BruceVC

Hey I respect all companies for their choice of making money instead of making relevant and smart video games. Ugh, who am I lying to... Yeah, no. Obsidian and inXile I respect. I've yet to see a good game from them. What games they made so far - I dropped them after 1 hour or so. But I have a very good feeling about Torment and PoE. I love Troika I guess. You can love dead things, right? Okay good to know you do see some light at the end of tunnel

We don't celebrate Halloween in South Africa at all so its fun to hear about all your stories

Ehh. Definitely feel 98-01 was the best of it for me, but I guess that is just due to age and my favourite genres. Malc cynicism probably plays a huge part in your negative view of the current genre of games?

Would it be a fair comment to say that the consensus on this thread is that we don't agree with the Op?

That's how I see Blizzard and Bioware and all the others. Blizz corrupted and killed WoW, then did the same with Diablo for the sake of pleasing a younger and stupider, but broader audience. Bioware - same thing. Money is the source of all evil I tell you! If the state commissioned video games with "some" producer's control (a producer would be an artist too, not a businessman), then we'd be living in a golden era of video games. It'd be called socialism though, which people have been trained to hate, so that wouldn't fly. Are there any development companies that you do respect and like?

But I'm sure pre-EA BioWare was a beacon of proper working hours and non-"sweatshop" conditions, right? Fans don't care about employee working conditions in the slightest, all they care about is whether or not they like the game. Plenty of people here that enjoy games that are oblivious to the fact that they were made on an 80 hour work week for over a year with epic employee attrition after the fact when they realize it's not sustainable long term. Holy Smoke Alan, are you being serious about the 80 hour work week. That's 16 hours a day if you only work Monday- Friday? Imagine being born in modern Japan and being subjected to crunchtime your entire life. That's a good photo but as far as I remember those aren't the work conditions of people in Japan, this photo is a picture of cheap hotel accommodation that people use as normal hotel rooms are very expensive.

This is fairly common throughout the games industry that hours can be pretty extreme. I know a lot of places are trying to get better at it, but like there was the #RyzeFacts thing that happened earlier where people were getting on the dev for coming across as being proud of supplying over 10,000 crunch meals (and I agree that that isn't something to be proud of). All of the crunch (maybe 10-20 days in the last 2 years) I have worked on DAI so far, though, has been voluntary (i.e. I really wanted to get some stuff done because my plan for how long it'd take for me to get some tasking done wasn't accurate). I don't mind doing it because I don't do it much, and it's because I want to help make the game be really good. I could make more money elsewhere (especially in Oil rich Alberta), but I am still very comfortably compensated and frankly the work culture (I got randomly high fived by people in the hallway because they actually know who Ryu is) and so forth is just more enjoyable for me. My point was just that if anyone wants to hold EA to the fire for its sweatshop, I think people are being a bit discriminating in how they apply their concern for the poor workers. Thanks for sharing, I have to say that's an impressive work ethos. Things can't be that bad at Bioware if people are prepared to work those hours. Nice one

I'm thinking Dragon Age 2 is probably what you are looking for Monte ?

Wow those screenshots look epic ...seriously impressive

But I'm sure pre-EA BioWare was a beacon of proper working hours and non-"sweatshop" conditions, right? Fans don't care about employee working conditions in the slightest, all they care about is whether or not they like the game. Plenty of people here that enjoy games that are oblivious to the fact that they were made on an 80 hour work week for over a year with epic employee attrition after the fact when they realize it's not sustainable long term. Holy Smoke Alan, are you being serious about the 80 hour work week. That's 16 hours a day if you only work Monday- Friday?

Well, it was a facetious comment on the idea that someone will always get offended it seems. But how nice to know you have a good social conscience. Thanks Malc, and its nice to know that you know I have a social conscience...that's really nice to know

I agree, also the term "childish" is relative you and what you perceive it to mean.

Well we all tend to disagree on certain topics but it doesn't mean we don't respect or like each other on this forum Like the "EA sucks balls" discussion

Malc I'll tell you something interesting, do you know you can make many jokes in life that aren't about the abuse of women? In South Africa there is a "joke" that has been around for ages "What do you tell a women with 2 black eyes" "Nothing she has already been told twice" If I hear that joke from people I make a point of saying that type of humour is unacceptable and not funny. It may sound embarrassing in a public gathering, like a barbeque, to put a damper on a "humorous" vibe but that's the decision myself and others have made about certain topics that people still joke about

I will admit to not initially believing your "everybody's BFF in the whole wide world" schtick. Im still not 100% convinced but at least you're consistent and theres worse posters to have around than a nice guy. Thanks Gfted that's a nice thing to say but I don't think I'm everyone's BFF I just try to treat people with the same respect that I like to be treated with and I try to leave emotion out of debates

If you think you had it bad imagine living in South Africa during Apartheid and playing a game like D&D The government was run by people who justified institutionalized racism through certain passages of scripture. So you can imagine how they felt about the concept of a game like D&D

Does any of these; Battlefield 2142, Dead Space, Dragon Age; Origins, Brütal Legend or Mass Effect qualify? Also Alice Madness Returns is another game from EA that was very entertaining

Nothing. Will be too drunk after celebrations. I don't often agree with what you say but you do make me laugh

I have to add I don't see anything funny about a rape joke about women in any context.

I think Oby is you Monte..it makes sense on many levels, despite the attempts at speaking Russian the odd British jingoism seems to slip into his posts Yes !!! Oby is Monte ....it makes sense !!! Or Wals...maybe Raithe, or it could really be a crazy Russian on the other side of web but I like to leave the mystery with its charms. Really, if I find out Oby is some greasy Russian who lives in a basement I will be disappointed. Actually you could be on to something, I think Oby is Walsie !!! Its funny but on my old forum I was fairly regularly accused of not being a real person and Trolling the whole time. Some people just didn't believe my outlook on topics, I'm not sure if its because I come across as overly positive but I was also asked " so who is your real account name" and " wow you are such a master troll" And that's the one thing that really annoys me, when people for some reason don't believe I mean what I say when I spend time explaining my point

Op I think most of my views have been echoed by others in response to your post. The reality is the fans who funded this game want and believe in an Isometric view, but I can also understand why this may not appeal to you. And that's fine, you don't have to support this game and I'm confident you will find other games more suited to your personal tastes

I think Oby is you Monte..it makes sense on many levels, despite the attempts at speaking Russian the odd British jingoism seems to slip into his posts Yes !!! Oby is Monte ....it makes sense !!!

Its interesting because I can completely understand the humour in this joke and the purpose of it. But I can also see how most women would have been offended by it and misunderstood its point. Women want true sensitivity when they are having a bad day or are depressed but men can handle bad situations through indifference or sarcasm. So your story demonstrates the classic difference between the way men and women think

If you go to KS website and check your profile information you can see what projects\games you backed

Yeah I agree