It comes down to the games they make.
Before they made quality games, now they don't.
Before we liked them, now we don't.
It really is quite simple.
This big change is also very disappointing because of the fantastic games they made in the past. We know what they are (or were) capable of. So seeing BioWare churn out crap game after crap game is more disappointing than if some other developer does it (and there are plenty of those too).
I haven't played Witcher 2 yet because my computer couldn't handle it, but I look forward to the day I can, and loved the first Witcher. CDPR takes their gamers seriously, and has produced some great games. Hopefully they continue to do that in the future, or you can be damn sure I will stop buying their games too.
Before they made quality games, now they don't.
Before we liked them, now we don't.
It really is quite simple.
This big change is also very disappointing because of the fantastic games they made in the past. We know what they are (or were) capable of. So seeing BioWare churn out crap game after crap game is more disappointing than if some other developer does it (and there are plenty of those too).
I haven't played Witcher 2 yet because my computer couldn't handle it, but I look forward to the day I can, and loved the first Witcher. CDPR takes their gamers seriously, and has produced some great games. Hopefully they continue to do that in the future, or you can be damn sure I will stop buying their games too.
BioWare used to be a pretty great company. They had an amazing RPG track record up to DA:O, The Witcher was made on their engine and they promoted it on their site and at events through 2005-2007. They were what every independent video game company aspired to be.
But since the EA acquisition they haven't been the same. It all started with DA:O's DLC-ridden launch, then the disappointing cash-in that was ME2, the atrocious DA2 and the pointless MMO fluke that is SW:TOR.
Don't get me wrong, i've approached each of those projects with the utmost optimism and faith and i've just been let down every single time. Thankfully i've know EA long enough to not have done something stupid like pre-order them.
But what pisses me off the most is that "gaming journalists" cover their ass every step of the way. I swear if Daikatana was released today and published by EA it'd get 10/10s across the board.
But since the EA acquisition they haven't been the same. It all started with DA:O's DLC-ridden launch, then the disappointing cash-in that was ME2, the atrocious DA2 and the pointless MMO fluke that is SW:TOR.
Don't get me wrong, i've approached each of those projects with the utmost optimism and faith and i've just been let down every single time. Thankfully i've know EA long enough to not have done something stupid like pre-order them.
But what pisses me off the most is that "gaming journalists" cover their ass every step of the way. I swear if Daikatana was released today and published by EA it'd get 10/10s across the board.
I am not sure if bioware is degrading in terms of quality. DA2 is evidence of this yes, but ME2 has more quality and polish than ME1.
In terms of story and writing, Bioware has always been its average meh self with its high fantasy fetish and complete inability to create a believable and grounded universe. DA2 might be the worst of the bunch, but a lot of its problems are characteristic of Bioware games and stories in general, it was just presented in a half-assed way.
In terms of story and writing, Bioware has always been its average meh self with its high fantasy fetish and complete inability to create a believable and grounded universe. DA2 might be the worst of the bunch, but a lot of its problems are characteristic of Bioware games and stories in general, it was just presented in a half-assed way.
ProbablyThoric said:
I actually kind of liked Daikatana once I applied the patch to enable save-anywhere. I'm probably never going to play it again, but I didn't think it was bad enough to get the reputation for "worst game ever" that it seems to have ME2 has more polish because they completely gutted it, dumbed everything down, and simplified it to the point where they didn't have to spend as much time making actual content for the game. ME1 tried to have actual exploration and different types of missions (didn't execute it as well as other games, but at least it tried). ME2 is just "recruit party member, do linear action-heavy loyalty missions for party member, repeat for next party member." And then once the whole party is finally recruited and it seems like the game might actually get started, the ending credits appear.Thoric said:
I may be in the minority, but I quite enjoyed driving around in the Mako and exploring planets. True, at times the controlling was infuriating, especially in steep mountains or when the vehicle suddenly faced the opposite way after a slight bump. But overall I liked it, and it was great fun to kill huge geth in it (loved the geth invasion missions in the Armstrong cluster or wherever it was). Cutting out that from ME2 was a huge mistake in my book. Then they cut away customisation and the inventory too, which was even more silly. They dumbed it down and it just wasn't much fun playing.
The best parts were the loyalty missions actually where you got to know a bit more about the characters. But overall I found it a much weaker game, with no replay value as there really isn't much difference between the classes any more and you could easily play through the game without spending any skill points (or using the skills if you do). Try that in ME1...
Advancing in levels actually meant something. At least on my first playthrough it was pretty tough in the beginning, but once you hit level 30 or thereabouts you started to become pretty powerful. I never had that impression with ME2. Playing as a soldier and a vanguard for example was vastly different in ME. But in ME2 it wasn't much fun to do anything fighting-related. I'm just not a big fan of shooters I guess.
What Toric writes about reviews is one my pet hates with the gaming industry now. Reviewers who gave DA2 9/10 and thereabouts should be fired on the spot and never work as a reviewer again. Well, some of them got hired by Bioware so there is that.. It was pathetic. Too often reviews, especially of the AAA titles from big companies, are like marketing jobs by the publisher themselves. The main job of reviews seem to be to sell the game - not to actually review it. The spectrum is 7-10 and 7 is regarded as shit. The whole scale is botched up. If a game is crap or has many bugs etc, the reviewers should write about that and let it affect the grade. Sometimes they do write about negatives, but it doesn't seem to affect the grade at all. I've read reviews where half of it is about poorly implemented features or stuff that isn't working properly etcetera, but it still gets 9/10. It's just FUBARed.
The best parts were the loyalty missions actually where you got to know a bit more about the characters. But overall I found it a much weaker game, with no replay value as there really isn't much difference between the classes any more and you could easily play through the game without spending any skill points (or using the skills if you do). Try that in ME1...
Advancing in levels actually meant something. At least on my first playthrough it was pretty tough in the beginning, but once you hit level 30 or thereabouts you started to become pretty powerful. I never had that impression with ME2. Playing as a soldier and a vanguard for example was vastly different in ME. But in ME2 it wasn't much fun to do anything fighting-related. I'm just not a big fan of shooters I guess.
What Toric writes about reviews is one my pet hates with the gaming industry now. Reviewers who gave DA2 9/10 and thereabouts should be fired on the spot and never work as a reviewer again. Well, some of them got hired by Bioware so there is that.. It was pathetic. Too often reviews, especially of the AAA titles from big companies, are like marketing jobs by the publisher themselves. The main job of reviews seem to be to sell the game - not to actually review it. The spectrum is 7-10 and 7 is regarded as shit. The whole scale is botched up. If a game is crap or has many bugs etc, the reviewers should write about that and let it affect the grade. Sometimes they do write about negatives, but it doesn't seem to affect the grade at all. I've read reviews where half of it is about poorly implemented features or stuff that isn't working properly etcetera, but it still gets 9/10. It's just FUBARed.
This forum is so peaceful. It lacks constant barrage of threads by rabid fanboys hating the 'whiners'
Yeah, but you can always get your posts voted down without knowing who disagrees with your thoughts and why. Personally, I find this more passive-aggressive, and generally far worse than being flamed, as at least I know who is my opponent and what kind of arguments he has - and if not, I have a valid reason to blatantly ignore him. Voting down doesn't improve the discussion at all; it limits the discussion and gives users option to introduce harmful spiral of silence and discourage everyone from giving different opinions than the one majorly represented so far. Speaking of which, I wish someday mods would eliminate it and leave only voting up, because it's simply a good way to thank and/or give a kudos to posters.NotSlimgrin said:
Sorry for OT I just felt like writing this.
If but we could do something about it . Sadly that`s not in our control . I much preferred the way the old forum handled it by the giving of "Orens" by both mods and the users themselves . They were a much better way of implementing the respect rating..a lot better than the current one imo .NabuchodonozorI said:
Bioware in the days of old were the developer that everyone wanted to be like...today not so much . I wonder if CDPR are beginning to turn their heads any nevermind the last thought i believe they can see only brown where their heads are along with their paid for DLC`s .
I just saw this...
Bullying of Bioware staff member
That's so sick. Criticising Bioware is one thing, but this was just vicious.
Bullying of Bioware staff member
That's so sick. Criticising Bioware is one thing, but this was just vicious.
Yeah that crosses the line, i'm no fan of their games or practises but harassing a woman because of her companies direction is shameful. And who didn't want to fast forward through some of the endless waves in Dragon Age 2?
Saw that over at GOG and it's quite despicable. Quite understandable a writer has more fun writing stories than playing games, particularly when said writer is no fan of combat and most games are full of it. I can certainly empathise with that, as I wanted to skip through some combat in DAO and in the end never finished the game because I got bored. Harassing her like that is pretty sick. I don't have much love left for BioWare either, but she doesn't deserve that. It's also an interview from 2006... Took a while for their anger to explode.
It crosses the line...however, you have to understand Bioware's reps have been saying some stupid shit for a long time, the worst offender being Ray Muzyka, who continually demeans the genre by stating how relative RPG conventions are, continually justifying Bioware's direction to mainstreaming every element they can. Then she comes along and says this. I think a lot of fans at this point are sick of hearing what Bioware has to say about RPG's, me included. Do I support the attacks on her? No way. Do I want to hear yet more justification and worthless drivel from another Bioware employee? No.
She should have known full well this would be the reaction, or perhaps she wanted to appeal to gamers who want Bioware to churn out interactive movies.
Edit-ok I didn't know the interview was that old. I guess that makes my point above moot, lol.
She should have known full well this would be the reaction, or perhaps she wanted to appeal to gamers who want Bioware to churn out interactive movies.
Edit-ok I didn't know the interview was that old. I guess that makes my point above moot, lol.
I think that allowing people to skip the combat is a great idea. I enjoy the combat, and don't mind dying a few dozen times, but it would have helped ease a lot of people's frustration (and requests for savegames) on The Kayran.
And it's one thing to have a flame war in a gaming forum, but something else entirely to take it into someone's personal life.
And it's one thing to have a flame war in a gaming forum, but something else entirely to take it into someone's personal life.
I have extremely mixed feelings about this story. On the one hand I do think her view represents a general problem with Bioware's approach lately, and I'm a little bit offended that she says the way to make games appeal to women is to make games really easy and let us skip anything challenging. And then her response was to assume that everyone who hated what she said was only objecting because she's a woman, which couldn't be further from the truth.
But of course that in no way justifies people harassing her. The proper response would be to say, "Well okay, I disagree with Bioware's priorities so now I'll find a different type of game that caters to my interests." Personally insulting this lady and spamming her with disgusting messages is totally uncalled for.
Even though she has a valid point that the Dragon Age games have way too much combat which starts to get boring after awhile, she should try to encourage her coworkers to make better combat and have more variety with less repetition. If it's really that boring, then make it better instead of simply making the entire game skippable. Otherwise what's the point of playing the game? Just watch the cutscenes on Youtube and it would be the same experience as skipping everything game-play related.
But of course that in no way justifies people harassing her. The proper response would be to say, "Well okay, I disagree with Bioware's priorities so now I'll find a different type of game that caters to my interests." Personally insulting this lady and spamming her with disgusting messages is totally uncalled for.
I don't know about skipping combat entirely, but easy mode should actually be easy and with less combat overall. Granted I'm probably too stubborn to lower the difficulty to easy in most cases, but easy mode really should be a walk in the park for anyone who wants to actually play the game but finds the harder difficulty settings to be too frustrating.dragonbird said:
Even though she has a valid point that the Dragon Age games have way too much combat which starts to get boring after awhile, she should try to encourage her coworkers to make better combat and have more variety with less repetition. If it's really that boring, then make it better instead of simply making the entire game skippable. Otherwise what's the point of playing the game? Just watch the cutscenes on Youtube and it would be the same experience as skipping everything game-play related.
I don't care if she's the worst writer in the world, there's absolutely no reason to harass her.
That being said, her response, as well as the response of Aaryn Flynn, is every bit the classless low-road garbage that I've seen directed at her. Neither side has any excuse. She lashed out because her feelings were hurt? This happens when you're in the public eye, so it's either grow thicker skin or find a different job. Trolls are upset about her work and what they think she stands for? There are ways of expressing opinions that don't involve harassing people like a dick on the internet.
Totally classless on everyone's part.
That being said, her response, as well as the response of Aaryn Flynn, is every bit the classless low-road garbage that I've seen directed at her. Neither side has any excuse. She lashed out because her feelings were hurt? This happens when you're in the public eye, so it's either grow thicker skin or find a different job. Trolls are upset about her work and what they think she stands for? There are ways of expressing opinions that don't involve harassing people like a dick on the internet.
Totally classless on everyone's part.
Got to agree with Ward Dragon on this, make the combat enjoyable and enthralling while limiting the use of it as filler, don't do away with it entirely. Patch 2.0 of Assassins of Kings did this right, they refined rather than streamlined.
I can understand the rage over Dragon Age, it seems every Bioware developer has lined up to take a dump on Origins, a game that really connected with a large and impassioned audience. You can see why they did this, because they were producing an inferior sequel for a different target audience, and wanted to downplay the strengths of the original.
The thing that really rubbed my rhubarb were the statements that we were too hidebound and backward to appreciate Dragon Age 2's innovations, i'm not burdened with an overabundance of learning but even I found that insulting. There were no innovations: Childish over exaggerated combat has been done before, linear consequnce less plot definitely done before, framed narrative done much better before, companions interacting with each other was done in almost every black isle game, trivial xp grinding fetch quests are done in every bad rpg.
Sorry they innovated in one area, they removed the ability to talk to your companions which you could do in Ultima nigh on twenty years ago now, citing some bullshit about the conversations not being cinematic enough. Well no shit Sherlock it's a game not a movie.
Still the only right thing to do is vote with your wallet, speaks louder than harassing one of their employee's.
I can understand the rage over Dragon Age, it seems every Bioware developer has lined up to take a dump on Origins, a game that really connected with a large and impassioned audience. You can see why they did this, because they were producing an inferior sequel for a different target audience, and wanted to downplay the strengths of the original.
The thing that really rubbed my rhubarb were the statements that we were too hidebound and backward to appreciate Dragon Age 2's innovations, i'm not burdened with an overabundance of learning but even I found that insulting. There were no innovations: Childish over exaggerated combat has been done before, linear consequnce less plot definitely done before, framed narrative done much better before, companions interacting with each other was done in almost every black isle game, trivial xp grinding fetch quests are done in every bad rpg.
Sorry they innovated in one area, they removed the ability to talk to your companions which you could do in Ultima nigh on twenty years ago now, citing some bullshit about the conversations not being cinematic enough. Well no shit Sherlock it's a game not a movie.
Still the only right thing to do is vote with your wallet, speaks louder than harassing one of their employee's.