Interview "The story now is 900 pages long": Brian Fargo on Wasteland 2's Progress @ GamesIndustry

[commie]

BCP has seen the truth: the only good games made in the last 3-4 years were KOTC, Crimzon Clover and Dark Souls.

BWAHAHAHAHAHAH.......erm.....no, I can't keep a straight face....BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAH....

wipes tears of laughter away. Ahem, sorry, please continue...

 

[Jasede]

Name your good games. Maybe I missed some. I for one would love to be proven wrong- a few good games could make all the difference and make us all a little happier.
So here's your shot.

Name a couple good games that were released in the last few years. Maybe I missed them, or just can't think of them now. Please do!

 

[Infinitron]

Funny - hardcore gamers are often stereotyped as "losers who can't get laid", yet the most hardcore person in this thread has also gotten the most pussy.

(no, that doesn't apply to you Jasede )

 

[EG]

So, did the mighty Obsidian have greater resources than inXile while pulling off their one year marvels?

 

[Infinitron]

If Wasteland 2 is to be of the complexity of Obsidian's games then it has already failed.

Depends what you mean by this.

If you mean that Obsidian games have no complexity well then Wasteland has hardly any complexity in story and c&c at all, yet is regarded as something out of this world. If W2 continues on this low complexity front then it would be a successful continuation.

If on the other hand you mean that Obsidian games are complex and W2 trying to emulate this is somehow a bad thing then I don't think anyone would agree with you. The world moves on man, people don't want 320x200 EGA graphics and looking up a manual for descriptions.

I think what he meant is that neither inXile nor Obsidian themselves have what it takes to create a game of such complexity without it ending up half-assed and buggy.

 

[Vault Dweller]

So, did the mighty Obsidian have greater resources than inXile while pulling off their one year marvels?

Their "one year marvels" were straight sequels or expansions (i.e. ready to use engine, all systems (character, combat, inventory, quest, dialogues, crafting, etc), many assets and animations, etc).

To compare, look at NWN2 - they had the Aurora engine, but it was a stand-alone project. They started working on it in July 2003. The game was released in Oct 2006. Draw your own conclusions.

 

[Infinitron]

Their "one year marvels" were straight sequels or expansions (i.e. ready to use engine, all systems (character, combat, inventory, quest, dialogues, crafting, etc), many assets and animations, etc).

To compare, look at NWN2 - they had the Aurora engine, but it was a stand-alone project. They started working on it in July 2003. The game was released in Oct 2006. Draw your own conclusions.

NWN is more than just a campaign, let me remind you.

 

[almondblight]

Name a couple good games that were released in the last few years. Maybe I missed them, or just can't think of them now. Please do!

Well, there are always good games that people just don't get that slip under the radar (like PN 03, Unlimited Saga, Gotcha Force, etc.). I'm sure there were some. Were Portal 2 and Geneforge 5 worse than their (great) predecessors? How were Ghost Recon Shadow Wars and Valkyria Chronicles? I usually have a few years lag behind modern games. Mysterious Castle is at the very least "good", though.

You're right that games have taken a dive. I really, really hate when people call games "art", because that usually means gutting the craftsmanship that makes good games good and then jamming in what's considered "art" in other genres (movies, books, etc.).

What's happening is the "junkfoodication" of games. There was a time when people were OK with loving a game they couldn't beat. When Donkey Kong Country came out, everyone in school was playing that. I think no one beat that. But they loved it. Remember when Myst was the top-selling video game of all time? How many people do you think beat the game? My guess would be less than 10%. I'd wager most people didn't even understand it too well. But they enjoyed it.

But turning games into junkfood is about giving people instant gratification, to the point where they have a hard time going back to games that had difficulty, the same way people have a hard time eating vegetables when they've been fed years of empty carbs covered in sugar and salt. If people could kick the habit, they would probably enjoy the old games more, but there's this barrier preventing them from putting enough time in, because the initial impression is that it isn't satisfying enough.

 

[mbpopolano24]

Isn't this game suppose to be released in a few months?

Note to the Oxford Dictionary: A few now means up to 18.

On a related note: VD claimed: "It will only take 'a few' hits to the head to defeat your enemy in AoD".

 

[mbpopolano24]

"The story now is 900 pages long"


And? Doesn't mean anything.

Well, unless you are brain-dead, it means something. For example, it means that a good group of people is hard at work. You know, some other teams took 1 month just to 'transitioning' to a full-time position....ehm....

 

[Surf Solar]

"The story now is 900 pages long"


And? Doesn't mean anything.

Well, unless you are brain-dead, it means something. For example, it means that a good group of people is hard at work. You know, some other teams took 1 month just to 'transitioning' to a full-time position....ehm....

It could be 900 pages full of retardation. Quantity doesn't mean it's good.

 

[Infinitron]

"The story now is 900 pages long"


And? Doesn't mean anything.

Well, unless you are brain-dead, it means something. For example, it means that a good group of people is hard at work. You know, some other teams took 1 month just to 'transitioning' to a full-time position....ehm....

It could be 900 pages full of retardation. Quantity doesn't mean it's good.

Derp. You could say that about anything he says in any interview. We won't know if the game is good until we see some gameplay.

 

[tuluse]

"The story now is 900 pages long"


And? Doesn't mean anything.

Well, unless you are brain-dead, it means something. For example, it means that a good group of people is hard at work. You know, some other teams took 1 month just to 'transitioning' to a full-time position....ehm....

It could be 900 pages full of retardation. Quantity doesn't mean it's good.

So if he said 900 quality pages it would mean something? It's just a stupid milestone. It means people are getting work done. Obviously it doesn't mean that's going to be good, but short of actually reading the work there is no way to tell if it's going to be good.

Having 900 pages written is better than having no pages written, correct?

 

[mbpopolano24]

Having read the interview I do have a feeling that Vault Dweller is going to be vindicated soon. The game seems like a massive undertaking and it doesn't look all that likely that it will ship 14 months from now. Not that I mind of course, but I do worry a bit that Inxile might have to cut some content if they are dead set on hitting that release date.

Ah ah ah... good one. In order for VD to be 'vindicated', W2 must be delayed until... uhm.... 2020 more or less... then a demo must come out showing the world that W2 is an interactive novel.... At that point VD will be vindicated and I will withdraw all my objections to AoD, INCLUDING the magic teleportation.

Good one, though, it's always good to laugh...

Second Note to the Oxford Dictionary: 'Soon' now means 'within 8-9 years'.

 

[mbpopolano24]

Ah, the honeymoon stage. Eventually, Fargo will realize that the "easy implementation" will dramatically spike in difficulty.

Yeah, coz he's never produced a game before, yeh? It'll totally come as a shock to him that they're complex things.

I don't like this interview much either, particularly citing page-counts as if that means anything other than "we're progressing well", but if we're going to criticize, it should at least make sense, not just be for the sake of criticizing.l

My Brother, you are asking too much from some of us. Making sense? Here? Have you read some of the posts? Some of our posts do not even make any sense in English, never mind have some sort of logic behind them. Like that guy who complained that having written 900 pages does not mean anything. Now, stop for a second and try to analyze that sentence away from the contest of this retarded thread... what the fuck does it even mean?

 

[Excommunicator]

"The story now is 900 pages long"


And? Doesn't mean anything.

Well, unless you are brain-dead, it means something. For example, it means that a good group of people is hard at work. You know, some other teams took 1 month just to 'transitioning' to a full-time position....ehm....

It could be 900 pages full of retardation. Quantity doesn't mean it's good.

So if he said 900 quality pages it would mean something? It's just a stupid milestone. It means people are getting work done. Obviously it doesn't mean that's going to be good, but short of actually reading the work there is no way to tell if it's going to be good.

Having 900 pages written is better than having no pages written, correct?

No, not necessarily. Having 900 pages of shit written means they'll more than likely use it to make the game. Which isn't ideal.

 

[mbpopolano24]

"I think it's going to be one of the densest, deepest RPGs ever; just the cause and effect is fantastic. Ultimately, that's what everybody wants. That's what made GTA so great, it's what made Sim City so great - when you do something it has an effect, and things hold together smartly."

Two of the finest classic computer RPGs in the same sentence, and then the article continues to detail all the important RPG elements and features. It's like 1999 all over again, I must be dreaming.

What's with the cynicism? Brian Fargo found something worthwhile in two phenomenally important games and wants to draw from them. Is this bad? Are RPGs so incestuous that they can only draw inspiration from other RPGs? Are you questioning Brian Fargo's competency?

Oh, please don't mind them. They have no (game-) life, no (game-) hopes, and are mostly trolling. Hoping they are having fun posting nonsense, because who knows when actually playing a game stopped to be fun for them. They are like those impotents that are criticizing young poeple having sex, just because they cannot feel it any longer. Have pity on their souls.

 

[mbpopolano24]

"The story now is 900 pages long"


And? Doesn't mean anything.

Well, unless you are brain-dead, it means something. For example, it means that a good group of people is hard at work. You know, some other teams took 1 month just to 'transitioning' to a full-time position....ehm....

It could be 900 pages full of retardation. Quantity doesn't mean it's good.

So if he said 900 quality pages it would mean something? It's just a stupid milestone. It means people are getting work done. Obviously it doesn't mean that's going to be good, but short of actually reading the work there is no way to tell if it's going to be good.

Having 900 pages written is better than having no pages written, correct?

No, not necessarily. Having 900 pages of shit written means they'll more than likely use it to make the game. Which isn't ideal.

Sure. Who can argue with it?

Next stop on Breaking News: being rich, healthy, and young has been reported to be better than being poor, ravaged by cancer, and 89 years old.

 

[Surf Solar]

Butthurt detected.

 

[tuluse]

It could be 900 pages full of retardation. Quantity doesn't mean it's good.

So if he said 900 quality pages it would mean something? It's just a stupid milestone. It means people are getting work done. Obviously it doesn't mean that's going to be good, but short of actually reading the work there is no way to tell if it's going to be good.

Having 900 pages written is better than having no pages written, correct?

No, not necessarily. Having 900 pages of shit written means they'll more than likely use it to make the game. Which isn't ideal.[/quote]
What's your point? Do you know it's shit? Do you have any reason to believe it's shit?

If it is shit that means they were likely to write shit anyways, so it's still better to have it done now that later. In fact they might be able to salvage it if they get it written sooner.

Your attitude seems to be that nothing means anything, and we should all just wait until it's out before making any judgements at all. Which is actually a fine and healthy attitude, except why are you discussing it in this thread in that case?

Work getting done is a good thing, we all hope it's good work, but without anyway to judge it, it's kind of pointless to assume it will be shit isn't it?

 

[Brother None]

Well, unless you are brain-dead, it means something. For example, it means that a good group of people is hard at work. You know, some other teams took 1 month just to 'transitioning' to a full-time position....ehm....

It takes about a month before Kickstarter funds actually fully transfer. You don't just get a briefcase full of money at the end of a campaign. Keep that in mind. inXile has its own funds so that people were working on it fulltime even during the Kickstarter drive. Other Kickstarter projects aren't as fortunate.

 

[SerratedBiz]

Ah ah ah... good one. In order for VD to be 'vindicated', W2 must be delayed until... uhm.... 2020 more or less....

You have the looks of a spambot or a BCP alt, but whatever. I'd think Alexandros is talking about VD's claim that the release date might be too optimistic for the amount of work that needs to be done, not however long it may have taken him to release his own game (without a $3m Kickstarter, by the by).

What's happening is the "junkfoodication" of games. There was a time when people were OK with loving a game they couldn't beat. When Donkey Kong Country came out, everyone in school was playing that. I think no one beat that. But they loved it. Remember when Myst was the top-selling video game of all time? How many people do you think beat the game? My guess would be less than 10%. I'd wager most people didn't even understand it too well. But they enjoyed it.

I found myself agreeing with this post, but then I read this while skipping over BSN on the monetization of players issue.

BioWare checked its collected statistics to try and figure out the proper timeframe. “In our case, when we look at completion rates for our games, consistently less than half of our players actually finish even once.” Dragon Age: Origins was low at 36%, which also happened to be the biggest game included in the comparison chart. Mass Effect 2 was the highest at around 56%, though this spiked up around the time before Mass Effect 3launched as people went back and completed the story.

DA:O is apparently today's Donkey Kong Country.

 

[Infinitron]

There's an assumption here that "if we don't make a game people can finish, they won't buy our next game". I wonder how true that is, and how many confounding variables there are.

For example there could be pirates who play your game, who aren't part of your statistics. These are a potential buying audience for a sequel, if they liked the original game. I suspect that it used to be quite common for sequels to turn out to be unexpected hits because lots of pirates played the original game and loved it.

 

[TwinkieGorilla]

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

Holy living mother of fuck do you really not have anything better to do?

*farts*

Hmmm. A little sour. A little stale.

 

[Shadenuat]

The story now is 900 pages long

Does that mean we'll get big juicy manual with 450 pages of it and other 450 will be in game?