Josh Sawyer Q&A Thread

[Quillon]

I like how he talks about BG 3's romance and says it's not something he would do and what he would do probably won't be enjoyable for the main stream auidences.

Though what he did with deadfire's romance isn't really that great.(Though still miles better than BG3).

Deadfire's romance was clearly not made with a lot of heart behind it. While BG3 actually tries and I honestly , it isn't all that good or have much content but somehow people went crazy over.

The cinematic and voice acting do the heavy lifting for them. I just hope other devs don't feel like turning their games into a date sim , like Bioware, is really necessary.

Josh saying he's out of touch with all this shit doesn't even matter, its a cop out; its not like Swen designs & writes romances in Larian games; he leaves it to narrative people and tell them do what bioware did and get creative. What worries Josh the most is the tech and making fun gameplay/combat gameplay & creating a yuge game with quality assets first & foremost, that is what really scares any developer looking at BG3, the romance stuff etc is the last thing they'd be worrying about if they were to attempt at a BG3 style & caliber game.

Also Deadfire's romances isn't much different from BG3, if the game was 3D and had quality cinematics romancing the shark woulda went viral well before the bear lmao

 

[luj1]

He was right about literally everything

Yet somehow it never works out for him in practice.

Good designer on paper, but he obviously can't lead for shit. The industry people know this; that's why his only project in 6 years was a Java game about history.

 

[MjKorz]

Yet somehow it never works out for him in practice.

It always works out for him in terms of his games being good.

that's why his only project in 6 years was a Java game about history.

The game that has 95% positive rating on Steam with 6k reviews. Was that supposed to be an insult?

 

[sosmoflux]

He isn't renting surely, there's no way

 

[KVVRR]

Does Obsidian allow for for people to work remotely or do they have to show up at the office? Maybe he's just saving up for when he retires and then he'll buy a property somewhere that isn't so expensive to live for no reason at all. Surely the economy isn't such a state someone making 250k can't afford a house, even if it is california?

 

[Roguey]

He isn't renting surely, there's no way

He's expressed his frustration with his inability to own a home in southern California.

Does Obsidian allow for for people to work remotely or do they have to show up at the office? Maybe he's just saving up for when he retires and then he'll buy a property somewhere that isn't so expensive to live for no reason at all. Surely the economy isn't such a state someone making 250k can't afford a house, even if it is california?

He owns his parents' home in Wisconsin. Avellone dropped a million dollars on a home near LA, but Sawyer has been unable/unwilling to save up that much at this point in time.

The housing regulations in SoCal are insane and it's a place a lot of people want to live, so property is sky high.

 

[santino27]

Josh could have/should have bought ~10+ years ago, but maybe the timing didn't work out with Obsidian's difficulties. Still, he's been there forever at this point, and is a single guy who only needs space for his bikes and cat(s) (RIP).

These days though? Yeah, market valuation in SoCal is absurd. I had a friend buy a small 2-bedroom house at ~$700k in 2017 that's valued at something truly stupid now.

 

[PunchYouInTheFace]

Josh could have/should have bought ~10+ years ago

Should've brought his home 40 years ago in sappho washington instead of in commiefornya.

 

[mediocrepoet]

Josh could have/should have bought ~10+ years ago, but maybe the timing didn't work out with Obsidian's difficulties. Still, he's been there forever at this point, and is a single guy who only needs space for his bikes and cat(s) (RIP).

These days though? Yeah, market valuation in SoCal is absurd. I had a friend buy a small 2-bedroom house at ~$700k in 2017 that's valued at something truly stupid now.

This is what happens when you piss away all your money on pretentious shit and sex workers instead of saving for a down payment. Some day, they'll toss his syphilitic, forever alone corpse into a hole and this shitty thread will be the only testament that the poor bastard ever existed.

 

[PunchYouInTheFace]

This is what happens when you piss away all your money on pretentious shit and sex workers instead of saving for a down payment. Some day, they'll toss his syphilitic, forever alone corpse into a hole and this shitty thread will be the only testament that the poor bastard ever existed.

^pegged by gas station hooker.

 

[Roguey]

Josh could have/should have bought ~10+ years ago, but maybe the timing didn't work out with Obsidian's difficulties. Still, he's been there forever at this point, and is a single guy who only needs space for his bikes and cat(s) (RIP).

These days though? Yeah, market valuation in SoCal is absurd. I had a friend buy a small 2-bedroom house at ~$700k in 2017 that's valued at something truly stupid now.

His student loans and his own parents' mortgage payments took priority (hence why he's the legal owner of his parents' house).

 

[mediocrepoet]

Josh could have/should have bought ~10+ years ago, but maybe the timing didn't work out with Obsidian's difficulties. Still, he's been there forever at this point, and is a single guy who only needs space for his bikes and cat(s) (RIP).

These days though? Yeah, market valuation in SoCal is absurd. I had a friend buy a small 2-bedroom house at ~$700k in 2017 that's valued at something truly stupid now.

His student loans and his own parents' mortgage payments took priority (hence why he's the legal owner of his parents' house).

Commendable if true, but how and why do you know this?

 

[Roguey]

Commendable if true, but how and why do you know this?

The guy is pretty open when it comes to microblogging about his life.

 

[luj1]

The guy is pretty open when it comes to microblogging about his life.

Like you are about microstalking and microgossiping

 

[dutchwench]

It's not stalking, it's just [Tracking] - a skill Sawyer featured prominently in several interactions in Icewind Dale, mind you.

 

[luj1]

Commendable if true, but how and why do you know this?

You don't wanna know tbh

 

[Diggfinger]

Yet somehow it never works out for him in practice.

It always works out for him in terms of his games being good.

that's why his only project in 6 years was a Java game about history.

The game that has 95% positive rating on Steam with 6k reviews. Was that supposed to be an insult?

Its a good... 'game'

just not much gameplay to speak of

 

[MjKorz]

just not much gameplay to speak of

Then its design philosophy is perfectly in line with one of the 'dex's top 3 RPGs - Planet Escape: Tournament.

 

[Infinitron]

 

[Artyoan]

I wouldn't want, or wouldn't put emphasis on, romances. The pressure to do so would be overwhelming though. Seems to pick up a large progressive and obsessive audience that otherwise won't be interested. Also, the free form, low balance nature of Larian games would drive him insane. He would maintain a tighter grip to prevent breaking the game, for better or worse.

Even if we enjoy making fun of him, all of us would be interested to see what he would come up with.

 

[luj1]

"I feel like I'm kind of out of touch with that audience."

Until he becomes a lead again lol

then it's "ok bro let's please everyone" time

 

[Tyranicon]

All mainstream devs are super out of touch with what current audiences want. That's why you see these abominations in the industry today.

Ah yes, Avowed is totally betting the farm on romances with a fish man and an ugly ferretwoman who tells you how sexy and pansexual she is on first click.






.... oh fuck that's exactly what they're doing isn't it? What the fuck is wrong with this dev generation?

 

[Infinitron]

 

[luj1]

 

[Bulo]

As per usual, Josh is right. The "I should be able to go anywhere I choose and do anything I want" attitude is how you get to a game like Skyrim