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Interview Matt Chat 255: Feargus Urquhart on Black Isle, Baldur's Gate, and Fallout 2

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Tags: Baldur's Gate; BioWare; Black Isle Studios; Fallout 2; Feargus Urquhart; Interplay; Matt Barton; Shattered Steel

In the second episode of Matt Barton's interview with Feargus Urquhart, Feargus goes back to the beginning, and tells the story of his unlikely rise from humble QA tester at Interplay to head of Black Isle Studios, the company's roleplaying games division. He talks about his first collaboration with BioWare, helping to publish and produce their now-forgotten first title, the mech simulator Shattered Steel. But the real meat of this part of the interview is Feargus' take on the developments of Baldur's Gate and Fallout 2.



Did you know that Feargus had to go over his immediate boss's head and appeal to the marketing department and Brian Fargo* to get Baldur's Gate greenlit? He was even responsible for naming the game "Baldur's Gate" (which the Biodocs thought was a dumb name, by the way). Also, did you know that Fallout 2 was originally going to be developed by another team because Tim Cain and co. didn't want to do a sequel? Apparently, they suddenly changed their minds after the original was released, and took over the already existing Fallout 2 project, scrapping much of the initial work...before leaving again not long afterwards to found Troika. Feargus doesn't outright state it, but it's not hard to see where the bad blood surrounding that project may have come from.

*Speaking of Brian Fargo, in an uncharacteristically ballsy move, Matt asks Feargus whether what Brian said in his interview back in 2011 about Baldur's Gate not being profitable enough was true. Feargus is hesitant to contradict his old boss, but it's clear that he believes that Baldur's Gate was indeed quite profitable by most standards.
 
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How come all these guys from old Interplay/blackisle (outside of Brian Fargo I guess) guys like Feargus, Josh Sawer, Time Cain etc, give off this 'Is that guy Gay?' vibe?
 

King Arthur

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How come all these guys from old Interplay/blackisle (outside of Brian Fargo I guess) guys like Feargus, Josh Sawer, Time Cain etc, give off this 'Is that guy Gay?' vibe?

It's urban middle class culture. Gaider and a lot of the Bioware people are like that as well. Consider that if you were living in the ghetto and some thugs saw you playing D&D your street cred would be ruined.
 

Amasius

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Feargus reminds me a lot of a good friend of mine - they can chatter cheerily for hours and hours but for some reason I still like them and it's hard to explain why ... Guess thats part of what makes Feargus good at his job.
 

Rahdulan

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How come all these guys from old Interplay/blackisle (outside of Brian Fargo I guess) guys like Feargus, Josh Sawer, Time Cain etc, give off this 'Is that guy Gay?' vibe?

It's urban middle class culture. Gaider and a lot of the Bioware people are like that as well. Consider that if you were living in the ghetto and some thugs saw you playing D&D your street cred would be ruined.

Way to stereotype, dawg. :rpgcodex:

QffHfrm.jpg
 

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It's also interesting to hear Feargus' side of the story involving the development of Fallout 2, albeit a short one.
He states Tim Cain didn't really want to work on F2, but rather found Troika instead.
While I seem to remember Tim saying that he was unhappy with losing control of his\their project, and therefore pursuing the idea of forming Troika.
At least that's how I interpreted his story.
It sounded a bit like Feargus was dodging the question, but oh well.
 

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This is a pretty cool interview so far, which is good for Matt, because the one with Yerzmey was really awful. :P I mean, the guy barely even spoke English.
Sad to hear there is only one part left (or two if they are split into shorter segments).
 

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Fargo seems butthurt over the fact that he could not bully the BIO docs like other smaller devs. LMFAO


WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!! The royalties were not as high as he wanted... well, be a better fukkin negoiator loser.

Also, Feargus says what we all know though certain idiots try to dispute: BIS was just the publisher and that is the role they played. Period.

I would not call BG a horrible name but it is not the most imaginative or deep what. Just simple and to the point. *shrug*
 

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He mentioned the BG prototype being like an "RTS" again -- I'd really like to know the full background of that. I've heard that originally it was an RTS, which is why the UI and gameplay is like it is.
 

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Um.. It's pretty clear. BIO pitched an RTS called Battleground: Infinity (hence the engine name). Feargus liked it, Interplay had the DnD license but nothing to use it for sicne their previous attempts all bombed, so Feargue said, heycombine your engine/game with DnD and presto BG is born. FFS It's not complicated and has been talked about for nearly 2 decades now.
 

FeelTheRads

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Don't worry, bro, unless you have a mouth full of dick while playing Fallout, you're probably not gay.
And if you do, it's not Tim Cain's fault.
 

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Feargus, pls fire J. Sawyer. Thanks.
This'll never happen, they're good friends (also he's the most competent game designer at the studio).

Fergie even loaned JES his car when he took his driving test. :cool:
 
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Did you know that Feargus had to go over his immediate boss's head and appeal to the marketing department and Brian Fargo* to get Baldur's Gate greenlit? He was even responsible for naming the game "Baldur's Gate" (which the Biodocs thought was a dumb name, by the way).
Thanks for fucking up the future of cRPGs, Feargus Urquhart.

He mentioned the BG prototype being like an "RTS" again -- I'd really like to know the full background of that. I've heard that originally it was an RTS, which is why the UI and gameplay is like it is.
What do RTS games have to do with BG GUI and gameplay?
 
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Volourn

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"(also he's the most competent game designer at the studio)."

No, he isn't.
 

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He mentioned the BG prototype being like an "RTS" again -- I'd really like to know the full background of that. I've heard that originally it was an RTS, which is why the UI and gameplay is like it is.
What do RTS games have to do with BG GUI and gameplay?
Defend command. Patrol command. Formations. Selection box to select multiple units. Default action commands (move/attack/talk).

Edit: Queued movement commands. Some RTS games still don't have that. RPGs rarely have that.
 
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