Codex Interview RPG Codex Interview: Chris Avellone at Digital Dragons 2016

[Elhoim]

Morrowind had voice acting.

Well, he's at least old enough to have memory problems.

 

[Flou]

Is this what passes as today's definition of an "old school gamer?!"..... Morrowind?

For these 20 year olds running around everywhere, yep.

 

[Orobis]

fluent

What in the actual fuck are you doing on the codex if you never played Fallout 1 or PS:T? What's that old Roqua saying?..."You do not have the breadth of knowledge to be commenting on cRPG's."

My god man...just stop.

 

[HoboForEternity]

To think of it i can relate to what MCA said where mainstream RPG can draw people to the heavy ones.

I started on skyrim and mass effect too, some luck, there are people like me who keeps wanting more and more in short time, and instead of waiting, i turn myself into what already exist. In fact i opened myself a treasure vault full of timeless classics and fell in love with it.

So in that restrospect, i guess RPG going the way of casuals can have a silver lining, but i do agree casualization is going a little overboard these days or it is just the codexer thats burnt into my flesh speaking when i joined this site.

Anyways great interview

 

[Infinitron]

To think of it i can relate to what MCA said where mainstream RPG can draw people to the heavy ones.

It was Jedi Master Radek who said that. Chris seemed agnostic about the idea.

 

[Deleted Member 16721]

I've been playing RPGs for over 26 years. 26+ years with a huge RPG focus, playing hundreds of different RPGs. I like to think I know something about the genre that I love.

Granted, I've only been playing computer RPGs on and off during that span (played several RPGs on PC 15 or so years ago), and it wasn't until 2013 or so that I became mostly a PC gamer.

Since 2013 I've played *many* classic computer RPGs that I missed over the years.

I just haven't gotten to Fallout or PS:T yet. Sue me.

 

[Ninjerk]

 

[Mustawd]

I've never played Fallout 1 or PS:T

I think this is all the info I need. Thanks.

EDIT: You might be looking for this place: www.rpgwatch.com/forums/index.php

 

[Deleted Member 16721]

I will get to Fallout 1 & 2 as well as PS:T when I get a chance. I'm only human. I can't possibly play every RPG ever made although the past 3 years I have been trying to.

 

[Jedi Master Radek]

Fallout 1 & 2 as well as PS:T..... every RPG ever made

 

[NotAGolfer]

I've been playing RPGs for over 26 years. 26+ years with a huge RPG focus, playing hundreds of different RPGs. I like to think I know something about the genre that I love.

Granted, I've only been playing computer RPGs on and off during that span (played several RPGs on PC 15 or so years ago), and it wasn't until 2013 or so that I became mostly a PC gamer.

Since 2013 I've played *many* classic computer RPGs that I missed over the years.

I just haven't gotten to Fallout or PS:T yet. Sue me.

Too much work. Just take it behind the barn and shoot it.

Joking aside:
Noone is trying to take your precious lore bits away.
This is all just about presentation.
While a game where you are stranded in a strange place and none of the locals will explain to you how things work and just stare at you in contempt instead might be a more accurate representation of some places in the real world, noone really enjoys this. So there has to be a way to unravel these mysteries and find these tasty lore bits, we just want a less lazy approach to implementing that lore then NPCs standing around and having nothing better to do than to answer some annoying stranger's questions.
Just because this is the way games always did it doesn't mean that it's not incredibly retarded. Characters that have no reason to even give you the time of day shouldn't have to answer questions just because you are new in town and need to know all kinds of stuff. Work a bit harder for that knowledge you want, explore, find stuff, make friends, witness events unfolding, read the ingame newspaper. Whatever, just don't bombard people with questions. Where I come from people who do that all the time are not very popular.
Every important NPC going in storyteller mode for you feels like writer's diarrhoea anyway. Or worse, like some neckbeards sitting around a a table trying to get into grand adventure mode by making everything and everyone EPIC!!!!!

A major part of good writing is good editing and focus on things that are supporting the narrative.

edit:
Actually, I would love to see a game where someone tries to give you a quest and then you have the option to interview him about it as usual. And then when he sees how incredibly clueless you are he turns you away and you fail the quest.
In short a game where acting like a clueless moron has its drawbacks.
Oh wait

Spoiler

 

[Ninjerk]

Don't watch that fluent

 

[otsego]

I know content cuts are commonplace in this industry but damn, when you read that interview it sounds like a large majority of MCA's contributions to projects in the past couple of years haven't made it past the chopping block. Seems he spoke remorsefully about what didn't make it and dismissively about what actually did.

Hard to tell that from a text interview though. What couldn't been / should've been / never was?

 

[Infinitron]

Well, cut content is the one thing he explicitly says doesn't bother him (except for "how it's handled")

 

[Mustawd]

Well, cut content is the one thing he explicitly says doesn't bother him (except for "how it's handled")

I kind of got confused with that answer, as he sounded like he was specifying a certain example, but he never really talked about which specific example.

 

[Crescent Hawk]

His KOTOR 3 sounds like a Deus Ex game.

 

[Deleted Member 16721]

26+ years of heavy RPG gaming, all for naught because I haven't played 2 specific classic CRPGs yet.

Woe is me.

 

[Lhynn]

26+ years of heavy RPG gaming, all for naught because I haven't played 2 specific classic CRPGs yet.

Play the goddamn games already you tard. Youll have fun.

 

[Kev Inkline]

26+ years of heavy RPG gaming, all for naught because I haven't played 2 specific classic CRPGs yet.

Woe is me.

 

[<3sRichardSimmons]

If you want to talk about cinema or literature in academic circles your peers won't expect you to have seen every film ever made or read every book ever written, but there will be certain works they will expect you to be familiar with (Citizen Kane, Psycho, 2001, The Bible, The Ramayana, The Quran, etc). If instead you boldly proclaim you're completely unfamiliar with the relevant works and how dare they expect you to be, then they will probably treat you like a fool, regardless of how many other films you've seen or books you've read.

 

[Mustawd]

Fluent: I'm really into wine :D

Mustawd: Oh really? Cool, me too. What kind of cabernet do you prefer? The new world cabs with hints of fruit on the nose or the more old world kind with gravel, asparagus, or other French terroir?

Fluent: Oh...I don't really drink Cabernet. But I've tried merlot, pinot noir, and Chardonnay!

Mustawd: ......kill urself

 

[Deleted Member 16721]

Man, this cult has a lot of weird rules.

 

[Sensuki]

Just need to shrink it a bit and it'll be a good addition to the developer emoticon collection

 

[HoboForEternity]

fallout 1 and torment was the first isometric RPG i ever played because every google search "best crpg" always resulted on those 2 being on top.

 

[throwaway]

Decades of weeabooness don't count for shit