Q&A: July 14th, 2021 (Patreon)

Chase C Asks
Why is it so easy for a game studio to abandon a franchise?

Depends. In the case of Max Payne, not only did Remedy make the deal with Rockstar, Sam Lake has described giving up Max for the future of Remedy has being a great way to leave that character behind. In the case of Deus Ex, it's not the decision of Eidos Montreal, it's the lack of support from their owners to make another.

I'm someone who's both for moving onto new things and continuing franchises. The problem is often these two things are done purely out of profit or necessity rather than drive. You'll have studios who want to build a new thing, but are tasked with a sequel instead that fails perhaps because of their hearts not in it, and then the entire group gets shoved out of the office building.

Another component is that because game development is a long time (two years at best), a trilogy of games often means eating up more than half a decade of a developers life, and it's hard to maintain the energy and excitement behind an IP when it's taken up so much of your life, no matter how passionate you start out as.

Really, it's a surprisingly complex question, but honestly because studios rarely abandon a franchise; more often, the franchise is taken from them against their will.

Thor Grotenhuis Asks
Have you ever played any games in the Baldur’s Gate series and if so what are your opinions on it?

I played the first one years ago where I got killed by dogs because my character missed their sword swing and I rage quit...

I need to give it a fair shot sometime, especially as everything I've seen from the third game, is pretty impressive.

Odd Commercial Asks
Opinion on cold war and its soundtrack?

Haven't played the game beyond its beta nor listened to its soundtrack, but I am curious what I'll think as the airfield demo got a big laugh from me, and I could use some beautifully produced tomfuckery.

Adnan Aydın Asks
Since It's their only game left that you haven't covered and with the news of the remaster brewing, do you have any plans on doing a video on Alan Wake in the future?

Hehehehehe

Sandraincloud90 Asks
Favorite ww2 games that aren't Metal of Honor or Call of Duty?

Red Orchestra's 1&2 easily. As said in a video, I didn't binge the game nearly as much as some of my friends who logged hundreds of hours on it, but that I still remember multiple matches and moments speaks volumes to the power of those games.

Jake Malone Asks
Which game do you think implemented romance options the best?

I wouldn't call it the best, but I was pleasantly surprised by how Cyberpunk didn't just follow the normal order of its romances where the main character is always approached and sex is the crown to cap of the storyline. It felt cute, tense, and heartfelt all at once, and crucially, didn't seem to follow the soulmates BS, just two people who are better when they're near the other.

I think romances in games would be greatly improved having each one follow a different structure rather than in Bioware games where nearly all are identical in their pacing.

Nathan Tallent Asks
are you a fan of assassins creed? and will you ever do a years later series on the major instalments like you did with halo?

I couldn't call myself a fan, nor a hater. Couple years ago I binged through Assassin Creed's 1, 2, Brotherhood, Revelations, and 3, all in a month. I reached 4, but by then was burnt out and haven't returned since.

I am curious to try these new batch of games that are Witcher 3 Lite, but I just haven't had the time to jump into another massive world like that. Would I do a Years Later on them? Probably not, but at the same time, there's plenty of videos I thought I'd never make that I then did on a whim, so anything's possible.

Bryan Tai Asks
Do you have any interest or insight on physical games (e.g. board games, trading card games

Absolutely, but growing up, I never had friends with the interest to hop onto anything more complex than Monopoly, so I've never hard the chance to try something like D&D. One day, I'd like to change that though.

NephyrisX Asks
We know that Delta Force Black Hawk Down isn't exactly the greatest game around, but we can all agree Track 7 is banging right?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFJQP_QG-KY

Ain't bad.

Kirby (From Smash Melee) Asks
Are there games you'd love to make a video on that are just too hard to write about?

There's many I believe I can't add enough that's new to be worth the effort, but I don't think any's too hard to write about, if they were, I shouldn't be doing this for a living.

Submit your questions in the comments below, for future Patreon Q&A's.