I knew from the beginning that it was a bad idea to make an rpg out of the Aliens franchise. Obsidian should have gone with something more conventional. And I have the same opinion about AP. They should just stick to heroic fantasy, sci-fi (star wars, mass effect-like) and post-apocalyptic rpgs... These are the only things they can do right (and have a higher appeal)...

I'm proud and happy for Obsidian to make AP or Aliens. It shows that they don't just bow down to the taste of the masses.

The premise that Aliens has no mass appeal is incorrect.

Aliens is not a setting that could allow the creation of a compelling story for an rpg.

 

Cryo disagrees.

 

http://www.mobygames.com/game/aliens-a-comic-book-adventure

 

Sure, it's not an RPG. Add character advancement and it will be.

 

Wanna bet AP will be a failure?

 

I think it will be a commercial failure, but for all the wrong reasons. Critical failure though? I'd take that bet.

I knew from the beginning that it was a bad idea to make an rpg out of the Aliens franchise. Obsidian should have gone with something more conventional. And I have the same opinion about AP. They should just stick to heroic fantasy, sci-fi (star wars, mass effect-like) and post-apocalyptic rpgs... These are the only things they can do right (and have a higher appeal)...

I'm proud and happy for Obsidian to make AP or Aliens. It shows that they don't just bow down to the taste of the masses.

The premise that Aliens has no mass appeal is incorrect.

Aliens is an old franchise, and mostly known for the films. It can't be compared with the well known Elder Scrolls/Mass Effect/Fallout franchises.

I knew from the beginning that it was a bad idea to make an rpg out of the Aliens franchise. Obsidian should have gone with something more conventional. And I have the same opinion about AP. They should just stick to heroic fantasy, sci-fi (star wars, mass effect-like) and post-apocalyptic rpgs... These are the only things they can do right (and have a higher appeal)...

I'm proud and happy for Obsidian to make AP or Aliens. It shows that they don't just bow down to the taste of the masses.

The premise that Aliens has no mass appeal is incorrect.

Aliens is an old franchise, and mostly known for the films. It can't be compared with the well known Elder Scrolls/Mass Effect/Fallout franchises.

Just because there hasn't been another film in the Alien franchise that resembled Aliens doesn't mean that Aliens has faded from the public consciousness. Thank Aliens for every single "space marine" game ever made. Mass Effect wouldn't exist without James Cameron's precedent.

 

Halo is Aliens.

 

The timing of all of this is very unfortunate. Aliens vs. Predator is the game being released, but the Aliens vs. Predator films are not continuing. Fox want Ridley Scott to produce and/or direct a new Alien for them. Robert Rodriguez is producing and co-directing Predators, which sounds like a Cameron/McTiernan throwback. Look at the early materials released to the press to promote Cameron's own Avatar: it's going to remind everyone of Aliens again.

Edited June 27, 200916 yr by jjc

Aliens is Aliens. Not Halo, not Mass Effect, but Aliens. Huge difference, because an old franchise doesn't guarantee that it will sell as a video game. AvP/Coloniam Marines have the benefit of being a pretty gory FPS, and those always sell, regardless of the setting.

I doubt an Aliens RPG would get as much momentum as say Elder Scrolls or Mass Effect.

Edited June 27, 200916 yr by Morgoth

I doubt most RPGs would get as much momentum as Elder Scrolls and Mass Effect.

 

I knew from the beginning that it was a bad idea to make an rpg out of the Aliens franchise. Obsidian should have gone with something more conventional. And I have the same opinion about AP. They should just stick to heroic fantasy, sci-fi (star wars, mass effect-like) and post-apocalyptic rpgs... These are the only things they can do right (and have a higher appeal)..

 

The day that OEI gives in and starts doing this will be the day I'm no longer interested in them. I like Obsidian and the people that work there, but I wouldn't put my interest in the company in front of my interest in their games. I wouldn't feel any joy if the company was successful just from churning out a bunch of vanilla games with a higher appeal.

I'll follow them as long as they want to try and do something different with their games.

 

I think an Alien RPG could've been grand. Sad to see it cancelled.

I doubt an Aliens RPG would get as much momentum as say Elder Scrolls or Mass Effect.

Where did Mass Effect's momentum come from?

Lol, you guys keep crying

Way to deflate the weight of any argument you might have made. Not that you made one.

I doubt an Aliens RPG would get as much momentum as say Elder Scrolls or Mass Effect.

Where did Mass Effect's momentum come from?

Not from Aliens?

I doubt an Aliens RPG would get as much momentum as say Elder Scrolls or Mass Effect.

Where did Mass Effect's momentum come from?

Not from Aliens?

If it's not based on a movie license, why was Mass Effect a success? Why was Fallout, for that matter?

I doubt an Aliens RPG would get as much momentum as say Elder Scrolls or Mass Effect.

Where did Mass Effect's momentum come from?

Not from Aliens?

If it's not based on a movie license, why was Mass Effect a success? Why was Fallout, for that matter?

 

Marketing hype.

BIO's reputation. Good advertising. Giving gamers what they want. Not what you think they want.

 

 

"Mass Effect wouldn't exist without James Cameron's precedent"

 

 

This simply isn't true.

A pity. This is the game I was planning to try. Alpha Protocal never interested me... and when I learned it had savepoints, that was its death knell.

 

Hope Fallout:NV works out. After KOTOR2 and NWN2 (yes, dammit, I love NWN2) Obsidian has proven to have too much talent to be sidelined.

repost from march 1:

 

am feeling a smidge sorry for josh... if we were capable o' feeling sorry for josh. this guy is either a poop magnet or he is doing something serious wrong. the crap projects that josh joins mid-development, and games that is simple cash grabs for bis/obsidian, are the games that end up getting completed... but the games he is the least bit enthusiastic 'bout (torn, fo3, bg3 and aliens) all get canceled.

 

maybe the solution is to not let josh work on games until they is +6 months into development... or maybe only let him work on games he thinks is teh suck.

 

freaking stormcrow.

 

HA! Good Fun!

Ridiculous

 

For me, yes and no. I must admit that the idea of an Alien RPG always seemed weird to me, how to get in the horror feel and also the lack of different kind of creatures... but perhaps was I thinking too much of "traditional" RPGs when I thought of this. Surely the direction couldn't have been similar to those of games with a much richer background.

 

But the thought that Obsidian couldn't do it? Yeah, that's ridiculous. I can't wait to see a game made with their own technology since I think that they are not very good on the technical plan (hence the failure of Neverwinter Nights 2 public toolset) and have difficulties working with other people technologies. But working with an engine that was made by them and probably is made from the ground-up to meet their way of making games? Yeah, that should be "easier".

bg and the ie games were story-driven games that depended on squad-based tactical combat for much o' the gameplay appeal. now, given the success o' bg and the iwd games, somebody is gonna have to explain to Gromnir how an aliens game wouldn't work.

 

only reason aliens has less appeal for some is if they simply not interested in the aliens setting... which is fair. nevertheless, is nothing 'bout the aliens setting that makes it less workable as a crpg when compared to other games we mentioned.

 

HA! Good Fun!

I'm genuinely sorry for Sawyer. First of all, he's a stand up guy. Second of all, it sucks to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

 

I was curious about Aliens and Sawyer was gracious enough to give me a first hand look on one of my last days working on the MotB title. I had long made it clear by then that I wasn't interested in a career in game development, and so it certainly was no professional courtesy to indulge my curiosity. Likewise, I'd done Sawyer no personal favors to warrant such kindness. I talked to him for a short time about his work on past projects and his (then) current work on Aliens. Since I did not approach the discussion as something I would relay to anyone later, I have not felt at freedom to divulge anything about the experience. Frankly, it was quite innocuous, and I'm certain most folks would find it rather pedestrian in the telling. Still, it's not mine to tell, and so I haven't.

 

The only thing that I'd like to say is probably only important to me. That is, I would like to thank Sawyer for his generosity and to assure him that I genuinely regret that gamers will not have the chance to enjoy his work on the Aliens project. I was candid with him about my reservations about the setting, but what I saw in his office convinced me that it was going to be a quality title. Certainly, I was much more excited about the Aliens project at the time than I was about SoZ, which I've since passed over in favor of other games. I have not felt at liberty to discuss any of the things I saw or heard about Alpha Protocol, SoZ, or Crucible. At this point, SoZ is already released, folks following AP know far more than I do about the title, and Crucible is cancelled. Bummer, because of the three, I was most excited about Crucible by the time I left the MotB project.

 

Anyhow, thanks again, Josh. You're certainly a class act.

Sega's reasoning: "The Aliens franchise offers us so much content to choose from that we feel it important to take a step back and carefully consider the type of game we want to release."

 

What a horrible publisher.

 

At least Obsidian got a game engine and lots of art/story assets out of it, but either way it's ****ed up.

Assets and storyline can be re-created by means of reusing into a horror sci-fi RPG down along the road. So not all is that bad I guess.

While I'm bummed at this decision, I'm not going to blame Sega for it without knowing the details. There have been rumblings that things weren't on track with this title, and while we may never know the truth, it wouldn't be the first time something like that happened. So I guess what I'm saying is that blaming Sega may not be fair based on what little we know. And that's not to say that it's all Obsidian's fault either. Sometimes things happen.

 

Hopefully Obsidian can use some of their ideas in a game down the road. Maybe one of the quest ideas or characters can be used in Fallout: New Vegas or the unannounced title. Who knows where it will turn up.

If Obsidian wants to survive the competition, they just have to stick to what they do best. Trying to diversify their portfolio will only damage them (and waste resources) as it is obvious they are no good in making anything other than old-school rpgs. Sorry to say that, but AP sucks and is totally uninteresting. It's some kind of metal gear rpg that even fails in its attempt to do so. I believe Aliens was in the same vein...

 

Apart from the bugs, Kotor 2 and Nwn2 were really decent games and I would gladly buy another one of the same type. No matter what you say, I bet anything you want that if they decided tomorrow to make another IWD or BG game, they would tremendous success. This is what the average gamer likes and this is what Obs/BIS used to deliver. Why are they trying to make uninspired and bland games while they can create something really epic?

 

I encourage creativity but there's no point to it if it goes wasted on games that will have an average commercial success at best. Bioware has lived long enough because it perfectly knows how to make its games appealing. Obs should do the same or they run the risk of sharing the same fate as Troika but for different reasons. So far, there is nothing that makes me want to buy their games as they have abandoned the style of games I have loved playing...

Oh ramza, let uncle Feargus worry about the survival of the firm.

 

If Obsidian ever becomes Bioware, or sticks with retarded old skool projects, I'll lose any respect and interest for them.

 

Long live Alpha Protocol!

If Obsidian wants to survive the competition, they just have to stick to what they do best.

 

Story-driven RPGs, that's what they do the best. Apart from being more action-oriented with only one character that you can control, I don't see how Alpha Protocol is getting away from that experience. And I won't talk about Crucible because, well, we hardly knew anything about it (well except that they went full circle with the background rip-off : they made a rip-off of a rip-off of a rip-off. In other words, a rip-off of the Zergs who were a rip-off of the Tyranids who were a rip-off of the Aliens ).

 

Why are they trying to make uninspired and bland games while they can create something really epic?

 

Mainly because they have a belief that they can do things more entertaining for the gamer and for them by getting to new things? Not even completely new things since they will always make main-stream RPGs, but still it is still something new!

Why are they trying to make uninspired and bland games while they can create something really epic?

I didn't have the pleasure of playing every BIS/Troika/Obs game, but being uninspired is the last thing I'd accuse them of.