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Revision as of 21:32, 12 May 2014
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===Neverwinter Nights 2===
===Neverwinter Nights 2===
...The only one I don't know enough to write about.
...The only one I don't know enough to write about.
−
−
==Associated Games==
−
Often grouped with Bioware's games, and highlighted as the pinnacles of Bioware's talent, these games were actually made by other, completely-independent, studios: Black Isle Studios and Obsidian. These games used engines developed by Bioware and licensed by shared publishers, which resulted in graphical and interface similarities. Thus, many players believe that they were made by Bioware when this was not the case.
−
−
* [[Planescape: Torment]]
−
* [[Icewind Dale]]
−
* Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II - The Sith Lords
−
−
Was rushed and only had development for about nine months resulting in whole chucks of the game missing and bugs out the ass and Obsidian wasn't allowed to patch it (much of it has been fixed by fans).
===Mass Effect===
===Mass Effect===
−
The most obvious example of this slow and gloomy fall from grace would be
the
''
Mass Effect
'' series
.
Once arguably
Bioware's magnum opus, the series ended up being a microcosm of the company's
descent, despite
the
generally standard quality
of the
games
.
+
Ah,
the Mass Effect
trilogy... such potential... this could have been to video games what Star Wars is to movies and Star Trek is to television
.
Arguably
Bioware's magnum opus, the series ended up being a microcosm of the company's
gradual rise and fall. On a side note: it's sad how many people rage about
the
ending
of the
third game and forget the high points in the first two (and the supplementary material) that made them love the franchise
.
====Mass Effect 1====
====Mass Effect 1====
−
The first game in the series was excellent, with characters,
story, and presentation
(
usually
)
top-notch
; the graphics and gameplay could be awkward, clunky, and even glitchy at times (ie; sniper rifles have a large hit area where even an intentional close miss would somehow result in a hit, seemingly joint-less ragdolls that often resulted in everyone being in bone-breaking positions even while alive, periodically lulzy physics that can sometimes unintentionally impede your progress, the unpatched overheating bugs that potentially rendered non-soldier classes utterly weaponless... you get the picture)
it
was still good. There were plenty of interesting side missions to do, most of the characters had decent development so you could like/hate them better (Hell even the side characters were given brief but good backstories), it had a lot of RPG elements that made RPGs lovable, tech and especially biotic powers were hella-fucking-balls fun to use because they were geared towards being more overpowered but mad fun to throw around instead of being stringently balanced (Like in ME2 though ME3 worked a bit to make powers more fun.), and overall you had more control of how you want your Commander Shepard to be through dialog and actions (ME2 gave you slightly less control
and
ME3 made it worse).
+
The first game in the series was excellent, with
top-notch
characters,
setting
(
so many interesting alien races...
)
and story. The presentation... not so much
; the graphics and gameplay could be awkward, clunky, and even glitchy at times (ie; sniper rifles have a large hit area where even an intentional close miss would somehow result in a hit, seemingly joint-less ragdolls that often resulted in everyone being in bone-breaking positions even while alive, periodically lulzy physics that can sometimes unintentionally impede your progress, the unpatched overheating bugs that potentially rendered non-soldier classes utterly weaponless... you get the picture)
. It
was still good. There were plenty of interesting side missions to do, most of the characters had decent development so you could like/hate them better (Hell even the side characters were given brief but good backstories), it had a lot of RPG elements that made RPGs lovable, tech and especially biotic powers were hella-fucking-balls fun to use because they were geared towards being more overpowered but mad fun to throw around instead of being stringently balanced (Like in ME2 though ME3 worked a bit to make powers more fun.), and overall you had more control of how you want your Commander Shepard to be through dialog and actions (ME2 gave you slightly less control
though it introduced "interrupts" where you push a button to trigger an alternate scene, such as "hug Tali" or "kill jerkass mercs".
ME3 made it worse).
There was a gripping DLC mission, "Bring Down the Sky" which involved stopping an anti-human Batarian terrorist from using an asteroid to destroy the human colony of Terra Nova. Of course, while you did have to pay for it in the past (Now it's free), Bring Down the Sky had very little in the way of the story as a whole, so even if you missed out on it, you aren't really missing out on the plot. But then, EA realized this wouldn't make them money, so they turned up the antee in ME2 and Emperor damn them in ME3 for literally making all the important plot-points DLC. It also had "Pinnacle Station," which... existed. (Its smoldering wreckage can be scanned in ME3, an apology to all the fans who bought it.)
There was a gripping DLC mission, "Bring Down the Sky" which involved stopping an anti-human Batarian terrorist from using an asteroid to destroy the human colony of Terra Nova. Of course, while you did have to pay for it in the past (Now it's free), Bring Down the Sky had very little in the way of the story as a whole, so even if you missed out on it, you aren't really missing out on the plot. But then, EA realized this wouldn't make them money, so they turned up the antee in ME2 and Emperor damn them in ME3 for literally making all the important plot-points DLC. It also had "Pinnacle Station," which... existed. (Its smoldering wreckage can be scanned in ME3, an apology to all the fans who bought it.)
====Mass Effect 2====
====Mass Effect 2====
−
Mass Effect 2 was a great game, arguably
(according to fans)
the best of the series and Bioware's best work. However, debatably, it did show a drop in character and story development compared to the first game. To be fair, ME1 had lots of characters, and it's the job of a good sequel to continue the story while fleshing out existing characters and introducing new ones. ME2 accomplished both, though some characters were better developed than others. At the very least, while most of the minor characters didn't get fleshed out too much, your squadmates get the full package. The other shift in direction was that gunfights were ''heavily'' given emphasis, a good chunk of which in the wrong direction, long story-short they basically invalidated power-heavy classes (Mostly the adept) by making them largely redundant in the face of combat classes in higher difficulties.
+
Mass Effect 2 was a great game, arguably the best of the series
(according to fans
and
critics alike; possibly making it
Bioware's best work
)
. However, debatably, it did show a drop in character and story development compared to the first game. To be fair, ME1 had lots of characters, and it's the job of a good sequel to continue the story while fleshing out existing characters and introducing new ones. ME2 accomplished both, though some characters were better developed than others. At the very least, while most of the minor characters didn't get fleshed out too much, your squadmates get the full package.
Also, there's only so much data you can put on a disk, and ME2 still required TWO DISKS to fit in all the content.
The other shift in direction was that gunfights were ''heavily'' given emphasis, a good chunk of which in the wrong direction, long story-short they basically invalidated power-heavy classes (Mostly the adept) by making them largely redundant in the face of combat classes in higher difficulties.
−
Also, there's only so much data you can put on a disk, and ME2 still required TWO DISKS to fit in all the content.
There was quite a change of scope of the story: where ME1 had a mystery to solve and a villain to beat, in ME2 it is your goal to assemble an elite team of mercenaries, criminals, and specialists to stop a race of aliens called the Collectors abducting humans from their colonies (the Collector's motivation is pretty epic, but explaining that would be a spoiler reveal). The main story is told via a series of side missions that are flung at you now and then, but the game keeps telling you that you ABSOLUTELY NEED these people and should recruit them all to improve your chances of survival (some ARE essential, others not so much). Of course, in regards to DLC, EA ''really'' left their mark. While the minor DLCs (Weapon and armor sets, an old veteran merc out for revenge and a [[Blood Ravens|master thief]] as squadmates, plus an optional story that involves you trying to shut down a rogue AI/Human hybrid before it sets off a technological apocalypse) were passable, EA took
out
three things that should have been in the original game: being able to drive vehicles (A hover-IFV this time) in short side missions
,
and two stories that heavily influences the plot of the next game (Liara taking over the Shadow Broker's position and the Reapers' arrival). Overall however, if you don't mind those 3 things, ME2 is still full of boundless amusement from the multitude of ways you can approach the story.
+
There was quite a change of scope of the story: where ME1 had a mystery to solve and a villain to beat, in ME2 it is your goal to assemble an elite team of mercenaries, criminals, and specialists to stop a race of aliens called the Collectors abducting humans from their colonies (the Collector's motivation is pretty epic, but explaining that would be a spoiler reveal). The main story is told via a series of side missions that are flung at you now and then, but the game keeps telling you that you ABSOLUTELY NEED these people and should recruit them all to improve your chances of survival (some ARE essential, others not so much). Of course, in regards to DLC, EA ''really'' left their mark. While the minor DLCs (Weapon and armor sets, an old veteran merc out for revenge and a [[Blood Ravens|master thief]] as squadmates, plus an optional story that involves you trying to shut down a rogue AI/Human hybrid before it sets off a technological apocalypse) were passable, EA took three things that should have been in the original game
and rendered them DLC
: being able to drive vehicles (A hover-IFV this time) in short side missions and two stories that heavily influences the plot of the next game (Liara taking over the Shadow Broker's position and the Reapers' arrival). Overall however, if you don't mind those 3 things, ME2 is still full of boundless amusement from the multitude of ways you can approach the story.
====Mass Effect 3====
====Mass Effect 3====
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Dragon Age II was dead on arrival- the story veered from one plot thread to the next without any rhyme or reason while being completely disconnected to the previous game, all the major characters were either idiots, one-dimensional, or just plain unlikeable, and the gameplay consisted of running through the same reskinned dungeons over and over again, all problems exacerbated by the fact that their [[EA|corporate overlords]] had them rushing the game out in '''less than a year''', in their endless quest to have ''all'' their properties work like the Madden and FIFA games they're used to making. Dragon Age III's developers have openly announced that the game would be "heavily influenced by" (read: a ripoff of) Skyrim and have taken pride in the fact that one of the love interests will be a tranny, which says a lot about how far they've fallen.
Dragon Age II was dead on arrival- the story veered from one plot thread to the next without any rhyme or reason while being completely disconnected to the previous game, all the major characters were either idiots, one-dimensional, or just plain unlikeable, and the gameplay consisted of running through the same reskinned dungeons over and over again, all problems exacerbated by the fact that their [[EA|corporate overlords]] had them rushing the game out in '''less than a year''', in their endless quest to have ''all'' their properties work like the Madden and FIFA games they're used to making. Dragon Age III's developers have openly announced that the game would be "heavily influenced by" (read: a ripoff of) Skyrim and have taken pride in the fact that one of the love interests will be a tranny, which says a lot about how far they've fallen.
+
==Associated Games==
+
Often grouped with Bioware's games, and highlighted as the pinnacles of Bioware's talent, these games were actually made by other, completely-independent, studios: Black Isle Studios and Obsidian. These games used engines developed by Bioware and licensed by shared publishers, which resulted in graphical and interface similarities. Thus, many players believe that they were made by Bioware when this was not the case.
+
+
* [[Planescape: Torment]]
+
* [[Icewind Dale]]
+
* Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II - The Sith Lords
+
+
Was rushed and only had development for about nine months resulting in whole chucks of the game missing and bugs out the ass and Obsidian wasn't allowed to patch it (much of it has been fixed by fans).
==The Decline of Bioware==
==The Decline of Bioware==