This time a decade ago we were about three weeks away from the launch of Mass Effect 2. Excitement was reaching fever pitch after the original Mass Effect provided an inkling of BioWare’s eventual sci-fi epic. True to form, Mass Effect 2 would launch on January 26th, 2010, and proceed us all away with a space opera featuring dozens of planets to explore, intimately designed hubs, and a fantastic cast of characters. It was everything we expected from BioWare because, simply enough, they were the king of RPGs.
Emphasis on ‘were’.
Since 2010, you can probably draw a pretty much unswerving line downwards in terms of the quality of BioWare’s output. Dragon Age 2 was, well, Dragon Age II, and this was swiftly by the immensely controversial Mass Effect 3. This can probably be pinpointed as the precise moment where things went wrong for BioWare. The esteemed studio attempted to pivot from Mass Effect 3’s ending in order to satiate fans unhappy with the original finale; a move which, creatively, should never, ever, happen. The die was cast though, and BioWare had established it would bend any which way required, like an Olympic gymnast, to try and either chase trends or please fans. Only there was no gold medal waiting at the end of this particular contest. I’ve no doubt BioWare’s massive internal changes and refocused efforts came from up high, at EA, rather than from within BioWare itself, but a downward trend, one which could possibly become a death spiral, began in earnest at that moment.
From ME3 we moved to the divisive Dragon Age Inquisition, the cancelled Shadow Realms, a truly tepid Mass Effect Andromeda, and the god awful pivot to online which was Anthem. It’s one heck of a fall from grace for the most respected RPG studio around. From Baldur’s Gate, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and Mass Effect 2 to, erm, Anthem.
Trust in BioWare is rocky right now, to say the least. Rumours are swirling that Dragon Age 4 will almost certainly be revealed this year, but based on the studio’s output for the last decade, do we even have any faith whatsoever that the end product will be any good? It would take a brave person to hit the pre-order button on which game BioWare announces next, that’s for sure.
So with an expected announcement of a new BioWare project fairly imminent, how much faith do you actually have left in what was once one of the most esteemed developers in the world? Are you still all-in if Dragon Age 4 is announced, or are you filled with seeds of doubt?
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Dragon Age 4? Count me in!
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I loved Dragon Age Inquisition, it was the best of the series for me by far. I'm aware there were a looooot of bugs in MA: Andromeda when it was released but I didn't get around to playing it until maybe a year and the issues had been resolved, it was great.
I imagine EA was responsible for a rushed release.
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If it was the old bioware I would be super hyped for this. Unfortunately what is a left of Bioware is the name and the shell of what once was a greatest RPG developer. No faith at all in this.
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I liked DA2 and Inquisition (though both are leagues below DA:O) but do I have faith in Bioware? Yes
In EA? No
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Dragon age inquisition was the most grindy, least rewarding singleplayer rpg I ever played. The world map, and the horrendous war table, were filled with events and quests that had barely any narrative quality, consequences or worthy reward
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It was very late when I realized that everything I was doing was absolutely a waste of time, and then, the only thing I was playing for were the decent characters and the story (which turned out the be awful and the villain was lackluster).
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I never played any of the DA games however I liked both Mass Effect Andromeda and Anthem so i do have some faith in them.
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Well the problem is most people dont agree with you and the sales reflect that. Horrible game development culture and releasing broken games didnt help.
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honestly, without having to deal with the game breaking spaggetti code used by SOE for plaentside 2 no one can complain about horrible game development/broken games
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honestly, not a lot...
the Bioware of old is basically dead, 'nother victim of EA.
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From what i have read few years ago - most of the people, art and creative,responsible for DA:Origins ,KotOR ,Jade,ME 1 and 2,left after Mass Effect 2.Short answer - zero to none.
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Never finished DA2, and I think ME3 was the last Bioware game I purchased. So, not a lot.
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Was never played a dragon age played mass effect 1-3 and andromeda was a soulless husk of a game. Pretty sure the bioware everyone loved is long dead.
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For Andromeda, bare in mind that Andromeda was given to their Bioware Motreal to develop and that studio was new, inexperienced and it was not part of main team, but mostly did support work to help their other teams. Reason for that was because main Bioware team, the good one, was assigned to work on Anthem, which was huge "misappropriation" of resources by EA.
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Doesnt really matter which studio developed it, its their IP and they put their name on it also the "good one" pushed out the abomination called Anthem so not a very good excuse for a big company.
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Mass Effect 3 was a great game. Don't understand the hate behind the ending. Fits well after playing 1 and 2.
Dragon Age Inquisition was a great game, truly great. After that haven't played anything so can't tell. I hope DA4 is great.
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3 games worth of story where all of your choices come down to a color a DAMN color...
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Mass Effect 3 is crap because it's incredibly linear compared to the first 2. The side missions are basically just talking to someone, most likely at the citidel, and then talking to them again later hoping it was done at some point during one of the very linear main story missions. Theres much less mystery and exploration. The end gameplay is padded out too much with the slow injured walking to the beam and then everything after that. The fighting is decent at least. As well the Citidel DLC is one of the best DLC's ever for any game I would say.
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You clearly didn't shoot the kid in the head. Cause that ending was a letdown.
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Really if you had black hair , blue eyes and you were a girl i could love you for this. BTW to avoid Bioware (asset) failure, they went to Hudson with tears and the contract with him is a "You pay and keep your dirty little finger out of my projects" agreement, or at least that is what i was told. Remember that he was sitting on a goldmine "Microsoft", with limitless budget for a dead hardware.
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Personally, I still think Bioware can make good game, I just don't have faith that overlords at EA won't tell them what to do and mess it up, like giving story experience Bioware is best at and could make really great game out of it, to some new subsidiary studio, so they can mess it up. And forcing main team to make multiplayer looter shooter they have no experience with.
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And by all means, I am not saying I have faith in them making masterpiece. But latest fiascos they had were up to EA. Oh and lets not forget how EA forced them to waste time adapting their engine to genres they weren't designed for, which left them with much less time to develop games. So I still believe if left to do what they are good at, Bioware can make at least good game.
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This is the game that will probably decide Bioware's fate. Let them add a multiplayer with MTX if EA must have one (hopefully not), but deliver a great single player RPG and people will buy it no doubt. I really want them to pull a Fallen Order with DA4. Even though Bioware is not the same company that gave us BG or the first DA, I believe they can still make a good game.
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Could we get a negative option...? Sort of retroactive, I guess.
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Bioware as it was literally doesn't exist anymore. Everyone who made the studio anything is long gone, including the creator of the entire Dragon Age universe.
And Anthem showed us the qualities of who are left.
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On Dragon Age 4 my faith is "nowhere to be seen", but on the new Mass Effect, now that Casey is back, hopes are high enough, He left the Studio in 2013"officially in 2014" and we all know what happened after, Andromeda and Anthem. Beware i place a bet on him and not on Bioware, meaning that if EA anger him in any way and he split again, you can already engrave the headstone of Bioware.
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As long as it's under EA. There's no future for bioware.
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What bioware? There is no bioware anymore.
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Well I have faith in bioware, what I don't have faith in is EA, the reason Mass Effect Andromeda and Anthem sucked is EA, not Bioware.
Both games were rushed games with EA all but destroying their work flow with constant demands of change and forcing them to use an engine they have NOT used before, while giving them 0 learn and prep time...
Anthem is NOT a game you can develop intensly for 2 years and loosly for however more before that... Neither is Mass Effect.
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i didnt think there was anything wrong with ME3 and ME:A.
anthem was just a crap clone of destiny, which was crap to start with so personally cant say im supprise that polishing a turd didnt work.
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I liked ME:A, I'm talking about the bugs. I liked ME:A more than ME3, but both games were worse than ME1 and ME2.
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fair enough. only bug i ever had was massive lag (25-40fps) in the front of the ship (map room?). i had massive apprently AMD related bugs with ME1 making some mako lvls totally black.
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i personally think ME:3 was a good ending to the story for sheppard, yeah the 3 ending were basically the same. but really hope much can 1 man change the galaxy? i found it fitting really
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I agree with the ending, but it's the whole game as a whole that was just not as good as the previous ones or Andromeda, story wise I have no problem with any of the games, maybe a bit Andromeda.
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dont know dont care, just want ME:A2