Pillars of Eternity Chief Designer: Role-playing games need radical changes
The design director of Pillars of Eternity and Fallout: New Vegas, Josh Sawyer from Obsidian studio, believes that it is high time for the genre of role-playing games to evolve. Sawyer told about this at the Reboot Develop conference, which was held recently in Croatia.
According to Sawyer, the gameplay of a role-playing game should not be built around the performance of a character and a combat system with many characteristics.
“The development of the parameters of the hero is now in a variety of games of various genres. And I wonder if these mechanics should even be considered the heart and soul of a real role-playing game?” Sawyer noted.
According to the developer, the main feature of the role-playing genre should be the ability to influence the course of the plot and solve the same tasks in different ways.
Sawyer considers the titles of The Elder Scrolls series and the last parts of Fallout to be a good example of an alternative view of the role-playing genre.
“Supporters of traditional role-playing games will probably be angry to hear this, but Bethesda role-playing games are really very different from isometric classics. They are action—oriented and immerse the gamer much deeper into their world,” Josh said.
However, Josh admits that he himself develops games according to a template that he is now criticizing — both parts of Pillars of Eternity, Tyranny and other projects.
“Non-classical” role-playing games with a design from Josh Sawyer can be considered Alpha Protocol and Fallout: New Vegas.
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