Eternity Josh Sawyer wants to make Pillars of Eternity 3, but only if...

[Butter]

I'm not convinced anyone at Obsidian is competent to direct a $120 million game, and Sawyer has demonstrated over the past decade that he's happiest when he's designing for himself rather than for a wide audience. But it's all moot because nobody is going to offer Obsidian $120 million for any project, let alone another Pillars, and no game should cost that much anyway. Nearly every discussion on this forum is about how games were better when they were made by small teams with unified visions (and more importantly, creativity-promoting constraints).

 

[Forest Dweller]

Hi.

gosh. Gosh! JOSH!

You can almost hear the engine getting louder as the light is about to turn green and Pillars of Eternity III zooms to the front of the project line and old friends are reunited and they can make the YouTube video about it sharing in the excitement with fans of the series showing off what they have already put together and just how the previous two tales shaped Eora with Ashley Johnson returning to narrate the history of time that has passed since the Wheel was shattered. Gosh the white board in the conference room is ready okay? OKAY!

Thanks,
Sherry

What is wrong with you?

 

[JarlFrank]

But I don't want Josh Sawyer to make Pillars of Eternity 3.

 

[Shaki]

I don't think there are any companies retarded enough, to give someone like Soyer a big budget. He's proven far too many times, that he has no idea how to actually make a good RPG. If he'd get a chance to make PoE3, he would make it a BG3 clone, but with all the fun parts removed, same way POE 1/2 were shitty clones of BG2, with all the bad parts but none of the fun. Soyer is one of the biggest frauds in this industry, and hopefully after Avowed/TOW2 finally sinks Obsidian, he won't be allowed to work on any RPG ever again.

 

[Jaesun]

Who is the Creative Lead for Avowed?

 

[Lady Error]

Sawyer should create his TB Darklands clone in the Pillars engine. They already did something similar (new IP, same engine) with Tyranny.

 

[Roguey]

Who is the Creative Lead for Avowed?

Robert Lo who replaced Kate Dollarhyde who replaced Lucien Soulban.

 

[SpaceWizardz]

No, no more Pillars.
He either needs to do a completely self-indulgent Darklands successor so we can finally assess Sawyer in his unchained, undiluted state or just admit defeat and make more 3D Action RPGs like New Vegas.

 

[IHaveHugeNick]

Well ain't that a sign of a healthy project.

 

[Roguey]

Well ain't that a sign of a healthy project.

The Obsidian dev here suggested as strongly as he could that Dollarhyde left because she couldn't handle the responsibilities of a lead and it had nothing do with the state of the project. Well, other than Obsidian promoting someone who wasn't qualified which they've been known to do since the beginning (as claimed by Chris). ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[Cross]

Who is the Creative Lead for Avowed?

Robert Lo who replaced Kate Dollarhyde who replaced Lucien Soulban.

https://www.mobygames.com/person/72554/robert-ransom-lo/

Credited on 4 games​

Call of Duty: Vanguard (2021, Windows)	Writers
Yar's Revenge (2011, Windows)	Designers
Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction (2005, Xbox)	Designers
Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2002, PlayStation 2)	Designers

https://www.linkedin.com/in/ransomlo

Lead Narrative Designer​

Obsidian Entertainment​

- Advocate for inclusivity and diversity across the narrative vision, the writing team, and writing process.

This guy wrote a World War II story that was so absurdly woke and pandering even Kotaku complained about it.

https://kotaku.com/call-of-duty-vanguards-campaign-is-an-insult-to-world-1848042030

Avowed is going to be a disaster.

 

[SpaceWizardz]

https://www.mobygames.com/person/72554/robert-ransom-lo/

Credited on 4 games​

Call of Duty: Vanguard (2021, Windows)	Writers
Yar's Revenge (2011, Windows)	Designers
Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction (2005, Xbox)	Designers
Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2002, PlayStation 2)	Designers

Absolutely insane a "Story First" studio would put somebody with such an abysmal record in such a high-level narrative position, Obsidian is so fucking cooked.

 

[Roguey]

Absolutely insane a "Story First" studio would put somebody with such an abysmal record in such a high-level narrative position, Obsidian is so fucking cooked.

Most writers in the game industry are like this now, it's not 2010 anymore. He was more qualified to lead than everyone currently working there.

 

[Camel]

I'm not convinced anyone at Obsidian is competent to direct a $120 million game, and Sawyer has demonstrated over the past decade that he's happiest when he's designing for himself rather than for a wide audience. But it's all moot because nobody is going to offer Obsidian $120 million for any project, let alone another Pillars, and no game should cost that much anyway. Nearly every discussion on this forum is about how games were better when they were made by small teams with unified visions (and more importantly, creativity-promoting constraints).

No one is going to offer Sawyer and Obsidian $12 million to make a game and rightly so.

 

[Fedora Master]

But I don't want Josh Sawyer to make Pillars of Eternity 3.

Nobody should make PoE 3

 

[IHaveHugeNick]

Haha what the fuck, that's the writer who was *more* qualified? This industry is doomed.

 

[Bulo]

But I don't want Josh Sawyer to make Pillars of Eternity 3.

Nobody should make PoE 3

You're right. They should remaster the first game.

 

[PorkyThePaladin]

Meh, Obsidian never had it. They only made one quality game in what, like 20 years now, and even that game was based on another company's engine, and had to be modded somewhat to be enjoyable.

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

I would rather he makes dark fantasy horror thing like Diablo.

Everything Sawyer has created in the last dozen years is already a horror, though I suppose not necessarily dark.

you know why most western studios turn to shit sooner or later while most japanese studios maintain quality? Arrogance. Once western studios grt big they start thinking they’re the shit. They stop playing video games and start spending more time on cocaine and hookers… or riding your bike if you’re gay. Japs stay humble and continue to play games and listen to feedback that’s why they don’t forget how to make good games.

Name one good jap game made in the last 10 years that wasn't made by from soft. I'll wait.

They only know how to make cringe anime garbage.

As far as the Codex is concerned, Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen is a 2016 computer game, and it deservedly won Codex GotY. Granted, it's actually a 2013 revision of a 2012 console game.

Stranger of Sword City (2016) was a decent enough Wizardry-like. NieR: Automata (2017) was a good JRPG/action hybrid, though admittedly quite anime-esque.

Aside from role-playing games, there's

• Dragon's Crown (2013), a Vanillaware beat-'em-up with extensive RPG elements that pays homage to many prestigious Western fantasy influences
• Yakuza 0 (2015), an action minigame-simulator with RPG elements
• Odin Sphere: Leifthrasir (2016), a revision of an earlier Vanillaware action game with RPG elements
• Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (2017) is supposedly quite good as is the sequel LoZ: Tears of the Kingdom (2023)
• Bloodstained (2019), a metroidvania with RPG elements
• Korean, but if we count it anyway, Troubleshooter: Abandoned Children (2020) is the best squad-based tactics game with RPG elements of the last decade or more

 

[Vic]

also look into ATLUS games for a solid track record in jap games

 

[Vincente]

Feels a bit like a catty way of saying Larian's game did better than his only and only because they had more money.

 

[Heinrich]

Feels a bit like a catty way of saying Larian's game did better than his only and only because they had more money.

Especially because the only reason Larian has more money now is because they made better and more popular games on a lower budget. While these guys comfortably made pillars one, Swen had to mortgage his house, stopped paying taxes for a while and had his wife pay for his gas.

 

[duskvile]

Everything Sawyer has created in the last dozen years is already a horror, though I suppose not necessarily dark.

So now it's the time to change course and make proper fantasy horror game.
What Pillars 3 should have as main dev objective is upgraded Rtwp system, connected semi-open world with fast loading screen and no or as least cinematics as possible.

 

[Roguey]

BlackheartXIII https://rpgcodex.net/forums/threads/obsidian-general-discussion-thread.84849/post-7931349

 

[Vic]

I have a hard time with the first Pillars. I tried it now 3 times, and am currently playing it. Each time I only get as far as Caed Nua because the writing is so lifeless and boring. It has it's moments for sure but for the most part the only emotion the game evokes is boredom.

I am trying now to finish the game in this attempt... (just defeated Maerwald so basically again where I quit twice before let's see how much further I can make it)