X3F TV: Denis Dyack, "Too Human" interview

by Xav de Matos { Aug 27th 2008 at 11:50AM }

In the second part of our three part interview with Silicon Knights president Denis Dyack the conversation focuses in on Too Human. After listing off his three high points and low points from his experiences of the game, Denis discusses his overall impressions of fan response -- refraining to comment on videos from Kevin Pereira and Giant Bomb -- and whether or not the game has lived up to the studio's expectations.

Due to length this video split into two sections, the second portion of the Too Human interview can be found after the jump.

Stay tuned tomorrow for the final part of our three part Denis Dyack interview. In part three Denis and Xav discuss the future of Silicon Knights, the studios relationship with Nintendo and the genre possibilities for the development team.

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Gallery: Silicon Knights: Studio Tour

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[Zune] Subscribe to the X3F TV directly (Zune Marketplace link coming soon).
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Editor / Videographer Pierce Derks
A/V Assistant Mike Dodd
Photographer Ashlee Kivell
Host / Producer Xav de Matos

Tags: denis-dyack, silicon-knights, too-human, too-human-week, x3f-tv

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

derektgreen @ Aug 27th 2008 12:20PM

Xav,
Great job. I love seeing inside the minds of the creators of this game. Your doing a great job of handing every aspect of this video. From the interview, and all the info you need to know to ask good questions, to the production. I look forward to more interviews from you in the future.

iFester @ Aug 27th 2008 12:42PM

Couldn't agree more. Thanks Xav. :)

dude @ Aug 27th 2008 12:58PM

to much........is never enough!!! Sweet game..if you haven't played it, you need to. It's a great break from all the FPS & button masshers. The story holds its own. The game itself........100% replay value. I'm on my 5th time through, with 2 warriors at level 50, and working on my third. (about 75 hrs )

Neuromancer @ Aug 27th 2008 2:02PM

Xav

Woah-oh

Savior of the universe!

*dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun*

DarkS29 @ Aug 27th 2008 2:29PM

F**k how bad are the spoilers, I haven't had a chance to get the game but I am planning to and don't want to ruin the experience, however I really want to watch the interview. Is it watchable if I haven't played the game?

Richard Mitchell @ Aug 27th 2008 3:11PM

I would characterize the spoilers as significant. Specifically it's something you learn about one of the characters only after facing him in battle.

ericdrum @ Aug 27th 2008 4:13PM

If you have finished the 2nd level, you are completely clear. If not, I agree with Richard.

JSBeckerist @ Aug 27th 2008 3:13PM

Why does he spell his name Denis instead of Dennis? Did his parents actually do that to him? There's only one other word I know similar: ?enis and for whatever reason I always seem to say his name as "Dee-niss" in my head...

Murphs Law @ Aug 27th 2008 3:30PM

I was pleased to see this interview wasn't just a fluff piece. Nice work guys.

RedSonRising @ Aug 28th 2008 2:50AM

thanks for asking some tough questions, very happy to see dyack on the hotseat for a minute or two; thats as about as long as i can stand that guy..

i get it; i just dont like it.. i really think i might be able to give the game an honest chance if this guy would just stfu.. who decided he had the people skills to be the public face of this game (im sure he voted for himself)..

and im not sorry to say that clipping, bad textures, pop-in and poorly coded animations are not ok.. yes it happens, no it is not cool.. if that were the case glitches should be marketed as features and highlighted in big bold letters on the box..

Moeez @ Aug 28th 2008 5:50AM

Then should we criticise great games like Bioshock, Gears of War, etc, for having bad clipping or bad texture pop-in? If anyone is criticising Too Human for that, then clearly they got it for the game, and are willing to nitpick anything about the game.

My point is, loads of great games have glitches, but are they enough to ruin the game? In my experience, NO. Too Human is just the latest whipping boy that everyone is being hypocritical to.

ericdrum @ Aug 28th 2008 8:41AM

Or how about Madden clipping bodies on nearly every play? Post play and sidelines especially. We seem to overlook that one. I was a bit confused that Xav decided to point that out as it's EVERYWHERE in a hell of a lot of games.

Moeez @ Aug 28th 2008 5:45AM

Fascinating interview, I was impressed with how Dyack held his own when Xav was pointing out the things he disliked. And that's an interesting perspective on the Valkyrie sequence, personally I'm not bothered with it at all. It's at least better of a loading thing than Mass Effect was.

Unlike Bioshock, there's a clear death PENALTY here: your equipment either loses a lot of value, OR you can't get back to challenge areas (I found this out in the demo, you can't go back to that timed challenge of killing all enemies in 40 seconds).

RedSonRising @ Aug 28th 2008 3:07PM

Moeez said...
"Too Human is just the latest whipping boy that everyone is being (critical of)."

yes, it is, and i will whip it good (ugh) mostly because of dyacks infinitely pretentious and condescending tone..

we should criticize great games for having bad clipping or bad texture pop-in, if we dont point out the flaws the bar will never be raised..

"great games have glitches, but are they enough to ruin the game? "

Um, yes..

Crab Walk? Weapon Snatch? i love Gears but Gears is flawed. If they dont fix the wall bouncing, host shottie and the numberous chainsaw glitches im sure other ppl will be disappointed as well..

any glitch or exploit that creates unbalanced gameplay needs to be address post haste.. i dont get paid to play bad games, i pay developers to make good ones..