BioWare's Lead Writer Resigns

[mechanixis]

Hmm. Just another reason to assess the quality of Bioware games with caution and healthy skepticism in the future, I suppose. They really did peak around Mass Effect 1 for me.

 

[Azmael Silverlance]

If he goes to work for Blizzard. Where lets face it all the big money is it will be a GG for everybody

 

[Imbechile]

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.

Okay. I will do it:

You are the member of an old and powerfull organization called the: Jedi/Grey Warden/Specters/Spirit Monks. An ancient evil threatens to destroy: the Republic/Ferelden/Known galaxy/Neverwinter. You must gather a band of adventurers(The same 5-6 personalities) and go to a few hubs to: look for the Star Map/Gather allies/thwart Saren/find a cure for the plague/look for the Spirit Monk amulet.

OT: Good. Now they only need to fire Helper and Gaider and then maybe they will start writing good stories and dialog

 

[Ares Gandhi]

I don't blame him. I wouldn't be surprised if he had enough of lesser writers ruining the Mass Effect series, which used to have actually decent writing when he was still at the helm. He set the series up on a very solid foundation, and then people like Mac Walters, William C. Dietz and co. turn it into a laughable imitation of what it used to be. I would've quit too.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

the thing your missing badly is the fine print

There's very few cliches in fine print. But having a rag-tag band of mercenaries with a singular difference to each tends to touch on it.

like in mass effect 2 the way you interact with your squad

Do you want me to bring out the personality chart as well?
The shy geek, the outsider with the heart of gold, the strong silent goon...

and get to know them and do their loyalty missions is something that isnt in your chart,

That's not writing. That's timesinking for extra chat.

nor is the optional text that gives in depth detail on the world and enhances the players understanding of the world.

Optional text is window dressing. Most people don't window dress the same way.

if you look at the broad picture like you do 99% of games are the same
1. the setting and main character are introduced

Audiosurf, Braid, Aaaaaaaaaaaaaah, Boulderdash

2. a goal appears the character has to meet (weather this is to find a princess or shoot some people, or make a farm)

Rampage, Minecraft, Limbo

3. the character faces many trials along the way to achieving this goal meeting new characters who try to help/hinder them and gaining new skills and/or equipment to help them face increasingly harder challenges

That's actually describing what a game is...but still - You have to Burn the Rope, Effing Hail, Portal

4. the goal is achieved all is well

Portal, Space Invaders, Pac Man, Call of Cthulu

Writing The Hero's Journey out 12+ times doesn't make you a great writer.

 

[thespyisdead]

*insert the obligatory darth vader no here*

you will be missed, but i really cant blame you, as after bioware became a division of EA, everything started to go downhill :/

 

[Chairman Miaow]

Well Bioware writes good characters but their actual storylines are a bit generic shall we say? Maybe we'll get something a bit more original out of them now.

DA:O anyone? Straight fantasy classic indeed. It was a good game but wow was it generic, 'S like they took a big pot of Western Fantasy archetypes and threw it all into one game.

western fantasy archetypes? surely you jest just because it had not orcs and not goblins in it haha

Hurlock orc, genlock goblin.

 

[Susurrus]

A much better way of saying: "much of what Bioware did was the same" is to look at their rogue characters in game.

Bg1 - Imoen, a red-headed thief - initially innocent
Bg2 - Nalia, a red-headed thief/mage - initially innocent
(Bg2 - Imoen, a pink-haired thief/mage)
NWN1 - Sharwyn, a red-headed bard - wicked sense of humour, tougher than she looks
NWN2 - Neeshka, a red-headed rogue - more fragile than she looks
PS:T - Annah, a red-headed rogue - wicked sense of humour, tougher than she looks
DA:O - Leliana, a red-headed bard - wicked sense of humour, tougher than she looks

 

[m72_ar]

Great.

Bioware, now is the time to give Chris Avellone and his crew a call

 

[TheCaptain]

Farewell then, Master Drew - we'll really miss your stuff!

 

[Terrible Opinions]

A much better way of saying: "much of what Bioware did was the same" is to look at their rogue characters in game.

Bg1 - Imoen, a red-headed thief - initially innocent
Bg2 - Nalia, a red-headed thief/mage - initially innocent
(Bg2 - Imoen, a pink-haired thief/mage)
NWN1 - Sharwyn, a red-headed bard - wicked sense of humour, tougher than she looks
NWN2 - Neeshka, a red-headed rogue - more fragile than she looks
PS:T - Annah, a red-headed rogue - wicked sense of humour, tougher than she looks
DA:O - Leliana, a red-headed bard - wicked sense of humour, tougher than she looks

...

The Annah bit is a bit of a... simplification.

But that doesn't matter, because it's not a Bioware game.

Neither was NWN 2.

 

[Mantonio]

Glad to see the man knows when to leave a sinking ship. (Insert TORtanic joke here)

But wait, does this mean Hamburger Helper will be get a promotion in the writing department? Because that would be awful!

Morbidly hilarious to watch. But awful!

 

[poleboy]

Oh thank god.

Bioware hasn't produced a game with an engaging storyline since the first KOTOR (2003!!) Let's hope they take a hint and start producing quality material again, instead of rehashing the same three plot ideas over and over and over and over...

 

[chstens]

This could mean that Hamburger Helper is up for promotion. Uh oh.

 

[katsabas]

Whooooooof. I browsed through every single post this far and yeah,

Spoiler: the Escapist community is getting more of these by the second!

Blah no good game since 2003, blah doesn't try out something new, blah here's the chart that proves it, blah, blah, blah. It's times like these that I wish I had a gynormous filter or something.

Since he took part in giving me one of the best VG stories to date, best of luck to all his endeavors.

 

[Susurrus]

A much better way of saying: "much of what Bioware did was the same" is to look at their rogue characters in game.

Bg1 - Imoen, a red-headed thief - initially innocent
Bg2 - Nalia, a red-headed thief/mage - initially innocent
(Bg2 - Imoen, a pink-haired thief/mage)
NWN1 - Sharwyn, a red-headed bard - wicked sense of humour, tougher than she looks
NWN2 - Neeshka, a red-headed rogue - more fragile than she looks
PS:T - Annah, a red-headed rogue - wicked sense of humour, tougher than she looks
DA:O - Leliana, a red-headed bard - wicked sense of humour, tougher than she looks

...

The Annah bit is a bit of a... simplification.

But that doesn't matter, because it's not a Bioware game.

Neither was NWN 2.

True, but there's a fair amount of cross-over...

 

[Mantonio]

Whooooooof. I browsed through every single post this far and yeah,

Spoiler: the Escapist community is getting more of these by the second!

Blah no good game since 2003, blah doesn't try out something new, blah here's the chart that proves it, blah, blah, blah. It's times like these that I wish I had a gynormous filter or something.

Since he took part in giving me one of the best VG stories to date, best of luck to all his endeavors.

That quote from Dan Rather is ridiculous. So someone is a snob if they don't immediately associate something with a piece of popular culture that it's used with? What kind of thought process is that?

 

[CapitalistPig]

He probably finally read all the Mass Effect stories and realized that in the world they constructed humans wouldn't win so they had to fake it with ME3.

I think the company will be fine without him hes done good stuff and bad stuff like all of these companies. I think its a good move for him. Tough luck to all his fans cause Bioware will probably make games completely different now.

 

[Saviordd1]

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.

This, I always hated that chart, especially since some of it is just plain wrong. (You can go through a playthrough of ME1 and not even SEE Cerberus, hell they were mostly ascended extras in ME2.

OT: Well, this could be very good, or horribly horribly bad.

 

[Terrible Opinions]

A much better way of saying: "much of what Bioware did was the same" is to look at their rogue characters in game.

Bg1 - Imoen, a red-headed thief - initially innocent
Bg2 - Nalia, a red-headed thief/mage - initially innocent
(Bg2 - Imoen, a pink-haired thief/mage)
NWN1 - Sharwyn, a red-headed bard - wicked sense of humour, tougher than she looks
NWN2 - Neeshka, a red-headed rogue - more fragile than she looks
PS:T - Annah, a red-headed rogue - wicked sense of humour, tougher than she looks
DA:O - Leliana, a red-headed bard - wicked sense of humour, tougher than she looks

...

The Annah bit is a bit of a... simplification.

But that doesn't matter, because it's not a Bioware game.

Neither was NWN 2.

True, but there's a fair amount of cross-over...

Well, let's see. Dropping the Black Isle and Obsidian games from the list, we have:

BG1 Imoen
BG2 Nalia and Imoen
NWN Sharwyn
DAO Leliana

All female rogue-ish characters with red-ish hair, albeit mostly with different personality notes.

Now look at the many, many other "rogues" that they have made that are not on your list. Safana, Kasumi, Isabella, Varric, Alora, Montaron, Jan, Sky, Mission Vao, Zevran, and a few others. Some backstabbing murderers, some fun-loving adventurers, some hardened idealists, some cautious opportunists...

Now, there's undeniably a majority: female thing going on there. And MAYBE a plurality of them have red/pink hair; I haven't looked into it too closely. Bioware definitely runs hard with some tropes, but "all their rogues are alike" is a big oversimplification.

Anyway. Good luck to Karpyshyn. If ya ever come back home, Drew, I owe you a beer for BG2.