Denis Dyack is batshit insane

[Howard Alan Treesong]

I might not agree with the things he says, or even enjoy his games --- I don't know, I haven't tried --- but I think it's disgusting that such a huge anti-Dyack sentiment has been fostered willfully on GAF, while people with similar ideas, like Kojima, are put on pedestals. Dyack is not in his position by sheer luck. He must possess some skill to have stayed in the industry for 16 years+.

Well, he's only managed to make, what, three games for five publishers in that time period? The only thing he's good at is burning his bridges slowly, rather than all at once.

[Beezy]

I didn't know this dude was responsible for Blood Omen. That game was the reason why I hated the PS1 back then. I actually liked the game, but the load times were fucking ridiculous. I still remember that shit after all these years. I never wanted to play a CD based system again.

[cool breeze]

Go back and play Blood Omen again.

I bet you don't last an hour. The loading will get you.

I beat Blood Omen. I'm glad I did, because it was a pretty cool game, and at the time, when I was like, 15 or whatever, the idea that my character was this irredeemable bastard was so exciting and fresh. But seriously, it doesn't hold up. I know most games don't but BO is exceptional in it's technical assery and fuckwit game mechanics.

The last half of the game is filled with annoying armored enemies that walk right through your sword strikes, so you had to use the tonfas or clubs or whatever, cause they would stun them and knock them back. But they didn't draw blood, so you'd tonfa a dude, hit start (wait 10 seconds) equip a sword or an axe, hit start (wait 10 more seconds), slice up the man you just stunned, drink his blood, and then do it 20 more times.

I actually played the entire Blood Omen/Soul Reaver again recently.  The only game that was hard to go back to was Blood Omen 2.  That game is a mess.

And you must have played the PS1 version, right?

[drohne]

a. kojima doesn't talk like this at all -- his games are batshit insane, but personally he seems really restrained and down to earth

b. kojima's attitude towards plagiarism: he dropped the mgs theme when it turned out that its bridge was lifted from a russian composer. dyack's attitude towards plagiarism: eternal darkness

c. miyamoto and his increasingly underserved reputation are responsible for the whole misbegotten kojima/sk collabo. i lay it at his door

[MrAngryFace]

haha sorry drohne, that third panel, the intensity. he's nuts dude

[siamesedreamer]

I thought Fable 2's co-op was confirmed to be only local/split-screen?

Quite the opposite so far.

I just did some searching and can't find anything about online co-op being confirmed. Right now its just local.

[Draft]

Go back and play Blood Omen again.

I bet you don't last an hour. The loading will get you.

I beat Blood Omen. I'm glad I did, because it was a pretty cool game, and at the time, when I was like, 15 or whatever, the idea that my character was this irredeemable bastard was so exciting and fresh. But seriously, it doesn't hold up. I know most games don't but BO is exceptional in it's technical assery and fuckwit game mechanics.

The last half of the game is filled with annoying armored enemies that walk right through your sword strikes, so you had to use the tonfas or clubs or whatever, cause they would stun them and knock them back. But they didn't draw blood, so you'd tonfa a dude, hit start (wait 10 seconds) equip a sword or an axe, hit start (wait 10 more seconds), slice up the man you just stunned, drink his blood, and then do it 20 more times.

I actually played the entire Blood Omen/Soul Reaver again recently.  The only game that was hard to go back to was Blood Omen 2.  That game is a mess.

And you must have played the PS1 version, right?

Yup, one of the first games I bought for the old PSX.

I have the PC version but I've never been able to get it to work...

[cool breeze]

Yup, one of the first games I bought for the old PSX.

I have the PC version but I've never been able to get it to work...

PC version is much better (surprise surprise), but the PS1 version was pretty terrible, especially with the loading.

[duckman2000]

So, has anyone PM'd Dyack yet?

[bork]

Sacred 2 is supposed to have co-op

FOUR PLAYER CO-OP! 

[duckman2000]

Sounds pretty awesome to me. I don't know, I've always argued that games could use more genuinely screwheaded scenes. Like, imagine Gears of War, duking it out against the grubs, destroyed beauty as far as the eye can see, blood everywhere... and then a gigantic purple poop-throwing monkey flies across the screen. The other stuff is great, but that would make it unforgettable.

[brawndolicious]

If it has a theme similar to MGS' in it (from what Groo said) then that would make sense since he said once that he has a lot of respect for Kojima.  Personally, the theme and mythology of Too Human do interest me but I don't expect it to be some sort of world-changing masterpiece.  It's mostly because I want to see what Dyack had perculating for 10 years.  In Eternal Darkness (the only game of his that I played) there were some interesting ideas on how to immerse the player so I do think that Dyack has the ability to make some interesting game mechanics in Too Human that were not shown yet.  It's ultimately up to how I like the demo and which side of the scale all the reviews are on (nobody's going to call a weird game with this much hype mediocre).  This blog post, even with the ESL level grammar, actually make me have more faith in the game because it shows that he's willing to talk about it to the type of people who sit around with their thumbs up their asses all day whining about how weird the tits look in this game.  He might sound like an uptight elitist but I think he was a little angry when he wrote that.

Compared to Kojima, I consider Dyack socially awkward and Kojima insane.  They both have weird ideas on how to fuck with people's minds but Kojima has absolutely no control over his own.

[recursivelyenumerable]

Nah, he's a fruitcake. Come on, all that stuff about Wii being a burger, PS3 being a fine piece of steak with wine.

Japanese developers all love goofy metaphors like that though

[drohne]

Nah, he's a fruitcake. Come on, all that stuff about Wii being a burger, PS3 being a fine piece of steak with wine. He's lost it. And everytime he says "this is my last MGS... oh no, go on, just one more".

dunno what to tell you if you don't find a tonal difference between 'ps3 is like a steak' and 'miyamoto is like aristotle.' it would take a long time to list the unpleasant things about denis dyack, but you could start by saying that he's totally humorless

That's admirable if true, but who's to say he didn't just get tired of the piece and use that as a tidy way of cleaning up while making him sound awesome?

iirc he yanked that section of the song from soundtrack rereleases -- i remember bebpo freaking out on gaf -- so by your theory, he'd have to be REALLY FUCKING SICK of that song. and hibino didn't even work on mgs4

[Howard Alan Treesong]

Silicon Knights
1996-2008 (12 years)
Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain (1996)
Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem (2002)
Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes (2004)
Too Human (2008)

Shakespeare
1598-1610 (12 years)
Much Ado About Nothing (1598)
As You Like It (1599)
Julius Caesar (1599)   
Henry V (1599)
Hamlet (1600)
Twelfth Night (1601)
All's Well That Ends Well (1602)
Othello (1603)
Measure for Measure (1603)
Timon of Athens (1604)
King Lear (1605)
Macbeth (1606)
Pericles (1606)
Antony and Cleopatra (1607)
Coriolanus (1608)
Cymbeline (1609)
The Winter's Tale (1609)
The Tempest (1610)

[cool breeze]

Shakespeare didn't have to deal with middleware.

[disgruntled_jojo]

Considering how long  SK takes in making games, they really have come out pretty... average. For the record Eternal Darkness does not deserve a place on anyone's 'classics' list.  It's a good game with some seriously flawed design decisions, a middle-school level plot (ROVIAS, lol), and a hella lotta Lovecraftian theft.  It's worth a playthrough, but I seriously don't get the love some people shower on that game.  Twin Snakes is universally considered the black sheep of the 'main series' MGSes... and a remake of MGS1 with a real director at the helm of the cut scenes and fixed continuity errors was just asking to be a home run.  LoK was their best game, and that was over a decade ago.  Even it has problems.  Too Human is really just a game.  I doubt it's going to challenge anyone's ideas of how technology shapes our communication or whatever he's saying, but I'll at least reserve my opinion as to how the game plays until I've given it a rental.

But the quote from the OP is really what this thread is about.  And let's face it, folks:

PARGON Denis PARGON Dyack PARGON is PARGON batshit PARGON insane PARGON

Oh, and Dyack, if you're reading this: A hearty Fuck You! for the penny/fuse puzzle in ED.

[disgruntled_jojo]

Shakespeare didn't have to deal with middleware.

But if he had I bet he wouldn't have sued them asking for all the profits from their previous screenplay

[Howard Alan Treesong]

Silicon Knights
1996-2008 (12 years)
Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain (1996) - actually finished by Crystal Dynamics and Amy Hennig when it became clear Dyack couldn't make a game to save his life
Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem (2002) - changed systems twice, awful Lovecraft fanfic
Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes (2004) - a next-gen remake of a game that somehow managed to be worse in every aspect than the original
Too Human (2008) - laughable E3 showing, 10 years overdue, downgrades-a-plenty, probably shit

[duckroll]

This is the best thread I've read in ages. Holy shit the humor! 

[drohne]

But if he had I bet he wouldn't have sued them asking for all the profits from their previous screenplay

shakespeare was actually kind of litigious in his years of retirement. in the course of his shakespearean career, i guess dyack is getting all the lawsuits and unproductiveness out of the way early and saving the work of preternatural genius for later

[Jansen]

blood omen is better than eternal darkness. the story, dialogue, and gameplay have all faired better after 12 years than eternal darkness which was released 6 years ago.

[MCD]

huh.

actually, his new engine is supposed to have 4xaa but looking at the latest screenshots, looks like 2xaa.

[WrikaWrek]

Bunch of hatin mongols

[y2kev]

Richard III > anything dennis will ever do ever

I just don't get people who defend this game. There are games that you can play on the PC for free that I can guarantee will do the same thing Too Human does with more players involved and better gameplay.

I don't even really PLAY a lot of PC games and I can see console bias here. This would get laughed out of the room on the PC. I still don't know why it's getting the Hellgate London kid-glove treatment when the media is getting ready to shit on it anyway (look at Chris Remo at gaf).

[Mupepe]

Go back and play Blood Omen again.

I bet you don't last an hour. The loading will get you.

I beat Blood Omen. I'm glad I did, because it was a pretty cool game, and at the time, when I was like, 15 or whatever, the idea that my character was this irredeemable bastard was so exciting and fresh. But seriously, it doesn't hold up. I know most games don't but BO is exceptional in it's technical assery and fuckwit game mechanics.

The last half of the game is filled with annoying armored enemies that walk right through your sword strikes, so you had to use the tonfas or clubs or whatever, cause they would stun them and knock them back. But they didn't draw blood, so you'd tonfa a dude, hit start (wait 10 seconds) equip a sword or an axe, hit start (wait 10 more seconds), slice up the man you just stunned, drink his blood, and then do it 20 more times.

the loading times don't bother me.  i'm pretty forgiving on shit like that, especially if it's a game I love.  I played it a few months ago actually.  One of the few games I actually care about from my ps1 collection.  I also have the PC version and it's loaded on a mem card for my psp.    I've been told that i like everything on this forum though.  most technical issues don't bother me.

also, siamesedreamer, http://forums.gametrailers.com/showthread.php?p=11581067

there were some videos of him playing the game co op and the way he spoke made implied distinctly that it would be online.  of course he dodged the question, but maybe microsoft has just told him not to say anything yet so it can be a mega announcement somewhere.  or maybe he just learned his lesson about speaking too soon.

[AdmiralViscen]

Richard III > anything dennis will ever do ever

I just don't get people who defend this game. There are games that you can play on the PC for free that I can guarantee will do the same thing Too Human does with more players involved and better gameplay.

I don't even really PLAY a lot of PC games and I can see console bias here. This would get laughed out of the room on the PC. I still don't know why it's getting the Hellgate London kid-glove treatment when the media is getting ready to shit on it anyway (look at Chris Remo at gaf).

y2kev

I don't get people who like SK at all, as the above lists show there is really nothing there. Even if you don't hate or dislike them, they don't do much of anything!

[trippingmartian]

I don't know why so many people get sand in their vaginas whenever this guy opens his mouth. Who honestly gives a crap?

[y2kev]

I can't believe he actually wrote that, what a gigantic piece of douche.

y2kev is back

yeah, I had to log in so I could ignore ParticleRetardality, so while I was logged in I figure I might as well share my thoughts on dyack.

I thought Eternal Darkness was pretty good in that 6-7/10 kind of way. It was really repetitive.

[duckman2000]

On some level, I agree with Dyack in that previews can be a bugger for everyone involved. I just don't buy him making this argument, seeing as how he himself, and I doubt this was all dictated by a contract, kept the flow of hype going pretty strong for a while there. And as said, the goalposts have moved, and I'm not sure why people are expected to simply forget the early words on the game.

And if he wants to be taken seriously, he really should be lashing out at those who then, without any first hand experience of their own, largely repeat the good things that Dyack has said about the game. If you really want to make a case against pre-release criticism, then make it count in both directions. But that won't happen, because the dude is only human. He doesn't like his games being ripped to shreds, which is understandable. But his insistence that he is somehow arguing from a higher position, that's what makes it so god damn easy to fall in line with the haters.

[chronovore]

On some level, I agree with Dyack in that previews can be a bugger for everyone involved. I just don't buy him making this argument, seeing as how he himself, and I doubt this was all dictated by a contract, kept the flow of hype going pretty strong for a while there. And as said, the goalposts have moved, and I'm not sure why people are expected to simply forget the early words on the game.

And if he wants to be taken seriously, he really should be lashing out at those who then, without any first hand experience of their own, largely repeat the good things that Dyack has said about the game. If you really want to make a case against pre-release criticism, then make it count in both directions. But that won't happen, because the dude is only human. He doesn't like his games being ripped to shreds, which is understandable. But his insistence that he is somehow arguing from a higher position, that's what makes it so god damn easy to fall in line with the haters.

Naw, if you ask me, The Dyack is too human.

[disgruntled_jojo]

On some level, I agree with Dyack in that previews can be a bugger for everyone involved. I just don't buy him making this argument, seeing as how he himself, and I doubt this was all dictated by a contract, kept the flow of hype going pretty strong for a while there. And as said, the goalposts have moved, and I'm not sure why people are expected to simply forget the early words on the game.

And if he wants to be taken seriously, he really should be lashing out at those who then, without any first hand experience of their own, largely repeat the good things that Dyack has said about the game. If you really want to make a case against pre-release criticism, then make it count in both directions. But that won't happen, because the dude is only human. He doesn't like his games being ripped to shreds, which is understandable. But his insistence that he is somehow arguing from a higher position, that's what makes it so god damn easy to fall in line with the haters.

Naw, if you ask me, The Dyack is too human.

I made that same joke in my head while reading that paragraph.

[y2kev]

You mean Too Much Human

[Draft]

Shameful confession:

I beat Eternal Darkness 4 times so I could get the real ending.

4 times, buddy.

[duckman2000]

On some level, I agree with Dyack in that previews can be a bugger for everyone involved. I just don't buy him making this argument, seeing as how he himself, and I doubt this was all dictated by a contract, kept the flow of hype going pretty strong for a while there. And as said, the goalposts have moved, and I'm not sure why people are expected to simply forget the early words on the game.

And if he wants to be taken seriously, he really should be lashing out at those who then, without any first hand experience of their own, largely repeat the good things that Dyack has said about the game. If you really want to make a case against pre-release criticism, then make it count in both directions. But that won't happen, because the dude is only human. He doesn't like his games being ripped to shreds, which is understandable. But his insistence that he is somehow arguing from a higher position, that's what makes it so god damn easy to fall in line with the haters.

Naw, if you ask me, The Dyack is too human.

I very nearly typed that in the post, but I figured I'd give that one away as a bit of a freebie.

[Howard Alan Treesong]

Shameful confession:

I beat Eternal Darkness 4 times so I could get the real ending.

4 times, buddy.

ouch

[Mupepe]

I didn't beat Eternal Darkness once.  I played it for the supposedly crazy effects and then I played a little more trying to convince myself it was good and then I gave up.

[brawndolicious]

I didn't beat Eternal Darkness once.  I played it for the supposedly crazy effects and then I played a little more trying to convince myself it was good and then I gave up.

I felt the same.  I liked it at first but then the clunky gameplay mechanics and the stupid puzzles made me give up.  I'm sure he wouldn't fuck those parts of TH up with MS watching over him and based on the videos, it does seem to play a lot smoother than ED.

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

I didn't beat Eternal Darkness once.  I played it for the supposedly crazy effects and then I played a little more trying to convince myself it was good and then I gave up.

Same.  I got it for cheap and spent most of the time forcing myself to get through the game.  Not because of the difficulty but its utter mediocrity and hoping that something good would happen around the corner.  Finally, I got tired of beating myself up trying to force myself through this shit and quit.  I then wonder why it took so long to get the game out.  It looked like a higher res PlayStation game with some minor cleanup.

I never understood the SK love.  I really never understood Dyack's extreme arrogance which has crossed the line to flat out delusion more than a few times.

[AdmiralViscen]

I didn't beat Eternal Darkness once.  I played it for the supposedly crazy effects and then I played a little more trying to convince myself it was good and then I gave up.

Same here.

I was so mad, I traded in 3 games for that one based on hype. Never traded again.

[Oblivion]

Did Dyack really refer to Miyamoto as Aristotle?

Also, I don't know how you could blame the Twin Snakes fiasco on Miyamoto either.

[Oblivion]

Also, Groo. I think a better comparison would be David Jaffe instead of Kojima.

[Bildi]

I bought a Gamecube based on the potential of Eternal Darkness and Starfox Adventures.

... 

Anyway, I thought ED was alright.  I played it once through, but I found myself playing it just to get to the next cutscene and see where I'd go next.  The gameplay itself was not very engaging.

I'm hoping that Too Human is better in this regard.

[Hollywood]

I liked Eternal Darkness, I thought it was a creepy little game going through all these eras and stuff to fight some crazy evil shit in a certain color. Didn't beat it all 3 or 4 times or whatever it took to get the "true" ending though.

Dyack sounds batshit insane. Not just regular batshit insane, Ultimate Warrior batshit insane. These game looks stupid and cliche'd ... how many sci-fi channel type B rate channel videogames need to be made? Weird boobed chicks take the cake.

I remember watching this weird ass Charlie Sheen sci-fi movie on USA at about 1 at night a while back. I think I was drunk out my ass. It has backwards walking aliens in human suits, one was a little black kid. Also weird golden balls that sucked up entire rooms. This reminds me of that. B rate weird ass sci-fi that only the creator thinks is cool and no one else gives a flying shit about.

[Jansen]

I just don't get people who defend this game. There are games that you can play on the PC for free that I can guarantee will do the same thing Too Human does with more players involved and better gameplay.

i've never defended this game as it has always looked disastrous but unless you've played too human you can't guarantee shit.

[cool breeze]

You mean Too Much Human

A fat joke; that shit flies.

[y2kev]

I just don't get people who defend this game. There are games that you can play on the PC for free that I can guarantee will do the same thing Too Human does with more players involved and better gameplay.

i've never defended this game as it has always looked disastrous but unless you've played too human you can't guarantee shit.

Sure, you're right.

But this entire game doesn't make any sense to me. Denis, in his descriptive change from "Devil May Cry" to "Diablo II," has indicated to me that he's putting the focus of the game on collecting phat l00t; as I understand it, the combat has been described as "relaxing." I don't get the point of l00t whoring if you can't show it off. Even playing single player in Diablo II I would log onto the internet and do my own thing on my own. What's the motivation for getting better l00t if you can't show it off and trade with other players?

I just don't get it at all. This game feels like something that would have been designed on the PlayStation, like the PSX port of Diablo or something.

The story has to be really good I think to keep players hooked.

[MCD]

it's kingdom under fire: circle of doom with a bigger budget and worse art.

and only 2 coop lol.

[MCD]

wait, you can't trade shit with other players?

HAHAHA, even KUF:COD had it.

[y2kev]

Maybe you can trade with your 1 other coop partner, I dunno. Seems kind of dumb. But it depends on what game Denis lifted his loot system from.

[WrikaWrek]

Loot rocks because of fashion.

You want your character to look the best in those cut scenes.

[Phoenix Dark]

Once over a year ago, on another forum, I got into a flame war with someone like Chern and I ended up embarrassing him in front of the entire community. I decided to never do that again as the severity and impact was something more than I ever intended.

I'm getting flashbacks of Chapelle's "wouldn't it be some funny shit if the cure for cancer was Michael Jackson sucking your dick" skit