What if Obsidian picked up Mass Effect after ME3...

[kasperbbs]

From my experience they are good with the story part, but everything else is mostly a wreck.

 

[RJ 17]

Unless the entire universe gets annihilated at the end there's no reason other games can't be made from the series. They will undoubtedly conclude Shepards saga, so there's no problem of other companies making more commander Shepard content, I would guess. But there's no reason why other studios or Bioware can't make more games based in the IP.

This is actually what Bioware has said they're doing. "Keep your saved content from ME 3 because there's gonna be more ME to come!" while also clearly stating that Shepard's story does come to an end at the end of ME 3.

Which I think is perfectly acceptable. Personally I like the universe - no pun intended - of Mass Effect. I like the lore, the races, the characters, everything. I wouldn't mind starting up an entirely new saga in the same universe...quite honestly I don't see what's wrong with that.

 

[EHKOS]

I imagine they'd do what they always do.

Namely, create a conceptually interesting and reasonably well written story that is ruined by a laundry list of game-breaking bugs and unfinished content.

I would pick it up about 18 months later during a Steam sale, wait for the fan patches and love it to death/

Fixed that for ya.

I see no reason why they shouldn't. I loved New Vegas and was only mildly impressed with three. I loved the KOTORs but hate the Old Republic. Never got into Mass Effect so....

 

[boag]

An Interesting what if scenario, but I would rather see Obsidian make their own IP. ME is already a good enough IP to stand on its own.

 

[putowtin]

Bioware won't let Mass Effect go, yes ME3 see's the end of Shepard's story, but they have already discussed further games in the Mass Effect universe.

I love Obsidian, they've made a couple of my favourite games, (FO: New Vegas and KotOR II) if they could get their bug problem sorted they'd be making the same great games and gamers wouldn't have anything to complain about!

 

[Aris Khandr]

To all those saying that KotOR2 was not Obsidian's fault: If we were two, four, six months out from launch, I'd agree. KotOR2 was released in 2004/5. We've been able to patch games over the internet for quite a bit longer than that. It may have been LucasArts who screwed up the launch, but the blame for not fixing their knowingly buggy and unfinished monstrosity falls firmly on Obsidian. If they had any integrity, they'd have made it work through patches after the forced release date. They didn't. They just dropped it on us and said "It's out of our hands."

No they did not. If you're going to make comments like this, at least research the issue at hand before you type. It'll save a lot of embarrassment.

For the record, it's well known that Obsidian offered to work on and release a content patch that would restore a lot of the missing content. Lucasarts refused point blank.

Obsidian are an independent company. Therefore, if the license holder and main source of funding for a game they worked on refuses to allow them to release a content patch, then there's not a goddamn thing they can do about it. Lucasarts owns the rights to KOTOR II, not Obsidian, and post release Obsidian have no more right to release an 'official patch' than any enthusiastic modder out there.

I'm not embarrassed. It ultimately falls on their head, since they created the game. If LucasArts wouldn't let them make an official patch, make an "unofficial" one. Not like that has never happened before. They took the job, they made the game, they released it in a deplorable condition. Justify it however you like, it is still their mess. They can either take the steps to fix it, or they can not. They didn't.

 

[Adeptus Aspartem]

Obsidian makes good open worlds. Bioware writes good stories / characters. My ME should have or keep its focus on the second part.

I probably wouldn't play the fourth part of my most beloved game next to Portal

 

[AnotherAvatar]

For everyone giving Obsidian shit: Look deeper into how Lucasarts fucked them on KoTOR II, as that seems to be what you're referencing. All their games have bugs but no more so then any other RPG at launch (In fact playing through New Vegas at launch I actually had no quest breaking errors, unlike Fallout 3 at launch...). So you know, shut the fuck up and quit judging one of the better game companies so harshly while letting Bethesda's glitch-fests go unquestioned as "OMFGGOTYFOREVER!!!!111".

As for OP: While I like Mass Effect, I think it should drop dead at 3, and would much rather see Obsidian do another original IP (especially now that Tim Cain is hanging about...). Plus the South Park RPG is looking epic enough to tide me over while I wait for a new IP.

 

[70R4N]

Obsidian makes good open worlds. Bioware writes good stories / characters. My ME should have or keep its focus on the second part.

I probably wouldn't play the fourth part of my most beloved game next to Portal

Bioware does not write good stories / characters. They are mostly cliche and about as unpredictable as the sun rising in the morning.

 

[lordtec]

I would say no, after KoTOR 2 (I know Lucasarts pushed the deadline, but that is no excuse for that crap, bug filled, very rushed ending) I am inclined not to give them a chance to ruin a game from another company. But if Bioware (on order of EA) already destroys it, I just say: let them try to salvage something good from it. (My confidence in Bioware has dropped to below zero since Mass Effect: Deception)

 

[mental_looney]

No I would prefer the story end for Shepard. More from the same universe we are likely to see from Bioware first rather than another studio but it depends on what type of games the company would be willing to let use the ip.

I have only really played and liked fallout NV, played neverwinter nights and alpha protocol didn't enjoy, can't really give a great opinion on story quality but they sure do like bugs.

 

[cannot_aim]

No thanks, Obsidian has good ideas but they can never deliver. Kotor 2 was buggy and unfinished, Alpha protocol was nothing above mediocre, and New Vegas was boring.

Maybe like 2 years after the fact when the modders have come in and fixed all the things that obsidian screwed up then I would get it.

 

[Adeptus Aspartem]

Obsidian makes good open worlds. Bioware writes good stories / characters. My ME should have or keep its focus on the second part.

I probably wouldn't play the fourth part of my most beloved game next to Portal

Bioware does not write good stories / characters. They are mostly cliche and about as unpredictable as the sun rising in the morning.

And since when is an unpredictable story bad? I hate those movies, where i pay full price but know 10 minutes into the film whats the plot, who dies and could actually stand up and leave.

 

[blizzaradragon]

I would be torn on this. For one I love Obsidian. New Vegas was soooo much better than Fallout 3, and while I loved the first KotOR and TOR they still aren't as good as KotOR II. On the other hand I also love Bioware, and it's nice to see them continuing their saga instead of having something passed off like Neverwinter Nights. Plus I think the Mass Effect IP in anyone's hands but Bioware's feels like a betrayal, like the series is cheating on their spouse with some young gun.

I'm surprised at a lot of people on here though that are jumping down Obsidian's throat. Yes their games have bugs, but that's usually due to development time being so small thanks to publishers. We'll compare New Vegas and Fallout 3. New Vegas had about 18 months of development time to make. Fallout 3, on the other hand, had a little over 4 years. Yet the amount of bugs between them isn't that much different. Yes New Vegas had more, but with less than half the development time and a larger game to boot I'd say that's pretty damn good.

It just irks me that Obsidian can't get past people crying foul when they have bugs but Bethesda can release an equally buggy if not more buggy product and everyone jumps on it and nominates it GOTY...

 

[JediMB]

Having recently replayed the KotOR games, and finding Obsidian's sequel superior to the original in almost every respect... including pure playability, as the original game had a nasty habit of crashing... I will have to say HELLS YES! (Also, there's Fallout: New Vegas weighing into my answer.)

I dream of a collaborative RPG project between BioWare, Bethesda and Obsidian. It could be a complete disaster, or the best modern WRPG ever.

 

[Gennadios]

The time constraints they were under meant that problems couldn't just be solved by re-writing a few errant lines of code, or tidying up a sloppily written script. There were entire sections of game and story which had yet to be properly rendered, animated, voice acted, etc.

You know, it's funny, but when Alpha Protocol shipped, for the most part feature complete but with some massive fails in terms of framerate stuttering and poor texture loading, something that *could* be handed over to a team of 2 or 3 people to fix lines of code and tidy up sloppily written scripts, guess what their justification for not releasing patches was?

SEGA refused to fund it.

There's a pattern with Obsidian, if a game doesn't sell enough to justify post release expansions or DLC, they won't even bother with patches.

 

[Aris Khandr]

I'm not embarrassed. It ultimately falls on their head, since they created the game. If LucasArts wouldn't let them make an official patch, make an "unofficial" one. Not like that has never happened before. They took the job, they made the game, they released it in a deplorable condition. Justify it however you like, it is still their mess. They can either take the steps to fix it, or they can not. They didn't.

You're being completely unrealistic in your expectations of Obsidian here.

The time constraints they were under meant that problems couldn't just be solved by re-writing a few errant lines of code, or tidying up a sloppily written script. There were entire sections of game and story which had yet to be properly rendered, animated, voice acted, etc.

If Lucasarts wasn't willing to fund extra money for post-game patching, where exactly Obsidian get the money to call back all the voice actors for extra recording, get the animation team working on all the scenes that were cut, the level designers working on fixing up unfinished levels, etc? Especially when there's going to be no financial return at the end of it?

Asking Obsidian to pay through the nose for Lucasarts' fucked up business strategy is completely unreasonable. Lucasarts forced Obsidian to ship the game early. Obsidian should have every gamer's sympathy for that. Obsidian should not have been obliged to then spend their own money and resources fixing a game that was only broken because of the publisher's fucked up reasoning. That's like getting the victim of a burglary to pay the costs of court, even if the burglar gets a guilty sentence...

I'm asking Obsidian to stand by the product they made. That's called integrity. Everyone knows that LucasArts is a pain to work with. They took the job. They owe it to us to finish it. They didn't finish it. So I'm done with them.

 

[RatRace123]

Then it would have an amazing story but be buggy as hell.

Still, I like Obsidian and their bugs usually aren't bad enough to completely ruin their games for me. I'd probably get it.

Actually I kinda want that to happen, that might be my best chance to play the Mass Effect game I really want. Which is basically a singleplayer RPG, but you get to choose from one of many races to have as your character. An Elder Scrolls game crossed with Mass Effect, basically. And with a story handled by Obsidian...

Well, let's just say pants changing would be necessary.

 

[Dirzzit]

Nope, nope, nope, nope.

Nope.

Obsidian is good, but bioware is better. (IN MY OPINION, you'd think that'd be a given)

 

[Frankster]

Damn obsidian is getting a beating in this thread :S

Personally I've always been sympathetic to them in that each game I played from them had hints and flashes of genuine greatness and I always rated their writing as amongst the best for western rpg devs.

Say what you will about Alpha Protocol, but the premise was good and your decisions and actions had a massive impact on the story with real repercussions. If it had the production values and QA to back it up it would have been the best western rpg of that year.

But despite my warm feelings towards them though, I feel giving mass effect series would be an unbridled disaster that would destroy obsidian in a torrent of fan rage.