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Trent Oster gives an interview to PCGamesn about PST:EE

JuliusBorisovJuliusBorisov Member, Administrator, Moderator, Developer Posts: 22,714
https://www.pcgamesn.com//planescape-torment/planescape-torment-enhanced-edition-steam

While no RPG writer can be considered an auteur - as Avellone himself made clear in our interview a couple of years ago - there’s a reason his name is that most often associated with Torment.

“He was part of all of the discussions around the story, about the game, why it was built the way it was,” says Oster. “He was that one touchpoint that we could get where he was so intimate with everything about that game.”

Avellone has worked in a background capacity with Beamdog before, acting as a script editor for Dragonspear.

“We were unsure about how best to interact with Chris, because he was at Obsidian before,” Oster recalls. “And then when he left we were like, ‘Yo, Chris! How you doing, buddy?’”

With the nomad RPG legend on board, the Beamdog team - led by Icewind Dale: Enhanced Edition project manager Alex Tomovic - have had a sounding board for their changes and inclusions. By digging into the code and referring to the “late ‘90s heavy metal” design documents of the game, they’ve been able to uncover and restore some lost content.

“Anything that was well-scaffolded and well thought-out that was left slightly incomplete, it came down to Chris,” says Oster. “We asked, ‘If this had shipped in the original, would the game have been better?’

“When we did make some changes, they were very comfortable for the original design. There are some big things that we looked at and went, ‘This would make it better but we’re basically going in and repainting the smile on the Mona Lisa here.’”

Beamdog have, in the main, erred on the side of preserving Planescape as it was - simply polishing it up for modern PCs. They’ve rebuilt the interface in high-definition, jettisoning a radial menu when they found the game played better without it. They’ve brought the audio up to contemporary standards. And they’ve pulled over convenience features from the other Enhanced Editions, like tab highlighting and a ‘quickloot’ option.

“It’s really being able to know: what are sacred cows, and what are sacrificial goats? I think we’ve had weekly calls [with Chris],” notes Oster. “It’s just an ongoing discussion.”
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Comments

  • TeflonTeflon Member, Translator (NDA) Posts: 515
    Oster explains. “Planescape is something like a second cousin twice removed.”
    :smiley:
    Thanks for sharing.
    JuliusBorisovCrevsDaak
  • CluasCluas Member Posts: 355
    pulled over convenience features from the other Enhanced Editions, like tab highlighting and a ‘quickloot’ option.

    Awesome : )
    TeflonJuliusBorisovCrevsDaak
  • ButtercheeseButtercheese Member Posts: 3,766
    By digging into the code and referring to the “late ‘90s heavy metal” design documents of the game
    I honestly can't tell if that's a good or bad thing, someone please enlighten me.
    TeflonCrevsDaak
  • ButtercheeseButtercheese Member Posts: 3,766
    edited March 2017
    @taclane Yah, okay but also:
    - Linkin Park
    - Evanescence
    - Limp Bizkit

    I hope you understand my confusion :V

    PS: Maybe that's the point tho. That the genre was in a flippin identity crisis.
    taclaneCrevsDaak
  • AndreaColomboAndreaColombo Member Posts: 5,524
    I wouldn't classify any of those three bands as "metal" though (and let the record show that there is nothing inherently wrong with Linkin Park's and Limp Bizkit's debut albums) ;)
    taclaneKamigoroshismeagolheartCrevsDaak
  • StefanOStefanO Member Posts: 346
    edited March 2017
    Please don't let us discuss Heavy Metal genres.

    Wikipedia lists 26 types of Heavy Metal. The discussion will never end.

    taclaneAncientCowboyCrevsDaak
  • DorcusDorcus Member Posts: 270
    I only listen to the finest Harsh Noise Wall and Black MIDI
    CrevsDaak
  • The user and all related content has been deleted.
    AndreaColomboKamigoroshiCrevsDaak
  • GenderNihilismGirdleGenderNihilismGirdle Member Posts: 1,353

    I'm personally more fond of DSBlake's The Evolution of Heavy Metal: makes things much more easy to understand visually. :sunglasses:


    I'm up there on the occult doom branch, sacrificing myself to the drone.
  • EnilwynEnilwyn Member Posts: 140

    @taclane Yah, okay but also:
    - Linkin Park
    - Evanescence
    - Limp Bizkit

    I hope you understand my confusion :V

    PS: Maybe that's the point tho. That the genre was in a flippin identity crisis.

    None of those are metal bands, they are firmly in the "Bro Rock" category.
    tbone1AndreaColomboillathidGenderNihilismGirdle
  • Woolie_WoolWoolie_Wool Member Posts: 153
    Well for late '90s heavy metal that was actually metal, you had Nevermore, Pantera, and At the Gates...

    ...I think I'll take the '80s metal, thankyouverymuch.
    smeagolheart
  • smeagolheartsmeagolheart Member Posts: 7,963
    Partial to Euro Power Metal myself. Not a fan of NuMetal in general. Also like the classic New Wave of British Heavy metal.

  • GenderNihilismGirdleGenderNihilismGirdle Member Posts: 1,353
    because that tree @Kamigoroshi posted doesn't include other genres and how they fuse with metal, one of my fave genre fusions, blackgaze/blackened shoegaze (aka black metal+shoegaze) is missing, but I think it's one of the most enjoyable branch-offs from the metal tree
    EnilwynCrevsDaak
  • ButtercheeseButtercheese Member Posts: 3,766

    I'm personally more fond of DSBlake's The Evolution of Heavy Metal: makes things much more easy to understand visually. :sunglasses:


    That map doesn't take classical music as one of the key influences into account and puts Folk and Power Metal on different branches, how accurate can it be? :V
  • tbone1tbone1 Member Posts: 1,985

    I'm personally more fond of DSBlake's The Evolution of Heavy Metal: makes things much more easy to understand visually. :sunglasses:


    Specifically at the blues level was Howlin' Wolf. He took the old Delta blues of Charlie Patton and, by the time he was recorded by Sam Phillips in 1950, had laid the foundation for heavy metal four years before Elvis Presley stepped into the same studio. Plus he was probably the guy Led Zeppelin ripped off most.
    KamigoroshiAerakarCrevsDaak
  • KamigoroshiKamigoroshi Member Posts: 5,870

    I'm personally more fond of DSBlake's The Evolution of Heavy Metal: makes things much more easy to understand visually. :sunglasses:


    That map doesn't take classical music as one of the key influences into account and puts Folk and Power Metal on different branches, how accurate can it be? :V
    Very accurate. Folk Metal, just like Viking Metal and other forms of Pagan Metal, derived from Black Metal. Not Power Metal. This can nicely been seen from the fact that many founders of Folk Metal band like Cruachan were, in fact, Black Metal bands. And Skyclad was part of the Thrash Metal scene, which evolved into Black Metal. :V
  • ButtercheeseButtercheese Member Posts: 3,766
    @Kamigoroshi Well, yeah, but different sub-genres influenced each other. Some branches should be running into each other again. Also, still missing the classical sauce.
  • Woolie_WoolWoolie_Wool Member Posts: 153
    edited March 2017

    I'm personally more fond of DSBlake's The Evolution of Heavy Metal: makes things much more easy to understand visually. :sunglasses:


    That map doesn't take classical music as one of the key influences into account and puts Folk and Power Metal on different branches, how accurate can it be? :V
    What about USPM and progressive metal being on different tracks, as progressive metal grew out of the more experimental and ambitious USPM acts, and prog metal codifiers Dream Theater themselves were a USPM act until they bleached all the Fates Warning, Queensryche, Crimson Glory, etc. out of their sound in the mid-'90s? Really you can't divide things that cleanly. Music is not like cladistic taxonomy, because any form of music can potentially hybridize with any other.
    DoubledimasButtercheese
  • DoubledimasDoubledimas Member, Mobile Tester Posts: 1,286


    Fates Warning, Queensryche, Crimson Glory

    Well, at least I know what I'll be listening to tomorrow :smile:

    smeagolheartButtercheese
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