Hands down Bethesda. They're the most engaging when it comes to their community, and you can tell that they listen to what their fans say. More than other developers, anyway. They even had open betas for Skyrim, and gave away some pretty darn good content in free updates. Like the last one that got rid of level caps and added legendary difficulty for people like myself who abhor the easy difficulty of the game.
Bungie is another developer that I had fond memories of, and they too interacted with their fans a lot more than most developers did. They're a great team of people, and I look forward to seeing what they do with Destiny. Wish they didn't leave their baby behind with 343 industries. The multiplayer has suffered for it.
Along with Microsoft, I'm going to put Bioware down as my least favorite. They were the shit back in the day with star wars, but I believe they're not the same team anymore? Not sure what happened exactly, but with the Mass Effect 3 fiasco, and the disappointment that was dragon age 2, they're one of the few developers I can say really let me down in what I was expecting from them. Dragon age is turning into a social justice statement.
I will give them credit though for at least trying to address their screw up ending with a free dlc ending edit. And Mass Effect 3 was still a great game, dlc included.
Bungie is another developer that I had fond memories of, and they too interacted with their fans a lot more than most developers did. They're a great team of people, and I look forward to seeing what they do with Destiny. Wish they didn't leave their baby behind with 343 industries. The multiplayer has suffered for it.
Along with Microsoft, I'm going to put Bioware down as my least favorite. They were the shit back in the day with star wars, but I believe they're not the same team anymore? Not sure what happened exactly, but with the Mass Effect 3 fiasco, and the disappointment that was dragon age 2, they're one of the few developers I can say really let me down in what I was expecting from them. Dragon age is turning into a social justice statement.
I will give them credit though for at least trying to address their screw up ending with a free dlc ending edit. And Mass Effect 3 was still a great game, dlc included.
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Its hard. I would say most have had their day in the sun else they wouldn't be brand name. I think that all devs have had lemons and flops.
Irrational games (and before that Looking Glass studios and ion storm entertainment) because they tried to buck the trend and eventually, the trend bucked them.
I still think that Bioshock inifnite has one of the best storytelling in video games and I hope Levine and his crew can make a comeback. It's funny. Each time these guys create something, they end up crashing and burning and somehow, their games achieve cult status and they find money to finance their next adventure,
Lucasarts for countless star wars and adventure games.
Sierra <- Adventure games.
Capcom for Resident Evil and streetfighter.
Square ENIX had hit and miss but it also has FFVII.
Blizzard had constantly good games. I greatly enjoyed most of them.
Red Storm Entertainment for Rainbow 6
and so on and so forth.
Irrational games (and before that Looking Glass studios and ion storm entertainment) because they tried to buck the trend and eventually, the trend bucked them.
I still think that Bioshock inifnite has one of the best storytelling in video games and I hope Levine and his crew can make a comeback. It's funny. Each time these guys create something, they end up crashing and burning and somehow, their games achieve cult status and they find money to finance their next adventure,
Lucasarts for countless star wars and adventure games.
Sierra <- Adventure games.
Capcom for Resident Evil and streetfighter.
Square ENIX had hit and miss but it also has FFVII.
Blizzard had constantly good games. I greatly enjoyed most of them.
Red Storm Entertainment for Rainbow 6
and so on and so forth.
Tahoe Software Productions. They made the best game of all time, a masterpiece the likes of which has never been seen again:
They were truly masters of their craft.
EDIT: But seriously, Capcom? Bethesda? Bungie? Where are Troika, Obsidian, and Black Isle? You people need to brush up on your gaming history because you've clearly missed out on some of the best games of all time.
[video=youtube;B-omo-seoZc]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-omo-seoZc[/video]
They were truly masters of their craft.
EDIT: But seriously, Capcom? Bethesda? Bungie? Where are Troika, Obsidian, and Black Isle? You people need to brush up on your gaming history because you've clearly missed out on some of the best games of all time.
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I wish Troika was still around, or Black Isle, or SirTech, or Looking Glass, or Bullfrog, or...
Obsidian, CDPR, InXile, Larian and (to some extent) Piranha Bytes and Firaxis are the ones I'm looking forward to seeing new stuff.
As for Bethesda, I'm only interested in seeing how badly they fuck the next Fallout up (or perhaps there's a lucky strike, and there's some "lesson learned" stuff going on in Maryland...). Other than that, they aren't providing anything beyond shallow hiking simulators with sometimes neat sightseeing, so nothing of interest there.
Obsidian, CDPR, InXile, Larian and (to some extent) Piranha Bytes and Firaxis are the ones I'm looking forward to seeing new stuff.
As for Bethesda, I'm only interested in seeing how badly they fuck the next Fallout up (or perhaps there's a lucky strike, and there's some "lesson learned" stuff going on in Maryland...). Other than that, they aren't providing anything beyond shallow hiking simulators with sometimes neat sightseeing, so nothing of interest there.
Me neither, I wasn't a fan of nintendo after the gameboy color
but to their credit, they keep innovating when the triple A markets is largely stagnant. It's hard to ignore nintendo as a dev.
I'm curious to why you think they'll fuck up fallout. Both Fallout 3 and NV were great, though of course I know they weren't responsible for NV. Come now, I know you know better than to call their games hiking simulators. Very few games offer as much content and roleplaying capability.
Capcom, Nintendo and Konami helped lay the foundation of the modern console market and they are seminal developers who were very innovative...on console. If we're talking PC, then CDPR, Blizzard, Larian, Black Isle, Bethesda, Sierra, Obsidian, the old Bioware, the old Volition, 3D realms, Ion Storm, MicroProse and a slew of others made far more influential games.
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...yay Bullfrog! =D Don't know how many countless hours I spent playing, and replaying, and re-replaying Syndicate.
Current generation? I seem to own an undue amount of Rockstar games. I tend to like sandbox titles, and they've got their style of sandbox down to a science.
Used to be a HUGE fan of Diablo and D2. Blizzard was really good at tapping into that primal part of the brain; the part that goes, "press button, receive food pellet." Loved the random loot drops. Got IMMEDIATELY turned off from D3, and Blizzard as a company, with the mandatory online of D3... for the PC, which they INSISTED was necessary. Oh, whoops! Console! derp. =p
Big fan of Bethesda for Fallout 3 / New Vegas. Prior to Fallout 3, I'd never experienced a free-roam map that vast, with that much content. LOVE it.
You should really be careful what you wish for. Greedy execs already buried Black Isle in the pet sematary and brought it back to life as an evil version of itself.
It's just impossible to choose only one!
So, I'll mention a few.
Ion Storm for Deus Ex (obviously) , and Anachronox.
Valve for (everyone can probably guess) The Half Life series, Counter Strike, Portal 1/2... *continues to list every game developed by Valve*
Rare for (my childhood) Goldeneye, Conker's Bad Fur Day, Jet Force Gemini, Perfect Dark, etc...
Id Software for (again, my childhood) Doom, Wolfenstein, Quake.
3D Realms for Duke Nukem 3D, Blood, Shadow Warrior.
Honestly, I could keep going. There's just so many great ones. Raven Software, Relic Entertainment, Bohemia Interactive, Volitation Inc. ... [insert Name Drop here]
So, I'll mention a few.
Ion Storm for Deus Ex (obviously) , and Anachronox.
Valve for (everyone can probably guess) The Half Life series, Counter Strike, Portal 1/2... *continues to list every game developed by Valve*
Rare for (my childhood) Goldeneye, Conker's Bad Fur Day, Jet Force Gemini, Perfect Dark, etc...
Id Software for (again, my childhood) Doom, Wolfenstein, Quake.
3D Realms for Duke Nukem 3D, Blood, Shadow Warrior.
Honestly, I could keep going. There's just so many great ones. Raven Software, Relic Entertainment, Bohemia Interactive, Volitation Inc. ... [insert Name Drop here]
Fallout 3 was a sorry excuse of sequel that scrapped all the core values of the series prior in favor of a repainted TES game; the only thing that kept New Vegas going was that Obsidian managed to inject a good narrative design into a sordid base of a game.
Bethesda games are built by intent for running around aimlessly doing what ever - whether it be sightseeing, rummaging the dungeons or doing some fetch quests, or "seeing what's behind that next hill" as the company's CEO and the exec. producer of their recent games says. There's no depth of mechanical intrigue at all. It is as they advertise.... "Do what you want, be what you want to be"... but without any real feedback.
So of course, if Bethesda plays to it's strengths and never strays (which would be profitable to them), they'll fuck it up. Again. With a shiny but shallow.... hiking sim.
Oh I knew that, and it's been scorned...
Poor Chris Taylor, such a waste of talent there.I of course meant the BI of days past when they were at their heights under Fargo's Interplay.
Yeah. And counting in Dungeon Keeper, DK 2, Themepark, Theme Hospital.
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Lol, they're rather successful in sticking to what they know. I'll be honest, I think them turning fallout into a beth game saved the series. Most people that play fallout have never even heard of the series until fallout 3. I'm honestly not seeing the big deal here. I don't care if the gameplay isn't all that deep, though it's at least deeper than Skyrim's. It's fun. RPGs should be about roleplaying, not focused on mechanics of gameplay. That's what JRPGs are for if you fancy those, in my opinion.
But you're an original fallout fan. I know some original fallout fans who love 3 and NV, but I've seen a handful like you as well. It's to be expected.
I had hard choice to make vote for "Well this company obviously" or "Other that's not listed list below", I like Witcher series so far but i like Atlus' Shin megami tensei: Persona series. So with HUGE emotional conflict I chose CDProjekt. Why? Because Witcher as their first game was similarly good as Bioware Dragon Age Origins, that says a lot Bioware at that point have ~10 years of experience of making video games, and these (CD Projekt) guys were no name back then and made something really good. Few years forward: When Bioware made letdown of a sequel Dragon Age 2, where choices were slightly different at best, CD Projekt made Wticher 2: Assassin of Kings, where choices so diverse that they would lead you to entirely different subplots (Roche and Iorveth paths) yet again showing these guys are awesome. Why I didn't chose Atlus? Well hard to say, but I think it's because sometimes I find hard to understand some cultural nuances such as honorifics (-sama, -chan, -kun), and there is next to none of their games are found in my country, because it's too niche.
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Yes. But that should be of no concern to any individual player. Success doesn't guarantee quality.
Saved it from what? And what worth is it saving something if you're going to turn it to something else completely (but still of the same name)?
They paid 6 million from the franchise, and from how things went one can only draw the conclusion that they paid for a prewritten setting so they wouldn't need to come up with stuff of their own and marketing privileges that come from being able to point out towards past success.
I don't see that as a problem. Fallout was never a mainstream title and always a series for the cRPG niche.
But the mechanics are the things you roleplay through and with. Otherwise it is just an adventure simulation with some playpretend on top. *shrug*
No I don't "fancy" JRPG's. And I don't understand why you pulled the JRPG card out to begin with - western RPG's have had quite strong focus on their mechanical bases from the Gold Box games onwards.
I love how that always comes out. Makes me feel special. B)
Seriously though.
I know some too, and it is ok to like it that way. But it doesn't really change anything.
I'm a fan of the design principles that the series held (New Vegas brought some of that back, but only some) - that made the series renowned still as one of the best cRPG's ever created (and for a reason too). Back when it was news that Fallout was to be a first person game, I was among those giving it the benefit of doubt because things can be (and have been) done in many ways, and because I seriously didn't think it would sink as low as it did.
Anyways... I think this is far enough derailment of the thread. If there's a topic about Fallout, I'll attend, but I don't think many here are interested in wordwrestling about it.
It's not like these boards are super active. Any sort of conversation is good if you ask me. To address your points in order:
1. I know success doesn't mean quality (COD for example), but you mentioned you thought it'd "fail", which demands one bring up success. You could say the Bioshock developers "failed" since they had to drop their series, but most here I think agree their games are fantastic.
2. Saved it from obscurity and from the series stopping production. The gameplay is (thankfully for me) much different, but the story and lore is all there, accompanied with it's tongue in cheek humor.
3. It's not a 'problem', no, but you again brought up Bethesda failing, so when it comes to that topic, one again must bring up popularity as part of "success", since that's generally how people judge success of media.
4. Roleplay has nothing to do with mechanics. Roleplaying is in fact pretending, and their games are about exploring. I don't see anything wrong with an adventure simulation. That's exactly what it is. Ever tried a story writing RP? I'm in one for Skyrim right now and have been in it with a small group for about 2 years now. You don't need mechanics to roleplay, they only make it easier to do.
5. I brought JRPGs up because generally, they're a LOT more focused on gameplay mechanics than Western RPGs. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MyUC_28HIvA
Anyway, this reminds me a lot of the Bethesda forums, where everyone who played Arena and Daggerfall say that Morrowind wasn't a real rpg and sucked, and most that played Morrowind first said the same thing about Oblivion and Skyrim. It's fine you think they're not as good as the original, but the only reason I brought up your quote was because it was about Bethesda failing. Failing at their attempt to stay true to the series is what you meant, and I see that now. But failure to make a good game I wholeheartedly disagree with. If you accept their version for what it is, I think most can see it's a good game, even if it's not the game for you. Bethesda's games have people playing them longer than any other single player game, and I think there's something to say about that. I have over 3000 hours on Skyrim alone, and maybe over 1200 for NV.
1. I know success doesn't mean quality (COD for example), but you mentioned you thought it'd "fail", which demands one bring up success. You could say the Bioshock developers "failed" since they had to drop their series, but most here I think agree their games are fantastic.
2. Saved it from obscurity and from the series stopping production. The gameplay is (thankfully for me) much different, but the story and lore is all there, accompanied with it's tongue in cheek humor.
3. It's not a 'problem', no, but you again brought up Bethesda failing, so when it comes to that topic, one again must bring up popularity as part of "success", since that's generally how people judge success of media.
4. Roleplay has nothing to do with mechanics. Roleplaying is in fact pretending, and their games are about exploring. I don't see anything wrong with an adventure simulation. That's exactly what it is. Ever tried a story writing RP? I'm in one for Skyrim right now and have been in it with a small group for about 2 years now. You don't need mechanics to roleplay, they only make it easier to do.
5. I brought JRPGs up because generally, they're a LOT more focused on gameplay mechanics than Western RPGs. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MyUC_28HIvA
Anyway, this reminds me a lot of the Bethesda forums, where everyone who played Arena and Daggerfall say that Morrowind wasn't a real rpg and sucked, and most that played Morrowind first said the same thing about Oblivion and Skyrim. It's fine you think they're not as good as the original, but the only reason I brought up your quote was because it was about Bethesda failing. Failing at their attempt to stay true to the series is what you meant, and I see that now. But failure to make a good game I wholeheartedly disagree with. If you accept their version for what it is, I think most can see it's a good game, even if it's not the game for you. Bethesda's games have people playing them longer than any other single player game, and I think there's something to say about that. I have over 3000 hours on Skyrim alone, and maybe over 1200 for NV.