Interview Peter Molyneux wants You to see the Dragon

[fastpunk]

Who is this Molyneux character? And why is he in the news?

 

[Fyz]

Odds are this guy's next game will be a pile of poo by 'hardcore gamer' standards.
Just add up:

>One button control.
>Non emotional story, cus it makes ol' Petey cry
>No UI or visible level up
>No branching

And there you go, an overpriced movie for 60$, which asks you to press that single button every now and then. Plus you even have to buy a console to 'play' it.
Seriously, games included on Disney DVD's have better gameplay not to mention that they are cheaper.

 

[SuicideBunny]

>No UI or visible level up

levels and level-ups are a retarded mechanic anyway, and the best ui is one which is so well-integrated that you don't notice it at all.

fable isn't in the risk of becoming one interactive movie. its problem is that it tries to sell itself as an rpg while being as light on rpg features as, say, stalker, but it absolutely sucks in terms of gameplay when compared to other games in the same action sandbox category it is in, like gta/saint's row/stalker/whathaveyou. it also suffers severely from the fact that most of its mechanics are disconnected from each other and just feel like some developer wanking on the code to show off that he can, not because he thought it would make a good game.

 

[Sceptic]

It doesn't have to be 70 hours. 70 hour games are usually too full of filler, anyways. Look at Dragon Age, it was artificially stretched out by boring obligatory combat encounters, and those are the reason why I played through the game only once, even though there were some C&C.

On the other hand, I've replayed Arcanum 5 times and still love starting up Morrowind occasionally and explore the countryside.

Game length is not important. Actual amount of non-copypasta content is important.

This, so very much this. Games can be long and great, long and shit, short and great, short and shit. We like to say "quality not quantity" but let's face it the two are completely independent of each other in most RPGs. The only way to link them is to make too much shitty obligatory filler to bring the overall quality down but that's not the way to do quality or quantity.

 

[Jaesun]

I wanted to see the Dragon!

 

[Clockwork Knight]

The one eyed dragon, in your case.

 

[zappater]

It sounds like he thinks that a game using C&C needs to play out in the way of if you choose A you get consequence A which is awesome but if you choose B you get consequence B which sucks.

Really he needs to try to produce quality some day.

 

[Forest Dweller]

70 hours, 50 hours, even 30 hours. I mean for christ's sake. I know, we like RPGs. But do you really think that in this age of multi-million dollar budgets, game designers can afford to think in terms of pleasing a tiny (albeit distinguished and charming) group of fervent re-players instead of designing around the reality that the average person is going to want to play through a game ONCE, and that the percentage that actually plays through more than TWICE has got to be... really tiny.

We've been over this many times before. Yes, publishers try to appeal to as many people as possible in order to get the most sales. This is not new. So of course they won't want to make the kinds of games that we want. That doesn't mean we shouldn't stop bitching when they don't make those games, especially when they call them "RPGs." We're consumers too, and we have a right to make our voice heard regardless of the feasiblity of our desires to the publishers and developers. It's just important that we keep doing this instead of accepting things as is, because we shouldn't sacrifice our standards just because market trends at the moment go against those. That doesn't mean we can't enjoy other games, but we should be mindful of their flaws and be vocal about those all the same. Otherwise we betray ourselves and our values. The fact that publishers want to appeal to all the masses is not our problem. The fact that most gamers (apparently) don't want the kind of games we want is not our problem either. It's not even our problem that developers are trying to put food on the table. The only thing that’s our problem is the fact that we aren’t getting the kinds of games we want.

The other thing is: games don’t have to be as expensive to make as they are now. It’s just that almost every developer and publisher insist that new games have to have the latest graphics, full voice acting, the highest production values, full orchestral scores etc. in order for it to sell well. And that’s nobody’s fault but theirs. If developers use smaller budgets, they can afford to not sell as much and still make a profit, which means they can target more niche audiences. The solution to the expansion of the market to include casual gamers is more expansion, allowing developers to make games for more specialized audiences instead of trying to appeal to everyone, which was always stupid. So really, what we want isn’t that unfeasable after all. It just requires some people with a little foresight and a willingness to make a decent amount of money instead of a huge profit.

 

[DraQ]

ITT:

Yeesh being a retard - check.

Molyfaux proving once again that he should have gone out with dignity rather than shaming everyone on the same ball of rock with his very existence - check.

 

[Sceptic]

Very nice post Dicksmoker. I approve

 

[GarfunkeL]

Plus personally I don't feel any need to earn any "merit badges" for playing or finishing all or even most of the new games. You can safely skip plenty of stuff since assuredly it'll be crap anyway. When in doubt, do little research to confirm whether you want to invest your time or not.

 

[treave]

I initially thought good ol' Pete was referring to chasing the dragon.

How disappointing.

 

[Kaanyrvhok]

Playing 70 hour game multiple times? When there are so many free of charge obtainable alternatives...

Both Fable games are really short. Even if they had TB combat they would be short. Molyneaux just seems out of touch. Fable is the type of RPG that would benefit the most from multiple paths.

 

[Genma:TheDestroyer]

I bet Peter would love to show his dragon to some kids.
If you know what I mean!

And with Natal, he can reach out and touch them, no matter where they are!

And thus the cycle of horror begins anew.