Bioware General (Mass Effect/Dragon Age/Other)

[TLock]

Welp, shadowmanced Reyes...not sure how to feel about that.

[Vol]

@SWM: I get what you mean, there's a tonal shift with him. Though I suppose you could chalk it up to him being an ex-cop guy, and having to be able to be cunning but not appear threatening as part of the job. The naked time with Jaal, then the car launched into the void, but then the other stuff, it sorta fits together if you assume he's acting a part.

I did a near clean sweep of content, so my time between romance nodes was pretty huge, and that made it seem better paced than you might've seen it. I mean, really, until they just make the romances most of the gameplay, I'll say I want more. That said, reaction aught to be larger, yeah. Sid gets it, which is cool, and the epilogue bit, but I'm struggling to remember much else.

@TLock: Some people really got into Reyes, believe it or not. Enjoy the ride?

[TLock]

The Reyes story line was really good, he honey dicked me like a pro. If I play a female Ryder I would defo choose him. For all his flaws he was the better alternative to Sloane

[Someone With Mass]

The Reyes story line was really good, he honey dicked me like a pro. If I play a female Ryder I would defo choose him. For all his flaws he was the better alternative to Sloane

A meth addict with Parkinson's disease would be a better alternative to Sloane. Talk about dead weight on that one.

[TLock]

A meth addict with Parkinson's disease would be a better alternative to Sloane. Talk about dead weight on that one.

I feel that the way ME A framed her she was just supposed to be the typical baddie. I expected to be torn whether I chose Reyes or her, I mean no amount of honor would make me choose Sloane. Sure she helped in the Nexus riots, but the way she handled Kadara port was pretty brutal. I also find it strange how people in the badlands bitch about how their situation is the Nexus' fault instead of Sloane's...I mean Nexus is/was in the same shit creek as them.

[Vol]

In the promo material, where Sloane was like 17 years old, I was entirely ready to hate her guts. In practice, she was "alright" for attempting to just ape the archetype but with a girl. The grizzled look fit her way better, and once you got past the "hurp durp i'm in charge and i'm boss bitch you better respect me look how powerful but casual i am, now i will make overt threats at you despite my incredibly precarious situation so you know how in charge i am!" deal, and ignoring the entire book because that made me think she's a retard, she's...fine. Like a less bitchy Aria, which is improvement, I suppose.

Picked her over Reyes, because he betrayed me, and fuck that.

[Mazder]

Sloane may be a crazy bitch of a person and a powderkeg ready to blow at a moment's notice, but at least she didn't try to betray/trick me. And if she did she was upfront about it.
I mean the book, which I still don't really know too much of other than she was an idealist turned sour and then betrayed and turned crazy, doesn't redeem her but it doesn't make Reyes look any better.

Reyes might have good intentions but he's a shady fucker who likes to manipulate and is good at it. I don't need that type of person potentially manipulating me.

Mind you I guess I am the only one that twigged Reyes was the Charlatan right from the off so...I dunno.

[TLock]

My logic for picking Reyes over Sloane, besides being honey dicked by him, was because he does want the initiative to prosper. I feel that Sloane would have just declared open war with the initiative. Not that the initiative are a bunch of saint, but that is the one thing the people do not need in Helios. Not to mention she treats those who cannot afford to live in the upper levels as shit, as well as the Angarans there.

[Vol]

Yeah, the betrayal was what tilted me, my Ryder had a sense of honor here. I thought Sloane and Reyes were both scumfucks of a different stripe, and I didn't really care about their conflict, but Reyes lied to me, and I was obligated to protect Sloane from a sneak attack, so that's how the dice fell.

The book makes it way worse, I couldn't finish it, but I'm not joking when I say that I would sooner have you two write the backstory for Sloane and the uprising than let Bioware's official rendition stand. It's illogical and more than a little suicidal, which at least the brain damage from cryo helps mitigate.

The Charlatan caught me entirely by surprise. Maybe because I was marathoning ME:A literally minutes after marathoning the entire original series, maybe because I didn't catch the hints, but it was a tweeeest.

Yeah, see, Reyes would be a better local warlord than Sloane, especially with the colonization of the planet after you finish. If he had expressed that upfront and asked me to depose Sloane, I'd have been entirely on board.

[magnuskn]

Sloane was clearly off her rocker insane. Reyes at least seemed someone you could negotiate with.

[TLock]

I was conflicted when I had to make the choice, my character was honorable...but at the same time knows when to do the hard choices. I could see the good side of Sloane, saving the the exiles in the uprising and all that. But she was clearly in the war path against the initiative. Allowing her to live would just mean an open conflict down the line.

On that note, it feels that hard decisions are really underplayed in the game. You know, kill thousands of Angara in the ascension building and the worst you get is a bit of a cold shoulder and some tough words. Kill Sloane, basically nothing in terms of gravity of your decision. I am starting to feel that these big events are just a means to an end for the story with no long planned consequence.

[TTTX]

I was conflicted when I had to make the choice, my character was honorable...but at the same time knows when to do the hard choices. I could see the good side of Sloane, saving the the exiles in the uprising and all that. But she was clearly in the war path against the initiative. Allowing her to live would just mean an open conflict down the line.

On that note, it feels that hard decisions are really underplayed in the game. You know, kill thousands of Angara in the ascension building and the worst you get is a bit of a cold shoulder and some tough words. Kill Sloane, basically nothing in terms of gravity of your decision. I am starting to feel that these big events are just a means to an end for the story with no long planned consequence.

which isn't surprising considering the game was more or less made in less then 2 years.

at least it affects the end game somewhat which give the choices a bit more weight then pretty much the entire trilogy (expect for ME2, but it's end game basically boils down to how many characters you have, if they are loyal and if you make the right decisions with the squad.) which isn't saying much

[Vol]

Well, it was also that it was a QTE (I think) and in general, I need a good reason to _not_ go with it on first try. But retroactive justification works too.

The reveal that the angara were created was a pretty big deal to me, and that it didn't warrant some major NPC reaction bummed me out. "Oh, yeah, I guess we are, so it goes." If some alien came down tomorrow with concrete proof that humans were personally created by hyperadvanced people we've never met, there'd some soul-searching, you know?

[Mazder]

The Charlatan caught me entirely by surprise. Maybe because I was marathoning ME:A literally minutes after marathoning the entire original series, maybe because I didn't catch the hints, but it was a tweeeest.

Really?
The only other nice person on an entire planet full of people willing to stab people in the back and you don't immediately suspect them for being the charitable, charismatic benefactor behind keeping all the poor fed and clothed and shit?

Hmmm, guess it's my Brit powers shining through to find the sneaky ones.

Well, it was also that it was a QTE (I think) and in general, I need a good reason to _not_ go with it on first try. But retroactive justification works too.

The reveal that the angara were created was a pretty big deal to me, and that it didn't warrant some major NPC reaction bummed me out. "Oh, yeah, I guess we are, so it goes." If some alien came down tomorrow with concrete proof that humans were personally created by hyperadvanced people we've never met, there'd some soul-searching, you know?

Pretty sure that the whole "angara were created" plot thread was saved for a sequel as they were totally gunning for at least another game.
The whole ending was set up for sequelitis.

[TTTX]

Really?
The only other nice person on an entire planet full of people willing to stab people in the back and you don't immediately suspect them for being the charitable, charismatic benefactor behind keeping all the poor fed and clothed and shit?

Hmmm, guess it's my Brit powers shining through to find the sneaky ones.

Remember, remember the 5th of November, gun powder, treason and plot.

I know of no reason why the gun powder, treason should ever be forgot.

Pretty sure that the whole "angara were created" plot thread was saved for a sequel as they were totally gunning for at least another game.
The whole ending was set up for sequelitis.

well that and DLC.

While I think ME:A is an okay game, I will admit every time the the game does lack a lot of content that clearly is meant to be there, but wasn't put in for probably a lot of reasons (but most likely because of Time and EA wanting to milk people dry of money).

[Mazder]

Remember, remember the 5th of November, gun powder, treason and plot.

I know of no reason why the gun powder, treason should ever be forgot.

Hehehehe, oddly enough Guy Fawkes was Spanish

well that and DLC.

While I think ME:A is an okay game, I will admit every time the the game does lack a lot of content that clearly is meant to be there, but wasn't put in for probably a lot of reasons (but most likely because of Time and EA wanting to milk people dry of money).

It was definitely in the "okay" category. It wasn't necessarily a good enough story to be told as the "in-between game" for whatever was needed before they returned to the good areas of the Mass Effect Universe.

TBH they should really look into doing a "dragon Age-esque" styled story where some things just happen across a history that you can track. Like instead of tracking one story you track some things through and age. Hell if you want to be clever about it you could set it along the age of an Asari or Krogan protaganist and we age with them and see how history changes through their eyes. You could then fit some smaller games in between/alongside with the more quickly aging races.
Imagine a game where you're playing as a Vorcha in the seedy undergrounds of Omega or somewhere else and you become the Alpha in your pack and you become the one in charge, yet a third of the way through the game you get deposed and then play as your killer. Because that's how Vorcha are!

[TTTX]

Hehehehe, oddly enough Guy Fawkes was Spanish

well not surprising, the spainish king did try and invade England and take the throne once.

It was definitely in the "okay" category. It wasn't necessarily a good enough story to be told as the "in-between game" for whatever was needed before they returned to the good areas of the Mass Effect Universe.

TBH they should really look into doing a "dragon Age-esque" styled story where some things just happen across a history that you can track. Like instead of tracking one story you track some things through and age. Hell if you want to be clever about it you could set it along the age of an Asari or Krogan protaganist and we age with them and see how history changes through their eyes. You could then fit some smaller games in between/alongside with the more quickly aging races.
Imagine a game where you're playing as a Vorcha in the seedy undergrounds of Omega or somewhere else and you become the Alpha in your pack and you become the one in charge, yet a third of the way through the game you get deposed and then play as your killer. Because that's how Vorcha are!

Well there wasn't much to be told in between or before the original trilogy (even though from a story point of view ME2 is for all intent and purpose a side story in the ME trilgoy, but whatever.) since we already know how the major events ended and doing a ME without humans in it would never be a thing (at least EA would never have green light the idea into production) so that any in between story would have to be very small and basically avoid as much as possible to run into original ME characters and plot points which could be a pain in the ass and the story would be rather pointless because of the ME3 ending would raise even more questions about what happened to those characters, unless you had that game tie into ME:A (if that had been the first game about ME:A before they went off and in the sequel the crew and such went off to ME:A maybe that would have made things better).

As long as BW is at EA have DA kind of ME game will never happen, hell even DA aren't allowed to have their playable character race have their own origin story outside of text in the codex.

[Vol]

Really?
The only other nice person on an entire planet full of people willing to stab people in the back and you don't immediately suspect them for being the charitable, charismatic benefactor behind keeping all the poor fed and clothed and shit?

Hmmm, guess it's my Brit powers shining through to find the sneaky ones.

I knew he was up to something, he clearly was honeydicking me, but I didn't take him for _the_ Charlatan, but probably an agent. Doing the secret base quests only reinforced that.

Pretty sure that the whole "angara were created" plot thread was saved for a sequel as they were totally gunning for at least another game.
The whole ending was set up for sequelitis.

I assumed it was like the first contact moment, where they simply didn't put in the time to properly convey the gravitas. Or in that case, that Ryder was not first contact.

[TheodoricFriede]

Did anyone ever make mods for Mass Effect 2 that get rid of the whole stupid deciding the game into 2 parts thing? Basically, something that lets you do all recruitment missions (except Legion as he doesn't have VO for Horizon) in whatever order?

For that matter, are there any good ones for the series in general?

[Alienmorph]

After a quick check on the Nexus, it seems like the staggering majority of mods are still just about HD textures and improved FX. And of course fan edit of the damn RGB ending.

There's a couple interesting ones tho, like ME: Relicalibrated, that are basically two fanmade patches that do things like improving in-universe consistency (so for example C-Sec officers and Alliance officers wear the same uniforms through the whole trilogy) and move quests triggers into more apporpriates moments of the whole story, including some of the recruitment missions in ME2. And there's a mod that adds a bunch of multiplayer maps to ME3 based on locations from the various DLCs, if that interests you in any capacity. Which I doubt it does, but... eh, it's there.

[TheodoricFriede]

ME2: Recalibrated literally does everything but the one thing i ACTUALLY want.

Well, so much for mods.

PC gaming fucking master race my Semitic ass.

[Alienmorph]

To be fair, I think it's in part because some of the characters don't have all the dialogues for all the missions. Although the major ones like Tali and Legion do. So dunno why a free for all recruitment mod isn't a thing.

[TheodoricFriede]

She has dialog for everything. I used the mass effect save editor on the Xbox 360. the only character that doesn't have 100% dialog everywhere is Legion, who only doesn't have dialog for Horizon.

Fucking hell this series. Its even frustrating when you are trying to fix its bullshit.

[Alienmorph]

I can DEFINATELY agree with you there.

[TTTX]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0sbl6jR9Hg&index=12&list=WL

[Alienmorph]

Is ANYONE looking forward to Anthem, really? I mean it looks pretty and the "mini-titan" battle suits are intriguing. But that's really about it, and it has the GIGANTIC counterpoint of trying ot be a Destiny counter made in EA. Doesn't exactly bode well.

[magnuskn]

Yeah, I can safely say that I am very leery of Anthem. I would not be surprised at all if EA would triple down on the loot box design for it (even after the Battlefront disaster) and any story content would be far between constant shooting galleries.

[Vol]

I'm not entirely sure what Anthem is supposed to be, beyond a game like Destiny, which I haven't played. Only online loot collecting? RPG with MP elements?

[TheodoricFriede]

Bargain bin.

[Alienmorph]

I'm not entirely sure what Anthem is supposed to be, beyond a game like Destiny, which I haven't played. Only online loot collecting? RPG with MP elements?

If Destiny is the business model, it's basically gonna be like a shittier Warframe where you pay every single fucking thing worth having, but with small mechs, so it feels oh so unique and done in Frostbyte because graaaaaphics.

And it's probably going to fall flat on its face and kill BioWare. Yey...

[Raga]

Is ANYONE looking forward to Anthem, really? I mean it looks pretty and the "mini-titan" battle suits are intriguing. But that's really about it, and it has the GIGANTIC counterpoint of trying ot be a Destiny counter made in EA. Doesn't exactly bode well.

Not really. I don't play multiplayer. If it actually turns out to have something like a decent single-player campaign that is longer than like 10 hours, maybe, but it's a very big if.

[TTTX]

Not really. I don't play multiplayer. If it actually turns out to have something like a decent single-player campaign that is longer than like 10 hours, maybe, but it's a very big if.

Well since it's like destiny, you'll still have to be online in order play the game and the plot will probably just be some sort of the world is ending and you need to stop it (because that's what BW generally writes), it'll probably be serviceble, but nothing we haven't seen before (and let's be honest here BW most interesting stuff are world building, lore, squad mates and side missions, which will probably either water down or possible removed because multiplayer and EA wanting Microtransactions).

[Vol]

Hey.

Remember

Shin bolts?

[TheodoricFriede]

I wish i could ban you.

[Vol]

Someone else reminded me, and I remembered the reactions. Can't recall who pioneered it though...Red?

[Someone With Mass]

Someone else reminded me, and I remembered the reactions. Can't recall who pioneered it though...Red?

Yup, that was him. Made it sound like the insertion was made with a rivet gun too.

As for Anthem, it's only more evidence that EA has no clue whatsoever when it comes to making games. First they tried to copy No Man's Sky, which proved to be a flop during the development of Andromeda and now they want to copy Destiny, which recently switched from a shovel to an excavator to dig its own grave. Not to mention that the game looks like it'll focus more on its flashy bits instead of its mechanics, because photo-realistic graphics are so *yawn* interesting these days.

Even if the vets of BioWare can somehow salvage its story, I'm almost willing to bet that it'll be overshadowed by the state of the multiplayer.

[TheodoricFriede]

Even if the vets of BioWare can somehow salvage its story,

Considering, when asked about story, they have changed their tune from:

"Well of course it will have a story, its a Bioware game!"

to

"Well... it is a different type of game, so..."

I wouldn't even bet on that.

[Alienmorph]

It's going to be all the worst Destiny and BattlEAfront 2 had to offer, and less. Anyone expecting anything good to come out of Anthem is a goddarn fool.

BW is pretty much dead already, Anthem will be just their official funeral.

What insignificant glimmer of hope I had it could be anything decent has been crushed through 2017.

[TheodoricFriede]

I mean...


I really liked Mass Effect Andromeda. I know they can still make games I like. I just think Anthem will be hot garbage.

Dragon Age 4 has some mild potential, but it really depends on a lot.

[Alienmorph]

Considering all the behind the scenes it's kind of miraculous that Andromeda came out and was even remotely playable. It's not like they can't make good games anymore.

But I wouldn't hold my breath they can make a good EA game. Mostly because there is no real way to make one of those that is actually good at this point.

When Anthem comes out and falls flat, they're basically gonna take most of the blame for EA's corporate bullshit and then 6-12 months later they'll be shut down for failing to meet expectations, not a single lesson will be learned from their overlords and we'll be out of another good developer studio.

[TheodoricFriede]

Bioware isnt going anywhere.

I used to be on that bandwagon, but once i saw the new office they were given, I stopped believing they were in any imminent danger. Im starting to think that they are to EA what Blizzard is to Activision.

[Alienmorph]

But what use does BW have to EA in a world where they want to get rid of plot-driven games because they consider them not as profitable? Thei're gonna have to undergo MASSIVE changes in how they make their games, just to remain afloat. And what's the point then, if they just become another generic "AAA studio"?

Even if you're right and BW survives, it's gonna be survival in-name-only, like with Maxis.

[TheodoricFriede]

I didn't say they wouldn't be changed.

I said they are seen as too valuable to close.

[Someone With Mass]

I mean...


I really liked Mass Effect Andromeda. I know they can still make games I like. I just think Anthem will be hot garbage.

Dragon Age 4 has some mild potential, but it really depends on a lot.

Thankfully, the open world trend seems to be dying down a bit. Now, if only they could not make anot pseudo-MMORPG with fetch quest so boring that they set my brain on autopilot for about fifteen hours until I had a startling realization and understood that it's all pointless bullshit.

Seriously, I'm trying to think back to those fifteen hours of Dragon Age Inquisition and all I can remember is looking for ore in the wild and trying (and failing) to kill some fancy-looking dragon near a rift.

[Someone With Mass]

Bioware isnt going anywhere.

I used to be on that bandwagon, but once i saw the new office they were given, I stopped believing they were in any imminent danger. Im starting to think that they are to EA what Blizzard is to Activision.

With the exception that Activision has at least enough brain power to let Blizzard to their own thing. For now.

[TheodoricFriede]

Something has to give with EA eventually. Last time their reputation was trashed THIS bad, they went on a whole change of image schtick.

There was a brief few years where EA was actually kicking ass.

They reverted to their old ways of course, but maybe after the 4 disasters last year, they will try to clean their act up for a damned year or two.

[Someone With Mass]

Something has to give with EA eventually. Last time their reputation was trashed THIS bad, they went on a whole change of image schtick.

There was a brief few years where EA was actually kicking ass.

They reverted to their old ways of course, but maybe after the 4 disasters last year, they will try to clean their act up for a damned year or two.

Considering that the idiot in charge has a massive hard-on for sport games and microtransactions, I wouldn't hold my breath.

[Vol]

Much like I said about Andromeda, I don't think it's possible the game will be objectively bad. Bland and uninspired at worse. At best, eh. I'm not into Destiny-esque games, so I don't know what a great version of that would be like. I don't know what the market value of the Bioware name is worth anymore, since single player RPGs are decidedly not their focus anymore.

But I don't see them shuttering the place, because I'd wager Anthem will turn a profit, no matter how loud we complain.

[Dragaros]

[Dragaros]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdJ-M1bYY3Y