Cantousent

Speak no ill of Fionavar, fools!

Please let's not talk about looking under Kreia's hood...

Well, you get the award for making me laugh out loud. Too bad I can't answer your question.

"tell the disabled writer to rewrite their story (or a portion of the story,) as if they were writing to an 8 year old audience." This is a clever idea. Even if you intend a more mature work, starting with an easily explained premise isn't a bad idea at all. As for Kreia, she's the perfect example of your own point. Her dialogue is often forced and far too full of meaning. However, she does serve to move the story. The design team relied on Kreia quite a bit during the game. On the other hand, part of the reason I hate Kreia is that I like playing the good guy. She's enough to make a good guy feel dirty, she is.

You can vote once and reply at will, you doofus! lol. Your poll will get more votes, I'm sure of it. Have patience.

Hell, I'm a monkey with the console controller, so none of them are all that great. However, I'm playing Silent Hill 4 right now. Does that count as an FPS since there is an option for an FPS camera view.

I'm not dissatisfied with the book, but I do admit that Harry's attitude considering what happened is ridiculous. I simply don't believe he would have had those thoughts. If nothing else, his life, as well as the lives of all of his friends, are in extreme danger. He shouldn't have the attitude that the summer will be any refuge for him, especially considering the fact that at least one major threat to his life came during a summer break.

at least I know.

I don't think you have enough posts under your belt to be tweaking out on people yet... <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Tell me, Darque, how many posts must a member have to make comments on another member's posts? I'm curious. Also, how many posts must a member have to grant free spamming, since you've obviously achieved that status long ago.

If I may be allowed to go off-topic, I notice that Sawyer is now sporting his green designer color. Perhaps now he'll have "Designer" under his name. ...Or maybe "Obsidz VID" or some such.

Never fear, alan, your head is now no longer huge in comparison to your body. I much prefer the mouse and keyboard combo. I hear that it's just a matter of habit and that the x-box controller is just as easy to use. Not yet for me, though.

I've played City of Heroes and quite enjoyed it. I've played Anarchy Online and found it not quite as enjoyable. I'm considering picking up another MMORPG, but I have not yet decided what it will be. Perhaps Guild Wars, since I hear good things about it. I don't know.

The tutorial for KotOR 2 was extremely well done. Not only did it serve the back-story, it introduced the player to one of the playable droids, allowed the player to familiarize himself with the controls, gave a good account of the basic areas of the ship, and fit nicely into the first fully playable area. Moreover, the pace and tone of the tutorial was perfect for the story. KotOR 2, in my mind, is at its best in tense areas with simple, elegant flavor text and mysterious circumstances. The tutorial exceeded other areas of the game in this regard. The tutorial for KotOR 2 was much better than the tutorial for KotOR. That might be because the backstory was better for KotOR 2 than it was for KotOR, but it is one area in which the sequel outshone the original.

Overall, Gromnir, how do you compare the writing in KotOR2 to the writing in PS:T? I ask this because you didn't address the issue. Are there ways in which PS:T could have been improved? Of course. We have had the same discussion in more than one thread. Still, the writing in well done throughout the game, save in those areas where the writer could not control his exuberance. Nevertheless, something worse than a character giving a long winded speech is a character giving a long winded and poorly written speech. If we care to dissect PS:T, that's fine. Not much fun, maybe, as we've always been quite similar in how we view the game. I'm comparing PS:T to KotOR2, however, and there we do seem to have different views. PS:T and KotOR2 had the same opportunity to convey something of the writer's philosophy, but I contend that PS:T did more with that opportunity. The fact that we get stuck clicking through several pages of dialogue many, many times throughout the game doesn't change the quality of the writing at any one point. It's all about a comparison on my part, because we could make a multi-page thread concerning the writing in PS:T alone.

I don't think PS:T and KotOR2 suffered from the same problem. PS:T had great dialogue, flavor text, and story-telling throughout. It just had too much of it. Some of the writing in KotOR2 was just plain bad. It was both technically and stylistically bad. It was cringing as I read it bad. It was embarrassed for the writer bad. On the other hand, the writing was a mixed bag. Some of it was overdone and some of it was well done. Let

hahaha, Gorth, you swine! I wrote it above and then decided it made more sense at the end. I must have "copied" that part rather than "moved" it.

If only I knew how to post pictures, I'd post pictures of me as Dumbledore at the Henderson District Public Libraries event on Friday night. It was great. I was mobbed by youngsters all wanting a picture with me and asking me questions about magic and telling me how much they wanted to be my student. One little girl of about nine years old came and jumped up and down in front of me, she was so excited. She demanded that I teach her magic and I said, "young lady, you must first enroll at Hogwarts before you may learn magic." At ten seconds to 12am, I called for attention and said, "the countdown will now begin." The whole crowd roared each of the last ten seconds before we started handing out the books. The books were $20 pre-order or $25 walk-in. There were cheaper books to be found, I know, but the other events were entirely free and there was no obligation to buy the book at all. The library has TONS of copies of these books, so many of the children came only to try their hand at Quidditch, take a bite to eat at the Leaky Cauldron, or (my favorite) take a picture of or with Dumbledore. The library managed to have all of the food donated, so the stop at the leaky cauldron cost nothing. JKR isn't really that great of an author, but the series is awesome if for no other reason than it has had a profound effect on the reading habits of children. I volunteer quite a bit at HDPL, but this is the most gratifying experience I've had there. It was well worth driving in from California. ...And this book is definitely darker than all the others combined.

Why would Sawyer need to worry? After all, the thread has transformed into an argument about Jade Empire. Having recently bought the game, I can say it does, indeed, look like it uses a modified Aurora engine. Actually, my understanding what that KotOR used a modified Aurora engine and that Jade Empire did the same, although they had to tweak things because the ruleset is different. Jade Empire is a good game, at any rate, so who cares? Oh, that's right, we're in a pissing contest regarding whether Jade Empire gets a pass for brevity or KotOR 2 gets a pass for writing. Ridiculous. :madr:

Troika was shameless in blaming Atari and WotC for ToEE. If your game can't make the grade without a brothel, then there's not much to your game in the first place. I agree that children should not be invulnerable, but I've understood that to be more of an international problem than a WotC guideline problem. In either case, if the publisher insists on such a rule, then follow the guideline and make the game. ...Or is it central to the game that the players be able to murder children? I didn't realise that the ability to visit a brothel and murder children were central themes in ToEE. Sure, I can understand that any design team wants to remain creatively unfettered by any outside source. In the end, however, no design team has full license to do everything they desire. All games are published and, even if the publisher wanted to give them full lattitude, resources are finite. This business about guidelines is just silly anyhow. While my opinion of Sawyer and his work varies, I never thought he was unreasonable over the guideline issue. My understanding was that he thought the guidelines would actually prevent his game from finishing development. Troika blamed the publisher and licensor after the fact for their shortcomings. Those aren't equivalent.

I shall endeavor to pray for you, Servant. Have fun building the church.

The Ministry of Information has confirmed that it has always been so. ^_^ <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Perhaps your humor is a bit too refined for my simple mind. If you have something to say, meta, why don't you hitch up your britches and say it?

The reason I thought VB was dead when Sawyer left was simple: I didn't think he'd leave until he was convinced that the project was dead. When Feargus lured away the other personalities, including Avellone who had lead for the most beloved PS:T, it was a savvy business move. He was starting a new business over which he'd have the final say. It didn't necessarily mean that Fallout 3 was dead, only that Feargus had no reason to stay with Interplay. Notice, I'm not casting scorn or commenting on Interplay at all, but clearly Feargus had a reason to leave Interplay. After all, he left. Sawyer, who had been publicly jonesin' for Fallout 3 for years, leaves and of course folks figure that things have gotten so bad that Fallout 3 is doomed. I wasn't worried that Sawyer wouldn't be the head of the project. I was worried because someone who so genuinely loved the franchise left. A lot of us felt it could only mean another cancellation. We were right.

I didn't think that he'd get as much of a chance to work on a bona fide RPG title elsewhere and I figured that eventually history would win over the specter of past failures. Of course, this is after the fact, but I've been surprised, as I said before this news hit the board, that he wasn't already working at Obsidian. http://forums.obsidianent.com/index.php?sh...ndpost&p=383280 I was quite the opposite in that I was surpised Sawyer wasn't already in Obsidian.

I've always assumed that Sawyer would end up at Obsidian, so it doesn't come as a surprise. Personally, I find it more entertaining to speculate than to have Sawyer give us the skinny anyhow. At any rate, the only difference between this discussion and so many other unlocked discussions of industry personalities is that Sawyer is here. Folks have speculated on Avellone and Feargus and all manner of Obsidian folks. Why should Sawyer be exempt? If he wants me to refrain from speculating, let him tell me, either publicly or privately, and I will stop. EDIT: Oops, I guess I didn't mean for me to tell me. Rather, I meant to say let him tell me. heh heh

I know it's probably annoying to have folks discuss the personal aspects of the designers. Sawyer has made himself a board personality, and so I have no remorse in discussing those aspects of his personal life that revolve around Obsidian. In all actuality, this is the sort of discussion that goes on regarding designers and such anyhow, Romero is an excellent example. The only difference is that Saywer is here to read it, should he so desire. Furthermore, I noticed that you quoted me and then pointed out that I was speculating on Sawyer's personal (although I submit that it is his professional) life. Did you not care to comment on Gromnir's comments, or were mine just that much more interesting? It's not my intention to pick a fight with you, SP, but I can't help but see something odd about that.