Thoughts On BioWare After Reviewing Almost All Of Their Games

Talking a bit about bioware as a whole and how I saw their games evolve over the course of reviewing almost all of them!
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#gaming #gamereviews #bioware #biowaregames #masseffect #dragonage

[@GrumpyNorthman]

My thought on Bioware are the same as my thoughts on Blizzard. I remember being so excited at the idea of a new game with their name on it. Now, total indifference.

[@Immor7alBG]

I'm personally still looking forward to what comes of the Dragon Age series. As long as its not as bad as DA:I was without QoL mods I'll probably be satisfied with what Dreadwolf has to offer. Hopefully they learned their lesson from both DA:I and Andromeda in terms of quest and zone design after all the backlash.

[@Mystra]

Let's calm down abit with that comparison though. Blizzard is far worse and is just a despicable inhumane company.

[@thetrustysidekick3013]

Same. Even though I'm keeping an eye on the new Dragon Age, I'm still kind of wary about it.

[@GrumpyNorthman]

@@Mystra Calm down? I don't think I was being dramatic. Blizzard was disappointing me long before any of the recent controversy came to light.

[@vverdoodt]

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[@REALVINERGY]

Until I replayed all of these games and started making videos on them, I never realized how bad the time crunching from EA actually was. ME3 & DA2 could've been so perfect. I also liked that you mentioned that Bioware is basically a quarter century old at this point. The same guys that made Jade Empire and Baldurs Gate were probably just coming out of college or even high school then, and now they're probably slowly but surely considering retirement. "Bioware" doesn't mean anything anymore, people look at the logo but fail to realize it's a company, which has seen over thousands of employees come and go over the years

[@TheStephaneAdam]

With the churn involved in videogame development? I guarantee you everyone involved with Jade Empire left the industry *years* ago.

[@Rapunzel879]

The people don't matter as much as you think, or at least not as much as the studio DNA. As long management understands what type of games people expect from them, it shouldn't be much more difficult to deliver with different people.

[@TheStephaneAdam]

@@Rapunzel879 Said studio DNA is actually built-up institutional knowledge. Built up by the people actually working there. Change too many people to quickly and the knowledge fails to pass on and you get companies that get less and less competitive. Or any kind of organisation really, this can affect anything from software developers to rail companies to police departments.

[@Rapunzel879]

@@TheStephaneAdam Agreed. But the people that made Mass Effect and Dragon Age were working with FrostBite and UE3, so I don't think that's much of a loss. I would say the creative side is the bigger problem, the visioners. But that's an indusry-wide issue where you don't see a lot of truly talented creative people taking point on AAA games.

[@mrspaceman2764]

I don't think "Bioware Doesn't mean anything anymore" is accurate or fair. It is a new generation of devs and designers for sure but they're trying to make the next iteration of the games that built their studio and their legacy. The fact that ME:A had such a rough go and the complete disaster that was Anthem, I think they're more likely to steer the ship back in the right direction (or another direction at least) and find the formula that becomes the next iterations of semi casual, action, RPG's. The fact that Bioware has zero release dates for anything is evidence that they're taking a long hard look at where they are and how they got there.

[@spellandshield]

As you indicated, people on teams come and go and Bioware magic was in fact the product of actual the actual Wizards and Sorcerers at Bioware at the time; they are all but gone now. Of course I want the best for Dragon Age and Mass Effect but if has been raining nonstop it probably is a good idea to take an umbrella. It has been raining for a long time at Bioware. Expectations must be tempered, sadly.

[@bindair_dundat]

Larian is the new Bioware. The King is dead. Long live the King.

[@TurinTurambar200]

They weren't sorcerers and magicians. Bioware magic was really just another term for project mismanagement and horrible crunch culture.

[@alexandermacneil4430]

@@bindair_dundat Yeah and Larian Studios will follow the same arc as BioWare if they get acquired by a large publicly-traded publisher (like EA) and the passionate "real gamer" founders (Swen) leave. From Swen's recent comments though, it seems he has no desire right now to cash in on the great work he and his studio has carried out in D:SO2 and now BG3.

[@alexandermacneil4430]

@@TurinTurambar200 That's pretty standard in the industry overall unfortunately. I hope game developers at some point unionize and push back against the ruthless expectations of traditional businessmen (squeeze blood from a stone, maximize ROI).

[@HelloOnepiece]

@@alexandermacneil4430 Thats a big if though, one positive aspect of the internet and live service models that they make it way more likely for selfpublished devs to stay afloat without a giant consuming them

[@xxTICxxTOCxx]

I miss engaging writing in 'AAA/RPG games'. Bioware stories engaged me, until Andromeda, where it seems to me they didn't think good writing was essential to their game. Following Andromeda up with Anthem, and it's almost like they didn't think writing was needed at all. I really do miss good writing, and engaging stories in 'AAA/RPG games'.

[@justadad6677]

2:30 - Couldn't agree more. I don't recall the choice and effects of Mass Effect one, but I was blown away by the story. I really didn't pay attention to much else. Because it all was good, I had no complaint, as the story was amazing. And Dragon Age Origins, is still one of my favorite games of all times. Never before had I wanted to date a witch more. And the humor, world, story, choices, balance, music, art, the game was a master piece. Just like Witcher 3, my favorite game.

[@adeptdamage3669]

Morrigan is easily Bioware's bes tomance.

[@soulsearcher9620]

of course... they did undermine the literal ashes of andraste in the opening menu of Inquisition, rendering the choice of destroying or saving the ashes redundant in Origins. Replaying the games with the foreknowledge is where choices should be difficult because of the consequences they have. But With bioware sequels , just like telltale games, the choices don't do anything or put a different character in the exact same place another would be, basically a reskin of the same situation with no difference in outcome.

[@justadad6677]

@@soulsearcher9620 Yep, they lost their creativity. The game became more and more a grinding game for a solo player. Boring as hell.

[@jacoporegini8841]

Dragon Age Origins was the Lord of the Rings of video games, Mass Effect 2 was the Star Wars of video games. I suppose we can suffer through a Hobbit and a Phantom Menace if we get to experience a Return of the King and an Empire Strikes Back.

[@aclock2]

You are way too young, Warcraft was the Lord of the Rings of video games, and Starcraft was the Star wars of video games. I pity those who never lived in the 90s, later generations games have better graphic, but could never bring the same revolutionary shock that these 2 brought to me.

[@jacoporegini8841]

@@aclock2 fyi, I played all those games when they were released. Warcraft and starcraft are both derivate of the far far far superior warhammer and warhammer 40k respectively. Good day sir.

[@Squadwin]

@@aclock2 all these games have is the shock that comes with technological process. Artistically, mass effect makes StarCraft look like fanfiction and star wars like kids tale. But BioWare is long gone now, so it doesn’t matter.

[@jacoporegini8841]

@@Squadwin Well said, although I still think episodes IV V and VI are immortal classics

[@PassivesAbseits]

@@aclock2 It is the RTS Lord of the Rings. But if you are not into Real Time Strategy, but RPGs like me, Dragon Age: Origins is the game. And yes, I have played Baldurs Gate 1+2, I know about the late 90s.

[@Pedone_Rosso]

I heard the expression "BioWare magic" mentioned as a much darker concept then the one referred to in the video, when the topic was crunch time and lack of organization or clearcut goals during development. Basically it seams this company's directors and managers got lucky with the personnel they had back then, in how those passionate programmers gave their all despite pretty unsustainable working conditions, therefore producing some cult and unique games. "Luck cannot last forever" though: sounds like an ANaTHEMa doesn't it? Let's hope things changed for the best, just this once. Thanks for your videos!

[@MortismalGaming]

Yeah its been pretty openly stated by past devs that it was essentially just management using weaponized passion

[@snyperheadshoot]

The refined edition of Mass Effect 3 is their best game, imo, when you look at how many narrative threads they had to close and not disappoint the fans at the same time, it's a lot and the game did the job fine, it's a shame the game was released with that pathetic ending. On another point, ME3 also has enough choices that matter and you can see the effect of in the game: - You can lose companions, like Tali or Ash/Kaiden, because of combined factors from ME2 and ME3, but mostly ME3; - Past companions, like Miranda, Grunt, Mordin can die (Mordin almost always); - The genophage and the future of the Krogan; - Depending on the number of War Assets, a lot of other companions can die also; - Even tough it gets cheapen by the Destroy ending that is the only one that allows Sheppard to potentially live, the Geth-Quarian decision is still significant enough; - Romance is another big one, from the romances that I tried, it felt complete at the end, it felt so cathartic in that final scene when your love interest is besides you and gave me that last emotional line; In conclusion, even tough the ending is a bit lack luster, the expectations were too high for BioWare to deliver and imo they did the best they could when you take into account the DLC and the refined game, like ME2 when you get all your companions out alive, in ME3 seeing Sheppard potentially living feels like a great achievement.

[@Jauhl1]

The overall of story of ME3 is pathetic, I don't know why people single out the ending, when nothing in ME3 made any sense.

[@snyperheadshoot]

@@Jauhl1 Cool, would be so kind to provide some concrete justifications, from my point of view, the story picks off where ME2 dlc ended and it runs it course with no major issues.

[@Jauhl1]

@@snyperheadshoot Nothing about ME1 and 2 make sense in light of the "story" in ME3. We learn that the Reapers harvest the cycles by controlling the mass relays through the citadel killing of worlds one by one. That they hide outside the galaxy, because they are "vulnerable" in a fair fight. Which is why they use guile and indoctrination. This is the premise of ME. In ME3 this utterly ignored the Reapers attacks everywhere at once with overwhelming force. That they don't control the citadel or that the mass relays are open doesn't matter at all. Their master plan in ME1 is shown to be completely unnecessary just as it was unnecessary for them to hide. Making the setup of first games meaningless. The reapers also just harvest "DNA" so leaving worlds to develop by chance instead of cultivating life is also senseless. There is no reason for them to fight with the test tubes. When Shepard told Andersson he wanted to stay on earth and fight instead of urging the system alliance to rally on Citadel to stop the Reapers from shutting down the galaxy I snapped out of the story. But it gets worse, we learn just as they attack that a magical artifact is the only thing that can defeat the Reapers, puh imagine Liara hadn't found the plan!! That no one knows how this artifact works or how it will accomplish this and it always failed to work in previous cycles should make anyone with 2 brain cells dismiss it as the stupidest thing they ever heard, yet everyone in the galaxy is ready to bet their species existence on that the magic will work, because the writers are just that brainlessly bad. And when you are railroaded into setting up this abomination, it turns out that when you succeed it was the Reapers plan all along! Yet rather then laughing at your failure and bottomless idiocy for falling in this obvious trap it turns out by giving your enemy what they want, those guys that's been killing mocking and torturing countless sentients up to now, it turns out they did this out of love and thinks you are cool and better qualified to decide the fate of the galaxy even though you just demonstrated you are the ultimate tool with no idea about what you were doing. Did you dodge a bullet there or what? Yet it really takes everything away from Shepard, he wins because the writers writes him into victory while in fairness he deserved to lose. Yet somehow people care how this travesty ends.

[@snyperheadshoot]

@@Jauhl1 First of all, I appreciate the long response, I for one, liked that every character, even the minor ones had a finale and it depended upon your choices, as the decisions from other races to come and help, is also depending on that and it shows in the types of endings you can get. As for the Reapers, we've learned from the first game that the citadel was a tool of theirs, we also learned about the cycles and the last one wiped out the Protheans. I don't remember everything, but I don't think their purpose was to control how life develops in the galaxy, they were a safeguard against civilizations becoming "too advanced" so their AI would not overwhelm us, so cultivating lives was never the goal, just a means to achieve the reset. You can argue it doesn't make sense, but you can say that living tens of thousands of years free and being wiped out is better than being controlled from the start. We learn new things in ME3, about the Protheans and how they were close to defeat them, so I don't know why you are against that, it''s shown that is wise to learn from the past and who else to find out, than Liara, that was her life and that was also a good way to give more purpose to a good character. As for how did the others accept it, they didn't at first, I loved the premise of ME3 that every leader of each race was forced to toe the line between helping the cause and forsaking their planet or focusing too much on their planet and potentially lose the big war, that's why you go about helping others, so they would come to your aid in the final battle, it's not like there were other solutions, they all saw how outclassed they were by the Reapers and this was the only way to have a chance against them. It is supposed to be a very long shot at winning, that's what makes it more special, I agree that it was cheapen by the revelation that it was also part of their plan, but as I said, the ending was the worst part of the game. As for the Reapers being "weak in a straight fight", I don't remember when that was said, but you can say that was true at that point, in ME1, because all the warnings fell on deaf years, the council did not do anything to assist Sheppard until the very end and it is understandable, we, as humans, are very bad at dealing in long terms, especially when we have so much to gain in short term by ignoring the long term consequences, so you can say that they gathered strength, indoctrinate more and that can be seen throughout the game, humans, turians, asari, controlled by the Reapers. Finally, the "Arrival" dlc gave more foreshadowing of what is to come, even if you can still count a few inaccuracies, ME3 had a lot on its shoulders and, in my opinion, besides the ending, it was very good.

[@mrmoviemanic1]

Mass Effect 3 is my fav Mass Effect.

[@christina.morris]

Based on what little snippets we've gotten from the team working on Dreadwolf, I really think they want that return to form as much as we do, since they seem to have really pushed back against the multiplayer/live service elements that EA wanted for the next Dragon Age and-most importantly-seem to have convinced them it was for the best. While it's hard to say whether the game will be good, as long as they get back to doing what they're good at, I suspect Dreadwolf will be great. Since the Mass Effect team is different from the Dragon Age one, traditionally, it's tough to say what things will look like there, but I'd be surprised if they didn't also want to get back to normal.

[@dnnu]

I remember the talk about the different game structure they had which included things most DragonAge fans wanted, no multi-player, heavier focus on story, no microstransactions etc and then having to scrap all of that because EA pushed for all the wrong gaming elements that do not belong in an rpg just to end up reverting back to the old design but having to start from scratch.... The DA4 team had it rough I totally get why it will probably take almost an entire decade after DAI to release dreadwolf. Here is hope

[@Nikelaos_Khristianos]

Perhaps as well, the DA4 team got a bit fed-up of being shackled with the reputation of a "pirate ship" as I once read the team being described as. But this was of the Inquisition team, and that was nearly a decade ago now; that team has definitely changed and I get the impression that the DA4 team really wants their own niche and wants to prove themselves. Like if they "save" modern BioWare, they'll be flipping legends!

[@kringkingen]

Great vid! I must add tho I really liked the ending of ME3, synthesis ending always! :)

[@varendae]

I love their universes... Their games are one of my favourites and I still want to believe they can still release great games. That I will laugh and cry again playing them.

[@PeterClau]

Pretty accurate take on the matter, I think Bioware was trying to branch out honestly just to make more money, which is fine, but i think a better approach would be trying those things on a new ip, (i´m pretty sure they´ve learned a lot of things with Anthem), not on your main franchises and expect the players to like it just because is a sequel of a game they loved. Like you said, hopefully DA Dreadwolf means going back to the roots and be a true sequel of DAO.

[@mrmoviemanic1]

I agree. But I don't want Dreadwolf to go back to DAO, I want it to expand on what we have from all three games. DAO is not perfect and frankly to keep it back to that game is just fanservice at this point.

[@wrathfultick]

Anthem is lacking in a lot of ways, but I do think it's a beautiful world with a lot of interesting lore and backstory - and probably the best Iron Man simulator I've ever played.

[@jordick8427]

They should go back to their roots and make games similar to Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale. Because I still think that those are their best RPG games they've ever made. Dragon Age, Mass Effect and KOTOR series are good, don't get me wrong, but for me their Golden Age was when they made those classic isometric RPGs that I mentioned.

[@RandomWandrer]

I thought Mass effect 3 was incredible! The characters, the cinamatography, the tone of utter hopelessness! And actually seeing that my choices in ME1 and ME2 actually mattered to the war effort and accumulating allies against the reapers. I found the climax in ME3 to be gripping and endearing and very satisfying! (Note, I played through on LE, so all the DLC was woven in on my first experience). FYI, I loved Inquisition. Again, great writing and characters. DA2 was somewhat lackluster. But having Anders and Fenris in my party really made it fun with the banter. Both outstanding characters!

[@connorsimpson9423]

Just wanted to say that I've been subbed for a few months now, and I really like how chill your videos are. Always relaxing to listen to and appreciate all the work you put in to keep them coming. Keep it up and hope you're doing well ! :)

[@kayne8222]

I grew up with DA and ME so those stories always held a big place in my heart, so always looked more favorably on them than they actually were. Youre assesment is pretty spot on and its a shame they couldnt keep getting the story AND the companions great in their games but as people always say the devs that worked on their best work are no longer there. They'll need new young great talent to bring the spark back. Lets raise a toast and hope DA4 is at least a GOOD game. Always appreciate the honest and insightful commentary mortis, may you wander in wisdom my friend

[@Stalker950-l3x]

Dragons Age Origins: My personal favourite. I usually don´t care very much about remasters & remakes....but I would love to see this game one more time on the new consoles.

[@foxysobek8109]

Fantastic video my friend, i certainly agree bioware needs to take a step back and remember what made their games beloved in the first place. However, i wanted to let you know throughout this video i can hear (what i assume to be) you hitting your desk while talking, im not trying to be picky but it was slightly distracting, and maybe you didnt know that that was audible. Earned a new sub though brother!

[@MortismalGaming]

I was tapping a pen a bit too close the mic, and I didn't notice it was audible until it was too late. Attending the wedding of one of my brothers this weekend so I was doing quick editing to have content up through Tuesday.

[@jadenquest9544]

*Grabs a pitchfork and torches and joins a mob*

[@jeanneeudey9181]

Back in the day Bioware made all my favorite games. The Baldur's Gate games are still my absolute favorite and are still in my regular play rotation. I would get excited every new game announcement. I recall the thrill with Dragon Age Origins the first time the load screen popped up. Playing Jade Empire on release day. I bought an xbox so I could play Mass Effect when it released. Bioware games used to be an instant preorder for me. I have seen the change over the years and I still enjoy all their games I own. ( never purchased Anthem, wtf were they thinking :)) looking forward to their next Dragon Age and Mass Effect game but not buying them until I see reviews.

[@Mystra]

Kotor 1, Baldur's Gate 1 and NWN 1 did both too which was actually from Bioware. In BG1 it just happens through the quests instead of the ending.

[@diesenutss]

I really do appreciate your level headed approach to discussing the company's recent mistakes; with other people the subject seems to always devolve into a shitslinging match. I'm not gonna rest my hopes on Dreadwolf or ME5 changing my life or anything, but reading more news on the technical side lately definitely has me interested to see what they pull off with them.

[@MortismalGaming]

I've been employed at large corporations that made easily identifiable mistakes whilst having no power to do anything but deal with the fallout. I understand that many times employees at companies like this are just doing the best they can with the decisions that were forced onto them, and there is a way to offer criticism without being an asshole about it.

[@andrewh3079]

All good things come to an end, and bioware had a good run. I really doubt they will cutback on the nonsense and streamline a game to DA: O lvl awesomeness but maybe im wrong.

[@arch1kz]

One important thing to note is that Andromeda wasn't developed by "main" Bioware studio. As far as I remember before Andromeda this studio only did some support stuff like dlc and multiplayer.

[@timogul]

Having played about as many Bioware games as you have, I mostly agree with this, except to some extent your interpretation of their more recent games. I thought that the actual gameplay of ME:A was not bad, the problems they had were that 1. it released in a shamefully buggy state, and 2. the story/world concept was awful. They presented this "whole new galaxy to explore," but then dropped you into it a year or more after humans had already been exploring it, so you didn't get to have the fun of being the first ones there. I haven't played it since launch, so I could probably get a bit deeper after re-exploring it, but my memory was that the plot should have had limited to no contact with Angora, until you had an actual "first contact" scenario in which they met up with you. Instead, they had just been people regularly interacting with other humans for months. The first game should have been focused more around exploration, with NO Milky Way settlements on ANY planets until you got there, and then you were the ones responsible for placing them and "shepherding" them through their early growth, rather than coming along to clean up the messes of existing colonies. Also the characters were mostly awful. Aside from Suvi. The problems with Anthem were that 1. they saw the bugs from the ME:A launch and learned from them. . . by getting drunk the night before launch and all the inevitable bugs that followed. and 2. they did not produce even 1/10th of the actual content they needed, and just padded it out with grind and multiplayer activities. I think that their actual gameplay was pretty fun, so long as the enemies were not balanced to be HP sponges, but they did not give players quality *reasons* to be doing any of it. The only reason was "grind better gear," why? So that you can grind more gear. There was no real story to the game, even at launch, much less post-launch, no real drive to do any of this, you were just spam in a can, out to grind better gear than the other guy. If they'd had everything Anthem launched with, PLUS a sweeping story that took you to multiple other biomes, with a wide variety of mission objectives (beyond ""kill enemies here" and "collect orbs"), and some real human interactions that would immerse you into that world as an inhabitant, I think it could have done well, but what we got was basically a stretched out "Hinterlands." As for DA4, I'm worried by the recent leaks. I don't mind if "action gameplay" is _one_ option, but I definitely need the ability to pause and coordinate all my team members. I hate the more recent shift to very loose control over teammates.

[@fernandozavaletabustos205]

Thank you for the analysis!

[@dcblunt666]

KOTOR belongs on the “does character both consequence really well” shortlist you have. If anything I think it does character and consequence better than DAO or ME2

[@quest9327]

I think BioWare would do well by going back to lore, character development, and choices.

[@jahtari]

Spot on man, well done.

[@rpmfla]

So what games specifically do you feel implements choice and consequence really well (BioWare or not)?

[@Blasted2Oblivion]

My biggest problem with Andromeda was the buggy release. Once it was past that, I loved the game and wish it got to continue what was clearly supposed to be a series. If I had to put a label on it, I would say it felt like a Sci fi version of dragon age inquisition. Another game that I absolutely loved. The ability to custom build your equipment and character to such a fine detail and the work required to do so is a thing that I adored along with the freedom to just go places without feeling too fenced in.

[@mechanicgaming2630]

I personally never understood most of the recent Bioware "controversies," outside of the terrible working conditions foisted on them by EA (the great destroyer of franchises). It seemed most people signed up for Bioware games because they told stories like no one else could, then at the last second (ME3) decided that the story was ruined by the ending. Not all stories have a happy ending, the hero doesn't always survive, that shouldn't take away from their accomplishments. Look at Saving Privet Ryan, was it a bad story because Cpt Miller dies to complete his mission? It's not at all uncommon in story telling to mark the end of a hero's journey by the hero's death. True, we haven't seen that much in the last 30 years, but throughout history it has been a common thing. If anything, I think they made it too easy to get 4 of the 5 ending in ME3. Even if you played as a total evil character, losing most of your crew throughout the 3 games, you could still grind out enough war assets in MP to get the 4 choices. Andromeda was an EA induced rough launch. Having been satisfied with the ending to Shepard's story, I had no problems stepping into a new character, and was simply happy to get more stories from the Mass Effect Universe. I started my gaming on a Commodore 64, and remember when the NES was a hot new item. Sadly, since the day high speed internet was made readily available, we now live in the world of day one patches. The days of shipping a finished product at launch, because if you had to patch something, it could mean actually recalling the physical discs and issuing new ones to everyone effected, are long gone. I remember Gran Tourismo 2 issuing a recall on physical discs because a bug on early versions would never allow 100% completion to be displayed. Nothing game breaking, just a single race series wouldn't get counted and you were stuck sowing 98% completion, and they issued new discs to fix it. Now, I never expect a game to be "Finished Product" quality for 3-6 months after release. I still buy it day one to support the devs, but usually won't launch it until 3 or 4 major patches have been released. That being the case, I never had to experience the day 1 bugs of Andromeda, and could simply enjoy the game. Was it as good as ME3? No, but you shouldn't compare it the 3rd game in a trilogy, where you've spent years getting to love the characters. You should compare it to ME1, back when no one knew who Shepard was, we didn't know the charm of a shy Quarian, or the bitter old man humor of a Krogan, and rate Andromeda against that. Had Andromeda let you flush Leim out an airlock, I'd say it almost lived up to ME1, setting up a new story in a beloved setting. Anthem was another EA induced disaster. From the massive graphical downgrade and reduction in scope, to the ill conceived gameplay loop, they took an amazing idea full of potential, and axed it after only a year. No chance at redemption, simply "you didn't make us ENOUGH money, so you're fired". A prime example of a game needing at least another year in the oven before it was even brought to beta. Again, another "sell it now, fix it later" story, except there was no later. Maybe I'm just a cynical old man, but I don't expect anything better than "ok" games these days, and am more shocked when something actually turns out great, rather than when a studio dishes out another serving of "consume next product". Bioware's recent "failures" can be chalked up to two basic ideas: Being rushed out the door by the great destroyer, EA, and players inability to manage expectations. Ok, essay done, feel free to disagree, I'm used to it

[@semafreak]

Jade empire one of my favorite BioWare titles

[@Spitefulrish]

I’ve just started an andromeda re run. I don’t hate it. So far so good to be fair. Nice looking game for sure

[@bakuiel1901]

Have lost my love for BioWare slowly over time, at the same time I hope they bring back the things I loved, especially since these are the only games my wife likes to watch me play outside Subnatica

[@theblobconsumes4859]

I think the bigger issue here is the development of each game and their final flaws. It is not that they were trying something different. It is the chaotic development they suffered from, their management issues, and the flaws and issues of each game and their failure come from that. That and, marketing for each one indicated something different yet similar to prior experiences. I think that boiling it down to just them trying something different and failing is not a good way of looking at it, given the reasons they failed came down to them not being able to accomplish any particular vision, and Anthem just not having any vision at all at one point.

[@idunno402]

I've said this once and I'll say it again; franchise loyalty brings ruin to the things you love. If you blindly support any company, they're no longer going to be interested in the things that matter to you. What you thought the company cared about can be compromised any time for reasons unknown to you. People thought cdpr was infallible. A few cutscenes shown as gameplay footage doesn't mean anything if the game isn't out. If you can apply that logic to ubisoft you can apply it to every other dev as well. So, lesson learned, scrutiny is necessary, even though in the short term your excitement or hype dies down a little.

[@wayner396]

Great video. Mass Effect 1 and 2 are my favorite games and I would really really like to see a return to form taking the best parts of all the games before. Even ME: Andromeda has some good points. It's combat system was really fun. I hope they are given the time they need to make some great games and return to prominence with games that are must play experiences.

[@EldritchAugur]

Mr Btongue made a video about Bioware awhile ago where he used the analogy of how he assumed when he was a kid that he would be buying every Final Fantasy game released until the end of time. But as he got older Final Fantasy games came out and he didn't even notice because they moved away from what he liked. Now the same thing has happened to Bioware. They were one of my favorite developers and I would always buy their games on release. I played Mass Effect 2 probably 10 times in my sophomore year of high school, just messing around with different classes and making different choices. After the double disappointment of Inquisition and Andromeda I barely even payed attention to Anthem and now I don't even really care about their games anymore. It's incredibly sad. Anthem was such an unbelievable failure on every level (even commercially) that I think they will at least try and pivot back to their strengths. But they have lost so much goodwill over the past 10 years.

[@SKBoa]

Bioware after EA aquisition is the story of "let's see what we can get away with" imo. Dragon Age Origins had low effort copy and paste areas and got away with it because the world design was great and creative and the overall game was good. DA2 also had a good story and world-lore, but they overdid it massively with the copy n paste areas. It "flopped" and people were angry/disappointed. Meanwhile ME3 (kind of) disappointed with bad endings and partially bad story decisions... DAI had a great world, both lore wise and artistically, basically no (obvious) copy n paste, they learned their lesson in that regard. The sidequests were mostly boring and uncreative, but the game looked georgeous, and the main story wasn't bad. It sold well, and people were mostly happy. Fast forward Anthem and Andromeda, both basically in developement at the same time: HUGE amount of boring (side AND main) quests.

[@darksunDS]

I don't know if I'd consider Inquisition a success. I think, at least based on my experience and everyone I talked to, it barely scraped by the skin of its teeth. Almost nobody I know bought that game or enjoyed it and my group were big fans of Bioware games. We got burned by DA2 (which we still kind of enjoyed, but definitely polarizing) and ME3 (which again left a mark on everyone) but it was Inquisition where I know long-term fans, myself included tuned out. It may have gained a new audience which would probably account for what you're saying, but for old-timers I know almost everyone checked out on DA:I

[@subaru246]

Dragon Age is my favorite franchise ever, and I really fear for the next installment, but I'm trying not to have expectations at all, I'll buy the game as soon as releases, and I hope it keeps the Bioware core ideas, chacracter development, excellent writing and choices from past games.

[@OG21020]

Well written story and characters, core elements of a successful Bioware game. It's these two, imo. Dragon Age Inquisition was able to pull through was due to the characters. The companions and NPCs, the companions especially, were very well written with a revelation that no one expected. Much like no one expected the protag in KOTOR to be Revan. Additionally, the lore for DA and ME was built solidly; with someone delegated to keep track and ensured it stays that way. It went wrong with Andromeda because the criteria for the two core elements were not met and the established ME lore was disregarded. Anthem, well, was their attempt to get out of their comfort zone. Most of the original devs are gone; they're getting on in years after all. Some have retired or moved on to projects of their own. I don't have much faith / confidence in the present Bioware dev teams after their last two products. I like DAI but I don't like some of the decisions the devs took with the game. Those decisions, imo, weakened the story and created flaws that would not have been there. I dislike Andromeda and it's my opinion it doesn't warrant the ME title. I played it once and never again. I didn't bother with Anthem, I was never interested in it after the awful experience with Andromeda. I'll wait and see how Dreadwolf will turn out. I'm not happy with some of the decisions they have taken so I've, well, extremely low expectations. The same with the next ME. Is it #4 or #5. If they can't even make up their minds what to call it, well, that says a lot.

[@pronoydutta614]

This is reminiscent of Diablo 2 and the changes in Diablo 3. The devs working on three weren't guided to create a dark, foreboding and gothic setting owing to a profit motive. They were likely doing it without the help of the original creators and brought in people with more casual gaming sensibilities. A lot of this was likely to attract a wider audience, hence diluting the work with PG13-esque qualities. Being accessible isn't the golden goose people think it is. A lot of good work is not meant to be easily digested and requires some patience. It's a tone deaf way of dealing with work and feedback from the players. If anything, wanting to leave your mark on creative work out of egotism as a corporate executive is the most self defeating thing you can aspire to. As opposed to the hard and humbling experience of being a game dev; an executive might be expected to lean in on narcissism and self aggrandisement. This doesn't breed respect or competence. Those people aren't the kind who can call shots on anything.

[@dnnu]

Unpopular opinion but I loved Dragon Age 2 from a story standpoint, yes the game is heavily flawed in terms of level design and combat but the story/character part of it was fantastic. I also really love DAI, yes the open world is rather empty but they tried to do something different and keep things people wanted like the tactical camera. I understand the scrutiny Andromeda and Anthem get but I really wouldn't say that it's over for Dragon Age. It's an amazing franchise and I really think it has so much potential with all the lore, I'm just hoping for the best in terms of DA4 and that the project gets the love it truly deserves. It's really unfortunate that the veterans from the kotor days are as good as gone but I really think the devs who are still keep on going do not deserve the hate they have received from the internet ever since Andromeda

[@JL-rj9fl]

I enjoyed your take on this. I'm very optimistic that Bioware will bounce back. Inquisition sold well, and Jedi Fallen Order (another recent single player EA release), was tremendously successful. I believe Bioware will convince EA to give them the extra runway they need to properly finish both DA4 and ME4.

[@bindair_dundat]

Wasn't "Bioware magic" the term management used for crunch?

[@MortismalGaming]

More that it was enabled by crunch according to previous employees but more or less

[@corymerritt9100]

god damn it I love KOTOR and Jade Empire.

[@LambSan250]

No mention of Star Wars: The Old Republic? It at least deserves one imo

[@thehallofkillz3069]

Bioware has given us dungeons dragons and an incredible space opera...Now we need a 3rd person RPG from them in a nuclear wasteland like Fallout. Please bioware fulfill our Mad Max destiny...

[@minine6508]

Lets just say I’m happy the Baldur’s Gate franchise landed back in WOTC’s lap

[@DantesTyphoon]

Ive gotten enjoyment from every bioware game I've played. Some more than others but none of them were bad overall. That is more than I can say for almost every other long term developer making bioware my all time favorite name to see on any title. The biggest thing about them is that you can see they made a real effort to try to make a good game every time and they keep trying new things. Than I look at other series and it looks like they just crapped out another cash grab. Bioware still has passion and I'll keep buying their new stuff.

[@grayearly3116]

I have a very different opinion from most people regarding bioware because DA2 is actually one of my favorite games. It emphasized the characters and I really dig that. Not to mention that game literally saved my life cuz I was actively self harming until I got addicted to Dragon Age. I get legitimately stressed out about bioware because I know that the kind of experience they deliver can't really be replicated. Something about the character writing always hits no matter how much jank I have to put up with.

[@jbones1453]

I’m definitely excited to see what they launch next. Won’t be a day 1 purchase for me, but will be based off reviews. I truly hope they go back to great story telling. Granted, I really enjoyed Andromeda but I know I’m the exception to the rule on that one. Anthem, I would guess, is because EA just wanted something to compete with Destiny and pushed BioWare to produce something. So I don’t even count that as a bad BioWare launch. More that EA just made a really bad call.

[@Codeuph0344]

The most important game for Bioware's future may not even be a Bioware title. The success of Jedi: Fallen Order seems to have reminded EA that not all games need multiplayer and live service components. People will pay reliably for competent gameplay and narrative.

[@emodante1084]

The thing is Bioware's recent failures have been more on their end than EA's. Of course, EA's shoehorning of live-service models don't help at all either.

[@rythem17]

Great analysis, spot on. To me Bioware should be the RPG branch of EA that they bought them for. Boggles my mind that you acquire something successful and then change up and wonder what went wrong… Plenty of other industry examples of buy outs, but leave what’s successful in place and they stay successful. EA corp is just greedy and push to make cash grab quick, and unfortunately they are so big that they can market and people will just buy. I mean imagine if EA cash was pushed to something like Wrath of the righteous, and they let them do their thing… you would have another classic like BG2 (if you just let them do their thing)

[@xzaratulx]

The story of Shepard, Tali and MassEffect is over and I dont feel they can ever reproduce the hype of it. For Andromeda they also wanted to sell the Quarian Arc as DLC instead putting a good game together. As you said .. no open world, just give us quality story telling with a believeable enemy and a sense of danger.

[@webbmyers]

*sigh* Shamus Young, RIP.

[@trashcangoblin420]

I think my big thing with bioware is I just feel bad for a lot of the teams that worked on the games that really went off the rails. You eluded to the ‘bioware magic’ which became an excuse by management for poorly organised development and crunch in a lot of the behind the scenes reporting of anthem/andromeda. Working there during some of these games must have taken a toll on some people.

[@DasNetzwerk]

Mortyn, where is the love for KotoR?

[@Shikao87]

Well, Bioware ain't Bioware for quite some time already. To keep things simple, two main reasons: 1) most of employees from Bioware's golden period are not working there anymore 2) EA may potentially give them bigger budgets, but also tighter deadlines and most likely own inputs Or in other words, since Muzyka and Zeschuk left things went downhill. One or two more flops and Bioware will get dissolved by EA like many others.

[@ravenfeeder1892]

Bioware's strength has generally been its writing of the supporting cast of characters. The 'Companions' usually. Add in a couple of well designed questlines that add some punch to interact with those characters and all the other problems go away. This to an extent is where Andromeda went awry (bugs didn't help obviously). Not the open world bit, which was mostly great (fetch quests excepted), but the small cast who were either OK, boring or just bad (Liam). There was no Mordin or Morrigan. Plus it had no standout questline. It put most of its Companion character interaction into the banter in the Nomad where most players would miss large amounts of it.

[@ravenfeeder1892]

@@miceatah9359 I've been fairly vocal that I like the game and regularly replay it. I'm just honest about it having flaws.

[@droe2570]

@@miceatah9359 lol

[@O-D-X]

@@miceatah9359 Gameplay mechanics wise, it is the best Mass Effect game. Characters, story and overall creative direction it is the worst game ever made by Bioware. Quit being a fanboy and realize that the writers that made the early Mass Effect and Dragon Age games good are gone, left the studio. Can they rebound with new writers ... maybe, but I think they have so much to prove with DA4 that if it is not well received, EA will shutter the doors.

[@Blackreaper95]

@@O-D-X DA4 been in development hell since Anthem was being made unfortunately I have no faith in bioware whatsoever.

[@lamaface]

I enjoyed playing Andromeda but honestly? I didn't care enough about any of the characters to actually finish it. The gameplay was fun, but if I want mindless shoot fun I have Doom for that, that's not what I play bioware games for. It's just like, it's not what they're known for? It's not what their audience expects or wants, because when you talk about 'a Bioware game' you want, you know, storytelling and great characters. You want charisma. And I just didn't find a lot of charisma in MEA or DAI even though they were both fun on a technical level.

[@cassiusvictus7838]

Dragon age 2 and mass effect 3 problems could largely be put on the short development time from EA. 14 months and 18 months respectively (I think that's accurate). If the games had more time a lot of the systems would have been fleshed out more.

[@jubei7259]

Yeah, there's still some amazing writing in ME3. It's just the compromises they had to make in order to meet their deadline prevented what's still a very good game from becoming the masterpiece it could easily & should've been.

[@Makrillo]

DA2 had the more interesting premise and setup of all of the dragon ages imo, it is my favorite of the trilogy, despite the big flaws.

[@tommyinthewell]

@@DJDocsVideos say whatever you want, but that multiplayer mode was extremely popular.

[@MichaelBlanchardII]

@@DJDocsVideos The Multiplayer was the only reason I played ME3 after beating the game the first time. WAY better than Andromeda's MP.

[@Aefweard]

@@Makrillo this so much. I also really like that you’re just some nobody trying to keep your family safe, and the world falling apart around you. It was a very nice and more intimate story than the chosen one savior of DA3

[@sebastianpenales2861]

So EA killed Bioware

[@SpecShadow]

whatever lives under that name now (since DAO/ME2 release) is the shell of the former self

[@Saregos]

And nearly every other good developer they've ever acquired

[@anaveragegamer359]

Yes but bioware killed themselves with their lack of proper planning for andromeda and anthem and the exodus of talent

[@alhoon6173]

Your comment about making a game about what you're good at making instead of just another triple A release, it reminded me of what Chris Wilson (lead dev of Path of Exile) said when interviewed by Josh Strife Hayes: "The correct choice, for both the indie, and for the big company, is to make what they're good at. There is a game they have knowledge about. There's a genre that they have a special connection with, that they understand the secret sauce of that, they can judge whether their game is good. They should make that game, or something like it, have an innovation on it, but that's the kind of thing. They shouldn't just say the money is in “play to earn” therefore I'm making a Pokemon-style game that involves - basically comes out with Axie Infinity. Because they may not have even enjoyed that. I mean if they did enjoy it, go for it, they'll probably make a good one. We'll actually have gameplay that people care about. But everything else is a hollow shell, and it's amazing to see all these small projects chasing a fad like that. As well as huge companies chasing a fad like that. Because in both cases, people just think it's the thing to do. And at the end of the day, I feel that the best games come from someone who's actually got passion for making that particular type of game based on their own gaming experiences. And that's why I mentioned RTS's earlier and how there aren't any good ones. And I desperately want there to be a good RTS. But GGG will never make an RTS, because we do not have the core competency, right? I enjoyed it, shallowly, when I was younger. I have nostalgia, but I was never good enough. No one here's played RTS’s competitively, we couldn't make one that actually did the genre justice. Whereas we all intimately understand action RPGs. And so, we'll make good ones of those for sure."

[@crakhaed]

That is wonderful. Thanks for sharing this quote.

[@lalitendudas9401]

I actually played da2 recently, although with a few mods, I really enjoyed the experience for the most part. It was clearly very different than dao, in that instead of using and improving on elements of origins, it went to a completely different direction similar to mass effect 2. Maybe it's because I just played me2 recently as well, I see much more similarities between me2 and da2 but not dao. But I do agree that Dao had much more choices and consequences that other games lacked, I still think me2 is fairly linear- and consequences based mostly upon loyalty, ship upgrades rather than actual dialogues. I'm also excited for the new da and me game. But most importantly, all this begs the question, Anthem review when❓

[@MortismalGaming]

Probably never lol I don't like multiplayer stuff, did want to mention though that DA2 has a great cast of characters regardless of everything else.

[@SadekMerchant]

Honestly, my expectations are pretty low from most games nowadays. I'd rather wait for a game to be in a better state post release than get on the disappointing hype train. Every game IMO is in a much better state 3 to 6 months after launch. That gives me time to make a more informed decision.

[@RialuCaos]

Most companies use their release as an open beta these days, so that's a good move. Though it generally takes at least a year for it to be in a more polished state (if at all).

[@SaraphDarklaw]

I wait a year.

[@Pedone_Rosso]

Over the last 2-5 of years I've seen most of the older "gamers" I know, or that I interact with, shifting towards this same frame of mind you're describing. It's funny, though: now that we have the money to actually buy most games at day one, we got pushed into saving money and get them 6 months to more than a year after release. Unfortunately the system still has a pletora of younger less experienced buyers feeding the FOMO producing machine, so things aren't changing at all, yet. But, who knows? Maybe, given enough time, and mostly thanks to the indie scene getting more and more on the forefront of trending lists in all social networks, with their instant hits seemingly bursting out of nowhere, some hope for an evolution is allowed? We'll just have to wait and see!

[@jynxycats]

"Every" is definitely a stretch. There's a real scenario where the game is the exact same 5 years down the road, as much as it could be patched over 5 months. Also, there's a healthy number of titles that release in very very good states, and aren't broken. That's more common than one would think because we hear LOUDLY about the games that release with tons of issues from the media.

[@N0strapapas]

Given that most of the Bioware staff quit while creating DA4, after putting up with EA for over a decade prior to that, I expect DA4 to be an absolute disaster. I'll wait for the review: specifically you're review, because you're the only one who pointed out that DAI had this ridiculous MMO grind towards the end, which is what lead me to get bored and quit playing it.

[@johnpantag472]

Dude you play an rpg. Of course it's grindy. The game is awesome.

[@michimatsch5862]

Hmm, heard that from some critiques as well. But those are not reviews I guess.

[@michimatsch5862]

@@johnpantag472 is this a joke? Or has grind become so normalized that it is seen as an essential part of rpgs? There are so many games, especially crpgs which naturally increase your level by giving you cool and interesting side quests instead of having you grind like it's a fucking job.

[@plentyoflulu4694]

@@michimatsch5862 you mean the grind that existed since the 80's? That JUST recently started to slowly fade away?

[@johnpantag472]

@@michimatsch5862 you can complete the game easily by just going through the main quests. Power is the only grind and yes it is normalized. It always was. And it's not that big of a grind. I'm sorry that your noob ass can't enjoy a grindy game which isn't even grindy. How many hours you think it takes huh? It took me only 4 hours to finish hinterlands storm coast and follow mire. Everything 100%. Idk from where you got that mindset but it's fucking dump. These are games that last at least 40 to 50 hours. The beginning levels are bad but the later ones are cool. Don't like it don't playing tf you expect to accomplish? You are in the minority so that means that the next da game will be this way too.

[@MichaelGalt]

Bioware used to be the gold standard for cRPGs. If it was made by Bioware, I pretty much knew I would enjoy it. What Bioware always did a good job with is making interesting characters, villains and stories. I think that when they started to taste real profits from Mass Effect and Dragon Age, they grew and ended up with a lot of people in management and executive positions who didn't play RPGs, didn't care about the fan base, only cared about maximizing profits. So, it went from a focus on creating amazing games and stories with deep RPG mechanics to trying to chase whatever contemporary gaming trends seemed to be most popular and profitable. I can't blame a company for trying to make a lot of money. But, I can blame a company for being the gold standard of a specific game genre and then becoming largely irrelevant and disliked by a significant portion of the gaming community. I can blame them from being one of the best and making unforgettable games to being mediocre at best and making completely forgettable games. Right now, my eggs are in the Larian, Obsidian, and CDProjekt Red basket. That being said... Obsidian is making a 1st person Pillars of Eternity game... why? It concerns me that they are going down the Bioware path of trying to chase more popular genres and dumb down their cRPG elements. Larian will be working on BG3 related content for a while... and so far, so good. CDProjekt Red biffed it a bit with Cyberpunk 2077... but hopefully learned from their mistakes and will be a bit less ambitious and hyperbolic with their marketing going into the future.

[@droe2570]

Bioware never made "deep RPG mechanics," they simply used other people's mechanics. As soon as they started making their own, the mechanics became shallow and ever more simplified. They don't make those types of games anymore on the D20 ruleset, they are focused on action gameplay.

[@noahradford9218]

@@droe2570 and for the better. Action rpgs have proven themselves time and time again. They are more fun and allow for a more immersed gameplay loop. Obsidian knows what they are doing and have pulled off the action rpg thing several times. New Vegas and Outer Worlds being some of the most played games out.

[@erosanji1694]

My eggs are on indie games, there is better games to find in them!

[@droe2570]

@@noahradford9218 "more fun" is subjective. I enjoy both styles as long as everything else is quality.

[@noahradford9218]

@@droe2570 I mean I guess. But the majority find action way more entertaining. I personally despise the slow click here and watch action cool down style. It is just out dated.

[@DuctTapeJake]

I remember when Dragon Age: Origins came out and was touting itself as a kind of return to form even then. There had been a lot of games trying to mess with the formula by simply adding more stuff to it, more classes, more races, more skills etc. DA:O was a new fantasy universe, but the playable races and classes had been cut back to the standard 3 and it was pulling more from OG Baldur's Gate than Oblivion or WoW. And that seems to be the kind of game where Bioware excelled. But then they immediately had to pivot to make their new grand fantasy setting more focused on spectacle, and the same happened to Mass Effect. To me it seems clear that EA simply wanted them to make their games appeal to a wider audience than simply RPG fans, so put them in the position where they had to make games outside of their skillset on tighter timeframes. Trying to get them to chase trends of 'Open World' and 'Live Service' instead of setting the standard for CPRGs as they had been doing for a decade at that point. I couldn't get into DA: Inquisition because the whole game just felt like an MMO in the way it controlled and the way the quests worked, and never even tried Anthem as at no point did that game look like it knew what it was supposed to be other than a way to make money through online services. Now that that approach has obviously failed, and EA seems more OK with single player focused games, it'll be interesting to see what Dreadwolf looks like on release.

[@michaelh878]

Yeah they decided to copy the Ubisoft open world model rather than the actual good versions of open world. Unfortunately inquisition sold well so no surprise they would continue that formula.

[@skyez0raus464]

Can't wait for the Bioware review after 100%

[@Saregos]

This might be it, actually. Whatever is left of Bioware is as much of a husk as anything in Mass Effect

[@shockmesane4158]

The bottom line is that the creative people at Bioware that made the "Bioware Magic" don't work there anymore. It is just any other EA owned studio, it just happens to produce games based on the intellectual property the old Bioware created. Same story with Blizzard really.

[@spellandshield]

Yup. Bioware is just a title now.

[@Flagonborn]

I really really enjoyed the moment to moment gameplay of Anthem, fighting felt great. flying was fantastic. the game looked amazing. But every surrounding system was bad. The story, the loot loop, the updates... the monetization.. all bad

[@val7885]

Yeah, it's kind of really obvious the idea for what the game should be only came together when they released that first trailer. So by release, they just barely managed to make the core gameplay of the game, while everything else was practically the first draft, haphazardly thrown together. Because of this I was curious about the Anthem 2.0 or Next or what they called it, for the potential to have them build solid game around that core idea, but alas, that got canned.

[@jonathandoran6980]

That's exactly how I feel about the game. Each javelin felt unique and the combat is my favorite of any game. Plus the armor customization is awesome too! Being able to choose the material (has any other game done that?) and color really made each look feel unique. I wish the pieces themselves weren't behind a pay wall though. What could have been...

[@Shad0wchasers1]

If you haven't already, check out Mark Darrah's KZbin Channel (Old Game Dev Advice) for his post-Bioware thoughts on a lot of these topics. He has a great video explaining the "pull" of publisher culture versus developer culture, and even some specific videos covering the development and release of some of their older titles. I've gained a healthier new perspective on game development listening to his perspectives on a lot of the work that goes into managing people at a studio and other "things that are harder."

[@qihaoliu3631]

Watch mrBTongue's video call "A Tale of Two Companies" It's literally prophetic

[@Marcos-tk1sf]

My feeling is similar to @GrumpyNorthman, I was a big fan of Bioware, their old games were fantastic, DA, Kotor, Jade empire etc, but after the changes in the company regarding the people who run the projects the developer got worse. It's really bad to realize that many developers are losing their essence.

[@Aggrofool]

WRT choice and consequence, nothing Obsidian / CDPR has done matches the Krogan Genophage arc. The arc spans 3 connected games, has full AAA production value and has decent number of inter-game variables.

[@90Rush]

Counter argument: given how massive the choice is (and there's an even more massive one, the Rachni queen arc), it is quite absurd that there is zero gameplay consequence of almost any big Bioware choices, including the above two. Choosing to stab the Blue Suns engineer has bigger gameplay consequence that either of these two choices span over the 3 games. In FNV for example, quite a few choices can shape your world and gameplay significantly.

[@JoeSmith-mx1sr]

Thanks for a very thoughtful and fair analysis of Bioware's high and low points. In today's bipolar time where people think that you have to either one or the other and that there can be no middle ground, truly objective analysis has become more the exception rather than the rule. The acquisition of Bioware and the change in personnel at that company over the years had to change and influence the culture of the workplace--how could it not? I do think that Bioware now is at the edge of a precipice. It pretty much has to hit Dragon Age: Dreadwolf out of the park otherwise it could well go the way of Maxis, Bullfrog, and Westwood. We'll see in the next year or so whether it succeeds or not (hopefully I'll be around to see that, and, for what it's worth, I hope Bioware does succeed), but we'll see...

[@TeoSkysong]

When a trees branches grow out too far from their base, they will eventually break. A bit to return to roots is needed. A bit sit down is needed. What we do right, what we do wrong. I do hope Dread Wolf helps pull them out the muck they seem to find themselves in atm.

[@Blue_Lunacy]

I would like to add that BioWare had histories of crunch culture that exist before EA acquisition. I have no doubt that EA exacerbate the problem. But the so called "BioWare Magic" was always there.

[@MaxiGoethling]

I follow the development of DA:D really closely and I'm pretty optimistic that they are on track again. The directors and writers on the team all wrote some of the best parts of Dragon Age and Inquisition. The writer for the incredible Tresspasser DLC in Inquisition is lead writer for DA:D, that alone makes me really hopeful.

[@MaxiGoethling]

@@Quirrel You mean the person who wrote Trespasser, the best story arc out of every Dragon Age game? Yeah especially with them I have no worries at all. That dlc was kino

[@patinho5589]

I have no hope. Since DA:2 I have no hope. They could have just built on the perfection of DA:O… but no.. they had to make it ‘action’ but having the mages shoot their staffs BEHIND THEIR BACKS!! Utterly ridiculous.

[@vanyadolly]

Trespasser was better but overall DAI had the worst writing in the series. I hope they learned from their mistakes.

[@mrmoviemanic1]

@@patinho5589 DAO isn't perfect. It's honestly a game that I feel is despite being great should not be a staple for always repeating and never doing anything different. Inquisition ngl I feel was the best Dragon Age game.

[@patinho5589]

@@mrmoviemanic1 I love DAO. No repetitiveness for me. I started inquisition and could tell it wasn’t going to be the same 5 mins in and stopped.

[@Abdool777]

To be fair Bioware has multiple studios, Andromeda was similar to Fallout 76 as in a relatively "inexperienced" team was put in charge of these big ass games and failed to deliver. In Bioware's case the "main team" faired even worse due to management on Anthem though. Regarding DA4,one of the reasons they took multiplayer out and basically restarted development was actually because of the success of Jedi Fallen Order, EA realized that single player games can actually make decent money. At the end of the day you need a publisher where the bosses actually care about the art itself as well as the numbers, because next to FIFA and Apex, Bioware games are doing f all as far as profit is concerned. Single player RPGs are basically prestige games for publishers, hence the constant need to appeal to mainstream taste to carve out a bigger audience. ME trilogy sold 14 million units by 2014 according to google, thats 2 years after the 3rd game, even if we factor in that the gaming community grew a lot the past decade, Bioware games were not exactly lighting sales charts on fire back then. Respectable but nowhere near outstanding numbers for 3 AAA titles. There were no streamers back then either to meme niche genres/games into popularity like they did with Souls and even From Soft evolved to appeal more to casual players (and theres nothing wrong with it) by the time it started to show up the charts. You put all the manhours into all these different outcomes in RPGs and then you see statistics that less than 2% of the ppl playing the game even got to see it and naturally management starts to question whether its worth it in the first place. RPGs are my absolute favorite genre and I wish we got AAA rpgs with the complexity of something like pathfinder wotr but its not feasible until the general populace actually starts buying and supporting these games.

[@ReaperCet]

Bioware in a nutshell: over time, world building go down, gameplay go up. But all in all, no one makes RPGs like bioware. DA4 is make or break.

[@playlists987]

After Andromeda, i feel af though they have gone creatively bankrupt. They had the opportunity to imagine a new galaxy and came up with humanoids as allies and humanoids as enemies.

[@-Monad-]

@@miceatah9359 I have, and what he said is 100% true. At least Star Trek had the excuse of costume budgets for making all the aliens look human. Bioware just has no imagination.

[@cruvensilverwing7948]

"My face is tired." Explains that whole game.

[@mazanakaUA]

I'd say that happened after Mass Effect 2, if not Dragon Age Origins. Something the video addressed not enough, I think, is that their writing is serviceable, and they know how to present it better than many. But the structure and style are much the same each and every time. I remember back when Mass Effect 1 was new, somebody made a chart that pointed out the similarities. The PC always being chosen (or marked, in Shepard's case), There being a fake-out villain, the archetypes of NPCs and party members personalities, etc.

[@ReaperCet]

So you expected them to come up with an entirely new loreset for the 4th game? Games 1,2, and 3 were all based off of an existing world with established lore. But they were supposed to basically recreate that for their 4th game?

[@lhfirex]

@@ReaperCet Considering the huge gap in years between ME3 and Andromeda, I don't think that's unreasonable. It wasn't called Mass Effect 4, it was called Andromeda. That means it could've been a new series in the Mass Effect universe if it hadn't bombed. The actual release of Andromeda was a major disappointment. Not just for the bugs, but the writing and characters.

[@akiramasashi9317]

I liked Inquisition's story, but the characters were very hit or miss. Dorian, Iron Bull and Solas were amazing, but then there's Sera and Vivienne who do nothing for the entire game and in some cases actively subtract from the experience. The cutscenes and animations of Inquisition also felt really janky which shows that the game was yet again a rushed mess made by people with little to no experience working with Frostbite.

[@mehmetokur1150]

I m surprised you didn't mention much about The Star Wars Knights Of The Old Republic. In many ways It was a role model to Mass Effect games. And also it's was a great game for it's Time. I hate EA Games for what they do Bioware. It was Such a great company made so many great games but It was ruined by greedy EA.

[@nodieza]

When I bought my wife a PS4 in like 2016 or so, she was looking for games that had "relationships" in them so I recommended Andromeda which I still have yet to beat. I played the ME trilogy and Origins on release dates and just wasn't feeling Andromeda. She loved it and beat it multiple times and then I recommended DA Inquisition (I put like 90 hours in but never beat it). Same thing, beat it multiple times and loved it. ME trilogy came out and she beat them multiple times and loved them. She liked the combat and the banter in Andromeda more than the trilogy but likes the characters and romances in the trilogy more. DA Inquisition is her fav of the bunch. I mean she's in FB groups and reads the comics and fanfics of both franchises. She's borderline obsessed. I think, based on how she's talked about them she'd be happy with just more great characters and some great plotlines (and as many romance options as possible). I think we all want to be able to main a non human character in the new ME? Trim the fetch quests by a lot and reign in map sizes a bit. Combat in both games left on pretty high notes as far as accessibility and complexity balances go, so if they tighten those up a bit I think all will be good. I am really excited to see where both go. I want them to go in pretty different directions. I don't want two different "themes" of the same game (like Inquisition and Andromeda felt like) but I think there are a great number of people who would be okay with that.

[@michaelh878]

The gameplay (combat,,skills, crafting etc) of inquisition is 0/10 but it does have a good story.

[@JohnnyTightIips]

Dragon Age Origins almost instantly became one of my favourite games ever, and it still holds a place in my heart. Now I wanna play it again lmao, thanks Mortim!

[@raymondlee546]

Interesting perspective. My interpretation of your view is that ME:A and Anthem failed due to Bioware trying to branch out into something different, specifically "open-world, collectathons". I think that's only a part of it - I do believe that the success of open world games (Skyrim/FO4) and microtransaction multiplayer games (Destiny/PUBG) led EA and Bioware to believe that was the way to maximize profits. I think that's how we got ME:A (open world) and Anthem (multiplayer). Skyrim/FO3/4 have uninteresting companions and the side quests/main story suck - the hook for those games is slowly building the power of your player character through spells/abilities/weapons/armor, etc. ME:A is not that. ME:A was a narrative-focused game with boring side/fetch quests, boring companions/NPCs/villain and totally uninteresting main story. How did Bioware, well known for great world building, engrossing companions/NPCs/villain, choice-driven narrative and engaging main story fail doing it in ME:A? I don't know but that's where they failed - maybe too much focus was on open world and combat improvements and not on what they used to do so well? I don't know why Anthem failed since I didn't play it or Destiny or PUBG.

[@yxolloxy3273]

My distrust for bioware started at DA2 tbh; it was the first time a bioware game I played clearly showed it was a product rather than a passion project that coincidentally made money. It was a blatant cashgrab; I'm pretty sure the EA acquisition didn't do them any favors in the creative sense. it's also telling how much turnover there is in the veterans of the company in the years since the acquisition. Now I'm not going to say that everything since DA2 has been bad, but I will say that a lot more of what I like to call triple a lifelessness has crept into their games since EA happened

[@brainglow_lightbright]

Nice to come across a levelheaded creator with actual knowledge of games. Subscribed

[@dominiccenteno1233]

Obsidian next?

[@MortismalGaming]

Couple more titles I need to check out of theirs first, but probably

[@croneryveit9070]

I've never clicked on a video faster lol. Let's go.

[@rks898]

BioWare was one of the reasons why I got into the CRPG genre. I was too young to play the older BioWare titles or the sequels, but through them I learned about Obsidian and the CRPG genre, as I was looking for something similar to Dragon Age: Origins for a very long time.

[@richardgibson2158]

Anthem is the reason why I stopped buying Bioware games period. Not for the Bioware name but the association of that name with EA. Please if you are interested in how Anthem was launched in such a poor state and dropped by EA's greed watch "Death of game: Anthem". I can't remember off the top of my head the youtuber's name but it talks in depth of how EA just decimated this game. Weirdly enough my friends and I were die hard Bioware fans and still crpg fans yet we enjoyed Anthem's base gameplay mechanics, classes, and lore. What we didn't enjoy was lack of content, poor loot system, and EA promising an Anthem 2.0 reboot and after almost 2 years of Bioware working on it to just instantly abandon it. Trying new ip is good. Keeps you from being stale and easily outclassed by new studios. I just wish Bioware would focus more on making games they want rather than having EA up their ass looking for profit over storytelling. Like I said I'm a die hard old Bioware fan but after realizing how deep EA has their fingers in Bioware development I just refuse to buy their rushed cash grabs.

[@ramonserna8089]

I think one of the greatest thing bioware did is creating compelling character that felt like they were roleplaying. Ill explain: in mass effect you have a super though female soldier who read poetry, a human psiker who was from a time they used different type of controlling devices , a spock like avian sniper, etc. Each of them is interesting and shows much love in their creation. I was genuinelly excited to learn more of them. With some games is more like this is my mage, my rogue, etc. One has a save my family quest that gives some loot, so Ill skip the dialog and do the quest to level up and things like that.

[@WillKrepelin]

Great video. Thanks for the content. Obligatory algorithm stimulating comment ;)

[@Zathurious]

I agree with you on all points. The choice and consequence mostly just changed a few lines of dialogue. I would simply add that if DaD fails, we won't see another Mass Effect game. From a corporate perspective, EA will shudder the studio.

[@Maehedrose]

I loathe the 'chosen one' storyline. One of the reasons I loved 'Dragon Age 2' so much was because Hawke wasn't some 'chosen one', she was just the coolest person in Kirkwall and her companions were her social circle of adventurers and ne'er-do-wells. Shepard is cool because while she is something of a 'chosen one' after the beacon, nobody really treats her that way in the first or last game - most people only give her the grudging respect she demands as a Spectre, if that. Even in ME2, when the Illusive Man is sucking her cock, he's still lying to her and manipulating her, while she has to earn the trust of her companions if she wants more than shallow obedience to her rank. I liked the various Origin stories in the first DA game but beyond that I found most of it tedious outside of the direct story. 'Inquisition' felt more like an mmo than a single-player fantasy game, and even while it had a couple good missions, most of it was boring and just drug. 'Andromeda' was a fine game but a bad ME game, reusing the same damn storylines from the previous trilogy (with barely a thin coat of paint to hide it) which are, largely, just reused stories from Dragon Age (and Kotor prior to that). In 'Jade Empire' you are the 'chosen one' but they flip that on its head a bit for some fun. That was a great game that I wish would get some sequels ... though maybe not in the modern political gaming market.

[@Nergalsama01]

On the topic of 'Bioware magic'....I recommend watching former Bioware dev Mark Darrah's video about what it actually is. kzbin.info/www/bejne/jWKvg4ycgN1pfKc