CD Projeckt Red surpassing of Bioware
Wow, The Witcher 3 really and truly makes Dragon Age Inquisition look like amateur hour. CD Projeckt RED has completely and soundly thrashed in their third game a company whose logo was on the startup for their first game. Other than save import, Bioware has been mastered, well at least their Dragon Age Team, but I don't hold up hope for Mass Effect Andromeda either. I am looking more forward to Cyberpunk 2077 You see, its the culture that is the reason why.
Both CD Projeckt RED and Bioware bungled the endings to their games, as well as undersold them pre-release, leading to an enhanced redux of the ending. The Witcher 2 and Mass Effect 3. Both endings were indeed problematic, not with concept, but with execution. They were under explained, rushed, and confused, missing key details, and decisions failed to matter. Why would I rescue Triss in the original PC version of TW2? But both did well at fixed their problems while not compromising their visions of the ending, but only CDPR learned their lesson. While CDPR learned to finish and explain and clarify more in the future (and did so for TW3 for the most part), Bioware "learned" that you can't have a bittersweet ending to a three game series. WRONG, CDP just pulled it off.
I blame the fans for the most part if Bioware falls creatively, because fanbase can have impact on who you are. The Witcher fans for the most part, are great to CDPR, and understand when they screw up and for the most part, CDPR is humble about mistakes. But Bioware fans are a bunch of crybaby morons, with their forums toxic as hell. While Bioware did screw up the ending, the fans reaction is one of the most moronic things in gaming history and one of the ugliest. But still, after the Extended Cut, the moron fanbase still fails to get the ending. After playing through the ending and the game multiple times and actually analyzing it, the ending is actually pretty damn good. You see it was smart, bitter sweet sci-fi ending that you have to think about, and that you have to pick up the clues for. It wasn't a pew pew pew, blow up Harbinger in a boss fight ending and go home and bang the blue chick ending. These fans are so stupid they don't even get why the Starkid is even talking to Shepard or that just because you don't like a plot point or twist, doesn't mean its a plot hole. And people who say the ending doesn't fit the themes of the series should be slapped for stupidity because they seem to have fallen asleep and turned their brain off all series long. Nope, much of the fanbase wanted a happy ending, with the popularity of the idiotic MEHEM mod to prove my point. Going through Mass Effect 3 (after playing TW3, I can't determine which is better although standalone TW3 wins), I realize how dark and sad the game actually is. Walking through the Citadel and hearing those conversations for instance is a huge example. And IMO, Mass Effect 3 was the game Bioware needed to make, a risky, uncompromising game where there is no good and bad and that paragon decisions sometimes don't lead to the best outcome, but instead its their downfall not because of its problems because of the problems with the fanbase. The most damning thing was the attack on Bioware's creative freedom. But I rather take "art" over pew pew pew Michael bay boom to make dumb fans happy any day.
Now comparing DAI to TW3, can't start without talking about DA2 as well. DA2 was simply put, rushed out the door to meet an unrealistic deadline. I am suprise it was even playable and I am thankful for that. But they simply put, ran out of time and the writers didn;t get to do what they wanted fully. But the story themes and the characters were great and it was different. Instead of being a generic save the world plot, it is about how one person alone isn't to blame for a social failure, its everybody. Although DA2, characters from your party members to NPCs to the antagonists want to inflame and esclate the situation, so much so that your choices don;t matter. You are screwed, but that's the point. But nope, the dumb fanbase hated it and didn't get it. And DA2 did many other things wrong like repeat levels, shallow combat encounters, and small area to explore, but thats because it was rushed. But in DAI, Bioware not only created a game with the OPPOSITE problems to DA2, made an unfocused mess of a game, while being as generic and formulaic as possible. The story and its gameplay were segregated, characters no longer matter to the plot outside of Casandra and Solus, the side quests were shallow, political agendas were forced in, everything was told and rarely shown, and the main plot was dumb. Its like they reacted to the forums instead of making the game they truly wanted to make. It was made to check off forum fan requests and AAA open world checkboxes. And oh boy, not only the ending to DAI suck, but it was DAO over again. Also, I have noticed that none of the companions or advisors can die and they only leave if you make them in DAI, with only one choice being a tough bittersweet choice. And then there is a part where a character can be "killed", not killed, but "killed", but you can choose a character instead that you don;t care about to "die" in his or her place. Talk about dumbing things down mentally and emotionally. Instead of Bioware making the best game they wanted to make, they made a game the fans wanted them to make and after short term success, it would soon be easily surpassed by The Witcher 3 and is easily more forgettable than that controversial Mass Effect 3.
The Witcher 3 on the other hand, looks like it was made the way the designers wanted but the fans accepted. Thats one reason why everything flows well together and that even the missteps surpass other companies best efforts. Instead of reading and reacting to the fanbase to an extreme degree, CDP has seemed to evolve and fix things naturally, instead of nuking it and throwing it out. And it still feels like they have creative control of the story and that fans accept not only controversial storytelling but even aspects they don't even like. Not so with Bioware fans, who would have a 100 page tantrum thread on how their favorite character got shafted in the sequel. Over here, Iorveth threads seem far more civil and less demanding that CDP put him in the game.
And I think the difference is the culture of the fanbase, that the reason that CDPR finally truly may have surpassed Bioware. And really I think CDPR now makes the games th eBioware fanbase doesn't allow Bioware to make.
