BioWare's Lead Writer Resigns

[LiquidGrape]

I just love how people immediately break out their conspiracy hats.

"EA did it! BioWare is out of control! I didn't like Dragon Age II and I won't rest until everyone hears about it!"

The guy has been working on what is, in writing terms, an incredibly exhausting medium for over a decade now. I wasn't surprised to hear these news at all.

But I'd have to say, I found Karpyshyn a fairly mediocre writer. Better than Mac Walters, but not very enticing at all.
The real writing talent at BioWare is the core team consisting of David Gaider, Sheryl Chee and Mary Kirby, as well as Lukas Kristjanson and Patrick Weekes.

 

[Caffiene]

Have to respect the guy that wrote Jade Empire - it might have been a very linear game, but the story was impressively done. I look forward to seeing where he ends up.

A part of me wants to see what might happen if he were to join up with Chris Avellone on Obsidian's "kickstarter ideas" thing...

Spoiler: Oh really?

Now, where did I put my Xerox?

Wow... talk about bias. There is definitely a point to be made that many of Bioware's story/location structures feel the same, but that table really goes to the extreme trying to cram things where they dont fit.

The Fade in Dragon Age counts as strongly fitting the cliche of "you go to sleep and have a dream sequence", and the Darkspawn are a sinister organisation that thwarts your efforts?

Jade Empire's "you travel across the land" strongly fits the cliche of "you must travel to four main locations", and a small village from 20 years ago counts as "a sprawling ancient civilisation"?

I dont really remember the Underdark being a ruined sprawling ancient civilisation, either, or needing discovery for that matter. The Underdark is also from BG2, not the first game... Unless they meant the Undercity from the first game, in which case that sort of draws attention to their dubious "4 locations" point instead.

 

[Vault101]

oh boy here... we go

"Bioware selling out EA EVIL blah blah blah" there we go.......

but seriously I'm not worried..I really hope ME3 is good enough to shut some people up

 

[Woodsey]

That's a shame. And doesn't bode well to me. Recent Bioware games, apart from The Old Republic, haven't exactly been stellar narrative-wise. But hopefully the current writers improve over time.

Hopefully.

Fingers crossed they keep the Twilight fans exclusive to the Dragon Age team.

/partiallyfacetiouscomment

What was more concerning was the guy who left last year (?) because he felt they had no interest in making the type of games they'd used to anymore.

I just love how people immediately break out their conspiracy hats.

"EA did it! BioWare is out of control! I didn't like Dragon Age II and I won't rest until everyone hears about it!"

The guy has been working on what is, in writing terms, an incredibly exhausting medium for over a decade now. I wasn't surprised to hear these news at all.

But I'd have to say, I found Karpyshyn a fairly mediocre writer. Better than Mac Walters, but not very enticing at all.
The real writing talent at BioWare is the core team consisting of David Gaider, Sheryl Chee and Mary Kirby, as well as Lukas Kristjanson and Patrick Weekes.

Gaider's the one who went on the forums and said it was fine for them to retcon continuity at the expense of player choice and consequence (ala the Dragon Age 2 ending), so no, not him.

 

[Bat Vader]

Perhaps it would be a good time for Bioware to hire Neil Gaiman. The next ME game will be called Mass Effect: Galactic Gods. Shepard is hired by someone named Mr. Friday who turns out to be a Turian god.

 

[Warachia]

but it's their robustly developed stories and characters that seem to define them.

Spoiler: Oh really?

Now, where did I put my Xerox?

Excuse me while I call Bullshit, if you are going to generalize that much, you could (with some clever wordplay) say that everything is the same as everything else as all the sheet really does is compare mechanics, not story or characters.

 

[cookyy2k]

but it's their robustly developed stories and characters that seem to define them.

Spoiler: Oh really?

Now, where did I put my Xerox?

To be honest you can stick a lot of non-bioware games into this table with a yellow or red box in a category. Both Skyrim and final fantasy 8 can be placed fairly well in there, so it's not even just western RPGs.

OT Well hopefully his moving on is not a reflection on how he see's the company moving along and just a purely personal decision. Though how many people walk out of jobs that sweet, especially when times are this tough?

 

[sumanoskae]

This... could go either way. I mean, on one hand you've got all the great stuff he's written(Kotor, Mass Effect, Dragon Age: Origins(?), Jade Empire), and then you have Dragon Age II...

Maybe he wasn't as directly involved... but... Dragon Age II. He was there and he watched it happen...

 

[Evil Teddie]

First the lead writer of Dragon Age, now this. Boy, the slope has gotten slippier...

Captcha: Canticle

May one be sung for Bioware, at its funeral.

 

[PureIrony]

He's leaving Bioware to work on his novels? That's like Will Smith giving up acting to work on his music career.

Also, in b4 retarded EA hate. Oh wait...

 

[Antari]

They had better take a very long time choosing who will replace him or they can expect to loose the position they hold in the industry.

 

[Valeran]

Not that I care because I'm not playing any more of their games after ME3.

Making a choice on not playing games before they even exist seems rather short-sighted, don't you think?

 

[DazBurger]

Have to respect the guy that wrote Jade Empire - it might have been a very linear game, but the story was impressively done. I look forward to seeing where he ends up.

A part of me wants to see what might happen if he were to join up with Chris Avellone on Obsidian's "kickstarter ideas" thing...

Spoiler: Oh really?

Now, where did I put my Xerox?

Wow... talk about bias. There is definitely a point to be made that many of Bioware's story/location structures feel the same, but that table really goes to the extreme trying to cram things where they dont fit.

The Fade in Dragon Age counts as strongly fitting the cliche of "you go to sleep and have a dream sequence", and the Darkspawn are a sinister organisation that thwarts your efforts?

Jade Empire's "you travel across the land" strongly fits the cliche of "you must travel to four main locations", and a small village from 20 years ago counts as "a sprawling ancient civilisation"?

I dont really remember the Underdark being a ruined sprawling ancient civilisation, either, or needing discovery for that matter. The Underdark is also from BG2, not the first game... Unless they meant the Undercity from the first game, in which case that sort of draws attention to their dubious "4 locations" point instead.

Besides... Cerberus isn't really that interested in you in Mass Effect 1, its more like you stalking them.

 

[Gennadios]

Not that I care because I'm not playing any more of their games after ME3.

Making a choice on not playing games before they even exist seems rather short-sighted, don't you think?

Lately I've been underwhelmed by their games more often than not and I disagree with the way they do business under EA. Too much has to go right for me to find their products worth the time and money again.

 

[Blind Sight]

For a second there I had a moment of hope that Jennifer Hepler or David Gaider left the studio, but upon fully reading the title I was disappointed. Oh well, I thought Mass Effect was one of the better written Bioware titles recently, so good on him.

Now I'm off to have a stroke every time Gaider or Hepler try to ham-fist in some truly awful political/social commentary into a Bioware game...

And this is coming from a Bioware fan.

 

[Tsaba]

Well I guess when you gotta go you....

Spoiler: wait a second!!!

OMG they could be twins! One could be the fat twin.

 

[Grey Day for Elcia]

but it's their robustly developed stories and characters that seem to define them.

Spoiler: Oh really?

Now, where did I put my Xerox?

A war hero and high ranking military commander, a student of many arts attending the most prestigious school in the world, and the wealthy heir to a dwarven throne are all "humble origins" to you?

Your life must be really, really exciting.

 

[Sehnsucht Engel]

I'm a bit scared now. I love Bioware, but I feel like this is a pretty hard hit for them... I wonder if they can find someone who can actually replace their lead writer.

In any case, will be interesting to see what Karpyshyn does next.

 

[dantoddd]

Doesn't he look a little like the male shepherd

 

[Richardplex]

Well that's too bad. I guess that means Mass Effect 3 could potentially be the last well written Bioware game. Although you never know, whoever replaces him could actually bring a lot of new and interesting ideas to the table.

FYI, He didn't do the script for ME3, Mac Walters did.

He did? My mistake then. I just assumed that since he was the lead writer, he had a part in the script.

Drew Karpyshyn was the lead writer of ME1 and ME2, Mac Walters is the lead writer for ME3.