Developer Fanboyism

[Chessrook44]

Used to be a bit of a Bioware fanboy, but since ME3 and TOR I've been paying less attention to their games. Nowadays though?

Found myself a bit of a fanboy of Spiderweb Software.

And for those of you who don't know who Spiderweb Software is, it's an indie dev who was an indie dev before indie devs were a thing... back when it was still known as Shareware, back in 1994. Yes, an indie dev company that's 20 years old. And sells his games for about 5-20 bucks on Steam. And has provided very large, free demos for every game they've done. All of them nicely-lengthed RPGs with passable graphics. I've even been doing LPs of their games for just over two years now, and it's helped me appreciate the ones I've played more. Still have others to do, but I'll get to them soon. Heck going to start Avernum 4 in a couple weeks. But I digress.

I'd actually suggest one of their games if you're a fan of oldschool RPGs. Worth a look. Just go check out their site for the demos!

 

[kommando367]

Mainly From Software at this point because I enjoy the combat in the Armored Core and Souls/Bloodborne series.

In second place, Insomniac because of the Ratchet and Clan and Resistance series.

3rd place, CD Projekt Red because of the Witcher 2 and their exceptional reputation as far as game devs are concerned.

 

[MysticSlayer]

Bethesda is the first that comes to mind. The Elder Scrolls series is one of my favorites, and I loved Fallout 3. They always manage to make me lose myself in their worlds and really become a part of them, and I can't think of any developer that does it quite as well as they do in as many games as they've done it in. Basically, if they announce a game from either series, I'll be excited.

BioWare is also there to a lesser extent. Now, as blasphemous as it may seem to some people, I don't really like what they did pre-Mass Effect. Ever since Mass Effect, though, I've loved most of what I've played from them. The only exception is Dragon Age 2, but I'm not sure if that's because I really didn't like it or because I didn't give it enough of a chance. Either way, the simple association with Mass Effect and Dragon Age: Origins is enough to make me excited for all their games now.

And I guess Irrational and Firaxis are also on the list to an extent, but I really wouldn't say I love them anywhere near as much as Bethesda and BioWare.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

The industry has always been dangerously lacking in "auteurship", and I've always ben happy to pretend companies can operate on a degree of artistic integrity akin to a singular artist (they don't). The problem is artists are (supposedly) speaking from within, to whomever will care or at least listen. Videogame companies are working towards selling whatever they're producing to the broadest market possible. So it's very difficult to be fanatic about a company that is trying to appeal to the lowest common denominator. People get fanatical about David Lynch, but not about what's-the-name-of-the-studio-that-produced-his-last-movie.

Having said that, here's my list of irrationally cherished game studios: 2K Games, Atlus, Capcom, Insomniac, Konami, Naughty Dog, NIS, Rockstar, Square Enix, Vanillaware Ltd. RIP Clover, Eidos, Maxis, Pandemic and THQ.

 

[Captain Marvelous_v1legacy]

I am a Koei fanboy. I am not sure whether I'm proud of this or not, but year after year of buy their games, even the buggy-and-horrible-when-compared-to-past-games Dynasty Warriors 8 Empires. I, uh, I can't help it. I just enjoy hacking and slashing my way through the battlefield and feeling like a god amongst pebbles. I wish it would let me work more for my god-like status, but oh well. I intend to get the up and coming Bladestorm: Nightmare, despite not beating Bladestorm: The Hundred Years' War. I really should get back to that, but the grinding is annoying.

After that there's... Assassin's Creed. It's not that I'm a Ubisoft fanboy, it's just, I really, really need to see the present day story end. Damn you Ubisoft, end it already! I mean, has the plot moved at all since AC3? I don't think it has! Please, just let us kill Juno already! And then make the pirate simulator so many of us demand!

And finally, I look forward to anything Transformers. I still pray that one day Activision will let High Moon Studios create the next Transformers game in which we get to destroy all of the Bayformers and retcon the Edge of Reality game. Rise of the Dark Spark was, dissapointing. Combining the High Moon and Bayformer universes was the absolute worst idea ever. I hate you Activision.

All others are treated with a nice dose of skepticism.

 

[SmallHatLogan]

How about being a publisher fanboy? Although I wouldn't consider myself a fanboy, Devolver Digital have a fantastic track record and I generally have high expectations of them.

 

[Hawki]

Blizzard, Nintendo, and...that's about it. Bungie would have been one of them, but with Destiny...look, haven't played it, can't complain, but I can't ignore the lukewarm reception its had. Bioware is a group I follow, but I'm net neutral about them, and I've only played two of their games.

And for some reason, Insomniac. I don't know why, as I've barely played any of their games, but...I dunno, there's something about them that appeals to me. The type of people that can make something as insane as Sunset Overdrive, and something as serious as Resistance, deserves props in my book. It's another case of why I admire Blizz so much, how they've been able to cover so many genres, and more or less dominated them through the quality of their games. That, and the wide range of tonalities throughout them.

Oh, and Sega...sort of. Not a fan, but I admit it, I fought on the side of the Genesis in the console wars, and I was the only person at school that had a Dreamcast. I can't help but feel lingering loyalty, even if it's been a long time since I've purchased a Sega game, Sonic or otherwise.

 

[JemothSkarii]

I'm gonna come out and say Obsidian Enetrtainment. They did a phenomenal job breathing in some of the classic Fallout spirit in New Vegas, NWN2 is a favorite RPG of mine, they started the Fallout series as Black Isle. Pillars of Eternity is looking phenomenal.

Also Gust, they're doing a bang up job with the Hyperdimension Neptunia games and I've been playing the Atelier series since Atelier Iris.

Also while I enjoy NIS games, NISA can leave.

 

[EbonBehelit]

I have no hesitation in calling myself a Nintendo Fanboy since I'm a fan of pretty much everything that they make, bar maybe the newer 2D Mario games since they're getting rather derivative these days.

Between Nintendo's in-house output and what they publish for their 2nd-party studios there's an insane amount of high-quality stuff.

 

[Dandark]

I usually go on a game by game basis but there are a few developers who will get me interested if I see their name attached due to having greatly enjoyed their games previously.

Bethesda and Relic come to mind although Bethesda is more just looking for new entries in the Fallout/Elder scrolls series. Relic make great stuff and im always interested in what they put out, they are the company that got me interested in RTS games and I still haven't enjoyed another RTS as much as I did their Dawn of war games. Seeing the Relic logo on a game will make me sit up and take notice.

Bioware was on this list but I've kinda lost faith in them now and just don't really care about their games anymore. DA2 was a massive disappointment and I didn't even bother with ME3, I don't have any huge complaints about DA:I other than the fact im just finding it boring.

 

[HankyPanky]

Rockstar Games. Fan for over a decade and they've never once disappointed me.

 

[BarryMcCociner]

Platinum. Fucking Platinum man.

Whenever I feel like buying a new game and I'm not quite sure which way to go, I'll always see what platinum's putting out. Spectacle fighters are honestly a hard genre to fuck up, and platinum does spectacle fighters well.

Never let me down, not once.

 

[gsilver]

I follow Treasure very closely. They've had some missteps, but they've also made many of my favorite games of all time. No matter what they do, I'm going to look into it. Even their licensed games can be pretty good. The GBA Tiny Toons game is actually a pretty dang good brawler with a lot of good chaining/juggle techniques, and the system was refined greatly in Astro Boy: Omega Factor, which is by far my favorite GBA game.

Plus, their greats of Guardian Heroes/Gunstar Heroes/Radiant Silvergun/Ikaruga, and more eccentric stuff like Bangai-O.

With games like that, I'll forgive them an occasional Wario World or Stretch Panic.



And I'm also really interested in seeing if/when Konjac and Galaxy Trail do any more games (Here's looking at you, the perpetually-delayed Iconoclasts). Those companies are the closest to giving me the feel of Treasure's greatest games, so you bet that I'm interested in what they do next.

 

[Bizzaro Stormy]

I am a Koei fanboy. I am not sure whether I'm proud of this or not, but year after year of buy their games, even the buggy-and-horrible-when-compared-to-past-games Dynasty Warriors 8 Empires. I, uh, I can't help it. I just enjoy hacking and slashing my way through the battlefield and feeling like a god amongst pebbles. I wish it would let me work more for my god-like status, but oh well. I intend to get the up and coming Bladestorm: Nightmare, despite not beating Bladestorm: The Hundred Years' War. I really should get back to that, but the grinding is annoying.

I will admit to being a Warriors fanboy myself. I'm the weird guy who liked Warriors Legends of Troy! Than again how could you not love a game that lets you beat up Achilles? I don't know much about any other games Koei puts out though. Perhaps if I bothered looking than I would become rather hypocritical towards my own OP. Eh, best not to. I have too many games at the moment anyway. No point encouraging myself to go nuts.

 

[Plinglebob]

I uh...
ahem
I am a Ubisoft fanboy
Okay, I said it! Put away the torches!
I love their games, for some reason. The Assassin's Creed series being my favourite. Hell, I even adored Unity, and without a shadow of a doubt know that anyone who still hates it is being petty, due to the bugs being fixed, and the game actually being really quite good.
I also loved Watch_Dogs, and hell, I even love Rayman. I'm not quite sold on The Division, but it does look kickass.
So yeah!
Oh, also... Ubisoft really need to take a year or more off with the AC series. Even though I will preorder Victory the second I can.

Don't worry, you're not the only one. Had a look at the Ubisoft sale on Steam the other day and realised I own and have enjoyed (to a certain degree) 75% of the games on there and the only reason I haven't bought Unity and Far Cry 4 is financial. I do get why people dislike them though.

For other developers, I'd say Blizzard, Bioware & Nintendo. Blizzard because their games are always a decent quality (eventually), Bioware because I like RPGs and the individual characters are normally worth spending time with even if the story they're stuck in is a bit crap and Nintendo because it often feels like they are the last developer who is interested in "Fun" over spectical.

 

[Demetirus]

Like many others, there's no developer that I'd just automatically buy their games. There are however many that have my immediate attention when I hear that they're releasing something and will likely spend an ungodly obsessing over until I can decide if I'm going to buy it or not.

Mostly just:

WayForward
Blizzard (Though less so, these days)
SquareEnix
Inti Creates
Atlus

 

[Elfgore]

For two developers only.

Bethesda. I know what to expect on release. Buggy as hell, mild graphics, and mediocre gameplay... yet I still love anything they make to death. I buy every Elder Scrolls game and Fallout game on release dates.

Omega Force. They make the Warriors games. Doesn't really matter which one it is, I'll buy it day one. Hell, I'm considering buying Pirate Warriors 3 in Japanese so I don't have to wait.

 

[The Madman]

Whenever either Obsidian or Paradox announce something it's sure to have my attention. Won't guarantee them a day one purchase or anything like that, but I trust both companies to deliver gaming experience that if nothing else are guaranteed to intrigue me in some way.

Maybe if Witcher 3 turns out to be good CD Projekt will have earned that sort of trust from me as well. I love their policies and I've enjoyed their games so far, but they also have only released 2 games so far so it's a bit early to be trusting them entirely.

Otherwise Blizzard and Bioware are both companies I enjoy and generally follow, but they've both also released disappointments in the past that have made me more cautious towards them.