Molyneux Leaves Lionhead for Indie Studio.

[Panthera]

I enjoyed Black & White right up until the end of the first level. Doing god-like quests for your ugly little dudes while training a creature? Fun! I could play that for a full-length game. When it turned into mind-numbingly-slowly-expand-your-village-while-hurling-rocks-at-extremely-distant-enemies? I wasn't as impressed.

[TheFlyingOrc]

I would honestly be surprised to find out that 1% of all people who ever played Black and White actually finished it.

[CES]

I did but the last three worlds suck. Considering there's only five in the game and you see why there was a huge community making custom maps for skirmish mode.

[TheFlyingOrc]

Originally Posted by CES

I did but the last three worlds suck. Considering there's only five in the game and you see why there was a huge community making custom maps for skirmish mode.

I tried to finish Map 5, I really did.

I...did the math, and realized I had like another 3 hours of shepharding nothing while my little circle slowly expanded. I gave up.

[Narradisall]

I finished it, and enjoyed it for the most part. Although the last mission was fucking nigh impossible, and being the good guy was damned tough at times on the latter missions, as aforementioned it was easier to hurl rocks at people and make them worship you!

Still it failed to reach many of the targets.

Dungeon Keeper was fucking awesome though, and anyone saying otherwise is a fucking dirty lying whore.

[DiBiddilyBop]

I finished Black and White and really enjoyed it. The original Populous is also one of my all-time favourite games (never played any of the sequels after hearing they were awful). Other than those two though, I'm not sure he's ever done anything I care about. He seems like the kind of developer that might do really well at an indie studio, so here's to hoping.

[bryan]

Put me in the same boat as the people who are excited cause this might mean another Dungeon Keeper game.

I skipped all the Fable games.

[Xerxes]

I saw this on twitter were harping over her talking too much and failing to meet promises. It felt like it was 2004 all over again after Fable came out.

Dude apologized and has been a bit more reserved over the years and people still attribute over promising to him. He never said Milo was a game in the works. Was a fucking tech demo. Leave the man alone.

[MagGnome]

The chances of Molyneux making a new Dungeon Keeper are ridiculously small. Let's be realistic here.

[Shieldmaiden]

The first two Fables are still a couple of my favourite games. I love how they're filled with lots of stuff that you can just tool around with that is utterly extraneous to the business of going off on quests. If someone combined that with the amount of content present in an Elder Scrolls game, I think I'd be lost in the game for months.

[bryan]

Originally Posted by MagGnome

The chances of Molyneux making a new Dungeon Keeper are ridiculously small. Let's be realistic here.

I think we all used to believe the same of a new X-Com being made. /optimist

[MosBen]

Flying Orc, I didn't finish Black & White, but I still enjoyed it. I don't think that's a contradiction at all. I made it to the third level, hit some of the problems that people are talking about, and by that time I had moved on to other things. I played the first couple levels several times and got plenty of enjoyment out of playing around. I've never finished a GTA or Elder Scrolls game either, but I've played them all and gotten tons of enjoyment out of them. B&W had a bunch of really interesting ideas going on. There were just some execution problems (mostly bugs, but some gameplay stuff too). Actually, I just looked up the sailor's song on You Tube and immediately smiled.

As for the games that he's made, I think the list in the post covered it, other than adding Dungeon Keeper, which was a great game. I don't know exactly what his role in Syndicate was. But even if you only consider that he invented the god game genre in Populus, that would make him a giant in the industry.

[Squidbot]

TFO's replies are pretty funny.

[TheFlyingOrc]

Originally Posted by MosBen

Flying Orc, I didn't finish Black & White, but I still enjoyed it. I don't think that's a contradiction at all. I made it to the third level, hit some of the problems that people are talking about, and by that time I had moved on to other things. I played the first couple levels several times and got plenty of enjoyment out of playing around. I've never finished a GTA or Elder Scrolls game either, but I've played them all and gotten tons of enjoyment out of them.

They didn't have exactly five levels. Almost everyone quits playing B&W after a few hours. It was a full price game with less content than most bad free Android App games.

B&W had a bunch of really interesting ideas going on. There were just some execution problems (mostly bugs, but some gameplay stuff too). Actually, I just looked up the sailor's song on You Tube and immediately smiled.

Yes, but here's the kicker: interesting ideas are worthless in the game industry. Everyone has interesting ideas, hell, I'll prove it.

I asked my co-worker for "an interesting idea, regardless of quality, similar to a gameplay idea Molyneux would promote"

He responded with "You can throw any object from your inventory at any time in any direction." This took him about 15 seconds.

As for the games that he's made, I think the list in the post covered it, other than adding Dungeon Keeper, which was a great game. I don't know exactly what his role in Syndicate was. But even if you only consider that he invented the god game genre in Populus, that would make him a giant in the industry.

Ah, I was waiting for this argument. The "god game" shouldn't be considered a genre. Their gameplay is functionally no different than a strategy game (in fact, I challenge you to explain how Dungeon Keeper is functionally different than a god game). Even if it WAS worth calling a genre, it is a very small genre.

Molyneux is a poor man's Hideo Kojima.

edit: OI'M PEETAH MOLLENEW, OI FINK THIS ACCENT IS THE FONNIEST TING IN DA WOILD.

[muddi900]

Peter Moleneux is from Lestah?

[Gorvi]

When did I start agreeing with Orc so much. I'm noticing it more and more these days, what the hell?

[Widgetcraft]

Forget about over-promising games, a lot of his games are just shitty. The Black & White games, for starters. Those games just suck, they're bad. They fail as a strategy game, and they fail as a virtual pet. Then there is Fable 3, which again, was terrible; it was like a gimped version of Fable 2.

[TheFlyingOrc]

Originally Posted by Gorvi

When did I start agreeing with Orc so much. I'm noticing it more and more these days, what the hell?

Because it is almost impossible to have thought through why Peter Molyneux sucks as much as I have, so my arguments are basically airtight.

I will admit that my obsession with hating him may not be healthy. Doesn't change the fact that he's basically a grown up version of the kid who has "So many great game ideas" and thinks that this will allow him to start designing his own video games, BUT FOR SOME REASON PEOPLE ACTUALLY LISTEN TO HIM.

I still love Dungeon Keeper even though its just Evil Farmville.

Originally Posted by muddi900

Peter Moleneux is from Lestah?

It's not that he talks like that personally, but you can guarantee that he'll have characters with that accent in his game, and they will be presented as if it is the funniest thing that has ever happened.

[MosBen]

I'm willing to concede that it's reasonable to dislike B&W. The first game shipped with atrocious bugs, and there's really no excuse for that, and the pet wasn't quite pulled off. Still, there were plenty of interesting things going on there that gave me enjoyment. I liked the mouse-casting for spells. I liked playing with my pet, even though it was harder to teach him stuff than I'd have liked. The Evil and Good advisers were charming. I liked the humor of the game, generally, which also applies to the Fable games.

I get that some people found the Fable and B&W series disappointing or just not enjoyable. That's fine. To each their own. But I still don't see how anyone can deny that he's a major figure in gaming, or at least gaming history. Whether you think the god genre isn't a proper genre or not, Populus is an important game in gaming history, and he's behind it. And the Fable series has sold like gangbusters. The thread started with a joke that he left MS and nobody cared, and that sentiment seems to be seriously held by people, which I think is silly. Like him or not, his leaving MS is significant.

[TheFlyingOrc]

Originally Posted by MosBen

I get that some people found the Fable and B&W series disappointing or just not enjoyable. That's fine. To each their own. But I still don't see how anyone can deny that he's a major figure in gaming, or at least gaming history. Whether you think the god genre isn't a proper genre or not, Populus is an important game in gaming history, and he's behind it. And the Fable series has sold like gangbusters. The thread started with a joke that he left MS and nobody cared, and that sentiment seems to be seriously held by people, which I think is silly. Like him or not, his leaving MS is significant.

Games always sell millions of copies when Microsoft throws its marketing weight behind them. I'm sure Populous was good, but that doesn't change the fact that he does exactly everything wrong when developing, and most of his games would be far better with someone else helming them. I honestly expect that his new studio to do very poorly without major $$$ behind it, and I unironically think that his leaving Lionhead is likely to improve the quality of their upcoming titles.

I also found the 30 minutes of dialog of the good and evil advisers charming, and laughed at the boat song. If you believe that you got $50 worth of game from Black and White, I'll call you a liar.