Obsidian General Discussion Thread

[Quillon]

Onyx wasn't subpar, it was by all accounts a decent engine for the type of games Obsidian thought they were going to make as a company back in the mid-2000s - story-driven cinematic RPGs.

They didn't choose to use it on any released AAA-candidate game so it must have been subpar. AP was built with UE I guess, prolly Aliens was too and it was an unprepared/maybe temp. choice for cancelled Stormlands. In the end its expensive to develop/support etc which they haven't.

 

[Infinitron]

Aliens was Onyx too. All of Obsidian's famous cancelled RPGs were I think.

 

[Cross]

Onyx wasn't subpar

Aliens was Onyx too. All of Obsidian's famous cancelled RPGs were I think.

I'll care if it's something like Alpha Protocol. Obsidian is wasting away its talent and money on these Kickstarter games. Need to make something "AAA" even if it's buggy like AP. Even buggy, AP was better than shit like Inquisition, Andromeda and Fallout 4.

Alpha Protocol is probably the most creatively bankrupt thing Obsidian ever developed. We're talking about a game where the triple-A publisher was so disappointed by how much of a cinematic cover-shooter it was that they stepped in to force Obsidian to make it more of an RPG.

 

[Flou]

WTF are you talking about

Obsidian went to Kickstarter one time, then to Fig over four years later, and that was after the game being crowdfunded (PoE2) was already half-complete. Same number of times as Larian. Pillars of Eternity was very profitable.

Not only that, they used some of that money to create Pathfinder Adventures + most likely funded some pitches as well.

 

[Flou]

I think Obs' biggest mistake is not developing a competitive game engine as soon as possible, which they still haven't which ties to your point of editors/SDK.

They did create such engine and they did start work on it quite early to be honest (Aliens was originally announced back in 2006) The middleware costs too much to use it on projects like Pillars and Tyranny though and at this point it's quite old engine and probably still to costly to update. Instead of just using Unity and Unreal engines.

 

[Flou]

Aliens was Onyx too. All of Obsidian's famous cancelled RPGs were I think.

Disney's Dwarfs was done on Unreal Engine.

 

[Flou]

Well then, I would count that as a loss. Feels like they are running a charity. "Donate and we'll develop a game for you, while paying minimum wage."

No wonder people keep leaving Obsidian, company doesn't really go anywhere. At this point, they could've been bigger than Bethesda. All they had to do was to supply editors/SDK and let fans fix their broken releases.. at least for their own IP's.

Anyway, fuck isometric games. That was the point of all this. I don't really care whether they are making profit or loss.

Is it though? They get paid royalties and bonuses on some of those games at least. It keeps food on the table in multiple households, keeps the lights on at their office and helps them get other projects.
If they didn't receive any profit on those games they would have closed shop a long time ago with their burnrate.

People leave every fucking company. Even the ones that are super successful. Or why would someone like Leonard Boyarsky leave Blizzard and join Obsidian?
Why would people leave Bungie etc?

 

[PlanHex]

I think I read or heard that they don't use the engine because its expensive to develop on or something.

I believe it was because the middle-ware licenses were too costly and while adding nothing (or at least not enough to justify the pricetag) for non-AAA games.
Bit of googling led me to this:

Not sure exactly what those attachments were, of course...

 

[Flou]

I think I read or heard that they don't use the engine because its expensive to develop on or something.

I believe it was because the middle-ware licenses were too costly and while adding nothing (or at least not enough to justify the pricetag) for non-AAA games.
Bit of googling led me to this:

Not sure exactly what those attachments were, of course...

At least Havok (physics, they had one guy just to program all of that into Onyx) and Bink Video.

 

[Iznaliu]

We're talking about a game where the triple-A publisher was so disappointed by how much of a cinematic cover-shooter it was that they stepped in to force Obsidian to make it more of an RPG.

Obsidian knew what sold and what would keep them alive.

 

[Xeon]

Was AP successful then?

Publishers probably saw the shitty gameplay and tried to ask Obsidian to try and focus on their strengths if true about publishers asking them.

 

[Latelistener]

If Binary Domain from the Yakuza team was not successful enough to justify a sequel, what chance Alpha Protocol had?

Spoiler

 

[Major_Blackhart]

Ahh yeah, binary domain. That was an interesting one. Our Codex LP of that was a great one.

 

[Iznaliu]

Or why would someone like Leonard Boyarsky leave Blizzard and join Obsidian?

Because Blizzard will obviously close down in two months.

 

[2house2fly]

Alpha Protocol is probably the most creatively bankrupt thing Obsidian ever developed. We're talking about a game where the triple-A publisher was so disappointed by how much of a cinematic cover-shooter it was that they stepped in to force Obsidian to make it more of an RPG.

And thank God. People loved not being able to fire in a straight line without having points in a weapon skill.

 

[ColonelTeacup]

What if missing the time limit just altered the possible endings and events? Then you would need to play it several times to experience everything.

I get why other people like such things,it is just not my thing mate. I like replaying games because i think that they are great games,not because i missed a bunch of shit the first time.

What about games with branching storylines like Way of The Samurai?

 

[Iznaliu]

And thank God. People loved not being able to fire in a straight line without having points in a weapon skill.

It's very strange seeing people care about the opinion of the average consumer on here.

 

[Sentinel]

No one posted this?

https://forums.obsidian.net/blog/9/entry-206-the-results-of-our-recent-dlc-survey/

inb4 old

 

[Sentinel]

I'm getting old

 

[Iznaliu]

No one posted this?

https://forums.obsidian.net/blog/9/entry-206-the-results-of-our-recent-dlc-survey/

inb4 old

There's a seperate thread about the survey.

 

[DosBuster]

I think Obs' biggest mistake is not developing a competitive game engine as soon as possible, which they still haven't which ties to your point of editors/SDK.

Dude, developing a competitive engine takes an insane amount of resources, resources that a studio surviving publisher to publisher through most of the 00's does not have.

 

[fantadomat]

Hey guys,i ma playing MotB and okku have some kind of "Decreased movement speed". Does anyone know how to fix that shit,it is mighty annoying?

 

[Roguey]

Hey guys,i ma playing MotB and okku have some kind of "Decreased movement speed". Does anyone know how to fix that shit,it is mighty annoying?

Did you put him into search mode or put too much stuff into his inventory or what?

 

[fantadomat]

Hey guys,i ma playing MotB and okku have some kind of "Decreased movement speed". Does anyone know how to fix that shit,it is mighty annoying?

Did you put him into search mode or put too much stuff into his inventory or what?

Nah it fixed it self after 4-5 restings. I hope by the end of the game i get to torture all those atheists !

 

[fantadomat]

Just finish it,and i must say that the game/expansion is a mixed bag. The story and the balance is very immersion breaking. Apparently in universe where you can have tea with your god,there is staggering amount of atheists....yeah. Then we have the high priest deciding to rebel against his god because his slut was atheist and his preachings are true......it feels like the pope decided to have some atheistic pussy and then attack god because he is right. His allies are the angles and the demons because they deeply care about the suffering of the atheists that are in torment.....the two races that feed on fate...... And all my companions are atheists even when they know that the atheist hell exists....and they don't even question their disbelieve....they could just find themself a god that have similar views on the world,but nooooo that will far toooooo complex,better to suffer for millennia,it is far smarter. I was annoyed at the ending that i couldn't just throw the two retarded degenerates that made the whole mess in to the abyss,to be tortured for all eternity. Still the best ending for me was just killing all the retards,letting the curse roam the world,while i and my trusted sidekick go on adventures. To begin with,it was not my problem,just some slut decided to splash it over me.

As for the balance...it is ridicules. I could kill most enemies in a few hits by the end,but i had problems with a bunch of small animals. Killing a blue dragon in tree hist is ok,but fighting a racoon is hardcore mate.
As a whole,it is ok,doesn't feel like waste of time.