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[Punished Miku]

Obsidian

www.obsidian.net

"If you think you have the chops (that is, experience, qualifications and passionate desire) to create AAA role-playing games, take a look and see if there is a position that suits you."

There's also some interviews that you can goole about. There's also one with MS in which they say that Obsidian is now an "AAA" studio.

I find that very surprising. They're the epitome of AA. Small budget Kickstarter games, medieval visual novel. Their biggest games were built on existing engines with existing combat systems (Fallout NV, KOTOR 2); plagued with bugs from obviously shoestring budgets and development times. I wouldn't call them AAA at all. They seem to want to make smaller and more experimental games. I guess they view it differently. I think just 14 people laid the groundwork for Grounded.

How a tiny team at Obsidian are tackling the giant survival genre with Grounded

Just 14 developers at The Outer Worlds studio Obsidian Entertainment are trying to change the survival game in Grounded.

ag.hyperxgaming.com

 

[Flabagast]

The trailer was very disappointing, with an ugly as hell cartoonish artstyle. Outer Worlds was straight up bad and boring.

However, Pentiment is excellent and Obsidian still has a very nice pedigree, so that could turn somewhat good if they rely on their strengths. But I am not too confident.

 

[Gorgon]

Diablo 3 was raked through the coals initially for the WoW copy/paste art style.

Now we have Diablo 4 as a result of that.

Have you seen the artwork and trailer for Dragon Age: Dreadwolf?

 

[DeepEnigma]

Have you seen the artwork and trailer for Dragon Age: Dreadwolf?

I've not paid attention to Dragon Age since the first one.

 

[drganon]

I've not paid attention to Dragon Age since the first one.

Smart decision.

 

[SlimySnake]

Made approachable for a broader audience, clicked off there.

What I find odd about these PR statements is that these videos are only watched by hardcore gamers. The wider audience will never see this marketing video. So why bother alienating the hardcore with this kind of talk? Just keep this as an internal metric and hope that it does come across in E3 trailers or tv spots that might be watched by the wider audience.

 

[Gorgon]

I find that very surprising. They're the epitome of AA. Small budget Kickstarter games, medieval visual novel. Their biggest games were built on existing engines with existing combat systems (Fallout NV, KOTOR 2); plagued with bugs from obviously shoestring budgets and development times. I wouldn't call them AAA at all. They seem to want to make smaller and more experimental games. I guess they view it differently. I think just 14 people laid the groundwork for Grounded.

How a tiny team at Obsidian are tackling the giant survival genre with Grounded

Just 14 developers at The Outer Worlds studio Obsidian Entertainment are trying to change the survival game in Grounded.

ag.hyperxgaming.com

It's directly related to their aquisition by MS and the consequent increase in budget. MS also mentioned in the same interview I remember that they (MS) want to expand The Outer Worlds into a big IP going forward. I think they're making a big mistake with the latter.

 

[Gorgon]

I've not paid attention to Dragon Age since the first one.

I don't even care for the first one, but I did have the unfortunate experience of happening across Dreadwolfs's artwork and trailer. I don't wish it on anyone. take it as a cautionary tale.

 

[Hudo]

You mean it hasn't 'Awowed' you?

That's even better.

 

[Stafford]

More co-op causality due to Series S.

I know you're kidding, but I am super happy this co-op focus is gone. I want these Obsidian RPGs to be SP focused. That's their strength. Let the Grounded team do co-op stuff.

Wonder what happened. Devs have praised creative freedom at Xbox, so maybe Obsidian asked and Phil/Xbox said they can go ahead and make it SP focused after all.

 

[kanjobazooie]

• Avowed is Obsidian's version of what a fantasy first-person RPG is

I see.

 

[DownLikeBCPowder]

I became recently interested in this because I discovered it was in the Pillars of Eternity universe, but none of the promo materials really do it for me. Will still keep an eye on it in the end.

 

[Stare-Bear]

It looks like a Chinese Free To Play game...

I LOVED the Outerworlds and had somewhat high hopes for this.

 

[Crispy Gamer]

The biggest disappointment of the show for me I definitely wasn't expecting it to look like THAT

 

[StueyDuck]

Co-op budget skyrim would have made this game 80% more interesting

 

[gothmog]

Well I'm disappointed. Not sure with what, though. I'm glad they're abandoning the co-op thing but it sounds more like they should have cancelled and regrouped rather than pivot.

 

[Rockman33]

Not sure all the hate? We are getting a new original SINGLE player IP RPG from obsidian. They pretty much only make great games. Isn’t this type of game EXACTLY what gaf members want?

 

[fatmarco]

So the rhetoric seemed to be, post "The Outer Worlds vs Fallout 4", that Obsidian was a better developer than the Todd Howard led main studio of Bethesda...

It will be interesting to see if that discussion is as common after both Starfield and Avowed release (with budget and scope differences taken into account).

Will the over 13+ years of good will from Fallout New Vegas finally be dropped or will Obsidian prove they still have "it"?

 

[SenkiDala]

More co-op causality due to Series S.

The fact that Larian are bad devs doesn't mean all of them are.

I dunno but Gears, Perfect Dark Zero (day one), Halo, Dead Island, Crackdown and dozens and dozens of other games on X360 and XONE worked perfectly for me.

 

[DeepEnigma]

The fact that Larian are bad devs doesn't mean all of them are.

I dunno but Gears, Perfect Dark Zero (day one), Halo, Dead Island, Crackdown and dozens and dozens of other games on X360 and XONE worked perfectly for me.

What a bullshit post.

 

[Fredrik]

Not sure all the hate? We are getting a new original SINGLE player IP RPG from obsidian. They pretty much only make great games. Isn’t this type of game EXACTLY what gaf members want?

Some GAF members want that, like me. Focusing on single player sounds awesome. And I know their writing is good. I think it’ll be a nice game between Starfield and The Elder Scrolls VI, they just need time to polish it properly, no rush.

 

[Kilau]

The fact that Larian are bad devs doesn't mean all of them are.

I dunno but Gears, Perfect Dark Zero (day one), Halo, Dead Island, Crackdown and dozens and dozens of other games on X360 and XONE worked perfectly for me.

 

[Ass of Can Whooping]

Not sure all the hate? We are getting a new original SINGLE player IP RPG from obsidian. They pretty much only make great games. Isn’t this type of game EXACTLY what gaf members want?

Outer worlds was trash so they need to prove themselves as far as I care

 

[Robb]

Not sure all the hate? We are getting a new original SINGLE player IP RPG from obsidian. They pretty much only make great games. Isn’t this type of game EXACTLY what gaf members want?

If it turns out to be good I’ll give it a go for sure. I really enjoyed The Outer Worlds (which people seem to hate for some reason).

The most recent trailer was very underwhelming though. But I guess they still got plenty of time to tweak things.

 

[SmokedMeat]

More co-op causality due to Series S.

Thank you Series S! Get that co-op shit out of my solo experience.

Looks good so far.

 

[ahtlas7]

Josh Sawyer, Obsidian design director would like you to know that large expansive rpg’s are atypical.

 

[DeepEnigma]

Josh Sawyer, Obsidian design director would like you to know that large expansive rpg’s are atypical.

 

[Gorgon]

Not sure all the hate? We are getting a new original SINGLE player IP RPG from obsidian. They pretty much only make great games. Isn’t this type of game EXACTLY what gaf members want?

I haven't seen anything yet that makes me think this will be anything else than Outer Worlds Fantasy Edition. And OW is OK but hardly a great game. I do think that Obsidian is over-rated, but that's not "hate". Now that Obsidian see themselves as an "AAA" studio they will have to compete with the big boys. OW:Fantasy won't cut it.

The fact that Larian are bad devs doesn't mean all of them are.

That must mean that MS's own software engineers must suck too, since they can't get Larian's game to work on Series S either.

 

[StereoVsn]

Outer worlds was trash so they need to prove themselves as far as I care

I don't think it was trash but it was absolutely mediocre. And nothing about the trailer reassured anybody.

We went from "Obsidian's Skyrim" to whatever the hell it was they were showing.

 

[StereoVsn]

Josh Sawyer, Obsidian design director would like you to know that large expansive rpg’s are atypical.

Obsidian is only supported by a smallscale publisher. Can't expect too much, am I rite?

 

[Gorgon]

I don't think it was trash but it was absolutely mediocre. And nothing about the trailer reassured anybody.

We went from "Obsidian's Skyrim" to whatever the hell it was they were showing.

Dude, explain to me what's the difference between "trash" and "absolutely mediocre".

 

[tryDEATH]

I think they are trying to temper and reign in the expectations quite a bit after the first trailer. As the actual gameplay footage hasn't looked anything like it. I think people were expecting a darker approach to the game world more similar to Skyrim instead we got a color explosion with less impressive graphics. Hopefully Xbox gives them all the necessary time for them to execute the game to their full vision and standard gamers expect. Please no more secondary projects from b-teams just to appease the studios without proper backing.

 

[Punished Miku]

Dude, explain to me what's the difference between "trash" and "absolutely mediocre".

Do you know what mediocre means?

 

[Ass of Can Whooping]

Do you know what mediocre means?

The synonym for mediocre is trash

 

[Gorgon]

Do you know what mediocre means?

The dictionary says "average, not very good". You're right, my appologies.

 

[mrmustard]

I remember countless people, including me, hating on the Monkey Island art style. Turned out people, including me, enjoyed the game nevertheless.

 

[StereoVsn]

Dude, explain to me what's the difference between "trash" and "absolutely mediocre".

Redfall would be Trash. Outer Worlds would be mediocre.

On a 10 point scale think 2-3 vs 5-6.

 

[Drizzlehell]

Bro, just because I'm fat doesn't mean it's okay to refer to me as "broader audience", okay?

 

[GetInTheRobot]

Josh Sawyer, Obsidian design director would like you to know that large expansive rpg’s are atypical.

I wouldn't take this as a slight against the game, if theres one persons who opinion on rpgs that is valuable its Josh Sawyer. He's never shorted his audience once so I trust his take on what is an a typical development cycle.

 

[semiconscious]

Very humble lol

yeah, & especially in consideration of outer worlds, that's genuinely off-putting...

 

[CamHostage]

There's not a single DARK region showed in the trailer. I can only comment on what was showed.

Well, you could read some portion of the comment you're responding to before jumping in, because they address this concern...

The quoted insider of the developer says that the trailer had been sweetened for color/brightness, and that the released screenshots feel more representative of the current look the game in production. (Editors also probably picked scenes for clarity and visual brightness, and they didn't take note that the overall impression left out any sense of darkness.) There is that screen of a fire fight in a cave that is plenty dark outside of the flame's reach; a similar cavern is seen in the trailer but not portrayed as well.

Gameplay does show a worryingly tendency to over-light areas or add glowing elements to fill in dim spaces (worrying if you prefer atmosphere to seeing where you're going...) and there's an odd smoothness and saturation to the visual style which makes it look cartoony at times, but if they can more often than not achieve what the screens are aiming for versus the look of the gameplay trailer, that should bring Avowed more in line with expectations.

there are both dark and bright regions in the game.

 

[CamHostage]

I find that very surprising. They're the epitome of AA... Their biggest games were built on existing engines with existing combat systems (Fallout NV, KOTOR 2); plagued with bugs from obviously shoestring budgets and development times. I wouldn't call them AAA at all.

This has been clarified a few times elsewhere, but "AAA" is not a designated rank assigned to studios. It's not a Michelin Star determined by some executive board.

"AAA" is a simple (and WAY overused, and yet generally meaningless...) term to describe budgets and importance on the release slate of a company. It's a business term, and it has since been adapted into a marketing term (and thus a press/influencer term,) but it's nothing officially designated and it's all relational. (There is no real thing as being a "AA" developer. Any executive who is for whatever reason ranking the titles on their slate, for example, making a list of where to put trailers in a showcase, generally considers there being "AAA" and then "everything else".)

A large-scale RPG published by Microsoft advertised as a flagship product in marketing promotions can call itself AAA in a job req without much need to question who qualified it as such. Whether it lives up to gamers' expectations is a different matter; right now they're looking for staff experienced in working at top-tier levels.

You shouldn't read job postings expecting to find consumer-oriented information about a project. They're selling a job to a potential worker, and what "AAA" means in the job market isn't the same as what posters on forums would read into looking for some hype.

 

[nemiroff]

Yup this and it doesn't look like you can fuck a bear. So, pass.

Larian made BG3 more "approachable" than Pillars of Autumn. Just saying.. So it depends on how and how much "approachable" is applied.

 

[Vox Machina]

I became recently interested in this because I discovered it was in the Pillars of Eternity universe, but none of the promo materials really do it for me. Will still keep an eye on it in the end.

Pretty much the same here. This last trailer was just a bad trailer hopefully. Got pretty far into PoE 2 and liked what I played of it.

 

[DeepEnigma]

The biggest disappointment of the show for me I definitely wasn't expecting it to look like THAT

I'm more turned off that the NPC animations looked very, very dated. Stiff movements just gliding across the terrain.

 

[Badlucktroll]

Can Obsidian just do a new single player Fallout please and thank you

 

[Last Hearth]

Redfall would be Trash. Outer Worlds would be mediocre.

On a 10 point scale think 2-3 vs 5-6.

That’s fair, but for someone like me who has limited gaming hours. Anything below an 8 might as well be trash because I won’t have time to play them.

 

[CamHostage]

More co-op causality due to Series S.

I'll also assume you're kidding, but co-op likely would not have been split-screen in the multiplayer version of Avowed. (The number of full-scale RPGs with untethered split-screen is... I don't know, how many games has Larian ever made?) Split-screen is what is holding up BG3 on Xbox; online co-op would/will presumedly work fine on Series S.

 

[darrylgorn]

So another Obsidian game that'll I'll be playing the fuck out of while not giving a fuck about what gaf thinks.

 

[Joshmyersbv]

This game just doesn't look good to me. Honestly the last game I played that was any good from Obsidian was Fallout New Vegas. Everything else I played from them bored me to death (OW and Pillars).