[Merged] Please make a console version!

[MReed]

NWN_babaYaga:  Please let a game (any game) which was released on both the PC and the console where the UI wasn't clearly superior on one or the other platforms (99.9% of the time, the UI will be superior on the console -- but there are a few exceptions, such as DA:O, where the game was ported very late in its development cycle).  The fact that one can use a console controller on a PC (and, technically speaking, a mouse and keyboard on a console) isn't a valid reason for a PC games interface to be inferior when the primary input controller for the platform is used instead.

 

Assuming that you cannot, then add in the fact that the console interface is generally (> 90%) favored over the PC interface -- due, in large part, to the simple fact that there is much, much more money to be made in that space, but also the fact that a controller based interface can be used on a PC, but a K&M interface is always awful on consoles -- then it makes quite a bit of sense for PC gamers to want certain titles to be PC exclusive.

 

This does not mean:

* Console games are intrinsically bad or inferior in some way to PC games.  They are just different.

* PC/Console games cannot be good on the PC.  Such games start with an intrinsic disadventage in comparison to PC only games, but can be good, even superior, games.  Of course, they would have been better (on the PC) if the UI had not been compromised to support consoles...

* Gamers who prefer to play games on consoles are in some way inferior to gamers that play games exclusively on the PC

 

In short, advocating for this game to be a PC exclusive title both now and post-release (due to the hoped for PoE 2 game) has nothing to do with the question "Which is better, PC games or console games."

[NWN_babaYaga]

A RPG that is streamlined for console and PC doesnt mean it has to be bad. I´m used to PC gaming (keyboard + mouse) but i dont care anymore what other platforms a game company supports as long the game i play works for me. Every UI is different so i had to learn a few in my gaming experience (and i can just accept how it works without getting a wet forehead) and the only thing i worry is the renderer of the engine , the camera and that the game is a could-fit-for-every-nobody(consumer) something in the end.

 

So streamlining a game can be bad if they want to reach just the average default mindset (or lowest common denominatior) of gamers today imo!

 

And today they get away with everything and that is the GAMERS fault (or of the fanboy clubs that are honestly just awkward). companys can sell you any sh++ and know they get away with their garbage! Thats why i wait for honest and brutal reviews from gamers. But i doubt Obsidian screwed up anyone in their past (like ....), even i disliked NWN2 i know they did not sell trash!

 

About PoE2.... i dont have PoE yet....

Edited August 8, 2014 by NWN_babaYaga

[Archaven]

To be very honest, consoles ruined gaming. 100 spells became 10 spells? Inventory grid became scroll list? Meaningful RPGs became button mashers? Imagine you can have more people in a city or a crowd for immersion and it has to be reduced on consoles? AI has to be simplified? Pathing and complex calculations need to be optimized? really look at The Witcher 2 UI forced upon PC gamers? The Witcher 3 will be no different. Allowing few extra particle effects on a PC make it not consolized? Game has to be first made on PC with proper menus/UI. If a game goes multi-platform, PC version will be dumbed-down because the devs want to treat everyone equally.

 

Know what a console gamer will tell you about Divinity Original Sins? "Pirated it and it's complete crap. I still prefer my consoles".

Edited August 9, 2014 by Archaven

[NWN_babaYaga]

Thats an interesting topic how consoles have dumbed down games for PC. When i remember my first computer... which was an Atari 2600 that was a console. Then i got a c64 etc... so i think consoles came first. At least to me! But i agree that some games should be developed only on one specific platform. Imagine something like operation wolf with WASD keys only...

 

But ruined gaming? If anything ruined gaming then it is the developers first (here i mean a few specific and not everyone in the industry) and then the gamers with no taste (so it seems to me). When the devs would just doing games instead of "products" because it is their PASSION and part of their life then things would be different. The adventure genre would be different for sure...

 

And that some console duergars say that about DOS but surely get horny talking about COD is just our time. It´s pop. Gaming today is POP we have streamlined music, games and TV. The whole media is streamlined but there are enough real things outthere for me to enjoy.

Edited August 9, 2014 by NWN_babaYaga

[Bryy]

Know what a console gamer will tell you about Divinity Original Sins? "Pirated it and it's complete crap. I still prefer my consoles".

Know what is great at ruining your credibility in a thread? Making up quotes to demonize the other side.

[Gleipnir]

I have a better idea! Lets port it to DOS! Just think! 8 colours! KILObytes of RAM! It would be the talk of the town! Of course after the fact port wouldn't work. You see, DOS can't support any of the art, engine or sound, let alone the interface. So let's keep in mind that we port the game on DOS while it's being developed! SO it can be released at the same time! Brilliant, no?

[Bryy]

I have a better idea! Lets port it to DOS! Just think! 8 colours! KILObytes of RAM! It would be the talk of the town! Of course after the fact port wouldn't work. You see, DOS can't support any of the art, engine or sound, let alone the interface. So let's keep in mind that we port the game on DOS while it's being developed! SO it can be released at the same time! Brilliant, no?

Strawmen don't help, either.

[anameforobsidian]

To be very honest, consoles ruined gaming. 100 spells became 10 spells? Inventory grid became scroll list? Meaningful RPGs became button mashers? Imagine you can have more people in a city or a crowd for immersion and it has to be reduced on consoles? AI has to be simplified? Pathing and complex calculations need to be optimized? really look at The Witcher 2 UI forced upon PC gamers? The Witcher 3 will be no different. Allowing few extra particle effects on a PC make it not consolized? Game has to be first made on PC with proper menus/UI. If a game goes multi-platform, PC version will be dumbed-down because the devs want to treat everyone equally.

 

Know what a console gamer will tell you about Divinity Original Sins? "Pirated it and it's complete crap. I still prefer my consoles".

 

Consoles didn't kill meaningful RPGs.  The epic mismanagement of Interplay, increasing development costs, risk-focused publishers, and most importantly Diablo ****ing II did that.  Yes, we might have gotten Fallout 3 from Interplay instead of a dreadful X-box game without consoles, but the overall trends would have been the same on console and computer, the need for mass market appeal to cover the very expensive costs of technology.  Consoles certainly didn't drive Troika in the ground.

 

Yes, the technical limitations of consoles have games for the last two or three years of their lifespan, but the new consoles are out and we have quite a bit of time until old console tech starts to drag performance again.  Besides that, I've welcomed the technological stability consoles have provided; now you don't have to upgrade your pc every five ****ing seconds and wade through pages of epeen fencing to know if your pc will run a game.  That's a good thing.

 

Finally, it's not like the Witcher was an RPG designed by mensa in the first place.  Your gameplay varied from chaining clicks to switching swords and chaining clicks.  The decision to move potion drinking before the fight was not really necessitated by consoles, it was a bad design decision.  The combat was hardly complex enough that they couldn't spare a button to go to a wheel for hotkeyed potions.  It would be a slight annoyance, but a slight annoyance doesn't translate into bad design.

 

And this is coming from someone who mildly dislikes the idea of a console port.  But either way, you don't change History to fit your viewpoints.

 

On the subject of whether they should make the port itself, I remember how much it sucked when the PC was passed over by **** devs who assumed that games couldn't be played without gamepads (most games can with the ability to configure keysettings, and tutorials that read those settings).  So, if I didn't like something, why would I wish it on someone else?  Of course, all that relies on the fact that the game would stay PC-centric.

[Silverfox]

Forgive me as I don't know all the gory details about the differences in registers, stacks, threads and all that other stuff that goes on under the hood. But isn't the most significant difference between PC & consoles the control scheme? One has keyboard & mouse vs a controller.

 

I have one of those dongles that lets me use an Xbox 360 controller on my computer. Using all four shoulder buttons I can easily have 20 different keybinds. Plus the d-pad and 2 analogue sticks. In WoW - excluding movement keys - I typically use about 10-12 keys.

 

I hope they considered consoles when they started building the foundation of the game. It would be a shame to spend all this time, effort & money and only develop a product that can be used by a small percentage of the available audience.

 

By the way, I consider myself to be platform agnostic, I have a pc, X360, PS3 & expect that I will be getting a PS4 shortly.

[Night Stalker]

I hope they considered consoles when they started building the foundation of the game. It would be a shame to spend all this time, effort & money and only develop a product that can be used by a small percentage of the available audience.

 

I think the only effort they put into making it multiplatform was to build the game in the Unity engine.

[Bryy]

Saying that consoles ruined gaming is such a hyperbole that other hyperboles ask it for candy money.

[Flow]

Saying that consoles ruined gaming is such a hyperbole that other hyperboles ask it for candy money.

 

Considering the Atari 2600 was out before PCs were affordable for most people, it's probably fair to say consoles came first.

[Bryy]

 

Saying that consoles ruined gaming is such a hyperbole that other hyperboles ask it for candy money.

 

Considering the Atari 2600 was out before PCs were affordable for most people, it's probably fair to say consoles came first.

 

Quiet! Before someone casually mentions the Crash!

[ManifestedISO]

I was ten when the Crash of '83 happened. Of course I didn't realize it ... all I knew was, we finally got a second-hand 2600 and a ton of games for cheap. Might as well have been all-new to me. That feeling of not having to put quarters into an arcade to play video games, priceless. 

 

After watching the Gamescom videos, I changed my mind and have no desire for a PoE console version. I need my whole hand covering a mouse to enjoy it, I'm certain. 

Edited August 18, 2014 by ManifestedISO

[Silverfox]

I have come to the conclusion that "PC VS consoles" is, what I call, a "hot button topic" in that everyone who talks about it has strong opinions and tend to get really upset. Another flame-worthy topic is females' clothing. Bring that topic up and watch the flaming start!

 

In the end OE is an company that produces entertainment which in this case just happens to be PC games. If they decide that they want to sit on their product instead of trying to maximize their revenue, then that is their decision. If I was an investor I would want them to be as successful as possible, and for as long as possible. As a gamer I want the same so that we can get bug fixes*, expansion packs, new versions and so on and so forth.

 

By the way, there's a little game called Diablo II that is coming out on PC and the consoles (X360, X-One, PS3 & PS4), which is a sequel. I have a license to Diablo and have played the trial version on the X360, and they are both very good.

 

* was it ToEE or London's Gate that the company went under immediately after release?

[Bryy]

In the end OE is an company that produces entertainment which in this case just happens to be PC games. If they decide that they want to sit on their product instead of trying to maximize their revenue, then that is their decision.

Basically.

[TreebeardTheEnt]

cRPGs are inherently designed for a keyboard/mouse interface. To be released on a console would require not only a revamped control scheme, but an entirely different UI and default camera options, see the differences between PC and console Dragon Age: Origins for an example.

[Luridis]

 

Saying that consoles ruined gaming is such a hyperbole that other hyperboles ask it for candy money.

 

Considering the Atari 2600 was out before PCs were affordable for most people, it's probably fair to say consoles came first.

 

 

Nope... Both the Apple II and Commodore Pet were out a few months before. However, if you go back to the earliest video games in general, they were out long before this. In short, people have been making games for computers for as long as they have existed.

 

http://www.old-computers.com/history/timeline.asp

Edited December 26, 2014 by Luridis

[Wolfitz]

I think a console version might be difficult to implement because of the game mechanics of POE... but, I think the WiiU would be ideal, especially with the game pad that has touch screen.  You could manage inventory, character settings, combat management, etc. through the wiiu's touch screen game pad.  The console is more than powerful enough to run high-fidelity games (relatively); it runs Black Flag, Watch Dogs, etc. at decent enough visuals (especially black flag and deus ex).  The only real issue is how many nintendo players would actually find POE interesting enough to buy.  The greatest risk for consoles is the whether there is enough interest in the console scene to justify investing in making a console version of the game, especially for a type of game that is notoriously pc oriented. 

[Tel Prydain]

I'm mainly a console player, and I'd love to see it on Xbox One if the time is right. A few caveats though:
* Backers paid for the PC version. It needs to be out, stable and supported by DLC before the console version is started.

* They probably want to watch how Banner Saga and Wasteland 2 do on Xbox before making any plans.

 

At the end of the day, Obsidian are a business. More money for them means more games for us. If the PC version is finished and Wasteland 2 does good business on the Xbox, they'd be silly not to follow suit.

[Sanquiz]

If they get more money porting it to consoles like inXile is doing with Wasteland 2 then go for it.

[lightblade75]

I do hate those console games! Role playing games (except those from Japan) are not suitable for consoles.

For a good cRPG you need at last a keyboard and a mouse.

PoE can not be converted properly to a (modern) console with no keyboard and no mouse.

 

Lets see how many copies from PoE will / can be sold in the first 3 month after release.

I guess Obsidian will make enough money with this and will not have to do a console port for PoE.

[Mazisky]

They could do a port just to sell maximum 5 copies...and go bankrupt

[Tel Prydain]

Well that's why they need to watching Wasteland 2 and see how that does first.

If Wasteland bombs, then avoid the console arena - if Wasteland is a hit, look at getting some of the pie... AFTER finishing the PC version.

 

And it makes more sense for Obsidian to make a console port - they've made plenty of console games, whereas inExile haven't had nearly the same experience.  
 

 

I do hate those console games! Role playing games (except those from Japan) are not suitable for consoles.

For a good cRPG you need at last a keyboard and a mouse.

PoE can not be converted properly to a (modern) console with no keyboard and no mouse.

 

Lets see how many copies from PoE will / can be sold in the first 3 month after release.

I guess Obsidian will make enough money with this and will not have to do a console port for PoE.

 

I disagree. With just everything you've said.

[Bryy]

They could do a port just to sell maximum 5 copies...and go bankrupt

The logic in this post is friggin' outstanding.