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Fable at 20: a uniquely British video game with a complex legacy

theguardian.com

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Re: Fable at 20: a uniquely British video game with a complex legacy

#111

Post by sheepdestroyer »

tommica wrote: post #108
sheepdestroyer wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1) Most of these games are really great 2) As with us and our friend, many gamers knew Molyneux for exactly who he is, and thus moderated their expectations accordingly.

#2 is a weak argument, a lot more gamers didn't know him and moderated their expectations based on the marketing

Of course, I am not exactly excusing him. But as customer you should also not trust advertisement blindly, especially when it is pie in the sky too good to be true. Most reviews of the time would not miss the opportunity to joke about Molyneux's serial overpromising. It was a running gag before long.

Re: Fable at 20: a uniquely British video game with a complex legacy

#112

Post by squeaky-clean »

sheepdestroyer wrote: post #101
ryanmcbride wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

was your friend selling videogames to millions of people on the back of these lies?

1) Most of these games are really great 2) As with us and our friend, many gamers knew Molyneux for exactly who he is, and thus moderated their expectations accordingly.

I don't think people started really disliking him until Curiosity and Godus. And IMO neither of those are good games.

He also promised the winner of Curiosity 1% of all revenue from Godus, then retconned the deal to be 1% of profit after the game failed to become profitable.

Re: Fable at 20: a uniquely British video game with a complex legacy

#114

Post by TeaBrain »

mastercheph wrote: post #98
bagels wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't like people that lie to me.

Video games are lies, zeroes and ones masquerading as worlds and people; imbued with meaning by the power of dreams and dreamers

Video games are simply artistic creations meant to entertain, as are other forms of entertainment media. Were you formerly under the impression that video games were a portal to another reality?

Re: Fable at 20: a uniquely British video game with a complex legacy

#115

Post by caseysoftware »

oldstrangers wrote: post #84

I have such fond memories of Dungeon Keeper, Dungeon Keeper 2, Fable, Black & White, Populous. I think the biggest take away from Molyneux's work is regardless of how seriously he talked the games up, the games themselves never once took themselves too seriously. There was a level of playful whimsy that just didn't exist back then (and probably still doesn't today). You could tell he wanted to say more and do more, b…

Populous! That's a name I haven't heard for a long time. It was so much fun building out the land, smiting people, and then saving the day after earthquakes, etc. Good times.

I have yet to see a modern version that was half as interesting.

Re: Fable at 20: a uniquely British video game with a complex legacy

#116

Post by TeaBrain »

Sakos wrote: post #46
TeaBrain wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There in an opportunity cost in playing free games, but I wouldn't consider any considerable opportunity cost to have been incurred at the time of "admission".

The opportunity cost is when playing the game. I'm just saying that free doesn't make up for a bad (or necessarily even a decent) game, if it is one. There's an incredible number of amazing games out there. I personally find it difficult to justify using my time on even decent games regardless of price when there are better games out there.

I completely understand the point of your comment. My comment was on how yours was only tangential to the wording of the parent comment, which used the wording price of "admission". No-one is obliged to finish a game that they started, and the admission price to this particular game is nothing given that it's free, so there will not necessarily need to be any opportunity cost.

Re: Fable at 20: a uniquely British video game with a complex legacy

#117

Post by greazy »

keyringlight wrote: post #81
greazy wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Peter Molyneux is the king of bullshit. He's back again with another God game. https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2024/08/peter-molyneux-is-bac... He's a dreamer who won't shut up. Nearly everything that comes out of his mouth is bullshit hype.

I think Peter put into the right environment and restraints could still be a great thing. I really dislike the cancelling that's in a lot of gaming discussions for any personality that doesn't tell people what they want to hear, or fucks up so they can be cast as a villain (OTOH, I think many gamers just like drama, they love a redemption story too). To my mind games should encourage the interesting, fantastical and…

I agree 100%. My comment was extremely harsh but to my defence he has even apologies for his over zealous comments.

https://www.pcgamesn.com/masters-of-albion/peter-molyneux-ne...

My comment was not about his games though. It was a a strong suggestion to ignroe all his bullshit and wait for the game.

Fable is great if you ignore all his antics. All his games are ground breaking in one way or another. Just don't listen to his bs.

Re: Fable at 20: a uniquely British video game with a complex legacy

#118

Post by jamesgeck0 »

Aeolun wrote: post #2

Huh, what this whole article actually led me to find is that the winner of Curiosity never actually got any price. The price they were supposed to get was never even developed. I guess that’s some way to get out of your contractual agreements. Wonder how that would have gone for them if the winner wasn’t a clueless 18 year old.

One of my favorite things in game journalism is still Rock Paper Shotgun kicking off an interview with Peter Molyneux by asking him if he's a pathological liar.

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/peter-molyneux-interview-go...

Re: Fable at 20: a uniquely British video game with a complex legacy

#119

Post by jamesgeck0 »

keyringlight wrote: post #81
greazy wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Peter Molyneux is the king of bullshit. He's back again with another God game. https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2024/08/peter-molyneux-is-bac... He's a dreamer who won't shut up. Nearly everything that comes out of his mouth is bullshit hype.

I think Peter put into the right environment and restraints could still be a great thing. I really dislike the cancelling that's in a lot of gaming discussions for any personality that doesn't tell people what they want to hear, or fucks up so they can be cast as a villain (OTOH, I think many gamers just like drama, they love a redemption story too). To my mind games should encourage the interesting, fantastical and…

This isn't cancellation, this is fair warning. Molyneux has an extremely well documented pattern of outright lying about his projects. He's told what are in retrospect outrageous lies about every single game he's worked on for decades. And he admits "exaggerating" afterwards and asks for forgiveness, and then goes and does the exact same thing to build hype for his next game.

This isn't a case of "we were too ambitious and had to cut things." This is a case of repeatedly promising outlandishly ambitious things in press appearances which were never on any internal development roadmaps.

Re: Fable at 20: a uniquely British video game with a complex legacy

#120

Post by Aeolun »

jamesgeck0 wrote: post #118
Aeolun wrote: post #2

Huh, what this whole article actually led me to find is that the winner of Curiosity never actually got any price. The price they were supposed to get was never even developed. I guess that’s some way to get out of your contractual agreements. Wonder how that would have gone for them if the winner wasn’t a clueless 18 year old.

One of my favorite things in game journalism is still Rock Paper Shotgun kicking off an interview with Peter Molyneux by asking him if he's a pathological liar. https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/peter-molyneux-interview-go...

It’s just hard to read. Clearly he can make amazing games given constraints, but… It feels like there’s always an excuse for not doing as promised, and only trying to justify things in hindsight.

I guess all problems could be solved by just having him work on the game, and leaving PR to literally anyone else. Hell, the janitor would be a safer bet.

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