Bioware + Bethesda: Best Game Ever?

[Mad1Cow]

It's the whole looking good on paper thing but it just wouldn't work.

The team members of Bioware would freak if they had to make such an open world game and the staff at Bethesda would have a heart attack if they couldn't use a plank of wood for an NPC. They're just opposite ends of the spectrum and combining them together would create something that Duke Nukem Forever would probably laugh at with glee.

On paper, Bioware stuck to the characters and Bethesda stuck to the world development then sure something might be golden by the end of that but the truth would be that it would be foolish to expect that.

 

[KaizokuouHasu]

I don't particularly like the works of Bioware, especially not since they merged with EA. I don't think we'd get a great game by pitting two large companies together and make them work together. They have entirely different goals and directions.

How do they say it? Too many cooks spoils the broth.

 

[PrinceOfShapeir]

They wouldn't work well together. The game would be a disaster.

 

[Riobux]

No, not really. Bioware has written only one game that has legendary writing. The rest have been good (compared to a game industry made up of clichés, stereotypes and following a set predictable pattern), but not as good as you seem to think. Not to mention, neither of them have done any noticeable music. I'd be more inclined to think Team Silent would need to give a helping hand with the short comings of both developers, but then again "two's a party, but three is a crowd".

 

[honestdiscussioner]

No, because I never want Bethesda to work on a Fallout game ever again.

WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT? Fallout 3 was better than New Vegas!

If you played Fallout 3 while on acid maybe.

My official position is that they each are better than the other in certain ways. Obsidian greatly improved on character interaction by including a personal mission with each of your companions, but still it fell short.

New Vegas was also a lot easier to navigate than FO3 since there were no sewers to get lost in.

However I felt slightly more immersed in the Capital Wasteland than in the Mojave. For one, you're character in FO3 you know literally from birth. The Courier, you have no idea what was up with him or her before they got shot in the head.

New Vegas, on the other hand, gave you a little more control over the fate of the region. Sure, there were bad guy\good guy options in FO3, but it just isn't the same as determining the fate of the entire Mojave.

FO3 was a bit more . . . epic. Battling alongside a giant robot was way better than the defense of the hoover dam. Which is a shame, I was entirely disappointed with the final mission for New Vegas, it was marching across a bridge with a few extra explosions, going into a facility for a bit, then attacking a camp. I dunno . . it felt way less epic than EITHER final mission in FO3 (the battle for the purifier and destroying the Enclave base with the missile attack).

I could go on and on, really. I felt each had their own strengths and weaknesses. That summarizes it.

 

[honestdiscussioner]

No, not really. Bioware has written only one game that has legendary writing. The rest have been good (compared to a game industry made up of clichés, stereotypes and following a set predictable pattern), but not as good as you seem to think. Not to mention, neither of them have done any noticeable music. I'd be more inclined to think Team Silent would need to give a helping hand with the short comings of both developers, but then again "two's a party, but three is a crowd".

I felt they've both done music rather well actually. For example, in FO3 the music is minimalist, but on purpose. It brings a sense of emptiness that is present in the landscape, but also of subtle beauty. I wouldn't say Bioware "nailed" the music in DA:O, but I'd say they came close.

Which game do you think is the only one worth of legendary writing? I'd argue that at LEAST DA:O and KotOR should get that honor. I'd say the Mass Effect series is pretty good as well.

 

[honestdiscussioner]

I don't particularly like the works of Bioware, especially not since they merged with EA. I don't think we'd get a great game by pitting two large companies together and make them work together. They have entirely different goals and directions.

How do they say it? Too many cooks spoils the broth.

I should have mentioned that Bioware somehow escaped the clutches of EA in my fantasy. I also had it in mind that the game was so successful that Bioware\Bethesda bought out EA and stopped them from being utter douchebags about everything.

Now I KNOW this is simply a fantasy.

However I think they could work well together if they had well defined roles. Bioware handles writing, Bethesda handles story and environment, Bioware handles character personalities and voice acting, Bethesda handles gameplay, Bioware handles balancing.

 

[MoNKeyYy]

A great thing plus a great thing does not equal a better thing. I se where you might come up with this conlusion, but for me the style of these two companies is too different to be compatible. It's like asking Valve and Infinity Ward to team up on an FPS. I love Bioware. I love Bethesda. But I feel like a game made by both of them would involve too many compromises and wouldn't have enough of the aspects that make either company great.

 

[StormShaun]

No, because I never want Bethesda to work on a Fallout game ever again.

WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT? Fallout 3 was better than New Vegas!

I actually agree with that.

OT: I think it would be an awesome game due to their skills as you stated above, bethesda do damn good free-roam RPGs, and Bioware do a damn good story, I like your idea, they should do that to make the ULTIMATE RPG EVER!

But I kinda dought that will happen due to the money, relationship, respect, teamwork and all kinds of things they would have to get to make this game.

In conclusion, great idea, but it problerley wont happen.

 

[ChupathingyX]

However I felt slightly more immersed in the Capital Wasteland than in the Mojave. For one, you're character in FO3 you know literally from birth. The Courier, you have no idea what was up with him or her before they got shot in the head.

I'm trying really hard not to get involved, but I'm just going to say this;

Fallout: New Vegas and Fallout 3 are RPGs, that's "role-playing game".

In NV you're given an almost blank slate to mould your own character from almost nothing, whereas in F3 Bethesda give you the story themselves. Not to mention that you're forced to join the BoS and all of that, which also lowers the RPG feel of the game.

NV even had traits, perks and dialogue options that you could use to mould your character and create certain aspects of their past, the way they approach certain issues and their knowledge...something F3 lacked for the most part.

 

[poppabaggins]

This seems appropriate:

Spoiler: image

 

[Riobux]

No, not really. Bioware has written only one game that has legendary writing. The rest have been good (compared to a game industry made up of clichés, stereotypes and following a set predictable pattern), but not as good as you seem to think. Not to mention, neither of them have done any noticeable music. I'd be more inclined to think Team Silent would need to give a helping hand with the short comings of both developers, but then again "two's a party, but three is a crowd".

I felt they've both done music rather well actually. For example, in FO3 the music is minimalist, but on purpose. It brings a sense of emptiness that is present in the landscape, but also of subtle beauty. I wouldn't say Bioware "nailed" the music in DA:O, but I'd say they came close.

Which game do you think is the only one worth of legendary writing? I'd argue that at LEAST DA:O and KotOR should get that honor. I'd say the Mass Effect series is pretty good as well.

I'm sorry, but while the minimalistic nature of the music in Fallout 3 may of been on purpose, what little music that was there was hardly note worthy. The music wasn't something where you'd want to go out and buy. If you want a comparison, Red Dead Redemption, while was very minimalistic with it's music, what little music it had gave a strong impact.

In terms of legendary writing, it'd have to be Dragon Age: Origins. KotOR just lacked anything to draw in those who weren't overly interested in the Star Wars lore, while Dragon Age: Origins ran with a completely unique lore that was really well written. In terms of the Mass Effect series, in the grand scheme of things, it just wasn't that well written. Some of the characters just were added, seemingly, for the sake of it (e.g. Legion, as an attempt to humanise the enemy). A lot of missions boiled down to "I want to do this but X company wouldn't let me, can you do it for me?". Not to say it was poorly written, but there was nothing note-worthy or noticeable.

 

[honestdiscussioner]

NV even had traits, perks and dialogue options that you could use to mould your character and create certain aspects of their past, the way they approach certain issues and their knowledge...something F3 lacked for the most part.

I haven't run too much into those options, though I do not doubt they exist. Still, I never felt the Courier was ME, or even "my character" but rather one that was given to me. Perhaps I didn't notice that in FO3 because I WANTED to join the Brotherhood badly, so the lack of option not to wasn't too distressing.

 

[honestdiscussioner]

This seems appropriate:

Spoiler: image

LMFAO! That was awesome . . . and so very true.

 

[Vigormortis]

I don't particularly like the works of Bioware, especially not since they merged with EA. I don't think we'd get a great game by pitting two large companies together and make them work together. They have entirely different goals and directions.

How do they say it? Too many cooks spoils the broth.

Exactly. The two design teams wouldn't mesh well and the resulting product would be mediocre at best. Each team has completely different design philosophies that would conflict with the others. This would bog down the production.

Admittedly, I'm not really a big fan of games from either company, but even so I still say the two working on the same title would be a bad idea.

Besides, I'd rather see Blizzard come to it's senses, leave Activision, and team up with Valve to make something that would literally melt faces and minds with it's awesomeness. But that's me.

 

[honestdiscussioner]

No, not really. Bioware has written only one game that has legendary writing. The rest have been good (compared to a game industry made up of clichés, stereotypes and following a set predictable pattern), but not as good as you seem to think. Not to mention, neither of them have done any noticeable music. I'd be more inclined to think Team Silent would need to give a helping hand with the short comings of both developers, but then again "two's a party, but three is a crowd".

I felt they've both done music rather well actually. For example, in FO3 the music is minimalist, but on purpose. It brings a sense of emptiness that is present in the landscape, but also of subtle beauty. I wouldn't say Bioware "nailed" the music in DA:O, but I'd say they came close.

Which game do you think is the only one worth of legendary writing? I'd argue that at LEAST DA:O and KotOR should get that honor. I'd say the Mass Effect series is pretty good as well.

I'm sorry, but while the minimalistic nature of the music in Fallout 3 may of been on purpose, what little music that was there was hardly note worthy. The music wasn't something where you'd want to go out and buy. If you want a comparison, Red Dead Redemption, while was very minimalistic with it's music, what little music it had gave a strong impact.

In terms of legendary writing, it'd have to be Dragon Age: Origins. KotOR just lacked anything to draw in those who weren't overly interested in the Star Wars lore, while Dragon Age: Origins ran with a completely unique lore that was really well written. In terms of the Mass Effect series, in the grand scheme of things, it just wasn't that well written. Some of the characters just were added, seemingly, for the sake of it (e.g. Legion, as an attempt to humanise the enemy). A lot of missions boiled down to "I want to do this but X company wouldn't let me, can you do it for me?". Not to say it was poorly written, but there was nothing note-worthy or noticeable.

Actually I did a video on Youtube once and left Fallout 3 turned on in the background. Plenty of people actually commented on how nice the music sounded, even those that didn't know it was from Fallout 3 or a video game at all. While we're basically arguing over subjective tastes, I think there are plenty of people who highly valued the music in FO3 as for them, in actually increased immersion.

 

[Atmos Duality]

It sounds like a recipe for disaster to me.
Ion Storm was formed under a similar premise: "Design is Law." That if you had a massively talented gaming "Think Tank" that you could design some sort of super-game.

On one hand, this philosophy gave us the original Deus Ex (and to a lesser degree, Anachronox).
On the other, this philosophy also gave us Daikatana.

 

[Riobux]

Actually I did a video on Youtube once and left Fallout 3 turned on in the background. Plenty of people actually commented on how nice the music sounded, even those that didn't know it was from Fallout 3 or a video game at all. While we're basically arguing over subjective tastes, I think there are plenty of people who highly valued the music in FO3 as for them, in actually increased immersion.

I think part of the disagreement is, yeah, subjectivity, but also we're looking for different things. For me, a good soundtrack is a game soundtrack that works in context very well but also music you can just play on it's own, games like Silent Hill 2.

 

[honestdiscussioner]

Actually I did a video on Youtube once and left Fallout 3 turned on in the background. Plenty of people actually commented on how nice the music sounded, even those that didn't know it was from Fallout 3 or a video game at all. While we're basically arguing over subjective tastes, I think there are plenty of people who highly valued the music in FO3 as for them, in actually increased immersion.

I think part of the disagreement is, yeah, subjectivity, but also we're looking for different things. For me, a good soundtrack is a game soundtrack that works in context very well but also music you can just play on it's own, games like Silent Hill 2.

Yeah, I'd disagree with you on the "should be listenable". I have no desire to play the Halo soundtrack, but boy as I'm approaching a target on my dropship and those strings start going I'm all revved up. A good game soundtrack is one that fits in with the game, if it also doesn't play well outside of the game that doesn't speak a word about how it feels in-game.