Editorial RPG Codex Report: PAX East 2015, or How Chris Avellone Called the Codex Unprofessional

[Sam Ecorners]

MCA confirmed to have a nubs fetish.

mindx2 is bro as fuck.

 

[Blackthorne]

That was an awesome article; what a time it was at PAX East... I would have probably sat and shot the shit with you for hours if I could have! Needless to say, it was honestly a highlight to meet and talk with you - always good to meet someone who cares about the games they're writing about, instead of some simpering journalist who is just going through the motions while waiting for you to stop talking (and judging if you're controversial enough to get clicks). It was a blast, and next year we'll have to meet up again! The press hat fedora was awesome - that was totally how I spotted you, too.


Bt

 

[Deleted member 7219]

That group photo is pretty epic.

This interview will mark an important mile marker on the road back to incline.

 

[Athelas]

Excellent article. Will have to respond more in-depth later. Though I couldn't help replying to this:

Frozen Synapse is an RPG?

It would still be fully deterministic even if it had a stat progression system.

 

[Jaedar]

Great interviews!

Kudos to mindx2 for going, and all the devs for participating.

 

[Cazzeris]

I seriously wonder whether Sir Tim Cain still has the ambition and passion required to make another groundbreaking RPG like Fallout and Arcanum were. Another imaginative and unconventional world designed by the Troika team featuring Boyarsky's wonderful art design and guns would be wonderful. More games taking place in atypical settings with turn-based combat are much needed, specially if they're designed around a system allowing a dense variety of builds, satisfying role-playing possibilities and decent skill-based environmental interaction. And let's not forget Tim's natural talent that always lets him manage to find excellent composers that make his games even more special.

P.S.: Good interview, as usual.

 

[Ovplain]

Awesome read, thanks for doing this!

 

[mastroego]

No, it's a character to have fun with in a Single Player Game.
A game where stats still behave in a way that makes sense (if not always in an impactful way) and doesn't break logic AND immersion.
I did play with a high cha Figther and had lots of fun.

Uh, he was talking about Baldur's Gate. If you had lots of fun with that character specifically because of their high charisma, it's because you were LARPing.

Yes, talking about a BG's feature, and as if it was a bad thing to "fix".
I wasn't "larping", I was putting things in way that pleased me and getting a PROPER response from the virtual world.
Like, having less CON meant that I had to adapt and use tactics that still might see my frail poor fighter come out on top, use equipment that I hadn't used in previous playthroughs, and so on.
In a word, having fun, which is why I bother with games to begin with.

 

[Athelas]

Yes, he was talking about it as if it was a bad thing to "fix".
I wasn't "larping", I was putting things in way that pleased me and getting a PROPER response from the virtual world.
Like, having less CON meant that I had to adapt and use tactics that still might see my frail poor fighter come out on top, use equipment that I hadn't used in previous playthroughs, and so on.
In a word, having fun, which is why I bother with games to begin with.

Your previous post said: 'A game where stats still behave in a way that makes sense'.
This doesn't describe Baldur's Gate where a 3/3/3 int/wis/cha fighter will have virtually the same experience as a 18/18/18 int/wis/cha fighter (except for shop discounts, whoop di doo).
How is this a 'a PROPER response from the virtual world'?

 

[Infinitron]

No, it's a character to have fun with in a Single Player Game.
A game where stats still behave in a way that makes sense (if not always in an impactful way) and doesn't break logic AND immersion.
I did play with a high cha Figther and had lots of fun.

Uh, he was talking about Baldur's Gate. If you had lots of fun with that character specifically because of their high charisma, it's because you were LARPing.

Yes, talking about a BG's feature, and as if it was a bad thing to "fix".
I wasn't "larping", I was putting things in way that pleased me and getting a PROPER response from the virtual world.
Like, having less CON meant that I had to adapt and use tactics that still might see my frail poor fighter come out on top, use equipment that I hadn't used in previous playthroughs, and so on.
In a word, having fun, which is why I bother with games to begin with.

FYI, if having a sub-par character is what makes a game fun for you, you can build one in PoE by simply not using all of your available attribute points in character creation. No meaningless 18 Charisma stat dump required.

 

[Rake]

Really good interview and all that good stuff! Loving the read.

Not tryin' to be a dick, but I was wondering if the obsidian people were being extra nice to him, only because he's a cripple.

Really?

Obsidian developers are great guys who have the same passion we do (even if occasionally they make games like Dungeon Siege 3 and the South Park). They did a lot of great interviews with the Codex and ITS. Plus Avellone and Sawyer even played AoD (and Sawyer was kind enough to look at my design scribblings years ago and give me some tips).

What did Sawyer thought about AoD design? Because it seems diametricaly opposed to his own principles.

 

[One-and-a-half-Ivan]

That was a great read and probably the best PoE interview. Thank you so much!
Also liked the Eisenwald part of the article. Guys from [URL='http://www.rpgcodex.net/tags.php?id=803']Aterdux Entertainment[/url] are true bros.

 

[Darth Roxor]

Well

I laughed at the 'balance' photo

 

[mindx2]

What's funny is that I told Crooked Bee that this past month visiting OtherSide and then all that happened at PAX has been amazing. I always thought my association with the Codex all these years would end up being a bad thing......

 

[Karwelas]

You are true Codexbro mindx2. Aweosme Codex report, this is the one of reason why I came there (the other is becouse I will be called faggot when I deserve it. Or sometimes even when I don't deserve it.) Fuck, we need new Codex slogan.

"mindx2 - bring incline on Codex since 2006."

 

[AstroZombie]

Excellent stuff, mindx2. I'd double fist you if I could.

 

[Blackthorne]

Mindx2 isn't into fisting. We've established this.


Bt

 

[Zorba the Hutt]

As others have said, great read.


I really like your style of including a lot of detailed game-specific information in your reports, while still describing the actual visit and surroundings. Like a travelogue with added Codexian sperging.

Hope to read moar in the future, quality roving reporting.

 

[hiver]

Well, well, well...

mindx... you the man.

here is one special

for you.

Mr. Cain, or as you are called, Sir Tim Cain

Damn correct.

Tim: I own the ToEE code, not Atari. So who knows?

Save Leonard from slavery in decline in Blizzard! He will get you your ART!


And then you can resurrect that amazing beautiful post apocalyptic game you guys were planning!

Josh: So somebody asked on the Codex forum for you to ask me about why Might would affect things like crossbows and things like that or why everyone can engage

It was guns but yeah, all ranged weapons fit that critique anyway.

So screw you.

Thats fair. Ive been a bit harsh about it in a few last comments about it.


Im not buying the answer and i could say a few things about education systems that are too easy on the pupils... but ... its realistically too late to expect anything done about it and i didnt expect that.
I think that the current system will be confusing for the target audience but... i guess the sequel or expansions might correct that.

- Its not about being realistic just for sake of realism but because mechanics that are more in line with how things naturally go are easier to instinctively understand and ultimately produce better gameplay. -

Generally i think ill find enough good stuff in Pillars to appreciate never the less.

Josh: Yeah, if you build an 18 resolve fighter in PoE that’s a very defensively oriented character that won’t get interrupted very much. Is that the same as an 18 Might character? No, but it’s not about perfect balance, it’s about relative balance and finding a way to play to that character's strengths. So it’s never been about absolute perfect balance.

As i was saying all the time.

which just bounced off everyone elses paranoid schizophrenia.

 

[mindx2]

Remember hiver you said I wouldn't ask Sawyer the "fun" question so that one was just for you...

 

[hiver]

:hiver bows:


- oh and the brofists are for the whole article, not just using some of my questions. Very well done indeed.

 

[TomatoJuice]

Thank you mindx2 for this very interesting read.

I realized that just a few years ago I had begun give up hope that my favorite hobby would ever recapture the glory it had possessed from the late 1980s to the early 2000s. Now, thanks to Kickstarter, I have almost too many choices… but damn, isn’t that a great problem to have. I’ve joked many times that the Codex is witnessing a RPG renaissance, but it’s not a joke anymore. If I can find this many actual RPGs at PAX of all places, then our state as a group of grumpy old gamers with nothing new to play may be coming to an end.

 

[Ninjerk]

Really good interview and all that good stuff! Loving the read.

Not tryin' to be a dick, but I was wondering if the obsidian people were being extra nice to him, only because he's a cripple.

Hope not.

Ableist scumbag MCA sure took liberties with him.

 

[Got bored and left]

Fantastic work, great interviews. Here's to many, many more events filled to the brim with RPGs!

 

[Makabb]

Spoiler