Matt Chat 242: Chris Avellone on Torment, Tides of Numenera

[@kareliask]

I just discovered your channel through th is interview - thank you for your dedication, and time to check your archives.

[@ghpgois]

Whoa! Just found this interview while searching for Avellone's insights on TToN and it just made my day. Already sub'd and liked it. Great video!

[@zypher357]

Wasteland 2, Torment ToN, Pillars of Eternity, Divinity Original Sin: I finally feel as if games are once again being made in the genre I love. So many triple A titles have passed by, without much of an interest out of me at all, because they are all so heavily influenced by what the market dictates, rather than what makes a good game. Now we are getting "real" rpgs, games that are made with passion, not just greed. Many thanks to MCA, Obsidian, Larian Studios, InXile, and the many other dev's that create games not just as a job, but as a way of life. The passion that once lived in the hearts of game developers is once again showing its presence, and it is damn exciting.

[@BobbyOxygen]

Always a pleasure to hear MCA talk about narrative design. Thanks for the video, Matt.

[@fossilfern]

If you're playing vampire the masquerade bloodlines DOWNLOAD THE FAN MADE PATCH! its pretty much essential but other than that it's an outstanding game, so many memories as a 14 year old playing it in '04.

[@gotrek44]

I must have beaten that game 5 times. It's that much enjoyable.

[@TheRevolucas]

+1 for Roadside Picnic reference. And having context and narrative for combat sounds awesome!

[@GoShanePlays]

Getting even more excited for this game after learning more about the Numenera tabletop RPG. Cool stuff.

[@tylertuthill5121]

Such a great interview. Great information. You are both class acts.

[@Aldiggy2000]

The tides after hearing Chris describe it sound like a "Choose your own adventure " books from long ago .. awesome!! Do you help?? turn to page 30 .. do you let them die? turn to page 90. Great questions Matt !!

[@anonanonski4151]

Remember to install Vampire The Masquerade unofficial patch. It fixes a lot of bugs. Great interview as always!

[@LukeKoun]

Was not expecting this! Awesome surprise, thanks :)

[@pmedwards42]

Love MCA. Thanks for the great interview. I'm a backer of Wasteland, Eternity, Torment. Looking foward to all of them!

[@verynotsuspicious]

I really need to play Plainscape, been on my list for such a long time and I keep putting it off for other, perhaps more insignificant things :D Great interview tho :) Can't wait for the VtM:B next week!

[@sirchaox1224]

Every time I hear something new about this game, it sounds more and more amazing...

[@asinzuar]

From India here. GI Joes were the greatest toys of my childhood ages 5-11. Hawk and Snowjob and budo and baroness and the vehicles - Mean dog and Razorback and Stalker Jet and Sky Striker. Ah, memories...

[@l2ic3]

Holy crap. That shirt is nuts Matt! I love it.

[@Xaeravoq]

Thanks for this video. I am now really looking forward to this.

[@Netherfly]

I need to track down this Heine quote about TTN being a storytelling simulator. I don't suppose anyone knows if it was part of an interview or something?

[@MattBarton]

It was one of the Kickstarter updates

[@Netherfly]

Thanks.

[@cpmartins]

GI Joes were big in Brazil, renamed to Comandos em Ação. All the recognizable characters remained untouched though.

[@ShadowJax04]

Fantastic interview sir

[@mrbitbot]

Nice interview, Matt! Regarding Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines, get the unofficial patch... it's really buggy without it!

[@biodecerto]

Great episode!

[@AliIKarimi]

question - what happened with chris avellone at obsidian ?

[@bfkc111]

He thinks Feargus Urquhart/Urukhai sucks and is kind of a bad dude who doesn't make the financially best OR personally fairest decisions in certain cases. That's how I remember the gist of it.

[@thebes118]

Enjoyed the Matt Cave..

[@Tio_Remi]

I miss the Drink tasting sounds and the old school background music! But i still love this show to death

[@Emphy0Iceage]

great Chris mentioned the master mr Jack Vance !(rip)

[@BrunoPortella]

I'm very curious about this tide system. Can't wait for this game!

[@Verniusix]

So excited!

[@TheEarPlugs]

It would be so cool if Matt would do a review on this game.

[@MazokuRanma]

Play as a Malkavian. It unlocks some really entertaining dialogue options.

[@cj985]

Cool interview! Vampire: Bloodlines is a great RPG. First of all, make sure you install the unofficial patch by WESP. I would recommend not playing a nosferatu the first playthrough, as it is a much different and somewhat limiting experience. If you enjoy insane and hilarious dialogue, Malkavian is fun as hell, but it's also certainly not 'normal', and some people recommend you not play Malk until your second playthrough. Have fun!

[@garywood4643]

Thanks Matt

[@Gooberslot]

Him talking about being inside of a giant creature reminded me of Pools of Darkness where you go inside a god.

[@MrTBSC]

god or war fighting zeus inside gaia comes to mind

[@Nergalsama01]

No "True German Hero" as far as I can remember. We did have the British "Action Force" in Germany comics at some point, though.

[@YadenSamsara]

Definitely need a Twin Cities meetup and definitely at a brew-pub.

[@MattBarton]

any recommendations as to where?

[@barbecueranch]

Awesome shirt!

[@stijnvanhove9269]

Here in Europe we had GI Joe back in the day. They still sold it as True American Hero, but in those days all the kids still wanted to be American anyway. :-P We also had the British Action Man though, but I don't think it ever became as popular as GI Joe.

[@JohnDoe-ti4dn]

still havent played planescape yet (trying to finish fallout 1 and 2 first) , but a random thought: if they made this game on top of league of legends engine i think it would be even better. in terms of snappy movement and such. the trailer gameplay looked like clunky walking, but it still looks amazing

[@pubesz]

They were G.I. Joe toys in Hungary. They were big, super BIG between 1989 and 1994. After the Berlin wall fell there was a huge influx of western culture. The Disney afternoon, My Little Pony and of course G.I. Joe was brought on TV ASAP. Sadly the G1 Transformers only appeared in comic book form. And yes, the American Hero status was intact. :D Well, technically they were referred to as "American elite soldiers". To-may-to, To-mah-to, whatever...

[@RobCrowtherUK]

In the UK we had Action Man instead of GI Joe. It started off as a licensed copy but with British uniforms. In the end I think Hasbro bought out the UK manufacturers.

[@EdwardElric555]

Two questions. One where do you get those awesome shirts. Two how many Star Trek novel covers are on that shirt?

[@MattBarton]

Those aren't Star Trek novels! Those are Gold Key Star Trek comics! :P

[@EdwardElric555]

Matt Barton OMG your right. I think one of the covers looks a lot like a Western Publishing book. But still where did you buy that shirt from?

[@MattBarton]

My wife made it from some material she bought at JoAnne's.

[@jaydamalley3398]

Once more for good measure...Install the fan-made patch when playing V:TM-B.

[@RetrospectiveGaming]

Awesome

[@Blitzkrieg1012]

aww yea baby this is what i like

[@Ihrgoth]

I should really make an effort to make it through planescape, I just don't have the time.

[@jamesgobleman3877]

Amazing

[@csbkota]

Yes, we had G.I. JOE in Yugoslavia too. No renaming. "Yo, JOE !"

[@Bluer123]

Regarding the combat, I'd actually love less combat in it because I personally didn't enjoy the combat in Baldur's Gate because I never felt comfortable with it, and I loved Planescape having less emphasis on combat and more on narrative, unless they do something really good with the new games.

[@Technoplayground1]

I feel like AlphaOmegaSin is your evil twin

[@iamlucaschilds]

He had me at "Dying Earth"

[@wonderboy2402]

23:00 made me snort my drink.

[@HeatIIEXTEND]

Not even my birthday :D

[@feldhamer]

No rats is a deal-breaker for me. I'm going to ask for my money back. I will only be appeased if they put your face on the box.

[@dreed100]

"see you guys next...." NEXT WHAT?

[@MattBarton]

week

[@gotrek44]

GOT to play as a Malkie. Just gotta.

[@81ECM]

I voted for and would prefer real time combat. I like turn based, but in games like these, I like fights to be quick and fast because the focus is not on combat, but the story.

[@ar_xiv]

81ECM it will be ok

[@81ECM]

Yg Masin Don't be patronizing or cavalier.

[@ar_xiv]

Trying to be comforting :P

[@ar_xiv]

But honestly, I trust them to make a good game, and I trust their reasons for choosing turn based. Like.... it's a rare opportunity to have any say at all in a game's development (and I prefer it that way), and in this case they are probably regretting it bc people are being such babies about it.

[@81ECM]

First, I believe they are good developers. Second, if they didn't want our opinion or feedback about a development choice, they should not bring it to us. It creates situations like these. Third, I don't believe anyone is being babies about anything. They have an expectation when something is branded a certain way and when things don't meet that expectation or are changed from past brands, there will always be dissatisfaction. Feedback and customer reactions are very important to anyone in business because they are the business's primary target and if a large portion of their audience is dissatisfied, they can better tailor a future product to maximize reception and profits.

[@tylertuthill5121]

Should try to get Josh Sawyer to talk about Project Eternity's progress!

[@RenzoArcuri]

I personally loved Planescape Torment, so it's not a big deal for me, but I have some doubts regarding the authenticity, and therefore the validity, of the interview itself. Frankly speaking, to me this whole video feels like a set up interview to promote the game. And some fake randomly positive comments convince me even more. I've been following you for a long time now Matt, but from the moment you signed up with Brian Fargo something in your videos doesn't feel right at times. That "channel promotion video", for instance: that's not you Matt; it felt like you've been taking business lessons from Brian in order to better sell your channel to the public. You didn't need to do that, in my opinion. I just hope you'll continue "Honoring the Code" and gather material and interviews for the sake of the knowledge, as you've been doing so far. With sincere preoccupation, a fan of yours.

[@matternicuss]

What's wrong with promoting the game? Or Matt's channel for that matter? The game hasn't been released yet, so for now everything's just speculation as far as quality is concerned.

[@RenzoArcuri]

matternicuss Well, dear matternicuss, there is a difference between doing an interview in order to research and doing one to promote a product. Researching is researching, selling is selling; they should always remain separate, for the sake of humanity. I personally deal with interviews myself, since I am studying in a university program which uses qualitative research interviews as one of the methods to gather material; what Matt Barton has been doing so far is the so called "semi-structured qualitative research interview" (see Bryman, "Social Research Methods"), which follows a structure, but also allows for extra spontaneous questions at the discretion of the interviewer. Matt's idea was to leave a trace of material which he saw being very precious (in terms of culture and knowledge) for the generations to come. He then decided who to interview, the questions to make, the backup questions and so on because he was genuinely interested in the topics he was going to research on. If now someone else starts to write him the questions, tells him how to behave in order to gather a wider consensus among the people and fixes him the interviews to promote his own products... well... farewell validity of the research. And so far I've noticed two "marketed" videos (this one and the channel presentation one), and they were both taking place chronologically after the Brian Fargo's "patronage" of the channel. Therefore, according to me, Matt needs to be particularly strong in this phase in order to not make Matt Chat become Fargo's Chat. Thanks for listening. Renzo "Stermayer" Arcuri

[@matternicuss]

Renzo Arcuri Interesting. I suppose all I really care about is whether or not the questions are interesting, and/or lead to insightful responses. The question about turn-based vs real-time combat comes to mind, and Avellone's response seemed genuine enough (he actually shares my attitude towards combat in RPGs). Since this is an interview about a product that is still early in development, it only seems natural that it would also serve as a promotional interview. Many interviews are for promotional purposes (such as interviews with musicians while they're on tour, or have just released a new LP), and I don't see how that can tarnish the supposed 'validity' of the interview as long as good questions are being asked, and the interviewee is a willing (and frank) participant. I thought this was a great interview, regardless, but then again I'm not educated in the nuances of 'qualitative research methods'.

[@RenzoArcuri]

matternicuss Thank you for sharing your perspective. :) Regards, Renzo

[@ghpgois]

+matternicuss I also share your point of view. I also think that what makes a good interview is the relevancy of the questions towards a specific go, which in this case is to gather information and insights about a game that delegates itself as spiritual successor of one of the most incredible CRPG's ever made.

[@bfkc111]

I got stuck in Tides of Numenera years back when it was released, because in the beginning they require one to do some sort of micro- or macromanaging about getting to another area where the tavern is (the main goal of some kind for the moment), and I think even with a time limit - no, wait, I remember more exactly. One has a limited number of action points and must rest at the tavern, which is another area. Meanwhile in this area one still has to do some things before nighttime, or something, or I jus wanted to get this area done before getting bogged down in the next one. And I absolutely couldn't finish that area completely, some puzzle was annoying the hell out of me. THEN I read several times that it's actually a bad, disappointing game. That's how I got stuck... But dare I say, such micro-/macromanagement (who cares what it is in that case, makes no difference there) is really bad design. This is one of the areas of trying to show off too hard with the amount of "design", similar to the text dumps with all its dumb semi-arbitray subtleties of consequences one can't really give a damn about (but to optimise one still should). Part of the latter is still a common mistake. Anyway, am stuck in Tides of Numenera...

[@soku890]

A shame the game turned out average

[@dancairns318]

dat shirt

[@GoShanePlays]

Yes, turn based! Seriously dislike real time with pause.