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Comment by oldstrangers | Hacker News Reader

I have such fond memories of Dungeon Keeper, Dungeon Keeper 2, Fable, Black & White, Populous.

I think the biggest take away from Molyneux's work is regardless of how seriously he talked the games up, the games themselves never once took themselves too seriously. There was a level of playful whimsy that just didn't exist back then (and probably still doesn't today). You could tell he wanted to say more and do more, but was always limited by the technology available at the time. It felt like he was searching for something in the games he developed, and I was always happy to go searching with him.

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Populous! That's a name I haven't heard for a long time. It was so much fun building out the land, smiting people, and then saving the day after earthquakes, etc. Good times.

I have yet to see a modern version that was half as interesting.

I’ve never understood the people who took him at face value but I’ve also never understood people who didn’t like the guy.

He made some of the most interesting and original and fun games out there. What, he can’t puff up his chest once in awhile? If anything I want more games from him.

I don't like people that lie to me.

When it's vicious and cunning, sure. But the guy's pathological, and still extremely endearing despite that.

I had a high school friend who was lying all the time. His father had access to unheard of cpu prototypes and whatever else. We nicknamed him "C. The Mythomaniac" and called out his bullshit everyday.

He was a really great friend.

was your friend selling videogames to millions of people on the back of these lies?

1) Most of these games are really great

2) As with us and our friend, many gamers knew Molyneux for exactly who he is, and thus moderated their expectations accordingly.

#2 is a weak argument, a lot more gamers didn't know him and moderated their expectations based on the marketing

Of course, I am not exactly excusing him. But as customer you should also not trust advertisement blindly, especially when it is pie in the sky too good to be true. Most reviews of the time would not miss the opportunity to joke about Molyneux's serial overpromising. It was a running gag before long.

> I am not exactly excusing him.

> But as customer you should also not trust advertisement blindly

That’s and excuse for his lies. As a customer you should be able to trust adverticement, that’s why we have laws for adverticements. Blaming people who believe in a scam artists lies for having believed them is madness. The fact that he made games you like doesn’t excuse his blatant lies to investors and customers alike, and you really should listen to yourself and stop making excuses for him.

I don't think people started really disliking him until Curiosity and Godus. And IMO neither of those are good games.

He also promised the winner of Curiosity 1% of all revenue from Godus, then retconned the deal to be 1% of profit after the game failed to become profitable.

Actually it was reconned to 1% of the profit after they implemented a specific feature which they then never implemented. It was just a massive PR scam.

I wouldn't like your friend either.

Did his uncle work at Nintendo?

Why was this exact situation so common in the 90s - why did every friend group have a person who lied about an uncle working at specifically Nintendo?

Video games are lies, zeroes and ones masquerading as worlds and people; imbued with meaning by the power of dreams and dreamers

this is intentionally missing the point

That's like saying sound is a lie, because it's just a vibration propagating a wave.

Video games are simply artistic creations meant to entertain, as are other forms of entertainment media. Were you formerly under the impression that video games were a portal to another reality?

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