J.E. Sawyer interview

[UncannyGarlic]

I don't know...the problem with the Wii is that a large part of its owners are the kind of players that would never buy a game like FO3 or FO:NV. Also, engine aside, there's the usual problem with the Wiimote not having enough buttons or having them out of reach. Why do you think that certain genres are basically nonexistent on the Wii?

I'm not so sure, Metroid prime, a FPS-adventure game, is extremely popular as are JRPGs. It's a system which tends to be avoided but I'm not so sure that's because those games wouldn't sell for it, it might simply be that those games are rarely made for the platform. It also depends on what region you're in, in seems like such games are more popular for the Wii in Europe than in the US.

I've also heard somewhere that Nintendo is a bitch to work with. Nintendo was never really strong in it's third party developed titles since the haydays of the Nintendo 64.

The reason they ran into increasing trouble with third-party developers with the 64 was due to the medium they choose to go with (expensive cartridges instead of CDs). The GameCube had problems due to their suffocating rules and restrictions for titles released on their system, which they eventually relaxed. The Wii I think is experiencing a combination of the need to rebuild relations with developers after they burned so many bridges with the GameCube and developers wanting to develop for platforms supporting flashier graphics and good traditional controllers. The best controller for the Wii until the Classic Controller Pro (released Q4 of last year) was the GameCube controller, so that was a significant and important barrier to entry.

While there are the titles like Mad World and No More Heroes, they all sold like shit.

No More Heroes was mediocre and I've heard that Mad World was the same. I've heard that Red Steel, the FPS that was pushed the hardest for the platform, was pretty bad. That said, CoD: World at War sold fine for the Wii and sold very well in Europe.

 

[Per]

Y'know, anywhere that I can go where I feel that I can get unfiltered feedback. Where they don't think the developers are reading it.

So how many people here censor themselves because they think Obsidian might be taking offence or something? I mean, besides alec, obviously.

Dammit ScottE where's our %!#& developer profile you %!#& %!#& of a %!#&

 

[UncannyGarlic]

Y'know, anywhere that I can go where I feel that I can get unfiltered feedback. Where they don't think the developers are reading it.

So how many people here censor themselves because they think Obsidian might be taking offence or something? I mean, besides alec, obviously.

Yeah, I'm not sure if he was trying to say that bigger English fan sites somehow have biased posts because the users think that the devs are reading or if those were seperate thoughts that got jumbled together.

 

[decline]

"Really it was about not making people work toward the fun. We felt it should feel fun as soon as they get into it."

oh jumping jesus on a pogo stick because what fallout 3 didn't hand you nearly everything soon enough?

my climbing hopes have been dashed away again. oh fallout why do you roller coaster me like this?

fuck it i'm making a game called "you win" it will have an awesome freaking graphic button you click and then it will tell you you win. click it again and it will make a cool sound and tell you you win but even more badass than last time. just keep clicking

 

[K.C. Cool]

"Really it was about not making people work toward the fun. We felt it should feel fun as soon as they get into it."

What if I find it fun working toward the fun?

 

[Stanislao Moulinsky]

I'm not so sure, Metroid prime, a FPS-adventure game, is extremely popular as are JRPGs.

Bad example. Metroid Prime is a Nintendo game.

 

[Mr Fish]

I know what the original brotherhood is like but I haven't seen them in the original games. It'll be interesting to see them conveyed in NV.

Really?
You meet them at like the sixth map location in fallout 1 and in The Den in fallout 2. >_>

 

[White Knight]

I was using the term the same as I would to an actor in a film. It means I haven't played the games, so I haven't seen them. Sorry if that wasn't clear.

 

[OakTable]

"Really it was about not making people work toward the fun. We felt it should feel fun as soon as they get into it."

What if I find it fun working toward the fun?

It looks like they just gave you slightly less crappy starter weapons then previous games did.

 

[UncannyGarlic]

Bad example. Metroid Prime is a Nintendo game.

Call of Duty: World at War then, it sold twice as much for the Wii on the opening weekend as the PS3 and 360 versions respectively in the UK and sold fine, but not great, in the US on opening weekend. The point was to show that there was demand for the genre, not that the third party developers aren't generally weak.

It looks like they just gave you slightly less crappy starter weapons then previous games did.

Yep and I'm glad that they are going with more of a Fallout approach to starting gear where you get reasonable stuff based on your skills as opposed to the Fallout 2 starting gear where you get basically nothing.

The quote does sound awfully bad when you take it out of context though. That said, I hope they don't follow Beth's lead and use that as the overarching design philosophy for the game.

 

[Lexx]

Fallout 1 for sure got a fast start. Even if you kill the rats in the cave, you are done there in less than 5 minutes. Fallout 2 was the annoying one with the temple of trials and Fallout 3 made it even worse.

 

[Expresate]

I know what the original brotherhood is like but I haven't seen them in the original games. It'll be interesting to see them conveyed in NV.

Really?
You meet them at like the sixth map location in fallout 1 and in The Den in fallout 2. >_>

Oh. It's you. Of course it was pretty obvious it was you without looking at your signature.

 

[decline]

It looks like they just gave you slightly less crappy starter weapons then previous games did.

Yep and I'm glad that they are going with more of a Fallout approach to starting gear where you get reasonable stuff based on your skills as opposed to the Fallout 2 starting gear where you get basically nothing.

The quote does sound awfully bad when you take it out of context though. That said, I hope they don't follow Beth's lead and use that as the overarching design philosophy for the game.

3 was pretty much set up so that if you went like they apparently wanted you to more or less you went from the vault to megaton to the supermarket...at which point you had rifles, or pistols or big weapons or energy weapons and essentially were what you wanted to be at that point.

maybe i'm just being extra down on it all currently but it seems like nobody wants to struggle to kill anything in a game. everyone wants to instantly be the bragging rights badass they envision. and to get trophy awards along the whole way. which are a freaking joke. i get an achievement for leaving the vault? really? how is that an achievement beyond showing i bought the game and played it for 15 minutes.

guess we will have to wait and see but i'm already wondering, if the character starts out "good enough" to be kicking ass fairly well out of the gate then...how strong was the crap that ambushed him? f3 you can really take on the super mutants pretty early which then starts begging the question why has nobody else wiped them out already. or how did i loose to an ambush when i just killed 25 other people. guess we will just have to wait and see

 

[tekhedd]

The first 2 were too hard and had bad graphix.

Thanks for the best laugh I've had all week.

Wait... you are being sarcastic, right? So hard to be sure on this topic.

 

[UncannyGarlic]

maybe i'm just being extra down on it all currently but it seems like nobody wants to struggle to kill anything in a game. everyone wants to instantly be the bragging rights badass they envision.

I think that people want to start out being able to use their weapon skills, which isn't really unreasonable.

guess we will have to wait and see but i'm already wondering, if the character starts out "good enough" to be kicking ass fairly well out of the gate then...how strong was the crap that ambushed him? f3 you can really take on the super mutants pretty early which then starts begging the question why has nobody else wiped them out already. or how did i loose to an ambush when i just killed 25 other people. guess we will just have to wait and see

They've already said that they don't scale much and if you go north from where you start you meet some mean shit that will kill you.

 

[rehevkor]

I'm not so sure, Metroid prime, a FPS-adventure game, is extremely popular as are JRPGs.

Bad example. Metroid Prime is a Nintendo game.

Developed by Retro Studios...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retro_Studios

I'm sure Nintendo had a lot of say in the development, but it's an independent studio.

(I have to admit I bought a CameCube and Wii (and to a lesser extent, the N64) myself just for a handful of titles like Metroid/Zelda etc)

 

[Stanislao Moulinsky]

I'm not so sure, Metroid prime, a FPS-adventure game, is extremely popular as are JRPGs.

Bad example. Metroid Prime is a Nintendo game.

Developed by Retro Studios...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retro_Studios

I know but doesn't really matter. It was a Metroid game, one of their historical and more famous IPs, so Nintendo would have never allowed it to not live up to their usual standards.

But my point was that for a lot of gamers the fact that it was a great game was secondary. The important thing was that it was a great Nintendo game of one of their famous series.

 

[ZeusComplex]

The first 2 were too hard and had bad graphix.

Thanks for the best laugh I've had all week.

Wait... you are being sarcastic, right? So hard to be sure on this topic.

He made me ponder this as well. Ah well, I didn't realize how true this comment was with the Fallout mainstream majority. I had an inkling of an idea that most are dumb bots but damn, it really is a scared realization when most people in the world are like this.

Just yesterday, I went into a gamestop with a friend and ended up having a conversation with the manager about New Vegas. He instantly began to brag about his knowledge of Fallout Cannon and the series development history, citing Beth as the savior to the series. I asked he if played 1 & 2 in which he retorted "Yeah, *he scratched his head* but they are hard man. I mean don't think I'm an idiot or anything, but you would put them down too if you saw all the numbers and rules you had to learn to play those games. I guess I could give it another shot but those games are ugly."

I walked out of the store in a fit of laughter. Seriously, this is true. This is the future of gaming.

 

[tunih]

yup games cant be to hard.
just look at dragon age, where you get a dozen relevel items so incase you do make a mistake you can just start over again, and fix any character mistakes you done.

 

[Faceless Stranger]

The first 2 were too hard and had bad graphix.

Thanks for the best laugh I've had all week.

Wait... you are being sarcastic, right? So hard to be sure on this topic.

Am I? AM I? Yes, I am.