I think they just try to hustle a little harder than they should. They agree to projects with deadlines they can't really make and because of that the project suffers and it comes back to bite them. Prefect example is Fallout: New Vegas. Everybody talks about the position they were in making that game but you have to remember that they agreed to it. That's partly on them.
@Gicobra115 No FO3 was better then FONV and only a massive campaign of nasty comments in social media threads by Fallout New Vagas cult boys to convince people otherwise... FONV has the stupidest gun play of any Fallout... I mean you can mag dump a guy in the head and he doesn't die... at least FO3 left those tanky enemies for end game and all the tanky enemies were either in Power armor or were FEV enemies like death claws and Super mutants.... FO3 wasn't perfect but nothing could be as bad a FONV mag dumps to the head without getting a kill
@Bill Clinton Enjoyer the gameplay was fine. The graphics were a very old engine on older consoles. And if graphics are what make a game good to you, you're part of the problem why we have so many lackluster games anymore. It's become the primary focus alongside microtransactions.
Tyranny was outstanding in my opinion, the premise and the nuances of the plot were a much needed breath of fresh air in the, generally speaking, "good vs evil" arena we often find with RPGs, even the most daring. Terribly underappreciated unfortunately.
I played like 20h of it. Enjoyed very much. I did not see point to make my main character other than specific build because of the magic system. And I had roleplaying problems personally beign evil because I would have wanted to be good and it just made no sense in the game context I failed to find interesting dualism in choices should I be maximally evil or just pure bad. I never really figured out how the choices mattered in bigger context if that makes sense but very good game and I believe I will get back to it once I play Pathfinder 2 and pillars of eternity 2 which are on my backlog.
@@TimoNaaro pathfinder 2, wrath of the righteous, is superb. Its depth will leave you breathless and wanting for more. 'Crpg bro' is your best guide and saviour!
@@TimoNaaro, spoilers ahead, so be careful reading next, people... 1. Take "Noble Scion" character history (your parents are empire traitors). This will justify your next moves. Also you may take "Lawbreaker" but 1st option is better in my opinion. 2. Make all interactions with non-Kyros factions during the conquest as diplomatic as possible. Avoid all encounters harmful to them. Show same approach through entire game. 3. Show hate and despite to Chorus and Disfavored both (optional). 4. Always free your captives and seek for diplomatic solutions. 5. Make Vendriens and all other factions your allies! Now you are a proud child of Tiers, their liberator, and the greatest enemy to Kyros him- / herself (doubt the last one, honestly)
Pentiment was so good with all the research and detailing, even in the localization. I played it in German, and they clearly got people working on it who got regional idioms and accents right.
I bought BG III in early access to support Larian -- I have not played yet early access for an RPG isn't like a strategy title but it looks bloody awesome
@John Miller I've got no problem with early access stuff. I just didn't buy bg3 bc I didn't wanna see anything about the game until release lol I knew I couldn't not play it if I bought it
The documentary titled "The Road To Eternity" is a fantastic watch to find out how Pillars 1 was made and also gives an insight to how the devs there work. I highly recommend that video for anyone interested.
I think it’s a minor miracle Obsidian have survived as long as they have and lately it seems like they’ve been on a bit of a heater in terms of releasing well received games. Personally I think a decent number of their problems come down to them being a really great AA devloper that gets miscast as a AAA developer. They can make a game with the best of them, but their stuff will always be a little more niche it seems.
HA! That's a very well put opinion, one which I stand by. I always thought of The Outer Worlds as a AAA game, but it falls under AA, for so many reasons.
One of the most frustrating things is there seems to be less and less space in the current gaming market for AA games and developers; gone are the PS2 days when games had smaller budgets and quicker turnarounds. Today publishers are pushing for increasingly larger budgets and established franchises which seems detrimental to AA developer creativity; look at what’s happened to Raven Software under Activision.
@@Ammoniumbicarbonat you mean look what's happening to cod. Don't get me wrong, i adore Singularity. My point is simply: there is no more Activision nor are there any devs except the tools that perpetuate cod. The people that made Singularity are more than likely gone. Just as the people that made BioWare are gone.
Still sad Tyranny didn't do well enough to do a follow up, or conclusion really, it felt a bit like a long prologue. Still one my favorite CRPGs of all time. Especially the first act should be a case study on how craft a level with a lot of actual player choices.
It's cool that you mention obsidian's connection with black isles but one company that gets often kind of unmentioned is troika games. they made arcanum and VtMB even more loved classics
The other offshoot of black aisle is inxile. Now they are both under the umbrella of Microsoft. It would be incredible if they worked on a project together
@@Zen-rw2fz I feel like there would be too much bad blood for that after what happened with new vegas. What with Bethesda withholding the bonus money after the crazy short development cycle. And I wouldn't be surprised if at least a few at Bethesda are unhappy with New Vegas now being considered the best of the creation engine fallouts.
The thing I admire Obsidian most for is that they always remember to put good stories and good writing first. They've obviously gotten better and better at the technical and financial stuff as time goes on, but they've never neglected the writing, which means that while their launches may have not been financial juggernauts, their games all have legs (meaning that their games reputations improve over time and remain relevant much longer than games from other studios)
Alien: Crucible is one of those lost games that endlessly fascinate me. Mass Effect gameplay in the Weyland-Yutani universe may well have been amazing had it been completed.
Very cool history class. Great to know Obsidian team has seen a lot of high water and still came out strong. Respect to Josh Sawyer too for handling stuff
Out of all the studios Microsoft has acquired Obsidian has the most promise. I am really excited to see what Obsidian can bring to the table with actual resources to put into development. Their games have always showed some of the most promise yet never lived up to expectations. Alpha Protocol for example the amount of choice in that game is mind blowing. You can even decided whether or not certain boss fights happen or with who. It is pretty nuts compared to other games out there.
@@Ezullof fair point. Maybe they should focus more on the audience they have instead of worried about raising that amount. The new fans will trickle in eventually if they just keep giving their fans awesome games.
My favorite developers over the years, just love there rpgs so much! KOTOR 2, New Vegas, Pillars of Eternity 2, Mask of The Betrayer and Pentiment being my personal favorites. After Elden Ring, Pentiment was my next favorite game of 2022, just LOVED the story, characters and wonderful world they created, still thinking of the Abbey and its characters after beating it awhile ago. Can't wait for Avowed!
Obsidian is absolutely one of my favorites. They're one of the few studios where when I see a game trailer with their name on it, my brain can't help but immediately jump to the conclusion "...yeah, this one's gonna be pretty good", whether the trailer provides any actual indication or evidence of that or not. And yeah their versatility is seriously impressive, how they consistently hop from sub-genre to sub-genre in the broader RPG space, and somehow make the game work, more often than not.
Obsidian has got to be one of my favorites. Lots of their older games are staples I really like but, unlike most it seems, I absolutely love Outer Worlds and of course New Vegas. But the main thing is Pillars 2. That's my favorite game of all time. Love obsidian.
@@RobbyRaccoon I would love a third one. Maybe avowed continues the story but I want to see what happens next and also just want another game in the line. I would also want a remastered original with turn based. I quit playing the first one (and tyranny) because I hate rtwp but I'd like to play them if they added in the turn based. That's my favorite thing some of these companies have been doing. Adding turn based in when they originally weren't. As an almost exclusive turn based gamer it's been really nice
Played outer worlds and wasnt the biggest fan mainly due to the repetitive gameplay and choices not affecting enough of the factions. I still have high hopes for the sequel because itll likely have a bigger budget
This was a cool look at a developer’s history! Thanks for sharing. Are their games flawless? No way. But gosh dang it they know how to make awesome games!
"Blood, Sweat and Pixels" is an excellent book regarding game development and I believe has a chapter on Pillars of Eternity. I have always appreciated the work Obsidian has done to make games in the RPG genre and have enjoyed most of their games in that area. You video is an excellent run down of their work and the issues they have faced with funding -> developing -> supporting their games.
Obsidian has genuinely brilliant writers on their teams. Sometimes i think their management can sort of "get in their own way" when it comes to focusing on the important stuff for their games. But when things click, they produce masterpieces
If that's to mean Josh Sawyer's postmortem about Deadfire ship combat, I'd say management was right. An exploration-based Age of Sail game without ship combat is like making a game about the Eastern Front of WW2 and not including tanks. If the ship combat didn't work, then that was a game breaker. Not just a "remove it and pretend we can ignore it" issue. And Sid Meier's Pirates! Had made fun, simple ship combat a decade before. Same thing with people who are saying Rogue Trader doesn't need ship combat, that it's a side system. It absolutely isn't in a game based on exploration in dangerous places. Unless you have a narrative get out of jail card like the Normandy stealth drive. Which doesn't exist in 40k. If you make a game based on privateering, exploring, and command and then remove the object of command from the game, that is narrative dissonance.
@Shawn Gillogly I can confidently say I never cared about ship combat nor was I looking for it. The boarding system was just fine, and so much more time could've been given to other parts of the game if they had just left it out.
@@karlklein2263 Boarding is part of ship combat. But it is unbelievable to have only boarding. And I'm glad *you* think narrative dissonance isn't a problem. I disagree. And given the general response, I'm hardly alone. I would much rather have a story that makes sense then pretty graphics. And no ship combat, no exploration.
@@synapse913 They didn't write Tyranny. Granted, Avellone did much of the backstory and world-building of Tyranny, but that doesn't change the fact that the bulk of its characters and narrative design had nothing to do with him.
If Bethesda gave Obsidian actual time to make New Vegas it could have scored into the 90s on Metacritic. If Bethesda was like "Okay we're gonna give you time as long as it comes out at least two years after Skyrim's release." So in 2013-14 they release New Vegas with a new engine, competent AI, larger map, more quests, more factions etc. it could have been INCREDIBLE.
This was a really cool video. It's interesting to learn more about the developers history and how they handled growing. I think it would be really cool if you did a video on your top 5 devs and bottom 5. Or however you would do it. But yeah it's cool to learn more about the developers of these games sometimes. Great vid and Happy New Year!!
Just on Grounded, if you enjoy the co-op survival genre it is actually really good. Plenty of content and progression, decent building system and some really good QOL things that many other survival games can learn from.
I love videos like this and there are so few that touch on histories and opinions on various game development studios. Great job on this and would love to watch more stuff like this.
Thank you for mentioning Tyranny the way you did. That game is incredible with A LOT of player choice. One of my favorite games. It's sad how positively it was received while not selling well.
Bloodlines, Kotor 2 and Alpha Protocol will always be favorites of mine. I'm also really hoping to see The Outerworlds sequel really add some more mechanics and such to make it stand out.
Sorry to be the "um akshually" guy, Troika were the one who made Bloodlines. Though some of it's members jumped ship to Obsidian when they went under including two of the three leads on Arcanum.
Mechanics aside, Outer Worlds needs better writing imho. It wasn't bad... but it could have and should have been much better, especially given the narrative talent in that company. I think Chris Avellone's absence was really felt on this one
@@PaulXPZ I can agree with that. I think they need to find a better balance between the goofy stuff with some more serious elements to actually make the player get invested a bit more. I feel like they tried, but for every serious moment it was met with jokes during or right after.
As someone that does like that type of game, Grounded is brilliant as well. It should have gotten more recognition. I think the issue was that it was in early access for so long.
Great video, Morty! KOTOR, Neverwinter Nights 2, Pillars of Eternity and Deadfire are among my favorite games ever. I am playing Fallout: New Vegas for the first time now and I am enjoying it quite a lot.
I feel like this is the proper comment section to ask: I want to get into CRPGs but don't know where to start. What is the best CRPG (I don't care how old or new it is) to play to stair-step me into the genre? If the combat is too complicated, it might scare me away. The closest thing I've played is Dragon Age: Origins but am fully aware that is not a true-CRPG on most difficulties. HIT ME WITH SUGGESTIONS!
My gut tells me Divinity Original Sin 2 on the easiest setting, (since difficulty could put you off forever) & just enjoy the ride. Larian studios basically made DOS as a proof of concept that they could handle Baldurs Gate 3, & it is lovingly crafted. It also allows for the use of physics as part of the combat mechanics. It is entirely voice acted with amazing talent and the world building is exceptional.
One of the few games of theirs I actually played is Grounded. And aside from Subnautica I really don't dabble much into that genre. That said I really enjoyed Grounded! It's sort off Subnautica on land, with better combat and quite an interesting map. Loot is also more interesting, which ties into the combat system. And enemy design is obvious considering the theme but adapted well to a game. Enemy behaviour included. All in all Grounded get's a big old reccomendation from me. Quality stuff if it's in your wheelhouse.
Ah yes. One of my favorite RPG studios, especially during those early years from KOTOR 2 to New Vegas. Despite their imperfections, those games had me hooked! These days, however, Owlcat basically fills that particular spot, since the last Obs game I've played is Deadfire. Which I still liked a lot, but Owlcat's games have simply scratched that particular itch for me for the last few years. It bums me out to this day that Deadfire didn't perform and that that particular cliffhanger may never be resolved, especially since Avowed will be set before both PoE games. Still, I'm curious to see what comes of that game and OW 2.
Grounded was hands down one of Obsidian’s best projects in recent years I’m so glad it was able to see massive success It’d be interesting if Microsoft let them dabble in fallout again whether it be Bethesda’s rendition or the good ol’ interplay rendition.
I played Armored Warfare while Obsidian developed it. They introduced a ton of really cool mechanics to the game that made it a breath of fresh air and feel different in a positive way from similar games. They even introduced a tiny bit of RP to the game with some stories, resource collection to upgrade a base in your garage (which would grant you bonuses) loot boxes that could only be earned by playing, and a host of really fun game modes. and during this sort of early access development period, the game enjoyed a large following, especially those who had grown dissatisfied with World of Tanks or War Thunder. Unfortunately, the publisher just wanted a copy and paste of World of Tanks but with modern vehicles so they fired Obsidian and took over development, eliminating or severely limiting every cool thing that Obsidian had added thus losing a large portion of their player base. It was shortly after that when I stopped playing for good and uninstalled that game.
I still have hope that someone in Microsoft will look back and say hey that Alpha Protocol game and that Tyranny game have a lot of potential, let's throw some money at it
The fact they were formed by the ex Black Isle top dogs, was enough for me, although most of them have left now I believe. At least they haven't devolved into whatever grotesque parody of its former self Blizzard has become...ahem. Thanks Mort, for taking us down memory lane through a great bit of historical gaming ;).
Im a new Obsidian fan. Played their games in the last years and i love them. One of the best dev studios in gaming. Pillars of Eternity 2 is my favorite game from them and so far the best crpg i played. Cant wait for Avowed.
Outside of new IPs, if it were possible, I'd love... love... if Obsidian was able to regain the Alpha Protocol IP and remake the game, expanding and polishing it to a shine.
In a time where many UA-cam creators make reaction videos with clickbait thumbnails or just talk about what is current, it's nice to see there are still creators making well researched and well paced content, especially when it's about one of my favourite game developers. Thanks!
this really feels like obsidian was setup for failure by all the big names in the game.....really sad. Had the public been more aware there maybe something we could have done because this is an amazing company. I am so thankful for kickstarters, maybe they will be more willing to us that.
Here is my overall take on Obsidian: they make interesting stuff. Their games have unique identity and provide one of a kind experience. The exception was Outer Worlds that felt…. Safe, imitative, predictable. It wasn’t bad, just not as fuelled by creativity as their previous titles. They made some flawed game, but there is no one else I can turn to for an Obsidian experience. And while I found some of their titles frustratingly flawed, I never found my time spend with their games as wasted.
On the topic of growth for this channel, this video was great. Watching someone talk about what they are passionate about is always enjoyable. Also, the 100% reviews are a must. Thankns for the great content. I don't care so much about the 100% factor. It's more the detailed review and the obvious passion for games that sets you apart from other reviewers for me. Also, would love to see more videos on developers through the ages. Hopefully Bioware.
great summary of a great company! One thing that bugs me, and is kind of depressing really is the fact that Pillars 2 did so poorly sales wise... I echo Your sentiment, it is one of THE BEST modern cRPGs You can play, personally gave me the closest vibes to Baldur 2 compared to anything else, really enjoyed the characters and their fantastic voiceovers, the world with it's serious and believable problems (faction choice, the pantheon and the concept of watchers), and the actual gameplay which for me hit the perfect balance between complexity (so desired in RPGs) and meaningful choices (WOTR comes to mind where imo You could slash half of it's spells/skills/talents and the game would still be kind of the same...NOTE - I do enjoy WOTR and is more or less of similar quality, just a comparative example). So all in all, due to poor financial result we probably won't see a Poe 3 anytime soon....? Sad stuff :(
That style of RPG still seems to be popular, so maybe we'll see another one in the future. And with everyone else pretty much abandoning the RTwP space (Owlcat is going full turn based), plus the resurgence of RTS games in general, there could be room for another hybrid RTwP/TB mode game. But I'm sure it's going to be a huge ask for the guys who burnt out over POE2.
I took a long break from Crpgs in the mid 2000s. But Tyranny actually broke that hiatus and now I play them more than I ever did before. KOTOR 2 is one of my favorite games of all time as well.
Excellent video on one of my favorite developers. May I respectfully suggest you give the same treatment to Inxile as these two studio's will be forever entwined around each other. Good vid
I think obsidian is one of those developers that can take a premise or idea that another company has already sort of established and just improve on it 100 fold
I've been a fan of the studio from the interplay days. I enjoyed getting a timeline from the management and deliverable standpoint to compare against the game release timeline. It helped fill in some nagging questions.
I would like to see next Tyranny and Pillars games, but chances for these seem very low. Avowed is our only chance to see more of Pillars' world, hope they can still deliver a good story.
Love Obsidian, they're so damn creative, and tell awesome stories. Grounded is awesome, IF you're into survival games (I am). And New Vegas is overall such an incredible game, I'm not sure if anything comes close (my opinion)
Really rough start with them, with the time restraints and all. But now it seems they're finally getting some leeway to develop their own stuff at their own pace so to speak. If their earlier track record of managing to dish out 2 exceptional character and story rich games in record speed it seems like then what they can do now at their own pace could be something else. I get that they probably don't have many of the people still there that were there back in the day but still what they've always managed to do is they always put story and characters in first place. Which is a solid foundation for any project. So that in mind I'm looking forward to what they're doing atm.
This was well put and very easy to digest, thanks for that. Lets hope obsidian brings quality content, in my experience though people get sloppy when there is no struggle.
"Ww were gonna give you a bonus if you get a Metacritic score of 85. Ohhh, so close. It only got an 84! Gosh, that's tough." Developers leave the room. Turns to other upper level execs. "Now send out those bribes to those Metacritic voters who tanked the score which even combined are substantially less than what that bonus would have been." If the target number had been 80 they probably would have gotten a 78 or 79.
It's funny to me that Obsidian (in my opinion) outdid both Bioware and Bethesda with VERY limited dev time with KOTOR II and Fallout New Vegas, even accepting the buggy nature of the games
Obsidian is my favorite developer, I have always enjoyed the things they have put out...even Pathfinder Adventures on my phone, I have always loved their products even if they weren't polished. Fallout New Vegas is my favorite post Interplay Fallout game to this day. With the amount of talent they have garnered from that history you pointed out, Troika, Interplay and Black Isle, they haven't really disappointed me yet. I eagerly await Avowed and Outer Worlds 2 because of how much I loved Pillars of Eternity and the Outer Worlds...I still consider the Outer Worlds as the spiritual sequel to Fallout because it feels like Fallout 1 and 2 unlike anything that Bethesda alone has put out.
Some of my favorite all-time games come from Obsidian. KOTOR 2, New Vegas, Alpha Protocol, Dungeon Siege 3, the Pillars games, Outer Worlds. If it’s got Obsidian on the tin, you know it’s going to be an entertaining experience. Avowed is my most anticipated game of 2024. Really my only Anticipated game, if I’m being honest.
One of my favorite western studios. A shame POE2 did not sell well. I hope that's not the last we see of them with the POE franchise, or with CRPGs in general. Hoping they can prove how good they are now that they actually have the extra resources thanks to Microsoft.
Don't know how I missed this video this whole last year, but it was excellent. Fantastic video concept. I am personally super excited to see how Avowed turns out. I've always been partial to the fantasy setting, being a fantasy book reader since I first read Harry Potter at 8 years old in 2001, and so I am always excited for new fantasy RPG's. I've also always played first/third person ARPGs ie, Fable, The Witcher Series, etc and so Avowed is right up my alley. Though BG3 was my introduction to CRPGs and after learning the ropes I am certainly interested in exploring all the fantasy RPG goodness I've missed in that subgenre now. Anywho, I went on a little tangent there.
The best RPG developer that has a history of unfinished/unpolished games that are grate. I love their games some of my favorites games of the last two decades.
Hi Mort. Long time sub, first time commenter... I thought Wasteland series (Specifically WL 3 as I believe that is Brian Fargo's brainchild) had Obsidian's fingerprints or was from Obsidian.. Am I mistaken?? That is one of my favorite series of all time and thought it should have been mentioned in the video.. Could be my mistake. .. talk about choice and consequence!! love that series...
Obsidian: some talented and passionate people who just can't catch a freaking break.
I think they just try to hustle a little harder than they should. They agree to projects with deadlines they can't really make and because of that the project suffers and it comes back to bite them. Prefect example is Fallout: New Vegas. Everybody talks about the position they were in making that game but you have to remember that they agreed to it. That's partly on them.
@@Maddog115 Some people have that opinion.
Fortunately they now can
@Gicobra115 No FO3 was better then FONV and only a massive campaign of nasty comments in social media threads by Fallout New Vagas cult boys to convince people otherwise... FONV has the stupidest gun play of any Fallout... I mean you can mag dump a guy in the head and he doesn't die... at least FO3 left those tanky enemies for end game and all the tanky enemies were either in Power armor or were FEV enemies like death claws and Super mutants.... FO3 wasn't perfect but nothing could be as bad a FONV mag dumps to the head without getting a kill
@Bill Clinton Enjoyer the gameplay was fine. The graphics were a very old engine on older consoles. And if graphics are what make a game good to you, you're part of the problem why we have so many lackluster games anymore. It's become the primary focus alongside microtransactions.
Tyranny was outstanding in my opinion, the premise and the nuances of the plot were a much needed breath of fresh air in the, generally speaking, "good vs evil" arena we often find with RPGs, even the most daring. Terribly underappreciated unfortunately.
Indeed, it should have gotten a following and a sequel!
I loved Tyranny
I played like 20h of it. Enjoyed very much. I did not see point to make my main character other than specific build because of the magic system. And I had roleplaying problems personally beign evil because I would have wanted to be good and it just made no sense in the game context I failed to find interesting dualism in choices should I be maximally evil or just pure bad. I never really figured out how the choices mattered in bigger context if that makes sense but very good game and I believe I will get back to it once I play Pathfinder 2 and pillars of eternity 2 which are on my backlog.
@@TimoNaaro pathfinder 2, wrath of the righteous, is superb. Its depth will leave you breathless and wanting for more. 'Crpg bro' is your best guide and saviour!
@@TimoNaaro, spoilers ahead, so be careful reading next, people...
1. Take "Noble Scion" character history (your parents are empire traitors). This will justify your next moves. Also you may take "Lawbreaker" but 1st option is better in my opinion.
2. Make all interactions with non-Kyros factions during the conquest as diplomatic as possible. Avoid all encounters harmful to them. Show same approach through entire game.
3. Show hate and despite to Chorus and Disfavored both (optional).
4. Always free your captives and seek for diplomatic solutions.
5. Make Vendriens and all other factions your allies!
Now you are a proud child of Tiers, their liberator, and the greatest enemy to Kyros him- / herself (doubt the last one, honestly)
Pentiment was so good with all the research and detailing, even in the localization. I played it in German, and they clearly got people working on it who got regional idioms and accents right.
Obsidian and Larian are two of my favorite western studios, really looking forward to Avowed
Same man. I am a little apprehensive due to the turnover on the project though. But it is my most anticipated game, and has been for a while.
I've added owlcat to this list recently.
I bought BG III in early access to support Larian -- I have not played yet early access for an RPG isn't like a strategy title but it looks bloody awesome
@John Miller I've got no problem with early access stuff. I just didn't buy bg3 bc I didn't wanna see anything about the game until release lol I knew I couldn't not play it if I bought it
@@t.t6294 yeah them too
The documentary titled "The Road To Eternity" is a fantastic watch to find out how Pillars 1 was made and also gives an insight to how the devs there work. I highly recommend that video for anyone interested.
I think it’s a minor miracle Obsidian have survived as long as they have and lately it seems like they’ve been on a bit of a heater in terms of releasing well received games.
Personally I think a decent number of their problems come down to them being a really great AA devloper that gets miscast as a AAA developer. They can make a game with the best of them, but their stuff will always be a little more niche it seems.
HA! That's a very well put opinion, one which I stand by. I always thought of The Outer Worlds as a AAA game, but it falls under AA, for so many reasons.
@@TheKueiJin Unfortunately it's priced as an AAA game.
One of the most frustrating things is there seems to be less and less space in the current gaming market for AA games and developers; gone are the PS2 days when games had smaller budgets and quicker turnarounds. Today publishers are pushing for increasingly larger budgets and established franchises which seems detrimental to AA developer creativity; look at what’s happened to Raven Software under Activision.
@@Ammoniumbicarbonat you mean look what's happening to cod.
Don't get me wrong, i adore Singularity. My point is simply: there is no more Activision nor are there any devs except the tools that perpetuate cod.
The people that made Singularity are more than likely gone. Just as the people that made BioWare are gone.
@@Odyssey636 When did I say Grounded? I was talking about The Outer Worlds. It was priced at $60 at release.
Still sad Tyranny didn't do well enough to do a follow up, or conclusion really, it felt a bit like a long prologue. Still one my favorite CRPGs of all time. Especially the first act should be a case study on how craft a level with a lot of actual player choices.
It's cool that you mention obsidian's connection with black isles but one company that gets often kind of unmentioned is troika games. they made arcanum and VtMB even more loved classics
The other offshoot of black aisle is inxile. Now they are both under the umbrella of Microsoft. It would be incredible if they worked on a project together
@@fruitmonkey1292 yes, that would also be really cool if inxile and obsidian could work together on a new fallout game
@@Zen-rw2fz yea!and Bethesda who owns fallout is under Microsoft too
@@Zen-rw2fz I feel like there would be too much bad blood for that after what happened with new vegas. What with Bethesda withholding the bonus money after the crazy short development cycle. And I wouldn't be surprised if at least a few at Bethesda are unhappy with New Vegas now being considered the best of the creation engine fallouts.
The thing I admire Obsidian most for is that they always remember to put good stories and good writing first. They've obviously gotten better and better at the technical and financial stuff as time goes on, but they've never neglected the writing, which means that while their launches may have not been financial juggernauts, their games all have legs (meaning that their games reputations improve over time and remain relevant much longer than games from other studios)
Alien: Crucible is one of those lost games that endlessly fascinate me. Mass Effect gameplay in the Weyland-Yutani universe may well have been amazing had it been completed.
Very cool history class. Great to know Obsidian team has seen a lot of high water and still came out strong. Respect to Josh Sawyer too for handling stuff
Out of all the studios Microsoft has acquired Obsidian has the most promise. I am really excited to see what Obsidian can bring to the table with actual resources to put into development.
Their games have always showed some of the most promise yet never lived up to expectations.
Alpha Protocol for example the amount of choice in that game is mind blowing. You can even decided whether or not certain boss fights happen or with who. It is pretty nuts compared to other games out there.
Obsidian has always been one of my favorite developers. It’s a shame they seem to not get the recognition they deserve.
@@Ezullof fair point. Maybe they should focus more on the audience they have instead of worried about raising that amount. The new fans will trickle in eventually if they just keep giving their fans awesome games.
My favorite developers over the years, just love there rpgs so much! KOTOR 2, New Vegas, Pillars of Eternity 2, Mask of The Betrayer and Pentiment being my personal favorites. After Elden Ring, Pentiment was my next favorite game of 2022, just LOVED the story, characters and wonderful world they created, still thinking of the Abbey and its characters after beating it awhile ago. Can't wait for Avowed!
Outer Worlds is a hidden gem worked on by Obsidian that's like fallout new vegas. You'd probably love it.
Obsidian is absolutely one of my favorites. They're one of the few studios where when I see a game trailer with their name on it, my brain can't help but immediately jump to the conclusion "...yeah, this one's gonna be pretty good", whether the trailer provides any actual indication or evidence of that or not. And yeah their versatility is seriously impressive, how they consistently hop from sub-genre to sub-genre in the broader RPG space, and somehow make the game work, more often than not.
Tow was mediocre
@@gbhgvhgbh cool
@@gbhgvhgbh you’re opinion that’s cool
Obsidian has got to be one of my favorites. Lots of their older games are staples I really like but, unlike most it seems, I absolutely love Outer Worlds and of course New Vegas. But the main thing is Pillars 2. That's my favorite game of all time. Love obsidian.
It's sooooooo good. I hope they make a third eventually, and 'remaster' the first one with the graphic style and UI and mechanics of the second.
@@RobbyRaccoon I would love a third one. Maybe avowed continues the story but I want to see what happens next and also just want another game in the line. I would also want a remastered original with turn based. I quit playing the first one (and tyranny) because I hate rtwp but I'd like to play them if they added in the turn based. That's my favorite thing some of these companies have been doing. Adding turn based in when they originally weren't. As an almost exclusive turn based gamer it's been really nice
Played outer worlds and wasnt the biggest fan mainly due to the repetitive gameplay and choices not affecting enough of the factions. I still have high hopes for the sequel because itll likely have a bigger budget
Fascinating history lesson. Thanks!
This was a cool look at a developer’s history! Thanks for sharing. Are their games flawless? No way. But gosh dang it they know how to make awesome games!
Really hope we’ll get a new look at Avowed sooner rather than later.
"Blood, Sweat and Pixels" is an excellent book regarding game development and I believe has a chapter on Pillars of Eternity. I have always appreciated the work Obsidian has done to make games in the RPG genre and have enjoyed most of their games in that area. You video is an excellent run down of their work and the issues they have faced with funding -> developing -> supporting their games.
Obsidian has genuinely brilliant writers on their teams. Sometimes i think their management can sort of "get in their own way" when it comes to focusing on the important stuff for their games. But when things click, they produce masterpieces
If that's to mean Josh Sawyer's postmortem about Deadfire ship combat, I'd say management was right. An exploration-based Age of Sail game without ship combat is like making a game about the Eastern Front of WW2 and not including tanks. If the ship combat didn't work, then that was a game breaker. Not just a "remove it and pretend we can ignore it" issue. And Sid Meier's Pirates! Had made fun, simple ship combat a decade before.
Same thing with people who are saying Rogue Trader doesn't need ship combat, that it's a side system. It absolutely isn't in a game based on exploration in dangerous places. Unless you have a narrative get out of jail card like the Normandy stealth drive. Which doesn't exist in 40k. If you make a game based on privateering, exploring, and command and then remove the object of command from the game, that is narrative dissonance.
@Shawn Gillogly I can confidently say I never cared about ship combat nor was I looking for it. The boarding system was just fine, and so much more time could've been given to other parts of the game if they had just left it out.
*had* brilliant writers. Avellone and Fenstermaker are long gone.
@@karlklein2263 Boarding is part of ship combat. But it is unbelievable to have only boarding.
And I'm glad *you* think narrative dissonance isn't a problem. I disagree. And given the general response, I'm hardly alone. I would much rather have a story that makes sense then pretty graphics. And no ship combat, no exploration.
@@synapse913 They didn't write Tyranny. Granted, Avellone did much of the backstory and world-building of Tyranny, but that doesn't change the fact that the bulk of its characters and narrative design had nothing to do with him.
I love obsidian. Period. Struggl8n creative artists that just keep on going. Keep on growing and have given me many of my fav games of all times.
So I guess since Deadfire bombed commercially it made the buyout from Microsoft seemed like very very very good timing
Yep
If Bethesda gave Obsidian actual time to make New Vegas it could have scored into the 90s on Metacritic. If Bethesda was like "Okay we're gonna give you time as long as it comes out at least two years after Skyrim's release." So in 2013-14 they release New Vegas with a new engine, competent AI, larger map, more quests, more factions etc. it could have been INCREDIBLE.
I think its more Obsidians fault as they did the same thing with KOTOR2.
This was a really cool video. It's interesting to learn more about the developers history and how they handled growing.
I think it would be really cool if you did a video on your top 5 devs and bottom 5. Or however you would do it. But yeah it's cool to learn more about the developers of these games sometimes. Great vid and Happy New Year!!
Its awesome watching your channel grow so rapidly. Keep up the kickass work my guy
You've easily become one of my favorite channels to follow in the past 5 years. Keep up the good work 👍 100k is just the beginning
Just on Grounded, if you enjoy the co-op survival genre it is actually really good. Plenty of content and progression, decent building system and some really good QOL things that many other survival games can learn from.
I love videos like this and there are so few that touch on histories and opinions on various game development studios. Great job on this and would love to watch more stuff like this.
Alpha Protocol was awesome back in the day. Obsidian actually put a lot of character in the games they worked on.
What's next for these publisher reviews? I think this type of videos are the ones you put out the best.
Probably CDPR, but these videos don't really have any schedule in mind
I like grounded quite a bit. My only complaint is it gets really hard solo towards the end. At least for me.
Thank you for mentioning Tyranny the way you did. That game is incredible with A LOT of player choice. One of my favorite games. It's sad how positively it was received while not selling well.
Knights of the Old Republic II The Sith Lords is still my favourite piece of Star Wars media of all times.
Never played Dungeon Siege 3 or South Park but I plan on playing South Park eventually
Love these videos about companies, some of your best work and very interesting
Bloodlines, Kotor 2 and Alpha Protocol will always be favorites of mine. I'm also really hoping to see The Outerworlds sequel really add some more mechanics and such to make it stand out.
Sorry to be the "um akshually" guy, Troika were the one who made Bloodlines. Though some of it's members jumped ship to Obsidian when they went under including two of the three leads on Arcanum.
@@CrazyxEnigma Oh I know, it's just they are always linked to Obsidian for the reason you mentioned.
Mike and Sean, f**k yeah!
Mechanics aside, Outer Worlds needs better writing imho. It wasn't bad... but it could have and should have been much better, especially given the narrative talent in that company. I think Chris Avellone's absence was really felt on this one
@@PaulXPZ I can agree with that. I think they need to find a better balance between the goofy stuff with some more serious elements to actually make the player get invested a bit more. I feel like they tried, but for every serious moment it was met with jokes during or right after.
As someone that does like that type of game, Grounded is brilliant as well. It should have gotten more recognition. I think the issue was that it was in early access for so long.
Great video, Morty! KOTOR, Neverwinter Nights 2, Pillars of Eternity and Deadfire are among my favorite games ever. I am playing Fallout: New Vegas for the first time now and I am enjoying it quite a lot.
If they had 3-4 years to work on New Vegas… instead of 18 months… might have been the greatest RPG ever. Damn you Bethesda
I feel like this is the proper comment section to ask: I want to get into CRPGs but don't know where to start. What is the best CRPG (I don't care how old or new it is) to play to stair-step me into the genre? If the combat is too complicated, it might scare me away. The closest thing I've played is Dragon Age: Origins but am fully aware that is not a true-CRPG on most difficulties. HIT ME WITH SUGGESTIONS!
My gut tells me Divinity Original Sin 2 on the easiest setting, (since difficulty could put you off forever) & just enjoy the ride. Larian studios basically made DOS as a proof of concept that they could handle Baldurs Gate 3, & it is lovingly crafted. It also allows for the use of physics as part of the combat mechanics. It is entirely voice acted with amazing talent and the world building is exceptional.
Great video. I really enjoy your opinions/thoughts in general. Keep it up!
One of the few games of theirs I actually played is Grounded.
And aside from Subnautica I really don't dabble much into that genre. That said I really enjoyed Grounded!
It's sort off Subnautica on land, with better combat and quite an interesting map. Loot is also more interesting, which ties into the combat system. And enemy design is obvious considering the theme but adapted well to a game. Enemy behaviour included.
All in all Grounded get's a big old reccomendation from me. Quality stuff if it's in your wheelhouse.
Great and deep analysis of this studio. Very good video.
Ah yes. One of my favorite RPG studios, especially during those early years from KOTOR 2 to New Vegas. Despite their imperfections, those games had me hooked! These days, however, Owlcat basically fills that particular spot, since the last Obs game I've played is Deadfire. Which I still liked a lot, but Owlcat's games have simply scratched that particular itch for me for the last few years.
It bums me out to this day that Deadfire didn't perform and that that particular cliffhanger may never be resolved, especially since Avowed will be set before both PoE games. Still, I'm curious to see what comes of that game and OW 2.
NWN was the game that got me in to CRPGs, and I loved NWN2. Today what gets me closest to that feeling is Larian's BG3.
Grounded was hands down one of Obsidian’s best projects in recent years I’m so glad it was able to see massive success It’d be interesting if Microsoft let them dabble in fallout again whether it be Bethesda’s rendition or the good ol’ interplay rendition.
I have a lot of love for Alpha Protocol. It's sad we'll likely never see a sequel
Onward to 200k. All glory to the algorithm.
Im looking forward to avowed but man what I really want is pillars 3. the PoE games are probably my most favorite CRPGs of all time
I played Armored Warfare while Obsidian developed it. They introduced a ton of really cool mechanics to the game that made it a breath of fresh air and feel different in a positive way from similar games. They even introduced a tiny bit of RP to the game with some stories, resource collection to upgrade a base in your garage (which would grant you bonuses) loot boxes that could only be earned by playing, and a host of really fun game modes. and during this sort of early access development period, the game enjoyed a large following, especially those who had grown dissatisfied with World of Tanks or War Thunder. Unfortunately, the publisher just wanted a copy and paste of World of Tanks but with modern vehicles so they fired Obsidian and took over development, eliminating or severely limiting every cool thing that Obsidian had added thus losing a large portion of their player base. It was shortly after that when I stopped playing for good and uninstalled that game.
Another excellent video. Very interesting and well done.
Avowed is right up there with Dragon's Dogma 2 on the list of games that I do not want to overhype but really want to see succeed.
Tyranny was so good that even my friends that werent on rpgs or even video games LOVED it.
I still have hope that someone in Microsoft will look back and say hey that Alpha Protocol game and that Tyranny game have a lot of potential, let's throw some money at it
All I can say about the studio is that its only one that seem to continue the legacy of Bioware and Troika
Thanks for a really informative and interesting video
The fact they were formed by the ex Black Isle top dogs, was enough for me, although most of them have left now I believe. At least they haven't devolved into whatever grotesque parody of its former self Blizzard has become...ahem.
Thanks Mort, for taking us down memory lane through a great bit of historical gaming ;).
woot woot 100k subs congrats!!
*Lays back in sofa* Ahh, time to enjoy a 20 minute mortim video.
I would love to see a review of Yakuza Like a Dragon, but i feel that doing the 100% may just make you go insane
Im a new Obsidian fan. Played their games in the last years and i love them. One of the best dev studios in gaming.
Pillars of Eternity 2 is my favorite game from them and so far the best crpg i played. Cant wait for Avowed.
Sort of Bioware's spiritual little brother. The Faramir to their Boromir, with EA as the One Ring.
God this is such a good analogy.
Outside of new IPs, if it were possible, I'd love... love... if Obsidian was able to regain the Alpha Protocol IP and remake the game, expanding and polishing it to a shine.
I know we haven't actually seen Avowed, but I'm really excited for it. As you said, they've got that Microsoft money now.
I love how Pentiment is like a distillation of Obdisian best qualities. Zero fat, just the studio flexing its storytelling muscles.
In a time where many UA-cam creators make reaction videos with clickbait thumbnails or just talk about what is current, it's nice to see there are still creators making well researched and well paced content, especially when it's about one of my favourite game developers. Thanks!
hope we get tyranny 2 sometime, the first was really nice
this really feels like obsidian was setup for failure by all the big names in the game.....really sad. Had the public been more aware there maybe something we could have done because this is an amazing company. I am so thankful for kickstarters, maybe they will be more willing to us that.
Here is my overall take on Obsidian: they make interesting stuff. Their games have unique identity and provide one of a kind experience. The exception was Outer Worlds that felt…. Safe, imitative, predictable. It wasn’t bad, just not as fuelled by creativity as their previous titles.
They made some flawed game, but there is no one else I can turn to for an Obsidian experience. And while I found some of their titles frustratingly flawed, I never found my time spend with their games as wasted.
On the topic of growth for this channel, this video was great. Watching someone talk about what they are passionate about is always enjoyable. Also, the 100% reviews are a must. Thankns for the great content.
I don't care so much about the 100% factor. It's more the detailed review and the obvious passion for games that sets you apart from other reviewers for me. Also, would love to see more videos on developers through the ages. Hopefully Bioware.
great summary of a great company! One thing that bugs me, and is kind of depressing really is the fact that Pillars 2 did so poorly sales wise... I echo Your sentiment, it is one of THE BEST modern cRPGs You can play, personally gave me the closest vibes to Baldur 2 compared to anything else, really enjoyed the characters and their fantastic voiceovers, the world with it's serious and believable problems (faction choice, the pantheon and the concept of watchers), and the actual gameplay which for me hit the perfect balance between complexity (so desired in RPGs) and meaningful choices (WOTR comes to mind where imo You could slash half of it's spells/skills/talents and the game would still be kind of the same...NOTE - I do enjoy WOTR and is more or less of similar quality, just a comparative example). So all in all, due to poor financial result we probably won't see a Poe 3 anytime soon....? Sad stuff :(
Maybe after Avowed and OW
That style of RPG still seems to be popular, so maybe we'll see another one in the future. And with everyone else pretty much abandoning the RTwP space (Owlcat is going full turn based), plus the resurgence of RTS games in general, there could be room for another hybrid RTwP/TB mode game.
But I'm sure it's going to be a huge ask for the guys who burnt out over POE2.
It seems so unlikely, but I would love for Obsidian to take over the troubled development of Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines 2.
I took a long break from Crpgs in the mid 2000s. But Tyranny actually broke that hiatus and now I play them more than I ever did before. KOTOR 2 is one of my favorite games of all time as well.
Excellent video on one of my favorite developers. May I respectfully suggest you give the same treatment to Inxile as these two studio's will be forever entwined around each other. Good vid
Loved the video
I've made a couple here and there. No real time table for them though
This was great, thanks for sharing with us man! God bless you :)
congrats on 100k subs. keep up the good work!
One of the best and most creative studios
I think obsidian is one of those developers that can take a premise or idea that another company has already sort of established and just improve on it 100 fold
I've been a fan of the studio from the interplay days. I enjoyed getting a timeline from the management and deliverable standpoint to compare against the game release timeline. It helped fill in some nagging questions.
I would like to see next Tyranny and Pillars games, but chances for these seem very low. Avowed is our only chance to see more of Pillars' world, hope they can still deliver a good story.
I enjoy those documentary-style videos about developers
Love Obsidian, they're so damn creative, and tell awesome stories.
Grounded is awesome, IF you're into survival games (I am). And New Vegas is overall such an incredible game, I'm not sure if anything comes close (my opinion)
Really rough start with them, with the time restraints and all. But now it seems they're finally getting some leeway to develop their own stuff at their own pace so to speak. If their earlier track record of managing to dish out 2 exceptional character and story rich games in record speed it seems like then what they can do now at their own pace could be something else. I get that they probably don't have many of the people still there that were there back in the day but still what they've always managed to do is they always put story and characters in first place. Which is a solid foundation for any project. So that in mind I'm looking forward to what they're doing atm.
This was well put and very easy to digest, thanks for that.
Lets hope obsidian brings quality content, in my experience though people get sloppy when there is no struggle.
"Ww were gonna give you a bonus if you get a Metacritic score of 85. Ohhh, so close. It only got an 84! Gosh, that's tough." Developers leave the room. Turns to other upper level execs. "Now send out those bribes to those Metacritic voters who tanked the score which even combined are substantially less than what that bonus would have been." If the target number had been 80 they probably would have gotten a 78 or 79.
It's funny to me that Obsidian (in my opinion) outdid both Bioware and Bethesda with VERY limited dev time with KOTOR II and Fallout New Vegas, even accepting the buggy nature of the games
Great video. Obsidian makes special games. I’m hoping they keep going strong.
Dungeon siege 2 was one of my favorite games . Excellent ARGP.
Good show sir!🥳
Obsidian is my favorite developer, I have always enjoyed the things they have put out...even Pathfinder Adventures on my phone, I have always loved their products even if they weren't polished. Fallout New Vegas is my favorite post Interplay Fallout game to this day. With the amount of talent they have garnered from that history you pointed out, Troika, Interplay and Black Isle, they haven't really disappointed me yet. I eagerly await Avowed and Outer Worlds 2 because of how much I loved Pillars of Eternity and the Outer Worlds...I still consider the Outer Worlds as the spiritual sequel to Fallout because it feels like Fallout 1 and 2 unlike anything that Bethesda alone has put out.
I thought Outer Worlds was outstanding. I really did.
Heyo Mortym! Obsidian makes some quality rpgs. This was like a walk to down memory lane for me. (I'm an older gamer.)
Some of my favorite all-time games come from Obsidian. KOTOR 2, New Vegas, Alpha Protocol, Dungeon Siege 3, the Pillars games, Outer Worlds. If it’s got Obsidian on the tin, you know it’s going to be an entertaining experience. Avowed is my most anticipated game of 2024. Really my only Anticipated game, if I’m being honest.
One of my favorite western studios. A shame POE2 did not sell well. I hope that's not the last we see of them with the POE franchise, or with CRPGs in general.
Hoping they can prove how good they are now that they actually have the extra resources thanks to Microsoft.
Avowed
As mentioned before, upcoming game "Avowed" is going to be set on PoE universe, but with Skyrimlike gameplay.
Don't know how I missed this video this whole last year, but it was excellent. Fantastic video concept. I am personally super excited to see how Avowed turns out. I've always been partial to the fantasy setting, being a fantasy book reader since I first read Harry Potter at 8 years old in 2001, and so I am always excited for new fantasy RPG's. I've also always played first/third person ARPGs ie, Fable, The Witcher Series, etc and so Avowed is right up my alley.
Though BG3 was my introduction to CRPGs and after learning the ropes I am certainly interested in exploring all the fantasy RPG goodness I've missed in that subgenre now.
Anywho, I went on a little tangent there.
See this is a video only you can make with any sort of authenticity because you actually have played and beaten these games. Great work!
Neverwinter Nights 1 and 2 will always have a special place in my heart.
The best RPG developer that has a history of unfinished/unpolished games that are grate.
I love their games some of my favorites games of the last two decades.
Hi Mort. Long time sub, first time commenter... I thought Wasteland series (Specifically WL 3 as I believe that is Brian Fargo's brainchild) had Obsidian's fingerprints or was from Obsidian.. Am I mistaken?? That is one of my favorite series of all time and thought it should have been mentioned in the video.. Could be my mistake.
.. talk about choice and consequence!! love that series...
Obsidian is the perennial underdog. The guy that didn’t get drafted into the nfl but somehow tried out but few believe they are as good as they are