Codex Interview RPG Codex Interview: Chris Avellone at Digital Dragons 2016

[JustMyOnion]

I mean, the input device really has no bearing on my enjoyment of an RPG nor is it indicative of quality or any other aspect of an RPG. It's just an input device.

The input device is the driving force behind every design decision in such games. That's like saying the ingredients of food aren't indicative of its quality nor have they bearing on your enjoyment on it. It means you're a pig.

 

[l3loodAngel]

How else can you learn the history of a character in an RPG without actively playing a flashback segment?

Here is a thought: why do you need to learn the history of a person?

To make a romance inside of him!

 

[Trash]

One of the best and most thorough interviews I've read in a long time. Kudos. I'm kinda surprised that it seems a whole lot of his work went to the chopping block in his last couple of projects. Perhaps he simply understated the amount of actual work he did do, but from the interview it almost seems like he's constantly watching his pets go behind the shed. Might explain the tone towards Obsidian. That he left so abruptly gave me the impression that there was some animosity. This pretty much confirms that. Anyway, hope he finds his place and we can look forward to more goodness.

And goddamn, did we miss out on some great rpg's. Van Buren and KOTOR 3 sound like they had some amazing ideas behind them.

 

[Roguey]

His content from New Vegas and Pillars was cut because he wrote way more than anyone else.

 

[l3loodAngel]

His content from New Vegas and Pillars was cut because he wrote way more than anyone else.

Not that it would have increased overall quality or anything...

 

[Irenaeus]

His content from New Vegas and Pillars was cut because he wrote way more than anyone else.

They should have been included no matter what.

 

[J_C]

His content from New Vegas and Pillars was cut because he wrote way more than anyone else.

Imagine if the shitty backer character texts were cut to make room for MCA's writing.

 

[Sensuki]

Him writing the most doesn't surprise me because that was AFAIK his only job on the game - write two companions. Every other companion writer also did other things. Josh had like 4-5 hats. Eric and Carrie had to do most of the other writing. Olivia Veras made levels. Not sure whether Matt McLean just wrote a companion or whether he contributed to general writing as well.

It was interesting because the style and tone of his two characters was completely at odds with the rest of the writers, almost as if no one talked to him. On the other hand, that's what made his companions better than the rest of them.

 

[Infinitron]

Him writing the most doesn't surprise me because that was AFAIK his only job on the game - write two companions.

He had jobs on other games, though.

(Similarly, Matt MacLean may have been pulled to work on Tyranny.)

 

[Roguey]

Imagine if the shitty backer character texts were cut to make room for MCA's writing.

That wouldn't have solved the "these two companions say way more than everyone else" problem.

 

[Kz3r0]

That wouldn't have solved the "these two companions say way more than everyone else" problem.

Removing Vagina with Balls would had tho.

 

[Sensuki]

Imagine if the shitty backer character texts were cut to make room for MCA's writing.

That wouldn't have solved the "these two companions say way more than everyone else" problem.

 

[Gangrelrumbler]

Imagine if the shitty backer character texts were cut to make room for MCA's writing.

That wouldn't have solved the "these two companions say way more than everyone else" problem.

Then the problem was obviously not giving Avellone enough companions to write.

 

[Plane Escapee]

That wouldn't have solved the "these two companions say way more than everyone else" problem.

Is it necessarily a problem? I can imagine that it can be a problem but that does not mean it has to be problem.

Real world people and - by extension - believable fantasy people, aren't equally talkative. Quality is a much more apparent problem than quantity.
The only non-spiteful - and despite what my inner gossip-girl wants to believe, I think everyone at Obsidian are professional enough not to let that be their motivation - and believable reason I can think of for cutting Chris' dialogue, is an admittance that the other writers' dialogue is bad in comparison and because of that, the quantity of Chris' dialogue would accentuate the overall low quality of the companion dialogue in the product.

Including the dialogue would have (slightly) raised the overall quality of dialogue.
Excluding the dialogue would (slightly) lower the overall quality of dialogue but make the low quality less apparent.

Thus if one's goal is to make a more easily digestible sausage (exclusion) rather than a better, juicier sausage with a higher content of meat (inclusion), the exclusion option becomes preferable.

It is a strange situation.
While the first sausage is better than the second sausage, it appears worse to the average eater of sausage. Though if the average sausage eater was presented with both sausages and would compare their taste, even he would know the first sausage to be the better sausage.

 

[CryptRat]

Companions are the real problems. Let the player create his own characters and let Avellone create villains and dialogue battles, he does that very well.

 

[Infinitron]

Chris' companions (or at least Durance) already say way more than everybody else. It's more complex than that - about scripting and quests, not mere quantity.

 

[Plane Escapee]

Damnit Infinitron, why do you have to ruin things with contextually relevant facts?

I still think my (now hypothetical) sausage scenario is a very noteworthy and thought-provoking contribution to the discussion, even if it's not applicable to anything that has actually happened and is irrelevant to what is actually being discussed.

 

[Mozg]

Fenstermaker sed it was about equalizing the voice acting

 

[Irenaeus]

Bad decision.

 

[Orobis]

I will never understand how obsidian never let MCA write the plot/story (or everything for that matter) for PoE. They had the most talented writer in the industry and all they let him do is write 2 fucking characters? This is such a huge mystery to me. So much talent going to waste at obsidian, it's no wonder he left.

 

[Irenaeus]

Apparently they thought he was inferior to Fenstermansteir (sp?). #LMAO

 

[Infinitron]

I will never understand how obsidian never let MCA write the plot/story (or everything for that matter) for PoE. They had the most talented writer in the industry and all they let him do is write 2 fucking characters? This is such a huge mystery to me. So much talent going to waste at obsidian, it's no wonder he left.

He couldn't/didn't want to.

 

[Irenaeus]

I will never understand how obsidian never let MCA write the plot/story (or everything for that matter) for PoE. They had the most talented writer in the industry and all they let him do is write 2 fucking characters? This is such a huge mystery to me. So much talent going to waste at obsidian, it's no wonder he left.

He couldn't/didn't want to.

I think when PoE came along, MCa was probably far along the process of being sidelined/removing himself from the premises, whatever the actual case may be (perhaps both). This is probably a major source of the Codex disappointment with PoE, the waste/not using of MCA talent on a totally cool RPG project.

 

[Orobis]

This is probably a major source of the Codex disappointment with PoE, the waste/not using of MCA talent on a totally cool RPG project.

It sure as shit was for me. I remember 3-4 years ago when i found out about PoE and knowing MCA was at obsidian, i was fully expecting him to do most of the writing or at least be the lead writer, he was the main selling point for me. As i was playing through the game the more i realized he had fuck all to do with the writing and the disappointment just snowballed from there.

He couldn't/didn't want to.

And what about Tim Cain? Or is he mostly a programmer and not really a writer? The man is responsible for Fallout and Arcanum ffs. He has to have better writing ideas swimming around in his head than most.

 

[Infinitron]

Tim Cain wasn't interested in leading a project back then, but maybe that'll change soon.