Obsidian: Forget "Gimmicks" Like On-Disc DLC

[Zay-el]

In defence of Obsidian, the blame for that lies wholly with Lucasarts. They decided to cut a year off the development time, and force Obsidian to finish KOTOR 2 in time for a Christmas release. Obsidian offered to release all the nixed content as a downloadable patch, but Lucasarts pissed on that idea.

Frankly, considering Obsidian were forced to put KOTOR 2 together in the space of a year, I'm suprised the game is as great as it is. I can't think of any other game with so short a development time that is anywhere near as strong.

True and like I said, I enjoyed the game a lot despite these setbacks. It's just that Obsidian, while having a bunch of great games, seems to be cursed with being unable to properly finish up their games, whether it's from outside or inside influence. A shame, really.

 

[mikeybuthge]

Finding all the bugs is all apart of the replay experiences this man's talking about, guys

 

[TheDooD]

Thank You Based Obsidian God

 

[Atmos Duality]

So on disc DLC is bad, but a buggy, shitstorm of "programing" nightmares they make called "games" is ok? GG. Priorities in the right place.

Fallacy: Strawman Argument
Obsidian's buggy programming is a real problem, but that has fuck-all to do with the "issue" at hand: On-Disc DLC.

 

[The Bandit]

Um... "replaying" doesn't mean playing through new content, you know. It means playing through the same content you already played through.

Not saying having lots of content that requires multiple playthrough's is bad(though that certainly is arguable if you don't have the time for it), but it is not replaying or replayability. It's playing through new content.

I didn't play through Half Life 2 7 times because it offered a "new" experience every time. I re-played it because I just love it enough to enjoy it multiple times. And I played Kotor 2 multiple times(as both good and evil) because I LOVE the game and its story and want to experience it over and over.

Basically, re-playing doesn't mean playing through new content. It means playing through content you already played.

Anyway, small rant over. Just something that bugs my balls. And for the record, I agree with him. Of course I do, I'm an Obsidian fanboy.

So, "replay value" refers to what, exactly? Because every time I've ever heard it it's referred to experiencing new content.

 

[BakedZnake]

wow....this is refreshing. Someone in the game industry that DOESN'T want to fuck over all of us? That's truly remarkable. I applaud this man.

I felt fucked over when I bought Alpha protocol and they announced they wouldn't support the game beyond patch 1.10 due to poor sales. Thank you for looking after your fans who bought your games at launch. Thumbs up

 

[Callate]

I applaud him for saying it; I just wish it wasn't coming from the guy whose company's works are likely to stay on the shelf because the players are hoping for a patch.

 

[Stormz]

wow....this is refreshing. Someone in the game industry that DOESN'T want to fuck over all of us? That's truly remarkable. I applaud this man.

I felt fucked over when I bought Alpha protocol and they announced they wouldn't support the game beyond patch 1.10 due to poor sales. Thank you for looking after your fans who bought your games at launch. Thumbs up

And you are attacking me why? They've done well supporting their other games. I have no doubt that a big part of that decision was Sega.

 

[Irridium]

Um... "replaying" doesn't mean playing through new content, you know. It means playing through the same content you already played through.

Not saying having lots of content that requires multiple playthrough's is bad(though that certainly is arguable if you don't have the time for it), but it is not replaying or replayability. It's playing through new content.

I didn't play through Half Life 2 7 times because it offered a "new" experience every time. I re-played it because I just love it enough to enjoy it multiple times. And I played Kotor 2 multiple times(as both good and evil) because I LOVE the game and its story and want to experience it over and over.

Basically, re-playing doesn't mean playing through new content. It means playing through content you already played.

Anyway, small rant over. Just something that bugs my balls. And for the record, I agree with him. Of course I do, I'm an Obsidian fanboy.

So, "replay value" refers to what, exactly? Because every time I've ever heard it it's referred to experiencing new content.

Well it should refer to playing the same content over again. Much like how when you re-read a book, you read the same content again. Or watch the same movie again, or listen to the same song again. I realize I'm just arguing semantics, but it just bugs me that people seem to think that "re-playing" means experiencing new content.

 

[FoolKiller]

Finally... someone who is playing the proactive instead of the reactive in it. I like the mentality this man has. Having said that, there is one problem with his theory: they all involve massive role playing games that give options.

A game like Assassin's Creed or Devil May Cry may not be able to use such tactics (however I personally haven't sold any of the 8 combined games that those series have released to date) but it is the correct mentality to have.

 

[BakedZnake]

wow....this is refreshing. Someone in the game industry that DOESN'T want to fuck over all of us? That's truly remarkable. I applaud this man.

I felt fucked over when I bought Alpha protocol and they announced they wouldn't support the game beyond patch 1.10 due to poor sales. Thank you for looking after your fans who bought your games at launch. Thumbs up

And you are attacking me why? They've done well supporting their other games. I have no doubt that a big part of that decision was Sega.

No I am not attacking you, when I said "you" in the reply I meant obsidian. The excuse of well our publisher says jump and we say how high is lame. There are plenty of smaller developers who not only listen to their community but also go out of their way to help patch/fixes/balances their games and the give you free dlc to say sorry, yes I am looking towards CD Projekt. You want a good shining example of a smallish developer who are true to their word, loook no further than that Polish company.

 

[Stormz]

wow....this is refreshing. Someone in the game industry that DOESN'T want to fuck over all of us? That's truly remarkable. I applaud this man.

I felt fucked over when I bought Alpha protocol and they announced they wouldn't support the game beyond patch 1.10 due to poor sales. Thank you for looking after your fans who bought your games at launch. Thumbs up

And you are attacking me why? They've done well supporting their other games. I have no doubt that a big part of that decision was Sega.

No I am not attacking you, when I said "you" in the reply I meant obsidian. The excuse of well our publisher says jump and we say how high is lame. There are plenty of smaller developers who not only listen to their community but also go out of their way to help patch/fixes/balances their games and the give you free dlc to say sorry, yes I am looking towards CD Projekt. You want a good shining example of a smallish developer who are true to their word, loook no further than that Polish company.

I can get behind that, but sadly that's how it works. Publishers are greedy arseholes and a lot of whats wrong with this industry is because of them. CD Projekt is a great company. The Witcher is one of my all time favourite series. Lets hope they never change.

 

[Tiswas]

I do agree with most of what he's saying. Although the reason why I sold New Vegas was because the game was a broken mess and felt they were more interested in producing more DLC than fixing the thing. Not because there was nothing to do.

 

[RuralGamer]

Meh, my mates and I been saying that for years; if they actually spent longer making a bigger game, polishing it better and give us reasons to replay it, then we will keep their game, replay it numerous times and perhaps buy their DLC. Bethesda have been good at that for years; I've bought all the DLC for Fallout 3 and Fallout New Vegas and most of it for Oblivion (and no, I didn't buy the horse armour) and replayed all of them so many times I've forgotten. Nice to see some developers understand that; coincidentally its the developers I buy games from.

 

[thatreynoldsman]

I disagree, even with the best replay features, the average gamer is still just going to go through the story and then trade.

I disagree with your disagreement. I think the average gamer is better than that. If they buy a game, especially one like F:NV, the average gamer will 100% it probably more than once. Sure, that will undoubtedly involve it going back on the shelf for a while so you don't get 'New Vegas Glitch Mindf**k Syndrome'. I take into account that you put 'average' gamer. Many would still play through a game repeatedly and keep it even once it has been completed 5 times. Others may do exactly what you said, i.e. only do the main quest, yet I can vow that your average gamer has no respect for those people (50%-ers), ergo I believe the former example of is closer to the average gamer ideology.

wow....this is refreshing. Someone in the game industry that DOESN'T want to fuck over all of us? That's truly remarkable. I applaud this man.

I suppose I was ninja'd. A very valid point here, I have found that the bigwigs of the industry don't give half a solitary sh!t about consumers, even moreso recently than ever before. It is reassuring to know that in (relatively) troubled times for gaming, there are still a few in the business who aren't slanted money-grabbing arseholes and care a little bit about the welfare of community they serve and the way games are made.

 

[praetor_alpha]

Or everyone can go back to making PC games. It's not like we can trade in those.

 

[Joccaren]

I don't think this fixes anything. Most people who would decide not to trade in games due to extra re playability already don't trade in games, and there are many who will just trade it in whether it has re playability or not, either because they didn't like the game or they want to play a lot of games rather than focus on one.
This style of thinking may affect a few people, but I doubt it would make a ton of difference.

 

[King of the Sandbox]

I agree. The games that remain 'keepers' for me are ones with replay value derived from varying styles of play (a la Fallout) or open world games that are just fun to screw around in (a la GTA).

Right now, the games that have been in my collection longest are GTA IV, Red Dead Redemption, Fallout 3 and NV, Oblivion, Just Cause 2 and Saints Row 2, for these reasons.