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[tygertrip]

Modern Bioware is no more THE Bioware, than modern Atari is THE Atari. I would say the same about id Software, but I've been pleasantly surprised by their post-Carmack output. But, even then, they are no longer the hot-shot, rock star studio they were. Everything changes. EVERYTHING.

 

[tygertrip]

Gone for good. But I'll go a step further and suggest that they never were actually as great as people suspected, and were overrated the entire time. Don't get me wrong, they have fun games and stuff I enjoy but they basically built their entire studio off of just copying Dungeons and Dragons into the digital realm with poor graphics, poor animation, and above average writing for gaming at the time (which had extremely primitive writing mostly). They never excelled in game design, graphics, or animation.

They had a good run being one of the only devs in early game history with decent writing and sidequests. They peaked when they first transitioned to consoles, and had a real golden era for a short period when they felt inspired (KOTOR, Jade Empire, Dragon Age, Mass Effect).

Even then, they basically made the same game over and over again.

Overrated for sure, and the staff their for their best run are long gone.

Mofo, you want to throw hands?? I'll throw motherfuckin' hands!!!

 

[Raven117]

Its dead Jim.

 

[Andodalf]

Sure. Dragon Age Inquisition was a great game, and that's the last traditional RPG the main team made.

 

[SJRB]

As dead as DICE.

 

[Dolomite]

Wouldn't hold my breath.
EA is a hell of a drug

 

[Chukhopops]

BioWare and Blizzard are dead now, but there are great studios which replaced them: Larian and Owlcat for RPGs, Creative Assembly for RTS, etc.

I still think BioWare can make good “comfort food” games and I enjoyed Andromeda for the exploration part (plus everything with space is good).

 

[GeorgPrime]

They are on the way to the EA graveyard

 

[brian0057]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.
No.

 

[lastmessiah]

Bruh they censored the trilogy remaster, i think this already says all. Bioware of today is just Bioware by its name, the Soul is long gone when some super talented members gone.

What was censored? I’ve been out of the loop.

 

[worldwithpyramids]

No. Have you seen the twitter pages from some of the creatives over there? It’s fucking dead.

 

[Elder Legend]

No, but they will 100% capture the magic of the SJWs and the current Snowflake Generation in their games and I will hate every minute of it and Mass Effect/Dragon Age will sadly probably suck because of it as much as I want it to be good.

 

[Umbasaborne]

I really liked the statement put out today, it seems like they are aware of the backlash. Legendary edition was probably nice for them because it was their first well received product in nearly a decade. I hope that moral boost gave them the drive to be the studio we loved ten years ago.

 

[Ryllix_]

It's possible for Bioware to release good games, but the magic of old bioware is dead for good. That was an entirely different company outside of the name.

 

[Umbasaborne]

No, but they will 100% capture the magic of the SJWs and the current Snowflake Generation in their games and I will hate every minute of it and Mass Effect/Dragon Age will sadly probably suck because of it as much as I want it to be good.

Now, and this is just a suggestion…but, what if it has the liara tsoni face sitting vr experience weve ALL been asking for?

 

[YOU PC BRO?!]

They are just too politically correct now to make a compelling game in the vein of previous releases. It's pretty much been the trend since the Doctors left. It was apparent in Inquisition, Andromeda and Anthem. Player choice has always been a focus at BioWare which was promoted through good writing and story. There was a real scale of good and evil that made the older games so visceral and fun. The early games encouraged players to play however they liked and to make the experience truly your own. Now the player choice ranges between good and a bit of a jerk. This shines through in the narrative and is particularly apparent when comparing these latest entries to the originals. Modern entries are just so safe and designed to be as inoffensive as possible. It's sad. Inquisition really was the tip of the spear. No attractive female characters other than Leliana and almost all characters in positions of authority being female. The writing and topics that the player would typically be challenged with also become less interesting and more generic. As if the developers sole focus was to not offend anyone rather than to make a compelling video game. To the point where any and all sensitive subject matter was stripped away leaving behind a bland soulless lacklustre husk that no one particularly liked (at least no-one was offended though). These ideologically charged development practices have ostracised many longstanding fans. The games just don't feel the same any more and they won't until the developers lose their fear of offending the serially offended. The current direction of providing players only the illusion of choice in how to handle the scenarios presented is unappealing to most. If I want to play as a snarky arrogant dickhead then let me; if I want to play as a beacon of humility, virtue and righteousness then I should be able to and if I was to play as the literal spawn of satan then why not. Stop trying to tell me what I think should be fun.

 

[BigBooper]

Not coming back in that way. They've burned their good writers. They've ground their game directors into the dirt. They will probably put out a few shambling corpses that the games press fawn over, but it won't be real and they'll slowly slink into the shadows under the floorboards of EA's boot.

 

[Javthusiast]

 

[mekes]

Byeoware.

 

[nkarafo]

They got popular. Then mainstream.

Its hard to come back from that. They are done.

 

[SlimeGooGoo]

.

 

[Inspector Q]

Had to do some googling to find this old blog post. It's by Brent Knowles, Lead Designer on DA Origins.

BioWare-Brent Year 10 (Fall 2008 – Summer 2009) – Brent Knowles

blog.brentknowles.com

“I’m not the same person I was when I started, and BioWare isn’t the same company. ”

The guy saw the company going in a direction that didn't suit him and so he left. You start losing a lot of guys like this and I guess you just aren't the same company anymore. As others have said, it's basically just Bioware in name only. Most of the old guard...the visionaries, are long gone. Sad stuff...

 

[V4skunk]

I was thinking today about how much I miss the Mass Effect series and how much I'm craving a new quality entry into the series. And then there's all the craziness going on with the development of the new Dragon Age. I know a lot of people think the glory days of BioWare are long gone and the hope for them ever producing a great game again are slim.

Have you lost complete faith in BioWare or are you still holding out hope they re-emerge and produce great games?

Bioware is long dead.
Go compare the depth of Baldur's Gate 2 to say Mass Effect or Dragon Age.

 

[AJUMP23]

 

[Lunarorbit]

 

[Garnox]

I don't think they'll recapture the "glory days", as the talent that made it so has since departed the company, but that's not necessarily a awful thing. Just because a lot of the talent from that time is no longer with the company, doesn't mean the current talent can't churn out a solid product.

Instead of trying to strive to be something from the past, why not make something good in the present? I think they are capable, so I remain optimistic.

 

[EviLore]

Do you have faith BioWare can ever recapture its old magic?

 

[Ozzie666]

I have misguided hope.
No faith.
Just hope and I expect to be crushed and disappointed, one more time.

Mass Effect Legendary collection was pretty well done, but they didn't need to do too much.

 

[Rickyiez]

Dead AF . Just like Blizzard , the original creatives were long gone . Bioware is just a brand name on a shell now .

 

[LOLCats]

This thread comes up once a year now.

no, its not happening.

 

[Tschumi]

As far as I'm aware, the usual way these things go suggests it's Bioware in name only these days, that most of the people who first built it up are gone.. look to their new companies if you want to see them again... Pillars of Eternity series is one

* Got confused by history i know Poe is obsidian

 

[Nico_D]

Bioware is done. Happens to most companies and people when they get too big and successful.

 

[Shmunter]

Depends, talent first or diversity first? Monetisation first or user experience first?

 

[Nickolaidas]

look to their new companies if you want to see them again... Pillars of Eternity series is one

"A tale of Queens and Kings ..."

 

[kanjobazooie]

As far as I'm aware, the usual way these things go suggests it's Bioware in name only these days, that most of the people who first built it up are gone.. look to their new companies if you want to see them again... Pillars of Eternity series is one

I think you're mixing them up with another company? Obsidian made KOTOR 2 and Neverwinter 2, but other than that they don't have any relation to Bioware. They were always different people.

 

[Lone Wolf]

Archetype Entertainment

Archetype Entertainment is a video game studio located in Austin, TX. We build epic story-driven roleplaying games.

www.archetype-entertainment.com

Apparently A lot of former BioWare devs building a sci fi game.

 

[Tschumi]

I think you're mixing them up with another company? Obsidian made KOTOR 2 and Neverwinter 2, but other than that they don't have any relation to Bioware. They were always different people.

You're right sorry.. lol as we know obsidian were once very closely related to multiple bioware IPs haha got confused

 

[Y0ssarian]

I'm hoping Dragon Age 4 is good. It doesn't have to be as good as Origins, just a decent game

 

[Team Andromeda]

I loved Mass Effect Andromeda, I never got the hate other than with some bad looking character models. I also thought Anthem was amazing other issues over mid loading which the new gen of consoles with their SSD could have really fixed with a sequel

 

[Kumomeme]

they need to ditch Frostbite engine first.

 

[lh032]

They are already recapture it under Anthem development few years ago.
Its called the bioware magic.

 

[vodka-bull]

I still believe in them. If they don‘t create AAA classic bioware RPGs, they still bring ou decent Action games. I liked DA:O.

 

[Nickolaidas]

I'm one of the few people who never really got the bioware cock sucking by the fandom. Their games always felt pretentious to me, and while my jaw dropped when I saw the gameplay reveal back on the x360, when I played the game it all felt generic and mainstream as fuck.

I think what really bothered me was the extremely shallow role-playing the game actually did.

General Grumpy: I have built this Death Cannon in order to destroy the alliance and all those bureaucrats who laughed at me when I was a teen, and no one will stop me!!

Shephard: (diplomacy +20) This is wrong and you know it.

General Grumpy: Yeah ... you're right. I will destroy the Death Cannon, surrender to the authorities and dismantle my space station. Thanks, Shephard.

QUEST COMPLETED. RECEIVED 4800 XP.

This lazy shit was the reason I never liked bioware games. The 'you successfully convinced the orc warlord to relocate' after rolling a 20 in a diplomacy check may work when your DM is narrating in a tabletop rpg session, but in a cinematic narrative video game, it didn't work for me. I always felt what your character says isn't enough to persuade an npc in changing his views and broke immersion for me.

Plus, I hated the cliches bioware did. Always part of an organization above the law to lazily explain how you can get away with every stupid crap you would do and why everyone would bend over to your every whim, every character who matters wants to be fucked by you, relationships basically amounted to 'talk to me three times between main missions, do my side quest and then you can fuck me even though this doesn't change our interactions in the entire game by 97 percent', and lazy shit like that. Heck, Skyrim's amorous adventures mod would make your female companions resemble lovers a lot better than bioware ever could.

But hey, pew pew pew, and cool bad guys who are basically a lazy rip-off of one of the most thought provoking antagonists in the history of video games.

 

[GymWolf]

 

[STARSBarry]

There just a regular EA studio right now and have been for many years. I think they will be renamed to EA Bioware before finally just being named something like EA Edmonton and then finally closing there doors.

The fact EA still drag its corpse around still amazes me they have closed studios for less.

 

[kyussman]

Given the current trajectory of EA games in general I'd say their best days are behind them.....if they had a publisher that was a bit more "let's just make a great game" oriented perhaps they could do something great.

 

[Unknown Soldier]

Literally no one from the original Bioware is still there today. It's just a name.

 

[Malio]

That ship has sailed.

 

[kanjobazooie]

Literally no one from the original Bioware is still there today. It's just a name.

The lead designer, lead programmer, and art director from Mass Effect are all still at the studio. There are also a few other longtime employees who worked on ME, including writers, designers, animators, and programmers.

The studio is largely different today, but it still has some of that old DNA left.

 

[Rhazer Fusion]

I still think they are capable of making good games, but I don’t think they can recreate the quality of their old games. Then again, I think that applies to a healthy number of companies now unfortunately.