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TorontoReign
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A recent interview with Chris Avellone has briefly mentioned his reasons for leaving Obsidian. The rest of the interview will be released soon, so it is rather short and he gives a lot of "I don't know" type answers. One thing I found interesting was Obsidian code naming all of their projects after states which somewhat shoots a hole in the Van Buren theories about Project Louisiana.
http://sugarbombed.com/forums/threads/chris-avellone-interview-part-1.21018/
SB: In an interview with Inside Gaming in 2013, you mentioned that one of the locations you’d like to see a hypothetical new Fallout game from Obsidian be located is New Orleans, Louisiana. Now Obsidian has confirmed that they are working on a “Project Louisiana”. This along with Obsidian’s interest in the location as stated before, along with JE Sawyer tweeting out Lousiana “Field Notes” seems to indicate that Obsidian is working on a game set there. Now, this obviously doesn’t mean it has to be a Fallout game, but what do you think it is about Louisiana and New Orleans from your experiences with Obsidian that makes them want to set a game there?
Chris: States have been publicly revealed as codenames for Obsidian projects. I can't reveal what they are actually doing.
So you know, the person who had the idea for New Orleans isn't there any longer (he left many years ago, not long after the mass layoffs), and the last person to publically advocate the desire to do a Fallout game has also departed the studio.
SB: Secondly, was “Project Louisiana” in any sort of development when you were still at Obsidian?
CA: I couldn't say even if that was the case, I'm sorry.
SB: Hypothetically, if Obsidian were to make a hypothetical new Fallout spinoff, would you hypothetically want to go back to obsidian and have some involvement with it being that Fallout is so close to your heart?
CA: No. While I like the developers and wish them all the very best, there's too many other problems at the higher managerial level to ever consider stepping back, especially when you could make a step in a direction that mattered for the franchise. Even leads at Obsidian have said as much (most after departing), and they told me they felt helpless in their roles to do what they felt was the right decision.
SB: Continuing with some things said in that interview, you said you think Fallout has “room to grow” outside of the US. Considering the heavy emphasis that the Fallout games put on Americana and American exceptionalism as a central theme of that world, do you really think a game set outside of the US (anywhere except Canada which was annexed, and isn’t much different from the US anyhow) would be able to keep that Fallout personality and theme going that separates it from other Post-apocalyptic games like Metro?
CA: I don't know. It would require a lot of research and actual developers (inc. writers and artists) for those regions to really make it sing otherwise I think it would sound false if a company largely composed of Californians (or Marylanders) did it.
SB: Now let’s get into some talk about the most recent Fallout game that we have, which is Bethesda Game Studio’s Fallout 4. Fallout 4 is probably the most polarizing main entry in the series to date, with many longtime fans taking issue with new features such as the voiced protagonist and settlement mode, along with a perceived lack of focus on the core RPG mechanics which Fallout was built on. Personally, have you enjoyed Fallout 4, and is there anything as a fan and developer of the Fallout series that you wish they did differently?
CA: I only played a little of Fallout 4, so I couldn't say. Fallout 3 I've already broken down into pros/cons elsewhere, so I won't rehash it here.
SB: How would you compare and contrast the RPG’s you’ve worked on with the RPG’s that Bethesda Game Studios has made? What do you think Fallout 2/New Vegas do better than Fallout 3-4 and vice versa?
CA: That's difficult to say from the internal perspective of then and now - and it depends on what design element you're talking about. Story-wise, I can definitely say Fallout 2 did a worse job on many fronts than Fallout 1, for example, and New Vegas did a lot of things even worse than Fallout 2, but did better on the world exploration front than F2 could hope to do based on tech alone (but which F3 and F4 did better, imo). Bethesda definitely has a better design-exploration-aesthetic than any game I've worked on.
SB: The older Fallout games, especially 2, seemed much more willing to explore darker subject matter such as rape, child killing, sex etc than Bethesda’s games do. Was there any line that you guys didn’t want to cross, and why do you think Bethesda shies away somewhat from this kind of content?
CA: Even if I knew, I couldn’t speak to Black Isle's and Bethesda's decisions. I really doubt there was much creative restrictions on F2 because no one was really at the wheel checking the content or managing the production. It doesn't matter, though, as most treatments I've seen of those subjects is for shock value, so I'm not sure anything narratively significant has been lost if they are reined in or passed over.
SB: Would you ever consider adding a voiced protagonist to any RPG you’ve worked on? Do you think it would work for the types of games you like to create?
CA: It's almost never my decision, although I do give my opinion. I prefer a silent protagonist because I feel it makes the player role-play more rather than assume a passive stance.
SB: Recently, I’ve seen many people argue over what constitutes an RPG. In your mind, what defines an RPG?
CA: It's a continuing debate. In my opinion, an RPG is an RPG due to character development, character customization, significant character choice and effect on the world, ability for growth (both stats and psychologically), and the ability to genuinely play a role, preferably the wider, the better. There's probably a lot more aspects, but those are the ones that jump to mind.
SB: Tim Cain, one of the other fathers of Fallout that you have worked with in the past, once famously said that “My idea is to explore more of the world and more of the ethics of a post-nuclear world, not to make a better plasma gun” Todd Howard and bethesda on the other hand, seemed to dedicate a lot more of their time and resources into allowing the player to create a better plasma gun (among other Minecraft-esque features) than they do exploring the ethics of a post nuclear world. Does this bother you at all? And how fine do you think the line between focusing too much on things like combat and customization, rather than not enough on them, is?
CA: I don't know, I wasn't there during the development of Fallout 1 and Fallout 3/4 and can't speak to the internal design choices made.
That said, previous games both Tim and I have worked on have definitely focused on combat to the extent of damaging the storyline, especially enforced/mandatory violent path options, and ones that had obsessive weapon design schemes that had a priority over narrative aspects.
SB: Another thing that hardcore fans of the series have been quick to point out is how little Bethesda seems to acknowledge New Vegas both in public and in Fallout 4 itself. There are very few references to anything that occurred in New Vegas or things that New Vegas established as lore such as Mr. House being a graduate of MIT, you’d think there’d be a reference to him somewhere at MIT (CIT in Fallout 4) right? Does it bother you that Bethesda seems almost unwilling to acknowledge New Vegas’ existence, and do you think the fact that many prefer it to their version(s) of the series has something to do with that?
CA: It's their license, and the two coasts are pretty far apart. Bethesda did reference San Francisco in Kellog's memory dungeon in F4, though, and it was clearly a Fallout 2 reference.
I still think it was weird to do a Vegas when we already had a New Reno, it felt like the record was skipping. Still, it's likely because Vegas is more a key (and recognizable) signature city than Reno was, but I don't know why the decision was made.
SB: You’ve said that you don’t think Fallout will leave Bethesda’s hands again, and likely not go back to Obsidian. Do you think this would have anything to do with the quarrels Bethesda and Obsidian had during and after development (specifically the metacritic thing) and like I said before, they’re worried about being showed up so to speak? Because with Bethesda’s patterns, the next Fallout game by them likely won’t come out for a long time, so they probably want to fill that gap with something, no?
CA: I doubt Bethesda worries much about what Obsidian is doing (Bethesda's likely way too busy on multiple fronts), but only they could speak to that, I have no idea.
From an outside perspective, however, it appears when Bethesda likes working with a studio or see their potential, they seem to buy them (Arkane). They didn't buy Obsidian, though, even though Obsidian is eager to be bought based on recent interviews. It might be for the best - I don't know what would happen to the devs if Obsidian was bought, but the upper management would likely come out okay with that exit strategy.
SB: Let’s say Bethesda goes and tries to fill the wait for Fallout 5 with a Fallout MMO by The Elder Scrolls Online developer Zenimax Online Studios. Do you see any potential in this idea?
CA: I think a Fallout MMO would do well. Yes, RPG Codex, light your torches, I'll send you a map to my house.
SB: One last Fallout 4 related question. Bethesda, specifically the lead BGS writer Emil Pagularo, have taken some heat for multiple lore inconsistencies found in Fallout 4. For example, according to Fallout 4, jet was available pre-war and not created by Myron in Fallout 2. Also, there is an Enclave Power Armor suit at Nuka World that was also made pre-war (when it explicitly states in the game it was created post war), among other inconsistencies. How much is making sure all the lore in your games adds up and is consistent something you focus on in your games? And do you take issue with Bethesda at all for these lore inconsistencies?
CA: Do I take issue with them? No. (And considering what jet was originally made from, that lore point should make a lot of players happy.)
Even so, when inheriting a franchise, sometimes I, too, take exception to previous decisions as well (talking deathclaws in F2, talking animals, ghosts, Wannamingoes that look like HR Giger knock-off monsters, etc, etc.), even stuff I've done that I realized later was the wrong decision for the sake of a cheap joke (esp. 4th wall-breaking jokes).
http://sugarbombed.com/forums/threads/chris-avellone-interview-part-1.21018/
