Planescape, Arcanum, you know what i mean

[Sogg]

Any gamer with intellect knows that obsidian is a last rpg-developer nowadays. Bioware was cool, but now they are making sci-fi shooters (as for me, mass effect is a shooter, not rpg) and MMORPG-s. Dragon age, especially part II...

i can't even say what was that. Something without *taste*.

Characters, scenarios, stories, worlds - now if you need that, call for obsidian ;-)

 

New Vegas - that was a gift for us, actually. Good RPG-s are still alive. Fallout is alive too, and i'm shure that this icon is in good hands, i'm not afraid for it's future.

 

But i have question about two games which i also want to live. Two icons, it's hard to imagine that it's possible, but that games changed RPG-s.

I speak about Planescape: Torment and Arcanum (i know, that Arcanum is not your brand, but i'm shure only obsidian can work with this title)

 

So the question is "Hey, guys from Obsidian entertaiment, how about to make sequels for this games?"

[Gizmo]

Is it even possible to get the Planescape license anymore?

 

(Who owns Arcanum now? Blizzard?)

 

**I think they'd be great ~if possible; but I don't expect it, and I doubt the games could transition to 2011 and remain reasonably intact.

Edited September 12, 2011 by Gizmo

[Sogg]

Is it even possible to get the Planescape license anymore?

 

(Who owns Arcanum now? Blizzard?)

 

**I think they'd be great ~if possible; but I don't expect it, and I doubt the games could transition to 2011 and remain reasonably intact.

 

Well, fallout 3 (and mostly NV) proved that good concept can live in new actual form of graphics and gameplay process and interesting for new gamers which didn't even play in fallout 1 & 2.

Of course there is no reason to make another isometric 2D remake of arcanum or planescape. But you know i would be happy to play in a new game in arcanum world even on a fallout NV gameplay mechanics.

Because the main thing is not that THAT games was great. The main thing

[Morgoth]

Activision owns Arcanum now.

 

And Activision being Activision, don't expect them to sell the license cheaply.

[Sogg]

Activision owns Arcanum now.

 

And Activision being Activision, don't expect them to sell the license cheaply.

 

Oh yes, activision is such activision

In the end Obsidian can make arcanum with different names.

Once there was the same situation. There was a game Wastelands, and Interplay was about to make second chapter of this game.

But license of wastelands title was EA's property. And in this situation Interplay just gave to a project different name.

That game was Fallout ;-)

[Sogg]

Activision owns Arcanum now.

 

And Activision being Activision, don't expect them to sell the license cheaply.

 

And, goddamn, Activision is a publisher and Obsidian is a developer. So there is no conflict, this is nornal situation when publisher owns the license to title

and give a work to developers to...develope the game on this license.

 

So all we need is to call Activision "Hey, guys, you can make a great RPG, just give Osidian a call"

[Purkake]

Doom and gloom. DOOM and GLOOM!

 

Try some indie stuff.

[Morgoth]

Try some indie stuff.

Dude, no, just...no. Once you walk down that alley, there's no way back.

 

Indies are a disgrace to the once proud and mighty PC gaming era.

 

@Sogg

 

Maybe you haven't realized it yet, but the business of Activision is only CoD.

Edited September 12, 2011 by Morgoth

[Walsingham]

I think it's right and proper to be inspired by great games of yesteryear. But IP isn't a zero sum affair. I have confidence in Obsidian being able to create NEW and awesome IP. We just need to keep encouraging them in that direction.

[Lexx]

Not we, but the mainstream media. They have to drop their mantra.

[Sogg]

I respect indie, but you know it can never compare with big projects, especially big and cool projects.

After all i agree, there is no differ will it be Arcanum remake, activision can go tj the hell and COD too.

I just speak about some steampunk rpg with it's unique atmosphere with strong *social* part(where dwarf can kill hundred elves with machinegun, right ;-))

[Sogg]

Not we, but the mainstream media. They have to drop their mantra.

 

Well maybe shoud make some mainstream media. I work in advertising sphere.

And for now i can say, that making popular web-site (about anything) is not very hard (and very cheap)

Most part of this sites dies just because of their poorest content (when content is poor good advertising just kills it faster))

[Walsingham]

when content is poor good advertising just kills it faster))

 

LOL. I guess so yes.

[Purkake]

I respect indie, but you know it can never compare with big projects, especially big and cool projects.

After all i agree, there is no differ will it be Arcanum remake, activision can go tj the hell and COD too.

I just speak about some steampunk rpg with it's unique atmosphere with strong *social* part(where dwarf can kill hundred elves with machinegun, right ;-))

Big projects come with big problems, including, but not limited to playing it safe, getting kicked in the ass by the publisher(s) and copious amounts of bugs.

 

Arcanum and PS:T were probably made on a (today's) higher end indie game budget. You can either sit on your ass and cry about the state of the AAA industry or actually go out and see what's out there.

Edited September 12, 2011 by Purkake

[WorstUsernameEver]

Big projects come with big problems, including, but not limited to playing it safe, getting kicked in the ass by the publisher(s) and copious amounts of bugs.

 

Arcanum and PS:T were probably made on a (today's) higher end indie game budget. You can either sit on your ass and cry about the state of the AAA industry or actually go out and see what's out there.

 

2 RPG there of which: one is not an indie, and whether the other qualifies as indie or not is highly suspect. Not doing good.

[Gizmo]

Well, fallout 3 (and mostly NV) proved that good concept can live in new actual form of graphics and gameplay process and interesting for new gamers which didn't even play in fallout 1 & 2.

 

Of course there is no reason to make another isometric 2D remake of arcanum or planescape. But you know i would be happy to play in a new game in arcanum world even on a fallout NV gameplay mechanics.

No one wants a 2d copy of the past, but I (personally) would want a 3D extension of the original games, and not a franken-shooter based on them.

[CoM_Solaufein]

There are plenty of games out there and plenty of old games with replay value. Dreaming for a part 2 or a remake of these games is slim at best.

[Sogg]

There are plenty of games out there and plenty of old games with replay value. Dreaming for a part 2 or a remake of these games is slim at best.

 

Say that to guys, who made and play Deus Ex human revolution. And to EA who working on syndicate, by the way X-com is coming too, That's good just because of good world concept.

For examle i know arcanum too good to play it anymore, i do it just because of music and atmosphere. We speak not about remakes or parts 2, we speak about ideas and concepts that must live, like it already been with fallout 3.

Or you say that developing Van Bouren project was slim? Or dreaming for and buying license and developing fallout3? Or i understand you not correctly?

[Walsingham]

Hang on. I'd draw a line between games which actually exploit the original IP, like Fallout 3, and games which only use the IP to exploit nostalgic old computer game reviewers as with the new X-COM.

 

I think this discussion would be a bit clearer if anyone could explain how IP is traded and how it can be exploited. Then told us what the various costs of those aspects are. Then told us what it costs to generate new IP.

 

I'm arguing MYSELF around to the point where it is surely better to put money into new talent and new ideas. Revamping the past may sound like polishing up that ol' chevy. BUt I suspect in a lot of cases you're simply putting Britney Spears into rehab.

[Sogg]

Hang on. I'd draw a line between games which actually exploit the original IP, like Fallout 3, and games which only use the IP to exploit nostalgic old computer game reviewers as with the new X-COM.

 

I think this discussion would be a bit clearer if anyone could explain how IP is traded and how it can be exploited. Then told us what the various costs of those aspects are. Then told us what it costs to generate new IP.

 

I'm arguing MYSELF around to the point where it is surely better to put money into new talent and new ideas. Revamping the past may sound like polishing up that ol' chevy. BUt I suspect in a lot of cases you're simply putting Britney Spears into rehab.

 

I agree. But in this case let's draw a line between titles and concept cultures. Shure new (good) talents and ideas are much better than any using of old stuff. But for example cyberpunk - this is genre, should we call anyone who make game in cyberpunk way that it using of old ideas? Certainly not. And because of i agree with you in last post i wrote that there is no need of *arcanum2*, allright. I just think that new cool rpg in steampunk will be great, there is no good and popular (if we can say it) rpg in this genre, only arcanum i remember, that's why i started this discussion with this title. While this discussion i changed my mind and now can make it clearer )

Because you know it's possible to call old idea RPG genre at all.

 

And by the way we haven't seen x-com yet, and if it will be a great game, i don't give a **** exploiting it will be or not.

[Walsingham]

I think I follow you. And if so, I think I agree.

 

However, we have to be careful how we express our demands. If we ask for another Arcanum then devs and publishers will just go "Oh god, not another one." If we ask for a steampunk game, which is steampunk because it combines imaginative machinery with old world adventure, notions of honour swordplay and giant mechanical bats, then I'd say that was a better 'pitch'.

 

I suppose in a way I'm saying that just as the industry has to sell us games, we have to sell the industry the games FIRST.

[Wombat]

Actually, I wouldn't stick to a particular setting as long as it is built around strong concepts. Personally, I'm fed up with a fantasy setting but, if someone comes up with interesting ideas which can be realized in such setting, I don't mind it. I just think that, even if something is marketed to pop culture, it doesn't necessarily mean it should be "dumbed down". If the same thing can be said to game-plays, why not to the content? And I think Obsidian is one of a few groups who are trying to make games of such synthesis.

[Sogg]

Absolutely. Because Obsidian remains best storyteller in industry. They tell very serious adult (maybe that's not the right word, i mean *not silly kid comic*) stories about human nature. It'll be cool to see new BIG story from them, not just DLC to NV =)

[Nonek]

Playing through Torment once again, my gut coiling with trepidation and scarred hands shaking as I approach Ravel and know that eventually the question will. Must. Be asked.

 

What can change the nature of an industry?

 

Is it potent and clever protagonists who can shape the world through their actions, is it confrontations with unique and dangerous enemies who you can hate and pity but must always respect, perhaps it is the women, strong, broken, devious and blunt whose writing humbles the two dimensional barely discerned sketches we see in other games or maybe it is the reactive worlds and factions that shift and slide around the hero swimming in the seas of self forged fate.

 

Probably not, most likely it is sales and latching on to powerful franchises and then repeating infinite permutaions of the same weak stories and solid gameplay with minor tweaks each year so that another edition can be bought. (An infinite modron maze.) But it shouldn't be, the industry lumbers forward on the whipped and bloody backs of lumbering oxen and nobody sees that they have lost the path and the few lone wolves who still dart into the mists of originality and innovation clouding the road ahead are cast out and mocked for the smallest of flaws.

 

Yeah, i've had a couple of shandies but i'll say this: In vino veritas. Hell I was tepid on the charms of the new wasteland until a bullet in the head opened my eyes and let me see a new fire burning in an old fireplace.

Edited September 15, 2011 by Nonek

[Rostere]

Playing through Torment once again, my gut coiling with trepidation and scarred hands shaking as I approach Ravel and know that eventually the question will. Must. Be asked.

 

What can change the nature of an industry?

 

Is it potent and clever protagonists who can shape the world through their actions, is it confrontations with unique and dangerous enemies who you can hate and pity but must always respect, perhaps it is the women, strong, broken, devious and blunt whose writing humbles the two dimensional barely discerned sketches we see in other games or maybe it is the reactive worlds and factions that shift and slide around the hero swimming in the seas of self forged fate.

 

Probably not, most likely it is sales and latching on to powerful franchises and then repeating infinite permutaions of the same weak stories and solid gameplay with minor tweaks each year so that another edition can be bought. (An infinite modron maze.) But it shouldn't be, the industry lumbers forward on the whipped and bloody backs of lumbering oxen and nobody sees that they have lost the path and the few lone wolves who still dart into the mists of originality and innovation clouding the road ahead are cast out and mocked for the smallest of flaws.

 

Yeah, i've had a couple of shandies but i'll say this: In vino veritas. Hell I was tepid on the charms of the new wasteland until a bullet in the head opened my eyes and let me see a new fire burning in an old fireplace.

 

Amen, brother...