The Writers of BioWare

Shamus Young

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The Writers of BioWare

The characters in Dragon Age: Origins feel a little...familiar.

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APPCRASH

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Sagacious Zu a remorseless killer? That guy was moaning over his "sins" all game, and Canderous Ordo was a warrior with a set of personal values and beliefs that defined him as that, not just some killer.
 

Arachon

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Good point, but I think that BioWare has managed to characterise their "archetypes" so well (both voice actors, backstory and visual design) in their different games, that it doesn't really stand out as a cliché or something cringeworthy.
 

DeadlyYellow

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APPCRASH said:
Sagacious Zu a remorseless killer? That guy was moaning over his "sins" all game, and Canderous Ordo was a warrior with a set of personal values and beliefs that defined him as that, not just some killer.
Well he WAS a remorseless killer before the time of the game, only to repent. I'd say the role was more suited to Death's Hand, but he's not a follower.
 

Destal

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Having never played any other Bioware games previously, it really wasn't a problem for me. I thought all the charactors had a really good amount of depth to them and none of them had something that was unbelievable about them.
 

level250geek

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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?
 

Seasons of Bailey

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level250geek said:
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?
Oh, and you usually see the bad guy at the start of the game.
The moment I started talking to Master Li, I knew he was going to betray me later on.
 

The_ModeRazor

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Ehmm....
CAAAAAAAAAARRTTHHHH!!!

Good, that's out of the way.
Funny, I was thinking about the same thing. But I have to disagree in one very tiny little point:
HK-47 is awesome.
Seriously.

But you're right, Kotor 2's storytelling and characters were pretty different. I dunno... somehow the whole "big quest to save teh galaxyz" was just a little bit more personal.
And the ending sucked. But the game was still great.
 

Tennyson

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You forgot to mention Minsc in the Berserker category.

And, frankly, if Minsc popped up in every Bioware game, I'd buy them for that reason alone.
 

Telas

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As long as the games sell like hotcakes, they'll keep to their formula. When and if the market changes, they'll update the formula, but not before.

Just ask Coca-Cola about their experiences with updating the formula...
 

Raithnor

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You're calling Garrus emo an *NOT* Kaiden?

Garrus schtick was "Rogue Cop", as in "I can get things done, the hell with the rules!" The only things he whined about was not becoming a Spectre and not getting the guy that got away as part of his sidequest.

Kaiden would tell you his life story growning up in the abusive biotic training camp, at length. -_-;

The only reason I can understand for not including him in the list is he's voiced by the same VA as Carth Onasi.
 

Tears of Blood

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I always thought I saw similarities in some charaters, but I totally disagree with you, Shamus.

I mean, I thought you would say Kaiden Alenko and Carth Onasi were going to fill the same archetype, but you didn't. (They even have the same voice actor...!)

The thing is that people in the real world are going to fill these arcehetypes the same ways. There are "types" of people, and despite the small differences in their personality, if you spend enough time with a person you can figure out what their little archetype is.

I think the Bioware writers are very good at what they do, despite the similarities that their characters have across the games. I've always loved Bioware's stories. It's why I can stand the combat of KotOR and Dragon Age. Honestly, who wants to just stand there and watch someone do the attacking for them? Not I, but I love the game's story. The combat just doesn't matter anymore at that point.
 

Mushroomfreak111

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Well, actually these standard characters appear quite frequently in both video games, movies, manga, anime and so on. They are some of the classic main-characters-cliche that fill a lot of entertainment today. Sure BioWare use these over and over again, but many do! I'm sure you could find the character cliches in Harry Potter if you gave it a shot, and I'm confident almost every anime out there will include some of the classic characters that we know and love. The dark one, the happy cheery and innocent one, the careless one and the mean one. D'uh...
 

Jhereg42

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You can see certain character types a rehashed, but for some reason with Bioware games it never seems to bother me so much. I started playing Dragonage and the minute I met Morrigan I wanted to paint her skin black and give her pointy ears. . . and it didn't bother me in the slightest. I just enjoyed the fact I had Viconia in my party again after a very long hiatus.

That being said, when Obsidian took over it meant you had Chris Avalone doing the story for KOTOR 2. He's one of the best at what he does, and what he does is tell good stories by circumventing established tropes (Torment, Fallout, ect). I don't blame the end of KOTOR 2 on him because it was a result of pressure from Lucas Arts. As good as Bioware's writers are, there are very few Chris Avalones in the world.
 

Travdelosmuertos

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Regardless of their "rut," the story telling is still the best in the business.

I actually really enjoy Morrigan's quips. Her and Alistair have some pretty amusing exchanges. I keep them both in my party even though I'd rather an ice mage than a shapeshifter just because I like the dynamic. Morrigan's character fits her background. She was alienated from human contact since she was a child.

I hate Sten. I save his life and what do I get? Always with the question dodging and saying I smell like wet dogs. Fuck you, you cornrowed Andre the Giant baby killer!
 

Dectilon

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BioWare is kind of like the George Lucas of gaming. They'll produce something flashy and well-polished that's worth experiencing, but they're simply not skilled enough to get past a certain point. Obsidian's in the reverse situation. They've got skilled writers, but can't quite get the polish right. Their games are often buggy or clunky in some way.

Oh, don't get me wrong, I'll be getting ME2 when it comes out, but I'm not expecting anything above blockbuster action movie from the script. And I'm gonna enjoy it for what it is.
 

Lord Krunk

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Seasons of Bailey said:
level250geek said:
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?
Oh, and you usually see the bad guy at the start of the game.
The moment I started talking to Master Li, I knew he was going to betray me later on.
Yeah, it was the voice actor that tipped me off.

But yeah, I did notice that all BioWare games seem to have their token comic relief badass (Beserker in this article).