Josh Sawyer Q&A Thread

[Zed Duke of Banville]

Well, Kundera says that great catastrophes bring about great art, and that Europe has great art because of the wars/revolutions and catastrophes. I think Kundera has a point.

If that were the case, Europe would currently be experiencing an efflorescence of art.

 

[CptMace]

Haven't you played Divinity Original Sin 2 and The Witcher 3 ?

 

[Lahey]

 

[Quillon]

GDC SF 2018: http://schedule.gdconf.com/session/...echniques-from-rather-clever-designers/851829

 

[Frozen]

Well, Kundera says that great catastrophies bring about great art, and that Europe has great art because of the wars/revolutions and catastrophies. I think Kundera has a point.

He is not a good example because he's an average writer et best and im being generous here.

 

[Quillon]

 

[Nano]

#flashbackmonday

Tomorrow morning I will be trekking out to LAX to pick up our new web guy, Josh Sawyer (who frequently posts as Bishop Sawyer). I think last week's update about him getting stuck in a U-Haul in the Rockies scared him into flying instead. This will be his first time in Southern Cal since he was a tiny tot, so perhaps next week I'll have him do the Friday update to share his thoughts (about life, California, and Colin). He is worried about fitting in because he has a tattoo - and I said, "What, only one?" which kind of settled him down. (Important safety note to Colin: watch the newbie stunts - he's 6'3" and weighs 240)

https://web.archive.org/web/19990508124942/http://www.planescape-torment.com/oldnews/greg_0416.html

 

[Major_Blackhart]

6'3 and 240. Was he a fatty or a buff?

 

[Roguey]

6'3 and 240. Was he a fatty or a buff?

He was fat back then.

 

[Beastro]

Well, Kundera says that great catastrophies bring about great art, and that Europe has great art because of the wars/revolutions and catastrophies. I think Kundera has a point.

It could be argued that the adversity might not make art better, but giving someone a blank cheque, or enough money that it's practically the same thing, will not lead to a tight, discplined creation.

I think the fundamental issue is greatness comes from working within limitations and rules laid out, and when you get into a position to become a Lucas making Prequels you are downright fucking sick of that shit and have have prey to the delusions that no restrictions upon yourself will make things even better.

If that were the case, Europe would currently be experiencing an efflorescence of art.

A sense of optimism should shine through the hardship.

We all know how Europe reacted to the World Wars, but how did they react to the Napoleonic War? War was an adventure that every boy should experience as a solider as part of his coming of age story their personal experiences blended with and made the grander spectacle taking place all over Europe all the grander.

It's a rightfully criticized naive and silly idea, but then isn't that was all optimism is in the minds of those who don't want to let go of the severity of how things have impacted them?

In my case it's something I know I struggle with myself given what I've gone through.

 

[sser]

#flashbackmonday

Tomorrow morning I will be trekking out to LAX to pick up our new web guy, Josh Sawyer (who frequently posts as Bishop Sawyer). I think last week's update about him getting stuck in a U-Haul in the Rockies scared him into flying instead. This will be his first time in Southern Cal since he was a tiny tot, so perhaps next week I'll have him do the Friday update to share his thoughts (about life, California, and Colin). He is worried about fitting in because he has a tattoo - and I said, "What, only one?" which kind of settled him down. (Important safety note to Colin: watch the newbie stunts - he's 6'3" and weighs 240)

https://web.archive.org/web/19990508124942/http://www.planescape-torment.com/oldnews/greg_0416.html

Does anyone know Sawyer's 40-time?

 

[Mebrilia the Viera Queen]

"like most people starting out, at first i just wanted to imitate the singers, actors, and artists i liked. over time, i became more interested in taking inspiration from more diverse interests/sources to create new things"

Says the man that made his original not D&D copycat game... With original not D&D copycat races..

 

[Roguey]

"like most people starting out, at first i just wanted to imitate the singers, actors, and artists i liked. over time, i became more interested in taking inspiration from more diverse interests/sources to create new things"

Says the man that made his original not D&D copycat game... With original not D&D copycat races..

That's the game they pitched to the public.

 

[Luckmann]

"like most people starting out, at first i just wanted to imitate the singers, actors, and artists i liked. over time, i became more interested in taking inspiration from more diverse interests/sources to create new things"

Says the man that made his original not D&D copycat game... With original not D&D copycat races..

That's the game they pitched to the public.

Yeah, it annoys me a bit that Sawyer gets shit for that, because I think that a lot of people at Obsidian didn't feel too much for doing that, but they deliberately went about work to create a generic fantasy setting that would still feel like it was distinctly "theirs", and it's precisely how they pitched it to the public and as a spiritual sequel to Baldur's Gate-type games. While they may have failed spectacularly on other counts, that's precisely what they delivered, settings-wise. It never pretended to be anything else, was never intended to be anything else, and was never presented as anything else.

Shit on Sawyer all you want, shit on Obsidian for issues with PoE, shit on PoE for all I care, but this particular criticism is completely baseless. He did his fucking job in this regard.

 

[Mebrilia the Viera Queen]

"like most people starting out, at first i just wanted to imitate the singers, actors, and artists i liked. over time, i became more interested in taking inspiration from more diverse interests/sources to create new things"

Says the man that made his original not D&D copycat game... With original not D&D copycat races..

That's the game they pitched to the public.

Yeah, it annoys me a bit that Sawyer gets shit for that, because I think that a lot of people at Obsidian didn't feel too much for doing that, but they deliberately went about work to create a generic fantasy setting that would still feel like it was distinctly "theirs", and it's precisely how they pitched it to the public and as a spiritual sequel to Baldur's Gate-type games. While they may have failed spectacularly on other counts, that's precisely what they delivered, settings-wise. It never pretended to be anything else, was never intended to be anything else, and was never presented as anything else.

Shit on Sawyer all you want, shit on Obsidian for issues with PoE, shit on PoE for all I care, but this particular criticism is completely baseless. He did his fucking job in this regard.

don't take it personal it was a joke... I own pillars of eternity too even if we have to admit at the beginning when was first released it was a bit of a mess.. things like oozes be blinded and people on their forum that was defending that stupidity with excuses like "you don't blind their eyes you bllind their souls" despite of that i finished the game.... also seems the game got better with the recent patches and i liked what i seen of pillars of eternity 2... problem is the world they created fails to grip me totally but that' dosn't mean i consider it bad... just too much generic for my taste.

I don't shit at obsidian quite the opposite.

 

[Mikeal]

"like most people starting out, at first i just wanted to imitate the singers, actors, and artists i liked. over time, i became more interested in taking inspiration from more diverse interests/sources to create new things"

Says the man that made his original not D&D copycat game... With original not D&D copycat races..

Implying that there is something original in D&D. You should rather say "With original not Tolkien copycat races".

 

[Mebrilia the Viera Queen]

Implying that there is something original in D&D.

Never told that of course. I was actually fine if pillars of eternity had mechanics from D&D but had an actually interesting lore about world and races instead to have races slightly different but clearly took from standardt D&D games.

You can name them how you want but in the end they are still Hallfing Half orcs and Genasi there.

 

[Luckmann]

Implying that there is something original in D&D.

Never told that of course. I was actually fine if pillars of eternity had mechanics from D&D but had an actually interesting lore about world and races instead to have races slightly different but clearly took from standardt D&D games.

You can name them how you want but in the end they are still Hallfing Half orcs and Genasi there.

But lots of us like halflings, half-orcs and genasi, though.

That said, I wish they'd gone with something more interesting, too, and I especially wish that Tyranny turned out better and got better support than it did, because it's an infinitely better premise and setting than Pillars of Eternity.

The thing is, though, that they always set out to create a D&D-like game and setting. It was one of the core goals from the get-go. While I do wish that they'd gone with something more interesting, you can't fault Sawyer for creating a D&D ripoff when the entire project was intended to be one from the beginning. At least they tried to give their not!-Halfllings and their not!-Horcs a semblance of unique flavour.

 

[2house2fly]

Yeah, the setting being quite generic on its face isn't the problem with PoE so much as it not going anywhere that out-there with it. There's not that much cool, weird fantasy crap(expansion gets better about this, with stuff like the abbey built around the skeleton of a dead god) and a lot of peasants, local lords hanging people, and skeletons in catacombs. Too much caution and not enough passion, as Eric Fenstermaker copped to in that RPGCodex interview- they didn't go with the final story idea because everyone loved it or it was an exciting pitch, they went with it because it was what they had and it was time to write the game. I don't necessarily like the direction PoE2 is taking, but it at least seems a little bit more like there's some vision behind it beyond "Infinity Engine successor"

 

[aweigh]

poe3 on gamebryo people, let's make it happen!!

 

[Quillon]

Feargus said they invested a lot in pillars engine for Deadfire so the transition to PoE3 will be smoother, tho Josh recently questioned 2D vs 3D but he prolly won't direct the next PoE so I guess they will move away from 2D after PoE3 if not sooner.

 

[Infinitron]

 

[hilfazer]

"RPG game"

 

[FreeKaner]

RPG is name of a genre, so saying RPG game is just fine.

 

[Quillon]

Guess "game data" is a separate term so saying "RPG data" wouldn't mean the same