So we're getting a sequel-not-sequel expansion-not-expansion sometime in 2010, from the eggheads at Obsidian. While they were the ones behind the original Fallout (under the studio name of Black Isles), I am sceptical because it is not the first time they are entrusted with an important intellectual property and manage to ruin it terribly. KotOR2 and NWN2 were far from masterpieces. While their story were fine in and of itself, one was incomplete and the other plagued with terrible technical performances and bugs.

Read about it here.

innnteeerresstinnnnggg

ugh, Christ. When will Obsidian just die already? Their games are always terrible.

they did effectively make Planescape: Torment though, which is the best CRPG.

There is no arguing that some of their old games were great, but even Planescape goes back to 1999, nearly a decade ago. They just don't seem to be keeping up with the scope of games and the more technical depth of this day and age.

I enjoyed their Vampire: Bloodlines immensly, discounting all the bugs it had in it. Here's to hoping Bethesda does a thorough check on the end product for bugs and glitches.

Sadly Bethesda aren't exactly reknown for their bug-free work, albeit they are no where near as bad as Obsidian.

I wouldn't be surprised if most of Obsidian's original team had left or switched to another group. I mean, how often can you say the quality of a game from years upon years ago is any sort of adequate benchmark of the respective development company's current level of skill?

I often associate Obsidian with sloppy work. Which is a shame because they seem to be decent when it comes to new ideas.

I bet this team is going to use this game to make lame attacks on F3, somewhat like what happened to some star wars novels.

This doesn't interest me. Obsidian is pretty consistent at ruining franchises, and I can't imagine Bethesda's hand is going to be any better in guiding them away from bugtown USA.

VTM: Bloodlines was made by Troika...

Ah, yes, you're right. Obsidian's the other ex-Black Isle company.

Why would a company, a mediocre one at that, see fit to insult the previous title in the series when they were just bestowed the rights to the game? Bethesda still holds the intellectual property and could halt production, just like they recently did to Interplay's upcoming Fallout MMO, due to the company's innability to commence full-scale production as originally planned.

Generally, its not in your best interest to insult your employer, directly or indirectly.

You know, despite its issues, I enjoyed KotOR2 immensely. I liked certain aspects of it more than KotOR.

What's needed is for Obsidian to develop the story and questing, whilst allowing another company (eg Bioware) to add the polish. Bioware's best games (BG and BG2) were made in collaboration with Black Isle, and the best aspect of Planescape: Torment (the characterisation and dialog-driven questing) was also the best aspect of both KotOR2 and NWN2.

No recent CRPG has come close to matching the immersiveness of Planescape: Torment and BG2, so maybe a bit more collaboration is what's needed.

The problem with Obsidian is their complete inability to tell a story through character driven RPGs. It also happens to be Bethesda's problem. Both studios have strengths in creating compelling game worlds, then leaving me with stiff characters with no believability to slog through the game with. I think coming out of Fallout 3 that was one of the most disappointing things about the game, the lack of memorable main characters I gave a crap about. (Although it had a great cast of supporting characters, I'll give them that)

Hopefully they can give some more game altering features, through the karma system and choices you make. It always felt like the decisions you make in the game are merely for your own self-satisfaction, and the main storyline and the rest of the world moves independently of what you're doing.

Weird, I thought character-driven stuff was Obsidian's strength.