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  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

How LucasArts Fell Apart

Discussion in 'Archive: Games' started by Alessandro Sanfilippo, Sep 27, 2013.

  1. Alessandro Sanfilippo

    Alessandro Sanfilippo Jedi Padawan star 1

    Registered:
    Sep 16, 2013
    Original from Kotaku: http://kotaku.com/how-lucasarts-fell-apart-1401731043

    I'm not really a fan of posting the entire text of articles, especially good ones like these, and depriving the article source of their rightful hits. A link is fine like jp said. Plus you could add so more discussion/opinions.
     
  2. jp-30

    jp-30 Manager Emeritus star 10 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Dec 14, 2000
    A link would have sufficed. Anyway GTA Coruscant was actually a thing! LOL.
     
  3. Darth-Lando

    Darth-Lando Jedi Grand Master star 6

    Registered:
    Aug 12, 2002
    So basically, every Star Wars game people have ever asked for was in production at some point and they were all ruined by Lucas himself. Why am I not surprised?
     
  4. TiniTinyTony

    TiniTinyTony JCC Super Bowl Pick 'Em Winner star 7 VIP - Game Winner

    Registered:
    Mar 9, 2003
    DOTT HD would have been an insta-buy for me. So sad now. :(
     
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  5. Alessandro Sanfilippo

    Alessandro Sanfilippo Jedi Padawan star 1

    Registered:
    Sep 16, 2013
    Nevere thought of this, but yeah.

    I was hoping some company finished 1313 but I know that would never happen.
     
  6. The2ndQuest

    The2ndQuest Tri-Mod With a Mouth star 10 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Jan 27, 2000
    Making a GTA Coruscant would have been the end of this forum, LOL.

    It hurts my soul that there was a Wii U-based, XW/TF-inspired vehicular game canned because of all this (and unlikely to ever resurface due to the ongoing EA/Nintendo standoff).

    MY SOUL.
     
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  7. jacktherack

    jacktherack Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Mar 19, 2008
    Yeah i find it funny how they say none of those games would have made any money. i'm pretty sure anyone if i asked anyone if they would buy those games they would have said yes.
     
  8. The2ndQuest

    The2ndQuest Tri-Mod With a Mouth star 10 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Jan 27, 2000
    Outside of the FarmVille clones, I think everyone would have bought all of those. Heck, even that Death Star app sounded neat.
     
  9. SithLordDarthRichie

    SithLordDarthRichie CR Emeritus: London star 9

    Registered:
    Oct 3, 2003
    Given how much was apparently finished, one assumes they were handed over to EA. Maybe we will see them get released now, phone games should make decent money as would Day of the Tentacle. If all they need is a bit of testing and then distribution I think EA would be mad not to utilise them
     
  10. MarcusP2

    MarcusP2 Manager Emeritus star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Jul 10, 2004
    Ender Sai = George Lucas apparently.
     
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  11. Chewgumma

    Chewgumma Chosen One star 7

    Registered:
    Apr 14, 2009
    There's a really interesting comment on that article by someone who claims to be an Ex-Lucasarts employee which seems to confirm everyone's suspicions about George Lucas not taking well to being told no...

     
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  12. Zeta1127

    Zeta1127 Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Sep 2, 2012
    And now no one even tries to tell George Lucas no, and we end up with stuff like TCW and TFU.
     
  13. SithLordDarthRichie

    SithLordDarthRichie CR Emeritus: London star 9

    Registered:
    Oct 3, 2003
    TFU 1 was fine (as a story, the gameplay was OK but it was kinda short and OTT), TFU 2 should not have happened.

    TCW is also good, the Darth Maul thing aside and even that was generally done well. Lucas just wasn't cut out to running a business that branched out to so many mediums he didn't know enough about. He also should have set out for concrete ideas and stuck to them, additional ideas can be used for future material instead of making changes part-way through stuff all the time.
     
  14. Zeta1127

    Zeta1127 Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Sep 2, 2012
    If TFU hadn't screwed with the founding of the Alliance to Restore the Republic and TCW hadn't given Anakin a Padawan and completely changed the timeline of the Clone Wars among other things, I probably would have accepted them.
     
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  15. SithLordDarthRichie

    SithLordDarthRichie CR Emeritus: London star 9

    Registered:
    Oct 3, 2003
    Ahsoka is a great character, she adds an interesting dynamic to Obi Wan and Anakin.

    I get people like the EU books and whatnot, but expecting Lucas to adhere to it was a futile effort long ago. Just accept the new continuity and enjoy what is good about it, you'll be better off that way.
    Episode VII is likely to screw around with a lot more established canon, and if it's a great movie I will overlook that.
     
  16. Zeta1127

    Zeta1127 Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Sep 2, 2012
    I can't take Ahsoka seriously, because she wasn't in the films or novels, and doesn't add anything to the story to me. The only way I could've taken Ahsoka seriously is if she would have been there from the beginning of the Clone Wars EU.

    Lucas authorized the Clone Wars multimedia project, even writing the forward to Shatterpoint, then comes along later and changes things with TCW. Its one thing to do this kind of thing with the films, but he was obviously somewhat familiar with the Clone Wars EU. I can't enjoy it when all I see is what was changed.
     
  17. DarthCane

    DarthCane Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    May 30, 2002
    For me the TFU and TCW foulup was more along the lines of directly going against what we see in the movies.

    - Luke Skywalker, a neophyte Jedi-in-training who's the only hope for stopping Vader and the Emperor? Yeah, there was this random guy before him who smacked both of those two around like rented gongs, captured Vader, dragged Star Destroyers out of orbit, and was responsible for founding the whole Rebellion.

    - Anakin in RotS being treated like an impetuous rookie by the Council? Hey, we gave him his very own apprentice to mentor about three years ago!

    With the way things have gone, if the sequel trilogy erases the EU as a whole, I will look fondly upon the Thrawn Trilogy, say "But it was so artistically done," and issue the Base Delta Zero order to remove these contagions.
     
  18. Zeta1127

    Zeta1127 Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Sep 2, 2012
    Starkiller and all of the implications that come with him, ignoring the changes to the founding of the Alliance, don't bug me quite as much as TCW, which meddles with so many little things from RotS that Ahsoka is pretty much just insult to injury to me, because a lot of the issues with him are a side effect of gameplay mechanics.
     
  19. Shadow Trooper

    Shadow Trooper Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jul 18, 2013
    I agree with Zeta. Force Unleashed had very little impact on the EU and is barly even referenced in EU outside of the games. TCW on the other hand is harder to overlook because it messes with an entire era, and will be referenced in further EU as the official happenings of the Clone Wars so it is harder to ignore. Thankfully, the Dark Horse clone wars comics still exist so at least the time period has a viable substitute for my head canon.
     
  20. The2ndQuest

    The2ndQuest Tri-Mod With a Mouth star 10 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Jan 27, 2000
    It's barely referenced because that stupid Bail thing at the end is impossible to reconcile with any reason- film, EU or otherwise.
     
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  21. Mirax Terrik

    Mirax Terrik Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Mar 11, 2000
    I'm playing TFU right now and as a game, it's fantastic. I haven't gotten to the end though, so I can't voice any opinions on its treatment of EU.

    Right now, my main complaint is that they couldn't come up with a better name than Juno Eclipse.

    Juno Eclipse.
     
  22. SithLordDarthRichie

    SithLordDarthRichie CR Emeritus: London star 9

    Registered:
    Oct 3, 2003
    Given most games have multiple endings and possible appearances for characters (I never have Jaden look like a human in Jedi Academy, but the EU says he is one), surely you can just think of them as an alternate story and ignore them. I do the same with much of the EU, it's just an alternate take on things by a fan (a professional writer fan, but a fan nonetheless).

    Exaggerated powers for a video game, not canon. As if Vader or Sidious couldn't do ridiculous things if they wanted to.
    The story is what matters, the gameplay is just for fun.

    I've nothing against a Jedi helping found the Rebellion (along with others), at least he did something about the imperial threat rather than run away and hide on some swamp world like Yoda for 2 decades. Jedi should be inspiring people, which is what Galen Marek did.

    Lucas at least wrote an interesting story for TFU, even if the game wasn't the best. I presume he was also responsible for the sequel though, which rather spoiled the point of the ending of the first one.
     
  23. DarthCane

    DarthCane Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    May 30, 2002
    The "story" still involves Marek going one-on-two with both of the galaxy's Sith Lords - one of whom is Anakin Freakin' Skywalker and the other of whom pwned four Jedi Council members - and holding his own; hell, absolutely trashing Vader. At the end of RotJ, Luke only manages to take Vader down after being royally PO'd and then gets effortlessly toasted by Palpatine. Galen Marek is the Gary Stu of Gary Stus in the Star Wars EU.

    As far as "inspiring" people, that also touches on an issue - remember the good old days when the Rebellion was a band of ordinary folks who became extraordinary in opposing the Empire? Yeah, instead of the fledgling coalition of idealists we see at the end of RotS (and throughout the WEG and Bantam EU) proving that average citizens can rally together on principles of freedom and democracy to overthrow a tyrannical autocracy, we need a magical superman/messiah figure to make everything happen. That's not just TFU - starting with the YV war books, it's like the galaxy as a whole can't find its backside with a diagram and a glowlamp if the Jedi aren't there holding everyone's hands. I realize the Jedi are a cornerstone of the Star Wars mythos, but sheesh, let the Force-insensitive dolts do a few things on their own.

    Apologies for getting sidetracked - I do not want this thread to go off on a tangent - but in my opinion, the great LucasArts games in the franchise were the ones that had you as just another soldier in the war. An X-wing pilot, a smuggler, a Republic Commando, a neophyte Jedi whose worst enemies weren't fit to lick Vader's boots ... not a bland, effortless Person of Mass Destruction.
     
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  24. Ender Sai

    Ender Sai Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Feb 18, 2001
    Honestly though, I wanted SW games that were on par with the Golden Age of the company. Think X-WIng, TIE FIghter, XWA, DF, DF2:JK, Rebellion...

    KOTOR proved you don't have to retell the battle of Hoth or have hyper kinetic force combat lulz to sell. You just need a good story in the SW universe that isn't buggy. Hell, KOTOR 2 is forgivable on narrative levels even with it's many bugs and issues.

    SW:GTA and SW:Skyrim sounded bland because they weren't trying to tell a story, they were trying to exploit a popular gimmick.
     
  25. jp-30

    jp-30 Manager Emeritus star 10 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Dec 14, 2000
    The thing that made LucasArts so special back in the day was precisely the storytelling0. So sad to see where it ended up,and why...