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George Ziets and Justin Cherry left Obsidian

Anthony Davis

Blizzard Entertainment
Developer
Joined
Sep 7, 2007
Messages
2,100
Location
California
All of Justin's stuff is great. He also did a lot of work on Troika games too.

Dare you to imagine a Legend of Zelda with this art style?

http://www.iiiil0liiii.com/art/show/1/79

I don't mean make it all grim dark, just drawn amazingly.
 

eric__s

ass hater
Developer
Joined
Jun 13, 2011
Messages
2,301
I really admire you guys. I wish you all the best! Good luck in your future endeavors!
 

Semper

Cipher
Joined
Jan 12, 2012
Messages
747
MCA Project: Eternity
sad news indeed. hopefully both come back someday in the future... else it would be a waste of great talent. wish them luck till then.

btw what's up with justin sweet lately? is he working at obsidian or still a freelancer? i've got no linkedin acc to check him out. in case someone doesn't know he was black isle's concept artist back in the days of iwd/bg3.
 

G Ziets

Digimancy Entertainment
Developer
Joined
Nov 2, 2007
Messages
66
Location
Columbus, OH
Thanks, guys. Apart from my employer's forums, the Codex is generally the only forum that I bother to read, so this is good to hear. :)

Justin Sweet never worked at Obsidian during my time there (late 2005 to early 2012). Not sure whether he ever freelanced for Obsidian, though.
 

thesoup

Arcane
Joined
Oct 13, 2011
Messages
7,599
Mr. Ziets, I've read somewhere, I think it was a fallout wiki, that your nickname is "chicken" and since your avatar has a chicken in it, can you tell us what's all that about?

edit
Nope, NWN2 wiki.
 

Deleted member 7219

Guest
George Ziets will return to Obsidian some day, I think.
 

G Ziets

Digimancy Entertainment
Developer
Joined
Nov 2, 2007
Messages
66
Location
Columbus, OH
Mr. Ziets, I've read somewhere, I think it was a fallout wiki, that your nickname is "chicken" and since your avatar has a chicken in it, can you tell us what's all that about?

edit
Nope, NWN2 wiki.

Back on LOTRO, I acquired a reputation for using chickens in my areas and quests. Absurd animals crack me up (and LOTRO had a goofy vibe).

I think the nickname originated at Turbine Nation 2004, where I presented a demo and the chickens stole the show. The fans took it from there…
 

Deleted member 7219

Guest
I was just about to say George is responding to questions over at his Formspring (http://www.formspring.me/GZiets for anyone who missed it on the first page of this thread), then I noticed he's joined us here. Cool. I do love the Formspring layout though.
 

sgc_meltdown

Arcane
Joined
May 8, 2003
Messages
6,000

Dragon Magazine #330, April Fools issue
Special feats for NPC Commoner class characters:
Chicken Infested
You’ve got chickens.
Effect: Whenever you draw a weapon or pull an item out of a container, you have a 50% chance of drawing a live chicken instead. No, we don't know where the chickens come from; it's your character.

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=103915
The most common CI build is Commoner1/Warlock8 with The Dead Walk invocation. Nab Corpsecrafter and Destructive Retribution from Libris Mortis: The Book of Bad Latin, and go to town. Get a spell component pouce (always a free action to draw from) and start drawing stuff out. Half of it will be chickens, so just toss em on the ground. Have someone with Great Cleave or similar kill ALL of them. Next round reanimate them all as skeletal chickens (1/4 HD?) with The Dead Walk, and apply all of your Corpsecrafter feats. Now, in the next 8 minutes, sick your hoarde of angry death chickens on whatever it is that drew your ire and watch as they all explode upon death into 1d6 negative energy damage bursts.

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?s=4e1f3fb9c0f890f5f82877780b42a299&t=81485&page=2
Tentative Name: Cluck-tousai the Slasher
Commoner 1 / Warblade 1 / Psion 1 / Rogue X


01: Commoner 1- Flaw: Chicken Infested, Flaw Feat: Weapon Proficiency: Chicken (is there such a thing?), Char Feat: Psionic Weapon, Human Feat: Able Learner
02: Warblade 1
03: Rogue 1-Char Feat: Elusive Dance (Req Perform Dance 5)
04: Psion 1-Psion Bonus Feat: Psionic Meditation (Req Concentration 7)
05: Rogue 2
06: Rogue 3-Char Feat: One of Choice
07: Rogue 4
08: Rogue 5
09: Rogue 6-Deep Impact (Req BAB 5)

*Commoner 1 gives Chicken Infested
*Psion 1 gives Concentration as a class skill, bonus Psionic Feat, and the Power Points for Psionic Focus.
*Warblade 1 gives Sapphire Nightmare, and Armor/Shield Proficiencies
*Rogue gives Sneak Attack bonus damage, and perform as class skill for Elusive Dance.

So each round you:
1) Draw a Chicken as a Free Action (from the spell component pouch)
2) Use Sapphire Nightmare as a Standard Action to catch your foe flat footed
3) Use Deep Impact to ignore a good chunk of enemy AC and to ensure your strike hits.
4) Stack Iaijutsu Focus and Rogue Sneak Attack to deal a good chunk of bonus damage
5) Use Psionic Meditation as a Move Action to regain focus. Rely on Elusive Dance to prevent AoOs (will not work as well if you are surrounded by more than 1 enemy)
6) Drop the Chicken as a free action
:M
 

IronicNeurotic

Arbiter
Joined
Dec 2, 2010
Messages
1,110
Fourteen is a scif-fi horror manga series by Kazuo Umezu. The manga takes place in a dystopic future, where a lump of chicken flesh from a chicken meat-growing factory transforms into a supermutant chicken man named "Chicken George". He goes on a mission to take revenge on humanity for ruining the planet.
1623.gif
 

G Ziets

Digimancy Entertainment
Developer
Joined
Nov 2, 2007
Messages
66
Location
Columbus, OH
Fourteen is a scif-fi horror manga series by Kazuo Umezu. The manga takes place in a dystopic future, where a lump of chicken flesh from a chicken meat-growing factory transforms into a supermutant chicken man named "Chicken George". He goes on a mission to take revenge on humanity for ruining the planet.

Ha! This and the “Chicken Infested” feat both made me laugh out loud.
 

G Ziets

Digimancy Entertainment
Developer
Joined
Nov 2, 2007
Messages
66
Location
Columbus, OH
You should try Fable 3 then. Still a horrible game, though.

You’re right about Fable 3. Which is unfortunate because the concept of leading a revolution and ruling a kingdom could have been pretty compelling, if it had been executed properly.
 

thesoup

Arcane
Joined
Oct 13, 2011
Messages
7,599
Divinity 2 kind of reminds me of Fable 3 a lot, the difference being that Div 2 was very fun and challenging. It also had this revolution and ruling a kingdom theme, in a way. You fight your way through lots of enemies and trials to get your dragon shape, battle tower and a couple of servants. You basically have a kingdom of your own and you have to take some steps to ensure your beloved land won't get wiped by an evil guy. Also has lots of chickens. And a chicken rune. Rabbits are cooler, though.
 

Metro

Arcane
Beg Auditor
Joined
Aug 27, 2009
Messages
27,792
For anyone who doesn’t know Justin, you may recognize his art style here: http://www.iiiil0liiii.com/gallery

Justin was responsible for a lot of the coolest art on MotB: the great visual effects, Okku the bear, the design for the actual mask, the Faceless Man, etc. He was also responsible for the artistic vision on Dungeon Siege 3 (which was probably, in my opinion, the most solid element of that game).

Dungeon_Siege_3_Katarina_cutscene.jpg


Yes... yes it was...
 

mondblut

Arcane
Joined
Aug 10, 2005
Messages
22,205
Location
Ingrija
"Approximately 20-30 people from all disciplines, including one person who started yesterday...

Sucks to be him. "Hello Mike, let me show you your new workplace. (phone ring) What? Uh, sorry Mike, no need to unpack, you're already laid off".
 

Sacculina

Educated
Joined
May 13, 2011
Messages
389
I must say that DS3 is beginning to grow on me. The gameplay’s not my cup of tea, and I probably wouldn’t have bought it if not for the Obsidian label, but I’m having fun with it.

Divinity 2 kind of reminds me of Fable 3 a lot, the difference being that Div 2 was very fun and challenging. It also had this revolution and ruling a kingdom theme, in a way. You fight your way through lots of enemies and trials to get your dragon shape, battle tower and a couple of servants. You basically have a kingdom of your own and you have to take some steps to ensure your beloved land won't get wiped by an evil guy. Also has lots of chickens. And a chicken rune. Rabbits are cooler, though.

There’s also that bloke who was soul-forged with a chicken.

Casper: My chicken! I still haven’t found it! Have you? Where’s that hellish chicken?
PC: You might be able to find it, but don’t count your chickens.
Casper: Fiend! Chick ... I mean, kick a man when he’s down, will you?
 

Metro

Arcane
Beg Auditor
Joined
Aug 27, 2009
Messages
27,792
In all seriousness I did actually like the art of DS3 but... basically everything else was mediocre at best. At least in terms of comparison to other PC ARPGs -- I realize it was designed for consoles first but the problem was that influence seeped into many significant areas of gameplay. And, honestly, while losing your job is not cause for celebration I think the actual talented people at Obsidian are better off elsewhere versus working on something like DS3 again.
 

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