Obsidianz! You're not "old school", you're just old!

[obyknven]

http://kokugamer.com/2010/06/20/has-obsidi...ost-its-luster/

 

Obsidianz. You make people dissapoint(((

[Calax]

Hneh? I'm very confused.

[Mera]

Trolling again?

[Walsingham]

I believe it's spelled 'lustre'.

 

Was that an article? What was it trying to say? "Please don't suck"?

[Calax]

it was an opinion piece that didn't really have a point from what I could see...

[kirottu]

it was an opinion piece that didn't really have a point from what I could see...

 

Yeah, I don

[mkreku]

No point?

 

The point is that maybe time has outrun Obsidian and their game philosophies? Maybe what they aim and strive for no longer is enough to satisfy today's audiences? Maybe they put all their effort into their strongest cards and lets the rest of the game suffer for it?

 

It wasn't a well-written piece but the point was clear enough.

[Krookie]

To be honest, the only thing Obsidian has ever given be was a good forum. KotOR2 was okay, haven't played anything else by them though.

[Hurlshort]

I wasn't a big fan of the NWN2 stuff. But Alpha Protocol has just knocked me on my butt with amazement. It is filled with choice and consequence, difficult decisions, and moral gray areas. There isn't another developer in their league in those departments, Bioware is the only one that comes close. I have a hard time believing that only old people enjoy these aspects of gaming, but if that is true, I hope it is a niche we can keep in development.

[poetic obsidian]

I and many here are glad that Obsidian is just about the only non-indie American game company left that would dare to try something as "old school" as creativity in their game.

 

People like the guy who wrote that opinion piece forget that a market's taste can be manipulated by....money. The so-called new-school western RPG's (mass effect and fallout 3) have all benefitted from huge production values and marketing and add campaigns to make consumers believe that that was where the future was. Those who bought into the marketing and hype were taken in hook, line, and sinker. Only to be further exploited by this new micro-DLC business model that encourages developers to include in-game advertisements without any qualms about old-school concepts such as immersion.

 

So while it might make them"old," Obsidian is just about the only one left. European and indie developers are the ones now who have that old school enthusiasm and approach to making games, and would be willing to take creative risks in a new game.

Edited June 23, 2010 by poetic obsidian

[Walsingham]

I and many here are glad that Obsidian is just about the only non-indie American game company left that would dare to try something as "old school" as creativity in their game.

 

People like the guy who wrote that opinion piece forget that a market's taste can be manipulated by....money. The so-called new-school western RPG's (mass effect and fallout 3) have all benefitted from huge production values and marketing and add campaigns to make consumers believe that that was where the future was. Those who bought into the marketing and hype were taken in hook, line, and sinker. Only to be further exploited by this new micro-DLC business model that encourages developers to include in-game advertisements without any qualms about old-school concepts such as immersion.

 

So while it might make them"old," Obsidian is just about the only one left. European and indie developers are the ones now who have that old school enthusiasm and approach to making games, and would be willing to take creative risks in a new game.

 

Interesting angle.

[HoonDing]

Even European developers eventually have to buckle down and 'streamline' their games in order to be able to play with the big boys.

 

Look at CD Projekt and how Witcher 2 is going, the previews for Two Worlds 2 (more 'action oriented') or Radon Labs that went out of business and subsequently got bought by a developer of online games.

 

Exception is a dev like Larian studios, that also does other work outside of video game development.

[WorstUsernameEver]

Even European developers eventually have to buckle down and 'streamline' their games in order to be able to play with the big boys.

 

Look at CD Projekt and how Witcher 2 is going,

 

Discarding ****ty systems and boobies card isn't necessarily a bad thing.

Just saying.

[HoonDing]

I'll take boobie cards over QTE sex scenes, thank you very much

[WorstUsernameEver]

I'll take boobie cards over QTE sex scenes, thank you very much

 

We'll see in The Witcher 2.

 

Who knows...

 

maybe they're trying to mimic Rapelay's gameplay

[vault_overseer]

Aaaaand she's back

[Bos_hybrid]

I'll take boobie cards over QTE sex scenes, thank you very much

 

How about none. They are still too awkward(DA anyone). A fade to black scene(ME2/NWN2) is better.

[Irrelevant]

I and many here are glad that Obsidian is just about the only non-indie American game company left that would dare to try something as "old school" as creativity in their game.Those who bought into the marketing and hype were taken in hook, line, and sinker. Only to be further exploited by this new micro-DLC business model that encourages developers to include in-game advertisements without any qualms about old-school concepts such as immersion.

I do not know much about PC but Capcom has taken some risks, there are also some games being made by what is left of companies after they died.(Ensemble/Platinum/Valhalla) Mr. Kojima is apperently working on something that will be controversial, considering he is Japanese it is probably a PC game or some type of Hentai adventure game. I think SEGA is trying to take risks(or simply taking whatever they can get) but the failure of the Dreamcast has scared them.

[Rimat]

MotB is proof that Obsidian hasn't lost it at least imho. But I can see why people would think that way. Obsidian's entry into the market and it's subsequent development was marred with unfortunate circumstances and also screw-ups.

In the end though like I said I don't think they have lost their magic. I just think that it's become almost impossible to keep churning out niche products since development costs have skyrocketed in the industry and the big publishers don't want to take risks. Shooters sell like hotcakes, so they concentrate on them, end of story.

I'm just curious to see if and when the time comes when nobody of the old guard will be left in the industry. I only keep coming back to games mostly because of two types of them:

First the ones who have good writing/dialogue/characters/story. Secondly the ones who just have genius gameplay (think JA2)

Obsidian is really one of the very few major ones left from the first category, and you can count all representatives with one hand, prolly even after a nasty accident involving fireworks and said hand.

The second category doesn't look too healthy either, but they got some reinforcement from some oldschool devs from Russia and eastern Europe, so their situation is at the very least better.

There's also interesting stuff going on in the indie scene so let's see where that goes.

 

If everything fails, whatever. Over the last years gaming has been reduced to one of my minor interests and it's not like I don't have any other ones (actually too many)

 

@poetic obsidian: Word. Though imho the DLC business model isn't bad per se. It's just been used clumsily or just just plain wrong/bad in most cases.

 

@Irrelevant: Yeah Capcom has defied some analysts expectations. But they have a strong fanbase and a very good connection with them. Additionally they have always been a console company and so they have a bigger target audience even if they're somewhat niche after modern console standards.

Edited June 27, 2010 by Rimat

[Gorgon]

When are people gonna learn ; do not use the engine for screwing. That needs a proper separate cgi cut scene.

[Rostere]

I wasn't a big fan of the NWN2 stuff. But Alpha Protocol has just knocked me on my butt with amazement. It is filled with choice and consequence, difficult decisions, and moral gray areas. There isn't another developer in their league in those departments, Bioware is the only one that comes close. I have a hard time believing that only old people enjoy these aspects of gaming, but if that is true, I hope it is a niche we can keep in development.

 

Exactly what I think. MotB was good though. I don't think the NWN2 OC is that bad as people say, but it's dull when you compare it to Alpha Protocol.

[Luckmann]

Eh.. when asking them not to screw Fallout: New Vegas up, they're sorta asking for the impossible. They can only produce something as great as what they have to work with. Using Fallout 3 as a base doesn't really allow them to return to the greatness that was "Walking out of Vault 13".