Obsidian and inXile acquired by Microsoft

[fantadomat]

Bought PoE2

So you are no different than the rest of popamolists here. All talk about mechanics and writing,yet when you see a AAA budged RPG...

Like I said, Obsidian's been at its best when working with a ready-to-go engine, systems, and assets. AAA or not, Mark of the Betrayer is a great RPG, it would be in my top 10 list if the combat system wasn't so atrocious. New Vegas and Dead Money are excellent games as well.

Obsidian is known mostly for their good writing,or more accurately were known. Most if not all of their games have a clunky yet serviceable combat. It was obvious how their writing has declined from the two former game PoE and Tranny.

Good writing and storytelling. I believe that writing in PoE2 is noticeably better but not the storytelling.

Now if you are mechanofag....well then DOS2,kingdom come,battletech,banner saga or Kingmaker would have been a lot better pic than Obsidian game.

Banner Saga, really? I backed DOS2 so I have it. Kingdom Come has never appealed to me somehow, even though I really like open world games, and the early impressions on the Codex didn't make me want to play it. It didn't even a warrant a review on the Codex, which suggests that nobody liked it enough to write a few words about it. Oh well... At least we got a few dozen of PoE reviews.

Speaking of reviews, I usually pay attention to what Darth Roxor has to say about games. He called PoE2 "pretty alight", which is a glowing praise coming from him, and DOS2 a disaster on every front. I will definitely buy Battletech and Kingmaker at some point, but none of these games made me want to buy them right away.

I don't really know about the last Banner Saga,didn't play it. Still the other two had pretty good turn based combat. As for the KC.... most people here really enjoyed it,the game is pretty good. If you don't like it..well that is your thing,still it didn't go unnoticed on the codex, there was pretty fast thread about it and a lot of people discussed it. For the reviews.....well we all know that infi is a corrupt mother fucker and puts reviews of certain people only. I too like Roxor's reviews,but he is getting old and his edge is becoming dull. PoE2 have maybe the worst writing i have seen in a decade or more,per complanca.

 

[karoliner]

Are you drunk? The combat in Banner Saga was trash.

 

[TemplarGR]

Obsidian is known mostly for their good writing,or more accurately were known. Most if not all of their games have a clunky yet serviceable combat. It was obvious how their writing has declined from the two former game PoE and Tranny. Now if you are mechanofag....well then DOS2,kingdom come,battletech,banner saga or Kingmaker would have been a lot better pic than Obsidian game.

DOS2 is mediocre, kingdom come deliverance is an unoptimized tech demo in the medieval age, battletech is mediocre, banner saga is mobile phone garbage, kingmaker has more bugs than the amazon river and surrounding tropical forest. It is also not playtested and combat difficulty scaling is all over the place.

 

[Kyl Von Kull]

Good writing and storytelling. I believe that writing in PoE2 is noticeably better but not the storytelling.

Better is a strong word. It’s certainly more concise, but too often the dialogue manages to break the fourth wall because it’s so clearly written in the style of a tweet or a tumblr post (who knew that was even possible?).

Kingdom Come: Deliverance is worth playing, but it’s a mixed bag. The game has a lot to recommend it early on if you’re okay with loads of cinematic cutscenes (to be fair, the cutscenes have some quality content), but the power curve is way too steep. By the time you’re 30 odd hours in, you’re basically invincible and you still have half the game or more to finish. I told Infinitron I would write a review six months ago because no one else was offering, but I can’t make myself finish the game as it loses even the illusion of challenge at higher levels. They added a hardcore mode over the summer that removes quest markers and fast travel—gives it more of a Gothic feel—and also forces you to start the game with a bunch of permanent debuffs. But while that makes for a better experience, it only delays the progression problem.

Great storytelling, some of the funniest moments I can recall in any video game, intriguing ARPG combat system (even though it seems like it was scaled back/dumbed down to make the game more accessible) that’s a lot of fun at lower levels but breaks down when your stats get too high. Every action RPG walks a tightrope trying to find the right balance between player skill and character skill. Kingdom Come ends up giving far too much weight to the latter. At times I felt it would be a better game if they stripped out many of the RPG mechanics, but really it just needs (much) better balancing and more high level enemies.

Much like the communist regime Dan Vavra grew up under, many of Kingdom Come’s systems sound good in theory, but don’t really work in practice.

• As you level up your sword skill, you learn new combos like in Gothic 2. However, you need to land several hits in succession to execute those combos and by the time you finish, most enemies are already dead.
• Warhorse clearly wanted to give you the talker/fighter/thief troika of possible character builds, but like any open world game with a learn by doing system, you end up becoming great at everything.
• Very simulationist at some points, very gamified at others. Brewing potions is a complicated process with lots of realism that gets very tedious very fast. They have a perk that lets you autobrew eventually so on some level they knew this was not fun. Sharpening your sword on a grindstone is a lot less satisfying when you can accomplish the same thing by clicking on a weapon repair kit in your inventory.
• The unconventional save system—only save when you sleep in your own bed/an inn or with particular quicksave potion—is a great way to make you own your mistakes early on. But like so much else, it stops being relevant at higher levels. The potions are pretty cheap compared to the amount of loot you’ll quickly start hauling around and the ingredients to brew them are plentiful once you find the recipe.
• The combat system is not built to handle large numbers of opponents and there are a some larger battles where things get pretty clunky.
• Master strikes: time your parry correctly and you get a free attack that always connects, and these are very hard to miss because the game goes into slow motion when someone’s swinging at you.
• Long ass load times even with good hardware.

All that said, there’s also a lot to like.

• They went to great lengths to recreate a sliver of rural Bohemia in 1403 and it shows. I can’t recall another open world RPG where the setting felt so coherent. Off the top of my head, I can’t recall anything feeling out of place. Kingdom Come has a sense of coherence that’s rare in an open world game, except maybe Gothic 1. Maybe Warhorse was working with a stacked deck here because they didn’t need to make anything up, but who cares? The result is incredibly immersive.
• Some people will shit all over anything with a fixed protagonist, but unlike The Witcher 3 where you’re not really invested in the epic world-changing events going on in the background, in Kingdom Come you’re very much a part of the war. That gives the story a lot more narrative punch. While this naturally comes at the expense of role playing options—you can’t join the invaders who killed your family—I think it’s more than worth the trade off. They end up telling an epic story while keeping the protagonist’s role in it fairly down to earth.
• Tons of clothing/armor related reactivity. Dress like peasant, get treated like a peasant. Dress like a lord, get treated like a lord. Come into a village covered in blood with your armor all banged up and people will react with shock or concern. Dress like a Hungarian bandit and you can sneak into the bandits’ camp, although you may get caught if you haven’t interrogated a bunch of Hungarian prisoners and picked up some of their language. I was a sucker for this stuff in New Vegas and Kingdom Come takes it to a whole new level.
• Combat is very engaging and tense at low to mid levels as you go from being a wimp to a halfway competent warrior.
• Archery—there’s no reticle, so you need to eyeball every shot while correctly timing your draw. This is frustrating at first but it becomes very satisfying when you get the hang of it.
• Sometimes the simulationist approach really pays off, like the many moments where you’re stumbling around in a drunken haze after plot or sidequest related carousing. Or books being illegible until you learn how to read.
• Many timed quests, which, in my opinion, are a great way of adding an additional strategic layer to a game. Kingdom Come is at its best when you feel like you’re racing against the clock.
• Many quests with multiple solutions, although there are plenty of fedex quests, too.
• Some meaningful small scale C&C and not just in dialogue.
• This one’s subjective: lots of great characters, many of whom are very funny. Every quest with Hans Capon or Father Godwin is worth doing just for the pleasure of their company.
• I liked the stealth mechanics, but I’m not a big stealth guy so your mileage may vary.

tl;dr Kingdom Come has great atmosphere, an immersive setting, an entertaining story and some very engaging characters. Combat is fun at first but quickly becomes trivially easy. There are tons of cutscenes. Decent reactivity. Most of the C&C is small stuff and will not effect the fairly linear main story.

I would recommend the first 30-40 hours to anyone who likes ARPGs, but after that the story is the only reason to keep playing.

 

[fantadomat]

Obsidian is known mostly for their good writing,or more accurately were known. Most if not all of their games have a clunky yet serviceable combat. It was obvious how their writing has declined from the two former game PoE and Tranny. Now if you are mechanofag....well then DOS2,kingdom come,battletech,banner saga or Kingmaker would have been a lot better pic than Obsidian game.

DOS2 is mediocre, kingdom come deliverance is an unoptimized tech demo in the medieval age, battletech is mediocre, banner saga is mobile phone garbage, kingmaker has more bugs than the amazon river and surrounding tropical forest. It is also not playtested and combat difficulty scaling is all over the place.

And you still waste oxygen...

 

[Whisper]

If that. The only games that I'm truly excited about and can't wait to play (which is a long forgotten feeling these days) are Battle Brothers' and Underrail's expansions. How many RPGs were released in 2018? PoE2, Insomnia, Kingmaker, Battletech, Bard's Tale 4, Underworld Ascendant, Kingdom Come, The Banner Saga 3, Divinity: OS2. 9 games, unless I'm missing something.

You didnt mention Elex, Ash of gods, Tower of time.

Out of them Tower of time is good (story/exploration done right, combat is meh). Ash of gods is better than Banner saga 3 (it looks similar but gameplay is different). Elex is meh (gothic done wrong).

Did you play Pathfinder Kingmaker? Dungeons of this game are great (old sycamore, troll fort, abandoned castle, vardakai tomb, armag ruins etc.) Good feeling of exploration like you get from well in Maadoran or ancient command center (though things like well are very short in AoD, need more lenght).

edit: Divinity OS2 was released in 2017.
PoE2 is boring, Insomnia too bugged, Bards tale4 is just not good, UA is scam, Banner saga 3 is more of same 3 times. Divinity 2 OS is fun. I didnt try Kingdom Come because i dont want full simulator and Battletech not fan of mech wars.

 

[Whisper]

Many of the reviewers seem enraged because the difficulty settings are honest (and incredibly transparent too): “I beat Pillars of Eternity on path of the damned, why can’t I get through Kingmaker’s prologue on Unfair!”

Actually, its worse.

I've seen posts on steam like "I beat PoE2 on path of damned and this game is too hard on normal". No kidding, i can find this post.

Speaks a lot about PoE2.

 

[Whisper]

It's the game I'm interested in the most but the RT thing keeps that interest fairly low. Had it been TB I would have bought it on release.

I pause for every turn, so it plays like turn-based. You cant play without pausing each turn in Unfair mode anyway.

 

[Whisper]

DOS2 is mediocre, kingdom come deliverance is an unoptimized tech demo in the medieval age, battletech is mediocre, banner saga is mobile phone garbage, kingmaker has more bugs than the amazon river and surrounding tropical forest. It is also not playtested and combat difficulty scaling is all over the place.

Out of 600 hours i played PK, i found 3 bugs (none was critical).

 

[GrainWetski]

combat difficulty scaling is all over the place.

Enemies aren't all exactly the same? Sounds awful.

 

[AwesomeButton]

Many of the reviewers seem enraged because the difficulty settings are honest (and incredibly transparent too): “I beat Pillars of Eternity on path of the damned, why can’t I get through Kingmaker’s prologue on Unfair!”

Actually, its worse.

I've seen posts on steam like "I beat PoE2 on path of damned and this game is too hard on normal". No kidding, i can find this post.

Speaks a lot about PoE2.

the difficulty bug that was serving everyone Normal difficulty has long reaching consequences :D

 

[Zep Zepo]

PST...

I've probably said this before.

I never left the first room with the skull..TOO MUCH TEXT. If may have been a great game later, I will never know since I am not suffering through that text-wall again.

Who ever wrote all that bullshit text and found it interesting to the player had serious diarrhea of the brain.

I wanted to play a game, not read some self pompous ass's novel.

Zep--

 

[Cael]

Many of the reviewers seem enraged because the difficulty settings are honest (and incredibly transparent too): “I beat Pillars of Eternity on path of the damned, why can’t I get through Kingmaker’s prologue on Unfair!”

Actually, its worse.

I've seen posts on steam like "I beat PoE2 on path of damned and this game is too hard on normal". No kidding, i can find this post.

Speaks a lot about PoE2.

the difficulty bug that was serving everyone Normal difficulty has long reaching consequences :D

It is a PR disaster. I just found it funny that the Bugmaker fanbois kept yelling at people to lower the difficulty when they should be increasing it themselves. It is like a half-full glass with one side yelling that it is half-full and the other side yelling that it is half-empty, except those who say it is half-empty is giving the glass the thumbs down.

"Stop giving our fanboi game the thumbs down and lower the difficulty!"
"How about you increase the difficulty and everyone gives it the thumbs up, ya flaming fucktards?"

 

[Readher]

New interview with Brian Fargo.

https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2018-11-19-inxile-acquired-by-microsoft-the-interview

 

[LESS T_T]

Interview with Fargo: https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2018-11-19-inxile-acquired-by-microsoft-the-interview

InXile acquired by Microsoft: the interview
"We've had one hand tied behind our back; now, no longer."


On Saturday 10th November, Microsoft announced buying Californian role-playing game developers inXile Entertainment and Obsidian Entertainment. Two studios independent which had fought for survival for a decade-and-a-half were now under the Xbox umbrella. The message from Microsoft was reassurance: don't worry, nothing will change, we won't kill them - they'll continue to make the games you love, only they'll have more resources and support available to "fully realise" their ambitions. Nevertheless, questions remained.

Both companies are tied up in crowdfunding - particularly inXile, which has Wasteland 3 still to deliver - so what happens there? And what happens to promised PlayStation 4 versions of games - can they still fulfil those as Xbox studios? Moreover, will they leave isometric games behind in favour of glitzier projects?

For this interview, I'm concentrating on inXile, speaking with company founder and video game veteran, Brian Fargo, about the Microsoft deal. I hope to do similar for Obsidian, and I am in contact with the studio, but it's proving trickier to organise.


How long has the deal been in the offing?

Brian Fargo: I'd have to think about when the exact day was it became very real, but the conversation started back in April, and as you might imagine with Microsoft, it's an incredible vetting process you need to go through, both as a person and a company. Yeah, it takes quite a while.

Who approached who - what was the reasoning behind it?

Brian Fargo: I've known Noah Musler a long time [Microsoft business development bigwig who has old ties with Feargus Urquhart and Obsidian as well]. He dropped me a message one day and said, 'Hey, um, I have a crazy idea - you want to come up and talk about something?' I said, 'Sure, let's do it.'

For me, it's always... My goal is to always get my company in a safe harbour so we can spend as much time as possible working on our games and honing our craft. That can come if you sell 2 million units - that's a great way to get there which everyone hopes for. Or, a deal like this. But at the end of the day that's all I ever cared about.

What is the state of the studio - how big is inXile right now?

Brian Fargo: We're roughly 70 full-time people and probably another 15 contractors that we keep busy all the time, so we're a good size.

It's interesting if you think about 2012, when the crowdfunding revolution happened. You had myself and Double Fine and Obsidian shortly thereafter - and even Larian [Studios] for that matter. The budgets back then were $5m, $6m, so we'd raise $3m from Kickstarter, maybe do another couple of million in Early Access, throw in some more of our money, and you'd be pretty close to having your costs covered.

But since then, the category of what we all consider to be double-A has raised from $15m to $20m in that short period of time. The landscape has changed greatly since then.

How was the studio doing before the sale - were you in good health? Could you have continued to operate indefinitely without Microsoft's involvement? Because Bard's Tale 4 didn't set the world on fire, Torment: Tides of Numenera didn't seem to do well commercially, and Wasteland 3 isn't due until next year. Were you on the rocks?

Brian Fargo: Well listen, I'm a clever guy and I'm a survivor, so I always have a plan B, C and D at all times. There were a few companies wanting to give us big contracts recently so I always had that as an option, and some of the projects were really interesting. I would have had to continue to adjust my business model; right now we're primarily crowdfunding and publishing ourselves, so perhaps I would have had to mix it up a bit and continue with things like Wasteland 3 but maybe do a work-for-hire contract at the same time.

I found with inXile I've been constantly flexing both our size and our business strategy to survive, so I would have continued doing that.

It changes things now, and I wonder what the process of becoming a Microsoft Studio is. I know in the press release it said you'd "continue to act autonomously" but... Well, let's start with Bard's Tale 4 coming to console - presumably it won't be released on PlayStation 4?

Brian Fargo: Well not necessarily. We're still working through the issues, and where we've made commitments, we want to keep them. In the short-term, I don't think a lot's going to change. People are naturally sceptical but we keep our same email addresses, we keep our same medical plans, we keep our same 401k [pension]. It's almost like if my guys didn't know we were bought, they wouldn't even realise. Everything literally remains the same. Whatever case studies they've seen where companies got hurt... I've seen companies get bought and blown apart shortly thereafter, and I don't know who's fault it was - we never know the inside story, right?

I tell you what hasn't changed: in order for us to survive we've got to do good games. Either the public is going to shut you down by not buying your product or, theoretically, the company that buys you is going to shut you down if you don't do good products. But now I have more tools at my disposal to prevent that from happening than ever before. The deck is more stacked in our favour than it ever has been.

So, to be specific, The Bard's Tale 4 will still come to PlayStation 4?

Brian Fargo: I... believe so. I believe so. The only reason I hesitate is I can't remember what we've promised on that. I know we said it was coming to console, in which case there's an asterisk because we haven't thought about it much. If we've said it's specifically coming to PS4 then it's coming to PS4 [inXile has specified PlayStation 4 in a press release]. I'm not trying to evade your question, I can't remember what was promised. Microsoft has already been, like, whatever we promised, we do, so that's absolutely the case.

A bigger question surrounds Wasteland 3. You said in your Microsoft announcement video Wasteland 3 was unaffected -

Brian Fargo: That's right. That's coming to PS4. Absolutely.

Okay. Is there any effect from the buyout at all on the project, as in development team size, resources that will be put into the game - anything like that?

Brian Fargo: Yes - across the board that's what we're getting. We're getting more resources and potentially more time depending on what the project is.

If you look at most of the great developers, from Blizzard to Rockstar, the thing everybody gets in those higher echelons is time. Time is the most precious thing a developer can be given.

Now, I don't expect to start working on five-year production cycles or anything crazy like that - we don't think that way. One of the reasons why Microsoft liked us is we do a pretty good job of punching above our weight. Use Bard's Tale 4 as an example: you had a 50-hour game, 350 speaking parts, 100 minutes of music - I did that with a 35-person team. That's pretty unheard of. When you start thinking, gosh, if we had another 15 people and another three months...

Most people in development know a little bit of extra time goes an incredibly long way towards the end. I know it doesn't seem like it but it's always the case. When you finally get it together, you feel it, you can really focus on iteration. Is the pacing right? Is it hitting the right messages? Do we like the arcs of difficulty? Gosh if I had 90 more days I could really tune that in. As a smaller company it's really hard to get that. That's what this gives us.

I founded Interplay in 1983, and this will be the first time in my career I will be able to focus 100 per cent of my energy on product development.

That was a year after I was born, Brian.

Brian Fargo: Hahaha. Thank you for reminding me.

Sorry.

Brian Fargo: So I've been at it on the front lines, raising money by negotiating deals, chasing contacts, crowdfunding, raising equity, you name it, just to keep the lights on and keep everybody going - and in many ways keeping my guys oblivious to the chore of keeping money coming in the door. Now I get to really take a longer view and get the resources we [need].

We've always known as a small developer what our goals are, but we don't have unlimited money - and I'm not talking about going crazy, ramping up to these huge triple-A projects, that's not what we're trying to do. But we want to step it up a bit because there's this uncanny valley between the double-A and the triple-A. We could come out with a game like Bard's Tale [4] and we could say, 'Hey, it's a 35-person team and it's only $35,' but the people playing it are like, 'Nope. I'm just looking at The Witcher 3 and I don't really care.' We don't get to explain; we just need to close the gap.

The other thing is, with role-playing games especially, we don't get the luxury of saying, 'Well let's just do a tight, eight-hour experience,' that's just not an option. We have to do pretty large-in-scope games, so it's extra tricky when you do products of this nature.

So, to be specific again, Wasteland 3 is due at some point next year - is that still the plan?

Brian Fargo: Yes.

You also had a plan to retire after Wasteland 3 shipped. Are you still going to do that?

Brian Fargo: No, that's off the table. I'm not going anywhere; you're stuck with me.

How does this affect your involvement with Fig and inXile's involvement with Fig?

Brian Fargo: Well, on a practical level, we probably won't be crowdfunding any more.

With Fig, it remains to be seen, but right now we meet once a quarter and they review products coming through and I give my input and guidance, so I don't know if that's going to go away. We haven't really got into that conversation. I've certainly explained it's not a big time crunch but I'm not sure how that's going to play out.

Because I was looking at some numbers for Fig and it doesn't look - it looks like there's debt racking up. The future doesn't look that rosy, but I don't know if I'm seeing the whole picture?

Brian Fargo: I'm not involved in the management, I'm not on the board, I've never seen a financial statement of that company. I'm just an adviser as it relates to games; I sit there looking at product. Often people have misconstrued how involved either me or Feargus [Urquhart, Obsidian CEO] are in the inner-workings of that organisation.

You mentioned inXile probably won't do crowdfunding again. I'm sure you're downplaying it there - that's fairly certain, right?

Brian Fargo: Yeah I should probably - there will be no more crowdfunding, yes.

You mentioned moving up from double-A up to triple-A -

Brian Fargo: Hold on - I would say somewhere in between.

Sorry, yes - I don't mean like a Rockstar Games. Anyway, presumably alongside Wasteland 3, you're beefing up to make something new for Microsoft?

Brian Fargo: Yeah, we will be.

Are you working on something now?

Brian Fargo: Well, we've had a project in development for some time we haven't announced that they're quite keen on, so we'll be looking at that and saying, 'Okay, what does this product look like now we're going to be given extra time and resources?' Evaluating how we could make it better.

Was that game part of the deal? Or was it more Microsoft acquiring inXile and then looking at what you could do?

Brian Fargo: They were certainly looking at what we had in development as an indicator of where we were going. They were interested in us because we are a self-sufficient company that can do good product without hand-holding which they could see, with a little extra resource, could really be pushed up a notch. That, as a general sense, was a motivator, and then in addition they were able to look at what was in the pipe and say, 'These guys are really doing some interesting, innovative things.'

So what sort of size are you looking to bulk up to?

Brian Fargo: In the short-term we talk about increasing it 30 per cent or so. We're not trying to become multi-hundred-person teams but just filling the holes we've been desperately wanting to: having a full-time audio person, having a full-time lighting person, having a cinematics person - these things that could help us improve what we're doing.

For the last few years you've made isometric games but presumably Microsoft wants you to make something flashier? I always thought The Bard's Tale 4 was a good indication of where you could go, and what you could do in 3D with Unreal Engine. Is that the direction the one you're going in? Are isometric games off the table?

Brian Fargo: Ultimately we get to decide what we're going to make - they've been very clear on that. They've not once said 'we'd really love you to do more of this or less of that' - that's never been a conversation. Really it's going to be up to us, and very much us talking to our fans about the things they'd like to see. We're not necessarily walking away from isometric at all. There's still some great things you can do with it that haven't been done yet.

Does it mean the size of projects you'll attempt will be bigger?

Brian Fargo: Our games are pretty big as they are, in terms of hour count. Wasteland 2 was 80-100 hours for most people so I don't think we need to push 'big' in that regard. But we want to bring up our visual style and also make sure our launches are smoother.

There's a lot of things Microsoft [offers]. As an example, let's say we're doing controller support for Bard's Tale 4. They have a whole user group; let's put it in front of these psychologists and gamers they have they up there and see what they like and what they hate, and really hone it in before we release to the public. Things of that nature allow us to hone our craft.

Just to be clear, and I believe Microsoft has said something along these lines anyway, but inXile being similar to Obsidian Entertainment does not mean you're going to be lumped together, or does it?

Brian Fargo: There's absolutely no plans to lump us together or have us work in the same office or anything of that nature. What could come out of it, of course, is we're going to have a tighter relationship. We're going to be less competitive and more like brothers, and as we compare notes I'm hoping there could be some synergies so we can help each other across town. Any number of things could happen, but that will be for me and Feargus [Urquhart] to talk about, for something we think is good for both of us. But ultimately, no, we're not being merged out.

Well thank you - that's all I have to ask. I appreciate it, as always.

Brian Fargo: No problem. I would just add, as an ending, I can honestly say I have a renewed sense of enthusiasm I haven't had for a long time. I am super-excited about this.

Has it made you filthy rich? Have you bought a golden yacht to sale off into the sunset on?

Brian Fargo: Haha. No, listen, I do this because I love it. I've made money in my past; I could probably not have to do this. I do it because I love it, I really always have. When I think about the money... My whole focus has been the company and how it's going to be able to do all the things I talked about. That's all I think about on a day-in, day-out basis.

Well I'm looking forward to seeing what you're working on. It's fascinating the prospect of what a fully supported inXile can do.

Brian Fargo: Yeah, well, in some ways we've had one hand tied behind our back, and now, no longer.

No more excuses!

Brian Fargo: Exactly.

 

[BEvers]

No more excuses!

Brian Fargo: Exactly.

This'll be great.

 

[ColonelTeacup]

Cats and pandas video was cute !!! BTW right before the show an insider named Matt (don't know if its Matt Booty or what) said the two new studios are both similar to each other!!! Both roleplaying studios or both computer PC studios? Obsidian and Larian? Sorry I can't find the tweet but they're talking about it on the Resetera Microsoft thread! Ok gotta get back to discord, but my hype is totally restored and I thought you'd all love to know the rumor since you all love gossip and drama so much!

bye

People still use that dumpsterfire of a site, Resetera? That place is even more cancerous than youtube comment sections.

 

[Roguey]

I'd have to think about when the exact day was it became very real, but the conversation started back in April, and as you might imagine with Microsoft, it's an incredible vetting process you need to go through, both as a person and a company. Yeah, it takes quite a while.

And yet they couldn't justify delaying BTIV to do it right. Hmm.

It's interesting if you think about 2012, when the crowdfunding revolution happened. You had myself and Double Fine and Obsidian shortly thereafter - and even Larian [Studios] for that matter. The budgets back then were $5m, $6m, so we'd raise $3m from Kickstarter, maybe do another couple of million in Early Access, throw in some more of our money, and you'd be pretty close to having your costs covered.

But since then, the category of what we all consider to be double-A has raised from $15m to $20m in that short period of time. The landscape has changed greatly since then.

And who said you had to do this?

There were a few companies wanting to give us big contracts recently so I always had that as an option, and some of the projects were really interesting.

The other thing is, with role-playing games especially, we don't get the luxury of saying, 'Well let's just do a tight, eight-hour experience,' that's just not an option. We have to do pretty large-in-scope games, so it's extra tricky when you do products of this nature.

 

[AwesomeButton]

Who listens to Fargo at this point? Especially now that his job amounts to doing PR for Microsoft.

 

[Sacred82]

PST...

I wanted to play a game, not read some self pompous ass's novel.

we've all been there but some people enjoyed eating reading that ass ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[Latelistener]

Well, their best entry so far was popamole Hunted so they're going to be fine with MS. Some of the leads are still there.

 

[fantadomat]

It's the game I'm interested in the most but the RT thing keeps that interest fairly low. Had it been TB I would have bought it on release.

I pause for every turn, so it plays like turn-based. You cant play without pausing each turn in Unfair mode anyway.

It is amazing how different people are. I am playing on 3X speed with the help of cheatengine and feel annoyed at how slow it is during rains. Anyway,have fun playing it,no offence meant with this post.

 

[Bohr]

It is amazing how different people are. I am playing on 3X speed with the help of cheatengine and feel annoyed at how slow it is during rains. Anyway,have fun playing it,no offence meant with this post.

The main thing is, we all win

 

[Whisper]

It is amazing how different people are. I am playing on 3X speed with the help of cheatengine and feel annoyed at how slow it is during rains. Anyway,have fun playing it,no offence meant with this post.

You are dumbfuck, so no offence taken.

 

[Don Peste]

That's pretty cool actually. Although it fucking costs $100, so it's unlikely that everybody will play...
Washington should enforce ADA in consoles!