Editorial Penny Arcade Disses Troika

[Sol Invictus]

Tags: Troika Games

<a href=http://www.penny-arcade.com>Penny Arcade</a>, known for their popular, but seldom funny (See? I just dissed you.) comic has posted their thoughts on the Troika situation, with little remorse for the company's demise, almost mirroring the <a href=http://www.rpgcodex.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=6348>report I wrote</a> a few weeks back which contained remarks that I made in poor taste:
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<blockquote>It sounds as though Troika is no more, or at any rate they are liquidating everything in their offices, so if they are still coherent as a developer presumably their next game involves sitting in a bare room. Troika (for those of you with a concussion) is the little company that couldn't, producing games of marvelous, unprecedented promise coupled with epic lapses in technical execution. The company was a hole that great ideas crawled half-way out of, so I hope you'll pardon me if I don't dab the corner of my eye with a handkerchief and try to look strong. There were undeniably talented people there. Hopefully they'll end up someplace where that kind of thing matters.</blockquote>
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You will hear no argument from me pertaining to Troika's execution of its titles, <b>Tycho</b>. The comments come across as being a tad cynical and remorseless (much like my own), given the loss of jobs, not to mention a great loss to the RPG community overall. I ought to feel ashamed of myself!
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Edit: I might have dissed you guys earlier, but it looks like <a href=http://img.penny-arcade.com/2005/20050218l.jpg>today's comic</a> is pretty goddamn funny.

 

[LlamaGod]

Arcanum was really damn good and I enjoyed Bloodlines quite a bit, bugs and all. They were good games with some technical problems, but whatever. Good games still.

 

[NeverwinterKnight]

sounds about right, even if it is a little harsh.

 

[LlamaGod]

AND

 

[Sol Invictus]

As much remorse as I feel for saying the company was 'pwned' a few weeks back, and so on and so forth, Tycho hit the nail on the head.

Flip flop? Nah. Developed a sense of decency? Yes.

 

[Sarkile]

Great ideas that were poorly executed is still better than most of the trash being released lately.

 

[Sol Invictus]

True, but they leave you feeling a lot more dissapointed, too. That's how I felt when I played Bloodlines.

 

[dipdipdip]

I have to agree. It's a double-edged sword.

 

[errorcode]

I think playing them and seeing their potential made it worse. They could have been fucking great games.

 

[Sarvis]

<a href=http://www.penny-arcade.com>Penny Arcade</a>, known for their popular, but seldom funny (See? I just dissed you.) comic has posted their thoughts on the Troika situation, with little remorse for the company's demise, almost mirroring the <a href=http://www.rpgcodex.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=6348>report I wrote</a> a few weeks back which contained remarks that I made in poor taste:
<blockquote>It sounds as though Troika is no more, or at any rate they are liquidating everything in their offices, so if they are still coherent as a developer presumably their next game involves sitting in a bare room. Troika (for those of you with a concussion) is the little company that couldn't, producing games of marvelous, unprecedented promise coupled with epic lapses in technical execution. The company was a hole that great ideas crawled half-way out of, so I hope you'll pardon me if I don't dab the corner of my eye with a handkerchief and try to look strong. There were undeniably talented people there. Hopefully they'll end up someplace where that kind of thing matters.</blockquote>
You will hear no argument from me pertaining to Troika's execution of its titles, <b>Tycho</b>. The comments come across as being a tad cynical and remorseless (much like my own), given the loss of jobs, not to mention a great loss to the RPG community overall. I ought to feel ashamed of myself!

Edit: I might have dissed you guys earlier, but it looks like <a href=http://http://img.penny-arcade.com/2005/20050218l.jpg>today's comic</a> is pretty goddamn funny.

Came across as cynical and remorseless? That's what they <b>do</b> at PA!

I think they're usually funny though... heh.

 

[tilting_msh]

I don't find the comments harsh at all. Seem pretty accurate to me.

 

[Sarvis]

So... this means no chance of an expansion/sequel for ToEE right?

 

[Sol Invictus]

Words can be harsh and accurate at the same time. Like when I said 'pwned' as a comment on Troika's demise, it was accurate, but undeniably harsh. I don't think anyone's disputing that.

 

[Sarkile]

I'm still waiting for ToEE's engine to be used to make a good game. I think the majority of my disappointment too was playing ToEE and seeing how it could've been a good game if they had just managed themselves better and made better decisions.

 

[POOPERSCOOPER]

u are such a mean faggot, exitium

 

[Surlent]

What's wrong with Penny Arcade humor ? Their comics (especially EA ones are teh funnay)

Rrepublic commando one was okay too. btw the demo of that game is promising except the interface looks clumsy made4console, but it's probably meant to look that way since your wearing that commando armor.

PS.When I read this newsbit I thought first they'd done a comic about Troika's situation. Now Vol can post again "PS.I'm such a huge fag".

 

[Sol Invictus]

They've got some pretty good ones, especially the company and game related jokes, but some of them are crappy, like the recent 'shitfucker' one.

Republic Commando is a pretty neat title. Much better than "Freedom Force" which tried to do the NPC AI thing. Try out the demo. The console interface doesn't bother me. It's actually pretty effective, and it isn't 'useless' like Deus Ex Invisible War's.

 

[almondblight]

At least Troika was pretty good at pointing out their mistakes, unlike people like Molyneux who would only throw a hissy fit and says the only problem was that he should have given the fans less information. With Troika there always seemed the possibility of growth.

And Penny Arcade is lame. It's for people who find pictures of Mario with a gun funny. "Have you ever noticed how they make you kill rats in an rpg? Why not just call it a rat pwng game!" Hah. Hah. Hah.

 

[MarFish]

At least Troika was pretty good at pointing out their mistakes, unlike people like Molyneux who would only throw a hissy fit and says the only problem was that he should have given the fans less information.

But Sir Peter is still around, why Troika is down the drain. His PR sold Fable. It could have gotten 0/10 reviews and would still have sold 1.5 million copies because he managed to hype up people enough that no editor would even dare to write something bad pre release. Fable sold. Troika Games didn't. And Sir Peter knew from Black and White that fans forget and will buy your game all over again if you just do your hype right. That is the lesson Troika never learned and that's why they are gone. I know, they tried it with tons of "Ask Leon" interviews pre Bloodlines release, but that's not even close to the level of sales excellence Sir Peter has reached.

potential for growth

this is negated by the even larger potential for bugs and horrible post release support.

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

That is the lesson Troika never learned and that's why they are gone. I know, they tried it with tons of "Ask Leon" interviews pre Bloodlines release, but that's not even close to the level of sales excellence Sir Peter has reached.

Interviews, how many there are and who gets them and when, are handled by the publisher.

 

[undead dolphin hacker]

PA's analysis is dead-on about Troika. "The little company that couldn't." No one's said it better than that.

 

[MarFish]

That is the lesson Troika never learned and that's why they are gone. I know, they tried it with tons of "Ask Leon" interviews pre Bloodlines release, but that's not even close to the level of sales excellence Sir Peter has reached.

Interviews, how many there are and who gets them and when, are handled by the publisher.

Bullshit. Excuses. Companies with their own PR/Marketing Department handle those on their own, i.e. Bioware.

Troika had no marketing department, hence they are gone.

 

[almondblight]

But Sir Peter is still around, why Troika is down the drain.

Pretty much my point. There are plenty of crappy developers around, at least Troika had potential.

 

[bryce777]

Penny arcade is NEVER funny, and usually idiotic. They are just idotic here, too....

 

[Andyman Messiah]

Well, I guess that means I gotta add Penny Arcade to the list of current shiteating morons of the internet. List's starting to fill up quite nicely.