Incline Chris Avellone Appreciation Station

[Infinitron]

A clever way of dealing with the issue of why you couldn't take a detachment of Flaming Fist soldiers with you to take on Sarevok would be to say something about how they can't be trusted because they've been infiltrated by Sarevok sympathizers under Angelo Dosan.

Actually, I wonder if Siege of Dragonspear won't use that plot element somehow, since MCA says it goes into some detail on the political situation in the city after Sarevok's downfall.

 

[Lhynn]

No one's going to trust him again once the news gets out.

As if he needed that, this is forgotten realms.

That group that's not with him is there to kill him. They just try to kill you first because Bioware.

Actually you are right. I dont see the problem with that, cutthroat mercenaries dont like to share.

 

[Roguey]

I dont see the problem with that, cutthroat mercenaries dont like to share.

You don't have the option of just letting them go in and fail at killing him because they didn't script such a thing.

 

[Lhynn]

You don't have the option of just letting them go in and fail at killing him because they didn't script such a thing.

An option of letting them go? why would they go? arent they interested in the same thing you are? why would you have an option they arent giving you? Should they have added rat diplomacy as well?
If your point is "but they didnt cover all the possible bases or actions a player character could take within their narrative", then you are correct. While they were at it they should have codded several retirement endings, so that you at any point in the game hang your adventuring gear and go get a farm or buy a store.
Your point is that they should have put more content into their game, and i agree, and i bet they agree too, but at some point you have to ship it, as VD should be able to tell you.

 

[Roguey]

You don't have the option of just letting them go in and fail at killing him because they didn't script such a thing.

An option of letting them go? why would they go? arent they interested in the same thing you are? why would you have an option they arent giving you? Should they have added rat diplomacy as well?
If your point is "but they didnt cover all the possible bases or actions a player character could take within their narrative", then you are correct. While they were at it they should have codded several retirement endings, so that you at any point in the game hang your adventuring gear and go get a farm or buy a store.
Your point is that they should have put more content into their game, and i agree, and i bet they agree too, but at some point you have to ship it, as VD should be able to tell you.

They're in there because they want to kill Sarevok, but they never attempt any such thing; instead they just stand there forever until they see you and then they try to kill you. Bioware put all these situations in their alleged-role-playing-game even though they didn't have to.

You seem quite surprised that I would have take issue with BG's lack of role playing options. Classic Codex thought it was a lame action-adventure.

 

[Lhynn]

They're in there because they want to kill Sarevok, but they never attempt any such thing; instead they just stand there forever until they see you and then they try to kill you. Bioware put all these situations in their alleged-role-playing-game even though they didn't have to.

You seem quite surprised that I would have take issue with BG's lack of role playing options. Classic Codex thought it was a lame action-adventure.

And dogmeat will stay at junktown in that house forever. and you can go around it and never interact with it and this will not change. What about enemies found in random encounters? why cant i talk to them? Maybe i can reason with them, they may have families, why cant i convince them to follow me? why cant i talk to the rats in the starting cave? reason with them? they may be able to understand me. Why cant i create a makeshift trap and lure them there? Why cant i at least try, even if i know im going to fail?
Does that make fallout a lame action adventure too? Shouldnt player inaction be acknowledged as well?
CRPGs will never be as open to possibilities as PnP is. It just isnt going to happen, you have to accept those limitations.

Plus i never called the game perfect, im just saying, those things are fairly acceptable and expected of the game, especially after playing it all the way to that point.

 

[dukeofwhales]

They're in there because they want to kill Sarevok, but they never attempt any such thing; instead they just stand there forever until they see you and then they try to kill you

You have to maintain some suspension of disbelief - this is just how encounters are. You have to believe that had you arrived slightly later they would have already had a crack at Sarevok, just the same as you have to believe that Baldur's Gate is full of more people than the 100-or-so NPCs and 25 houses that you can see and interact with, and that "urgent quests" don't suddenly manifest in NPCs the moment you speak to them when you've seen them hanging around on that map for weeks before that.

 

[IHaveHugeNick]

You guys probably given BG2 more thought by now, than Bioware ever did.

 

[CrawlingDead]

Thanks Chris Avellone for the Pariah Dog. I got to the Oil Rig, and all the Enclave Soldiers dropped their plasma rifles. Mine was destroyed upon firing. I really think it was the dog who saved the wasteland in this game...

 

[Beastro]

You guys probably given RPGs more thought by now, than developers ever did.

fixed

 

[IHaveHugeNick]

fixed

 

[Fairfax]

MCA has been very talkative:






Very odd that Obsidian hasn't even told him what they're doing with the novella. This isn't the first time he's mentione the 1st draft was done.
I didn't know there would be two TTON graphic novels (wasn't it just a comic for a companion at first?), should be pretty cool.

 

[Roguey]

Unsurprising that yet another project of his ended up ballooning.

I'd like to think that no one at Obsidian has even bothered to look at the novella and they're hoping everyone will just quietly forget it while they churn out short stories from their current employees.

 

[Doktor Best]

Humm... Did he fuck Sawyers wife or what is going on here?

I mean.. the only reason to let this slip under the carpet is to fuck with him. Its literally lost publicity/money for them.

 

[Sensuki]

Don't know but it's enjoyable drama. Bring on the popcorn IMO.

Someone should go and post that one about the draft being done ages ago on the Obsidian forums

 

[Fairfax]

Definitely seems like something out of spite, but they have to release it now. It was promised in the campaign, sold as an add-on and is still advertised on the steam store. It wont be just PR damage if they dont.

 

[Sensuki]

They don't have to release it, they changed the Documentary DVD to some shitty notepad.

 

[Viata]

They don't have to release it, they changed the Documentary DVD to some shitty notepad.

Wow. They can't even keep a simple promise.

 

[Fairfax]

That was before the steam release. IIRC the novella is one of the only additions in the most expensive version still being sold.

 

[Roguey]

They don't have to release it, they changed the Documentary DVD to some shitty notepad.

Wow. They can't even keep a simple promise.

They got the documentary, just not the DVD. One of those things where in hindsight they should have realized that if they wanted it to be comprehensive enough to cover the entire development, there's no way they could have shipped it with everything else.

 

[LizardWizard]

They don't have to release it, they changed the Documentary DVD to some shitty notepad.

Wow. They can't even keep a simple promise.

I'd rather finish watching Chris get his ass raped by Arcanum than read his mailed in POE novella.

 

[Fairfax]

Speaking of enjoyable drama, twitter recommends other people to follow, and some of the suggested followers were related to the Codex, MCA, Obsidian, etc. I looked at the PoE wiki and searched some dev names on twitter, and twitter tells you if that person has a follower you know. It only takes one glance, since my acc is new and the follower could only be MCA, Codex or both, if any.
Anyway, just some food for thought/gossip/speculation/whatever.

- MCA doesn't follow Feargus, Sawyer, Adam Brennecke, Eric Fenstermaker or Brandon Adler;
- He does follow Obsidian itself and other people in the PoE team: Carrie Patel, Justin Bell, George Ziets, Roby Atadero and probably others I couldn't find;

 

[Viata]

Did he ever follow them?

 

[Russia is over. The end.]

They probably don't want to release his novel because that involves editing, which means a lot of back and forth communication. And since there was a fight when he left, they decided to cut off all communication entirely and pretend he doesn't even exist at this point. Pretending something "bad" doesn't exist is how Obsidian deals with everything. Childish behavior.

 

[DosBuster]

My theory on his departure was that it came as a result of him whoring himself out. All the projects he's attached to, I imagine Feargus said to him: "Either you're with us 100% or not.".