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| [Mar 19, 2012, 8:00 pm ET] - Share - Viewing Comments |
A BioWare Social Network post from BioWare's Mark Darrah where the Executive Producer on Dragon Age II explains the team is moving past DA2 and on to "the next phase of Dragon Age’s future" (thanks GameInformer). Here's word: And finally, while we will still be keeping an eye out for any issues that might crop up in DAII and supporting the community should any emergencies should arise, we’re moving the entire team’s focus to the next phase of Dragon Age’s future.
You’ve most certainly heard the rumors floating around, and unfortunately I can’t really comment on them. However, what I can say is that we’ve been thinking a lot about Dragon Age – what it means, and where it could go. This past year, we’ve spent a lot of time both going back to the “BioWare vault” of games and re-examining them, and looking at some new possibilities that today’s industry allows.
With that, the next thing for the Dragon Age team members and I to do is hear from you, and not just on the forums, or Facebook, or Twitter. We’ll be attending a number of conventions and gatherings, including PAX East in April. The most valuable thing we can get out of those meetings is to hear from you on those same topics – what does Dragon Age mean to you, and where would you like to see it go? We’re excited to hear what you have to say!
On behalf of the entire team, we are incredibly eager to reach the moment when we can tell you more and show you where we are taking Dragon Age. But for now, thank you for your continued support, and we will be back here with more as soon as we can.
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| 43. |
Re: Dragon Age Entering |
Mar 20, 2012, 08:49 |
briktal |
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Scottish Martial Arts wrote on Mar 19, 2012, 22:08:
Paketep wrote on Mar 19, 2012, 21:14:
EA killed Bioware. They just don't know it yet.
Nah, Bioware was never very good to begin with, especially post Baldur's Gate 2.
Baldur's Gate 2 is easily their best game, and despite its weaknesses, I'd even go so far to call it a great game. But what made it great? It was the encounter, quest, and dungeon design. Baldur's Gate II was just filled with hours upon hours of really solid, consistent, B+ content, supported by great game mechanics. The actual story wasn't that great, and many of the characters were just obnoxious, but boy was Baldur's Gate II fun to play.
Fast forward to Neverwinter Nights, and what do you get? A narrative focused game, with terrible encounters, quests, and dungeons. "Let's stick the player in a cave with 20 goblins -- THAT will be fun!" seemed to be the operative content design principle. Meanwhile, the writing was still a mess and wasn't enough to carry the game.
KOTOR was an improvement over NWN in both narrative and actual content, but the simple reality was that the content was poorly designed and bereft of tactics, and the narrative and characters, aside from the shock of the BIG TWIST, were pretty lackluster. It didn't help that they borrowed the same narrative structure (find four macguffins to stop an ancient evil) and characters (Aribeth and Bastila are the same fucking character) from NWN. In fact, that reuse of characters and plot structure from game to game has come to define everything Bioware has done post-BG2.
If you continue the analysis whith each of Bioware's subsequent games you keep finding the same problems -- focus on a fanfiction quality narrative supported by lackluster content, reusing the same stock characters and plot devices from game to game. The only real innovation that Bioware has brought to their formula in the decade since NWN is gay romances. But if that's all you have to sell your game, titillating the lesbian fantasies of your virginal fanbase, that speaks volume of how little you know about actually designing a compelling game.
Now with DA2 and ME3, Bioware has finally gotten so self indulgent with their writing, and so lazy with their content design, that even their most dedicated fans are starting to wake up and see them for what they are: a pretty mediocre developer.
One big change from BG/KOTOR to DA/ME is that they started making up their own IP. With a D&D or Star Wars license, there's only so much of the galaxy they can blow up and a limit to how many magical space gods can show up at the last minute. |
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