My relationship with games and the industry may or may not be typical, but I find I'm reflecting on it now, a couple of months before Mass Effect: Andromeda's release and my mixed feelings on it. Up until the new year started, I honestly did not care about it, but now out of the blue I find I caught that excitement for a new game that I haven't had for a very, very long time.
I was a child in the 80s, playing on his cousin's Sega Master System, Amstrad, BBC and Sinclair Spectrum. We did have a Vic 20 and briefly, C64, but the 90s, my teen years, were spent playing on an Amiga 500/500+ and a MegaDrive/SNES. I also frequented arcades and was very, very good at SF2. In 97, we got our first actual PC, I started university, joined "the Internet" and played Goldeneye on the N64. In the following years I learned a lot about PCs, the Net, the Web, hardware and what not. I built my own PC and not long after, ADSL became a thing and 56k modems became redundant. Around this time, I got to play some of the greatest games ever made, including Deus Ex and Baldur's Gate II. The latter in particular was really something special. I don't say that now thru rose-tinted glasses or nostalgia, at the time it was really special and to this day, it still is. It's also the start of my love for BioWare.
BG2 was, in the most literal sense, an exceptional game. Stars aligned and it just happened that the right story, IP and dev team came together to make this unrivalled marriage of gameplay mechanics, characterisation and a story that was simultaneously deeply personal and massively epic. I was very excited when Neverwinter Nights came out, especially when we initially thought our Bhaalspawn could be imported into NWN. Tho that didn't happen, the D&D gameplay was still great and more than that, the online component and toolset made for a game that was played and supported for years by a massive community of fans. I was part of that community then, chatting on forums and playing various mods and adventures online.
I eventually got an XBox and enjoyed KotOR greatly and even it's follow up, Jade Empire. These obviously marked the turning point into what BioWare became....no longer maker of PC RPGs but cinematic, console RPGs that got a PC release. Still, they were good and unlike anything else. Then of course, came Mass Effect. BioWare's own sci-fi IP in the style of KotOR, the natural evolution of the "cinematic" storytelling. It would also have the feature missing from NWN...importing our character into later games.
Whatever people will say about its combat, heavy dialogue, etc. it achieved what BW wanted; it established a new universe every bit as rich and interesting as Star Wars or any other IP and also succeeded with its wonderful characters. As far back as Baldur's Gate, all fans will remember some of the best NPCs in the 2000s. Imoen, Viconia, Minsc and Boo, Aribeth & Deekin, Revan, Malak, Carth Onasi and Bastilla Shan, Silk Fox and the Black Whirlwind...memorable, interesting characters. And Mass Effect was as good as any of those and continued to get better.
Dragon Age: Origins also happened, a very good game that never quite managed to fulfil its promise. It would be the last game BioWare ever made that would include a toolset, and sadly one that never saw much use. Support for a new engine, toolset, game world and the rest was cut abruptly short when a sequel came out so soon after with no hint of what DA:O originally promised. It was at this time that tragedy struck however, with the EA buyout of VG Holding Corp [http://www.gamespot.com/articles/ea-buying-bioware-pandemic-for-860m/1100-6180818/], acquiring BioWare and Pandemic, the soon-after shut down creators of the fantastic The Saboteur.
Owning BW gave EA ownership of the Mass Effect and Dragon Age IPs. They made a new studio in Austin to work on SWTOR with the BW name but the only thing it had in common with BW was senior leadership. ME2 came out in this transitory period and had been significantly altered from the first game to suit EAs style of mass-market games. It would also be the last BioWare game that would be available to buy on Steam. Origin came about soon after and ME3 couldn't be played on PC without it. The Two Doctors who founded BW, Zeschuk and Muzyka left the company [https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/09/18/the-doctors-are-out-zeschuk-and-muzyka-leave-bioware/]. Drew Karpshyn, lead writer on ME and ME2 left too [http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-02-17-kotor-mass-effect-lead-writer-drew-karpyshyn-leaves-bioware], which resulted in ME3 (though he did return [http://www.pcgamer.com/mass-effect-lead-writer-drew-karpyshyn-returns-to-bioware/] 3 years later). Lastly, the main creative director of all three ME games, Casey Hudson, also left the company [http://blog.bioware.com/2014/08/07/casey-hudsons-departure-from-biowareea/].
While the gameplay was fine, a third-person sci-fi shooter, the story was a mess of contradictions, vagaries, plot holes and nonsense. The main part of the game, building the crucible, was done wholly off-screen by other people and neither the story, gameplay or infamous ending paid any heed to the players actions in prior games (or, in fact, even the same game). Still, it was the third part of the trilogy and the only ending we'd get, so there was no choice but to settle for it. Fast forward until now.
In the same years, the rest of the industry has also evolved. Ubisoft now sells reskinned versions of "The Ubisoft Game" and others ostensibly copy this formula, such as with Mad Max and Dying Light. Batman and The Witcher were also successful, including the investigation style missions. The last BW game, Dragon Age: Inquisition was a hybrid open-world/MMO thing that was so forgettable I cannot name a single NPC beyond Leliana & Varic, and them only because they were in the previous games. And this is where I find myself torn.
The name Mass Effect in the title has done exactly what EA paid their millions of dollars for; it evokes the name of something I liked to convince me I should like the new thing too. I do love the thought of more biotic, shooty RPG action with a squad of believable, interesting and endearing crewmates, friends and love-interests. Ignoring the mess ME3 made of the story, up until that point the story and setting were fantastic and made playing the games more compelling. Over the years, I've played thru them multiple times with Male/Female Shep, Paragon/Renegade, different LIs and other story variations.
But from the information we have and everything I've learned and experienced from the industry over the years, I'm also worried. I'm afraid it will be a mass-market appeal, Ubisoft game with Batman's "investigations", with compulsory Origin/Denuvo/Online and although they've said "no season pass", I'm just waiting for something else insidious. In fairness, EA have been less evil lately, but this is the games industry and experience dictates there will be some form of on-disc/Day 1 DLC, microtransaction, grindy time-wall thing somewhere. From what I found in my excitement, "exploration" will be going planet to planet [http://www.gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2016/11/23/six-fun-activities-to-pursue-in-mass-effect-andromeda.aspx], each offering a DA:I miniature sandbox with "content", sidequesting and one stronghold (which we're reminded is optional). So, it's Mad Max in Andromeda?
I'm torn. I want to play a new Mass Effect game, but the form the new one will take is worrying. None of the main people involved on the original are involved here, the lead writer on it himself left BW a year ago. Will it be DA:I in space? Will it be The Ubisoft Game with Asari and biotics? Since I won't pre-order games any more, at least I'll be able to find out what to expect after release, but despite all my misgivings, I caught the excitement for a new game I honestly can't remember having for a long time before. Where you can't wait for release, to fire it up for the first time and see the BioWare title, which in my head I know isn't the same company but my heart doesn't know that...
I was a child in the 80s, playing on his cousin's Sega Master System, Amstrad, BBC and Sinclair Spectrum. We did have a Vic 20 and briefly, C64, but the 90s, my teen years, were spent playing on an Amiga 500/500+ and a MegaDrive/SNES. I also frequented arcades and was very, very good at SF2. In 97, we got our first actual PC, I started university, joined "the Internet" and played Goldeneye on the N64. In the following years I learned a lot about PCs, the Net, the Web, hardware and what not. I built my own PC and not long after, ADSL became a thing and 56k modems became redundant. Around this time, I got to play some of the greatest games ever made, including Deus Ex and Baldur's Gate II. The latter in particular was really something special. I don't say that now thru rose-tinted glasses or nostalgia, at the time it was really special and to this day, it still is. It's also the start of my love for BioWare.
BG2 was, in the most literal sense, an exceptional game. Stars aligned and it just happened that the right story, IP and dev team came together to make this unrivalled marriage of gameplay mechanics, characterisation and a story that was simultaneously deeply personal and massively epic. I was very excited when Neverwinter Nights came out, especially when we initially thought our Bhaalspawn could be imported into NWN. Tho that didn't happen, the D&D gameplay was still great and more than that, the online component and toolset made for a game that was played and supported for years by a massive community of fans. I was part of that community then, chatting on forums and playing various mods and adventures online.
I eventually got an XBox and enjoyed KotOR greatly and even it's follow up, Jade Empire. These obviously marked the turning point into what BioWare became....no longer maker of PC RPGs but cinematic, console RPGs that got a PC release. Still, they were good and unlike anything else. Then of course, came Mass Effect. BioWare's own sci-fi IP in the style of KotOR, the natural evolution of the "cinematic" storytelling. It would also have the feature missing from NWN...importing our character into later games.
Whatever people will say about its combat, heavy dialogue, etc. it achieved what BW wanted; it established a new universe every bit as rich and interesting as Star Wars or any other IP and also succeeded with its wonderful characters. As far back as Baldur's Gate, all fans will remember some of the best NPCs in the 2000s. Imoen, Viconia, Minsc and Boo, Aribeth & Deekin, Revan, Malak, Carth Onasi and Bastilla Shan, Silk Fox and the Black Whirlwind...memorable, interesting characters. And Mass Effect was as good as any of those and continued to get better.
Dragon Age: Origins also happened, a very good game that never quite managed to fulfil its promise. It would be the last game BioWare ever made that would include a toolset, and sadly one that never saw much use. Support for a new engine, toolset, game world and the rest was cut abruptly short when a sequel came out so soon after with no hint of what DA:O originally promised. It was at this time that tragedy struck however, with the EA buyout of VG Holding Corp [http://www.gamespot.com/articles/ea-buying-bioware-pandemic-for-860m/1100-6180818/], acquiring BioWare and Pandemic, the soon-after shut down creators of the fantastic The Saboteur.
Owning BW gave EA ownership of the Mass Effect and Dragon Age IPs. They made a new studio in Austin to work on SWTOR with the BW name but the only thing it had in common with BW was senior leadership. ME2 came out in this transitory period and had been significantly altered from the first game to suit EAs style of mass-market games. It would also be the last BioWare game that would be available to buy on Steam. Origin came about soon after and ME3 couldn't be played on PC without it. The Two Doctors who founded BW, Zeschuk and Muzyka left the company [https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/09/18/the-doctors-are-out-zeschuk-and-muzyka-leave-bioware/]. Drew Karpshyn, lead writer on ME and ME2 left too [http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-02-17-kotor-mass-effect-lead-writer-drew-karpyshyn-leaves-bioware], which resulted in ME3 (though he did return [http://www.pcgamer.com/mass-effect-lead-writer-drew-karpyshyn-returns-to-bioware/] 3 years later). Lastly, the main creative director of all three ME games, Casey Hudson, also left the company [http://blog.bioware.com/2014/08/07/casey-hudsons-departure-from-biowareea/].
While the gameplay was fine, a third-person sci-fi shooter, the story was a mess of contradictions, vagaries, plot holes and nonsense. The main part of the game, building the crucible, was done wholly off-screen by other people and neither the story, gameplay or infamous ending paid any heed to the players actions in prior games (or, in fact, even the same game). Still, it was the third part of the trilogy and the only ending we'd get, so there was no choice but to settle for it. Fast forward until now.
In the same years, the rest of the industry has also evolved. Ubisoft now sells reskinned versions of "The Ubisoft Game" and others ostensibly copy this formula, such as with Mad Max and Dying Light. Batman and The Witcher were also successful, including the investigation style missions. The last BW game, Dragon Age: Inquisition was a hybrid open-world/MMO thing that was so forgettable I cannot name a single NPC beyond Leliana & Varic, and them only because they were in the previous games. And this is where I find myself torn.
The name Mass Effect in the title has done exactly what EA paid their millions of dollars for; it evokes the name of something I liked to convince me I should like the new thing too. I do love the thought of more biotic, shooty RPG action with a squad of believable, interesting and endearing crewmates, friends and love-interests. Ignoring the mess ME3 made of the story, up until that point the story and setting were fantastic and made playing the games more compelling. Over the years, I've played thru them multiple times with Male/Female Shep, Paragon/Renegade, different LIs and other story variations.
But from the information we have and everything I've learned and experienced from the industry over the years, I'm also worried. I'm afraid it will be a mass-market appeal, Ubisoft game with Batman's "investigations", with compulsory Origin/Denuvo/Online and although they've said "no season pass", I'm just waiting for something else insidious. In fairness, EA have been less evil lately, but this is the games industry and experience dictates there will be some form of on-disc/Day 1 DLC, microtransaction, grindy time-wall thing somewhere. From what I found in my excitement, "exploration" will be going planet to planet [http://www.gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2016/11/23/six-fun-activities-to-pursue-in-mass-effect-andromeda.aspx], each offering a DA:I miniature sandbox with "content", sidequesting and one stronghold (which we're reminded is optional). So, it's Mad Max in Andromeda?
I'm torn. I want to play a new Mass Effect game, but the form the new one will take is worrying. None of the main people involved on the original are involved here, the lead writer on it himself left BW a year ago. Will it be DA:I in space? Will it be The Ubisoft Game with Asari and biotics? Since I won't pre-order games any more, at least I'll be able to find out what to expect after release, but despite all my misgivings, I caught the excitement for a new game I honestly can't remember having for a long time before. Where you can't wait for release, to fire it up for the first time and see the BioWare title, which in my head I know isn't the same company but my heart doesn't know that...
![ZeD [taken 0]](https://eg-forums-escapist-data.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/data/avatars/l/192/192348.jpg?1620256419){kind=avatar}
With Mass Effect the same. The story in ME2 is still my favorite but (atleast for me) there is no denying the gameplay got improved with every game.
