Fallout: New Vegas unveiled Comments by Ellie Gibson

Nobody's taking my bait? Sigh. Slow day at work, blue skies outside..

Seriously though, are Obsidian still comprised of the same people that made Fallout 1 & 2? And are we sure we'd get the same kick out of them today?

Kotor2/NWN2: These did not rock my boat.

How's this for common sense: the old Sierra Manhunter games used their grotty old low res EGA AGI engine even though the higher res SCI one was available. The chunky graphics and resultant roughness of the looks really helped convey the decaying cities and ragged inhabitants in a way higher res wouldn't have.

Okay! It's Obsidian bashing, right?!
But, Obsidian had ONE YEAR to come out with KOTOR2. For a modern game and for an RPG it's short with at least 2 years. An RPG it's not a shooter. A shooter can use a licensed engine (Unreal, Half Life, just to name the most popular graphic engine for shooters). An RPG must come out with a new wngine almost every time, due to the new implemented gameplay mechanics. So, no, the only people who s.rewed up were the guys from Lucas who didn't gave them an extra year.
For NWN2, NWN2: Original Campaign was developped by Bioware, so again, not Obsidian's fault. When Obsidian came into play, you've seen a better story and generally a better gameplay, voice acting and such. Mask of the Betrayer? Was an excellent expansion. Storm of Zehir, was not...Mainly because Bioware left the boat to go in the EA's big transatlantic (not sure if it's called Titanic) and ATARI came with its " looksie, we have ideas". As some might know, ATARI has the rights for D&D videogames. Everything must be preapproved by them. Not exactly much space left for creativity, right???
As some might know, Obsidian is still an independent company, so it's forced to pretty much do whatever it takes to survive.
Alien RPG, was not an RPG that was Obsidian's Intelectual Property. Sega was funding the project and Sega decided to put it on hold, just like it did with the Alien shooter developped at GearBox. Sega owns the rights for Alien games and Sega decided to cancel both.
Alpha Protocol is another game that was commisioned by Sega to Obsidian. Also its fate it's unsure.
Do you see a pattern? Obsidian doesn't have its own Intelectual Properties to work with. They are subcontractors for big publishers and they are forced to dance the dance or to disappear. Despite that, it's still one of the biggest indie studios left out there.
And let's not forget the fact that at Obsidian are people who worked on the original Fallouts, Planescape Torment, Baldur's Gate (this was a joint title with Bioware) and Icewind Dale.

A few things.

Fallout 1 and 2 were great games, we can all agree. Fallout 3 is a very different game than the first two...and yet, it is still Fallout. Yes, the gameplay is different, it's first person, it's 3d, but the world is the same. If fallout 1 was designed as a first person shooter, it would play much like fallout 3 does. People need to appreciate it for what it is. It's still a fallout, it just has some first person shooter gameplay. And so what? If you hate FPS titles, that's your loss. "Fallout" isn't a bunch of code defining how a game is to be played. Fallout is the writing behind the code. If Bethesda, or Obsidian, or whoever is licenced to create new fallout IP decided to write a novel based in the fallout world, I'd read it. Hell, it would probably be better than the games!

I have never played KoToR 2, but from what I'm hearing, the game was well written and flawed technically. Love it or hate it, Fallout 3 already has a fully developed, working engine and it's very unlikely they're going to make another one, thus, New Vegas should play exactly like fallout 3, but with more (well written, by members of the original fallout team!) content. This is how games should be created, leave the various aspects to the people that do them best. Get a great software team from one firm and fantastic writers from another, and you'll create a great game.

Obsidian havent yet had chance to release their own IP yet it is stupid to judge them untill after Alpha Protocall.