RPG Codex Interview: Chris Avellone on Pillars Cut Content, Game Development Hierarchies and More

[Jay]

I'm not wrong at assuming that the Obsidian forums right now are super pro Obsidian and making comments like this is the industry life, am I?

 

[Pirata Alma Negra]

I don’t have any issues with Josh, he’s not part of the upper management I mention here (he wasn’t even Design Director until a while after I left, I believe), and I think he’s a good Project Director.

Sawyer is finally vindicated after years of Codex's autistic bigotry.

 

[Belegarsson]

They've all been pretty great - either tracking software wise, producers, or they're just nice, period, sometimes all three. I can't currently list all the studios I'm working with for various reasons, unfortunately. Maybe in a year, but by then, there'll probably be a new set (I usually get new job offers every 3 days, and while I can't accept them all, I do take on a number of them if they're cool and I can make the timing work).

Prey fanbase having a boner.

 

[Sordid MCA/Prosper Hybryd]

Chris Avellone would you like to work with Bethesda on Fallout 5 (or, perhaps, TES 6)?

 

[Sentinel]

Also a lot of his criticism is targeted at people who are no longer at Obsidian. It feels malicious for him to put this stuff out right before Deadfire's release, when many of the people responsible for his negative experiences aren't even there anymore.

are these guys in the reddit thread just complete morons? Feargus is not at Obsidian? what?

 

[Crescent Hawk]

Fucking hate faggots that call Kotor 2 deconstructionist as an insult, the game was pure SW to the bone where questions where asked and the Manechean response delivered by non other than Kreia the Bene Gesserit. BTW One question for you Chris if you actually see this, do ya like Dune?
I would give my left testicle for a crpg in its setting.

 

[Kingston]

are these guys in the reddit thread just complete morons? Feargus is not at Obsidian? what?

>reddit
>morons
>yes

 

[ERYFKRAD]

I would give my left testicle for a crpg in its setting

Look up Star Traders: Frontiers. Game setting is heavily inspired by Dune.

 

[Sentinel]

Yeah upon further reading I wouldn't recommend anyone open it. It's as if 50 intestines had access to the internet & a keyboard.

 

[aweigh]

What is it about the RPG genre that fosters such drama, both from its makers and its consumers? Discuss!!

 

[maximumpingas]

I have read the thread, downed a shot and then made an account just so I can ask one thing:

How the fuck are there people defending Obsidian at this point considering that they were mismanaged even before the studio existed as Obsidian?

 

[Xunwael]

I repeated the concern, but when I brought it up again, Feargus simply said, "we never promised we'd pay the employees back,"

What the fuck? How could you tolerate working for a guy like that, dude?

 

[Sentinel]

it's autism 100%

 

[Ezeekiel]

Reddit is for idiots and the people who troll them.
True for almost any topic there, from gaming to strength training subreddits.

And damn has KIA declined hard... I browsed it a lot early on, but now they've basically surpassed Alex Jones... Codex conspiracy to hurt Obsidian, huh? And that in spite of all the Obsidian fanboys here and people funding their kickstarters and whatnot. I guess Total Biscuit going crazy was not an isolated incident.

 

[Prime Junta]

I also remember something along the lines of "POE with patch 3.x is actually a good game" or something like that. Thumbs down.

The one does not preclude the other. IWD was also a good game.

 

[Prime Junta]

Kreia's daughter

The Handmaiden is Kreia’s daughter? Wow. I did not know that.

Imagine the possibilities...

 

[Outlander]

So Feargus is an insufferable man-child. Figures, with that mug...

 

[Blaine]

So Feargus is an insufferable man-child. Figures, with that mug...

That's not a mug, it's a Big Gulp.

 

[Lycra Suit]

If that was incorrect, that’s fine, but that’s what he told me at the time.

Like I said, I'd have liked to just solve it between us but it was well too late for that. I didn't like that it escalated, but looking back, if I thought it was avoidable I was kidding myself. Just being willing to make cuts didn't solve the problem. It was too late. The physical work of cutting the dialogue down in the tool, refactoring all the scripting, and everything else meant that even with the companions brought down to proper length, their implementation time was still far beyond that of any other companions. There was time allocated to implement two companions who were written to spec in the first place, no more. Had to make a lot of sacrifices to the narrative schedule and pull a lot of overtime to get it done, and I was fixing Durance bugs long after all the other companions were set. It cost us up and down the game in terms of polish time at a vital stage.

I would thank you to kindly never speak on my behalf. You do not speak for me. We are miles apart on our perspectives. Some of the events you've discussed here, my recollection differs greatly, and I don't support your accounts.

Anyone find that answer kind of funny in retrospective?

He obviously never posted on the codex outside of 5 other replies during a period where he seemed to have some kind of promotional agenda but he still took the time to make a single post in this entire shitstorm that basically amounts to "no ur a liar. make sure my bosses know I said that".

Fenstermaker's writing as always striken me as shallow, vulgar and boring and I was convinced he was the one who sabotaged PoE's story but I'm surprised to see it applies to his real life personality as well. Now it does add weight to the theory he singe handedly managed to drive Ziets and other creative talents away from Obsidian. This guy is a parasite and his profile picture truly is fitting.

 

[Imoens pet]

Anyone find that answer kind of funny in retrospective?

He obviously never posted on the codex outside of 5 other replies during a period where he seemed to have some kind of promotional agenda but he still took the time to make a single post in this entire shitstorm that basically amounts to "no ur a liar. make sure my bosses know I said that".

Fenstermaker's writing as always striken me as shallow, vulgar and boring and I was convinced he was the one who sabotaged PoE's story but I'm surprised to see it applies to his real life personality as well. Now it does add weight to the theory he singe handedly managed to drive Ziets and other creative talents away from Obsidian. This guy is a parasite and his profile picture truly is fitting.

Since new accounts can't rate,

Agree x 2

Just pretend that I agreed.

 

[Sentinel]

Kreia's daughter

The Handmaiden is Kreia’s daughter? Wow. I did not know that.

Imagine the possibilities...

it's just a shitty fan theory
https://www.reddit.com/r/kotor/comments/1jg5pa/kotor2_spoilers_kreia_and_arren_kae_handmaidens/
http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Arren_Kae#Behind_the_scenes

 

[Jezal_k23]

If that was incorrect, that’s fine, but that’s what he told me at the time.

Like I said, I'd have liked to just solve it between us but it was well too late for that. I didn't like that it escalated, but looking back, if I thought it was avoidable I was kidding myself. Just being willing to make cuts didn't solve the problem. It was too late. The physical work of cutting the dialogue down in the tool, refactoring all the scripting, and everything else meant that even with the companions brought down to proper length, their implementation time was still far beyond that of any other companions. There was time allocated to implement two companions who were written to spec in the first place, no more. Had to make a lot of sacrifices to the narrative schedule and pull a lot of overtime to get it done, and I was fixing Durance bugs long after all the other companions were set. It cost us up and down the game in terms of polish time at a vital stage.

I would thank you to kindly never speak on my behalf. You do not speak for me. We are miles apart on our perspectives. Some of the events you've discussed here, my recollection differs greatly, and I don't support your accounts.

Anyone find that answer kind of funny in retrospective?

He obviously never posted on the codex outside of 5 other replies during a period where he seemed to have some kind of promotional agenda but he still took the time to make a single post in this entire shitstorm that basically amounts to "no ur a liar. make sure my bosses know I said that".

Fenstermaker's writing as always striken me as shallow, vulgar and boring and I was convinced he was the one who sabotaged PoE's story but I'm surprised to see it applies to his real life personality as well. Now it does add weight to the theory he singe handedly managed to drive Ziets and other creative talents away from Obsidian. This guy is a parasite and his profile picture truly is fitting.

Have you played Pillars? Have you experienced his writing? For example, Secrets of the Tacan? Hellooo??

 

[Latro]

MCA won't answer this, but was Feargus one of the personality disorder dudes Fenstermaker mentioned?

sounds a bit sociopathic, but in a serious way

 

[Trashos]

Anyone find that answer kind of funny in retrospective?

He obviously never posted on the codex outside of 5 other replies during a period where he seemed to have some kind of promotional agenda but he still took the time to make a single post in this entire shitstorm that basically amounts to "no ur a liar. make sure my bosses know I said that".

Fenstermaker's writing as always striken me as shallow, vulgar and boring and I was convinced he was the one who sabotaged PoE's story but I'm surprised to see it applies to his real life personality as well. Now it does add weight to the theory he singe handedly managed to drive Ziets and other creative talents away from Obsidian. This guy is a parasite and his profile picture truly is fitting.

As far as I know, in New Vegas EricF did Vault 11 and the Ultra-luxe casino. The former was about a very interesting social experiment (the most interesting vault in the base game, afaic) and the latter about cannibalism. Anything but shallow, both of them. He also came here and presented his point of view on PoE at a time that it certainly took guts to do so.

Look, I love MCA's work and I don't know EricF's character. But EricF has also done some good work, I wouldn't underestimate him.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Kreia's daughter

The Handmaiden is Kreia’s daughter? Wow. I did not know that.

Imagine the possibilities...

it's just a shitty fan theory
https://www.reddit.com/r/kotor/comments/1jg5pa/kotor2_spoilers_kreia_and_arren_kae_handmaidens/
http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Arren_Kae#Behind_the_scenes

Explains the white hair though.