Volourn

"Small game studios seem to have short lifespans. They either run out of money or get bought up by a larger entity. Or both. I don't think one can say Troika failed anymore than one can say Looking Glass failed." Sure we can. They failed. By veryd efintion the fact they went of business as opposed to being bought out is prove of this. All companies start small. The successful ones either do well enough to keep exisiting, get bought out for huge sums of money, or actually grow. A failed game company is one that can't make any more games because NOBODY WANTS TO HIRE THEM.

And?

"You have to play Bloodlines, their greatest game. Just make sure it patched though." Nah. That's Arcanum. BL is good; but its horrible combat brings it down.

"They did make games that people wanted to play." Not enough. The problem with Troika is they made games for a niche market (which I'm included in) yet their games were pushed/marketed/price as top tier games. "Troika, Sir Tech, Microprose, Looking Glass..." I do believe that most of the other companies you mention actually had bonafide hits, and in fact were sold to alrger companies. That's completely different than completely crashing out ala Troika. Troika did such a poor job they couldn't find one publisher to finance future products even as Troika tried their best to get them. Troika had no idea what theyw ere doing, and failed to successfully market their games - even the good ones - so that's why they no longer exist. That's a failed company. You cna't get more fail than that.

"Just because the masses did not buy the games does not mean the the games themselves were bad, nor does it mean the company was bad." Wrong. They ar ebusiness. They failed. If they were successful, they'd still be in business or at least be able to sell the company for millions of dollars so they can retire in style instead of making MMORPGS for an employer thats crewed them previously. HAHAHA! Don't blame the masses for Troika's failures. It is Troika's JOB to make people to WANT to play their games so they can stay in business. Period.

They made two 3 games all of which weren't exactly successful. They made 1 great game, 1 good game, and 1 bad game. That's my eprosnal opinion but it means nothing as they bombed. If they were so awesome, they'd still in business. Bottom line, they failed. They made games that not enough people wanted to play. That's Failure with a capital F no matter how much one might personally like said games.

Yeah, it's not like just because a game has ana overarhcing plot of save x from big bad that its totally devoid of more 'human' or 'personal' type story. Games like BG, KOTOR, ME, FF (most of them), and a bunch of others are actually capable of doing both. OMGZ!

Never forget... Troika was awesome... at failing.

Then, you should probably avoid FANTASY games.

Ignorance isn't bliss.

"Of course not, but then I never claim to worship an all good, all powerful God as Christians do." Says the one who has no problem judging others - espicially Christians - as evil.

"Almost tempted to torrent the entire thing on release day.. lolz." Thieves are scumbags, and their opinions are probably stolen from imbeciles so are totally irrelevant.

"I've almost grown to admire how you assert your opinions as fact. " Oh, please. Everyone here is doing the same exact thing hence all the crying that I'm not parroting everyone else's opinions. Youa re only upset about my opinion/fact because it is not the same as yours.

"no thanks i rather buy more inovative game..." Sports games - espicially EA ones - are amongst the most innovative of any genre of game. No doubt about it.

BIO is NOT a company. BIo is a division of a company.

"EA wouldn't know what a hit was even if it slapped them in the face. Like parasites they have to assimilate other companies, companies that have had hits in order to ride on their coat tails" Nonsensical. EA got big enough to buy other companies BECAUSE they made hits enough in order to do so. It's not like EA appeared out of thin air. Those other companies - including BIO - ar epunks who don't deserve to exist and therefore are bought out because they are no longer good enough to stay open by themselves.

"NWN1 and its expansions, in the stories told in their OCs, SUCKED!" 1. You played the OC like 3 times? BVy golly, you must surely think it sucks then. 2. I thought you liked SOU, and HOTU. Make up your mind. "Should we open a poll up about whether the NWN OC was good?" "There is nothing wrong with liking it Volourn, I enjoyed the combat in Jade Empire, but I recognize that many folks here see it as flawed." Please point out where in this thread I claimed that NWN OC was popular here? LMAO In fact, I said the complete opposite. Weird.

"They do get better and have some pretty neat features, but I can't see why someone would buy one every single year." The answer to this should be obvious. First off, sports games have evolved quite a bit since their first entry into video games. Probably way more than any RPG. Secondly, it's called being a fan. All one has to do is play NHL 08, and NHL 09 and depsite the fact those games are pretty similiar they also have some massive differences in gameplay. Let alone the two new big features 09 brought to the table. Here's a fact about newer sports games: STATS MATTER. I remember when EA first introduced season play for their NHL series. It was considered OMG. Now, if a hockey game didn't have that, at minimum, there'd be obvious.

A RPG is a RPG.

David Gaider also admitted to wriitng Deekin. I'm not impressed with his admissions.

"I'll make sure the COO of EA gets that message, Volo, since it was his quote." I know it was his quote. That's why I was mocking HIM. Did you feel the need to defend his ignorance? "The SPorts games are just yearly updates of the previous year and have hardly anything of real value to them. Why bother getting Madden 2009 when Madden 2008 is just as good?" You don't even like sports games so likely haven't played them so you likely don't even know if what you are saying is even true.

Then don't buy their games if it bothers you that much. *sigh*

"You do realize you are the only defender of it?" Only defender here? yes. But, lots of people prefer NWN to BG. pehraps, if you got outside your little circle and biasness; you wouldn't be so ignorant. "Better RPing then the BG series?" Absolutely no co contest too. NWN OC rping > BG rping = FACT "I know that, you know that, everyone knows that." Don't tell me what *I* know. I know what I know.

O RLY? They mad eno hits in 2008? I didn't know Madden 2009 and its millions of sales was considered a bomb? LMAOATWTKKUYADYTATWBA

"If it was released as a stand alone SP game none of us would be talking about it right now.. except mockingly making jokes at its expense." Sure, we would. In fact, I'd bet more people would be heaping praise on it because it seems to be 'cool' to bash the OC, even though its a better game - espicially role-playing wise - than either BG which people like to bow to.But, these are the Obsidian baords will BIO = Evil because they're seen as some sort of threat to the beloved Obsidian.