Peter Molyneux does this funny little thing. Whenever he's working on a new game, he'll look back at the last game and tell us all how terrible it was. He did it with Fable when working on Fable II, and now he's doing it with Fable II now that he's working on Fable III.
"There was this amazing moment when a piece of research came back [that showed us] more than half the people who played Fable II understood and used less than half the features in the game. And as soon as you see that you think: 'Oh my God. What a talentless bastard I really am,'" says Molyneux. "How can I have made a game in which people actually understood less than half of its mechanics? It's like making a film that makes people think: 'It looks quite cool. I don't know what the hell is going on, but it seems quite cool.' You know, that's just wrong.
"So I think Fable III is all about using mechanics, exploiting mechanics, giving gameplay reason to things. Expressions [which don't feature in Fable III] were cool in Fable II, but they were a way of just doing a fart joke over and over. Let's be honest, you know, that's what they were. There was no real meaning to them. There was no real emotional connection to them. They need to have an angle [to them]. The simpler things are, the more people use them."
So, everything Molyneux told us was so brilliant about Fable II is now awful. I think it's a little disingenuous to sh*t on your last game to make the new one look good, and Molyneux seems to pull that tactic quite a bit. I think he's a very talented man, but he really needs to stop making these gratuitous displays of quasi-honesty and retroactive modesty. If anything, it makes him look even more insincere.
Molyneux: I'm a talentless b*stard [CVG]
Contest:
2:20 PM on 02.19.2010
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Though, for my part, I never used the begging/extortion mechanic, and never once played hatty/beardy/whatum, even when it was free.
I still like him. Fuck the haters.
sometimes i wonder if the guy even understands what industry he's in.
anyway, most developers don't deliver on promises, and i'm totally fine with that. it's making promises that sound shit in the first place, and then failing to deliver.
But honestly Pete... Black and White III time. And fix the creatures so I don't have to babysit their AI 190% of the time.
Really?
Calling it now.
Overselling his new games is his real problem.
I think he believed in the features he was putting into place in Fable 2. What he did here is make a statement that he received data which says more than half the people who played Fable 2 understood and used half of the systems they put into the game. In that sense, he's saying he obviously failed at his task since so many people either didn't get it, or find it useful. There is absolutely nothing disingenuous about that statement.
The thing he's super excited and talks too much for his own good. So what he does is he treats goals his team has as set in stone things. And then the community gets all pissy when they don't meet those goals.
So then he beats himself up over it trying to make the community realize he acknowledges he fucked up. Then he turns around, goes back to the studio, comes out all sweaty and excited an runs through the streets shouting things he shouldn't and the process repeats itself.
People really latch onto the concept of "my word is my bond". When a developer's like "I'm gonna create growing grass!", I don't take that as a promise to be broken and subsequently cut by. In the sense of ... well most things, if someone says they're going to do something, all you ever really have there is intent.
Granted I missed the Fable I hype train, but I can't recall any point where ... any developer even... has said "I promise to you, this." Which, for me at least is in fact, a promise. That's a whole different statement.
I dunno. Functionally, a promise is a big deal. It implies priority and commitment. I can't say I've ever gotten a promise from a developer.
Interesting.
Like I said in my last post I'v always seen things Molyneux says as goals. Things he wants to do. I guess I agree with you in that I don't see them as promises either. I mean I've heard a lot of devs say they'd try something and fell short and they don't get nearly the flack Molyneux gets. And by "Fell short," I mean just plain didn't get it in. Doesn't mean they never tried. It was a goal and they fell short.
Fuck the hater's haters.
...right, bipolar. :p Oh well, dude still makes amazing games (including the oft-forgotten Theme Park).
Maybe Fable 3 will rock. I'll probably end up caving anyway, just because I always get my $60 out of Fable games, even if they always feel like they aren't fulfilling all the potential they set up.
Still, decent games, but Peter really goes crazy on this PR stuff. It's entertaining, actually.
I liked Fable II, but I think this guy missed his calling, I would pay for this guy to be a game reviewer. You sure as hell wouldn't have any 6's or 7's from this guy. (Of course, even he would have given ACII more than 3.5!)
fuk dose fukkin hattazz always be haytin. dey stuupid aneway.