Does anyone remember when BioWare had a legendary reputation among the gaming world?

[Dreiko]

Sometimes I think it is pretty strange how much stock we put into studios in the gaming industry.

When someone mentions BioWare, my mind naturally gravitates towards the Mass Effect trilogy, and the first three Dragon Age games. If someone were to say, "Oh, BioWare is making a new game", I would think about those games and how much I liked them, and immediately have a positive outlook on whatever is coming next.

But in reality, the studio that made those games that I love, is not the same studio is making whatever is coming next. Sure, the name is the same, and i'm sure the studio's walls are studded with merch from their glory days, but aside from probably a small handful of veterans, the majority of the people working on the game likely have nothing to do with the studio's past projects.

To my knowledge, nobody really does this about movies or TV or books. If Universal or Lionsgate were to announce that they were making a new film, I don't think that would elict an emotion from anyone, until they find out who is actually working on it.

Bioware is in the unique place where they just kept the name but most of the actual people working there are long gone. If you say Enix, the guy who made Dragon quest in 1986, Yuji Horii, is still working there handling Dragon Quest XII as we speak. So it kinda makes sense sometimes to revere studios and other times it can be exploited by publishers like EA to get unearned love from the fans.


I think a good way of telling which is which is noticing if the studio has been bought out vs merged or remained unsold. If you're selling the studio entirely, the one buying is probably paying you for that fan love. Meanwhile, if the studio has remained in the same hands all this time, it's likely that it will be able to remain consistently good.

 

[ExtraWildGames]

Whether the games are good or not is something that you pretty much just have to decide for yourself, and it's unlikely that anyone's going to change their mind from either position just on the say-so of an Internet stranger.

No, but what about this stranger?

 

[ExtraWildGames]

Whether the games are good or not is something that you pretty much just have to decide for yourself, and it's unlikely that anyone's going to change their mind from either position just on the say-so of an Internet stranger.

I

I guess it is in the way of how people enjoy

Capcom and Sega are still pretty creative. Especially Capcom. They've been getting creative with their IPs again, since 2016-2017. Despite all of the Souls clones, From Software know how to mix it up, and they released Armored Core 6 back in 2023.

Capcom plays it a bit too safe. I have yet to be "wowed" by anything from them since DMC5. They just keep pushing Monster Hunter and Resident Evil Remakes, and I don't really care for those. SF6 just feels like a more aggressive SFVI in terms of gameplay (literally always in your opponent's face, wtf is neutral? Just do raw DR or DI, if you're frisky enough, or button into DI if your character has a good long one that's safe). Dragon's Dogma II just seems like a wannabe Souls like / Western Action RPG. None of these caught my interest, far as gameplay wise.

Koei and Sega are definitely more of I'm companies looking forward to more, along with whatever Fromsoft does with Armored Core and hopefully even Frame Gride. I definitely don't think these companies have had anything straight up "bad", or considered "flops" as far as finances and critical acclaim compared to the Western hemisphere of the industry and gaming public. OverWatch 2, Concord, Marvel's Avengers, Suicide Squad, etc (Notice how almost all of these are Licensed/Live Service games in a way, btw).

 

[Dreiko]

I

I guess it is in the way of how people enjoy


Capcom plays it a bit too safe. I have yet to be "wowed" by anything from them since DMC5. They just keep pushing Monster Hunter and Resident Evil Remakes, and I don't really care for those. SF6 just feels like a more aggressive SFVI in terms of gameplay (literally always in your opponent's face, wtf is neutral? Just do raw DR or DI, if you're frisky enough, or button into DI if your character has a good long one that's safe). Dragon's Dogma II just seems like a wannabe Souls like / Western Action RPG. None of these caught my interest, far as gameplay wise.

Koei and Sega are definitely more of I'm companies looking forward to more, along with whatever Fromsoft does with Armored Core and hopefully even Frame Gride. I definitely don't think these companies have had anything straight up "bad", or considered "flops" as far as finances and critical acclaim compared to the Western hemisphere of the industry and gaming public. OverWatch 2, Concord, Marvel's Avengers, Suicide Squad, etc (Notice how almost all of these are Licensed/Live Service games in a way, btw).

Capcom is bringing back Okami and Onimusha so I think they're being more adventurous finally. And Dragon's Dogma always played like that, it's a mix of dmc/monhun with some souls dna in it too, and it kinda varies significantly based on which class you play as. Warrior is way more Monhun than anything, all about charged timed strikes and clashing.

 

[BrawlMan]

Capcom plays it a bit too safe. I have yet to be "wowed" by anything from them since DMC5. They just keep pushing Monster Hunter and Resident Evil Remakes, and I don't really care for those.

Fine if you don't care for them, but that's a you issue. Not Capcom.

SF6 just feels like a more aggressive SFV in terms of gameplay (literally always in your opponent's face, wtf is neutral? Just do raw DR or DI, if you're frisky enough, or button into DI if your character has a good long one that's safe).

Fixed it for you. No shit on that, most people have no issues with that. SF6 is literally 3rd Strike combined with SFV. Like @Dreiko said, Capcom is putting out a new Onimusha and Okami, so you have no reason to complain. Dragon's Domga II and Monster Hunter in general is not for me, but they definitely mix it up a lot with MH titles recently.

Koei and Sega are definitely more of I'm companies looking forward to more,

Aside from Ninja Gaiden 4, I have no interests in anything with KT. DW: Origins I am not paying full price for, and will wait until it's at least 40% off. Sega I am interested, but only for the IPs they're resurrecting. Yakuza/LAD I don't like, though I have some curiosity for the pirate spin-off. Sonic I will always love, but Sega really needs to step it up and go back to the traditional level design. Shadow Generations aside. Also, they need to get off their asses and port Sonic Dream Team to at least the Switch.