Obsidian General Discussion Thread

[LESS T_T]

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2...ow-white-dwarves-prey-warhammer-40k-star-wars

tarasis
59 minutes ago

I’m finding all these Obsidian articles interesting, but it also makes me wonder what the hell are they teasing the development of.

Bertie
Moderator
Senior Staff Writer, Eurogamer.net
52 minutes ago

@tarasis They aren't! I'm not sure where the idea came from but there isn't going to be a big glitzy reveal at the end, I'm sorry to say.

@tarasis I suppose it does look a bit that way, actually! Sorry about that. I really have next to no information about Obsidian's new game but was planning to put it all in one piece to rule them all a bit later this week. A piece about what I think of Obsidian, that kind of thing (it's not actually written yet, hence the haziness!).

This is the same journalist who wrote the Stormlands article.

So... then I guess, at best, there will be a Cain/Boyarsky interview where they vaguely describe what they're working on (probably a bit more specific than "my dream game") without official announcement or something, as well as talk about their past career and Troika stories.

 

[Infinitron]

As I expected.

2017, will your wonders never cease?

 

[Prime Junta]

Come on, all this teasing has got to be going somewhere. This is taking a lot of time from people who have a limited supply of it. Nobody does this kind of thing just for the hell of it.

 

[Roguey]

Come on, all this teasing has got to be going somewhere. This is taking a lot of time from people who have a limited supply of it. Nobody does this kind of thing just for the hell of it.

Buy Tyranny: Bastard's Wound today!

 

[undecaf]

Anything, but fantasy, really.

Agreed. Wholeheartedly.

I'm sick of fantasy pouring out all over and every dev thinking they have some unique and interesting take on it when they really don't.

 

[Roguey]

Whatever this is isn't going to be the same kind of fantasy as Pillars or Tyranny.

 

[Infinitron]

I'll say it again - Leonard Boyarsky probably did not leave Blizzard after a decade of Diablo 3 to make another heroic fantasy game.

 

[Fry]

It was Paradox all along, but the "surprising" (as claimed by Feargus) part of the publisher reveal will be that Paradox is funding a AAA multiplatform action RPG.

 

[Abu Antar]

It was Paradox all along, but the "surprising" (as claimed by Feargus) part of the publisher reveal will be that Paradox is funding a AAA multiplatform action RPG.

As I said before. It doesn't have to be AAA in terms of budget.

 

[Mark Richard]

Please make it a
a) sci-fi RPG
b) modern day rpg.

Anything, but fantasy, really.

Yeah, Obsidian already paid their dues by appeasing their audience with an obligatory fantasy RPG.

 

[Latelistener]

It's funny that Feargus replayed New Vegas for their secret game, while some time ago he was praising Skyrim, and said he wanted to make their own IP like that.
Did Obsidian execs not noticed back then that New Vegas is better than Skyrim in every way (except for maybe visuals and scenery)? One of the few open world RPGs done right.

 

[Quillon]

It's funny that Feargus replayed New Vegas for their secret game, while some time ago he was praising Skyrim, and said he wanted to make their own IP like that.
Did Obsidian execs not noticed back then that New Vegas is better than Skyrim in every way (except for maybe visuals and scenery)? One of the few open world RPGs done right.

He wants to make a Skyrim-like game out of PoE some day. Not using New Vegas as the example might be sub-genre difference.

 

[IHaveHugeNick]

It's not like he comes out of nowhere talking about Skyrim by himself. It's always some dumbass journalists who ask him these questions. What is he supposed to do, tell the truth?

"Skyrim? Well yeah, those suckers have nothing on us, Skyrim sucks giant elephant dicks and Todd and his team can eat hobo's dick cheese".

It's a small industry, they need to maintain business relationships, you can't do that by trash talking people openly. I remember someone asked Fargo about Fallout 4 and he went "umm...yeah...well...sound design is nice". Read between the lines.

 

[Alienman]

The media hyping of Obsidian can only end in tears.

 

[santino27]

It's funny that Feargus replayed New Vegas for their secret game, while some time ago he was praising Skyrim, and said he wanted to make their own IP like that.
Did Obsidian execs not noticed back then that New Vegas is better than Skyrim in every way (except for maybe visuals and scenery)? One of the few open world RPGs done right.

Feargus is a money guy. Feargus wanted Skyrim money.

 

[Latelistener]

It's a small industry, they need to maintain business relationships, you can't do that by trash talking people openly.

No one said anything about trash talk.
They want to make their own open world IP? They already have a perfect example they actually made by themselves, and I see no reason to mention an inferior game, not to say about taking inspiration in it.

 

[Infinitron]

He's not mentioning a game. He's mentioning a genre. Skyrim is more than a game now, it's a symbol of all massive, hugely successful open world RPGs. Witcher 3 is a Skyrim. So is New Vegas. Although it sounds weirder when you cross from fantasy to other settings (which may be why he's not using the term anymore?)

 

[Alienman]

Witcher 3 being a Skyrim is a bit of a stretch. Witcher 3 has zero sandbox elements.

 

[Latelistener]

Skyrim is more than a game now, it's a symbol of all massive, hugely successful open world RPGs.

I remember Warren Spector was recently talking about it. Namely, how success should not be defined only by the commercial side.
Skyrim may be a financial success, but it's an inferior game compared to New Vegas, Morrowind and Gothic II. Bethesda threw everything they weren't able to polish and balance, and damn they threw a lot.

 

[The Wall]

As much as I hate, loathe and despise Skyrim (first ES was Oblivion and played Skytim despite all flaws for 200 hours ) it has not only made Bethesda what it is today it had such a huge impact, for better and much worse, on perception of not only rpgs but also fantasy as genre, at least in video games. Before it NOONE wanted to call their game rpg (talking about marketing and PR guys) and now everyone and their grandma and dog are rpg. I'm rpg. RPG Codex is rpg. Fifa is rpg. Everything! Also everyone wants fantasy and dragons and shieeet.

So will that Skyrim 2 already come out? - asked me my normie, chad friend. My little sister and her male friends who still attend elementary school know and have played Skyrim. Oh, and we're living in Balkans. Where? Exactly. That's great because it could be used as baby's first step towards introducing them to better and more complex stuff. At the same time it had opposite effect and Bethesda and countless other devs further dumbed down their rpgs while others like shooters added some very basic rpg features and in the end we ended up with shit on both sides. Now many more niche devs who make rpgs profited out of this cause Skyrim was entrance drug for about let's say 10% of players (which is not small numbers, Skyrim was purchased by millions). Then they discovered Fallout 3. Next was perhaps New Vegas. Then they played, who knows - Gothic. Soon they tried original Fallout and after that they become /our guys/.

Skyrim effect is both positive and negative for rpg as genre. Sometimes I'm not sure what it brought of that more.

Now regarding Obsidian I'll be very short. Tim..... make new New Vegas kind of rpg, with Arcanum and Fallout influences and put it in some unusual setting, have good story, lots of reactivity, good world simulation, keep fucking numbers but display them in some new way (if you think it's too overwhelming for players to choose all stats at beginning, introduce them gradually and tie that with lore and story), have good art direction, don't dumb down things too much or at all - compared to New Vegas (I'm sure they won't be too complex, that's something we don't have to worry about surely) and just blow Bethesda and arrogant Toddler and Tweet Hoens out of fucking water. Is that really that hard?

You DON'T have to make your rpg anything less complex/ more dumbed down then New Vegas. Millions it sold proves that. Could someone from Obidian just forward this last point to Tim and others at Obsidian?

 

[undecaf]

Skyrim may be a financial success, but it's an inferior game compared to [a lot of games]

It's just a name familiar to all. The concept of "a game like Skyrim" can be almost anything with a semi-big open map and freeform content spread evenly around it.

 

[Roguey]

It's not like he comes out of nowhere talking about Skyrim by himself. It's always some dumbass journalists who ask him these questions. What is he supposed to do, tell the truth?

"Skyrim? Well yeah, those suckers have nothing on us, Skyrim sucks giant elephant dicks and Todd and his team can eat hobo's dick cheese".

It's a small industry, they need to maintain business relationships, you can't do that by trash talking people openly. I remember someone asked Fargo about Fallout 4 and he went "umm...yeah...well...sound design is nice". Read between the lines.

Feargus has over 50 hours in Skyrim, I'm sure he enjoyed it.

He also has over 70 in Fallout 4.

By the by, while looking this up I noticed that Sawyer and Bobby Null are currently "in-game" on something without a title displayed. Looks like some Deadfire playtesting's getting done.

Edit: Bobby Null the biggest grog at Obsidian https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198035810832/recommended/

Don't believe the hate. While the choice and consequence is lacking, the overall fun factor is there.

Pros
1. On a good rig the game looks pretty darn good.
2. Combat is much better than previous titles. Plays really well.
3. If you like building stuff, building settlements is a ton of fun.
4. Companions are decent.
5. Ton of places to explore.
6. Power Armor is way cooler in this one.
7. Some unique things like calling in for artillery support or arial support with vertibirds.
8. It's Fallout

Cons.
1. Some poorly optimized areas. Unless you are running a beast, you'll get some FPS hits in the city.
2. C&C is lacking.
3. Some truly bad VO, mostly in the begining and one or two companions.
4. Bugs. Not too bad for a game this size, but they are there.

 

[Major_Blackhart]

Ok. Fuck it. I want a Diesel Punk First Person rpg in a totally open world with choices and consequences, immediate and long term.

 

[Iznaliu]

Come on, all this teasing has got to be going somewhere. This is taking a lot of time from people who have a limited supply of it. Nobody does this kind of thing just for the hell of it.

Buy Tyranny: Bastard's Wound today!

They haven't mentioned it very much; but this could be just Paradox's famed marketing genius at work.

 

[Quillon]

There's also this talk on Boyarsky's website. Just been posted it seems.

Ah, just noticed it says "with slides" and he uploaded it himself, slides were missing back in february.