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Chris Schlerf (Mass Effect: Andromeda lead writer) no longer at BioWare, joins Bungie

Seriously, why is it that EVERY bloody studio EA buys ends up doing this?

The top talent that worked at the studios ends up slowly leaving and then slowly but surely the games will start to be not as good, sales will start going "meh" and eventually EA decides to shutter the studio.

It has happened with:
Bullfrog
Westwood
Origin
etc.


Almost everytime it's always the same "we'll be hands off" or the people who get bought say "Don't worry, we'll still run things how we do now."

This news just makes me think after DA:I and and the ME series we'll never really get as good of games from Bioware in the future.
 
ThoseDeafMutes said:
Yes there has been conflict but his central thesis has been pretty much debunked by your own experience.
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If the games had been written with reactivity in mind (like, say, something from Obsidian Entertainment), the all-knowing Starchild could simply point out that the chance of a do-goody Paragon or hardcore Renegade existing is super unlikely and in most calculated projections the conflict would end in the destruction. And there is no true guarantee that the conclict won't come up again as the Geth and Quarians continue to evolve. Basically framing the very fact that live evolves as a constant risk for why it must be "culled".
If only BioWare had decades of experience in making RPGs that they could draw upon, but alas!
 
J_Viper said:
March is Titanfall's slot isn't it?

Can't see November either, that's much too close to Battlefield.

Perhaps May?
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EA has informed investors that they expect the game to be out by the end of the fiscal year, i.e. end of March.

So the out by end of March thing isn't them talking to the games press. It's talking to the people that matter with major ramifications for breaking their word.
 
Klyka said:
Now then, which color to choose at the end of Destiny 2...
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But this Chris guy had nothing to do with Mass Effect 3 writing...?

shinobi602 said:
Referring to Casey Hudson? He was really more of a mentor on the project rather than directly injecting his creative ideas into the game and consulted on some things. That mostly falls on Walters and Yanick Roy (who himself is extremely passionate on the series and has been since the original Mass Effect).

We can only speculate as to how the next ME game post-Andromeda will compare to Andromeda given the writers will differ but to be honest your Bioshock example doesn't make me lean towards it :P.

I loved the original Bioshock as well as Infinite but it wasn't because of the writing in Infinite's case for me personally anyway.
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Funny you mention that, I recently finished Mass Effect 1 and saw his name as the Project Manager or something like that. I didn't know he even participated in making any Mass Effect game before Andromeda(other than some ME3 DLCs maybe), let alone the first one.
 
Bisnic said:
Funny you mention that, I recently finished Mass Effect 1 and saw his name as the Project Manager or something like that. I didn't know he even participated in making any Mass Effect game before Andromeda(other than some ME3 DLCs maybe), let alone the first one.
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Yup Yanick's good people. I'm glad he's in charge of Andromeda.
 
Stiler said:
Seriously, why is it that EVERY bloody studio EA buys ends up doing this?

The top talent that worked at the studios ends up slowly leaving and then slowly but surely the games will start to be not as good, sales will start going "meh" and eventually EA decides to shutter the studio.

It has happened with:
Bullfrog
Westwood
Origin
etc.


Almost everytime it's always the same "we'll be hands off" or the people who get bought say "Don't worry, we'll still run things how we do now."

This news just makes me think after DA:I and and the ME series we'll never really get as good of games from Bioware in the future.
Click to expand...

Is this a parody post that is just flying over my head?
 
Stiler said:
Seriously, why is it that EVERY bloody studio EA buys ends up doing this?

The top talent that worked at the studios ends up slowly leaving and then slowly but surely the games will start to be not as good, sales will start going "meh" and eventually EA decides to shutter the studio.

It has happened with:
Bullfrog
Westwood
Origin
etc.


Almost everytime it's always the same "we'll be hands off" or the people who get bought say "Don't worry, we'll still run things how we do now."

This news just makes me think after DA:I and and the ME series we'll never really get as good of games from Bioware in the future.
Click to expand...

Chris Schlerf has only worked on Mass Effect: Andromeda. So you've never actually seen his ME work.

This post seems a bit Chicken Little-ish.
 
I'd like Drew K in a position like Mac has now of creative lead. His plotting for ME1 was really good, even if his actual writing is uneven.
 
Patryn said:
Chris Schlerf has only worked on Mass Effect: Andromeda. So you've never actually seen his ME work.

This post seems a bit Chicken Little-ish.
Click to expand...

and David Gaider? He was lead writer for Dragon Age, wrote for HK-47 and other popular characters, NWNL HOTU, etc.

I was just pointing out that Bioware is losing not one but two lead-writers within a short-time.

Lead writers are not just people you can willy nilly get and swap with other people, let alone finding a good one like Gaider.
 
Stiler said:
and David Gaider? He was lead writer for Dragon Age, wrote for HK-47 and other popular characters, NWNL HOTU, etc.

I was just pointing out that Bioware is losing not one but two lead-writers within a short-time.

Lead writers are not just people you can willy nilly get and swap with other people, let alone finding a good one like Gaider.
Click to expand...

Gaider is a different story, since he had been around forever.

Schlerf has the feeling of a mercenary, given how this is now the second time he's joined a company to be head writer and then immediately left upon completion of his work on a game.
 
Stiler said:
and David Gaider? He was lead writer for Dragon Age, wrote for HK-47 and other popular characters, NWNL HOTU, etc.

I was just pointing out that Bioware is losing not one but two lead-writers within a short-time.

Lead writers are not just people you can willy nilly get and swap with other people, let alone finding a good one like Gaider.
Click to expand...

Gaider hasn't been Dragon Age's lead writer since end of 2014. Weekes took over and Gaider had transitioned to the new IP before he decided to ask about the Beamdog job.

Certainly his absence will be felt, though. No one could quite do dark sarcasm like him.

If BioWare wishes, they have someone capable of taking over MEA's lead writing capabilities in John Dombrow, who penned ME3's Tuchanka arc among other quality pieces of writing in the ME series (Javik, Garrus).
 
Ralemont said:
Gaider hasn't been Dragon Age's lead writer since end of 2014. Weekes took over and Gaider had transitioned to the new IP before he decided to ask about the Beamdog job.

Certainly his absence will be felt, though. No one could quite do dark sarcasm like him.

If BioWare wishes, they have someone capable of taking over MEA's lead writing capabilities in John Dombrow, who penned ME3's Tuchanka arc among other quality pieces of writing in the ME series (Javik, Garrus).
Click to expand...

He was the lead writer on DA:I. Weekes stepped in for future titles after DA:I, he was not the lead writer of it.

So future DA titles will have Weekes as the lead writer, and I do hope they are good but it's going to be some big shoes to fill with Gaider, he wrote some of the best characters (Alistair, Dorian, Morrigan, etc).

http://dragonage.wikia.com/wiki/David_Gaider
 
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