So Chris Avellone has left Obsidian to pursue "new projects" but is unable to say more at this time.

I'm curious what others think this means for Obsidian, or what new projects he might be talking about? If Bethesda allows Obsidian to make another Fallout title, will this impact its design at all?

It's certainly a big loss for Obsidian. It's not a one man show over there, but there's really no one there to fill his shoes at the moment (Ziets is not there anymore, Mitsoda is not there anymore, Sawyer is way too dry to do it, Cain is more of a programmer and systems designer...).

If Obsidian gets to make another Fallout, it will likely be a fine game, but there will be something missing from it.

Chris Avellone has apparently parted ways with Obsidian, though he says he can't talk about what he's doing now. Wonder what secretive company he may be working with now?

Yeah, I know ... it's too much to hope for that he'd be involved with Bethesda or Fallout again.

Oh well, whatever he's doing I wish him good luck.

Maybe InXile? He was working with them on Torment and Wasteland 2 while still with obsidian, so i can see him just moving over to them full time now.

I would be really happy if bethesda handed InXile the Fallout IP to make one "side" fallout game that was isometric turn based like the old ones. Of course that's a dream based off nothing, but it would be sweet if it happened.

Surprising news, hope he goes somewhere he can do more writing.

Man reading through some of the threads here it seems like everyone found out before I did Sorry if I took anyone's topic.

I agree with you though DeCaf. I don't really think any team is a one man show, but it will definitely be missing a little something in their games. Just hoping it's not too big. I still have faith they're capable of producing top notch games though.

Yea, while Avellone is a great writer Obsidian still has other fantastic writers in it's employ, I don't think it'll be that devastating of a blow to the company.

We can hope that they still have chris on for small things, like writing characters for Pillars of Eternity at the very least (as Chris was working with InXile for Wasteland and torment while he was still with obsidian).

As much as this is bad news, I'm gonna have to say I'm intrigued how this will affect Obsidian's work. This may sound mean, but it may actually be a positive change in the long run. Chris Avellone has some strange ideas concerning the Fallout franchise - the biggest one is obviously his desire to renuke the West Coast. Not to mention that his tendency to be overly deep while it mostly results in great storylines, but it could also lead to utter catastrophes - see Lonesome Road.

And he made the free expansion for FTL

For precisely this reason I don't think he'd keep it quiet. Even if it's a project he can't talk about yet, nobody would question him moving to inXile. But he's being secretive...

Unfortunate to hear since Avellone was definitely one of the biggest reasons for Obsidian's past success. Still they have plenty of fantastic developers, and good writers without him.

Avellone is irreplaceable, he had a very unique style. Still, while I agree that his narratives are dry Sawyer is capable of writing great characters. Joshua Graham was one of the best characters in New Vegas - if not the entire Fallout setting. So long as they get someone else to write the actual stories, I think Obsidian will be just fine without Chris.

This is merely an oddity where he disagrees with the fanbase. Do I think he doesn't have great ideas behind that desire? Hell no, I'm sure he's got awesome ideas, I just think destroying everything else he's built thusfar isn't neccesary and may or may not be worth doing.

His work in Pillars of Eternity stands out so much. Grieving Mother is a character I really hate, but I hate her in all the right ways. It's a very interesting and thought-provoking character concept and it's no surprise Avellone is behind it. Durance is also pretty likeable in his own weird way.

If this means they shed the cynical deconstructive whining, then I'm all for it. Hot-damn, but I could not stand Kreia OR Ulysses (his author avatars), especially when he goes on victim-blaming rants, and his difficulty in writing dialog in complete sentences really grates (especially with Ulysses monotone that's so dead that it makes Ben Stein seem lively). I am glad his "blow it all up again to tread on ground already trodden upon" intent for the Falloutverse was never allowed to come to fruition.

Yeah. I don't think Sawyer's hopeless. He's just not on par. And yeah, Obsidian'll manage. Perhaps they can snatch Chris Taylor on their payroll after they've finishded the PoE cardgame. I don't remember if he is really anything of a writer or narrative designer, but experienced guy nonetheless with a Black Isle/Fallout background.

Still, losing MCA'll definitely leave a dent.

What good might come of this, is that perhaps InXile'll snag him. He's worked with them on their Kickstarters quite a lot, and Fargo recently mentioned that they had some talks about doing something with the Van Buren licence he'd acquired. Perhaps eventually even Wasteland 3 with better writing. Who knows.

Weren't both of those character heavily toned down from Chris' original concepts?

So the dream of having both Chris Avellone and Tim Cain working at the same time on a Fallout game seems further away...

Also mean goodbye to the creator of Dead Money, New Reno or Planescape Torment...

Sad day indeed...