Gamasutra managed to quickly nab the ever-elusive Jason D. Anderson for a quick sit-down. Not a lot on the InXile RPG.<blockquote>By joining up with inXile, you're in a way returning to working with Brian Fargo, who founded Interplay. Did you actually work with him much during the Fallout days?
JA: He was actually more a step away from me. When the Fallout team had interactions with Brian, it was usually through Tim [Cain]. I never really had personal interaction with him.
Presumably you are working more directly with him now, given the setup.
JA: Definitely. When I came on, I spoke with Brian a number of times. It was a very hard decision to leave Project V13. I loved the project, and we spent so much time on it, and it was not an easy decision to make. But in talking with Brian, it made it a lot easier. We really clicked, and saw eye to eye on what we wanted to see happen to RPGs.
In what sense do you see eye to eye?
JA: Well, RPGs have been kind of in a lull as of late. But there have been a handful of good ones out there -- especially with Bethesda successfully rebooting the Fallout franchise, and generally showing that RPGs are viable forms of entertainment.
I want to get back to RPGs that are very story-driven and character-driven. Personally, I've never gotten out of [single-player] RPGs. There was the short stint working on the MMO for the past year, but that was pretty much it. I've always been about RPGs and RPG design. Even before Interplay I was a big RPG player. </blockquote>But here's what Jason thought of Fallout 3.<blockquote>So have you played Fallout 3?
JA: Yeah.
What did you think?
JA: I really enjoyed it. I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. In some ways I really felt they captured the Fallout feeling, and other things were somewhat expected than what I expected from a Fallout game. That being said, I definitely understand that these things take on a life of their own. All in all, I felt it was really good. I liked it.
Did you play the other pre-Bethesda Fallout followups, Fallout Tactics and Brotherhood of Steel
JA: A little bit. Well, not Brotherhood of Steel. I could tell from the screenshots I didn't want to play that one.
So it sounds like you felt Bethesda was a better caretaker than some.
JA. Oh yeah. </blockquote>
JA: He was actually more a step away from me. When the Fallout team had interactions with Brian, it was usually through Tim [Cain]. I never really had personal interaction with him.
Presumably you are working more directly with him now, given the setup.
JA: Definitely. When I came on, I spoke with Brian a number of times. It was a very hard decision to leave Project V13. I loved the project, and we spent so much time on it, and it was not an easy decision to make. But in talking with Brian, it made it a lot easier. We really clicked, and saw eye to eye on what we wanted to see happen to RPGs.
In what sense do you see eye to eye?
JA: Well, RPGs have been kind of in a lull as of late. But there have been a handful of good ones out there -- especially with Bethesda successfully rebooting the Fallout franchise, and generally showing that RPGs are viable forms of entertainment.
I want to get back to RPGs that are very story-driven and character-driven. Personally, I've never gotten out of [single-player] RPGs. There was the short stint working on the MMO for the past year, but that was pretty much it. I've always been about RPGs and RPG design. Even before Interplay I was a big RPG player. </blockquote>But here's what Jason thought of Fallout 3.<blockquote>So have you played Fallout 3?
JA: Yeah.
What did you think?
JA: I really enjoyed it. I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. In some ways I really felt they captured the Fallout feeling, and other things were somewhat expected than what I expected from a Fallout game. That being said, I definitely understand that these things take on a life of their own. All in all, I felt it was really good. I liked it.
Did you play the other pre-Bethesda Fallout followups, Fallout Tactics and Brotherhood of Steel
JA: A little bit. Well, not Brotherhood of Steel. I could tell from the screenshots I didn't want to play that one.
So it sounds like you felt Bethesda was a better caretaker than some.
JA. Oh yeah. </blockquote>