What Game Should Obsidian Make

[Lostbrain]

Existing IP : -A New World of Darkness cRPG (Vampire the Requiem, Werewolf : the Forsaken... Or why not a Mummy : The Curse cRPG ?)

-An Exalted cRPG.

-Call of Cthulhu cRPG.

-Deadlands cRPG.

-a cRPG inspired by the universe Alastair Reynolds create with his novel "Revelation Space"

-My Little Pony cRPG (What you say ? "No" ?)

 

Non existing IP : - A cRPG who set in the modern days.

[AGX-17]

The good one. Also, suggesting Obsidian should make a video game of a manga/anime = AHAHAHA

Just make Fallout 4 already, I have nothing to play!!

Also a laugh-worthy statement given the reality that Bethesda owns the Fallout IP and there's strong evidence Fallout 4 is in development at BGS. Edited April 16, 2013 by AGX-17

[Aoyagi]

 

Alpha Protocol 2, please.

The thing with Alpha Protocol is that in order for Obsidian to make a game with the "cinematic experience" they need more money than the kickstarter is able to provide. They would be better having 2 or 3 kickstarted games out there first bringing them money, so they could put 10 million of their own on top of the money they would make from kickstarter.

Actually, I would be very interested in knowing how much did development of AP cost. By that I mean excluding that piece of crap marketing and completely useless publisher.

[alanschu]

Given the game seems to have had a very bumpy and unclean development, I would bet "expensive"

[LadyCrimson]

Sci-fi with different planets and ship travel. No, I don't mean KOTOR3. Something original/new. Not apocalyptic or fantasy-magic and preferably no zombies. Not that those are bad things, it'd just be nice to have something that felt different again. Maybe something more like Blade Runner in world atmosphere might be interesting, but a little less dark.

[Elerond]

Space trader/exploration rpg, where you travel planet to planet for reason or another and these planets usually have some problems that causes them not to be able to trade with you or give assistance to your space exploration before those issues are solved in one way or another.

 

So no super epic plot, at least not in the beginning, but more like your typical space adventure novel where heroes travel in space for some very ordinary reson, which may or may not be their ultimate goal. But these adventures are always full of politics, fights (in space and on the planets and between), intriques, spying, sneaking and etc. things that typical rpgs are full also.

[Humanoid]

At this point I don't really mind what setting or themes they go with, but would like their next game to be focused on single-character gameplay given the relative glut of party-based titles arriving within the next couple of years.

[LadyCrimson]

I like companions in my rpg's tho...so I'd still like to at least be able to have one or two followers. Doesn't have to be a full party. And can be optional/mostly option, like FNV.

 

I'd like an RPG that felt a bit more sandboxy, too...but not in the same way as the Elder Scrolls games. I'm not sure I could describe what I mean/want, very well, however.

[Humanoid]

I have no specific objection against the idea of optional companions, but I do have concerns in that it does present a bit of an additional resource sink and creates potential balancing issue. Encounter difficulty obviously, and various quest dependencies either of practical or purely character impact. I guess for a good number of people, the simple existence of companion quests like NV would also create somewhat of an obligation to drag them along for completionist purposes. At the other extreme is the personality-less henchmen concept, such as the one currently being proposed for Original Sin.

 

Ultimately I guess we'd be expecting Obsidian to do a good job with any companion writing, such that it'd be a massive drain if they were designed as supplementary content instead of being core to the game. So in the context of fairly tight budgets, I'd say the all-or-nothing approach holds some appeal there.

 

With a bit of stretching, one could argue that AP's handlers were companions of a sort, always sort of there without being actively involved in combat. Or for a recent example I guess there's Bioshock Infinite, though I wouldn't say that'd be a good implementation for an RPG.

[exodiark]

Eh, there's one franchise with a very, very huge potential for Obsidian.

Dr. Who

Yes, the longest running sci fi program with huge loyal fanbase and surprisingly few games on their belt. Since Obsidian has lots of great writers, making the first full-fledged RPG for the series would cement Obsidian's involvement in their fanbase and would be beneficial for Obsidian in the long run.

Besides, the Whoniverse looks fun to write, because anything goes there :D

Edited April 17, 2013 by exodiark

[midnite rule]

I'm not a big comic book guy, but I'd love a cRPG set in Jack Kirby's Fourth World.

[LadyCrimson]

@Humanoid - I can understand those types of concerns/considerations. It is more work to create fleshed out companions, which is generally more preferable than mindless combat followers. I'd certainly prefer them to focus on the game/world itself over companions if it came down to that.

 

There's just something about being "alone" in a vast RPG game that I find a bit off-putting tho...one of the things I didn't like about MW. Then they put companions in Skyrim and I didn't like the ones they made/how they did it, vs. something like Kotor's or even FNV. :/ So they do need to be done well, or not at all.

[AGX-17]

Eh, there's one franchise with a very, very huge potential for Obsidian.

 

Dr. Who

 

Yes, the longest running sci fi program with huge loyal fanbase and surprisingly few games on their belt. Since Obsidian has lots of great writers, making the first full-fledged RPG for the series would cement Obsidian's involvement in their fanbase and would be beneficial for Obsidian in the long run.

 

Besides, the Whoniverse looks fun to write, because anything goes there :D

Dr. Who games have already been made, and they've all been bad. To be done properly it must either be a puzzle game or an adventure game. Neither is Obsidian's forte. Also the character of The Doctor is sacrosanct, you couldn't let the player make choices for him.

[exodiark]

 

Eh, there's one franchise with a very, very huge potential for Obsidian.

 

Dr. Who

 

Yes, the longest running sci fi program with huge loyal fanbase and surprisingly few games on their belt. Since Obsidian has lots of great writers, making the first full-fledged RPG for the series would cement Obsidian's involvement in their fanbase and would be beneficial for Obsidian in the long run.

 

Besides, the Whoniverse looks fun to write, because anything goes there :D

Dr. Who games have already been made, and they've all been bad. To be done properly it must either be a puzzle game or an adventure game. Neither is Obsidian's forte. Also the character of The Doctor is sacrosanct, you couldn't let the player make choices for him.

 

Why are you limiting the genre? The TV series actually have nothing to do with puzzles (it's not Dora, for sure), and yet they actually make a puzzle game for Dr. Who. I'm sure Obsi can make an RPG based on Whoniverse, action-adventure RPG like Alpha Protocol kinda suits Dr. Who vibe, with more timey wimey and nasty consequences.

 

I'm not sure why you can't choose for The Doctor, he is often faced with terrible dilemmas with no right or wrong. Because of this, parallel universes, what-if scenarios are not unheard of in Whoniverse and its spin-off medias. I think fans will appreciate the chance to feel what it's like to be the Doctor, having to choose such terrible choices.

Edited April 19, 2013 by exodiark

[Blarghagh]

Ravenloft would be pretty awesome. I'd love to see Avellone playing with pretty much every horror trope you can find.

[Ilerian]

Good day people. Also accept please my excuse for any grammatical and semantic mistakes - English is not my native language. Later I can duplicate this text on russian, if you want).

 

So, let us have a little chat about the new-Obsidian-game-which-not-be-done.

 

First of all, what kind of game it should be? cRPG? Fantasy cRPG? No. Of course, Obsidian's Fantasy cRPG whill be wery good. But it will not make money for the company. No doubt, you people love this kind of games. Fallout, Planescape, Newerwinter Nights 2... God, I grew up on this games. And I love them as much as you. But we are few. This Obsidian's Fantasy cRPG game can not create the new customer base. Game is a product, and product must be sold. How much people will buy Project Eternity? How do you think? Even in the best scenario profits will be not enough for creating new AAA-project. So, how about Action-RPG? We allready have god experience of Fallout:New Vegas. About 6 000 000 sold copies, as I know, may be more in these latter days. And we have example of Mass Effect and Skyrim. Yes, that's our way - Action RPG. Modern gamers knew what kind of game it is and ready pay for it.

 

Second question - IP. This will be Action-RPG about what? I hear a lot of title names: Battle Angel Alita, Legacy of Kain, Warhammer (40000 and FB), Dr., God'damn,  Who... What the Hell happend with you, people? Really. why you whant give your money to the owner of IP? Are you forget, that money from Fallout: New Vegas goes to Bethesda? How long you think greatest rpg-studio on the world must make games and have nothing from it? So, we need a new IP. Our own IP. But we allready create our own IP - Alpha protocol, and it's busted. So, we must use an "new-old-ip". Title wich disappeared from big scene for a lon time. Like it was with Fallout in 2008, or how it was with Wasteland now. But what title it must be? Isewind Dale? Noup, Interplay and Wizards of the Coast keep this IP. What about Planescape? Oh, we allready have Torment in progress... Sounds, like we have not our own IP. Yes, we haven't. But our Senior programmer have! Tim Cain and his Arcanum. Arcanum have a history, it have a name. It's make a PR-program much more easyer and cheaper, than a cration of new AAA-IP.

And here we are - Arcanum Action-RPG. I think, I told enough for now. If you want, I can tell about the setting or/and gamepaly, but it's not nesesary right now. 

 

And again - accept my excuse for any grammatical and semantic mistakes - English is not my native language.

[Malekith]

Good day people. Also accept please my excuse for any grammatical and semantic mistakes - English is not my native language. Later I can duplicate this text on russian, if you want).

 

So, let us have a little chat about the new-Obsidian-game-which-not-be-done.

 

First of all, what kind of game it should be? cRPG? Fantasy cRPG? No. Of course, Obsidian's Fantasy cRPG whill be wery good. But it will not make money for the company. No doubt, you people love this kind of games. Fallout, Planescape, Newerwinter Nights 2... God, I grew up on this games. And I love them as much as you. But we are few. This Obsidian's Fantasy cRPG game can not create the new customer base. Game is a product, and product must be sold. How much people will buy Project Eternity? How do you think? Even in the best scenario profits will be not enough for creating new AAA-project. So, how about Action-RPG? We allready have god experience of Fallout:New Vegas. About 6 000 000 sold copies, as I know, may be more in these latter days. And we have example of Mass Effect and Skyrim. Yes, that's our way - Action RPG. Modern gamers knew what kind of game it is and ready pay for it.

 

Second question - IP. This will be Action-RPG about what? I hear a lot of title names: Battle Angel Alita, Legacy of Kain, Warhammer (40000 and FB), Dr., God'damn,  Who... What the Hell happend with you, people? Really. why you whant give your money to the owner of IP? Are you forget, that money from Fallout: New Vegas goes to Bethesda? How long you think greatest rpg-studio on the world must make games and have nothing from it? So, we need a new IP. Our own IP. But we allready create our own IP - Alpha protocol, and it's busted. So, we must use an "new-old-ip". Title wich disappeared from big scene for a lon time. Like it was with Fallout in 2008, or how it was with Wasteland now. But what title it must be? Isewind Dale? Noup, Interplay and Wizards of the Coast keep this IP. What about Planescape? Oh, we allready have Torment in progress... Sounds, like we have not our own IP. Yes, we haven't. But our Senior programmer have! Tim Cain and his Arcanum. Arcanum have a history, it have a name. It's make a PR-program much more easyer and cheaper, than a cration of new AAA-IP.

 

And here we are - Arcanum Action-RPG. I think, I told enough for now. If you want, I can tell about the setting or/and gamepaly, but it's not nesesary right now. 

 

And again - accept my excuse for any grammatical and semantic mistakes - English is not my native language.

First of all, Arcanum belonges to Activision, not to Tim Cain.

Second, if Obsidian has the money from P:E sales to make their own Skyrim clone, more power to them. I will be happy that my favorite company is succesfull and become full indipendent. Having said that, i won't play it, and i don't think they can kickstart something like this. Too expencive, and the people that like these kind of games aren't the same people involved in Kickstarter in general. All of the succesfull projects until now were for the kind of games the market doesn't produse until now.

[Ilerian]

First of all, Arcanum belonges to Activision, not to Tim Cain.

Second, if Obsidian has the money from P:E sales to make their own Skyrim clone, more power to them. I will be happy that my favorite company is succesfull and become full indipendent. Having said that, i won't play it, and i don't think they can kickstart something like this. Too expencive, and the people that like these kind of games aren't the same people involved in Kickstarter in general. All of the succesfull projects until now were for the kind of games the market doesn't produse until now.

 

 

I never said that it must be a Skyrim clone. I said, that it's must be the first-person rpg.

Edited April 20, 2013 by Ilerian

[Malekith]

 

First of all, Arcanum belonges to Activision, not to Tim Cain.

Second, if Obsidian has the money from P:E sales to make their own Skyrim clone, more power to them. I will be happy that my favorite company is succesfull and become full indipendent. Having said that, i won't play it, and i don't think they can kickstart something like this. Too expencive, and the people that like these kind of games aren't the same people involved in Kickstarter in general. All of the succesfull projects until now were for the kind of games the market doesn't produse until now.

 

 

I never said that it must be a Skyrim clone. I said, that it's must be the first-person rpg.

 

Same thing. First person or third person OTS require high quality 3D graphics in order to be competetive in todays market. So they are more excpensive than kickstarter has shown to provide for. The only way is for P:E to be a big hit, and maybe P:E 2 or Obsidian's next cRPG as well. Then they can take the profits and make a game that costs 20+ millions.

In fact if their isometric cRPGs are successfull, i expect them to make their own action/open world/shooter/whatever AAA game at some point in the future. It only makes sense, and i really hope that they manage to became fully indipendent and even publish their own games. As long as they keep doing 2D isometric cRPGs, i don't see why they shouldn't make other type of games too.

[Ilerian]

Same thing. First person or third person OTS require high quality 3D graphics in order to be competetive in todays market. So they are more excpensive than kickstarter has shown to provide for. The only way is for P:E to be a big hit, and maybe P:E 2 or Obsidian's next cRPG as well. Then they can take the profits and make a game that costs 20+ millions.

 

Well, as I say Obsidian already made one first-person action-RPG and one third person action-RPG, isn't it? With publisher, yes, but hey, how many AAA-games go on market without publisher?

 

Oh, and one more thing. Can you say, is my english readable? I do not know, may be I must just shut up and go learn language again...

[Malekith]

 

Same thing. First person or third person OTS require high quality 3D graphics in order to be competetive in todays market. So they are more excpensive than kickstarter has shown to provide for. The only way is for P:E to be a big hit, and maybe P:E 2 or Obsidian's next cRPG as well. Then they can take the profits and make a game that costs 20+ millions.

 

Well, as I say Obsidian already made one first-person action-RPG and one third person action-RPG, isn't it? With publisher, yes, but hey, how many AAA-games go on market without publisher?

 

Oh, and one more thing. Can you say, is my english readable? I do not know, may be I must just shut up and go learn language again...

 

Your english are fine. As for AAA games without a publiser, i don't know many. Only CDPR makes the Witchers, but they have private investors to provide the money. Plus they are located in Poland where the wages are half from those in California. If devs could provide 20 - 30 million by themselves they wouldn't need publisers and the industry would be a much better place.

[exodiark]

Second question - IP. This will be Action-RPG about what? I hear a lot of title names: Battle Angel Alita, Legacy of Kain, Warhammer (40000 and FB), Dr., God'damn,  Who... What the Hell happend with you, people? Really. why you whant give your money to the owner of IP? Are you forget, that money from Fallout: New Vegas goes to Bethesda? How long you think greatest rpg-studio on the world must make games and have nothing from it? So, we need a new IP. Our own IP. But we allready create our own IP - Alpha protocol, and it's busted. So, we must use an "new-old-ip". Title wich disappeared from big scene for a lon time. Like it was with Fallout in 2008, or how it was with Wasteland now. But what title it must be? Isewind Dale? Noup, Interplay and Wizards of the Coast keep this IP. What about Planescape? Oh, we allready have Torment in progress... Sounds, like we have not our own IP. Yes, we haven't. But our Senior programmer have! Tim Cain and his Arcanum. Arcanum have a history, it have a name. It's make a PR-program much more easyer and cheaper, than a cration of new AAA-IP.

You know there's a reason why Obsidian keep pitching Fallout New Vegas 2 and new Star Wars game?

New IPs are very, very risky for both developers and publisher (Alpha Protocol). Even PE has to be developed with Kickstarter, since publishers won't fund CRPGs in 2010s

I think, until Obsi is as big as Bioware, it's safer for them to use third-party IPs.

[Ilerian]

 

 as big as Bioware, it's safer for them to use third-party IPs.

 

 

BioWare use a EA money for making Mass Effect...

 

I must admit, news about Arcanum and Activision was an unpleasant surprise for me.

[Malekith]

It was a great setting. And it's not like Activision will ever use it.

[alanschu]

 

 

BioWare use a EA money for making Mass Effect...

 

The first Mass Effect has MS as the publisher.

 

Although today the distinction between BioWare and EA is non-existent.  Of course BioWare uses EA money, given they are owned by EA.