Do you really feel that way about us, Mr. Urquhart?

Click here and disable ads!

While browsing this one year old interview of Feargus Urquhart on the possibility of a Torment sequel, I was struck by a rather harsh judgment about some of us Torment fans.

http://pc-mmo.nowgamer.com/news/5797/obsidian-dev-ponders-planescape-torment-return

Whilst explaining why Obsidian is reluctant to do any kind of sequel to Torment, this comment comes up.

Feargus Urquhart said:

HAS to be done right? WILL be pissed off? So Obsidian has not latched on to the juicy chance to make a Torment sequel...because they think we are a bunch of people with overly exacting standards who get "pissed off" if each one of them is not met? Is that how you really feel about us, Mr. Urquhart?

No, I don't have any exacting standards as to how Planescape Torment must be made or how it should be done "just right". Even if Torment 2 throws a few of the original game's elements or features out of the window, if it's a fun game (as Torment was), it's a FUN GAME. Why should I be "pissed off" either way?

Good or bad, none of it will change the first Torment. At the very least, it's not like I - as a Torment fan - have some sense of entitlement as to how Torment's sequels MUST BE. It would be YOUR game, Obsidian, and it would be YOUR call on how it should be made. Not mine. If I think I won't like it, then I won't buy it or play it. But no, I would not lose my night's sleep or be "pissed off" about it.

Believing that we are some kind of an obsessive, nitpicky, demanding bunch is strange. Most of us have the good sense to not to take games THAT seriously. They are just video games! Games are just a way of killing time when we are bored or have nothing else to do. None of us will send you death threats if Torment 2 sucks.

OK, Wyrmlord, go play now

ban Wyrmlord.

So him wanting to do justice to the original with a sequel is a bad thing?

Wyrmlord, you have a habit of misinterpreting statements and finding hidden meanings that don't really exist. Just saying.

What could a sequel be about, anyway? I thought the story wrapped itself up pretty neatly. TNO fighting the war for eternity, a hack 'n slash PS:T? Or him somehow getting out of there, pretty much devaluing everything that the original was about?

It's not only that. All old games that still have a strong fan community after all these years have a very high chance that a sequel fails to please that community and provokes strong negative reactions. Actually, that chance is near 100%.

Calm down.

Death threats from fans is about the only thing keeping this whole industry from fully submerging into vile shit.

"Pissed off"? You don't even begin to fathom, ehehe.

Do we even need a sequel to Torment? I wouldn't mind a game using the Planescape setting, but I don't think Torment needs a sequel.

Fixed it for you. Also, he's probably right. And Hobo Elf as well, Torment needs no sequel.

Nobody gives a shit about fan reaction, we need more rocks, gas and broken glass bottles.

A world without sequels and franchises would be such a beautiful place.

Torment has no sequel.

Torment needs no sequel.

The second Planescape game cannot be made, Wyrmlord, son of Wyrmking, by any craft that we here possess. The game was forged in the fires of Mount Avellone. Only there can a spiritual sequel be produced. The IP must be taken deep into Obsidian Entertainment and cast back into the fiery incline from whence it came.

Rocks? I think pets being kidnapped and tortured to death and kids being stalked to school and back would be a good beginning. Like, a hint of warning.

Still, even mere words sometimes succeed at scaring those pussies shitless. Remember those morons making a "forge" faction addon for HoMM3 crying about getting death threats? Good times.

What's that about? Any links?

Tags: chris avellone, death threats over a videogame, entitlement, feargus urquhart, mass effect 3 ending, obsidian, planescape torment, psychotic videogame fans, sequel to torment, taking games too seriously

"When the Forge was showcased at E3 in May 1999, New World Computing met an unexpected backlash: the Astral Wizard fansite proposed a boycott of the expansion, with roughly a hundred fan e-mails requesting the town's removal. Upon the leak of one Naga Tank sketch by NWC artist George Almond which displayed partial nudity, some became worried that the Forge would prove distasteful. Greg Fulton received a death threat from one indignant individual. Later, when management made light of it, he was so incensed that he quit his job. "

Astral Wizard fansite

Well, whenever the subject of a Planescape sequel is mentioned I always imagine it would be more of an indirect sequel in the same setting, rather than a direct continuation of the events in the original. My guess would be that MCA and company probably feel the same.