The past few years have been sour for RPG fans as very few solid releases have made it to store shelves. Cough it up to new technology, lack of innovation, or maybe even just high consumer expectations, but the fact remains that there simply aren’t enough quality RPGs. This fact is even further enhanced when you look at how many memorable story-driven experiences came out in the past two generations. However, Obsidian Entertainment is trying to put a stop to this trend with their recent Fallout: New Vegas, and the soon to be released Dungeon Siege 3. But they’re planning more than just that.

According to Obsidian Entertainment’s website, they’re currently hiring another member for their art department. Better yet, it’s for an unannounced game. Here’s what the introduction of the listing says:

Obsidian Entertainment is looking for a 2D character animator to work on a highly stylized, high profile role playing game.

It also says in regards to experience:

Has previously shipped titles on the PS3 or Xbox 360

The above quote makes it appear that the release will land on consoles, so Obsidian’s roots in PC-exclusive games is probably out of the question. Also, Dungeon Siege 3 is nearing completion, so it’s highly unlikely that they’re working on another addition to the series. Whatever it is, another RPG won’t hurt, and Obsidian has enough talent to ensure that it’s a fun experience.

[Source]

The post Obsidian Hiring for High-Profile RPG, Something This Generation Desperately Needs appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

Developed by the group behind Alpha Protocol and the smash hit Fallout: New Vegas, Obsidian Entertainment, Dungeon Siege III is their attempt at a Diablo-like game on consoles. But with tacked on multiplayer, that seems to have been thrown in at the last minute, and a short singleplayer campaign, should the game be left in the dungeon?

The story in Dungeon Siege III isn’t anything we haven’t heard before but does well enough to push people through the singleplayer at a good pace. The 10th Legion is on the brink of extinction ever since 30 years ago when they we slaughtered by Jeyne Kassyndre. As one of the few remaining sons and daughters of the Legion, it is your task to return the 10th to its former glory and put an end to Jeyne. Everything is here for a decent story but the boundaries are never pushed and there are very few surprises to be found. In fact most of the time you will find yourself just quickly skimming through the cut scenes to select a few choices and then get back to killing.

The game features something we are starting to see more often, and that is multiple dialogue choices when talking with NPCs. Conversations use the same system of game’s like Mass Effect, giving players options as to what order they want to ask questions and sometimes giving you the choice of killing or sparing enemies. Sadly most of this dialogue is watered down and lacks any sense of personality or feeling. NPCs are completely devoid of any sort of feelings; it feels like talking to a someone who just had botox and cannot make any kind of expression, only this is even worse as the character models for the dialog scenes scream of early PS2 quality.

To start off the campaign you will be given the option to choose one of four characters: Lucas, Katarina, Anjali, and Reinhart. Each of these characters has a much different style of play, with Lucas wielding swords and Reinhart casting magic. The combat system in the game is a solid and balanced system that encourages players to use both up-close and distance attacks. Use melee attacks to build up your focus (mana) and then use that focus to launch special attacks which in turn builds up something called power orbs. These orbs can then be used for empowered special attacks or for the most important thing, healing spells. It is a combat system that provides a lot of flexibility but is completely let down by the lack of any kind of difficulty. In fact, once you get down the timing of your block and roll, you will be able to take down anything the game throws at you. Oh, and if you do get fatally wounded, don’t fret, because your AI teammate can run over and revive you, so you are never in danger here.

Leveling up and collecting loot are the staples of any dungeon crawling game, and Dungeon Siege III makes sure to do it right here. Leveling up earns you ability, proficiency, and talent points. You can purchase new ability points when you level up with nine different ones to choose from and then use proficiency points to further upgrade the abilities you have. Each ability purchased can have 5 points of proficiency added to them and then talent points are used to improve the character and their attacks overall. There is enough here to make you feel in control of the type of hero you are playing, while not feeling overwhelmed by the choices. Collecting loot, on the other hand, plays a vital part in the game as there are chests and weapon racks located around each corner and, while most of your best items can be purchased, this is a great way to make some cash when you sell everything. Items found carry the normal bonuses like attack and stamina with added elemental perks like ice or poison. Really though, you can just stack up on stamina heavy items and survive just fine.

At any time during your singleplayer campaign you can change your game from offline to either online public or private and have friends join you both locally or online. The deal breaker here though, is that your friend won’t be bringing their character with them, but will instead play as more of a guest in your game. Whatever level and style you have, your party members will have when they will start. While the player joining can select weapons and abilities on every level up after that, the host player still has the primary control. To make matters even worse, weapons, experience, and gold that you earn when joining someone else’s game is lost once you exit. In fact, all gold and items accumulated during the co-op play is shared between the group, meaning you could have one guy who just buys everything for his or her self. So essentially you are starting from scratch every time you decide to play with a friend, leaving the only incentive to the multiplayer being trophies you can unlock. It would have been really nice to see the developer make a matchmaking system to let players of similar levels join up together and take down dungeons while transferring over their character and weapons.

On the presentation side, you get a bit of a mixed bag with Dungeon Siege III. The environments do a great job at bringing the world to life and the character models are well done, but NPC’s during dialogue scenes are severely lacking. Armor and weapons have a nice colorful look to them and special abilities really light up the screen, providing an extra level of enjoyment in combat. However, most of that can be destroyed by a camera that at times decides it does not want you to see what you are fighting, expecting players to use their senses to combat evil. Audio is a bit of good and bad as well with some characters sounding good and others feeling out-of-place.

With a multiplayer option that is severely lacking in polish and depth, Dungeon Siege III sets itself as a mainly single player dungeon crawler. With a campaign that was over at around 11 hours and very little replay value, the game is very hard to recommend at a $60/£40 price. This is made even worse when you can find similar titles for download at a $10-$15 price point. However, if you are in the market for a loot friendly game with an enjoyable combat system and a serviceable story then this is a game you could have some fun with. Just don’t go in expecting much at all from the multiplayer or any kind of real challenge, with even the hardest difficulty feeling like a nice stroll through the park on a sunny day.

PlayStation LifeStyle’s Final Score +Solid combat and good amount of abilities -Poor implementation of online co-op -Short and easy campaign with little replay value

–

The post PS3 Review – Dungeon Siege III appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

Dungeon Siege III just launched across every major continent this week. Its release had significance because for the most part, dungeon crawlers have faded away over the past few years, but Obsidian Entertainment saw that as more of an incentive than a deterrent. Now that games have evolved in tremendous fashion, and hardware is much more powerful, the nearly decade-old series has had quite a facelift. Combat is one of its greatest strengths and is much more streamlined than in the past, with lots of action and some great animations to make it flow seamlessly. If you’ve played one of the previous titles, and are curious about what improvements the team at Obsidian have made, then the latest trailer is for you.

The launch trailer for Dungeon Siege III is available below:

Our full written review for Dungeon Siege III is published, so if you feel like revisiting the dungeon crawler genre, definitely give our review a look over before you make a decision. There’s also a demo on the PlayStation Store if you are stuck on the fence.

The post Dungeon Siege III Combat Montage Graces Launch Trailer appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

What would you say if I told you that the team behind Neverwinter Nights 2 and Knights of the Old Republic II are working on a South Park role-playing game? Well, it’s true, as Trey Parker and Matt Stone are working together with Obsidian Entertainment and THQ to deliver something that only dreams could imagine, or nightmares if you’re a parent. It might sound like a wild idea, but the partnership has been said to be a work of genius, and who wouldn’t like to play an RPG that throws in some humor?

The first ever screenshots of South Park: The Game have been released by THQ. Check them out for yourself below:

There’s definitely a sense that this is a genuine South Park game, and is it just me or does the gameplay look like it might play similar to Castle Crashers? The game is said to have some strong RPG elements, and there will be a strong presence of story to tie it all together. Even better, Trey Parker and Matt Stone will be voicing all of the characters in addition to writing the script, meaning that if you’re a fan of the show, you’re sure to at least enjoy the presentation of the game.

So the question is, will this just be another cash cow on a well-known IP, or will it be done right? South Park has a limited audience, but THQ and Obsidian don’t kid around. What do you think? Post your opinion in the comments below.

The post South Park: The Game Shows Some Character in First Ever Screenshots appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

Obsidian Entertainment has updated their site with a teaser page for an upcoming game they’re currently calling “Project X”.

If you head over the to developer’s official site, you’ll see a number “3” encircled by a snake with the following text below:

The book unread is unwritten. The reason we don’t explain it is the reason we use it. Its power is in its mystery. That is the Leaden Key, in part, in whole. Is it clear?

Digging for truth buries the seeker.

What could this possibly mean? Gamers are tossing around all sorts of possibilities on the developer’s forums, so head over there for a full rundown on all the theories. Right now, most gamers seem convinced it’s for Dungeon Siege 4.

Late yesterday, when the teaser first launched, the number was a “4”, so it’s safe to say that the number itself isn’t directly related to the game, but rather a countdown to the reveal.

The post Obsidian Launches Teaser for Upcoming Game Announcement appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

During an investors call where Ubisoft talked about its latest financial figures, the publisher revealed that South Park: The Stick of Truth, has now sold over 1.6 million units.

While Ubisoft has mentioned that The Stick of Truth sales have been “solid” before, this is the first time the publisher has officially mentioned actual figures. Developed by Obsidian, South Park: The Stick of Truth was surprisingly a deep RPG, which earned a 9/10 from PlayStation LifeStyle and an Editor’s Choice nod, too.

Are you surprised at all at how much the game sold so far? 

[Source: IGN]

The post South Park: The Stick of Truth Now at Over 1.6 Million Sold appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

Offering bits of gameplay and live-action footage, Deep Silver’s new trailer for Wasteland 2: Director’s Cut trailer shows a bleak, yet strangely hopeful, look at a post-apocalyptic world.

The trailer talks about how the world has fallen into bloody, messy chaos, and things are not looking so great for humanity. However, a band of soldiers have united to help protect humanity, taking on the name of Desert Rangers.

While the trailer doesn’t offer much gameplay footage, it does talk about some of the features in that will be in the upcoming title, and gets the general theme of the game across fairly well. Wasteland 2: Director’s Cut is set to hit PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC on October 13.

[Source: Deep Silver (YouTube)]

The post Wasteland 2: Director’s Cut Trailer Offers a Bleak Look at a Post-Apocalyptic World appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

Wasteland 2: Director’s Cut feels like the game Fallout 3 probably would have been if it hadn’t given up its party-based, isometric roots. Taking place in a post-apocalyptic world, the title puts players in control of a party of Rangers, with Rangers being an organized group of people who seek to protect and monitor the remaining factions and individuals left in the world.

Going on a Mission

The main mission of the game, at least at first, is to establish connections with various radio towers in across the desert landscape, which means traveling to various places and physically installing pieces of equipment to the towers. Of course, this isn’t as easy as it sounds, as the game world is filled with enemies, both human and otherwise, and side-missions pop-up at every turn, creating diversions from the main story. At the same time, mission locations can be hard to find. Even though players have access to a journal where vague descriptions of the missions are presented, the map doesn’t highlight the areas where those missions can be undertaken, and I often found myself wandering around various areas looking for certain objectives.

Besides doing the missions, players are free to traverse an open overworld map, which is lightly peppered with places to explore. Each area on the overworld map generally contains a few large maps in itself which can be freely explored. In these areas, players can attack enemies, talk with NPCs, explore dungeon-esque places, look for loot, and more, offering up hours and hours of gameplay. On top of that, while wandering around the overworld, random encounters can occur, such as an enemy group attacking or a merchant appearing, offering additional places to move about it. While the player is simply represented by a badge and an arrow in the overworld, he has to take control of a whole party of characters once inside any of the map’s areas.

So Many Skills

Before starting the game, players have the option to either create four characters, or choose some that are premade. While there are only a small handful of different visual to apply to a character, such as a different character portrait or maybe a slightly different hairstyle, face, or jacket, the things that really set characters apart are their skills. There are a massive amount of both combat oriented and non-combat focused skills. These skills include anything from lock picking, toaster repair, surgery, and demolitions, to pistol efficiently, sharp weapon efficiency, and more. Choosing which skills to put points into and which skills to ignore is vital in Wasteland 2, but since there are far too many skills for just one character to be decent at, the real challenge becomes trying to create a party of characters whose skills are both individually unique yet collectively can accomplish anything.

At first, players only begin with four party members, but as time goes on, more and more NPC characters can be persuaded to join the party. Any party member who is not part of the original four, however, has the option in combat to sort of go rogue, meaning the computer will control his or her actions. This can be problematic when setting up combat strategies, as a rogue character can completely tear any well-planned strategies to shreds. That can be a major problem, as combat, if anything, is highly strategic.

Unlike the rest of the game, combat is turn-based. When enemies are either too near or they notice the party, the normally free-movement gameplay instantly pauses, a grid comes down and covers the ground, and a system of action points is implemented, with each character having only a certain number of points a turn, but movement and actions taking up those points. Like many other turn-based games, the trick, then, becomes trying to create a balance between movement and attacking. Wasteland 2 manages to take it up a notch by adding a miss/hit system. This system ensures that any character who didn’t allocate a number of points into combat skills will have minimal chances of actually being able to hit opponents, especially if they are hiding behind cover. Considering there’s always a constant struggle to find enough ammo for all the party members’ guns, the hit/miss system makes combat particularly thought-provoking. It also doesn’t help that party members can die permanently in combat, and while it doesn’t mean the game is over if a few party members die, it will make future missions much, much harder.

Despite the deeply strategic combat, however, the most difficult thing to deal with is the UI. Wasteland 2 was very obviously made for a keyboard and mouse, and it apparently had a hard time transitioning to console controllers. Things that should be simple, like opening doors, is made slightly challenging by the fact that the party has to be aiming directly at an object for it to be highlighted. Even aiming at enemies during combat can be hard, as the joystick seems to have a hard time moving across the combat grid. The camera controls seem off, too, and it is especially tricky to move the camera around the map, since it requires an entirely different mode to be toggled. Besides the controls, the on-screen text also wasn’t optimized correctly, and on TVs that are far away or are smaller, like the one in my bedroom, it is nearly impossible to read any of the countless lines of dialogue text or description text on the screen.

If you can get past the UI and control issues, then by all means, get Wasteland 2: Director’s Cut on PlayStation 4. It offers up hours of engrossing and strategic gameplay, and is probably worth the $39.99 if you’re a fan of old-school RPGs. However, if you have a decent PC, then I recommend getting it on there – it’ll be a better optimized experience.

Review copy for Wasteland 2 Director’s Cut provided by publisher. Reviewed on PlayStation 4. For more information on scoring, please read our Review Policy here.

The post Wasteland 2: Director’s Cut Review – Tech Hit (PS4) appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

Obsidian Entertainment’s lead designer, Eric Fenstermaker, has said that he would be up for working on another Fallout game after New Vegas. When asked on Twitter if there was any chance of the studio working on a new game in the franchise, Fenstermaker said:

I’m always up for working on a Fallout. I think most of us generally are. Really fun property to work with.

It remains to be seen whether Bethesda will team up with Obsidian Entertainment or not but the team is certainly interested. Since New Vegas, the studio has released South Park: The Stick of Truth and Dungeon Siege 3.

Would our readers want to see another Fallout game by Obsidian?

[Source: Eric Fenstermaker (Twitter)]

The post Obsidian Dev Says He’s Always Up for Working on a Fallout Game appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

It’s no secret that Fallout 3 launched to unanimous praise almost a decade ago, but things could have panned out very differently indeed for Bethesda’s post-apocalyptic RPG.

As Obsidian Entertainment CEO Fergus Urquhart revealed to IGN, two separate versions of Fallout 3 were canned early on in development, both of which were headed up by Black Isle Studios. The first, codenamed Van Buren, has gained notoriety since 2008, cropping up in YouTube videos and the like, while Black Isle’s second attempt at the RPG involved a shift over to 3D. For the sake of perspective, the Fallout franchise began life as an isometric RPG series before 2008.

Per IGN:

“Now 3D was the cool stuff. So we were going to move from being a 2D engine and be a 3D engine, and so we actually started working with this 3D technology called NDL.”

Right around the same time, publisher Interplay experienced financial woes, at which point the project was subsequently overhauled into Icewind Dale, a dungeon-crawler that Urquhart believes to be a “couterpoint” to Balder’s Gate.

What do our readers make of these canned versions of Fallout 3? Drop your thoughts in the usual spot below.

[Source: IGN]

The post Fallout 3 Had Two Other Versions That Never Saw the Light of Day appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

It’s time once again for another giveaway here on PlayStation LifeStyle! Today, we’re giving away early access premium codes for free-to-play third-person action game, Skyforge!

In development by Allods Team with the help of Obsidian Entertainment and published by My.com, Skyforge is already in early access on the PlayStation 4 version, and we’re here to help make sure your early trek is filled with goodies! Check out the gameplay features of Skyforge below.

About Skyforge:
A new action MMORPG on PlayStation®4 set in the world of Aelion. Surrounded by other planets, Aelion is under constant threat of invasion. These otherworldly conquerors have attempted to seize and enslave Aelion’s population and eons of failed invasion attempts have left traces of strange alien technology and magic, transforming Aelion forever. Led by their great guardian god Aeli, the citizens have learned to use these technologies and magic against their invaders. Before his departure into realms unknown, the great god managed to share part of his life essence. This power would be passed on to Aelion’s most worthy daughters and sons to forever protect his beloved planet.
And you have been chosen.

• Repel the invaders
  Creatures from the deepest oceans, reapers from the pits of fire, and lifeless machines from the coldest wastelands, all threaten the existence of Aelion and all its inhabitants.
  Fight off the invaders to obtain new abilities and rewards!
• Enhanced PS4 Action Combat
  Combat the offworld invaders with devastating skill combos and dodge their merciless attacks. Learn new skills and unleash the fury of your divine form once you have reached godhood. Collect equipment, fragments of armor, or parts of your enemies’ bodies and turn them into dangerous weapons!
• Unlock 14 Classes and Switch Instantly between them
  Begin your journey as a mere mortal and choose between 14 unlockable and interchangeable classes. Be a sinister Necromancer or even a Gunner with a monstrous, transforming plasma cannon. The choice is yours! Choose whatever class suits your playstyle, whenever you want.
  Obtain your DIVINE FORM by unlocking your ultimate abilities as a god and make the invaders rue the day they provoked your wrath!
• Explore A Universe of Content
  Skyforge contains dozens of hours of entertainment with Campaign mode, and unlimited hours in various PVE and PVP game modes, all in over 100 locations. Group up with other immortals or fight solo. Play in open zones or short instances! Even the most dedicated players will find a vast variety of content available. Skyforge has something to offer for every type of MMO player.

So, just what are we giving away? Codes; 25 codes (five Ultimate codes, 10 Extended, 10 Early Adopter) to be exact. Here are the details for each pack and their corresponding real money value:

Early Adopter Pack (14.99 USD/EUR)

This pack grants you Early Access to the exciting world of Skyforge. Become an Immortal and repel the Invaders!

This pack contains:

– Early Access to Skyforge

– 10,000 Argents

– 7 days of Premium Subscription

Premium Subscription: Increases your rewards for finishing missions and provides other bonuses

Argents: A game currency used for many different purposes

This Founder Pack provides access to Skyforge during the Early Access phase. After the Early Access phase, Skyforge will be available to download and play for free. Skyforge will be available for free from the 11th of April 2017.

 Extended Early Adopter Pack – Rage of the Berserker (49.99 USD/EUR)

This pack grants you Early Access to the exciting world of Skyforge. Become an Immortal and repel the Invaders!

This pack contains:

– Early Access to Skyforge

– Berserker Class Unlock

– 20,000 Argents

– 30 days of Premium Subscription

Premium Subscription: Increases your rewards for finishing missions and provides other bonuses

Argents: A game currency used for many different purposes

Ultimate Early Adopter Pack – Wrath of the Gods (69.99 USD/EUR)

This pack grants you Early Access to the exciting world of Skyforge. Become an Immortal and repel the Invaders!

This pack contains:

– Early Access to Skyforge

– Berserker Class Unlock

– Gunner Class Unlock

– Exclusive Glider mount

– 40,000 argents

– 60 days of Premium Subscription

Premium Subscription: Increases your rewards for finishing missions and provides other bonuses

Argents: A game currency used for many different purposes

How to win? Super simple. Just leave a comment telling us what kind of immortal god you’d be and why. We’ll pick a winner before the week’s done and email them a code. Best comments get the Ultimate codes and so on.

You can check out our preview of Skyforge right here or download the game from the PSN Store here.

Stay tuned for more giveaways here on PlayStation LifeStyle!

The post Skyforge Early Access Premium Packs Giveaway appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

Pillars of Eternity: Complete Edition is coming to PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on August 29, Paradox Interactive announced today. You’ll be able to pick it up either physically or digitally.

An RPG inspired by titles like Baldur’s Gate and Planescape: Torment, Pillars of Eternity for PC was successfully funded by more than 75,000 backers in 2012. With the Complete Edition on consoles, you’ll find the base game, The White March Part I and The White March Part II expansions, and an enhanced UI and redesigned controls.

Here’s the full list of features for the Complete Edition:

• Award-winning writing, story and artwork of Pillars of Eternity, along with the expanded world and content of The White March: Parts I & II
• Countless character creation options, from races and classes to character backgrounds which drive your personal story
• An epic universe to explore, filled with intriguing party members and companions, a variety of in-game factions, and a lovingly rendered world to traverse
• New UI and controls designed from the ground up, presenting the Pillars of Eternity experience like never before

Discussing the console versions of Pillars of Eternity and Cities: Skylines, Paradox CPO Johan Sjöberg said:

Paradox is renewing its commitment to fans everywhere, no matter where and how they play games. Experiences like the ones contained in Pillars of Eternity and Cities: Skylines are the kind that define Paradox as a company: rich, replayable, and very personal. No two players will have the same journey through the story of Pillars, and every city built in Skylines is a unique creation. Everybody should have access to these iconic games, and that’s why we’re working with partners to share them with players on their platforms of choice. It’s the same philosophy that’s driven us to bring titles like these and Surviving Mars to consoles, and games like Prison Architect to mobile devices.

Cities: Skylines hits PS4 on August 15.

[Source: PlayStation]

The post Pillars of Eternity: Complete Edition Launches on August 29 for PS4 & Xbox One appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

Released today for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, Pillars of Eternity: Complete Edition has received a new update on PS4 that fixes the following issues:

• Fixed random crash on startup.
• Fixed crash when changing portraits in character creation.

It remains to be seen how big today’s update is, but the pre-launch Pillars of Eternity update for PS4 was 4GB, players have revealed.

In an impromptu AMA on Reddit about Pillars of Eternity, Eric from Obsidian said there’s no plans at the moment to bring Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire to PS4. “We have no plans to put Deadfire on consoles at this time, but I certainly wouldn’t say it’s outside the realm of possibility, by any stretch,” he said.

Pillars of Eternity 2 was successfully funded on Fig earlier this year (it received $4.4 million on a goal of $1.1 million), and it’s scheduled for release in 2018 on PC.

Elsewhere in the AMA, Chris from Paradox jumped in and revealed that there’s no specific PS4 Pro support right now:

No PS4 Pro specific features on release (other that better fps). We’ve been talking about a few things that may find it’s way into the game later. But it kind of depends on how hard they are to implement for this game.

As for any differences between the PS4 and Xbox One versions, Chris said, “No major differences really. They’re pretty similar, but due to the different architectures there are some technical differences. So I would say that you should pick the platform where you’re most comfortable with the controller.”

Chris also confirmed that there’s no way to disable the UI on consoles at this time, but they’ll “look into it and maybe we can add some functionality in a future patch.”

In our review of Pillars of Eternity on PS4, we said, “Pillars of Eternity was certainly crafted with PC in mind, but it’s no less an enjoyable experience on console… Yes, I missed a mouse and keyboard with item management and combat, but as a whole, I’m incredibly impressed with how Obsidian has managed to translate this hardcore cRPG to console.”

[Source: Paradox, Reddit (1), (2), (3)]

The post Pillars of Eternity: Complete Edition Gets a Day One Update and a Launch Trailer appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

Obsidian Entertainment’s action game Alpha Protocol released over 7 years ago to middling reviews but if given the opportunity, the studio wouldn’t mind working on a sequel. In a new interview with Eurogamer, the game’s developers offered an interesting insight into its production and revealed that the team had to abandon some of its ideas for a more focused approach towards development.

Features that were cut or significantly changed included longer mini-games, parkour, environmental interaction, and on-rails motorbike and yacht chase sequences. At one point, Alpha Protocol also had a female protagonist named Uli Booi.

“The direction we were going wasn’t something everyone was completely happy with so changing that around…it really revitalized a lot of the team,” said Lead Level Designer Tyson Christensen.

The end product still didn’t woo the masses over, however, which Game Director Chris Parker said was “disheartening.”

We always talk about how we think a game is going to rate before it launches. We all expected to land around 80. We knew it had some issues, we understood all of that, but we thought if people could just get over those things the content would pull through.

When it launched and it did significantly worse… it was pretty disheartening.

Parker also revealed that Obsidian has already completed a detailed 35-page pitch for a sequel that “fundamentally” revisits gameplay and works with things players loved. Unfortunately, Obsidian cannot work on Alpha Protocol 2 without SEGA’s blessing as that’s who the ownership rests with.

[Source: Eurogamer]

The post Obsidian Talks Alpha Protocol’s Development, “Disheartening” Reception, and Possibility of Sequel appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

Take-Two Interactive recently announced a new label, Private Division, which will be publishing an unannounced RPG from Obsidian Entertainment. Fans instantly took to social media to ask the developer if its upcoming title will feature microtransactions akin to many of the titles published under Take-Two labels (and the recent controversies certainly don’t help matters).

Such were the concerns that it prompted not only a written statement from Obsidian but also a video featuring project leads Leonard Boyarsky and Tim Cain, which you can watch below.

And now, a message from Leonard Boyarsky and Tim Cain.https://t.co/xfb4CUl0Ov pic.twitter.com/VvajRMEDeO

— Obsidian (@Obsidian) December 15, 2017

Simply put, Obsidian says there will be “no microtransactions of any kind” in the upcoming game. The studio further wrote:

We also wanted to say a word about our partnership with Private Division, our publisher on this title. Far from “pushing” us to put anything — microtransactions or otherwise — into our game, Private Division has been incredibly supportive of our vision, our creative freedom, and the process by which we work to make RPGs. They have been fantastic partners, and we are extremely excited to work with them through release, to put what we know is going to be an amazing game into as many hands as possible.

No other details about the project have been made available yet.

The post Obsidian Says There’ll Be “No Microtransactions of Any Kind” in Upcoming Game appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

In their Road to 2020 business presentation, SEGA said part of their strategy to create titles that will become global hits is the “revival of past IPs and active utilization of external IPs, etc.”

Additionally, the company wants to expand intellectual property development channels to consoles, PC, and mobile devices, while expanding development to release games simultaneously across the globe as well. SEGA also wants to “transition from diversified investment to focused investment,” and they’ll do this by focusing investment on promising titles and selecting titles carefully (they want to aim for big hits).

The presentation then highlighted the major points for both the digital and packaged games fields:

Digital Game Field (Phantasy Star Online 2, Hortensia Saga, and others listed as examples)

• Create titles that will become global hits
• Establish digital marketing business
• Expand overseas publishing business
• Maintain profits through long-term operation of existing titles
• Develop next-generation titles

Packaged Game Field (Persona 5, Yakuza 6: The Song of Life, and others listed as examples)

• Expand existing IPs and obtain new IPs for North American and European PC games
• Build revenue base by being entrusted with outsourced development
• Challenge for new IPs
• Revival of major IPs
• Effective utilization of development engines

On Twitter, Alpha Protocol developer Obsidian offered up this potential tease:

You don’t say.

What if…? https://t.co/29s7TG3Mqr

— Obsidian (@Obsidian) May 15, 2017

Obsidian then added, “What we’ve learned: A lot of love for [Alpha Protocol] still (Thank you!), and us doing Phantasy Star or Shining Force sounds great. You’re all glorious.”

In their report for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2017, SEGA mentioned that they sold 10.28 million games during the year, and sales of Persona 5 and Total War: Warhammer performed well. Looking at this fiscal year (ending March 31, 2018), SEGA expects to move 11.6 million units, thanks to games like Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War III, Endless Space 2, and Total War: Warhammer 2.

[Source: SEGA Sammy (1), (2), Obsidian (1), (2) via Gematsu, VG247]

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When Pillars of Eternity originally released on PC in 2015, I hailed it as a “welcome return to the cRPGs of old.” On PC, it certainly brought me back to the hardcore computer role-playing games I loved in the 90s, such as Baldur’s Gate and Icewind Dale. I never once imagined it would be brought to console, even though Divinity: Original Sin found its way there. Obsidian themselves said at E3 in 2015, to a private room of press regarding their first White March expansion, that there were absolutely no plans to bring the game to console. They said, and I quote, that it “would be too much work” and “we built this game with strictly PC in mind.” Well, I suppose never say never, as it is most certainly here, on console, in its isometric, cRPG glory. While I’m sure the story remains as deep and riveting as ever, how well does it translate to console? Color this reviewer both stoked and lucky to review this fantastic RPG twice, especially since all of the White March expansions are packaged in!

A Pillar of the RPG Genre

From the very beginning, you will know you have a special RPG in your hands, because it will take you at least 30 minutes to create your character. It’s more than simply designing the facial features, the perfect hair highlights, or just how high the browline needs to be raised. In this character creation, you’ll go more in depth about your character’s background, history, race, class, region, talents, and religion than in a round of DnD. It’s easy to get overwhelmed by all the options, especially when the races divide to even more distinct sub-races. I knew I wanted to be an elf, because I’m always a Paladin in most cRPGs. But it’s not so simple to just pick an elf; do you want to be a Wood Elf or a Pale Elf? Well Wood Elves hail from these certain regions, have these options for beliefs, and excel at these specific classes. Same goes for Pale Elves. You’ll certainly find your traditional races and classes, but Pillars of Eternity opens up unique classes, such as the cipher (essentially a psyker) and twists on races such as the Aumaua, a giant-like people who aren’t really giants.

Once you finally finish your character (there should seriously be a trophy just for building one), you start the adventure the same way most RPGs do: on a journey to somewhere new. And guess what? Something has gone wrong. Also, much to everyone’s surprise, your character becomes blessed/cursed with a new ability by accident that could lead them to save the world or destroy it! I know you’ve never heard that type of plot before.

Yeah, this isn’t ominous or anything.

That said, like most RPGs, the uniqueness of the plot comes from how you get from the beginning to the very end, as well as the various stories you choose to unfold. From the time of the character’s Awakening, every decision you make impacts the world around you. Most importantly, it impacts how people view and treat you. Sure, you can go on a mass murder spree and kill everything and everyone you can, but you’ll have a hard time finding an inn that will let you stay there or merchants who are willing to sell their goods. The race and class you choose affects the dialogue choices available as well as your reputation. Most people don’t trust orlans, a little gnome race, but everyone loves a Paladin.

How you resolve a side quest has a bit of a lasting impact as well. For instance, I met a young boy who offered to trade a secret for a special blade one could only buy from a particular merchant. The merchant won’t sell it to him because of his age. I chose to get the blade for him, and the next time I passed by his house, his father was demanding to know where he got it. I was honest and said I did because the boy wanted to be a knight. Later on, I heard the town crier saying that a boy cut off half his fingers playing with a knight’s blade. The secret the boy had wasn’t even that great to begin with. Oh how guilty I felt in between snickers. This example was rather minor, but it did negatively impact my party’s reputation in that city. Other side quests have far bigger repercussions, such as dethroning the tyrant of Gilded Vale for a new lord, his cousin.

Dial Down the Menus

One of the biggest questions I had for the port was how it was going to handle all of the menus. It’s fairly simple in the PC version, as you just point-and-click or point-and-right-click what you want and what you need. But you can’t really do that here. I thought they were going to use the touchpad as a bit of a mouse, but instead Obsidian created two radial dials for players to peruse—one for combat and one for character tasks, such as setting equipment, reading your journal, or upgrading the stronghold. Each is activated by the L2/R2 buttons. For those who have experience with Dragon Age: Origins, this will look all too familiar, albeit a bit more complicated.

Most of the time, the distinctive radial dials make sense as to which actions will be on each one. However, I could not, for the life of me, figure out how to talk to my party members. On PC, I could just click on their character portrait. But there’s no option to do that here. It’s not in any of the character menus at all. I know, because I tried every single one, even for my stronghold, which I know wouldn’t have it. I finally went to the Pillars forum and looked it up. Of course only the PC instructions were there, but one moderator mentioned going to a combat abilities menu. Sure enough, it was in the combat radial dial. I’m not sure why I didn’t think of looking in combat when I just wanted to talk to my party.

Using the radial dials in combat isn’t exactly a treat, either. Combat is a real-time turn-based affair, with the ability to pause the action at any time to dole out commands. This style of combat has a steep learning curve to begin with, and it’s not ideal for console gameplay. Yes, you can pause at any time, but the action moves quickly. One mistake in ordering a command quickly enough can wipe out the whole party. Fortunately, Obsidian has added numerous options available for automatically triggering the pause. One of them is by opening any radial dial. This, in itself, is an absolute life-saver. No need to remember to pause the action before perusing your library of abilities to see what would be best, how many uses you have left, or what the potential areas of effect could be. You have no idea how many times forgetting to hit that space bar before searching through abilities produced a game over screen for me.

You’ll need that lovely pause with the radial dial, because you have tiers upon tiers of dials to comb through for your quick items (ironic, that one), levels of spells, and abilities. Picking favorites to put in the top layer for easy access helps, but your favorite isn’t always going to be what you need. I pretty much gave up at doling orders to my party save for the priest and mages. I might order them to move here or there, or attack this guy instead of that spider, but clicking through the dials for each character is an absolute beating.

Little From Column A, a Little From Column B

For a cRPG like this to translate to console, the radial dials are definitely a necessary evil. BioWare had to do something similar with Dragon Age: Origins between PC and console as well. I don’t like them, but I can deal with them. Outside of them, the shift to console definitely has its pluses and its minuses.

The biggest plus is moving the party. The analog stick beats clicking a mouse any day of the week. Even looking around a map is far more fluid with the right analog stick than it is with a mouse.

On the flip side, though, manipulating the camera is extremely limited in the console version. You have an isometric view of the party, which is an angled, top-down view. It’s often imperative to be able to move the camera to look at all angles, especially when trying to order characters to attack or use a spell on a particular enemy. That’s no longer an option. The console version also doesn’t allow a deep zoom in (which I liked to do to really look at my characters) or a long zoom out (nice for quickly finding enemies before you trigger them).

Another massive plus is the ease of searching for treasures in rooms. There’s no hovering your mouse over everything in sight, hoping the cursor will change and signal a treasure or a trap within. The party walks in a room, and items are instantly marked. Face the party or a party member toward one, tap X, and search is complete. I was worried the console version would force characters to physically move to each and every nook and cranny of an area to find something. I’m so thankful that wasn’t the case.

A Pillar of Creativity

None of these gameplaying mechanics mar the brilliance behind Pillars of Eternity in the least. None of it changes the fact that PoE presents unique approaches to puzzle solving or options for infiltrating a compound. If players uncover one of these options, a scroll-like scene appears with a few options. In the case of finding a way to sneak into a fortress, your party’s attributes will come into play for both the options of what is available as well as your success in completing your choice. Climbing a vine up a wall is find for a warrior and an aumaua, but dwarves will easily fatigue, requiring rest.

This puzzle was a dead ringer.

In addition, you’ve most likely never seen party management like this. Each party member has a health bar and endurance. If a companion loses all endurance in a fight, they’re knocked out and won’t revive until the end of the fight or if another character brings them back. Depending upon the damage taken in the fight, the character will lose health too. If all health is lost, the character becomes maimed. If the character is knocked out while maimed, it’s permadeath. In the higher difficulties, sometimes maiming never happens and you go straight to the Pale Knight. Resting is more important in PoE than I’ve ever had in any other RPG, because no potion will heal health or an injury. Some potions will give back endurance, but those can only be consumed while in combat. It’s a lot to juggle at times, which intensifies the combat experience. Despite this, it’s never really overwhelming, though, thanks to that pause button.

Pillars of Eternity was certainly crafted with PC in mind, but it’s no less an enjoyable experience on console. I admit I came in with a bit of a bias having played it on PC first, and I had those expectations coming in, fair or not. Yes, I missed a mouse and keyboard with item management and combat, but as a whole, I’m incredibly impressed with how Obsidian has managed to translate this hardcore cRPG to console. More than anything, I’m thrilled that console gamers now have the opportunity to romp through Eora. It’s an adventure no RPG-fan should miss.

Pillars of Eternity: Complete Edition review code provided by publisher. For more information on scoring please see our Review Policy here.

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Apparently Obsidian, creators of Pillars of Eternity and other RPGs, had a chance to create a Game of Thrones game, but ultimately turned the offer down. However, their reason is pretty sound–this was back in 2005, before the books were adapted into the popular TV show. At the time, Obsidian didn’t know how exactly they could turn the source material into a game.

Obsidian CEO Feargus Urquhart spoke to Eurogamer about the decision:

“My feeling was, understanding the IP at the time, it’s about this political intrigue, and people’s connection to the IP is to all these characters – that’s how the books are written, each chapter is a person and what’s happening to them,”

“Other than what weird stuff is going on beyond The Wall, and the dragons, and some hint [of fantasy/magic], there are no magic users, there are no clerics, no thieves. Basically there’s dudes with swords and armour and a little bit of mysticism, but within the main land [the Seven Kingdoms] there’s no goblins, no kobolds…”

“So maybe there could have been something we could have done, but we were starting to think more about open-world RPGs, and we wanted our players to have agency, to be important in the world.”

What it boils down to is that while Game of Thrones is a fantasy series, it was difficult to adapt into an RPG because… well, there isn’t much to fight, and the conflicts were more political in nature. Of course, you have to remember this was before the TV series inserted more supernatural elements to the series.

The Vice President of development Chris Parker has more to add:

“You can’t give the player a character they can play that is important in this world. All of the important characters are all clearly spelled out and you can’t even really go have a conversation with them.”

There is plenty more to read at Eurogamer’s interview.

Would you have liked to have seen an Obsidian developed Game of Thrones title?

[Source: Eurogamer]

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Eurogamer recently posted a new interview with Obsidian CEO Feargus Urquhart. In it, Urquhart discussed the various changes Fallout: New Vegas went through in its development process.

“Originally we had this idea where the player would be able to choose between three races: human, ghoul and super mutant,” said Urquhart. “It really had to do with how all the weapons and armor worked. Trying to have them all work with ghouls and super mutants was just going to be – [Bethesda] felt like it was going to be a nightmare. It wasn’t like they said no but it was a very strongly worded, ‘We would really suggest that you not try to do that.'”

Obsidian and Bethesda both started talking about a possibly new Fallout game in 2008, and seemed to know from the start that it wouldn’t be an entirely new thing. “We knew from the start it was not going to be Fallout 4 – that was the internal team’s.

“It was always intended to be essentially a gigantic expansion,” said Obsidian co-owner Chris Parker.

For a bit, Obsidian considered the game to be more like Grand Theft Auto: Vice City or San Andreas, which were essentially offshoots of Grand Theft Auto 3 despite being full games. “It was meant to be not the sequel,” said Urquhart. “It was meant to be an offshoot project. But we were actually worried about that, about people thinking of it as just a big expansion.”

The entire interview is certainly worth the read, and goes a bit more in depth as to how New Reno was chosen for the location of the game and what was it like as the development team slowly figured out the ideas for what the game would have. It’s a nice piece of history on a game that many consider to be one of the strongest titles in the Fallout series.

[Source: Eurogamer]

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Fallout: New Vegas was a hit when it released in 2010, but it seems that the game may not have been as great as it could have been. In a recent interview with Obsidian’s Scott Everts, he states that having New Vegas on consoles limited the game. Having the game on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 forced the development studio to simply things due to the engine they had to work with.

Here is the interview snippet from PCGamesN:

“[the game] would have been a lot different if it was PC only. We had a lot of plans early on. Like, ‘Here’s where the water is stored, here’s where the farms are, here’s where the government is centralised’. We had it all planned out – it wasn’t just a bunch of random stuff.”

Some of that content still made its way into the game, but Everts says “we could have gone further with that. We had to simplify, so we had less stuff that would bog down the game engine,” and seems to blame some of the game’s performance issues on its console development: “We would have had fewer performance issues. We did break it up a bit, but from my point of view it was a performance-related game and we had to fix things.”

Everts even goes on to state that Mojave Wasteland would be different as well, having “more separate zones”, with the big tower in the middle with zones more clearly separated.

Would you have like to seen Fallout: New Vegas at its fullest potential on PC, or maybe even PS4?

[Source: PCGamesN]

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