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I (Jack Davis, TGG) am very pleased to inform you all that I got a chance to do an interview with Brian Fargo just recently. So we talked about everything from “Torment Tides Of Numenera” (don’t miss out on our “Torment Tides Of Numenera” PC giveaway!) , old memories to his plans for the future =) And with that said, please enjoy the interview.

Brian Fargo has worked on titles such as “Torment: Tides of Numenera”, “Wasteland 2”, “Fallout”, “Hunted: The Demon’s Forge” and “Out of This World”.

Jack TGG
How does it feel going from almost giving up old school RPGs to having your old-school RPG being top-seller on Steam and GOG?

Fargo
It continues to be an amazing thrill! I still vividly remember filing away our Wasteland 2 designs as something that would never happen, before Kickstarter ever occurred to me as a possibility. I still can’t thank our backers enough for enabling us to do this, and it has been extra rewarding to see both Wasteland 2 and Torment: Tides of Numenera atop the Steam charts.

torment tides of numenera magic in space

“Torment: Tides of Numenera” is a must play for those who enjoyed “Planescape Torment”.

Jack TGG
Nowadays, quite a lot of gamers have gotten used to expect content after launch. For example, “Pillars of Eternity” and “Witcher 3” released more content after the games came out. So is an old-school expansion something you’d be interested in doing?

Fargo
Absolutely, in fact we already announced we’re working on a significant content update for Torment: Tides of Numenera that’ll add Oom – a living ball of goo – as your companion, as well as a few other cool features like an in-game lore codex. For Wasteland 2 we did a significant update as well, called the Director’s Cut, we definitely believe in overdelivering to our fans.

Even though “Planescape: Torment” got released back in 1999, the game still has a rather big fanbase, and that could partly explain the success of “Torment: Tides of Numenera”.

Jack TGG
What have you learned from the time you released Planescape Torment in 1999 to today? How have you evolved as a developer?

Fargo
I’ve had a tremendous number of life experiences since 1999 and events in my life give me a different and deeper perspective. The creations I’m involved with will naturally benefit from my trials and tribulations of life. The biggest development change has been the open discussion with our audience during production. Showing our work in progress allows us to learn new things, get people’s opinions on facets of the game and to remind us of what is important.

Brian Fargo is a Gamer at heart.

Jack TGG
Do you consider yourself a gamer and is it necessary to be a gamer to be a developer?

Fargo
I do consider myself a gamer. I think it’s necessary to keep a wide perspective on what’s happening in the industry – I can’t have a good perspective on the desires of the gamers unless I’m constantly playing games and reading about them. There is a flow of sensibilities that is critical to stay in touch with.

Fargo “might” create his very own open-world RPG in the future.

Jack TGG
Is there any other game genre that you would be interested in developing?

Fargo
I admit I do like the emergent gameplay that comes with open world games but I’d want to give it an RPG spin. Giving the tools for people to create their own stories is some of the most powerful storytelling there is.

“The Demon’s Forge” (it’s a text adventure game) was the very first game that Brian Fargo worked on (TDF was released back in 1981 for the Apple II computer). *The screenshot is from 1987 PC Jr. versio*

Jack TGG
As you’ve been working for such a long time in the games industry, I have to ask you the following question. What do you think of critics that say video games cause negative effects like turning people violent or somehow prejudiced?

Fargo
I try to keep an open mind on the science of such claims but it hasn’t proven out. People making claims based on instinct and no fact seems to be a trend these days. I’ve seen music whip people into a frenzy unlike any video game and yet I don’t hear the music industry being blamed for violence. I think the assumption that games are all targeted at young kids is where part of the misinformation comes from also.