPG market isn't "oversaturated"...

I have no such need. The market is over-saturated with shit. At the moment the only available/upcoming game I really want to play is the Battle Brothers' expansion and I have to wait 18 days to get it. When it comes to Quality RPGs the list is very small: Underrail expansion and possibly Kingmaker (the way people are raving about it here). So what oversaturation?

If Colony Ship fails it will be because we fucked up not because we had to compete with other games.

... but can't you consider the possibility that at the level of sales Obsidian is expecting maybe it is?

It's much easier to consider the possibility that PoE 2 failed because the design was weak. Similarly, new Torment failed not because of the competition but because the design and writing were not engaging at all. I mean, at some point developers have to ask themselves: why would anyone want to play it? If the answer is because we're awesome, odds are the game will sell a lot less than what they're expecting.

Very few good games, friend. Maybe 95%+ is just trash (which is popular sometimes like battle royale games).

You are lucky to get 1 good game in a month.

 

[Whisper]

I didnt even pirate PoE2 and new Planescape, because whats the point.

PoE2 is more of same, PoE1 was not that good, at first place. Lame story (Big Bad is doing something, probably), combat mechanics are boring and too balanced, no danger in exploration. Many trash mobs (90%+++ of fights and being generous).

 

[Whisper]

If you handle them badly, they're big enough problems to be relevant factors in the eventual commercial failure, yes.

If you handle anything badly (combat system, interface, writing, design, etc), it will cause big enough problems to be relevant factors in the eventual commercial failure or poor performance. My point is that in the digital age a studio doesn't have to sell to the highest bidder to handle these things well.

You can of course do it internally and waste valuable time and resources, or you can outsource it to some schmuck and pray he knows what he is doing. Or you can have proven specialists from your parent corporation handle it for you. Take your pick.

Outsource what though? Talking about design?

If you can freely access expertise and knowledge of highly accomplished engineers and programmers with more professional credentials than your entire company combined, and your only idea how to utilize them is to get them to deal with scripting bugs, you weren't worth buying out in the first place.

RPGs were never about cool tech. They are about design, scripting (complex quests and c&c require heavy scripting), and writing. In which way would Microsoft highly accomplished engineers would be able to help there?

Just like your many considerable talents once resulted in AoD which I consider the best RPG since Arcanum, and once they resulted in Dungeon Rats which I uninstalled after 30 minutes.

One's a complex RPG that took many years of work, the other is a combat game that was put together in 10 months.

I actually liked Dungeon rats combat better. Also played 8 times. Its fun. You shouldnt feel ashamed of it. It is better in combat mechanics that most games out of there.

 

[Vault Dweller]

Vault Dweller I realize that as an indie RPG developer you have a need to believe that the traditional RPG market isn't "oversaturated"...

I have no such need. The market is over-saturated with shit. At the moment the only available/upcoming game I really want to play is the Battle Brothers' expansion and I have to wait 18 days to get it. When it comes to Quality RPGs the list is very small: Underrail expansion and possibly Kingmaker (the way people are raving about it here). So what oversaturation?

If Colony Ship fails it will be because we fucked up not because we had to compete with other games.

... but can't you consider the possibility that at the level of sales Obsidian is expecting maybe it is?

It's much easier to consider the possibility that PoE 2 failed because the design was weak. Similarly, new Torment failed not because of the competition but because the design and writing were not engaging at all. I mean, at some point developers have to ask themselves: why would anyone want to play it? If the answer is because we're awesome, odds are the game will sell a lot less than what they're expecting.

Very few good games, friend. Maybe 95%+ is just trash (which is popular sometimes like battle royale games).

You are lucky to get 1 good game in a month.

If that. The only games that I'm truly excited about and can't wait to play (which is a long forgotten feeling these days) are Battle Brothers' and Underrail's expansions. How many RPGs were released in 2018? PoE2, Insomnia, Kingmaker, Battletech, Bard's Tale 4, Underworld Ascendant, Kingdom Come, The Banner Saga 3, Divinity: OS2. 9 games, unless I'm missing something. I backed 3 games on that list, played only 1 due to the lack of interest in the other 2. Bought PoE2 because I thought (hoped?) that it would be a much better game since they had all the systems and assets and thus could focus on the story and mechanics. Kinda like Mask of the Betrayer. So overall it's been a very uneventful year and the upcoming BB expansion faces zero competition for my money. On the plus side I did a lot more reading this year.

So looking at the recent releases that all dropped to Mixed 40-60% in the review ratings: Insomnia 58%, BT4 60%, Kingmaker 66% (the strongest of the bunch), Underworld Ascendant 40%. Were they brought low by the fierce competition with the likes Marble It Up and Phantom Thief Celianna or by subpar design and/or tech issues?

I actually liked Dungeon rats combat better. Also played 8 times. Its fun. You shouldnt feel ashamed of it.

I don't. I'm aware of the game's limitations but that's the best we could do in 10 months.

It is better in combat mechanics that most games out of there.

Thanks.

 

[Kyl Von Kull]

Vault Dweller many of Kingmaker’s bad reviews are because the combat is “too hard” and the game’s generally not very friendly to people with no experience of d&d 3.5 or its offshoots (really good C&C, though, surprisingly good story and probably the best RTwP combat I’ve seen—definitely an RPG and not a BG style adventure game in RPG’s clothing). Many of the reviewers seem enraged because the difficulty settings are honest (and incredibly transparent too): “I beat Pillars of Eternity on path of the damned, why can’t I get through Kingmaker’s prologue on Unfair!”

Some of them are about bugs, but you need to play for at least sixty hours before those become a problem. Not sure it makes sense to group P:K in with BT4, Insomnia or UA, as it’s sold many more copies (perhaps an order of magnitude more copies). Kingmaker did well enough to get called out for its strength in THQ Nordic’s latest earnings release even though it only came out a couple weeks before the end of the quarter.

Surprised Insomnia is so high, that thing is a mess. Gorgeous game that was aggressively downscoped, barely finished (arguably not finished), actually made more broken by the first patch, and they haven’t been able to fix most of the problems since then because the team that made it apparently broke with the publisher right around the time of release. Also surprised BT4 is so high, but, then again, so few people bought these two games that there’s some self-selection bias. I suspect both would’ve done a lot better in the famine environment of 2013 or ‘14.

Maybe all this talk of saturation is mischaracterizing a real dynamic. The current environment is normal for a healthy market—you succeed or fail based on some combination of luck, marketing and merit. But four or five years ago, there was a CRPG shortage that allowed mediocre entries to do very very well.

 

[Vault Dweller]

Vault Dweller many of Kingmaker’s bad reviews are because the combat is “too hard” and generally not very friendly to people with no experience of d&d 3.5 or its offshoots. Some of them are about bugs, but you need to play for at least sixty hours before those become a problem. Not sure it makes sense to group P:K in with BT4, Insomnia or UA, as it’s sold many more copies (say a couple orders of magnitude).

It's the game I'm interested in the most but the RT thing keeps that interest fairly low. Had it been TB I would have bought it on release.

Infinitron What agenda?

 

[fantadomat]

Bought PoE2

So you are no different than the rest of popamolists here. All talk about mechanics and writing,yet when you see a AAA budged RPG you suck that fat dick even if there is 10 times better low budget rpgs. Most of the games you listed are superior to that pile of trash.

 

[Vault Dweller]

Bought PoE2

So you are no different than the rest of popamolists here. All talk about mechanics and writing,yet when you see a AAA budged RPG...

Like I said, Obsidian's been at its best when working with a ready-to-go engine, systems, and assets. AAA or not, Mark of the Betrayer is a great RPG, it would be in my top 10 list if the combat system wasn't so atrocious. New Vegas and Dead Money are excellent games as well.

 

[fantadomat]

Bought PoE2

So you are no different than the rest of popamolists here. All talk about mechanics and writing,yet when you see a AAA budged RPG...

Like I said, Obsidian's been at its best when working with a ready-to-go engine, systems, and assets. AAA or not, Mark of the Betrayer is a great RPG, it would be in my top 10 list if the combat system wasn't so atrocious. New Vegas and Dead Money are excellent games as well.

Obsidian is known mostly for their good writing,or more accurately were known. Most if not all of their games have a clunky yet serviceable combat. It was obvious how their writing has declined from the two former game PoE and Tranny. Now if you are mechanofag....well then DOS2,kingdom come,battletech,banner saga or Kingmaker would have been a lot better pic than Obsidian game.

 

[Vault Dweller]

Bought PoE2

So you are no different than the rest of popamolists here. All talk about mechanics and writing,yet when you see a AAA budged RPG...

Like I said, Obsidian's been at its best when working with a ready-to-go engine, systems, and assets. AAA or not, Mark of the Betrayer is a great RPG, it would be in my top 10 list if the combat system wasn't so atrocious. New Vegas and Dead Money are excellent games as well.

Obsidian is known mostly for their good writing,or more accurately were known. Most if not all of their games have a clunky yet serviceable combat. It was obvious how their writing has declined from the two former game PoE and Tranny.

Good writing and storytelling. I believe that writing in PoE2 is noticeably better but not the storytelling.

Now if you are mechanofag....well then DOS2,kingdom come,battletech,banner saga or Kingmaker would have been a lot better pic than Obsidian game.

Banner Saga, really? I backed DOS2 so I have it. Kingdom Come has never appealed to me somehow, even though I really like open world games, and the early impressions on the Codex didn't make me want to play it. It didn't even a warrant a review on the Codex, which suggests that nobody liked it enough to write a few words about it. Oh well... At least we got a few dozen of PoE reviews.

Speaking of reviews, I usually pay attention to what Darth Roxor has to say about games. He called PoE2 "pretty alight", which is a glowing praise coming from him, and DOS2 a disaster on every front. I will definitely buy Battletech and Kingmaker at some point, but none of these games made me want to buy them right away.

 

[santino27]

You should definitely buy Battletech, just to incite more rage-filled posts from Cael

 

[Brancaleone]

"pretty alight"

Clear allusion to Dumpsterfire