J.E. Sawyer Interview

NWN2News had the chance to fire several questions over to Obsidian Entertainment’s J.E. Sawyer about the previous role-playing games he’s been involved with, including Icewind Dale II, Planescape: Torment, and others. Check it out:

Q: When do you feel we will ever see another Fallout, Planescape or BG2 type epic, deep story driven game?

A: I really believe that developing games with stories like Fallout and Planescape, where the player has a lot of freedom, requires designers to re-focus their attention. You can’t build a linear RPG for twelve months and just decide, out of the blue, to transform it into a non-linear, “do what you want” RPG. That has to be the focus from the beginning. Plot critical characters have to be rare in the extreme, plot critical events also have to be rare in the extreme. It requires planning and it requires focus, but I don’t honestly believe it’s tremendously difficult. It’s only hard because designers often want to have it both ways – telling a super tight, super controlled story and allowing some sort of lip-service to non-linearity. Something’s got to give, guys.