On the bright side, Chris is now free to freelance? I'm glad he was able to keep his ability to write for RPGs - that kind of stuff is riduculous, but it's actually stupidly commonplace in many industries. Hopefully we'll see more good writing get spread around the industry a little, instead of being bogged down in remarkably uninteresting RPGs (I find PoE2 to be rather mediocre and I've already regretting making a purchase of it...).
For me, characters like Kreia are crminially unrepresented in video games. Such a fun viewpoint. I'd like to see such creativity elsewhere in the industry.
Thank you, and yes, now freelance - it allows working on a wider-range of projects, which I think will help my game writing (and also, I can apply elements I've learned on RPGs and apply them to new genres).
no, you should have chosen Eric.
That was well-played, sir. My reaction to this was far more humorous than when I heard the same response the first time. (I wasn't mad when I heard it, though, I was more like, "why did we waste all this time pretending we had a choice?")
That's great, really. All of the characters you've written stand out to me and they speak remarkably well in the medium we're in. Like, specifically in Kreia's case, she's fun to listen to - hear her monologue. And there's also a wonderful element of mystery surrounding her, you don't spell out specifically her past, but there's enough of a suggestion that you can make your own conclusions. She's also blind, one-handed, old, and some kind of twisted true neutral...neutral evil...neutral good alignment I can't even put into words.
We desperately need more antagonists like Kreia. Antagonists that have physical handicaps, emotional handicaps - people who can be powerful through guile or trickery, who can be hated for their myopia, or admired for their unique perspective.
Nobody's writing is perfect and video games certainly don't seem to leverage good writing enough, but it's characters like Kreia that actually make me long for "what would KOTOR3 have been like". They're what get you excited about a series. Sure, trailers and feature bloat can also get you hyped, but good writing not only sells the first iteration, but the second, and the third. It's why so many people actually bought Mass Effect 2 and 3. Or Dragon Age 2. Or any inferior sequel in any genre. And to be perfectly honest, if Kreia had been in the latest star wars movie...instead of Snoak or whatever...God damn, I might have actually enjoyed it. Not that she would have fit at all, but she was just such a breath of fresh air to that franchise.
Please continue to be bold and make brave choices with your writing! It's really hard to do stuff. Creative stuff. Especially stuff that's against company management. Bean counters. Even tech people sometimes. But I think it's generally worthwhile.
I obviously haven't read the whole ridiculous thread here, but I just want to say...I get where Obsidian is coming from - protecting their brand. But I don't understand their attempts at blocking Chris from writing RPGs at all - like, the video game industry is not a zero sum game. Sure, at one point in time, an Obsidian RPG and a BioWare RPG might have competed for my money if they were released in the same god damn month, but that doesn't mean they're actually competitors. If anything, good writing in games lifts up ALL games. Having Chris write for Bethesda or...whatever Obsidian considers a threat to their existence...I don't think invalidates Obsidian or makes their works less appealing. "With Writing from Chris Avellone" being on the box of a game carries
some weight to it, at least for me, but it's such a small reason to purchase a game. It really is. And only so many people are even aware of who writes these great characters. Like, I love so many of VTMB's characters - but do I know who wrote any of them? Nope. And I've played that game over 20 times now.
