Prelude

Over the years many companies have been born and died in the righteous flames of game evolution. Some of these were meaningless to most of us while others were painful tragedies. Some of them went out with a fight, leaving behind a few lasting games that would immortalize their names in gamer's hearts for years to come, others gasped their final breaths, never having made an impact and fading into obscurity as time always promises those that fail to rise to greater heights.

Some other games companies refuse to die, like a shit that just wont flush.

Some of you may be wondering right about now: "Where is the Monkey's usual sarcasm and humour?" Well, this is not a review. This time around, I am going to give a little history lesson. Why? Because in a way, it is a prelude of what is to come.

Over the next few weeks, most of the reviews I will be posting will all have something to do with the companies contained in this little essay of sorts. I originally started this as a review of one of the games but soon came to realize that the history behind the rise and fall of the company that made the game deserved it's own place and came to write what you now see before you.

It's no secret that I am a lover of almost all things "RPG". And where JRPGs failed to capture my heart past the mid-90's, Western RPGs replaced that need to taste adventure and travel distant lands. For those who loved roleplaying games throughout the 90's "Interplay" is a name we all know well enough. Though Interplay as it was is long dead, back then it was a company that introduced the world to some of the greatest game creators to ever exist in the roleplaying arena.

It's actually a little scary how often I have seen this logo flash across my screen.

Most RPG gamers nowadays will know of Bioware and Obsidian, the former being a company spoken of highly by old school gamers and the latter being somewhat of a joke for releasing great games that all suffer from crippling, game breaking bugs, known as a company that always seems to fail the playtesting process.

The reason I mention them is because they are the last 2 standing on the ruins of a former Empire. Sadly Black Isle and Troika were not so lucky. Though Black Isle itself is not a company, I feel it deserves to have it's name among these giants of the industry.

Why am I bringing up these names? Simply put, they are all connected in their own way to Interplay.

Ever hear of Feargus Urquhart? How about Leonard Boyarsky? Or maybe Ray Muzyka? All three of these men have something in common. They are all in a way responsible for my favourite game trilogy of all time: The Bhaalspawn Saga, better known as the "Baldur's Gate" series for the PC.

I literally jizz my pants whenever I see this on the shelf of my local gaming store.

Let me stress just how great these guys were by listing just a few of the games they introduced to us: The Baldur's Gate Series, Icewind Dale, Fallout 1 and 2, Neverwinter Nights and Planescape: Torment.

These guys ushered in a golden age of roleplaying games the likes of which the gaming world had never seen before. This was what I refer to as "The Golden Age of Interplay".

It was around the end of the 90's that Interplay shut down Black Isle, their division for roleplaying games development. A few people left to create a new company: Troika Games while the rest abandoned the sinking ship to create Obsidian Entertainment. A few years later, Interplay shut down. Sure, it came back a little while later, but it is now only a shadow of it's former glory, pumping out a few sub-par Wii games and working on some iOS stuff.

*points at EA ownership* You broke my heart!

Bioware managed to do fine on it's own, giving us Jade Empire, Knights of the Old Republic, Mass Effect and Dragon Age. Offering up some great games to fans but slowly moving more towards the mainstream, becoming more apparent since EA bought them out.

Though many fans defend them, I am one of those that felt like nerd-raging when I saw how Mass Effect 2 had become a poor man's Gears of War and how Dragon Age 2 took the same approach and upset so many people that loved the first game for being a spiritual successor to the old Infinity Engine originals.

Obsidian went on to do the KotOR sequel as well as Neverwinter Nights 2, Alpha Protocol and Fallout: New Vegas. Getting along fine it seems but always releasing games that felt unfinished and buggy.

So....much...potential....

Troika? That is the real tragedy here. They went on to make only 3 games. But all 3 were flawed masterpieces. Temple of Elemental Evil was a traditional Dungeons and Dragons game using the 3.5 Edition rules to such an exact degree that even the most hardcore of DnD players could not complain.

Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magicka Obscura was made in the same style as the old Fallout games and set in a Steampunk version of a Tolkien-esque world where magic and technology are at odds during an industrial revolution set in the 1800's.

Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines was their Swan-song, using Valve's "Source Engine" they created a fully realized version of the VtM Roleplaying setting into a living, breathing image of what Pen and Paper players could have only conceived in their wildest dreams.

You died too soon. I feel like playing Don McLean's "Vincent" whenever I see your logo.

With that as their final gift to the world, the company eventually disbanded, with the founders: Leonard Boyarski moving to Blizzard, currently working on Diablo 3, Tim Cain going to work for Carbine Studios and Jason Anderson moving from place to place before recently settling into Turtle Rock Studios.

As the years have gone by, games have come and gone. It seems like every other game is boasting words like "Next Gen" and claiming amazing graphics and intuitive gameplay. Yet of all those games 9/10 are lost and forgotten in a sea of chest high walls, a colour pallette made of nothing but brown and grey or just being another in a long line of rehashed ideas and cash-in's on what is currently popular.

It's nice to be able to come back to games that even after over a decade still blow you away with their story, immersion and the overall sense of satisfaction gained after playing through them. Perhaps as the next few weeks go by and a few of my reviews cover these games, you might also just possibly find yourself tempted into playing some of them.