The reason why people hate Obsidian Entertainment

[Assassin Xaero]

I don't hate them, and I've only played Fallout New Vegas, but I didn't care much for it. It was bland, seemed even emptier than Fallout 3 was, and mostly, I really had no interest to play it again after beating it once. I actually said "eh, Fallout 3 was better" after I finished it.

 

[Wereduck]

And stop with the whole 'holier-than-thou' attitude. In my book, anyone who refers to 'people' as if he is not one of them too has a serious superiority complex.

how do you want me to refer to them?

If you don't want to sound superior it's "...refer to us".

OT: My problem with KotOR2 wasn't the grey morality or even the weak endgame, it was the frequent solo segments where you were forced to use one pre-selected party member to solo a level, so god help you if you speciaized instead of making every member of your party a one-man battle group.

Likewise, NV is a great game, some mechanics are truly much improved from FO3, but having companion inventory - sometimes the companion themselves - disappear, and NCR going irreversibly hostile while still showing faction status as "idolize" are significant annoyances that I didn't have to put up with in FO3.

What you say about people resenting having our expectations challenged is true, but that's not what's driving the "weak sequel" sentiment here.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

People don't hate Obsidian Stories, they hate their buggy games.

The only exceptions to the rule of Obsidian bugs are KOTOR2 and Dungeon Siege 3. KOTOR 2 gets a pass because it only had a 9 month development cycle, which would be absolute hell to work with. I'm amazed that the game came out as well as it did regarding how long they had to work on it.

Dungeon Siege 3 for the most part seems to be less buggy, and more suffering from some strange design decisions, like not carrying over XP from a Co-op game to your own game.

 

[Swny Nerdgasm]

Wasn't KOTOR a Bioware game?

And the main reason I don't enjoy Obsidian's games is the same as stated numerous times, the bugs

 

[Hugga_Bear]

haha IGN hates something, therefore everyone does? That doesn't really work when most gamers hate IGN (at least in my experience and fairly so).

People like Obsidian, a lot. The stories are fantastic which is why NV is generally regarded as far superior to Fallout 3 at least in terms of player options and story (where F3 was completely black and white, NV had the grey areas and the options and the variation).
As has been said it's the bugs that people are most annoyed with, though granted with NV it was as much BethSoft as Obsidian's fault, they weren't given much time and BS rushed the end stages.

Still, I like BethSoft, despite their own crippling bugs (particularly looking at PS3). It's annoying as hell, yeah and I don't blame people for complaining, still like them though and the same runs with Obsidian.

 

[Carnage95]

As many have said before, people dislike Obsidian because of their buggy games.

Obsidian's games, in my opinion, usually have fantastic stories.

Talking about Kotor 2, it is really sad that LucasArts rushed them to complete the game. If the release date was further extended to allow everything that they had planned for added in, I think that it could have been one of the best games ever made.

 

[ChupathingyX]

The only exceptions to the rule of Obsidian bugs are KOTOR2 and Dungeon Siege 3.

What about Fallout: New Vegas?

*Obsidian were using Bethesda's engine, and engine that only one member on their team had any experience with.

*Bethesda did the QA testing.

*New Vegas a had a pretty small development cylce, much shorter than Fallout 3.

*New Vegas had a smaller budget to work with.

 

[Dr Jones]

Most of you have probably noticed that most people generally doesn't like Obsidian's stories

In my opinion the main reason is that Obsidian's stories are unique and morally grey people hate uniqueness and grey morality

Then why are the two The Witcher games so popular and CDProject praised?

+1k. The Scoiatel fight for a rather good cause, but are complete assholes about it. And the racists fight for the wrong cause (well depends), But they dont turn to terrorism.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

I'm not a fan of New Vegas because the dialogue was some of the most dull I've heard in a game.

Which doesn't help me appreciate the morally ambiguous story they laid out.

The only character I found memorable was the Yes Man. Because he freaked me the hell out when I found him.

Don't think I've played any other Obsidian game. Maybe they have better characters in them?

You should Check out KOTOR2: The Sith Lords with the Restored Content Mod. There are some great characters in that game.

 

[RobCoxxy]

Alpha Protocol's pretty underrated. I quite enjoyed it.

 

[Gudrests]

Most of you have probably noticed that most people generally doesn't like Obsidian's stories

In my opinion the main reason is that Obsidian's stories are unique and morally grey people hate uniqueness and grey morality

Then why are the two The Witcher games so popular and CDProject praised?

Hell in the Witcher there is no good or evil...Besides that one section in the witcher 2...with the evil spirits....but they were just there because of what happened to them...sooo lol..and they are loved....Grey=complex and good...Good V Evil = boring as all sin.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

The only exceptions to the rule of Obsidian bugs are KOTOR2 and Dungeon Siege 3.

What about Fallout: New Vegas?

*Obsidian were using Bethesda's engine, and engine that only one member on their team had any experience with.

*Bethesda did the QA testing.

*New Vegas a had a pretty small development cylce, much shorter than Fallout 3.

*New Vegas had a smaller budget to work with.

Didn't know that. But I haven't played enough of New Vegas yet to make a sound decision.

 

[Jovip]

Alright, this is just some obvious fanboy-ism.
I'd love to disagree with the fallout 3 and fallout new vegas thing.
Fallout 3 had more grey morality then a rainbow with depression. Nobody was perfect and even the "Best" Characters within the brotherhood and enclave could be seen as imperfect and morally grey within their characters. Like elder Lyons in a confident man, but he is blind to things he does not want to see. This ignorance is something that could lead to more loss and evil then blatant evil could ever be. While the enclave solders are fighting for an old America which they refuse to let die, Which in honesty is more sad then it is evil. They don't eat kittens, they are just clinging to something they can't get back and retaliating in whichever way they can. We've all been there.

However regarding new Vegas i found it to be one of the single most clustered games ever created, there was no major motivation simply characters not knowing what they wanted. And honestly are you telling me kill the guy who try ed to kill you then either complete what he wanted or don't isn't an unoriginal, black and white stamp of a storyline?

Think before you post, the escapist has some of the smartest most dedicated gamers in the world.

 

[DustyDrB]

It's all about the bugs. Their writing is generally fantastic (Kreia from KotOR II is the best video game character ever). Their RPG elements also are usually well-implented. But the bugs can really wreck the experience for some. Not for me, though. I think most of their games are brilliant.

 

[Arqus_Zed]

I always thought people saw KOTOR 2 and Fallout: NV as inferior games to the originals because:

a) It's another developer, sometimes, that's all the excuse someone needs. Being the "original creator" touches on the familiarity aspect. (Fallout being an exception, because, admit it, Fallout 3 was just a completely new game).

b) It's a sequel, sometimes, that too is all the excuse someone needs.

 

[Roan Berg]

Actually, I like the premises that Obsidian makes, it's just that their follow-through is absolutely horrible.

I like grey morality.
I like unique games.
Rarely do I see either of these attributes being pulled off well by Obsidian Entertainment.

 

[Bvenged]

I think grey morality is superb. The problem with Obsidian, while conducting fantastic stories, is that they're not very good at the whole "making the game" part. But practice makes perfect.

I hold Yatzees view that a game needs to stand on its single player before its multiplayer. Also a good game should have a fantastic, deep story.

 

[maddness666]

I love Obsidian. They're like the new Bioware.

Sure they've got a hellish track record for buggyness, but I find that easy to forgive. I guess I just have an exeptionally high tolerance for things not working properly.

 

[xAFROMANx]

i don't usually have a problem with any stories in video games.
but in terms of fallout 3/nv, i prefer 3. this is because the story is much more relatable: "i'm looking for my father", i can relate to that more than "i want to find the man who tried to kill me".

 

[Gather]

And then everyone forgot Dungeon Siege 3; Square Enix green lit some DLC for it you know? The games practically bug-free and the combat I found to be fantastic (Camera being a slight issue for multiplayer but rather smooth for single player)

So, yeah, opinions. People hate Obsidian because they have a negative opinion about the game development studio.