Codex Interview Wasteland 2 RPG Codex Interview with Brian Fargo - Part 1

[hiver]

Is it actually spelled as "sines" or bloody "signs"?
(crap, its actually a combination of both it seems)
:ninjaeditstrike:

Anyway,...

 

[Brother None]

It'll take longer than that for WL 2 won't it?

I'm basing myself on the estimate Fargo gave me. He'll detail it when Kickstarter goes up.

I'm not really worried about it. Nor should the ITS guys, really.

 

[hiver]

Yeah, even if by some crazy chance they would come out at the same time they would probably just end up being a bit of hype and marketing for each other. Seeing how baren that market is currently.
Hopefully the Dead State will come along too in similar ways.
Its all good.

 

[Monocause]

The hardcore RPG market is so empty nowadays that I don't believe AoD would ever need to compete with Wasteland 2 even if both got released the very same day. The most that might happen is that they could slow each other's sales down a bit without any real effect on the long-term.

It's not the mainstream where you have to compel people to buy Halo X within three months of release because afterwards there's already The Next Big Thing on game shelves and nobody cares about your old and obsolete product anymore.

BTW, really hyped to hear about Wasteland 2, I just hope that I'll be still into gaming and not a hard-working old codger with kids when (if?) it gets done and released.

 

[Harold]

There's not much inXile can do when making games under a publisher model. It's not like they could have made that a turn-based complex stat/skill cRPG or anything like that.

Hunted - developed by Inxile, published by Bethesda Softworks
Fallout: New Vegas - developed by Obsidian, published by Bethesda Softworks

Hunted - shit game
Fallout: New Vegas - great game, marred only by shit engine and easy difficulty (now fixed by jsawyer mod)

A game doesn't necessarily have to be turn-based to not be shit and I doubt Bethesda prevented them from having a more complex stat/skill system, else they would've done the same thing to Obsidian

 

[Stinger]

Except that Fallout New Vegas was a game based in an established multimillion IP while Hunted was an Original IP. Obsidian could take risks and add plenty of RPG elements to FNV because there was going to be a pretty big market for it regardless of what they did, fans of Fallout 3 wanting more of the same and potentially even fans of Fallout 1 and 2 who'd be glad to see a more competent RPG developer working on the series compared to Beth.

The more accurate comparison would be between Alpha Protocol and Hunted. Both on the same engine and both original IPs.

Alpha Protocol's the better game still, and I really liked its use of Dossiers in dialogue and pretty extensive approach to choices affecting story but I wouldn't really call either of them particularly good RPGs in terms of character progression or combat or quest design etc.

inXile's track record hasn't been great thus far but I'll still support this, if only to prove that there is a market for games like this.

 

[Harold]

^ I see your point, but I still doubt Bethesda had much to do with Hunted's shortcomings. This is mosly speculation, but I don't think they wouldn't have greenlighted a well-done action rpg with a good stat/skill - based system. The fact that both AP and Hunted are very flawed games has more to do with their respective developer design decisions when making them than with the publisher IMO.
I'll give Fargo the benefit of the doubt on this one, but I am still very skeptical.

 

[DwarvenFood]

Great read, waiting on part 2. MCA will have some strong competition, if he really plans to do a game of his own in this manner.

 

[asper]

It's not really competition when there are only three games of this kind being made.

 

[curry]

It's not really competition when there are only three games of this kind being made.

Yes it is if they all want to fund it with Kickstarter.

 

[felipepepe]

It's not really competition when there are only three games of this kind being made.

Yes it is if they all want to fund it with Kickstarter.

I think you can donate for all 3 of then and still spend less then you would buying ME3 or any other AAA game...besides, FFS, it's 3 great and promising titles being made, so than perhaps we can have an actual RPG CODEX GOTY...just get a job or skip one night at the movies.

 

[Vault Dweller]

The funny thing would be if suddenly games like this became the norm again due to kickstarter letting companies fund nonshit games before AoD comes out. Then they'd have to compete with million dollar budget old school RPGs made by some of the most experienced game devs around. Man that would suck for them.

I think I even remember joking about that when I first heard of AoD but I didn't think it had even a tiny chance of happening.

I certainly hope that people will buy AoD not because it's the only old school RPG, but because it's a game worth playing. I don't think that someone who likes TB RPG will suddenly turn one down just because he's already played one this year.

As a gamer I can only hope that old school RPGs will become the norm again. It sure as fuck would be nice to play 3-4 quality RPGs a year again. I told Avellone that I'll pledge $500 if he starts a Kickstarter project and I'll gladly do the same for every old school RPG project.

 

[Haba]

I wouldn't mind pledging thousands of dollars if I could get some kind of an guarantee on the quality. One Planescape Torment this year, Ultima 4 the next...

Unfortunately the more realistic option is to spend the money in mind altering drugs, wipe previous memory clean and play the old gems again.

 

[Tuco Benedicto Pacifico]

I will mark the parts where you should begin using your brain for at least 5 seconds with an exclamation mark.

So most people really are about to...

..give a CEO (!) of a game development company (!) money to produce another game that he can sell to them (!) afterwards?

I hear Brian's laughter 24/7, screaming in pleasure when thinking about this whole bunch of retards that have a serious malfunction in their brains.

Someone here missed the point of crowd funding entirely.

 

[Jasede]

Oh RPGWatch, you so funny. A brief glance at their news article about this gives opinions like "Turn-based? I don't like that.", "isometric? not my cup of tea" and "I'd rather have a 3D movable camera like in NWN2".

Why are they called RPGWatch if they don't like RPGs?

 

[Clockwork Knight]

They like RPGS, just not those stuck in the past. Wake up, it's not the 90's anymore, old man. I suggest you take off those rose-tinted glasses, and open up for new experiences.

 

[Jasede]

That's what filthy young people would say, wouldn't they.

 

[Brother None]

but I still doubt Bethesda had much to do with Hunted's shortcomings.

You do? How many times does Bethesda have to fail badly at publishing games before you think maybe they're at fault? Hell, they already managed to almost kill id already: http://www.oxm.co.uk/39252/rumour-doom-4-cancelled-first-screenshots-leak/

Nah, but seriously, every dev I ever asked about working with Bethesda pretty much indicated the publisher is incompetent.

 

[Tuco Benedicto Pacifico]

They like RPGS, just not those stuck in the past. Wake up, it's not the 90's anymore, old man. I suggest you take off those rose-tinted glasses, and open up for new experiences.

So much bullshit.

 

[Metro]

Well I'm hoping AoD will be released before this anyway... I'm assuming it'll take Fargo & Co. anywhere from eighteen months to two years to produce it.

 

[St. Toxic]

It will be shit. :skyway:

 

[Black]

but I still doubt Bethesda had much to do with Hunted's shortcomings.

You do? How many times does Bethesda have to fail badly at publishing games before you think maybe they're at fault? Hell, they already managed to almost kill id already: http://www.oxm.co.uk/39252/rumour-doom-4-cancelled-first-screenshots-leak/ :p

Nah, but seriously, every dev I ever asked about working with Bethesda pretty much indicated the publisher is incompetent.

How many games they've published that turned out to be horrible or simply showed that there was no QA, which is publishers' job too?

Rage is one I can think of, the shit with the textures on PC, good lord.

 

[Astral Rag]

http://www.oxm.co.uk/39252/rumour-doom-4-cancelled-first-screenshots-leak/ :p

My God they really are using that appalling engine to create Doom 4.

 

[St. Toxic]

Looks like Condemned only less contrasted light. If Doom 4 was anything like Doom 1 / 2, with hyperrealistic gore and guts, that'd be pretty swell. I'd enjoy that.

 

[kaizoku]

... but you'll still enjoy every second of it.


Ok, after reading the interviews and hearing that Mark Morgan will participate in the project as well, I'm mildly interested in it.
But I'm not sure yet that they'll live up to their promises.