Poll: Who Do You Think is Best RPGs Between Bioware, Square Enix, and Bethesda?

[Dr. wonderful]

...


Oh shit, I can't actually answer this!

They all good andI fell as though you're making me choose a child.

 

[Nulmas]

So it's a choice between decent writing and lackluster gameplay, decent gameplay and awful writing, or cutscenes.

Ya sure I can't pick Obsidian instead? I mean, if they actually worked, their games would be amazing.

This. Well, both Obsidian and the now defunct Troika.

Man, if these guys had good QA, they would be the rulers of the world of RPGs.

Troika was better, though. Even being buggy as hell, I loved Vampire and Arcanum.

 

[mp123]

Bioware wins me over due to their exceptional writing. The characters Bioware creates are well developed and dimensional. While Bethesda has great open area for exploration, they still don't have the quality of writing that Bioware does. That said, I still have exceptional respect for Bethesda. If only you could combine Bioware and Bethesda, then you would have the ultimate game.

 

[maturin]

Square Enix makes JRPG's. I do not like JRPG's. For me it's a toss-up between the remaining two. But I'll pick Bioware because Mass Effect was one of the best games I'd ever played.

Heyheyheyhey. There's nothing wrong with JRPGs! What makes a game bad simply because of its country of origin. No, you don't like Square Enix because of... well, I'll let the Great Spoony One explain:

FF10 is "one of the worst, most annoying games I ever played in my goddamn life. The story is fucking wretched, the characters are vapid, irritating dill-holes, the art and costume design are ridiculous to the point of weeping hilarity, and the plot's got holes in it you could drive a shoe-puff through. And it also won a shit-ton of awards from virtually every gaming website and magazine on the planet and is one of the best-selling, most highly-reviewed RPGs of all time. So of course, because I live on a planet full of mouth-breathing butt-whistlers who wouldn't know a good RPG plot if it dick-whipped them in the goddamn eye, Square Enix granted your wish, and made a sequel."

While Bethesda has great open area for exploration, they still don't have the quality of writing that Bioware does.

In terms of storytelling and dialog, that is mostly true. However, in its past Bethesda had a few amazing writers whose work remained mostly in the background, often overlooked by most players. It wasn't good writing in the Bioware sense, it was just groundbreaking, mindbending, enormously creative fantasy gold. And it came together to create some of the most interesting and original lore in any 'verse.

And really, Bioware's writing style more recently just puts it in the same entertainment category as drama TV shows, imho. All that work goes into creating a comparison with TV and movies, in which the likes of Mass Effect becomes merely competent. While Mass Effect may be the best-written videogame ever made in your opinion, at the same time it could be an average HBO miniseries. Only average. I think this is because in trying to do videogame storytelling well, they've abandoned all the narrative tricks that are unique to videogame storytelling. Purely as a gaming experience, Half-Life 2 and the episodes have better storytelling by far.

 

[jpoon]

Bethesda for me.

 

[Issurru]

Pretty simple which one of these companies do you think makes the best RPGs in your opinion?

Bathesda. way bathesda. not even a contest bathesda. Morrowind, oblivion, skyrim. Hell, bioware is barely even making RPGs anymore tbh. Dragon Age 2 is almost not an RPG, it's a straight action game, and Mass Effect 2 is worse by leagues. good games, but not good RPGs.

I will counter your point with Kotor, and also the fact that oblivion is just as action oriented as dragon age 2 (but to be fair I don't like either of them) and also skyrim seems to be going the same direction as oblivion. Not to say the game sucks (I have high hopes and I'm going to end up getting it like I did oblivion and morrowind) but I wouldn't call it an rpg. But that's just my opinion on it. Also sorry if there are any typos or other mistakes, I'm typing this with my phone at work

OT: my vote goes with bioware, but not by much, both square and beth are damn close since they make good games but I just love kotor waaaaaay too much

Edit: How the hell did I forget about neverwinter nights?

Kotor doesn't counter 4 great games on it's own. and oblivion is not just as action oriented as dragon age 2. What I meant is that dragon age 2 has removed a bunch of it's RPG elements, making it just an action game. Oblivion has far more character customization and other RPG elements than Dragan age 2. Oblivion was a real RPG, and skryim is going to be just as much an RPG. what do you mean when you say that oblivion isn't a real RPG? this confuses me.

I can't possibly think that Oblivion is a REAL RPG, when I say RPG i'm talking D&D style. What it boils down to in both cases is how or what do I want to kill things with more? But an RPG (to me at least) isn't about a huge sandbox of a world (yes it's nice) But I felt that oblivion's world had barely any substance to it where as Bioware has ridiculous amounts of detail put into their worlds with all the codex's and that sort of stuff.

I would also like to bring to attention how horrible the immersion is in Oblivion (guards know where I am no matter what, all the guilds get along hunky dory, oh and being able to kill this "all powerful wizard" that has the ENTIRE mages guild scared with a motherfucking rusty dagger. Like what the hell?), it seemed like Beth only had 3 voice actors for the entirety of Cyrodil (including Patrick Stewart), and I can't forget the horrible dialog either.

Hell I even think the combat is more RPG in Dragon Age 2, mostly because in oblivion I can hold down the attack button to win whereas in Dragon Age I had to actually think about the actions I was taking so I didn't get my ass handed to me.

I like substance in my RPG's, which is something that Bethesda doesn't seem to do, at least nowhere as good as Bioware does. I want a good story with good voice acting and (if it has them) good supporting characters (I don't care what anyone says I liked Oghren, Alistair, and Anders (well the pre Dragon Age 2 Anders anyways)) Bethesda just doesn't have that in almost any way shape or form.

The way I look at it Dragon Age 2, AND Oblivion are steps backwards for both Bioware and Bethesda (as opposed to both Dragon Age: Origins, and Morrowind)I feel that they're taking most of the RPG elements that made their games great and just dumbing it down or "streamlining" it so that they can make as much money as possible (I at least blame EA for meddling with Bioware's ability to make a decent RPG but thats all just my personal opinion).

Oh and I even forgot Sonic: Dark Brotherhood for a good RPG that Bioware made

Edit: I also don't count Skyrim, seeing as how it's not even out yet, I could just as easily say the same about Mass Effect 3

 

[Gildan Bladeborn]

Out of that group? Probably Bioware.

 

[CodeOrange]

Atlus, hands down. Strange to not include this while including Square Enix. Otherwise Squaresoft before they merged with Enix and became terminally ill. Therefor Bioware is the best right now despite their games being slow and pedantic, they just make better RPG's than the other two.

 

[Zipa]

Bioware, no contest. Square Enix haven't made a decent game in ages and Bethersda while they do make good games they are often bug ridden.

 

[DigitalAtlas]

Ion Storm. Fact.

 

[Darth Sea Bass]

As of now it's bethesda if you'd asked me before DA2 i most likely would have said bioware. It's not even that DA2 is a terrible game but the reusing of areas was just plain fucking lazy on biowares part.

 

[Songbird-O]

I love Enix because I love Dragon Quest. I love Dragon Quest to death. But I haven't liked Square's titles for a long time. To me, Square and Enix are joined in name only, and I make the distinction clear whenever I praise Enix, especially since Final Fantasy is much more popular than Dragon Quest in the west. I can't praise Square Enix because I can't praise Square. Until we get another Chrono Trigger-esque project that visibly blends each company's tastes and tendencies into something good, I'm not changing this mindset.

And I can't comfortably choose any of the other choices since I haven't played as many of them. I don't have many current gen consoles, you see.

 

[Chris646]

Personally, I'm more of a fan of JRPGs than WRPGs, so my vote goes to Square-Enix.

 

[LordDPS]

none they have all been pretty terrible recently especially Bioware is it was an open question i'd pick CD Projekt (yes that's how you spell it)

 

[HT_Black]

So it's a choice between decent writing and lackluster gameplay, decent gameplay and awful writing, or cutscenes.

Ya sure I can't pick Obsidian instead? I mean, if they actually worked, their games would be amazing.

This. Well, both Obsidian and the now defunct Troika.

Man, if these guys had good QA, they would be the rulers of the world of RPGs.

Troika was better, though. Even being buggy as hell, I loved Vampire and Arcanum.

The former has a spiritual successor in the form of Alpha Protocol; give it a look, maybe.

 

[Nulmas]

So it's a choice between decent writing and lackluster gameplay, decent gameplay and awful writing, or cutscenes.

Ya sure I can't pick Obsidian instead? I mean, if they actually worked, their games would be amazing.

This. Well, both Obsidian and the now defunct Troika.

Man, if these guys had good QA, they would be the rulers of the world of RPGs.

Troika was better, though. Even being buggy as hell, I loved Vampire and Arcanum.

The former has a spiritual successor in the form of Alpha Protocol; give it a look, maybe.

Beaten it 3 or 4 times already Not as good as Vampire but it was fun.

 

[MrRetroSpectacles]

Bethesda overall, but an honourable mention goes out to Biowares brilliant bit of dialogue, "I better go". It's provided entertainment for many of my friends and I when conversations run a little dry.

However "I saw a mud crab the other day" just takes it for awkward elevator conversation.

 

[Gill Kaiser]

It's close between Bioware and Bethesda, but Bioware makes more games, so I voted for them.

 

[GrandmaFunk]

To me, an RPG is a game where you have some input into your character. Some games have more than others, some games focus on certain aspects of your character. But Square Enix don't really allow you to do this. You play as the character the game gives you, going where the game tells you to, making the choices the game tells you to. There's no interaction from the player, apart from the combat and movement.

So then it's mostly an issue of customization and sandboxyness?

taking FF12 for example, I don't feel like I have no input into the characters just because I can't pick their names or appearance. I can still decide how to build them , how to use them, I still imagine an internal dynamic for my party, I still imbue my version of a given character with a personality different than that of other players' version.

maybe the role playing doesn't count because a large portion of it is internal to me rather than overtly included into game assets? do I find/create role-playing where there is none because I grew up playing pen&paper RPGs?


anywho I'm a bit baffled by this whole "jrpgs don't count" attitude that's floating around. It's like saying because newer games do it differently,giving you more options, it retroactively makes any game made pre-2000 no longer count as RPGs?

is Eye of the Beholder no longer an RPG? it certainly didn't give you more choices than a modern "JRPG"

 

[Ailia]

I've yet to enjoy a Bethesda RPG, I dislike most everything that Square comes out with, and I grew up playing Baldur's Gate 1 and 2 religiously. I wonder what I voted for?