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Obsidian turned down a Game of Thrones game published by EA back in 2005 (EUROGAMER)
- Thread starter FelipeMGM
- Start date
It was a different IP back then, and I doubt it would've been very lucrative for Obsidian (or any other dev, for that matter).
Urquhart is right and most devs feel the same way for the same reasons. It doesn't really make any sense to try to imagine it in the most typical RPG terms. There's just very little there to game-ify.
It's better that EA committed to Dragon Age instead. They have a brand of the same type now that reviews and sells consistently. And it's theirs.
WrenchNinja
Member
Man, an ASoiaF game not influenced by the show would be really interesting now especially. It's hard to imagine what it would have looked like 12 years ago.
This just sounds so spot-on. There are so many other, richer sources to tap I am not surprised that Feargus and Obsidian passed on this. I still wouldn't want to go anywhere near Game of Thrones in any way as a developer.
I mentioned it earlier in the IP discussion thread, but Obsidian's interest in series like Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time isn't surprising given it provides such a rich tapestry to work with in comparison.
IIRC Bethesda did the same thing. They made Skyrim instead, and part of me wonders if they kept some of the basic ideas from their ASoIaF pre-production and put them into Skyrim instead.
The à¹ÛBronx
Member
Considering no-one gave a shit about ASoIaF relative to the current climate it was probably a wise decision. Just reminds me of people who think Blockbuster made a poor choice to not buy Netflix when they would almost have certainly fucked it to the point of it never have been anything significant.
Rellik
Member
They made the right decision.
Yeah of course, same as the Obsidian story
Glass Rebel
Member
That bit about War in the North is interesting and kinda dickish. No disrespect to Snowblind but I'd rather have had Obsidian's take on it.
Death Penalty
Member
I agree with their choice. The Game of Thrones books are superb, but remarkably poorly suited to being made into a video game.
hobblygobbly
Member
ASOIAF is mostly about political intrigue which can work well for a RPG but it's a very different RPG, you could take on roles like Varys - there is one RPG that does this very well that came out recently, The Age of Decadence, a huge part of the game is intrigue and not even getting into combat yourself at all but causing factions etc to fight one another.
However the Crusader Kings 2 mod represents ASOIAF the best, it has all the mechanics to support political intrigue, single characters like kings, armies, etc. It's still the best adaption of ASOIAF premise.
However the Crusader Kings 2 mod represents ASOIAF the best, it has all the mechanics to support political intrigue, single characters like kings, armies, etc. It's still the best adaption of ASOIAF premise.
Fantastapotamus
Wrong about commas, wrong about everything
And EA Partners worked out so well for everybody involved
The cyanide RPG is actually alright. The writing and quest design fits ASOIAF pretty well, even if the VO and visuals let it down.
Angelus Errare
Banned
Not surprising, I honestly can't imagine GoT as an RPG unless it deviates from the books a bit and lets typical RPG magic exist. But if typical magic exists said users would be basically gods.
MosquitoSmasher
Member
I guess this can change but this makes it seem unlikely they are making that GoT game Target had listed. Sure they say it's not true now but it could very well be real.
what makes unlikely they are making that GoT game Target listed is that there is no Bethesda GoT and that was a hoax
https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidt...game-of-thrones-game-was-a-hoax/#2824548a2438
Psychoward
Banned
"hey thanks for your idea, we're gonna buy out a cheaper studio and make a quick b-game instead though thanks!"
Obsidian was one of my favorite developers to work for back in the day. Feargus was an especially personable guy that I enjoyed chatting with. All of the Obsidian crew are damn talented, and love making good games.
I can 100% see why they'd pass on ASoIaF. The books are amazing reads, but adapting that to a game seems hard. I feel like pushing the focus to more "gamey" concepts would rob it of a major reason why people love the series. It seems like a fine line to try and walk if you want to balance gameplay with narrative. If they tried to focus on the combat and conflict with the white walkers, it risks feeling like every other fantasy themed action RPG out there. If they focused on the narrative, it'll just reinforce to the player that they'd be better off reading the books. I'm sure there's a way to do a GoT game properly (I enjoyed the Tell Tale game a lot), but I understand why a smaller studio like Obsidian would have passed on it, especially before it became a world wide phenomenon.
I can 100% see why they'd pass on ASoIaF. The books are amazing reads, but adapting that to a game seems hard. I feel like pushing the focus to more "gamey" concepts would rob it of a major reason why people love the series. It seems like a fine line to try and walk if you want to balance gameplay with narrative. If they tried to focus on the combat and conflict with the white walkers, it risks feeling like every other fantasy themed action RPG out there. If they focused on the narrative, it'll just reinforce to the player that they'd be better off reading the books. I'm sure there's a way to do a GoT game properly (I enjoyed the Tell Tale game a lot), but I understand why a smaller studio like Obsidian would have passed on it, especially before it became a world wide phenomenon.
With all due respect, not sure what the Obsidian guys are talking about in saying that there isn't much to Gamefy about ASOIAF. I think the far bigger issue is the scope of the project which would have to be insane to make things work.
Doing a 1:1 recreation of Westeros alone would be a huge task before you start adding other locations and multiple characters ect
Doing a 1:1 recreation of Westeros alone would be a huge task before you start adding other locations and multiple characters ect
Good choice, the franchise is a straitjacket at this point. You can pretty much do politicy, backstabby stuff in any old low-magic fantasy setting.
See Telltale's game for a cautionary tale.
See Telltale's game for a cautionary tale.
Just play Mount & Blade 2 when it comes out? There will probably be mods for ASOIAF if you really need that.
hydrophilic attack
Member
I feel like it could still work, but you would need From-tier combat to pull it off. In Souls, fighting a spear user feels sufficiently different from fighting a sword user, so you don't really need goblins or or orchs to add variety. And the core melee combat is sufficiently satisfying so that you won't really need mage classes. Though Red Priest or Warg could still serve as compelling mage classes. Since it would be dependent on good combat though, Obsidian wouldn't be a great fit.
I think a collaboration between a Japanese and a Western studio could work. Someone like From or Platinum for designing the combat, and someone like Obsidian or 2005 Bioware for dialogue and world design. Of course, no one would put that sort of money into a aSoIaF game back in 2005.
Vegetable Lasagna
Member
This would be news if it happened in the last 6 years.
More like Assasins Creed world design meets a Valkyria Chronicles/Mousu hybrid all set in first person.
There were a few games working at fps/towerdefense hybrids at the time but i forget what they were now.
RPG elements would be all about relationship building to unlock new units/battle abilities. IE player character Rob Stark has to negotiate with minor house X and build relationships(affinity) with them to be able to use them on the battlefield.
This would work nicely with the actual story as key story events would be tied to affinity. For example early in the game you might start building affinity between House Stark and Lannister/Baratheon due to the proposed wedding of Sansa and Joffery.
Then obviously at some point certain story elements rupture that choice.
There would also need to be a loot style system for getting your armies/forces weapons.
They already have all of this, it's called Crusader Kings 2: A Game of Thrones.