0:20 Top 5 criteria for good game designers 4:34 The rarity of spy fiction in RPGs 5:06 Sip number one (thanks to @Metroidfreek from comments) 6:17 As a successful game director, what would you like to have from the studio/publisher before your next pitch? 8:01 What do you think about comparing film directors to game directors? 9:15 Difficulty sliders/Sip number 2 11:28 Does a game's aesthetic trump gameplay when it comes to attracting players? 13:09 Have you ever considered writing/directing a film? 14:49 Children in families in Pentiment, historical background/Sip number 3 16:39 Production methods (AGILE, etc) + a bit on goalposts in production/team management 19:26 (1) Why aren't you involved in Avowed (2) Feelings on Pillars' setting now being in other devs' hands 21:40 The possibility of Pillars 3 23:54 Are there any aspects of RPGs that you still have issues with in development? 25:00 Would you ever consider a Pillars TV series? 25:53 Bike gear recs 27:08 Hot takes on new D&D rules/Sip number 4 28:50 Beginner bikes 30:25 What would your response be if Bethesda/Microsoft invited you to work on a new Fallout? 31:34 Inspirations for dialogue writing
It's really sad because honestly Deadfire is probably in my top 5 RPGs of all time. It's unfortunate that the subgenre hasn't had enough love outside of Obsidian.
Had they made it with the ability switch between turn-based and real time on the fly like owlcat does, they probably would have made a LOT more money. Pf Wotr has a great system (it’s unreasonable the amount of classes and combinations it offers) but i feel it lacks a bit of the story that PoE could have brought to the table. Unfortunately things always come down to money :(
It has tons of love. IMO the only thing holding it back are the publishers unwilling to spend on it. It requires a high budget like BG3. Come on, MS has the money.
I remember Wastelands 3 had some buzz, mainly because MS didn’t have much else around that time. Pathfinder Kingmaker was successful enough to fund Wrath of the Righteous. You can dig deeper for Indi cRPGs like the Avernum series, spread over 2 decades. The audience is limited. PC centered, devs just figured out Controller support. Divinity OS1 was the first time I tried it for Splitscreen coop.
@crowclaw Console CRPGs play fantastic, and there is a HUGE audience...they just need to put in the budget to properly make them appealing to the audience.
Joshua, I will always be grateful for Pentiment. Thank you for creating an amazing and insightful game (and your team). It is a major reason as to why I recently started to study history & theology at university!
Pentiment is the best piece of fiction about the act of doing history and how it springs from living memory and other sources. It's fantastic! Glad it inspired you!
How good is pentiment. Took a while for me to get into, which to be honest I liked. The humanity in it comes through well, and really enjoying. I have yet to achieve headbutting Werner though, we all must have dreams.
The table conversations in Pentiment were amazingly well written. The best natural dialogue I've seen in a videogame. The way they flow from one topic to another felt very realistic.
There's definitely a very vocal expectation these days that every big RPG has to essentially function as a dating sim as well and I am not really a fan. If you have something interesting to say with it and especially if the PC is a well defined character it can be interesting, but too often with blank slate protagonists it ends up feeling like a weird self-insert fanfic and just another facet of a typical power fantasy.
The reality is we are living in a time period where we have the lowest marriage rates in history. We have the most single men appearing in many countries, to not capitalize on the growing male lonliness epidemic is a waste. Look at how popular ASMR content has become, this is also a method of capitalizing on all the lonely single dudes who have no one to whisper sweet nothings in their ear. If you are going to make an RPG to appeal to the masses, why shouldn't it appeal to the emotional state of the masses?
I disliked how every companions was player-sexual, and no I don't mean it in a "why is every companion bisexual?" way I actually don't mind much about that (though I would have prefered if some companions were exclusively and explicitely either homo/bi/hetero-sexual) but in a more general sense. First and foremost, other choices should also impact your ability to date certain companions, there is no reason that a githyanki Tav can date Shadowheart, or that dating Astarion (A vampire) doesn't break some paladins oaths, etc. But more importantly, companions should have a dating life outside of the player character, why don't they have exes? Why aren't some of them already in a commited relationship? Why don't they start flirting with each other given the right conditions? Ironically from someone who says that a Gith Tav shouldn't be able to date Shadowheat, I think Lae'Zel and Shadowheart could have a great enemies to lover arc to give one example of what I mean. Ultimately, I just wish companions had more of a life outside of the Player Character. Wouldn't it had been nice if your companions didn't just stay at camp when they were outside of your party? Wouldn't it had been nice to meet Astarion at the tavern, Halsin at the brothel or Jaheira neglecting her kids even harder; not for any particular story reasons, just because they felt like it and didn't want to stay at camp?
23:07 I’m so impressed that you admitted that. I’ve seen so many designers blame audience members for not understanding their design or insulting their intelligence. I love that look at it so objectively instead of just useless insecurity projections.
I know it might not mean much but you captured everything I want in a game with Pillars 1/2. It’s my happy place. It makes me feel like a little kid with the way it captures my imagination. Don’t sell yourself short comparing it to BG3 and the popularity it garnered.
I just could not force myself to play BG3 after act 1. It is weird, and I even get angry at myself at times, but I can't pinpoint the reason for my disliking of the game.
@@AlexGorskov I can relate to that. I think it looses a lot of focus after Act I narratively speaking. There are great moments, but not much motivation between them besides exploring. And for me personally even that felt overwhelming. Don´t want to talk all shit about an all in all appealing game, but I hugely prefer Pillars and even Owlcats games. That and Obsidians writing feels more mature. Quite ironic, if you think about all the 'mature adult content' that comes with bg3 lol.
@@benjaminbongartz6573 such "adult" content is cheap. Mature and serious fantasy writing benefits from not having it. Let's just say: The Stormlight Archive > Game of Thrones. IMHO. Also, yes, I prefer Pathfinder and PoE, and even some obscure crpgs to BG3. This is not what I expected from myself.
I know! cRPGs used to be my thing, but I bounced off/was disinterested with many recent releases. Pillars of Eternity and Disco Elysium feel like games done specifically for me. PoEs especially captures what I loved about BG1&2 as a teenager, and addressed a lot of things I have grown critical over the years.
Josh, sometimes it's good to step away. I don't think anyone truly has the pulse of the crpg community. It's a pretty fragmented lot, and BG3 felt like a once in a decade convergence of factors for that community that specifically drew in old and new in a way that VERY few games or IPs could. I seriously doubt there is going to be any game to top it anytime soon, but a bunch of companies are certainly going to throw a pile of money at this trying to replicate serendipity. Do a Pillars 3 if you have a story to share and something interesting to see realized, much like Pentiment. I personally will be there for it even if it's smaller like Pentiment or massive like BG3.
As someone who prefers Deadfire to all of its contemporaries, I'd suggest you're more in touch with the flights and fancies of cRPG fans than you believe. Unfortunately, what a high budget investment calls for is a product that can appeal to an audience much larger than just those folks, and I know it must be a certain kind of Hell to try and guess as to how to do that. I'll continue to wish upon all the shooting stars I see for a cRPG Deadfire sequel though. "Hope springs eternal," etc., etc.
love this man. Pillars 1 & 2 were and still are my comfort spaces throughout this difficult year. What he and his team did in those games is something I treasure dearly. Haven't watched the video yet but I'm sure it'll be as interesting as always
Fallout New Orleans or Fallout New Vegas 2. Let Mr Sawyer do anything he wants :) Make it happen! Pentiment was up there with Elden Ring as my favorite rpg this gen so far, LOVED the writing, setting and man it brought out emotions that no game has done in years for me, perfectly done. Perhaps Pillars 3 and Alpha Protocol style game down the road to? One can dream :) Keep up the great work Josh, love your work.
Thing is Josh millions of folks played BG3 who had never played a proper cRPG before. They absolutely loved it. Everybody played their first cRPG once upon a time, even you. If they loved it then it is very unlikely to be their last. Therefore you already have a much larger audience and they are all into cRPGs now for basically the same reasons you and I got into it. The real question is how did BG3 get this new audience? I'd say two main reasons: 1) the quality of the cinematics and 2) the quality of the romances. The quality of all the other parts of the game (story, combat mechanics, character development systems and so on) is obviously equally important but games like PoE and PF:WotR already had those nailed and didn't do anything like BG3 so I pick those two, particularly the combination of them, as what made the difference. Which is to say I disagree you don't understand the BG3 audience, IMHO you absolutely do because it's just a new generation of exactly the same audience you've been making kick arse games for for years and you absolutely know how to make a game for this audience. All you need is the money to do the cinematics and to find someone to write the romances for you who is seriously into writing romances. With those two things in the bag by the time you'd finish PoE3 this massive new cRPG audience will be literally chewing the carpet for another BG3 experience, especially as both Larian and Owlcat seem to be planning to go off piste for a while due to team burnout on BG3 and WotR.
You’ve basically described me down to a t. I went bg3-> poe1 (left halfway through because of real time unfortunately) ->poe2 (used trun based and finished it thrice) -> pathfinder wotr Oh and obviously, a part from cinematics and romances, both pf first edition and poe are far superior to dnd 5e in every way.
@@GodIwishIknewreal time combat is so hard for me to wrap my head around, I’ve always wanted to finish PoE 1 so I’m considering just playing it on easy mode or maybe even story
It's amazing how different a person can look with a beard vs without a beard. (With a beard you look like an awesome wizard, and without a beard you're a cool dude.) On a serious note, like many others, thank you for working on these games because they turned out to be very good games. Whatever flaws they may have, does not diminish the fact that they are generally well-operating games, with a coherent plot and gameplay.
Pillars 1&2 are legit masterpieces of the crpg genre that go toe to toe with any of the older iconic games. I think you definitely had/have the pulse of gamers that are fans of that genre in its more classic form. BG3 with it's huge budget and production values has definitely brought in a new generation of fans which is great to see as well.
As a college student working on a fiction novel for my thesis, I can relate to the way you compare your own role to film direction-I’ve learned a lot about creative endeavors as a whole by watching game design interviews, documentaries, and presentations (even ones like your Pentiment “It Takes An Abbey,” which have helped me improve my collaborative skills). Thanks for the Q&A!
You'll always have my appreciation for FNV from all I've seen it would not have been the game I loved without you, thank you sir. Can't wait to see more from you
Thank you Josh, not only for this excellent Q&A session, but for all the great experiences I and many others had, in no small part thanks to you. New Vegas and Pillars 1 and 2 are my favourite RPG's and all 3 were really formative experiences for me.
Watching Larian’s gameplay presentation of BG3 at Pax East in 2020 made me a fan of the genre. Was my gateway to the genre actually. Went back, played and finished Pillars 1 and DOS2 just before the release of BG3. Now i’m playing Atom RPG. Now, i am aware that Larian’s style is excellent but it’s also an outlier compared to other devs in the genre.
Baldur’s Gate 3 was my most anticipated game ever. I contributed to the Early Access as soon as it was announced, put over a hundred hours into its content, and eventually played Baldur’s Gate 3 for almost 400 when it came out. It’s excellent, and, despite its flaws, deserves every bit of praise. Ulttimately, it’s not my favorite game; it’s Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire. The voice acting, the art style, the gameplay, spell effects, lore, setting, the build variety… so much is great about Deadfire. My ideal game would be another Pillars game in the style of Deadfire with improved animations, textures, models, etc, but with a much tighter experience similar to Tyranny. A well-crafted story, meaningful interactions, few but memorable companions, and hard choices to make. Please do not give up on Pillars (speaking to Obsidian as a whole). Avowed looks great and I really hope it succeeds and propels the world of Eora into future projects.
I think, PoE Dedfire had only one critical flaw. Maybe it is not that critical, but I played game for the first time on hard difficulty with all DLCs installed. Narrative wise you have very little time, it is stressed all the time. You have to hurry. Instead you are doing insane anount of side quiests that has nothing to do with the task. Deadfire is genius game otherwise, but this thing that requires very little to fix, it just breaks the story. Easy fix would be: Eotas needs to visit one specific place first at the south. You are on timer, you need to get there first. Then he aims for the final objective, you wouldbe able to slow him down, or halt his movements completely. Then and only then you can go around doing all side quests you want.
man u guys are going to inflate his soy ego again and since he thinks bg3 is a game that is impossible to make hes going to start thinking hes literally a god that does something beyond the impossible like the guys at the end of pillars of eternity 1
Regarding new D&D rules: They seem to have playtested the class features, feats and spells only. All the actual rules changes are extremely suspect. Unfortunately this stuff takes forever to type out and most people aren't that good at reading rules, so I'll go with one example: Hiding (as an action anyone can take) now makes you invisible, and has the same effect as the Invisibility 2nd level spell. So once you succesfully Hide, you can then leave, say, a closet and then walk right past enemies looking straight at (through) you in broad daylight, because being hidden/invisible (now the same thing) requires no cover or concealment anymore (which is something they explicitly went out of their way for this new release to remove. It was in the 2014 rules, which also used to distinguish between being successfully hidden, and being invisible.) Currently, a bunch of people think the Invisible condition (also provided as the only effect of the Invisibility spell btw.) does not actually make you invisible - just sort of stealthy. This is due to a part of the rules confusingly stating that you lose some benefits of your invisibility 'if an enemy can somehow see you'. Regardless of your (re)interpretation of the word "Invisible", though, there are probably only really two possible RAW readings: (1) Neither the Hide action or the Invisibility spell make you truly invisible, and neither does anything that provides the Invisible condition. In order to turn invisible, there would need to be additional, bespoke rules text saying that you become transparent as well as gaining the Invisible condition. (2) The Hide action really does make you invisible (and so do other things that give you the Invisible condition, like the Invisibility spell). It unfortunately would seem that you have to pick one. The rules do contain a blurb that says specifically when someone is using the Hide action, the DM is allowed to say that they want your Invisibility to not work (presumably so that DMs can require e.g. cover/conealment if they want to) but it does not provide a procedure for doing this and is completely DM dependent. This essentially means that the rules say, for example, that the Rogue gets to turn Invisible as a bonus action - - but the DM can sometimes say that no, right now your invisibility doesn't work. This undoubtedly will go over well, and will make players that invested in the Stealth skill (or are e.g. Rogues) extremely "happy" if your DMing style places extra restrictions on them, that are unreliable because every DM will do it differently (and you might not even remember all your rulings or apply them consistently every session yourself). As an added treat, Hiding as an action now also requires that no enemy can see you at all, so you can indirectly detect nearby hidden/invisible enemies by trying to take the Hide action. If you don't get to roll the dice, there's someone nearby who can see you. But hey, to Hide and become Invisibile, you have to successfully get a 15 or higher on a d20 roll. That you can just repeat 10 times per minute until it works. Also, the original stealth rules (while unfortunately scattered all over the PHB and extremely difficult to figure out), if you actually figured them out, had none of those issues. So you can just use those, if you're like me and you already went on the vision quest and came out the other side with the knowledge of how to put it all together. They work extremely well, I might add (and I really do mean that unironically - they're the best stealth rules I've seen in a printed TTRPG, and I've read a LOT of TTRPG rules.) Except... For the 2024 PHB, they didn't rewrite the 2014 rules and put them in one place, now did they. They made a new, much bigger mess for us to wrestle with instead. This is not the only seriously scuffed core rules change in the 2024 PHB.
Bonjour Monsieur Sawyer, for the record, and the sake of what's left of our species' capacity to uphold reason and truth : Deadfire was and still is an amazing game. Probably the best crpg of the new "renaissance" era. I am still devastated that a specific crpg forum that I won't name decided to celebrate its failure instead of realising this is exactly the sort of projects they should have valiantly defended but, heh. It's all too fitting that a place dedicated to decline ended up siding with it in the end. Anyway, thank you for Pillars 1 & 2 ! Go to party based hack n slashers for almost ten years. Love them dearly.
I have no idea what an RPG is, but the thumbnail has lots of red arrows so I clicked on the video and decided to watch it. Jokes asides PoE3 is my dream
Icewind Dale is one of my favourite games ever. Not long ago i started playing Pillars- love combat, art and character progression. Josh, thank you for creating incredible games.
Thank you for doing this, it is very interesting to get some insight into something that is a huge part of my life from someone who has created some of my favorite games. Hope you are very happy and continue making games for years to come. It does mean a lot to a lot of people.
Hey Josh, Pillars of Eternity is my favorite video game of all time and I have played a lot of video games trust me, especially RPG's. Just keep doing what you do best and hoping one day we see POE 3!
I really like the way you and your team handled romance in New Vegas. Instead of it being weird gratuitous stuff its really well crafted rapport between you and Cass/Arcade. It winks at the idea but keeps the dialogue and story rooted in the plot of the game which is awesome.
It certainly seems he didn’t care for the way BG3 handled romances and to me I can roll with the way BG3 did them or not having them at all or something more subtle. Romances are not the main course just something to do on the side. I don’t think a lot of people focus on it that much. It’s just a part of the game, not the game. Another words don’t make me want to play or not play a game. Give me story, immersion, choices and consequences and whatever the heck you do or do t want to do with romances.
@@christopherr.561 BG3 way overdid it on romances. Now that said, I usually engage in one during my games. But it really doesn't add much to a game. It's a lot of resources for not much payoff. Dragon Age: Origins will probably be my favorite for romances (clunky animations aside). I prefer characters to have a preference, and not be open to anything (Lelianna aside, but it fits her characters so it works). And Inquisition wasn't bad either, and contained a good story arc about one character's preferences. I have no idea why they didn't do this for BG3, a game specifically made to be replayed.
@@JimmyMon666 Larian has always had a different kind of point of view on humor and romance in my opinion. I think Pillars games always felt more serious which I personally prefer. I think Larian just has a bit of a different takes or personality. With that said I personally think BG3 is a masterpiece. So well done and probably my favorite game ever. Seen a few in my over 50 years. The romances could have been dialed back a bit and been more character focused for my taste as well. However with that said I enjoyed and do enjoy the different romance options. I can take or leave them if I want. Not 100% of their choices match my perfect set up but man what an experience. Love it. I would love to see Josh head up a Pillars 3 that did all that BG3 did with that budget. I love his approach to story telling and game design.
Super insightful video - thank you! I love both Pillars 1/2 and BG3, and really appreciate the tonal/narrative/gameplay differences, so I do believe there is at least some crossover with people who like both styles of game. (Also LOVED Pentiment.) If you ever felt like talking about the subject, it would be fascinating to hear about what kind of RPG romances you'd write. I love to think about how these things are actually made, because it seems even more complex than normal narrative.
I always appreciate these videos, thank you. I am now SOOOOO curious about your opinions on romance storytelling, especially in games. I feel like I'm pretty detached from the very linear, very simple, uncomplicated, player-reward-focused romances that show up often in RPGs, and I think our opinions might align. At the very least, it'd be very cool to see someone with a ton of experience in the field dive into the topic. I'm a HUGE Pentiment fan and I recommend that game relentlessly. Thank you. Hopefully sometime in the next few months I can find time to pick Pillars back up 😬
Hey Josh! Great video - thank you for your insight! I really like all the awesome looking flags in the video games you worked on, with the Principi flag being one of my favorite fantasy flags of all time. They are very well made, simple, stylistic, iconic and easy to recognize. I guess some people really care, and others use big white letters to compensate!
I'd love if Josh keep doing videos like Tim does. It's funny because Joshua is doing those kind of videos for years before Cain, but I do love he talk more about games he did and more tips about make games
Deadfire’s genuinely my second favorite game of all time at this point (the first being Fo1, the third being New Vegas, fourth being Skyrim). Genuinely, the game has such unbeatable vibes. One of the most unique fantasy RPG settings I’ve played. I love the Pacific Island aesthetic mixed with the soutern European and golden age of pirates (I think?) aesthetics. The build variety is also still unbeatable for me. Haven’t played another RPG with such a varied approach to builds yet. Plus, I love the way the story makes you feel a bit small instead of making you feel like the universe’s favorite shithead as a lot of games do. At the end of the day, you’re kind of at the mercy of Eothas, the other gods, and the factions - even if you can influence them to a degree. I also like the ship mechanics (mostly), which seems to be an unpopular opinion but I’ll stick by it lol. Anyway, really great game. It also got me to go back and play some older, classic CRPGs like BG1/2, NWN2, etc. and those are some of my favorites now. It opened a whole new world of RPGs to me. So, thank you (and your team!)
I just watched your first Q&A, missed opportunity to say "welcome to the future" after ending with "see you in the future" on the previous video hahaha
i really get you about how bg3's audience. i noticed this with dragon age, i think there is a massive queer and women audience for these types of games with their romance, which is why i think veilguard is going to succeed as well if they lean into that. to me it doesn't appeal really, it feels like romances in video games are like a reward for acting like a good boy, and picking the correct dialogue options that are just way too obvious. compare and contrast that with baldur's gate 2, i played that game a half a dozen times and only once did i succeed in romancing a character (aerie) and i didn't even know that was possible, it just happened organically which was fantastic. i think people who are into that sort of thing are an entirely different demographic and the difference between each demographic could be distinct enough to separate crpg fans into their own subgenres even. because while i love bg3 i think there's a very different design philosophy there and obviously it's not just the romance stuff, that's just surface level.
Josh, I've been playing CRPG's for 25 years, and I love BG3. But Deadfire is the GOAT. I start a new campaign every summer. June-August is Dead-fire season in my house. 6 years later, I still fall in love with it.
Just wanted to say new vegas is probably the game I played the most in my life, and only recently I got to finish pentiment and I have yet to consider how much it changed my outlook in life. It'll take long to digest. Thanks for all of that good stuff man
Same , not my most played but still the most impactful even after 15 years of gaming. I’m only 25 but new Vegas literally helped shape me as a man, sounds crazy but it’s true. What a game man.
This is kind of a weird observation, but - you are probably one of the healthiest looking people i've ever seen. i'm more attuned to such things because i've long struggled with my health, just keep doing whatever your doing. Cause you are leagues ahead of many, huckleberry
Pillars 1, Deadfire, and Pentiment are two of my favorite games ever and I'm forever glad you and your teams brought them into the world! As for the success of BG3 sparking a revival in pillars, as much as bg3 does deserve its success I don't think theyre all that similar as games and I think they have very different appeals. Also I'd riot if some of bg's 5E-esque systems were put in a pillars game but thats just personal preference 😅
Quick 100% agree that difficulty settings need to tell me exactly what they do. Likewise for most settings. For example, in BG3, they added "Kharmic" d20 rolls by default, but I will never ever use it if I don't know how it works. Maybe it is a really cool system I would like, but they kept it a secret.
Thank you mr. Sawyer for sending me down the rabbit hole of googling for shrines under churches. :D edit: That long sigh after talking about the Fallout IP. I felt that.
I personally loved Pillars of Eternity. The first game is the game I talk about when I want to talk about a different type of story, I really loved the plot twists and the real story behind it. The difficulty was also on point in my opinion. The system of accuracy is one of my favourite crpg systems as well. Pillars of Eternity 2 was also different. The class choice for companions, giving you some freedom but keeping them lore friendly was amazing. Both of those games are among the ones I talk about when I talk about good games. It is just unfortunate that the general public does not enjoy these darker RPGs
Josh I love your games, Pentiment is timeless and such an incredible experience. FONV is to this day one of the best rpg's ever made. Keep making what you love, don't get so fixated on "what audiences want". People generally don't know what they really want until they get it.
4:37 I know the question was about RPGs in particular but shoutout to Spy Fox, as someone under 30 myself I can vouch that making spy games for a newer audience is possible if done with the right tones & storybeats because of that game lol. I think some thief games touch on many of the tropes in the spy genre from my perspective too, in particular Sly Cooper comes to mind for me. While I wouldn't make this argument personally I could see someone making the argument that games like Sly & other Spy Tropey titles are a more modern take on the spy genre, although again personally I wouldn't go that far.
Thanks for rhe video. Most entertaining blind playtrough of FO New Vegas i ever saw was done by MissieMae She did play the game in a completly different order as all the others. No i am not related to her :)
Huh, never heard of that channel, but she might be worth checking out (watched a bit of a Fallout 4 video to get a notion of her style). Does she RP characters? Or just play them on a whim as games?
@@SabiJD She RP s her protaganist. She went back to Goodsprings to get Ringo in episode 50 of her blind vanilla lets play. So very late in the game. Go watch that its hilarious episode 50 named RINGO ! During her playtrough she lost her boyfriend so her final episode of her New Vegas is pretty emotional. I had to cry with her seeing that. Regards from the Netherlands. Ps i watch Gopher also.
You silver fox. I know its not the best of memories but thank you for New Vegas. I know the team has moved on to greater things. But thank you, to all of you devs, for that masterclass of a videogame.
I know Pillars II was a project with the "aim" of making capital returns (and it did not meet their expectations.) You know what else did not make good capital returns in the artist's lifetime? Vincent Van Gogh's and his impressionist painting. Alternatively, I think maybe Pillar's II lack of commercial success might launch Josh to continue flexing his creative juices and keep creating gems like Pentiment.
Also praying that one day you will give another try at making/directing a shooter. There are a lot of cool "pure" RPGs, but it feels like there is a gap in the market of shooters with good build system/progression/dialogues/roleplay etc. Especially since you created Fallout Mew Vegas almost 15 years ago, why not try again?
I'm re-re-re-re-replaying KotOR2 and this makes me so sad, I also miss Tyranny and its potential... I would love to see Obsidian following Owlcat's path in both style and success.
6:38 I feel this is an issue the Saints Row Reboot had as the Devs wanted to make Saints Row 2.5 but I don't think the publisher or heads wanted to run the risk
I'm curious, how are these questions for the Q&As submitted? I'd like to ask the question about which (and if) TTRPGs had an influence on your approach to crpg design. Thanks.
I love Pillars 2 and I am so sad it wasn't as much of a success as it deserved to be. I know BG3 is a lot 'easier' -- in terms of its mechanics, its moral choices. Even with the character models and acting, as expensive as it is, it makes it a lot easier to understand the exact tone and emotion in the conversation. That all said, it's a lot more accessible than Pillars 2 is, but making Pillars 3 accessible in the same way would lose a lot of what Obsidian is known for in their storytelling, I feel.
I don't think I could agree more with the note on aesthetics. I see aesthetics these days as a leading indicator of player-to-developer agreement at this point. If I disagree with either the effort or particulars of a developer's aesthetic tastes/output, I'm just probably going to disagree with a lot of their other choices. So far, this razor has been pretty reliable, with only one or two games coming to mind where I either hated the art but thought the gameplay was overall strong or loved the aesthetic but didn't like the gameplay.
I would like to hear a lot more about what you find appealing about video game romances and what you find unappealing about the way other's enjoy romances.
Having just replayed Pillars 2 I was wandering about the chance of a sequel/conclusion to the series. What is the level of funding that could make the sequel viable. How much of that could come from a croudfunding source?
You're right, in order to have success the size of BG3 you need to appeal to a broader audience than old school CRPG fans. The younger generations are a lot less mature, lot less thoughtful, they respond more to superficial drama, they need high production values. I watch what kinds of games are popular on Steam and find a lot of it just weird. Would love to see you direct a top-down Fallout as a party-based RPG but sadly it's probably not going to happen.
It's kind of sad to hear that you feel like you "don't got it" to be able to make Pillars 3. Sounds like imposter syndrome maybe? Or I guess I'm just also not part of the general audience. While BG3 obviously was a much higher level of production (cinematics, voice acting, animations, etc.), I personally think in terms of systems, tone and "game feel" Pillars were actually the superior games. It's why when BG3 was announced, as much as I liked Larian and the Divinity series at the time, I was really wishing for it to be in your hands at Obsidian instead. Now with what Larian did with it, I'm glad they got it ofc. They were able to create something incredible, and they were set up for success in ways in which Obsidian and you unfortunately weren't before, and likely still won't be - but I'd love to see you do a Pillars 3 (mechanically closer to Deadfire, setting and world feel closer to the original, personally). I especially appreciated you (or your teams) solutions to skill checks and "little" systems like that, minimizing frustrating/save scum RNG moments. Pillars genuinely felt like it was made for PC, to be a video game - where the Pathfinder games and even BG3 (although it at least tried it's best to make failure similarly interesting and fun at times as it would be on an actual table with friends) felt like they were really battling with adapting Tabletop systems, leading to a lot of pointlessly frustrating design. While BG3 was a great Blockbuster, the Pillars games will always have a special place in my heart as being the quintessential modern but Classic RPG. There's just something so comfortable about them, like being a kid in a treehouse in the rain, imagining fantastical adventures. I really hope there will be more.
One generation above mine it was common for folks to have 10+ kids. My father had 11 siblings from the same mother. I know a person whose grandfather had 25+ kids with two wives.
Game/movie example that might not be great : I had fun playing Borderlands 1, but am I fascinated by its universe and characters and therefore think it could be a movie? No. On the other hand Arcane is an incredible animated series, stunningly well done, for a game I don't even want to know about and will never play. So... I guess the writing and direction of a movie/series, and the quality of the actors, are determinant above all.
0:20 Top 5 criteria for good game designers
4:34 The rarity of spy fiction in RPGs
5:06 Sip number one (thanks to @Metroidfreek from comments)
6:17 As a successful game director, what would you like to have from the studio/publisher before your next pitch?
8:01 What do you think about comparing film directors to game directors?
9:15 Difficulty sliders/Sip number 2
11:28 Does a game's aesthetic trump gameplay when it comes to attracting players?
13:09 Have you ever considered writing/directing a film?
14:49 Children in families in Pentiment, historical background/Sip number 3
16:39 Production methods (AGILE, etc) + a bit on goalposts in production/team management
19:26 (1) Why aren't you involved in Avowed (2) Feelings on Pillars' setting now being in other devs' hands
21:40 The possibility of Pillars 3
23:54 Are there any aspects of RPGs that you still have issues with in development?
25:00 Would you ever consider a Pillars TV series?
25:53 Bike gear recs
27:08 Hot takes on new D&D rules/Sip number 4
28:50 Beginner bikes
30:25 What would your response be if Bethesda/Microsoft invited you to work on a new Fallout?
31:34 Inspirations for dialogue writing
god
I skipped straight to all the sips. Thanks.
First sip was at 5:06
Merci beaucoup
there's another sip at 23:42
It's really sad because honestly Deadfire is probably in my top 5 RPGs of all time. It's unfortunate that the subgenre hasn't had enough love outside of Obsidian.
Had they made it with the ability switch between turn-based and real time on the fly like owlcat does, they probably would have made a LOT more money. Pf Wotr has a great system (it’s unreasonable the amount of classes and combinations it offers) but i feel it lacks a bit of the story that PoE could have brought to the table.
Unfortunately things always come down to money :(
It has tons of love. IMO the only thing holding it back are the publishers unwilling to spend on it. It requires a high budget like BG3. Come on, MS has the money.
I remember Wastelands 3 had some buzz, mainly because MS didn’t have much else around that time. Pathfinder Kingmaker was successful enough to fund Wrath of the Righteous. You can dig deeper for Indi cRPGs like the Avernum series, spread over 2 decades.
The audience is limited. PC centered, devs just figured out Controller support. Divinity OS1 was the first time I tried it for Splitscreen coop.
@crowclaw Console CRPGs play fantastic, and there is a HUGE audience...they just need to put in the budget to properly make them appealing to the audience.
i'm adding this video to my daily Tim Cain rotation
Joshua, I will always be grateful for Pentiment. Thank you for creating an amazing and insightful game (and your team). It is a major reason as to why I recently started to study history & theology at university!
Pentiment is the best piece of fiction about the act of doing history and how it springs from living memory and other sources. It's fantastic! Glad it inspired you!
By far the best dialogue I’ve ever seen in a video game. So good.
How good is pentiment. Took a while for me to get into, which to be honest I liked. The humanity in it comes through well, and really enjoying. I have yet to achieve headbutting Werner though, we all must have dreams.
good luck with that degree my friend
The table conversations in Pentiment were amazingly well written. The best natural dialogue I've seen in a videogame. The way they flow from one topic to another felt very realistic.
Watching Josh physically melt under collective questioning was very entertaining! Thanks!
I also like Pentiment and Deadfire.
There's definitely a very vocal expectation these days that every big RPG has to essentially function as a dating sim as well and I am not really a fan. If you have something interesting to say with it and especially if the PC is a well defined character it can be interesting, but too often with blank slate protagonists it ends up feeling like a weird self-insert fanfic and just another facet of a typical power fantasy.
Yeah i enjoyed BG3 but i didnt romance anyone. i was annoyed when the game kind of complained to me that i didnt.
The reality is we are living in a time period where we have the lowest marriage rates in history. We have the most single men appearing in many countries, to not capitalize on the growing male lonliness epidemic is a waste. Look at how popular ASMR content has become, this is also a method of capitalizing on all the lonely single dudes who have no one to whisper sweet nothings in their ear.
If you are going to make an RPG to appeal to the masses, why shouldn't it appeal to the emotional state of the masses?
I disliked how every companions was player-sexual, and no I don't mean it in a "why is every companion bisexual?" way I actually don't mind much about that (though I would have prefered if some companions were exclusively and explicitely either homo/bi/hetero-sexual) but in a more general sense.
First and foremost, other choices should also impact your ability to date certain companions, there is no reason that a githyanki Tav can date Shadowheart, or that dating Astarion (A vampire) doesn't break some paladins oaths, etc.
But more importantly, companions should have a dating life outside of the player character, why don't they have exes? Why aren't some of them already in a commited relationship? Why don't they start flirting with each other given the right conditions? Ironically from someone who says that a Gith Tav shouldn't be able to date Shadowheat, I think Lae'Zel and Shadowheart could have a great enemies to lover arc to give one example of what I mean.
Ultimately, I just wish companions had more of a life outside of the Player Character. Wouldn't it had been nice if your companions didn't just stay at camp when they were outside of your party? Wouldn't it had been nice to meet Astarion at the tavern, Halsin at the brothel or Jaheira neglecting her kids even harder; not for any particular story reasons, just because they felt like it and didn't want to stay at camp?
@@pucktoad there's one singular line that comments on this be so for real brotha
@@reve_rse its an entire forced conversation
23:07 I’m so impressed that you admitted that. I’ve seen so many designers blame audience members for not understanding their design or insulting their intelligence. I love that look at it so objectively instead of just useless insecurity projections.
I know it might not mean much but you captured everything I want in a game with Pillars 1/2. It’s my happy place. It makes me feel like a little kid with the way it captures my imagination. Don’t sell yourself short comparing it to BG3 and the popularity it garnered.
I just could not force myself to play BG3 after act 1. It is weird, and I even get angry at myself at times, but I can't pinpoint the reason for my disliking of the game.
@@AlexGorskov I can relate to that. I think it looses a lot of focus after Act I narratively speaking. There are great moments, but not much motivation between them besides exploring. And for me personally even that felt overwhelming.
Don´t want to talk all shit about an all in all appealing game, but I hugely prefer Pillars and even Owlcats games.
That and Obsidians writing feels more mature. Quite ironic, if you think about all the 'mature adult content' that comes with bg3 lol.
@@benjaminbongartz6573 such "adult" content is cheap. Mature and serious fantasy writing benefits from not having it. Let's just say: The Stormlight Archive > Game of Thrones. IMHO. Also, yes, I prefer Pathfinder and PoE, and even some obscure crpgs to BG3. This is not what I expected from myself.
I know! cRPGs used to be my thing, but I bounced off/was disinterested with many recent releases. Pillars of Eternity and Disco Elysium feel like games done specifically for me. PoEs especially captures what I loved about BG1&2 as a teenager, and addressed a lot of things I have grown critical over the years.
I honestly don't get the hype over BG3. It's not a bad game by any means, but PoE is more BG than BG3, imo.
Josh, sometimes it's good to step away. I don't think anyone truly has the pulse of the crpg community. It's a pretty fragmented lot, and BG3 felt like a once in a decade convergence of factors for that community that specifically drew in old and new in a way that VERY few games or IPs could. I seriously doubt there is going to be any game to top it anytime soon, but a bunch of companies are certainly going to throw a pile of money at this trying to replicate serendipity. Do a Pillars 3 if you have a story to share and something interesting to see realized, much like Pentiment. I personally will be there for it even if it's smaller like Pentiment or massive like BG3.
As someone who prefers Deadfire to all of its contemporaries, I'd suggest you're more in touch with the flights and fancies of cRPG fans than you believe. Unfortunately, what a high budget investment calls for is a product that can appeal to an audience much larger than just those folks, and I know it must be a certain kind of Hell to try and guess as to how to do that. I'll continue to wish upon all the shooting stars I see for a cRPG Deadfire sequel though. "Hope springs eternal," etc., etc.
Agreed
love this man. Pillars 1 & 2 were and still are my comfort spaces throughout this difficult year. What he and his team did in those games is something I treasure dearly. Haven't watched the video yet but I'm sure it'll be as interesting as always
Fallout New Orleans or Fallout New Vegas 2. Let Mr Sawyer do anything he wants :) Make it happen!
Pentiment was up there with Elden Ring as my favorite rpg this gen so far, LOVED the writing, setting and man it brought out emotions that no game has done in years for me, perfectly done. Perhaps Pillars 3 and Alpha Protocol style game down the road to? One can dream :)
Keep up the great work Josh, love your work.
I really appreciate both of the Pillars games taking themselves seriously unlike Larian’s games honestly
Thing is Josh millions of folks played BG3 who had never played a proper cRPG before. They absolutely loved it. Everybody played their first cRPG once upon a time, even you. If they loved it then it is very unlikely to be their last. Therefore you already have a much larger audience and they are all into cRPGs now for basically the same reasons you and I got into it.
The real question is how did BG3 get this new audience? I'd say two main reasons: 1) the quality of the cinematics and 2) the quality of the romances. The quality of all the other parts of the game (story, combat mechanics, character development systems and so on) is obviously equally important but games like PoE and PF:WotR already had those nailed and didn't do anything like BG3 so I pick those two, particularly the combination of them, as what made the difference.
Which is to say I disagree you don't understand the BG3 audience, IMHO you absolutely do because it's just a new generation of exactly the same audience you've been making kick arse games for for years and you absolutely know how to make a game for this audience. All you need is the money to do the cinematics and to find someone to write the romances for you who is seriously into writing romances. With those two things in the bag by the time you'd finish PoE3 this massive new cRPG audience will be literally chewing the carpet for another BG3 experience, especially as both Larian and Owlcat seem to be planning to go off piste for a while due to team burnout on BG3 and WotR.
You’ve basically described me down to a t. I went bg3-> poe1 (left halfway through because of real time unfortunately) ->poe2 (used trun based and finished it thrice) -> pathfinder wotr
Oh and obviously, a part from cinematics and romances, both pf first edition and poe are far superior to dnd 5e in every way.
@@GodIwishIknewreal time combat is so hard for me to wrap my head around, I’ve always wanted to finish PoE 1 so I’m considering just playing it on easy mode or maybe even story
It's amazing how different a person can look with a beard vs without a beard. (With a beard you look like an awesome wizard, and without a beard you're a cool dude.)
On a serious note, like many others, thank you for working on these games because they turned out to be very good games. Whatever flaws they may have, does not diminish the fact that they are generally well-operating games, with a coherent plot and gameplay.
Pillars 1&2 are legit masterpieces of the crpg genre that go toe to toe with any of the older iconic games. I think you definitely had/have the pulse of gamers that are fans of that genre in its more classic form. BG3 with it's huge budget and production values has definitely brought in a new generation of fans which is great to see as well.
13:08 - thank you for answering my question, Josh. I'd love to see a film with a screenplay written by you one day!
As a college student working on a fiction novel for my thesis, I can relate to the way you compare your own role to film direction-I’ve learned a lot about creative endeavors as a whole by watching game design interviews, documentaries, and presentations (even ones like your Pentiment “It Takes An Abbey,” which have helped me improve my collaborative skills). Thanks for the Q&A!
You'll always have my appreciation for FNV from all I've seen it would not have been the game I loved without you, thank you sir. Can't wait to see more from you
Thank you Josh, not only for this excellent Q&A session, but for all the great experiences I and many others had, in no small part thanks to you. New Vegas and Pillars 1 and 2 are my favourite RPG's and all 3 were really formative experiences for me.
Watching Larian’s gameplay presentation of BG3 at Pax East in 2020 made me a fan of the genre. Was my gateway to the genre actually.
Went back, played and finished Pillars 1 and DOS2 just before the release of BG3.
Now i’m playing Atom RPG.
Now, i am aware that Larian’s style is excellent but it’s also an outlier compared to other devs in the genre.
Baldur’s Gate 3 was my most anticipated game ever. I contributed to the Early Access as soon as it was announced, put over a hundred hours into its content, and eventually played Baldur’s Gate 3 for almost 400 when it came out. It’s excellent, and, despite its flaws, deserves every bit of praise.
Ulttimately, it’s not my favorite game; it’s Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire. The voice acting, the art style, the gameplay, spell effects, lore, setting, the build variety… so much is great about Deadfire. My ideal game would be another Pillars game in the style of Deadfire with improved animations, textures, models, etc, but with a much tighter experience similar to Tyranny. A well-crafted story, meaningful interactions, few but memorable companions, and hard choices to make. Please do not give up on Pillars (speaking to Obsidian as a whole). Avowed looks great and I really hope it succeeds and propels the world of Eora into future projects.
I think, PoE Dedfire had only one critical flaw. Maybe it is not that critical, but I played game for the first time on hard difficulty with all DLCs installed.
Narrative wise you have very little time, it is stressed all the time. You have to hurry. Instead you are doing insane anount of side quiests that has nothing to do with the task.
Deadfire is genius game otherwise, but this thing that requires very little to fix, it just breaks the story.
Easy fix would be: Eotas needs to visit one specific place first at the south. You are on timer, you need to get there first. Then he aims for the final objective, you wouldbe able to slow him down, or halt his movements completely. Then and only then you can go around doing all side quests you want.
man u guys are going to inflate his soy ego again and since he thinks bg3 is a game that is impossible to make hes going to start thinking hes literally a god that does something beyond the impossible like the guys at the end of pillars of eternity 1
@@dddaaa6965 Inflating his ego is a good thing, becaue I want HIS RPGs, not Larian's.
@@VK-sz4itexactly!
The GOAT returns!
Regarding new D&D rules: They seem to have playtested the class features, feats and spells only. All the actual rules changes are extremely suspect. Unfortunately this stuff takes forever to type out and most people aren't that good at reading rules, so I'll go with one example:
Hiding (as an action anyone can take) now makes you invisible, and has the same effect as the Invisibility 2nd level spell.
So once you succesfully Hide, you can then leave, say, a closet and then walk right past enemies looking straight at (through) you in broad daylight, because being hidden/invisible (now the same thing) requires no cover or concealment anymore (which is something they explicitly went out of their way for this new release to remove. It was in the 2014 rules, which also used to distinguish between being successfully hidden, and being invisible.)
Currently, a bunch of people think the Invisible condition (also provided as the only effect of the Invisibility spell btw.) does not actually make you invisible - just sort of stealthy. This is due to a part of the rules confusingly stating that you lose some benefits of your invisibility 'if an enemy can somehow see you'.
Regardless of your (re)interpretation of the word "Invisible", though, there are probably only really two possible RAW readings:
(1) Neither the Hide action or the Invisibility spell make you truly invisible, and neither does anything that provides the Invisible condition. In order to turn invisible, there would need to be additional, bespoke rules text saying that you become transparent as well as gaining the Invisible condition.
(2) The Hide action really does make you invisible (and so do other things that give you the Invisible condition, like the Invisibility spell).
It unfortunately would seem that you have to pick one.
The rules do contain a blurb that says specifically when someone is using the Hide action, the DM is allowed to say that they want your Invisibility to not work (presumably so that DMs can require e.g. cover/conealment if they want to) but it does not provide a procedure for doing this and is completely DM dependent. This essentially means that the rules say, for example, that the Rogue gets to turn Invisible as a bonus action - - but the DM can sometimes say that no, right now your invisibility doesn't work.
This undoubtedly will go over well, and will make players that invested in the Stealth skill (or are e.g. Rogues) extremely "happy" if your DMing style places extra restrictions on them, that are unreliable because every DM will do it differently (and you might not even remember all your rulings or apply them consistently every session yourself).
As an added treat, Hiding as an action now also requires that no enemy can see you at all, so you can indirectly detect nearby hidden/invisible enemies by trying to take the Hide action. If you don't get to roll the dice, there's someone nearby who can see you.
But hey, to Hide and become Invisibile, you have to successfully get a 15 or higher on a d20 roll. That you can just repeat 10 times per minute until it works.
Also, the original stealth rules (while unfortunately scattered all over the PHB and extremely difficult to figure out), if you actually figured them out, had none of those issues. So you can just use those, if you're like me and you already went on the vision quest and came out the other side with the knowledge of how to put it all together. They work extremely well, I might add (and I really do mean that unironically - they're the best stealth rules I've seen in a printed TTRPG, and I've read a LOT of TTRPG rules.)
Except... For the 2024 PHB, they didn't rewrite the 2014 rules and put them in one place, now did they. They made a new, much bigger mess for us to wrestle with instead.
This is not the only seriously scuffed core rules change in the 2024 PHB.
@@FrostRose sounds bad imo
Thanks for posting, Mr. Sawyer. You have interesting takes on all kind of things, not just video games.
Bonjour Monsieur Sawyer, for the record, and the sake of what's left of our species' capacity to uphold reason and truth : Deadfire was and still is an amazing game. Probably the best crpg of the new "renaissance" era.
I am still devastated that a specific crpg forum that I won't name decided to celebrate its failure instead of realising this is exactly the sort of projects they should have valiantly defended but, heh. It's all too fitting that a place dedicated to decline ended up siding with it in the end.
Anyway, thank you for Pillars 1 & 2 ! Go to party based hack n slashers for almost ten years. Love them dearly.
Thanks dude! Can’t wait for avowed ❤
I have no idea what an RPG is, but the thumbnail has lots of red arrows so I clicked on the video and decided to watch it.
Jokes asides PoE3 is my dream
RPG is rocket propelled grenade, like in call of duty!
I appreciate the honesty, especially the one about not "understanding" certain audiences.
Icewind Dale is one of my favourite games ever. Not long ago i started playing Pillars- love combat, art and character progression. Josh, thank you for creating incredible games.
Thanks for answering my question. Lots of crossover with Art/Animation/VFX
I'd love for J. Sawyer, Tim Cook and David Brevik (Diablo creator) to come together and make an RPG... that would be amazing!
An Apple funded RPG would be huge. (I am assuming you mean Tim Cain 😅)
@@Jwlar no, apple was founded by Tim Apple
Thank you for doing this, it is very interesting to get some insight into something that is a huge part of my life from someone who has created some of my favorite games. Hope you are very happy and continue making games for years to come. It does mean a lot to a lot of people.
Hey Josh, Pillars of Eternity is my favorite video game of all time and I have played a lot of video games trust me, especially RPG's. Just keep doing what you do best and hoping one day we see POE 3!
Ave, true to sawyer
I really like the way you and your team handled romance in New Vegas. Instead of it being weird gratuitous stuff its really well crafted rapport between you and Cass/Arcade. It winks at the idea but keeps the dialogue and story rooted in the plot of the game which is awesome.
It certainly seems he didn’t care for the way BG3 handled romances and to me I can roll with the way BG3 did them or not having them at all or something more subtle. Romances are not the main course just something to do on the side. I don’t think a lot of people focus on it that much. It’s just a part of the game, not the game. Another words don’t make me want to play or not play a game. Give me story, immersion, choices and consequences and whatever the heck you do or do t want to do with romances.
@@christopherr.561 totally agree theres room for sex/romance in games especially if it doesnt take away from other elements of production.
@@christopherr.561 BG3 way overdid it on romances. Now that said, I usually engage in one during my games. But it really doesn't add much to a game. It's a lot of resources for not much payoff. Dragon Age: Origins will probably be my favorite for romances (clunky animations aside). I prefer characters to have a preference, and not be open to anything (Lelianna aside, but it fits her characters so it works). And Inquisition wasn't bad either, and contained a good story arc about one character's preferences. I have no idea why they didn't do this for BG3, a game specifically made to be replayed.
@@JimmyMon666 Larian has always had a different kind of point of view on humor and romance in my opinion. I think Pillars games always felt more serious which I personally prefer. I think Larian just has a bit of a different takes or personality. With that said I personally think BG3 is a masterpiece. So well done and probably my favorite game ever. Seen a few in my over 50 years. The romances could have been dialed back a bit and been more character focused for my taste as well. However with that said I enjoyed and do enjoy the different romance options. I can take or leave them if I want. Not 100% of their choices match my perfect set up but man what an experience. Love it. I would love to see Josh head up a Pillars 3 that did all that BG3 did with that budget. I love his approach to story telling and game design.
Chris Avallone probably had a lot to do with that and he is long gone from there. Sadly.
Super insightful video - thank you! I love both Pillars 1/2 and BG3, and really appreciate the tonal/narrative/gameplay differences, so I do believe there is at least some crossover with people who like both styles of game. (Also LOVED Pentiment.) If you ever felt like talking about the subject, it would be fascinating to hear about what kind of RPG romances you'd write. I love to think about how these things are actually made, because it seems even more complex than normal narrative.
Another absolute banger thumbnail, this is someone with their finger on the pulse of the algorithm!
I always appreciate these videos, thank you.
I am now SOOOOO curious about your opinions on romance storytelling, especially in games. I feel like I'm pretty detached from the very linear, very simple, uncomplicated, player-reward-focused romances that show up often in RPGs, and I think our opinions might align. At the very least, it'd be very cool to see someone with a ton of experience in the field dive into the topic.
I'm a HUGE Pentiment fan and I recommend that game relentlessly. Thank you. Hopefully sometime in the next few months I can find time to pick Pillars back up 😬
Hey Josh! Great video - thank you for your insight! I really like all the awesome looking flags in the video games you worked on, with the Principi flag being one of my favorite fantasy flags of all time. They are very well made, simple, stylistic, iconic and easy to recognize. I guess some people really care, and others use big white letters to compensate!
manifesting for another JS directed fallout game 🙏
just sayin' I love the Pillar games. deadfire is amazing.
Deadfire is my favorite RPG ever, and FONV makes the top 5. Thank you for these amazing games!
Isometric Pillars 3 is still my dream:(
I'd love if Josh keep doing videos like Tim does. It's funny because Joshua is doing those kind of videos for years before Cain, but I do love he talk more about games he did and more tips about make games
Thanks for doing this Josh! Love seeing insights into the game dev and designer field.
Deadfire’s genuinely my second favorite game of all time at this point (the first being Fo1, the third being New Vegas, fourth being Skyrim).
Genuinely, the game has such unbeatable vibes. One of the most unique fantasy RPG settings I’ve played. I love the Pacific Island aesthetic mixed with the soutern European and golden age of pirates (I think?) aesthetics.
The build variety is also still unbeatable for me. Haven’t played another RPG with such a varied approach to builds yet.
Plus, I love the way the story makes you feel a bit small instead of making you feel like the universe’s favorite shithead as a lot of games do. At the end of the day, you’re kind of at the mercy of Eothas, the other gods, and the factions - even if you can influence them to a degree. I also like the ship mechanics (mostly), which seems to be an unpopular opinion but I’ll stick by it lol.
Anyway, really great game. It also got me to go back and play some older, classic CRPGs like BG1/2, NWN2, etc. and those are some of my favorites now. It opened a whole new world of RPGs to me. So, thank you (and your team!)
I just watched your first Q&A, missed opportunity to say "welcome to the future" after ending with "see you in the future" on the previous video hahaha
Super cool under heat. Thank you for sharing your insight.
i really get you about how bg3's audience. i noticed this with dragon age, i think there is a massive queer and women audience for these types of games with their romance, which is why i think veilguard is going to succeed as well if they lean into that. to me it doesn't appeal really, it feels like romances in video games are like a reward for acting like a good boy, and picking the correct dialogue options that are just way too obvious. compare and contrast that with baldur's gate 2, i played that game a half a dozen times and only once did i succeed in romancing a character (aerie) and i didn't even know that was possible, it just happened organically which was fantastic. i think people who are into that sort of thing are an entirely different demographic and the difference between each demographic could be distinct enough to separate crpg fans into their own subgenres even. because while i love bg3 i think there's a very different design philosophy there and obviously it's not just the romance stuff, that's just surface level.
My takeaway from the video...I need to try the Aliens tabletop RPG! Thanks for the insight as always! :D
Josh, I've been playing CRPG's for 25 years, and I love BG3. But Deadfire is the GOAT. I start a new campaign every summer. June-August is Dead-fire season in my house. 6 years later, I still fall in love with it.
Wow! Incredible!
Just wanted to say new vegas is probably the game I played the most in my life, and only recently I got to finish pentiment and I have yet to consider how much it changed my outlook in life. It'll take long to digest. Thanks for all of that good stuff man
Same , not my most played but still the most impactful even after 15 years of gaming. I’m only 25 but new Vegas literally helped shape me as a man, sounds crazy but it’s true. What a game man.
This is kind of a weird observation, but - you are probably one of the healthiest looking people i've ever seen. i'm more attuned to such things because i've long struggled with my health, just keep doing whatever your doing. Cause you are leagues ahead of many, huckleberry
Pillars 1, Deadfire, and Pentiment are two of my favorite games ever and I'm forever glad you and your teams brought them into the world!
As for the success of BG3 sparking a revival in pillars, as much as bg3 does deserve its success I don't think theyre all that similar as games and I think they have very different appeals. Also I'd riot if some of bg's 5E-esque systems were put in a pillars game but thats just personal preference 😅
*three 😅
Quick 100% agree that difficulty settings need to tell me exactly what they do.
Likewise for most settings. For example, in BG3, they added "Kharmic" d20 rolls by default, but I will never ever use it if I don't know how it works. Maybe it is a really cool system I would like, but they kept it a secret.
Thank you mr. Sawyer for sending me down the rabbit hole of googling for shrines under churches. :D
edit:
That long sigh after talking about the Fallout IP. I felt that.
I personally loved Pillars of Eternity. The first game is the game I talk about when I want to talk about a different type of story, I really loved the plot twists and the real story behind it. The difficulty was also on point in my opinion. The system of accuracy is one of my favourite crpg systems as well. Pillars of Eternity 2 was also different. The class choice for companions, giving you some freedom but keeping them lore friendly was amazing. Both of those games are among the ones I talk about when I talk about good games.
It is just unfortunate that the general public does not enjoy these darker RPGs
Living legend
Pentiment will always be my GOAT thank you for creating such a wonderful game
Josh I love your games, Pentiment is timeless and such an incredible experience. FONV is to this day one of the best rpg's ever made. Keep making what you love, don't get so fixated on "what audiences want". People generally don't know what they really want until they get it.
You're very inspiring!
Thanks for taking the time to do these! 🙏
30:25 SOMEONE GET PHIL SPENCER AND TODD ON THE PHONE.
4:37
I know the question was about RPGs in particular but shoutout to Spy Fox, as someone under 30 myself I can vouch that making spy games for a newer audience is possible if done with the right tones & storybeats because of that game lol. I think some thief games touch on many of the tropes in the spy genre from my perspective too, in particular Sly Cooper comes to mind for me. While I wouldn't make this argument personally I could see someone making the argument that games like Sly & other Spy Tropey titles are a more modern take on the spy genre, although again personally I wouldn't go that far.
My goat
Thanks for rhe video. Most entertaining blind playtrough of FO New Vegas i ever saw was done by MissieMae She did play the game in a completly different order as all the others. No i am not related to her :)
Huh, never heard of that channel, but she might be worth checking out (watched a bit of a Fallout 4 video to get a notion of her style). Does she RP characters? Or just play them on a whim as games?
@@SabiJD She RP s her protaganist. She went back to Goodsprings to get Ringo in episode 50 of her blind vanilla lets play. So very late in the game. Go watch that its hilarious episode 50 named RINGO ! During her playtrough she lost her boyfriend so her final episode of her New Vegas is pretty emotional. I had to cry with her seeing that. Regards from the Netherlands. Ps i watch Gopher also.
The GOAT had blessed us with more answers 😊
You silver fox. I know its not the best of memories but thank you for New Vegas. I know the team has moved on to greater things. But thank you, to all of you devs, for that masterclass of a videogame.
I know Pillars II was a project with the "aim" of making capital returns (and it did not meet their expectations.) You know what else did not make good capital returns in the artist's lifetime? Vincent Van Gogh's and his impressionist painting. Alternatively, I think maybe Pillar's II lack of commercial success might launch Josh to continue flexing his creative juices and keep creating gems like Pentiment.
Also praying that one day you will give another try at making/directing a shooter. There are a lot of cool "pure" RPGs, but it feels like there is a gap in the market of shooters with good build system/progression/dialogues/roleplay etc. Especially since you created Fallout Mew Vegas almost 15 years ago, why not try again?
I'm re-re-re-re-replaying KotOR2 and this makes me so sad, I also miss Tyranny and its potential... I would love to see Obsidian following Owlcat's path in both style and success.
What are your top 5 favourite film directors?
6:38 I feel this is an issue the Saints Row Reboot had as the Devs wanted to make Saints Row 2.5 but I don't think the publisher or heads wanted to run the risk
Joshua, for many of us PoE 1,2 will always be better than BG3. We love you!
Thank you as always for taking the time.
You might not have created a romance mechanic, but me and Joshua Graham are definitely an item
I'm curious, how are these questions for the Q&As submitted? I'd like to ask the question about which (and if) TTRPGs had an influence on your approach to crpg design. Thanks.
That Wisconson flag makes me want cheese every time I see it
I love Pillars 2 and I am so sad it wasn't as much of a success as it deserved to be. I know BG3 is a lot 'easier' -- in terms of its mechanics, its moral choices. Even with the character models and acting, as expensive as it is, it makes it a lot easier to understand the exact tone and emotion in the conversation. That all said, it's a lot more accessible than Pillars 2 is, but making Pillars 3 accessible in the same way would lose a lot of what Obsidian is known for in their storytelling, I feel.
Yes!!! Keep it real!!! BG3 has a very different feeling to it, imho. The feeling that I am not a fan of.
God I’d love a spiritual successor to Alpha Protocol. I put in at least 150 hours in that game as a kid
I don't think I could agree more with the note on aesthetics. I see aesthetics these days as a leading indicator of player-to-developer agreement at this point. If I disagree with either the effort or particulars of a developer's aesthetic tastes/output, I'm just probably going to disagree with a lot of their other choices. So far, this razor has been pretty reliable, with only one or two games coming to mind where I either hated the art but thought the gameplay was overall strong or loved the aesthetic but didn't like the gameplay.
Heres hope Sawyers next project comes up soon, love this dudes vision for games.
I used to play the shit out of Fallout 2 when I was a teenager, now a 39 yo man, I don't have any time for video games. I just love Joshua's voice.
My question for this video is what drink are you having. Thank you, Josh!
love pillars of eternity games and i would love that microsoft gives you the budget of bg3 to do another one
This was a great listen! thanks a lot for the answers
Excited for your upcoming work on Fallout: Pachinko!
This video is so amazing how come didn't i feel this 30 minutes i learned a lot thank u mr josh
I would like to hear a lot more about what you find appealing about video game romances and what you find unappealing about the way other's enjoy romances.
Having just replayed Pillars 2 I was wandering about the chance of a sequel/conclusion to the series. What is the level of funding that could make the sequel viable. How much of that could come from a croudfunding source?
You always strike me as a bit hard on yourself, Josh. It's alright man, it's alright. 😊
You're right, in order to have success the size of BG3 you need to appeal to a broader audience than old school CRPG fans. The younger generations are a lot less mature, lot less thoughtful, they respond more to superficial drama, they need high production values. I watch what kinds of games are popular on Steam and find a lot of it just weird. Would love to see you direct a top-down Fallout as a party-based RPG but sadly it's probably not going to happen.
I really liked POE1 and 2 as well as Tyranny. I also liked BG3. They each have different vibes to them. I do really hope for a POE3.
Commenting before watching, will watch sorry! I LOVED PENTIMENT THANK YOU FOR THAT GAME!
It's kind of sad to hear that you feel like you "don't got it" to be able to make Pillars 3. Sounds like imposter syndrome maybe? Or I guess I'm just also not part of the general audience.
While BG3 obviously was a much higher level of production (cinematics, voice acting, animations, etc.), I personally think in terms of systems, tone and "game feel" Pillars were actually the superior games. It's why when BG3 was announced, as much as I liked Larian and the Divinity series at the time, I was really wishing for it to be in your hands at Obsidian instead.
Now with what Larian did with it, I'm glad they got it ofc. They were able to create something incredible, and they were set up for success in ways in which Obsidian and you unfortunately weren't before, and likely still won't be - but I'd love to see you do a Pillars 3 (mechanically closer to Deadfire, setting and world feel closer to the original, personally).
I especially appreciated you (or your teams) solutions to skill checks and "little" systems like that, minimizing frustrating/save scum RNG moments. Pillars genuinely felt like it was made for PC, to be a video game - where the Pathfinder games and even BG3 (although it at least tried it's best to make failure similarly interesting and fun at times as it would be on an actual table with friends) felt like they were really battling with adapting Tabletop systems, leading to a lot of pointlessly frustrating design.
While BG3 was a great Blockbuster, the Pillars games will always have a special place in my heart as being the quintessential modern but Classic RPG. There's just something so comfortable about them, like being a kid in a treehouse in the rain, imagining fantastical adventures. I really hope there will be more.
One generation above mine it was common for folks to have 10+ kids. My father had 11 siblings from the same mother. I know a person whose grandfather had 25+ kids with two wives.
Game/movie example that might not be great : I had fun playing Borderlands 1, but am I fascinated by its universe and characters and therefore think it could be a movie? No. On the other hand Arcane is an incredible animated series, stunningly well done, for a game I don't even want to know about and will never play. So... I guess the writing and direction of a movie/series, and the quality of the actors, are determinant above all.