[flashbandit16]

GameInformer.com Updates:
Video Interview with Obsidian CEO

Received my GameInformer magazine here are the details, hopes it has not already be posted:

Basics

-The first game Parker and Stone have directly participated in, writing the script and the dialogue.

-Parker has always preferred silent protagonists in RPG's, so the player’s character will be silent.

-The player’s character will be fully customizable.

-Your character has a smartphone that acts as the primary game menu and has a facebook-like app show the number of friends you have and your current standing with the various kid factions.

-There are five classes, which are wizard, paladin, adventurer, rogue, and a fifth unannounced class.

-Obsidian is using the Dungeon Siege III engine.

-Obsidian developed a dynamic lip-syncing tool to accommodate changes to the script.

-Parker and Stone gave Obsidian 15 years of assets used during the show and a detailed list of approved textures and colors.

-Critical hits, cash rewards, experience, and consumables are in the game.

-Parker hates unskippable cutscenes.

-The humor will be more focus on the games they have played in the past but Parker mentions that games have lampooned other games before so they don't want to do exactly that instead they are focusing more on RPG's on how big and bombastic they can get sometimes.

Story

-The player will play as the new kid in town, the main theme of the game is fitting in and being accepted.

-The story begins with your character participating in a live action role-playing game that the neighborhood kids started, which eventually evolves into a real adventure.

-Eric Cartman will greet your character and help you decide your class, which are wizard, paladin, adventurer, rogue, and a fifth unconventional class made up by Cartman.

Combat

-Many elements of the combat system are like Paper Mario and the Mario & Luigi games.

-If player initiates combat they will attack first and vice versa.

-X button is for melee attacks, pressing it in well-timed succession will result in multiple hits.

-Timed inputs occur for defense as well for reduced damage.

-Obsidian doesn't want the player to have to sit and watch animations play out; they're incorporating dynamic camera angels at certain times, such as a Ro Sham Bo attack that stuns an enemy.

RPG

-Enemy encounters are visible on the map.

-Soda are health potions and Tweak's coffee is a haste item.

-There are melee and ranged weapons, as well as a lightning powered Okama Gameshpere that is a magic item.

-There is a Final Fantasy Materia like system in the game to augment weapons with various abilities like fire, poison, and electricity.

-There is a Summon System but they are not able to talk about it.

Collectibles

-There are collectibles to look for in the environments, some appear throughout the game while other are in specific areas.

-An example of a collectible is a Chinpokomon doll and a magazine, Chinpokomon dolls are not all the same model Obsidian are using various models that appeared in the episode.

Other

-When Obsidian were first coming up with ideas they show Parker and Stone a quest where you go into a cave and fight a giant bat boss that Ike is riding on, Parker and Stone said that the quest wasn't Southpark, that it was a generic video-game. Parker and Stone then mention a quest to get Kung Pao Chicken from City Wok, to readjust Obsidian focus.

-When they start making the town hub Parker and Stone realized that they did not have a true layout for the town, so they had fun figuring out where everything went.

-There will not be any platforming, they tried jumping early on but it didn't seem right.

-They talk about how they have had to scrap level because the perspective wasn't right because everything is hand illustrated and hand animated.

-They talk about the challenges of making a comedy driven game, Portal 2 is mention, they say if Portal 2 dialogue was on top of a shitty game it wouldn't be as good, so they want to make a game that is as good as the dialogue.

Concept Art (Massive Spoilers!!!!)

-The first concept art is a 'Gnome Mine' a concept, my guess underpants gnomes.

-The second concept art is 'UFO Crash Site', it shows Kenny, Cartman, Stan, and Kyle in front of a military fence with a UFO further away in a forest surround in mountains.

-The third concept art is a 'Gnome/Crab People D.M.Z.' label as a rough concept, it show a border fence with gnomes on one side and Crab People on the other side.

-The last concept art is 'Christmas Town' a concept.

Interview with Trey Parker and Matt Stone

-Parker and Stone really enjoy rpgs and they do think that rpgs are the best fit for southpark.

-They were asked of how making a rpg story differs for an episode, they say that the learning curve was be bigger than anything they have done other then their Broadway musical.

-Visual and Visual style seen in episodes like “Good Times With Weapons”, or the live action hamsters in “Pandemic” will not be in the game they want to keep a simple 2D style.

-Parker has been a lifelong gamers, he really likes rpgs because he like the singleplayer nature of them so he doesn’t like or get MMO’s. His favorite game is Oblivion. Also he has completed every Zelda game.

-Matt when he was young used to play the old Infocom game and Wizardry and likes open world games like Arkham City, Infamous, Grand Theft Auto, Red Dead Redemption, and also hockey and soccer games. He mention that he is more of a button masher and remember Serious Sam because he likes to shoot shit and blow shit up but he is now more interested in games like Arkham City and he hasn’t play a RPG in year because he got tired of walking everywhere. His favorite game is FIFA and he mentions getting his ass kick online by kids with English Accents.

-Lastly they joke how this Southpark game will be a cross between Obilivion and FIFA were “you gotta go kill a bunch of monsters and shit but you can only use your feet.”

Update:

Here are some things I missed. The editor says the game look like an episode of southpark and there is one screenshot that I am not sure if it is a cut-scene or in-game but it definitely looks like it could be a screenshot of an episode of southpark. Also you can explore the town between quests its a little vague it sound like walking around the town is 2D the writer mentions "exploration takes the characters from the left to the the right(and vice versa), but branching paths occasionally take them in the background or foreground to prevent the game for m becoming overly linear". There are a few screenshot of combat, the editor mentions that encounters are like classic Final Fantasy that are presented from a side view. With every combat screenshot there is only the player and one other party member(Cartman, Kyle, or Butters), fight 2-5 enemies(Girls, Gingers, Hippies, Fantasy style, and Goth) at a time.

The screenshots in the article show the player in a tree house and fighting on a top of a, different?, tree house or fort, fighting in a backyard, a cave, a forest, and a cemetery. Also in the article they mention the insides of Stan's house and just now looking at the screenshot of the tree house there is a map that I could replicate that might be layout for the town. Replication of Map(Spoilers?)

[jim-jam bongs]

...



PARTY TIME

[ZoddGutts]

Really hope it's good. Going with a combat system is like Paper Mario and the Mario & Luigi games is not a bad move. It's simple but fun. Very hard to screw up.

[The Technomancer]

-Obsidian is using the Dungeon Siege III engine.

This is excellent news, right?

[Plissken]

AWESOME INFO

Very cool info, thanks for posting all that!

[Derrick01]

Like I said the other day it doesn't seem like this will be some complex RPG, a paper mario type battle system kind of confirms that.

Still kind of stings a bit coming from the creators of a lot of the best and most complex wrpgs ever, but I will deal. Still somewhat excited.

This is excellent news, right?

Maybe. DS3 was pretty bug free but it was also an extremely un-ambitious linear RPG. It was also a meh game.

[Dragonzord]

-Combat system is like Paper Mario and the Mario & Luigi games.

Get hype mother fucker

[The Lamp]

Pffffttttt, yeah. It will come out and be game of the year. Licensed games, especially those based on South Park, have always been quality.

Just like Batman Arkham Asylum/City sucked, right?

I'm more pessimistic than optimistic (mostly because this is an exact retread of the "Bioware? Making a Sonic game? OMG IT'S GOING TO BE AMAZING!!!" situation) but I'm not knocking the possibility that this could be great.

[Nirolak]

Split bump.

[Gravijah]

"-Parker has always preferred silent protagonists in RPG's, so the player’s character will be silent."

good man.

[jim-jam bongs]

This is excellent news, right?

Yup, it's quite a good engine with regards to balancing stability, performance and fidelity. I probably wouldn't be so enthusiastic if it were being used for a game which would benefit from a photorealistic treatment, but for a game which is supposed to look like a South Park episode it's a good fit.

[HK-47]

Like I said the other day it doesn't seem like this will be some complex RPG, a paper mario type battle system kind of confirms that. Still kind of stings a bit coming from the creators of a lot of the best and most complex wrpgs ever, but I will deal. Still somewhat excited. Maybe. DS3 was pretty bug free but it was also an extremely un-ambitious linear RPG. It was also a meh game.

Paper Mario > Deus Ex

i went there with pleasure.

[bubnbob]

Maybe. DS3 was pretty bug free but it was also an extremely un-ambitious linear RPG. It was also a meh game.

Doesnt really have anything to do with the engine, though?

[odin toelust]

I have high hopes for this. Hopefully i'm let down easy

[Bumhead]

This could be incredible if done well..

[DimmuBurgerKing]

Get hype mother fucker

Funny part is, when it was initially announced, Paper Mario is the first thing I thought of given South Park's "construction paper" art style.

[TacticalFox88]

This will either be a masterpiece or a turd.

[Blablurn]

does not sound too bad!!

and... Summons?! omg

[jim-jam bongs]

The lack of ambition shown in DS3 isn't exactly an issue here when you have the two guys who created the IP overseeing everything.

Paper Mario > Deus Ex i went there with pleasure.

In terms of combat systems PM is a hell of a lot more fun than Deus Ex, I'll give you that.

[Phoenician_Viking]

These details are so good and juicy. This game is becoming a must have for me.

[Elixist]

Cool. Paper mario has an awesome battle engine. Simple and fun like another said, i'm down to see some gameplays now.

[HK-47]

This will either be a masterpiece or a turd.

Why is this mentioned all the time? In the original thread there must have been at least 10 instances of people saying the exact same thing as if it was some sage prediction.

[Robot Pants]

Fifth unannounced class will be the Jew.

[djplaeskool]

Fifth unannounced class will be the Jew.

Haha. I was about to say, either Jew or Ginger.

[HK-47]

Fifth unannounced class will be the Jew.

Dog the bounty hunter class

[Gravijah]

The lack of ambition shown in DS3 isn't exactly an issue here when you have the two guys who created the IP overseeing everything. In terms of combat systems PM is a hell of a lot more fun than Deus Ex, I'll give you that.

DAT BLOOMY AVATAR

[Derrick01]

Doesnt really have anything to do with the engine, though?

We don't really know, I think that was their first game with the engine. Hard to know what it can do or, more importantly probably, what they can do with it. I'm sure if it was as open as New Vegas it would still be filled with bugs.

Paper Mario > Deus Ex

For battle? Yeah I guess so. PM is mind numbingly simple and boring and the other is just aggravating.

[Sickboy007]

So...they're making a South Park JRPG. Makes sense.

[ezekial45]

Sounds pretty cool so far.

[Jo-El]

-Combat system is like Paper Mario and the Mario & Luigi games.

Nice!

[Trojita]

Get Hype!

[trw]

This is excellent news, right?

Think so. No matter what people thought about the game the engine seemed to be solid and practically bugfree.

[Hot Coldman]

Paper Mario combat? Christ, that's just perfect.

Is Randy in it?

[jvalioli]

Wasn't super interested until Paper Mario style combat. Awesome

[HK-47]

So...they're making a South Park JRPG. Makes sense.

Not necessarily. They mention they like open world games.

[MRORANGE]

want... kinda not sure?

[jim-jam bongs]

DAT BLOOMY AVATAR

Saints Row Sis exudes an aura of purple awesomeness wherever she goes.

[lastendconductor]

Awesome, can't wait.

[Snuggler]

This is excellent news, right?

Yes it is. DS3 was bug-free and it had zero loading times when transitioning from area to area. It's a very promising engine, I was hoping they'd be using it.

Anyways, this may not what exactly what I want from Obsidian, but it sounds promising.

[bearythebear]

Doesn't seem like a cheap cash grab and creators are excited about it. Hype!!!

[Ermac]

Yellow snowballs or no sale.

[Father_Brain]

Did the OP just forget to describe them, or did GI publish a cover story with no in-game screenshots?

[SaintZ]

I want this game!

-Combat system is like Paper Mario and the Mario & Luigi games.

YES!

[HK-47]

Did the OP just forget to describe them, or did GI publish a cover story with no in-game screenshots?

Umm even if there were in game shots, you cant post scans. And since the overview is pretty detailed...I'm guessing no screenshots of the game. Not that surprising

[Nirolak]

Did the OP just forget to describe them, or did GI publish a cover story with no in-game screenshots?

The details in the OP say that the game is 2D, so I imagine it looks like South Park.

Edit:

Unless I'm not understanding these sentences:

-Visual and Visual style seen in episodes like “Good Times With Weapons”, or the live action hamsters in “Pandemic” will not be in the game they want to keep a simple 2D style. -They talk about how they have had to scrap level because the perspective wasn't right because everything is hand illustrated and hand animated.

[Trojita]

By the way, that massive spoiler concept art section isn't that big of a spoiler if some people we're worried about highlighting it. It just shows 4 areas that are likely to be part of quests and some of the NPC's that may be in that area. All of the sections or NPC's have appeared in past South Park episodes. It's not spoiling any major plot points.

[I Push Fat Kids]

This sounds fantastic.


HYPE

[Tambini]

Sounds....actually pretty good.

[Peff]

Reminds me of Costume Quest so far. Looking forward to it!

[Dark Schala]

Sounds interesting so far. Need to see it in action before making judgement calls.

But--silent protagonist and M&L/Paper Mario combat sound enticing.