Miss the old Bioware days

Ragin Cajun · Post by **Ragin Cajun** » Tue Dec 20, 2011 12:41 pm

I was playing Skyrim yesterday and actually went to look up Bioware. Now I see they are part of EA and were involved in Dragon's Age, etc. Shows how much I paid attention to those games beyond the EA part.

I really miss Bioware doing their own stuff. NWN, IWD, BG...classics. Really would like a new game in that vein.

Stworca · Post by **Stworca** » Tue Dec 20, 2011 2:00 pm

Black Isle.. Troika.. Old Bioware.. *a manly tear has been shed*

candesco · Post by **candesco** » Wed Dec 28, 2011 4:30 am

Ragin Cajun wrote:I was playing Skyrim yesterday and actually went to look up Bioware. Now I see they are part of EA and were involved in Dragon's Age, etc. Shows how much I paid attention to those games beyond the EA part.

I really miss Bioware doing their own stuff. NWN, IWD, BG...classics. Really would like a new game in that vein.

Dragon Age: Origins is the only one under the EA banner which comes the closest to their old work. With the rest you can clearly see the hand of EA. And although Mass Effect isn't bad, it isn't a RPG at all. Dragon Age 2 is a huge disappointment compared to Origins.
Talking about Skyrim: looking to that i miss the old way TES was made. Daggerfall has a good story and gameplay (although plagued by bugs. hence the nickname buggerfall) and Morrowind is just the best of the serie. Oblivion is a dumbed down version. Skyrim seems to be better, but is still fast paced action stuff. I wish that Ken Rolston was still there, but he is now working for Big Huge and is working on Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning.

Kyomas · Post by **Kyomas** » Sat Mar 24, 2012 1:16 am

Hellz to the yeah to old Bioware and Baldur's Gate .
Baldur's Gate 2 Shadows of Amn was my absolute FIRST introduction to DnD and to any game more violent then Pokemon (when I was 16 !!!) . I wish they did more games in that old 2d scape of strategy rather then hack and slash .

Lord Chaos · Post by **Lord Chaos** » Sun Apr 08, 2012 10:32 pm

candesco wrote:And although Mass Effect isn't bad, it isn't a RPG at all.

What do you base that on?

Xandax · Post by **Xandax** » Mon Apr 09, 2012 12:13 am

candesco wrote:Dragon Age: Origins is the only one under the EA banner which comes the closest to their old work. With the rest you can clearly see the hand of EA. And although Mass Effect isn't bad, it isn't a RPG at all. Dragon Age 2 is a huge disappointment compared to Origins.
Talking about Skyrim: looking to that i miss the old way TES was made. Daggerfall has a good story and gameplay (although plagued by bugs. hence the nickname buggerfall) and Morrowind is just the best of the serie. Oblivion is a dumbed down version. Skyrim seems to be better, but is still fast paced action stuff. I wish that Ken Rolston was still there, but he is now working for Big Huge and is working on Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning.

It's easy to blame EA because they're the 'big evil empire', however it has more to do - IMO - with many core people having left Bioware.

A lot of Bioware's recent problems also comes from them distancing them from their customer/fan base with PR spin and lack of actual communication with them. Hardly EA's problem that Bioware says A delivers B and claims customers are just too dumb to understand or that they completely ignore fan feedback.

If you look closely at the games Bioware have made since the start - there's a clear trend in them which moves more and more focus on the characters and story and less on the RPG game mechanics.
ME moved it further from KOTOR which moved it further from NwN which moved it from BG2 which moved it from BG1.

So the ME2, ME3,DA2 and TOR lack of RPG-elements move doesn't surprise me; but where Bioware is really dropping the ball is how they handle that move in regards of their long-time fans and customers.

Bioware have changed; but it's not a sudden change or a change by EA. It's a change in how they apparently view themselves in regards to us 'walking wallets'.

Lord Chaos · Post by **Lord Chaos** » Mon Apr 09, 2012 12:54 am

I don't think people will ever agree on what exactly a Role Playing Game is.

schwungsau · Post by **schwungsau** » Fri Jun 29, 2012 9:07 am

i like the spiderweb games. avadon the black fortress have a baldurs gate feel: Avadon: The Black Fortress
and avadon line plays like icewindale dale. the good things is you can play it on ipad and lying on the beach

sear · Post by **sear** » Sat Jun 30, 2012 1:42 am

schwungsau wrote:i like the spiderweb games. avadon the black fortress have a baldurs gate feel: Avadon: The Black Fortress
and avadon line plays like icewindale dale. the good things is you can play it on ipad and lying on the beach

I would say Avernum is much better for getting the old Baldur's Gate feel. The series really thrives on exploration and has a great feeling of progression and discovery that reminds me a lot of the first Baldur's Gate. The writing is pretty good too. Avadon just did nothing for me, too much filler and too slow-paced.

Similarly, Geneforge is also really good if you can stomach the dated visuals in the earlier games and the sci-fi theme.