Torment:ToN - Brian Fargo Interview @ TGG

The Gaming Ground has interviewed Brian Fargo about the old days, Torment: Tides of Numenera and future plans:

Interview with Brian Fargo – Torment Tides Of Numenera, old memories and plans for the future

[…]

Jack TGG
How does it feel going from almost giving up old school RPGs to having your old-school RPG being top-seller on Steam and GOG?

Fargo
It continues to be an amazing thrill! I still vividly remember filing away our Wasteland 2 designs as something that would never happen, before Kickstarter ever occurred to me as a possibility. I still can’t thank our backers enough for enabling us to do this, and it has been extra rewarding to see both Wasteland 2 and Torment: Tides of Numenera atop the Steam charts.

[…]

Jack TGG
What have you learned from the time you released Planescape Torment in 1999 to today? How have you evolved as a developer?

Fargo
I’ve had a tremendous number of life experiences since 1999 and events in my life give me a different and deeper perspective. The creations I’m involved with will naturally benefit from my trials and tribulations of life. The biggest development change has been the open discussion with our audience during production. Showing our work in progress allows us to learn new things, get people’s opinions on facets of the game and to remind us of what is important.

[…]

More information.

Nothing on Wasteland 3? What a wasted opportunity.

Not an interesting interview, hardly anything worth reading. The only surprise to me was the fact (or fake fact?) that Torment is selling well, while I was under the impression that it isn't? Could be that I should stop reading comments on the Codex though…

When has a developer ever said in an interview soon after the release of a game that their product hasn't been selling well?

Originally Posted by tomasp3n
Not an interesting interview, hardly anything worth reading. The only surprise to me was the fact (or fake fact?) that Torment is selling well, while I was under the impression that it isn't? Could be that I should stop reading comments on the Codex though…

The Steamspy numbers seem relatively low but I don't think there's any reliable data publicly available for consoles or GOG. Don't know how much of an audience this type of game would have on consoles, but I'd think this would be something that would sell quite well on GOG. It's #11 in their popular list.

Originally Posted by daveyd
The Steamspy numbers seem relatively low but I don't think there's any reliable data publicly available for consoles or GOG. Don't know how much of an audience this type of game would have on consoles, but I'd think this would be something that would sell quite well on GOG. It's #11 in their popular list.

And, well, it's not a AAA game, they don't need to sell so much to be a success.

This interview has some details on Wasteland 3, Bards Tale 4 and Torment. I think it was done prior to release of Torment through.

https://www.gamestm.co.uk/interviews…v-and-torment/

What is your biggest ambition with regard to Wasteland 3?

I’d like the post-apocalyptic RPG crown back [laughter]. I think there is an opportunity with what we are doing with the Wasteland series to really cement our affinity to that little genre, which I grew up with and loved. I think the Fallout series has perhaps become a little too monster oriented. With me, I’m more into The Road, Swansong and The Stand; I like those aspects of civilisation breaking down and what it means from a real personal, human level, I find that fascinating. And so Wasteland 3 is more focused on that than, say, monsters – and of course we do have sci-fi elements because that’s what the Wasteland series is about. Then we have the multiplayer aspect, which is going to be great and we are going to do some super clever stuff with that.

The multiplayer in Wasteland 3 looks like it has the potential to be incredibly mischievous…

What we find is that most people, when they play with a friend, don’t want to destroy the experience for the other person, they just want to tweak it a little – maybe get them arrested or thrown in prison or something, but they don’t want to kill them off.


It would look like that RPG crown you want back is very much within your reach then?

We are really trying to deliver on [Wasteland 3] and, like I said, isometric is great for combat but it… in our reveal trailer, you’ve seen that conversation [in first-person] with Fish-Lips and it changes everything. Your connection to that guy changes everything and so when combat goes back [to isometric], that person is far more real now that you’ve seen them up close and heard their voice; that changes the dynamic and that’s what the immersion aspects of first to third person does for you.

It’s the same reason that Blizzard spends millions of dollars on those opening movies, because its characters become more real… they have a whole different vibe having seen [them] in the opening movies.

The tradition with sequels has always been to go bigger and go bolder, but is there a risk of a shortfall when you’re relying so heavily on crowdfunding to dictate a budget?

I think that a lot of things go wrong with [sequels] when they try to go bigger… I think that a lot of projects can go sideways in this [mentality]. With Wasteland 3, we aren’t making it as big as Wasteland 2; only like five per cent of players finished Wasteland 2, so I’d rather have less maps and go far more detailed and tighter than I would to go bigger and bolder, I don’t think that buys you anything. But the bigger part for us is the visuals and that is things like the camera coming down for conversations, but that’s sort of a different attack.

I think the mistake people often make is that they say,“Well now we need twice as many weapons, twice as many maps, twice as many…” But it’s the personality that you remember, it’s the moments and the charm; it’s the craft that makes these things special, not the size. We are going much narrower, tighter and smarter.

Originally Posted by tomasp3n
Could be that I should stop reading comments on the Codex though…

You should absolutely stop reading comments on the Codex, generally speaking.

Nawww

Read all of the Codex forum stuff.

Just learn to filter out the 90% or so that is hate-puke-idiot-speak.

The rest is good stuff.

Good luck!

Read everything you can, the more information at your disposal the better. Some people are just butt-hurt.

Originally Posted by Majnun
Nawww

Read all of the Codex forum stuff.

Just learn to filter out the 90% or so that is hate-puke-idiot-speak.

The rest is good stuff.

Good luck!

No, thanks. I've got better things to do with my time than sifting throigh a toilet looking for treasure.

Selling well? And you believe this liar? Just over 100K owners on Steam (80K backers, so it is easy to assume that just a fraction of those paid for the game at release). Torment has been at the top of the best-selling list for a day. After a couple of weeks it was selling less then PE or DOS, or even the EA of DOS 2. Heck, overall DOS 2 in early access has sold way more than the full released Torment (again, factor in the backers). Think about it for a minute, let it sink.

It is clear that inxLIE is in full damage control.

Originally Posted by mbpopolano24
Selling well? … It is clear that inxLIE is in full damage control.

Hmm, the public PC digital sales aren't stellar, and as far as I know, the console version did not generate enough traction so far (due to my job, I've access to many retailer's data and early sales figures are not impressive).

So far, I'd say, it performs below expectation, but chances are that the game could be a slow-burner (as it happens with a few niche games)

Originally Posted by mbpopolano24
Selling well? And you believe this liar? Just over 100K owners on Steam (80K backers, so it is easy to assume that just a fraction of those paid for the game at release). Torment has been at the top of the best-selling list for a day.

HA! So you confirmed his words that it was on top. And still you dare to call him a liar. He didnt say its selling well, its your claim. He just notice the same thing as you. Its understandable. And there are 74k backers but not everyone gave enough to get the game. So IF there is some liar, its actually YOU.

And if sales are poor now, so what? They have KS and deal with Techland so I think they will be ok. Its worse for Techland.
And Planescape didnt have good sales too so its hardly surprising for a game with a LOT of text and weird original world. Unfortunately it seems that a lot pf players stick to the same old worlds.

Its okay folks - we have No Truce coming to help us forget about this abortion

http://steamspy.com/app/272270

I know a lot of people (especially here and on the Codex) are severely disappointed with inXile in general and Torment in particular. Personally I found the game really entertaining and would back a sequel without a second of doubt.

Currently playing WL2 DC for the first time and have to say it's pretty damn great. I do hope sales for Torment go well enough to keep the ball rolling for inXile, they're right at the top of my favourite developer list together with Larian.

Yea, I doubt this is going to hurt the company much, if at all… l'd guess that all those codexers who are hoping inxile goes out of business due to poor sales of this game are probably going to be severely disappointed.

if sales are poor, what do you guys think that'll mean for their next rpg?

Originally Posted by ekurisona
if sales are poor, what do you guys think that'll mean for their next rpg?

Well, both BT4 and WL3 are pretty much funded already, and even if Torment doesn't make a huge profit I doubt it will actually end up costing them money? What Torments success or lack thereof will mostly affect is probably the chance of a sequel.