This has little to nothing to do directly with Fallout, but I thought a pair of articles offered interesting reads. First, Desslock on DA2 and being an RPG fan.<blockquote>The ones we love always hurt us the most, and the roleplaying genre has, over its many years, inflicted its rabid adherents with a few post-traumatic stress disorder-inducing moments. The most infamous occasion was the 1994 release of Ultima VIII: Pagan, the sequel to one of the most beloved RPGs. It completely abandoned the renowned features of its predecessor, and its reception prompted a written apology by series creator Richard Garriott. The simplified Deus Ex: Invisible War was another PTSD moment, as was Bethesda’s transformation of the Fallout franchise (for isometric perspective turn-based combat fans, at least).
Ultimately, whether or not you’re traumatized by changes to a beloved franchise depends upon how much you personally cared about those specific features that were most mutated. I actually love Fallout 3 as much as its predecessors, and wasn’t remotely turned off by Bethesda’s radical design changes, but other fans felt betrayed. Similarly, many RPG fans are enjoying Dragon Age 2, but for me, its release is very much a Pagan moment.</blockquote>Next, our host Atomic Gamer interviewed creative lead George Ziets and project director Rich Taylor on Dungeon Siege III. Not of interest to us, until these questions to Rich Taylor on page 2 and 3...<blockquote>AG: On that topic, Obsidian would probably be the best guys to ask about this, but do you think the days of turn-based RPGs are done? Are we just gonna get some mix of action and RPG from here on out?
RT: I think it's still doable. Dragon Age was quite successful. It wasn't necessarily turn-based, but it was very much pause-and-play, especially if you kicked the difficulty up. It was very challenging if you did not play is it as a tactical RPG. I thought that was a fantastic game, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
AG: But they're moving away from that. With Dragon Age 2, there's no more tactical view. So it seems that even Bioware has decided -
RT: Yeah, it does seem like a dying genre, doesn't it? Kinda sad.
AG: The only place I really see that kind of really old-school game viable now is as a smaller-scale, downloadable game.
RT: I think it's one of those things, that on the PC, there's not such a high threshold to get a game out on the PC, especially with features like [the ones Steam gives developers] these days. And I think that's probably where we'd be more likely to see a very hardcore tactical-type game come out.
AG: Recently we just saw Double Fine release Stacking. They made a big-name game, Brutal Legend, and when the sequel didn't pan out, they decided they would back it off, and start making downloadable games based on interesting concepts. That's not a direction we see developers usually go in, but do you see Obsidian doing something like this?
RT: We talk about it. I can't say anything more [laughs]. I would just say that that is certainly a conversation we have around here. I think it makes a lot of sense. We'll never quit doing the big games, we love doing those, and that's what this studio is about, but I don't think that rules out working on other games, especially if they can have tie-ins - I think that's fantastic.
AG: I think Obsidian would be in a good position, especially considering how many of you have that worked on those RPGs from the old days.
RT: Yeah - lot of people here helped develop and design those. The owners, and I came from Black Isle myself, I worked on that stuff. Yeah - we would love to do that.
AG: Now, Dungeon Siege 3 is not really a game for the hardcore old-school RPG fan. Those guys, the guys from sites like Duck and Cover, or NMA Fallout, they haven't said much about Dungeon Siege 3, but overall they don't seem terribly hopeful that any developer is going to sell them the game they want to buy. Do you think those days are over?
RT: I don't think those days are over.</blockquote>
Ultimately, whether or not you’re traumatized by changes to a beloved franchise depends upon how much you personally cared about those specific features that were most mutated. I actually love Fallout 3 as much as its predecessors, and wasn’t remotely turned off by Bethesda’s radical design changes, but other fans felt betrayed. Similarly, many RPG fans are enjoying Dragon Age 2, but for me, its release is very much a Pagan moment.</blockquote>Next, our host Atomic Gamer interviewed creative lead George Ziets and project director Rich Taylor on Dungeon Siege III. Not of interest to us, until these questions to Rich Taylor on page 2 and 3...<blockquote>AG: On that topic, Obsidian would probably be the best guys to ask about this, but do you think the days of turn-based RPGs are done? Are we just gonna get some mix of action and RPG from here on out?
RT: I think it's still doable. Dragon Age was quite successful. It wasn't necessarily turn-based, but it was very much pause-and-play, especially if you kicked the difficulty up. It was very challenging if you did not play is it as a tactical RPG. I thought that was a fantastic game, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
AG: But they're moving away from that. With Dragon Age 2, there's no more tactical view. So it seems that even Bioware has decided -
RT: Yeah, it does seem like a dying genre, doesn't it? Kinda sad.
AG: The only place I really see that kind of really old-school game viable now is as a smaller-scale, downloadable game.
RT: I think it's one of those things, that on the PC, there's not such a high threshold to get a game out on the PC, especially with features like [the ones Steam gives developers] these days. And I think that's probably where we'd be more likely to see a very hardcore tactical-type game come out.
AG: Recently we just saw Double Fine release Stacking. They made a big-name game, Brutal Legend, and when the sequel didn't pan out, they decided they would back it off, and start making downloadable games based on interesting concepts. That's not a direction we see developers usually go in, but do you see Obsidian doing something like this?
RT: We talk about it. I can't say anything more [laughs]. I would just say that that is certainly a conversation we have around here. I think it makes a lot of sense. We'll never quit doing the big games, we love doing those, and that's what this studio is about, but I don't think that rules out working on other games, especially if they can have tie-ins - I think that's fantastic.
AG: I think Obsidian would be in a good position, especially considering how many of you have that worked on those RPGs from the old days.
RT: Yeah - lot of people here helped develop and design those. The owners, and I came from Black Isle myself, I worked on that stuff. Yeah - we would love to do that.
AG: Now, Dungeon Siege 3 is not really a game for the hardcore old-school RPG fan. Those guys, the guys from sites like Duck and Cover, or NMA Fallout, they haven't said much about Dungeon Siege 3, but overall they don't seem terribly hopeful that any developer is going to sell them the game they want to buy. Do you think those days are over?
RT: I don't think those days are over.</blockquote>
