Jonathan Boakes interview
 

There's a very interesting and long interview with Jonathan Boakes, in two parts, at the German site Adventure-Treff. If you click on the tiny British flag in the top corner of the interview, you can read it in English.

http://www.adventure-treff.de/

This is interesting. Hope he doesn't kill the game trying new experiments.

I don't know if I like the sound of that. I'm having trouble picturing it as an RPG.

Yeah, like Ragnar Tornquist :pan: did.
What makes those people screw up some (almost) perfect games in sequels?

I like the idea. He can keep creating Dark Falls with the conventional format - or move onto a new genre with the conventional format, but experiment with the Lost Crown series.

I'd love an RPG with adventure themes, that would not necessarily be based on combat but on exploration and uncovering information. It'd also be nice to take a break from puzzle-centricism.

I'm more worried about what he was saying about gamers not wanting non-linear games. Seems he's given up on us fans of non-linear games.

To be honest once a creator starts second guessing his audience rather than create what they want to create the quality usually starts to go downhill so however he wants to approach future games he should do.

Nooooo....ehhhh.. if it's not broken, don't fix it Jonathan. I don't like this either. I will need good reviews before I buy.

Couldn't agree more. I love the non-linear approach. And puzzles.

Oh my goodness that would be awesome! I love that show and adapted by JB would be pure heaven! Really hope he'll push though with this idea.

Ragnar Thornquist? What's wrong with what Ragnar Thornquist did? I think Dreamfall is one of the rare examples where you can say the sequal exceeded the original. I mean characters in Dreamfall were much more rounded than in TLJ. Dialogues felt much more compelling and of course a much more epic storyline. Don't get me wrong I love TLJ but Dreamfall's the better one in my book. The only thing I think Thornquist did wrong with the sequal was end on a cliffhanger and let us wait for years (if not eternity) for the inevitable third installment.

I won't be looking forward to this game with that type of play. Why, oh why do you want to ruin a good thing?

A nonlinear game by JB would be like CSI going horror.

I don't see how an RPG could possibly be non-linear. I'm kinda surprised at the grumposity. I definitely embrace such a good designer branching out.

I don't like linear games that much either, but I'd wait to see it to see if it works. I also think the Dark Fall series would be the best place to stick to the format, but since he already diverged into third-person with Lost Crown 1, I don't see a reason to not use that series to experiment.

I'll probably still buy it, since "Lost Crown" is my favorite game of all time, but the last few attempts by Boakes have really let me down...(Lost Souls and the revamp of Lights Out).

I think you're confusing two seperate points. Some people (like me) are complaining about his apparent belief that modern gamers don't like non-linear games (hence his decision to make Lost souls a 'driven' game) whereas others ae complaining about a seperate thing he said about the Last Crown supposedly having RPG-like elements.

Personally i quite liked the idea of what he said about the latter. Although he personally used the term what he described didn't sound very much like an RPG to me.

There were some good things about the revamp of Lights out but more bad in my opinion. It was made with this same mentality Lost Souls was made with: modern gamers are more stupid than in the past and need to have everything spelled out for them. Also, the changes were made too carelessly and so certain parts of the game no longer made any sense.

Exactly! I liked the original "Lights Out" better! I loved his first 3 games, but with the direction the last two have taken, I'm not as trusting as I once was. Not when I got burned for spending $40 on Lost Souls.

I'm not sure why the backlash - I think this is a terrific idea that could bring some very needed depth and complexity to adventures. Leveling to solve special situations sounds like a brilliant concept IMO.

It's not like Jonathan said that it will be an RPG anyway, just bring in a few elements from that genre.

Frankly, I'm not too happy about some of Boakes' plans for the sequel to "The Lost Crown", but I've enjoyed the first game imensly, so I will still probably play it, no matter what.

I've recently played the "Dark Fall: Lost Souls" and I wasn't dissapointed. Maybe because I've never really played the previous DF games; I've tried but I was turned down by interface and graphic. But considering how many times I've heard ravings about the first DF game on the forum, I'd might change my mind and finally play it till the end. ;)

I agree totally with this.

Let's give the guy a chance! He has an excellent track record.

Besides, as much as i love Lost Crown would it be as good a second time round unless he adds some different elements to it? Look at the Dark Fall series; all of those games are different. The first two are totally different in terms of setting and the third in terms of tone and approach to gameplay.

(although I sound very critical earlier in the thread it's only because i was picking up on a particular point about linearity vs non-linearity and my personal preferences; judged on its own merits i think Lost Souls is a very good game. I personally gave it a 4 out of 5 rating)

I liked Lost Souls too. I don't understand why people were disappointed.

I can give the two top reasons I was disappointed with "Lost Souls". One is that he relied more heavily on 'pop out' scares rather than enhancing the atmosphere like he did in his previous games, or at least I felt like this. It was more a 'in your face' horror than a creepy feeling encroaching in on you. Second reason is that he tried to add 'bigger reasons' to the characters. I'm all for making the characters more rounded, but Gloria Grable didn't need to be involved with the Russians or something else ridiculous. I liked the idea that she was jsut robbing a bank, end of story. Adding in all those slightly unbelievable details really took it away for me.

I would trust in this new branching out, if his last two gmes hadn't disappointed me. I understand some people didn't mind them, but for me, it was a change of direction than his other games. I'm still looking forward to it, but I just don't have as much faith as I used to.