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Josh Sawyer is taking a break from directing games

Lycra Suit

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MLMarkland we did a nice circle but this post :

It's not that. When Josh started he threw around ideas like regenerating health, which became regenerating stamina in PoE and got thrown out in PoE2. Or "balancing" skills/classes so that all of them were "failsafe". He talked about how players were playing the game wrong and how it was his duty to stop "degenerate" play. Also, clearly, he has an inferiority complex for the Fighter archetype. He invented mechanic like engagement for benefitting fighters, etc.

All of these were terrible ideas, and guess what most of them are out in PoE2.

The real problem is that he lacks both creativity and clearly does not understand what makes D&D fun. What did PoE accomplish? A D&D lite game with a mechanic that is too boring to play and a setting which offers Tolkienesque, overdoneElves, Dwarf, "orlan", Human world.

The issues that Sawyer should have concentrated on were encounter design, tactical gameplay restricted by resources that fit in the game world (something that now exists in PoE2) and a novel setting.

Puts it very well.
 

MLMarkland

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he could've just used OGL.

No.

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=d20/oglfaq/20040123f

Q: Why does Wizards of the Coast hold the copyright to the license?

A: Wizards of the Coast wrote the License and wants to control the right to make changes to the License in the future.

And

Q: Can't Wizards of the Coast change the License in a way that I wouldn't like?

A: Yes, it could. However, the License already defines what will happen to content that has been previously distributed using an earlier version, in Section 9. As a result, even if Wizards made a change you disagreed with, you could continue to use an earlier, acceptable version at your option. In other words, there's no reason for Wizards to ever make a change that the community of people using the Open Gaming License would object to, because the community would just ignore the change anyway.
 
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Sacred82

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Also, clearly, he has an inferiority complex for the Fighter archetype. He invented mechanic like engagement for benefitting fighters, etc.

It just turned out wrong. Running around in IE games was indeed fucking bullshit, and running past people (even unintentionally) while provoking AoO's in NWN was ridiculous.

The issues that Sawyer should have concentrated on were encounter design, tactical gameplay

2 out of your 3 suggestions aren't RPG specific. People should stop treating RPG's like squad tactics games.
 

Infinitron

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Codex Year of the Donut Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
You do have a point that a talented designer could technically pull this off

Who? Name names.

Who else at Obsidian? Who at inXile? Who at BioWare? Who at Bethesda?

Eleven classes. Eleven separate ability and spell trees with no overlap between them. 6 million dollars of budget. 2.5 years of development. Go.
 

fantadomat

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LoL i didn't expect that when i begun reading this thread. People replaying to an obvious retarded troll and giving him sound arguments.... Why the fuck people do this? And why mods haven't given Lycra Suit a retarded and shitposter tags? Just ignore this dipshit and talk around him,he will go away eventually.
 

vonAchdorf

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It doesn't really sound like a real break / sabbatical / leaving Obsidian / the industry.

jesawyer said:
... but after that I’m taking a break from directing for a while. I’ve worked on a lot of party-based fantasy RTwP games. I’d like to shift focus for my next project, but I need to work on something else, not as a director, before that.

Reads to me like his next project (as the project owner) will the the turn-based historical RPG (not party-based?), but in the meantime, he will work on some other (Cainarsky?) project in a less stressful / less responsibility burdened role.
 

Azalin

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I think I know what Josh will be up to,it has to with balancing and not having fun

 

Cross

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You do have a point that a talented designer could technically pull this off

Who? Name names.

Who else at Obsidian? Who at inXile? Who at BioWare? Who at Bethesda?

Eleven classes. Eleven separate ability and spell trees with no overlap between them. 6 million dollars of budget. 2.5 years of development. Go.
Having a bazillion abilities and spells means nothing if the underlying mechanics are shallow or even non-existent, and if most of those spells and abilities are just superficial variations on each other. PoE didn't even have basic cRPG staples like immunities or invisibility magic. Mechanically, it's not a particularly ambitious game.
 
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Immortal

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You do have a point that a talented designer could technically pull this off

Who? Name names.

Who else at Obsidian? Who at inXile? Who at BioWare? Who at Bethesda?

Eleven classes. Eleven separate ability and spell trees with no overlap between them. 6 million dollars of budget. 2.5 years of development. Go.

:smug: Ferret could of did it.


But Sersiously -
I think your being a little overly charitable here.

Many of these spells and abilities are carbon copy designs from DnD retrofitted to PoE.

No Overlap? Come on now. The passives especially are super generic / copy pasted across classes.
Let's at least be a little intellectually honest here.

Increased Fire Damage
Increased Ice Damage
Increased Acid Damage
Increased Shock Damage

Add another Weapon Focus

Druid Shapechange does..... SHOCK DAMAGE..
Druid Shapechange does.. a little more SHOCK DAMAGE
Backstabs do... a little more damage

The depth.. it's sooo deep.
This is a far cry from the feat system of DnD. In fact it's probably a step back / more casual streamlining of PoE 1.

The multi-classing is cool, the unique items in the world are neat.. but let's not fucking stroke Josh off too much here. The shortcuts are very evident. (Because.. as you said.. redesigning 11classes in a short time frame on a modest budget is kinda dumb and ridiculous.)
 
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Wunderbar

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Sure we could make money just by putting your name on our games

Sawyer is not a 'name'.

Literally and figuratively wrong. In fact, by now Sawyer is not just a name, but a face.

"The face of romance" apparently.

Achievement_triple_crown_solo.jpg
 
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Sacred82

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fantadomat

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You do have a point that a talented designer could technically pull this off

Who? Name names.

Who else at Obsidian? Who at inXile? Who at BioWare? Who at Bethesda?

Eleven classes. Eleven separate ability and spell trees with no overlap between them. 6 million dollars of budget. 2.5 years of development. Go.
I can do better game for 6-10 mil. Most of the things are pretty generic.
 

fantadomat

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I can do better game for 6-10 mil.

sounds realistic, kickstarter when (please use this exact line too)
Sacred666,i am a nobody that doesn't have any pull in the industry and the niche. Nobody is going to back it up :). Also i know shit about programming.....still could make less buggy game.....and more interesting.


Come on guys,most people on the codex could do better game than Deadfire.
 

fantadomat

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I can do better game for 6-10 mil.

sounds realistic, kickstarter when (please use this exact line too)
Sacred666,i am a nobody that doesn't have any pull in the industry and the niche. Nobody is going to back it up :).

so the problem is you're not a name. Unlike Sawyer.

:yeah:
I was just pointing out the obvious. No need to state it again mate. Also i am happy that i am not an autistic furry gay man that likes to cycle and drinks soy.
 
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Sacred82

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I was just pointing out the obvious. No need to state it again mate.

yes, it's obvious your name is simply lacking traction. Or else the millions would be rolling in for you to maek better gaem.

It's clear what to do then. Gather some fame. Work your way up. Do some haul videos. Write for prestigious gaming magazines. Become a camwhore. Your celebrity status will rival that of Josh in no time.
 

fantadomat

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I was just pointing out the obvious. No need to state it again mate.

yes, it's obvious your name is simply lacking traction. Or else the millions would be rolling in for you to maek better gaem.

It's clear what to do then. Gather some fame. Work your way up. Do some haul videos. Write for prestigious gaming magazines. Become a camwhore. Your celebrity status will rival that of Josh in no time.
iseewhatyoudid.png
iseewhatyoudid.png
iseewhatyoudid.png
iseewhatyoudid.png
iseewhatyoudid.png


Won't waste my life on such pointless shit. Also i don't really care about money that much,would ratter have a good game than AAA income.
 
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Sawyer seems like a very capable manager-type, but based on his track record, it doesn't seem like he has the artist part of it. To make great games, like any other art, you need a certain vision and level of creativity. Now, in his case, I don't know exactly what happened at Black Isle/Obsidian, maybe he was just constrained by circumstances and upper management every time (forced to use other companies' engines, forced to make nostalgia games, etc), but we just don't see anything in his history that shows that he can produce high level innovative stuff. His very best game, F:NV, was good because they essentially took Bethesda's open world formula/engine, and replaced some retarded parts (lore, writing, characters, etc) with their patented strong-points. That's not exactly proof of anything.

He might be better off working with someone more artistic, and handling the logistics/management part of it, while deferring on creative decisions.
 
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Sacred82

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he was never put in charge of anything that had the potential to be highly innovative. So his track record doesn't constitute proof either way.


An artistic vision requires freedom. The things Josh likes aren't exactly mass compatible.
 

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