The Writers of BioWare

[Shamus Young]

Yes, I realized I omitted Kaiden after I'd submitted the article. He was more Emo than Garrius.

 

[annoyinglizardvoice]

I like their stuff, but I do notice some ideas getting over-used.
KOTOR1 and 2 both had their perks as far as scripts went.

 

[VegetaPrinceofSaiyans]

I thought it broke new ground to put an old woman in a game. How many other games have an old woman in them?

i know it's not bioware but it is a bioware series...KOTOR 2 *COUGH* Kreia the old lady sith lord *COUGH*

 

[Yog Sothoth]

Bioware is in a rut...? News to me what with Dragon Age earning rave reviews & Mass Effect 2 and The Old Republic on the horizon...

 

[Doug]

God damnit Shamus, now I'm no longer in ignorant bliss! Now I shall always notice!

 

[Jou-LotD]

I thought it broke new ground to put an old woman in a game. How many other games have an old woman in them?

KOTOR2 had an old woman. And Wynne can't really count as an old woman... she was way too dirty minded. Some of the things she said had me going "Oh my god... no... my ears." followed by laughter.

 

[Lvl 64 Klutz]

Oh, a twist. Here in the beginning I thought you were complaining about the archetypes, and then in the end you seem to imply it's a good thing. I think. There was that comment about changing writers... Okay, I'm a little confused.

 

[MarsProbe]

I agree with you on most of these except for Alistair and Garrus.

How is Garrus emo?

Personally, I wouldn't even call Alistair emo. At least in this neck of the woods (and in certain circles) emo has come to signify someone acting moody and depressed with no good reason to do so. In Alistair's case, seeing your close friend and long term mentor die due to a last minute act of betrayal and also bearing the potentially huge responsibility of having to be King someday, despite the fact the very prospect scares the hell out of you. seem like viable reasons to me.

Though touching on similarities between Bioware games, at least ME and DA:O, being the only two I have played, they themselves both seem to follow a particular template:

Character with a specific background chosen by the player is inducted into an elite order (Spectres/Grey Wardens) then proceeds to recruit an assortment of allies in order to aid them in combatting a periodically recurring threat (The Invasion of the Reapers/The Blight) that threatens to destroy all life.

Just for fun, and in light of Mass Effect 2, I can predict characters of the following ilk will be appearing in the follow up to Dragon Age, along with who they will be replacing.

Leliana will be ousted in favour of a brash, heavily tattoed rogue who sings loud songs about the violent exploits of the Antivan Crows and gets her kicks from slaying chantry sisters in her spare time. She also swears a lot.

Shale will disappear in favour of a another golem, imaginatively named Crush, with a penchant for charging head first into enemies and generally being irrationally violent and incredibly bland at the same time.

Alistair will be replaced by a new renegade Templar character that likes to adorn his armour with the bones of Apostates he has slain for abandoning the Circle. After he has tortured them and feasted on their flesh of course.

Ok, maybe this is getting a bit ridiculous, but I had to give it a go anyway.

 

[Parallel Streaks]

I agree with you on most of these except for Alistair and Garrus.

How is Garrus emo?

Personally, I wouldn't even call Alistair emo. At least in this neck of the woods (and in certain circles) emo has come to signify someone acting moody and depressed with no good reason to do so. In Alistair's case, seeing your close friend and long term mentor die due to a last minute act of betrayal and also bearing the potentially huge responsibility of having to be King someday, despite the fact the very prospect scares the hell out of you. seem like viable reasons to me.

Though touching on similarities between Bioware games, at least ME and DA:O, being the only two I have played, they themselves both seem to follow a particular template:

Character with a specific background chosen by the player is inducted into an elite order (Spectres/Grey Wardens) then proceeds to recruit an assortment of allies in order to aid them in combatting a periodically recurring threat (The Invasion of the Reapers/The Blight) that threatens to destroy all life.

Just for fun, and in light of Mass Effect 2, I can predict characters of the following ilk will be appearing in the follow up to Dragon Age, along with who they will be replacing.

Leliana will be ousted in favour of a brash, heavily tattoed rogue who sings loud songs about the violent exploits of the Antivan Crows and gets her kicks from slaying chantry sisters in her spare time. She also swears a lot.

Shale will disappear in favour of a another golem, imaginatively named Crush, with a penchant for charging head first into enemies and generally being irrationally violent and incredibly bland at the same time.

Alistair will be replaced by a new renegade Templar character that likes to adorn his armour with the bones of Apostates he has slain for abandoning the Circle. After he has tortured them and feasted on their flesh of course.

Ok, maybe this is getting a bit ridiculous, but I had to give it a go anyway.

And throughout the entire story Sheperd.. ahem, Warden will be followed by a mysterious Darkspawn that has become so obsessed with him/her that they wear old pieces of their armour. Which they won't be short of due to the amount I discarded old boots during Dragon Age.

 

[Mr.Squishy]

I do seem to notice this as well, but it's not necessarily a bad thing , and they always put some sort of twist on the archetype with the character(s) in each game. Xan was basically GENERAL emo, but I still enjoyed having him in my party...only reason I didn't keep him was 'cause Dynaheir could cast fireball and minsc would leave without her... Although, I noticed that while minsc and perhaps xzar might fit the Token Badass Comic relief, I never really classified Montaron or Khalid...and I tremendously enjoyed both Imoen and Aerie even though they were pretty much spot-on The Pilgrim. I agree gorion fits the mentor role, but you don't really see too much of him. Also, Jaheira was one of the funniest shrews I met XP ("Jaheira, why do you always scowl?" "silly child, if you knew me better, you'd know this is how I smile")..that made me laugh.
Huh...and I thought I wouldn't find many of the archetypes in BG...I noticed them a bit in the KOTOR games, but shrugged it off.
No matter, I'm still a huge bioware fan, if only 'cause of the sheer variety they add. I wonder...what if hideo kojima joined bioware...
/end late-night/early-morning rant

 

[tjdrummer13]

I am SO glad that I'm not the only one who has noticed that BioWare just keeps rehashing the same story and characters over and over and over and over again.

"You and your band of archetypes must go kill this thing (which is older than time itself) before these evil group of people get to the thing to use it against humanity."

And people complain about the Halo series, Modern Warfare 2, and the like being thin on story?

ha yeah....but i enjoy them all heaps,it's not just bioware, rockstar have had some pretty annoying repettive stuff, every game they make seem to be a revenge story where you were friends with some guy and then he shot some guy that you were also friends with and then you spend the whole game trying to shoot him for revenge. it happened in GTA several times and they are releasing a new game call "red dead redemption" which follows that storyline exactly except its about cowboys instead of gangsters.

 

[level250geek]

I am SO glad that I'm not the only one who has noticed that BioWare just keeps rehashing the same story and characters over and over and over and over again.

"You and your band of archetypes must go kill this thing (which is older than time itself) before these evil group of people get to the thing to use it against humanity."

And people complain about the Halo series, Modern Warfare 2, and the like being thin on story?

ha yeah....but i enjoy them all heaps,it's not just bioware, rockstar have had some pretty annoying repettive stuff, every game they make seem to be a revenge story where you were friends with some guy and then he shot some guy that you were also friends with and then you spend the whole game trying to shoot him for revenge. it happened in GTA several times and they are releasing a new game call "red dead redemption" which follows that storyline exactly except its about cowboys instead of gangsters.

And in a way, you've proven my point. Repetitive/rehashed stories are nothing new to games and gaming. That I'm fine with. What annoys me is when sects of fanboys (and BioWare has their fair share) slam other games for having dull stories while their games of choice suffer from the exact same symptoms, yet they get praised for their brilliant narratives.

Honestly, I'll probably pick up Dragon Age because it seems to have a cool fantasy world in which to explore and some really good combat mechanics. I will not, however, expect an edge-of-your-seat narrative full of compelling characters and deep twists.

For that, I will play Assassin's Creed II.

 

[Scrythe]

As far as Bioware's concerned, I wrote them off as lazy writers. Every single one of their games is exactly the same with just tweaks in setting. It's like their own little stamp they stick on to other people's shit. Especially Dragon Age, which I like to call Dungeon Siege 3 for this reason.

 

[the1ultimate]

I just had to laugh at the shrew dialogue part, but only because it's so true.

 

[Erlec]

It's true the archetypes are repeated throughout out the Bioware games, and the writers might want to get a new person in/out. However I think for narrative purposes they form a interpretation of the universe/world they are in which the play tries to understand. I enjoyed Kotor 2 more then Kotor 1 though, mainly due to the better mechanics as well as Kreia *awesome*

Maybe it's for the player that Bioware sets these archetypes, for comfort and for finding additional layers of depth in the game.