Interview TotalBiscuit Interviews Adam Brennecke

[Machocruz]

Must be hard being an airhead with all the lead weights around. I almost pity you.

Must be hard being fucked in the ass by a whole thread.

 

[St. Toxic]

Must be hard being an airhead with all the lead weights around. I almost pity you.

Must be hard being fucked in the ass by a whole thread.

That too I guess? Thanks for the fix.

 

[IronicNeurotic]

Not taking sides, but just to get here some things straight.

1. That comment was made before the whole *fuck that loser* contreversity. Edit: Might be wrong on that. Can't remember right.

2. Obsidian has lots of friends and ex-members working at Blizzard (Nathaniel Chapman, Michael Chu, Dave Maldonado of Planescape, TRON and KOTOR II fame among others) It's literary down the street. IIRC I read somewhere they drink beer once a week. And all of the oldies there are friends with the Bioware crowd and liked DA:O. Avellone included. Avellone himself regulary defends Bioware at conventions.

OF COURSE THEY ARE GOING TO DEFEND THEM. WHAT DO YOU THINK?

3. He's a programmer and a producer (In Obsidian's case, keeping the team happy and helping out with personal stuff). He tried being a designer as he said himself, but recognizes he's not that good at it.

 

[skuphundaku]

2. Obsidian has lots of friends and ex-members working at Blizzard (Nathaniel Chapman, Michael Chu, Dave Maldonado of Planescape, TRON and KOTOR II fame among others) It's literary down the street. IIRC I read somewhere they drink beer once a week. And all of the oldies there are friends with the Bioware crowd and liked DA:O. Avellone included. Avellone himself regulary defends Bioware at conventions.

If someone defends something that you consider indefensible, no matter how much you love that person, they still are part of the problem. Rather than being tormented by cognitive dissonance and going through all five stages of grief before you admit that they may not be worth your love/admiration/loyalty/whatever, you should accept that someone that defends something you hate is probably just as bad as the one(s) that created that something that you hate. This guy defending D3's always online shit is worrying. The whole studio being butt-buddies with those decliner shitheads from Blizzard is even worse.

 

[IronicNeurotic]

Come to think of it,

Michael Chu (KOTOR II) and Leonard Boyarsky (Fallout, Arcanum, Bloodlines) both worked on the World Design and Writing team.

Consisting of 4 people

With Boyarsky being the Lead of world design.


WTF happened?

 

[IronicNeurotic]

2. Obsidian has lots of friends and ex-members working at Blizzard (Nathaniel Chapman, Michael Chu, Dave Maldonado of Planescape, TRON and KOTOR II fame among others) It's literary down the street. IIRC I read somewhere they drink beer once a week. And all of the oldies there are friends with the Bioware crowd and liked DA:O. Avellone included. Avellone himself regulary defends Bioware at conventions.

If someone defends something that you consider indefensible, no matter how much you love that person, they still are part of the problem. Rather than being tormented by cognitive dissonance and going through all five stages of grief before you admit that they may not be worth your love/admiration/loyalty/whatever, you should accept that someone that defends something you hate is probably just as bad as the one(s) that created that something that you hate. This guy defending D3's always online shit is worrying. The whole studio being butt-buddies with those decliner shitheads from Blizzard is even worse.

People are biased.

That doesn't mean it's suddenly going to change the people/company themselves, though. Doesn't matter who their friends with. Otherwise these people would have gone down the shitter a long, long time ago. These friendships aren't new at all.

 

[Moribund]

The whole studio being butt-buddies with those decliner shitheads from Blizzard is even worse.

This is concerning to me.

I like MCA but everything feargus has ever said is worrying, and they seem to hire mostly guys who are worrying, and all the obshitian games so far are worrying. Sawyer seems like the only one who's not a total tard, but I don't hold him in awe or anything either. Sans MCA I'd be sure this would be a crap game, and even with him I worry the non writing aspects will be crap and even the writing might be depending on how tasks are handed out.

MCA as bigwig is like having chuck norris sitting at a desk in the pentagon and doing press releases.

 

[skuphundaku]

Doesn't matter who their friends with. Otherwise these people would have gone down the shitter a long, long time ago. These friendships aren't new at all.

I consider guilt by association a stupid concept. However, one's friends are a rather effective indicator of one's character/preferences/etc. If you're friends with people that sold their babies for money (Blizzard selling out to Activision and have been one of the biggest agents of decline ever since before that) and you come out with comments like "If you complain about always online, you're a crybaby", then you'll have to assume all responsibility for making me lose all faith in your judgement abilities. Right now, only MCA and, to a lesser degree, Tim Cain are the only ones that give me any confidence in Obsidian. Everybody else seems to be hellbent on running Obsidian's reputation into the ground.

 

[Volrath]

 

[Infinitron]

Doesn't matter who their friends with. Otherwise these people would have gone down the shitter a long, long time ago. These friendships aren't new at all.

I consider guilt by association a stupid concept. However, one's friends are a rather effective indicator of one's character/preferences/etc. If you're friends with people that sold their babies for money (Blizzard selling out to Activision and have been one of the biggest agents of decline ever since before that) and you come out with comments like "If you complain about always online, you're a crybaby", then you'll have to assume all responsibility for making me lose all faith in your judgement abilities. Right now, only MCA and, to a lesser degree, Tim Cain are the only ones that give me any confidence in Obsidian. Everybody else seems to be hellbent on running Obsidian's reputation into the ground.

Blizzard didn't "sell out" to anybody. They were swallowed up during the CUC scandal that also destroyed Sierra On-Line, eventually ending up with Vivendi which then merged with Activision.

 

[Brother None]

The whole studio being butt-buddies with those decliner shitheads from Blizzard is even worse.

...what? You think their choice of friends should be informed by rigid theories on videogame design? The Blizzard relations go back to Interplay for many of these guys. Friendship is gonna friendship. Leonard Boyarsky is at Blizzard and worked on Diablo 3, should Tim friendship breakup with him over it?

You guys are fucking weird.

PS: but that tweet is p fucking stupid.

 

[Moribund]

There's no one left in gaming who's made decent games and doesn't have their own kickstarter. But people who've not even played a good RPG and who think DA is good and make comments like the D3 one can suck it.

 

[l3loodAngel]

Doesn't matter who their friends with. Otherwise these people would have gone down the shitter a long, long time ago. These friendships aren't new at all.

I consider guilt by association a stupid concept. 1. However, one's friends are a rather effective indicator of one's character/preferences/etc. 2. If you're friends with people that sold their babies for money (Blizzard selling out to Activision and have been one of the biggest agents of decline ever since before that) and you come out with comments like 3. "If you complain about always online, you're a crybaby", then you'll have to assume all responsibility for making me lose all faith in your judgement abilities. 4. Right now, only MCA and, to a lesser degree, Tim Cain are the only ones that give me any confidence in Obsidian. Everybody else seems to be hellbent on running Obsidian's reputation into the ground.

1. That it a gross simplification. You have to be friends with people even if you don't like them. If Obsidian would have criticized Bio it would have been bankrupt long time ago as for a time Obsidian was making only Bio sequels. The golden rule is that you don't talk shit about your boss even if you don't like him at all.
2. I doubt that regular employees have much say in the daily affairs of the company and I don't think that they are good friends with Bobby.
3. It wasn't a hidden feature that was implemented 3 months after launch. It was known prior to the release. Complaining about it makes as much sense as complaining about having to charge your Tesla car instead of going to petrol station.
4. TC is the man. However, nobody should expect that they would go out and bash other games, because they might upset their customers.

 

[skuphundaku]

Blizzard didn't "sell out" to anybody. They were swallowed up during the CUC scandal that also destroyed Sierra On-Line, eventually ending up with Vivendi which then merged with Activision.

Yeah, you're right: they had sold out a long time before, to Davidson & Associates, back in '94. Nevertheless, ever since the release of WoW, Blizzard has been one of the worst decliners in the industry and that's why I can't stand them, their friends and anyone defending them or related to them in any way.

 

[skuphundaku]

1. That it a gross simplification. You have to be friends with people even if you don't like them.

WUT?

If Obsidian would have criticized Bio it would have been bankrupt long time ago as for a time Obsidian was making only Bio sequels. The golden rule is that you don't talk shit about your boss even if you don't like him at all.

That's why we can't have good things: lack of principles. When people will start growing some spines and some balls, then the decline will stop. Until then, it will be just "same shit, different day".

3. It wasn't a hidden feature that was implemented 3 months after launch. It was known prior to the release. Complaining about it makes as much sense as complaining about having to charge your Tesla car instead of going to petrol station.

So, because it was announced ahead of time, nobody should complain about this "always online" abomination? FFS!

 

[Moribund]

You don't have to berate competitors but you also dont have to say how awesome dragon age is with pants peeing enthusiasm. I don't remember MCA doing that.

Unfortunately everyone they can hire who has game experience has been part of the decline and probably enthusiastic about it or they'd not have gotten the job.

 

[l3loodAngel]

1. That it a gross simplification. You have to be friends with people even if you don't like them.

WUT?

That's how social and business connections work.

If Obsidian would have criticized Bio it would have been bankrupt long time ago as for a time Obsidian was making only Bio sequels. The golden rule is that you don't talk shit about your boss even if you don't like him at all.

That's why we can't have good things: lack of principles. When people will start growing some spines and some balls, then the decline will stop. Until then, it will be just "same shit, different day".

There is a difference between finding your niche in the world and fighting the world. No one will stop the decline of the mainstream, but we should be able to buy the products we want.

3. It wasn't a hidden feature that was implemented 3 months after launch. It was known prior to the release. Complaining about it makes as much sense as complaining about having to charge your Tesla car instead of going to petrol station.

So, because it was announced ahead of time, nobody should complain about this "always online" abomination? FFS!

It was the foundation on which the game and the whole monetization process was built. People complained like they have just found out about it. Sure it makes sense to complain and whole codex is built on the idea, but it does not make sense in this instance.

 

[Infinitron]

Lots of Aspergers ITT

 

[skuphundaku]

You don't have to berate competitors but you also dont have to say how awesome dragon age is with pants peeing enthusiasm. I don't remember MCA doing that.

Unfortunately everyone they can hire who has game experience has been part of the decline and probably enthusiastic about it or they'd not have gotten the job.

Exactly: you don't have to berate anyone but you do have to stand up to people, and especially to your friends, when they go off the reservation and they become decliners. If you don't do that, then you're just as guilty of the decline as they are. "Friends don't let friends become decliners"

 

[skuphundaku]

1. That it a gross simplification. You have to be friends with people even if you don't like them.

WUT?

That's how social and business connections work.

That may be how your social and business connections work, but I prefer to take a more principled approach to my affairs.

3. It wasn't a hidden feature that was implemented 3 months after launch. It was known prior to the release. Complaining about it makes as much sense as complaining about having to charge your Tesla car instead of going to petrol station.

So, because it was announced ahead of time, nobody should complain about this "always online" abomination? FFS!

It was the foundation on which the game and the whole monetization process was built. People complained like they have just found out about it. Sure it makes sense to complain and whole codex is build on the idea, but it does not make sense in this instance.

And the whole game and its monetization process is an abomination. People have all right to complain about it because a market leader such as Blizzard doing something like that is likely to lead to others jumping on the bandwagon and make it even worse. Remember how EA added that SecuROM limited registration shit and how a lot of others jumped on that bandwagon? Remember how that escalated by publishers adding Steamworks (which is even worse) to their games? ... and so on? This always online shit is the natural next step and it should be fought at each step by everybody that is not a brainless consumer sheep.

 

[l3loodAngel]

It was the foundation on which the game and the whole monetization process was built. People complained like they have just found out about it. Sure it makes sense to complain and whole codex is build on the idea, but it does not make sense in this instance.

And the whole game and its monetization process is an abomination. People have all right to complain about it because a market leader such as Blizzard doing something like that is likely to lead to others jumping on the bandwagon and make it even worse. Remember how EA added that SecuROM limited registration shit and how a lot of others jumped on that bandwagon? Remember how that escalated by publishers adding Steamworks (which is even worse) to their games? ... and so on? This always online shit is the natural next step and it should be fought at each step by everybody that is not a brainless consumer sheep.

Now you sound like people who make internet petitions. You vote with your $, £ or Euro and not with your screams over the internet. That's the only thing that can change how you are being treated. Don't like DRM? Play games without one or go idie.

 

[Moribund]

It was the foundation on which the game and the whole monetization process was built. People complained like they have just found out about it. Sure it makes sense to complain and whole codex is build on the idea, but it does not make sense in this instance.

And the whole game and its monetization process is an abomination. People have all right to complain about it because a market leader such as Blizzard doing something like that is likely to lead to others jumping on the bandwagon and make it even worse. Remember how EA added that SecuROM limited registration shit and how a lot of others jumped on that bandwagon? Remember how that escalated by publishers adding Steamworks (which is even worse) to their games? ... and so on? This always online shit is the natural next step and it should be fought at each step by everybody that is not a brainless consumer sheep.

Now you sound like people who make internet petitions. You vote with your $, £ or Euro and not with your screams over the internet. That's the only thing that can change how you are being treated. Don't like DRM? Play games without one or go idie.

Why vote with just my dollars when I can vote with yours, too? Well not yours personally but some people are liable to be swayed. If not for this time, then for next time.

Hey that's almost like how politics works or something.

 

[skuphundaku]

It was the foundation on which the game and the whole monetization process was built. People complained like they have just found out about it. Sure it makes sense to complain and whole codex is build on the idea, but it does not make sense in this instance.

And the whole game and its monetization process is an abomination. People have all right to complain about it because a market leader such as Blizzard doing something like that is likely to lead to others jumping on the bandwagon and make it even worse. Remember how EA added that SecuROM limited registration shit and how a lot of others jumped on that bandwagon? Remember how that escalated by publishers adding Steamworks (which is even worse) to their games? ... and so on? This always online shit is the natural next step and it should be fought at each step by everybody that is not a brainless consumer sheep.

Now you sound like people who make internet petitions. You vote with your $, £ or Euro and not with your screams over the internet. That's the only thing that can change how you are being treated. Don't like DRM? Play games without one or go idie.

I vote with both. Why should I stay silent? Silence is exactly what cocksuckers like that want. You can keep making disparaging comments like "screams over the internet" all you want. It won't make you right. If you think that playing the game makes you better in some way, that's your choice, but it doesn't make you better. It just shows that you have loose principles, if any.

 

[Moribund]

Some serious brainwashing here. How dare people voice discontent.

 

[l3loodAngel]

Why vote with just my dollars when I can vote with yours, too? Well not yours personally but some people are liable to be swayed. If not for this time, then for next time.

Hey that's almost like how politics works or something.

You are barking at the wrong tree. I bought W3 RoC, TFT and SC2. After they released that uninspired and uninteresting SC 2 I am done with them, with DRM or without it. They made the biggest mistake when they made the whole team of geniuses who made original Diablo and SC 1 quit.