Obsidian Entertainment - Feargus Urquhart Interview @ GameInformer

skavenhorde

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Gameinformer has a video interview with Feargus Urquhart. Urquhart talks about how South Park Studios directly approached Obsidian instead of going through their publisher.
Next he goes into how he wanted to give the game the 'South Park' look and feel while finding out what Matt and Trey's vision for the game would be. He came to the conclusion that he needed to make the game feel like the player is stepping into South Park. The art will be just like in the show which frees Obsidian up to create more content.
Overall the interview talks about the vision for the game and how Obsidian got handed the job.
More information.
 
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I gotta say, after listening to that interview, I'm becoming more intrigued by this game. It sounds like it could be all sorts of escapist fun!
 
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Finally someone who thinks this as well. I'm not as "hardcore" as I used to be I guess because when I first heard this I thought it might be doable. I love South Park and love Obsidian so let's see what they can do.

I would not mind in the least doing exactly what Urquhart said and just explore South Park. That town is freaking nuts and if they have Matt and Trey doing the writing and adding content as well then it could be a lot of fun.

I guess I have to return my membership to the hardcore CRPG club. They don't take kindly to being optimistic about games like these ;)
 
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People are always reluctant to be optimistic for anything that doesn't follow proven principles. 'Hardcore' fans often even behave like that principle alone. Therefore not being in hardcore club means that you are allowed to have more fun ;)


Hey in the end of the day if it really is South Park someone has to be offended by it.
 
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Still not interested but hey they have to make money somehow.
 
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Still not interested but hey they have to make money somehow.

So, if they do a game you're not interested in they did it ONLY for the money? As if they couldn't have different interests?

Seriously?

Or am I reading just too much into your post?
 
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My be I am in a minority but I will wait and see if it is a good game as a game.

The setting is of secondary importance for me.

The only fear I have is that I don't have high confidence in Obsidian to make a good engine, see DS 3. They were always better, when using somebody else's existing engine (and in this case I mean engine in a very general sense including game mechanics etc. - so it might be more clear to say: they were always best, when they made a sequel to somebody else's game). But let us wait and see also regarding this aspect.
 
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. They were always better, when using somebody else's existing engine (and in this case I mean engine in a very general sense including game mechanics etc. - so it might be more clear to say: they were always best, when they made a sequel to somebody else's game).

Engine and game mechanics are two different things altogether. Again, if your engine is versatile enough you can graft all kinds of different game mechanics on it, and it certainly does look like the Onyx Engine was created with that in mind (ie: Aliens Crucible was basically aiming at ME-ish gameplay mechanics). Theorically there is nothing preventing an Onyx game to use the same gameplay mechanics as NWN2 for instance.

The only thing DSIII proved without a doubt is that they got their most stable and bug free release when creating a game with their own engine rather than relying on other companies' tech - and I don't think it's a coincidence.

-Sergorn
 
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The only thing DSIII proved without a doubt is that they got their most stable and bug free release when creating a game with their own engine rather than relying on other companies' tech - and I don't think it's a coincidence.

-Sergorn
Stable and bug free - may be. But as an RPG it was worse than DSII and I prefer games like Kotor II or NWN 2 or Fallout:NV by miles.
 
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So, if they do a game you're not interested in they did it ONLY for the money? As if they couldn't have different interests?

Seriously?

Or am I reading just too much into your post?

Its just you your reading to much. Let me put it in simpler terms. I'm not interested in the game but Obsidian needs to make money and stay open. Better now.

Just another Obsidian releases in there track record. There games are either hits or flops. I love how people read to much into simple reply's.
 
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Stable and bug free - may be. But as an RPG it was worse than DSII and I prefer games like Kotor II or NWN 2 or Fallout:NV by miles.

Still has nothing to do with the engine?

Also I'd argue the rpg part but in DSIII's case that would require a through explanation and argument so I don't have anything against that opinion.
 
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I'm very encouraged by this interview. He said — and made it a primary focus — exactly what I thought was key and posted when I read the announcement thread here. If they make a real RPG out of it and not just rely on familiar South Park gimmicks and cliches, it could be really good.

Really, just about any setting, as long as it is rich in character and style, could make a good RPG,, as long as there are a solid ruleset and mechanics behind it.

Looking forward to it. Obsidian fan here and old South Park fan, though I think it's been some time since the show was truly funny. But that happens to all TV comedies that last too long. It seems it's just too hard to stuck with the same characters and themes without the show becoming a charicature of itself.
 
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I got the latest Game Informer last night, and it has a long feature article on the new South Park game, along with a bunch of screen shots and an interview with Parker/Stone.

Even though they say they're using the DS3 engine, the graphics and the perspective have been done so that if you watch somebody playing the game, it looks like you're watching the TV show. I initially thought that the screenshots were from the TV show, until I read the captions and read the article, and realized they were screenshots.

It looks like combat is turn-based, and kinda based on old Final Fantasy (your guys on one side, enemies on another, and you go through selecting actions for each one, including special abilities and items). I'm hoping there's a bit more complexity than that, but that looks like the basic idea. They mentioned that there were summoning spells, which should open up a ton of possibilities (Mr. Hanky, Towlie, etc).

The screenshots showed your characters fighting groups like the Ginger kids and the Goth kids, armed with things like pots for helmets. Apparently the game starts out with the boys doing some LARP'ing like in the Lord of the Rings episode, which provides much of the early explanation/motivation for combat. But then I guess it goes way beyond that before too long as the "adventure" unfolds.

Color me intrigued. A lot will depend on what my game backlog looks like when this finally gets released.
 
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