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

[ChupathingyX]

It's like watching a movie, Oblivion's wasn't quite as in-depth as New Vegas, but at least with Oblivion I didn't have to get up every few moments and reset everything.

If you actually got to finish New Vegas, then I envy you.

Well personally it doesn't freeze for me that often, I'm just lucky that way, everyone experiences glitches differently.

Yes I admit I have encountered freezes but that's about it, I've never had quests break on me or important characters dissapear so glitches and bugs don't really affect my judgement of the game. Personally I experienced more bugs in F3, esecially during the Pitt DLC which was almost unplayable for me. Also I had the Oblivion GOTY edition which meant it was impossibl for me to cure vampirism.

That, and you really can't give Obsidian full blame for that either, they were given Bethesda's engine which was already a buggy mess and told to make New Vegas in a limited time and with a much smaller budget than F3 had. Same thing happend with KOTOR II, they were given a small amunt of time to make the game, way too short to make a full game and yet they still went ahead and made it.

 

[ChupathingyX]

Errrr...Obsidian.

I've never played a Square Enix RPG or a Bioware RPG.

And Bethesda "RPGs" barely have any choice in them, at least the last two really dropped the ball, and I'm still on the fence about Skyrim.

Excuse me what?

"barely have any choice in them"? What Bethesda games have you been playing, good sir?

OK, in Fallout: New Vegas after meeting Benny you then start to do quests for different factions, eventually you are given the choice of fighting for Caesars Legion, Mr House, the NCR or using Yes Man for independent New Vegas.

In Fallout 3 Amata has to be your love interest, Butch has to be your bully, you have to love your dad, your dad will always love you and then when you're reunited with your daddy you have to join the altruistic Brotherhood of Steel. Then you're forced to make a decision about the purifier by sacrificing yourself or someone else, why can't I just say "fuck it" and walk away from the purifier, or even better get one of my radiation immune companions to switch it off (Broken Steel does not count, fixing a mistake does not excuse its existence).

Now lets look at Oblivion, fight for Martin and the good guys. Any particular reason why I can't join the Mystic Dawn? Not to mention the side quests barely have any choice especially the main guilds, for example you can't join the Necromancers or Blackwood.

 

[Arbi Trax]

Between these 3 - Bioware.

Overall? Interplay (including Black Isle Studios and Troika, even though the latter are only ex-Interplay staff).

I wholeheartedly agree. My personal 'Golden Age' for Character RPGs was when Interplay and Black Isle Studios were riding high, and BioWare was dipping their oar in with Baldur's Gate.

Fallout, Planescape Torment and Baldur's Gate. My 3 favourite RPGs by far. So my choice is more out of bias towards their history than an assessment of where they're at now.

That's not to say that Bethesda are bad - I sunk many hours into Morrowind and Oblivion, and I thought they treated the Fallout franchise well - despite being fans.

And as for Square Enix - ehh...the first FF game I played was 8, which I liked, and I really enjoyed the mythology present in FF10, even if the characters grated somewhat. And it's hard to dislike them when they created Crono Trigger. Time manipulation with real consequences for the world, fully realised supporting characters with back stories and important roles and multiple endings depending on your actions. Bear in mind this all happened while Mario was still trying to figure out how to put Yoshi's saddle on.

So in summary, I can't decide! Now I'm off on a month-long nostalgia trip through my old games...

 

[xam883]

I love alot of square enix's games i would pick them but most of them are old and I'm not going to pick square enix due to nostalgia glasses .

I tend to like story characters and dialog so i guess bioware then. hmmm.... yeah biowares a good
choice they don't make mistakes and the games they've made so far have bin some of the best I've played in years.

 

[NerfedFalcon]

What does everyone on this site have against JRPGs? Is it just that Ben Croshaw doesn't like them, so you don't like them either and have to come up with statements to justify the fact that the only reason you're avoiding JRPGs is because some guy you idolise hates them?

 

[AlternatePFG]

What does everyone on this site have against JRPGs? Is it just that Ben Croshaw doesn't like them, so you don't like them either and have to come up with statements to justify the fact that the only reason you're avoiding JRPGs is because some guy you idolise hates them?

I think the problem is that most people who don't play many JRPG's think that the Final Fantasy games are representative of the whole genre.

 

[NerfedFalcon]

What does everyone on this site have against JRPGs? Is it just that Ben Croshaw doesn't like them, so you don't like them either and have to come up with statements to justify the fact that the only reason you're avoiding JRPGs is because some guy you idolise hates them?

I think the problem is that most people who don't play many JRPG's think that the Final Fantasy games are representative of the whole genre.

And funnily enough, the two games that Yahtzee gives as examples of 'bearable' JRPGs (Paper Mario and Earthbound) both break the stereotype. (And they're both incredibly awesome on their own.)

 

[Grey_Focks]

What does everyone on this site have against JRPGs? Is it just that Ben Croshaw doesn't like them, so you don't like them either and have to come up with statements to justify the fact that the only reason you're avoiding JRPGs is because some guy you idolise hates them?

Saying we all just follow yahtzee really isn't helping your case, and trust me on that, I'm a Halo fan. I feel your pain.

But the reasons why I personally dislike JRPGs?

-The art style. I just dislike the anime, overly cutesy style that so many JRPGs go for. I understand plenty of people do like it, and that this is just personal taste, but I just don't like it at all. Also not a fan of the more whatever the hell the more recent Final Fantasy's have been doing art style wise.

- Grinding. Maybe it's because I'm all grown up and work two jobs, but I just cannot stand spending my free time doing a mindlessly doing the same thing over and over again.

- The actual gameplay. Seriously, turn-based combat just isn't fun. I can understand the strategic potential of it, but it's a very easy thing to screw up. And ofcourse this all comes back to that problem with grinding, and how the combat in these types of games usually has very little variety, and I just lose interest.

Add to that all the tropes and how even JRPG fans have been complaining about the lack of good ones this generation, and you should be able to get the idea. And the sad part of it all? I used to kinda like them. Hell, Final Fantasy Tactics was one of my favorite games when I was younger. But more recent games like 'The Last Remnant' and 'Infinite Undiscovery' have literally killed the genre for me. I've tried plenty of them, but I just can't enjoy them anymore. Sad, but it happens.

 

[Nicolairigel]

Gotta go with Bioware, to me they are the pixar of action rpgs. Don't get me wrong, I played Morrowind and loved and Im in the middle of fallout 3 and think it's one of the funniest games I've ever played, but the company that made Kotor and Mass effect has to win. I would change my opinion if Bioware does the unthinkable and screws up Mass effect 3, because that would be strike two too many after not continuing Kotor and making that-which-shall-not-be-named in its place.

 

[redspud]

I like Bethware Squared.

 

[Nicolairigel]

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.299673-JRPGs#11915004

Here's some answers for you, above poster.

As for the topic, if i had to pick from those 3, i guess Bioware. But not the new Biowhore under EA though.

Ha, I see what you did there

 

[Mute52]

Well since Oblivion and Fallout are the only games i can playthrough without getting bored, i'm gonna have to go with Bethesda

 

[setphaserstostun]

Alright. So. Obsidian, while I've played many of their games and enjoyed them, they kinda ruined the kotr series, which bioware started and did fabulously. They lost my respect with that one. Though lucas arts didn't really give them much story wise, they could have done more with it.

 

[setphaserstostun]

that leaves my vote to bioware, btw.

 

[Ticonderoga77]

I have to say that the title firmly belongs to bioware at the moment. They've been kicking ass with their story telling ability.

Square Enix has been going through a rather painful decline. Amazing game mechanics are good, but they aren't enough to carry a game with a poorly executed story.

 

[Draitheryn]

Bioware for sure. Mass Effect and Dragon Age are good series, but so is Fallout... but fallout is, and always will be BlackIsle to me. Skyrim may change my mind, but the leveling system of morrowind and oblivion has left a bad taste in my mouth.