Originally posted by IceFire
Yeah Bobbau has it nailed...I used to have Adam Pletcher, DaveB, and some of the others on my ICQ list for a while. I wouldn't bug them every day or anything but I did get some good information and some clarifications on things during FS2's development. I even e-mailed Mike Kulas...heck Orange, Remora, Dynamo, and I even went down and met the guys....I went to Volition twice actually. It was a blast both times I met lots of people Mike Kulas in particular was excellent to talk to and I had quick chats with most of the guys. Sadly not Dan Wentz as he was away both times I was there but these guys were really cool. Not that they aren't anymore but their communication with the community has changed since the THQ buyover especially.
It started changing after Summoner and Red Faction came out as well.
BTW: Summoner was a completely inspired game in my view. I don't play 
of RPG's and I like even less of them but Summoner really appealed to me . I've played it through 3-4 times now and everything about it was well done and plenty of fun to be had. Too bad I never got a chance with Summoner 2...maybe rent it for GC sometime and see what its like.
In the case of Summoner (I play tons of RPGs) they tried very hard, but failed in so many ways. The story was excellent and they tried to mesh western and easten RPG styles, but as a result had the worst of both worlds. (Linearity that would kill sidequests if you advanced too quickly, repetitive combat with a clunky system, character customization was limited)
Though this sounds harsh, it makes Summoner a 70% in my personal rating of it, as opposed to a 90%. I've played much worse games, and Summoner's story was good enough to keep me interested though predictable at times.
What I've heard of Summoner 2, sounds awesome. They tightened the combat system and overall focus of the game, but since they're not planning on doing a PC release, I don't plan on playing it.
