Goddamnit Bioware

[NinjaDeathSlap]

Wow, you can almost smell the hyperbole inducing nostalgia...

As epic story and environments go you can't get much better than the fate of the entire freaking Galaxy, with nigh on a hundred different planets per game to explore out there.

'The characters have been dull' I'm sorry? Was Tali dull? Was Legion, Thane, Wrex? Did you bother having conversations with any of these characters?

'The designs have been stagnant' ... WHAT?

I'm not completely unreasonable, I acknowledge that whether Bioware stories have deteriorated slightly over the years is a matter of opinion. But to dismiss them as complete rubbish, especially when compared to what most other game companies consider satisfactory, is ludicrous exaggeration. Also, a game (specifically an RPG) without decent gameplay is a movie, and not a particularly good movie either.

 

[Legion]

I will buy Mass effect 3 and I am sure I will enjoy it, but I do agree that their development ideas have become rather... lazy if anything, in their last few games.

The strange thing is that it is not always the case, in all of their recent games there have been some areas that have been incredibly detailed and carefully thought out, and others that seem to have been mashed together in a manner of weeks.

I think a lot of the issue (as much as I hate to be one of "those guys") is down to EA's involvement and their insistence of deadline and release times to adhere to. Mass Effect 3 has been delayed, but all that means is that it now has a two year development time, which is still very small for a series where the games have well over 20 hours of game-play apiece.

 

[Xaio30]

I agree with the OP.

*FlameShield: ON*

 

[Super Toast]

To think, we almost went a week without a 'Fuck You BioWare' thread.

Also, I liked the design of the elves in DA2.

 

[Trolldor]

Fuck yeah! Another Bioware hate thread!

Those don't get boring at all.

Protip: Read OP before commenting.

I did. My point still stands.

You don't like what Bioware has done lately, fair enough, but I happen to think the character interaction and 'inside jokes' in the Dragon Age and Mass Effect universes is great.

So you're bitching about Bioware not making games tailored to you anymore. That's not very self entitled is it?

Actually, I stated "the last two" thereby meaning the Sequels to Mass Effect and Origins, but not the initial entries in to the series.
And, also, no hate.

Protip: Read OP before commenting.

i agree with you that they are taking a direction which can go wrong, but also can go right. personally i think that mass effect 2 is a better game then ME1. you can disagree with it, but i think that ME2 was better in every way. it played better, there were more really interresting characters. the action wsa great. they had soem tweaks with talking to people. it was just great.

adn with DA2 i can see why people think its lesser the DAO. the combat system was way better though, more fun to play, and still tactic on the higher levels, but there were few orginal levels there were some problems with spawing enemies, what took you out of the experinience. and indeed, soem characters were lame in DA2. there were some who were golden, but most were pretty generic. the main problem i had with the game, was the invertory system. why cant i give gear to my party? and why would i need stars to see what is better. and the only decision you had when you had chosen your class, was what kind of weapon you wanted. which gear you needed was always the same.

and for ME3? i find it weird they want to take out the stats from the game, cause to my idea there were never so many stats to begin with.... so yeah, i do fear that the game only will be action-talking. but we can'[t be sure till we see it.

oh yeah, to be said, i never played baldur's gate, but if you like it so much, why don't you play that?

PROTIP: READ OP BEFORE COMMENTING

I'm pretty sure I said I didn't give a fuck about gameplay, my problem was with how they were handling the story.

 

[ZeroMachine]

so you are saying they should fours more on story then gameplay?


thats bad

First, I'm assuming that was supposed to be "focus".

Second, I can't tell if that's sarcasm or not. Is that sarcasm?

yeah focus my bad

and not thats not sarcasm

good story won't mean shit if the gameplay is horrible

I only partially agree. The gameplay in Enslaved: Odyssey to the West was pretty crappy (except for in the DLC, oddly enough). But the story made it all worth it.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

Fuck yeah! Another Bioware hate thread!

Those don't get boring at all.

Protip: Read OP before commenting.

I did. My point still stands.

You don't like what Bioware has done lately, fair enough, but I happen to think the character interaction and 'inside jokes' in the Dragon Age and Mass Effect universes is great.

So you're bitching about Bioware not making games tailored to you anymore. That's not very self entitled is it?

agreed completely, i absolutely loved the humor and interaction in mass effect and dragon age, i haven't finished baldurs gate yet, it has some humor there sure, and the world is huge, but its mostly dry dullness stuck between the text, so sorry OP, i do not agree.

 

[Steel_crab]

A) If you honestly couldn't be arsed with Bioware since Baldur's Gate why the hell do you want to bring it up now?

B) The characters in Mass Effect 2 and DA:O are some of the most lifelike and interesting personalities I've interacted with in any game - Baldurs gate was good back then I admit, but you should probably see the optician about getting some non-rose tinted glasses to look at the past with.

 

[DustyDrB]

I love the story. You don't. All right.

 

[Trolldor]

Wow, you can almost smell the hyperbole inducing nostalgia...

As epic story and environments go you can't get much better than the fate of the entire freaking Galaxy, with nigh on a hundred different planets per game to explore out there.

'The characters have been dull' I'm sorry? Was Tali dull? Was Legion, Thane, Wrex? Did you bother having conversations with any of these characters?

'The designs have been stagnant' ... WHAT?

I'm not completely unreasonable, I acknowledge that whether Bioware stories have deteriorated slightly over the years is a matter of opinion. But to dismiss them as complete rubbish, especially when compared to what most other game companies consider satisfactory, is ludicrous exaggeration. Also, a game (specifically an RPG) without decent gameplay is a movie, and not a particularly good movie either.

Yeah, I did have 'conversations' (see: Dialogue wheel with no real exploration of character available) with those characters.
Thane was a whining lizard monkey. Legion was in the game for all of fuck all time so his character had no opportunity to develop. Tali completely transformed in to a serious case of 'pigtails' compared to Mass Effect 1, and Wrex was in the game for even less time than Legion, it was a goddamn cameo. So yeah, it was disappointing.

 

[Azure-Supernova]

It also has blizzard fans, bethesda fans, obsidian fans... one might even call it a community of people who are fans of Games in general.

Okay okay, no need for the snark

I was just stating that I notice an abundance of people who like Bioware and I generally don't like instigating flametopic.

 

[lobster1077]

I don't give a flying fuck about what they've done with the inventory or the combat. I couldn't care less how "streamlined" they want to make it.
The reason I've no interest in getting Mass Effect 3 is that the last two games they've released have dissappointed me story-wise. Their characters have been dull. The designs have been stagnant.
Bioware is a company renowned for the character of its games, for all those elements that make an atmosphere. That is what made those games great. People still talk about the original Baldur's Gate games, and it has little to nothing to do with the gameplay. People still talk about those games because of the world, because of your interaction with it. Because you can steal a man's golden pantaloons in Baldur's Gate 1 and combine it with two different pairs of Pantaloons (bronze and silver respectively) in Baldur's Gate 2 to create one of the best armors in the game. It's an oddity you're rewarded for sticking with. You can invest in characters and develop romances that trigger based on the time you spend with one another, not how far in the plot you are. Every town has a story, has a life.
Bioware's focus on gameplay over story have seen their products suffer where they matter and have always mattered the most.


Also, fuck those James Cameron elves in DA2. Seriously. Fuck those pointy, plate-faced fluff sniffers. I doubt they could have fucked up Elf design any more than they did.

Huh, in my naïve mindset I figured Mass Effect to be barrels of brilliantly written fun with chocolaty fudge covered awesome characters.

 

[LordSaai]

If by last two games OP refers to DA2 and ME2, then I have to agree partially. I haven't played DA2, but the main plot of ME2 is kind of disappointing yet Bioware gets away with that since all the character plots are generally well done.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

Snip

Damn, you're not being condescending in the slightest are you?

This is all your opinion, I've played Baldur's gate, in fact, I probably waited too long to play Baldur's Gate because I find it quite boring if I'm honest. So there you go, another opinion.

I'm going to go start a thread now, stating how Bioware has retrospectively made a game that I think is worse than Mass Effect 2.

That'll show 'em for not using a time singualarity to improve their past games.

 

[Gill Kaiser]

Despite my dislike for most of the ridiculous design choices in DA2, I actually liked the majority of the art design changes, including the elf redesign. So I guess my opinion cancels out yours, eh?

 

[zehydra]

OP should note that storyline != immersion.

They are two different things that are independent of each other. You said you liked Baldur's Gate because of the immersion, but you start off saying you hate Mass Effect because of the story.

 

[Trolldor]

Man, I'm lolling so hard at how much basic comprehension failure is going on here.

I'm fairly certain I said "last two games" so why people are bringing up anything before DA2 or ME2 as good examples of Bioware's potential is beyond me. They don't fit in to the 'last two games' category.

 

[Sigmund Av Volsung]

No offense, but if you want more story than gameplay, then play Final Fantasy and stop ranting at something that you don't have control over.

No-one is forcing you buy Mass Effect 3, so if you don't like it, then don't buy it, simple as.

 

[manythings]

It also has blizzard fans, bethesda fans, obsidian fans... one might even call it a community of people who are fans of Games in general.

Okay okay, no need for the snark

I was just stating that I notice an abundance of people who like Bioware and I generally don't like instigating flametopic.

Yes but you noticed there were fans of a big developer on a gaming website. Phrasing, my good man, Phrasing. Also I know what you meant.

 

[Kahunaburger]

snip

Well, what specifically did you like less about, say, the ME2 story compared to previous Bioware titles?

I stand by my opinion that romance is one of the worst things that can be shoehorned into a game, at least the way it is in Mass Effect or Dragon Age.

Now that I think is a good criticism. You can make a very good case they go waaaaay too "dating sim" in their games.