Eternity Josh Sawyer reflects on his failures with Pillars of Eternity

[Verylittlefishes]

Thread got weird, huh?

The whole point is that it's difficult for us to assess whether MCA's still got it, or he's burnt out, etc, because he won't actually write/lead a whole game anymore. He has chosen to not make "MCA games" and therefore we don't get the final proof that the man has still got it or hasn't got it.

If MCA comes out with a game he's poured his heart into and is really his project, I'll be his bitch. If he does a Kickstarter, I'll give to it. Until then, he is irrelevant to the world of RPGs. If that's due to health, family, and other such reasons, then I wish him the best and hope he does well in life.

I think it's also fair to say that he at the very least wasn't burned out by the time of the PoE Kickstarter.

This was him in the Kickstarter video, having just made the NV DLCs:

This was him a few years later after being isolated at Obsidian for years, being de-ownered, fired, his mother becoming deathly ill and possibly developing a drug/alcohol problem; not having developed anything of real value for half a decade:

I don't think it's unreasonable to trust the first guy with your money but the second guy kind of have to prove himself again imo.

this is called "aging", kiddo.

 

[Riddler]

Thread got weird, huh?

The whole point is that it's difficult for us to assess whether MCA's still got it, or he's burnt out, etc, because he won't actually write/lead a whole game anymore. He has chosen to not make "MCA games" and therefore we don't get the final proof that the man has still got it or hasn't got it.

If MCA comes out with a game he's poured his heart into and is really his project, I'll be his bitch. If he does a Kickstarter, I'll give to it. Until then, he is irrelevant to the world of RPGs. If that's due to health, family, and other such reasons, then I wish him the best and hope he does well in life.

I think it's also fair to say that he at the very least wasn't burned out by the time of the PoE Kickstarter.

This was him in the Kickstarter video, having just made the NV DLCs:

This was him a few years later after being isolated at Obsidian for years, being de-ownered, fired, his mother becoming deathly ill and possibly developing a drug/alcohol problem; not having developed anything of real value for half a decade:

I don't think it's unreasonable to trust the first guy with your money but the second guy kind of have to prove himself again imo.

this is called "aging", kiddo.

This is called self-destructing.

 

[hexer]

Thread got weird, huh?

The whole point is that it's difficult for us to assess whether MCA's still got it, or he's burnt out, etc, because he won't actually write/lead a whole game anymore. He has chosen to not make "MCA games" and therefore we don't get the final proof that the man has still got it or hasn't got it.

If MCA comes out with a game he's poured his heart into and is really his project, I'll be his bitch. If he does a Kickstarter, I'll give to it. Until then, he is irrelevant to the world of RPGs. If that's due to health, family, and other such reasons, then I wish him the best and hope he does well in life.

I'm pretty sure he lost confidence after KOTOR2 and Alpha Protocol didn't live up to their hype.
He was a Lead Designer on both and I can't remember him assuming that role ever again.

this is called "aging", kiddo.

This is called self-destructing.

Maybe he got married?

 

[Riddler]

I'm pretty sure he lost confidence after KOTOR2 and Alpha Protocol didn't live up to their hype.
He was a Lead Designer on both and I can't remember him assuming that role ever again.

Which seems unfair to me. I know it is a meme with blaming outside circumstances for the failures of Obsidian's games but in the case of Kotor2 I definitely feel like this perspective was justified and on AP he came in half-way through and had to try to sort out some other guy's mess (if I remember correctly).

 

[Prime Junta]

This is called self-destructing.

Or just plain destructing. Sometimes life fucks you over and you do what you can to get through the night. It's not always pretty.

 

[Riddler]

This is called self-destructing.

Or just plain destructing. Sometimes life fucks you over and you do what you can to get through the night. It's not always pretty.

Probably a more apt description, or perhaps breaking, it's not like his life has been easy going.

 

[Verylittlefishes]

Previous to his departure Avellone had been asked in an interview whether Tyranny, the game that followed Pillars, was "his baby" and he said simply "no," which led to some internal conflicts that he tried to clarify in this comment from another thread from 2016 due to the contract with Paradox stating that it was to be referenced as his, something Avellone wasn't informed of. There is a whole imbroglio involving his writing role in Pillars and in Tyranny that doesn't seem yet exhausted.

this story is fucked up
https://techraptor.net/gaming/news/...s-about-departure-from-obsidian-entertainment

 

[Prime Junta]

this story is fucked up
https://techraptor.net/gaming/news/...s-about-departure-from-obsidian-entertainment

RPG Codex thread references news article which references RPG Codex thread

any more of this and we risk a paradox, be careful out there

 

[hexer]

on AP he came in half-way through and had to try to sort out some other guy's mess (if I remember correctly).

AP was a mess from the start.
Here's a post-mortem: https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-09-06-the-making-of-alpha-protocol-obsidians-secret-best-rpg

 

[Verylittlefishes]

this story is fucked up
https://techraptor.net/gaming/news/...s-about-departure-from-obsidian-entertainment

RPG Codex thread references news article which references RPG Codex thread

any more of this and we risk a paradox, be careful out there

Codex as a Sigil.

 

[Roguey]

I'm pretty sure he lost confidence after KOTOR2 and Alpha Protocol didn't live up to their hype.
He was a Lead Designer on both and I can't remember him assuming that role ever again.

He was lead on the New Vegas DLCs. He didn't want to lead anything more than DLC for Obsidian anymore because of micromanaging-Urquhart.

Maybe he got married?

This is also true. He and his wife live in different cities, so it's certainly an odd relationship.

 

[Verylittlefishes]

This is also true. He and his wife live in different cities, so it's certainly an odd relationship.

what

 

[hexer]

I'm pretty sure he lost confidence after KOTOR2 and Alpha Protocol didn't live up to their hype.
He was a Lead Designer on both and I can't remember him assuming that role ever again.

He was lead on the New Vegas DLCs. He didn't want to lead anything more than DLC for Obsidian anymore because of micromanaging-Urquhart.

The DLCs crossed my mind but they're not big enough to be considered a stand-alone game-sized projects.
Anyway, what the hell happened to Feargus?
I thought he was one of the good guys.
I guess it's true what they say - money changes people, most of them in a bad way

Maybe he got married?

This is also true. He and his wife live in different cities, so it's certainly an odd relationship.

Hmm interesting but yeah, he let himself go.
When I met him in 2017., he was a bit chubby but didn't look anything like that Prey selfie.
Maybe it's just a bad photo.. but generally people tend to stop caring that much about their looks as soon as they get married.

 

[Elex]

double wat

 

[Deadass]

Let's be fair. How many people can sell a whole game based on the worst kind of quest, fetch quests, and still have a fuckton of people saying not only the game is incredible, but the people that dislike it just can't understand the game? That take a genius to make something like that(or a cult following of retards, but let's ignore this).

 

[hexer]

Also, it's worth mentioning Toddler doesn't age at all.
He always looks the same

 

[Roguey]

Anyway, what the hell happened to Feargus?
I thought he was one of the good guys.
I guess it's true what they say - money changes people, most of them in a bad way

Apparently Feargus was always bad. He told Chris that he had his back during the Torment days, but later admitted that it was just the opposite, i.e. never defended him, actively sided with the people giving him grief while pretending he didn't to his face.

Maybe it's just a bad photo..

Here he is from earlier last year https://cdn.wccftech.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/chris_avellone_e3_2018.jpg
And this year:

 

[Prime Junta]

Also, it's worth mentioning Toddler doesn't age at all.
He always looks the same

Cocaine. It's the elixir of youth man. Just ask David Bowie. Todd will leave a beautiful corpse too.

 

[Riddler]

Anyway, what the hell happened to Feargus?
I thought he was one of the good guys.
I guess it's true what they say - money changes people, most of them in a bad way

Apparently Feargus was always bad. He told Chris that he had his back during the Torment days, but later admitted that it was just the opposite, i.e. never defended him, actively sided with the people giving him grief while pretending he didn't to his face.

The man also looks like a complete psychopath

 

[hexer]

Anyway, what the hell happened to Feargus?
I thought he was one of the good guys.
I guess it's true what they say - money changes people, most of them in a bad way

Apparently Feargus was always bad. He told Chris that he had his back during the Torment days, but later admitted that it was just the opposite, i.e. never defended him, actively sided with the people giving him grief while pretending he didn't to his face.

Feargus "the Snake" Urquhart

Maybe it's just a bad photo..

Here he is from earlier last year https://cdn.wccftech.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/chris_avellone_e3_2018.jpg

Holy crap, he doubled in size!
I remember him as his normal-self just having a small pot belly.
That was in April 2017.

 

[user]

gossipcodex strikes again

 

[Lyric Suite]

2.) Even the CEO couldn’t make that call, they were running out of cash and had to make a game that they thought would raise the most money on Kickstarter. They believed this required something with BG style systems.

I like how the most profitable thing they could do was relegated as a last resort.

I mean, shouldn't it be the first thing they would jump on? Unless i'm missing something on how Feargus understands business.

 

[overly excitable young man]

Where does this Avellone Fetish come from? Only because of PST?
Why is a one hit wonder still refered to as a living god?

 

[overly excitable young man]

Why aren't you guys masturbating over Styg?

 

[Prime Junta]

Where does this Avellone Fetish come from? Only because of PST?

Mostly. He's also been very very cool with the Codex in the past. Drew those little trolls and everything.

Why is a one hit wonder still refered to as a living god?

It's merited if the hit turns out to be a genre-defining classic.

There are a whole bunch of great novelists who only ever wrote one novel. Arundhati Roy, Emily Brontë, J.D. Salinger... that doesn't in any way lessen their contribution to world literature.