Chris Avellone Podcast Interview

The folks at Video Game Sophistry have recently talked with Chris Avellone on subjects such as his new "human stretch goal" role in campaigns such as Wasteland 2 and Torment: Tides of Numenera, Project Eternity, South Park: The Stick of Truth and a bevy of other subjects.

Given that they've been kind enough to offer a transcript of some highlights, I'm going to quote from there:
(The way we approach characters in Obsidian, is that we try to examine the game mechanic of the title and try to make sure all of the companions you meet in the title compliment that- what I mean by that is..We look at things like (Hey New Vegas has a brand new reputation system) Once we know it's a mechanic- we need to make sure all of the NPC's you interactive with react to that system and compliment it in someway.)

Then on top of that, you want to make sure they have a background and a realistic perspective on all the factions in the game, whether they love or hate Casears Legion or NCR- it's important for us that the reason they feel that way are presented to the player and the world)