Bioware General (Mass Effect/Dragon Age/Other)

[Dragaros]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZYzzIGoqfw

[Dragaros]

https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/commen ... d_fantasy/

[Dragaros]

[Dragaros]

Ha!

[magnuskn]

Well, that's an easy one. ^^

[Vol]

Well, in terms of who I liked the most, I'd get rid of Garrus. Keeping in mind, it was possible to beat ME1 with only Tali, Liara, and the Virmire Survivor, if I recall. In terms of plot? Uh...Liara doesn't really serve a purpose as Shadow Broker, but vital to the Prothean stuff. Wrex only matters as a case for not wiping out the krogan, so I guess he'd go, sadly.

[magnuskn]

Most definitely Liara, no contest. Every other person in that picture is vital to my enjoyment of the Mass Effect series. She... is not.

[Dragaros]

https://blog.bioware.com/2022/07/18/gam ... -republic/

[[ Hello SWTOR Community,

As many of you know, Star Wars™: The Old Republic recently celebrated its 10-year anniversary this past December, which is an incredible milestone for a game. On the heels of that anniversary, we released our seventh expansion, Legacy of the Sith, in February. Our next content update for that expansion, Game Update 7.1, is slated to be released on August 2nd. This update will incorporate a host of new content and fixes, including:

New daily mission arcs for Republic and Imperial players on the planet Manaan
A challenging new Operation for 8-player teams
Improvements to our Weapons in Outfitter system
Key revelations about Darth Malgus and the Sith lord whose relics he has been pursuing.
We’re excited for you to experience all of this great content next month as our work to ensure Star Wars: The Old Republic remains a best-in-class MMO continues.

Star Wars: The Old Republic is known for its years of storytelling, and capturing players’ hearts for over a decade now. All chapters must close in order for others to begin. We wanted to take the time to wish a fond and wholehearted farewell to Charles Boyd, our Creative Director, and talk about those who are taking the reins for the game after his departure. Charles has been with the company for 16 years and played a significant role in the game’s success. Star Wars: The Old Republic truly is something special and hitting our 10-year landmark together was remarkable. I would like to thank him for playing his part in making that happen; we will miss Charles as a friend and as a colleague and wish him all the best in his next adventure.

As expressed by Gary McKay, BioWare™ General Manager, “It’s always sad to see someone you appreciate go, but I wish Charles all the best in his next adventure. He leaves SWTOR in excellent hands with an incredible team that will carry forward our vision for the game. We are committed to SWTOR’s future as we continue to work on the next Dragon Age and Mass Effect.”

SWTOR’s Design Leadership Team is composed of talented, experienced developers who have also played pivotal roles in making the experience as special as it is:

Eric Musco, Lead Producer: Eric has been a member of the SWTOR team in a variety of roles over his 10+ years at BioWare. Long-time players may know Eric from his many years as The Old Republic Community Manager, but behind the scenes, Eric has been working as a Game Producer for several years. He looks forward to keeping our players’ perspectives front and center as we continue to support and update SWTOR going forward.
Ashley Ruhl, Narrative Director: Ashley has made major contributions to SWTOR over the years, from building cinematic scenes for launch to returning to create some of the most pivotal scenes in Knights of the Eternal Throne, and most recently, has acted as the leader of our cinematic team through Legacy of the Sith. In her new role as Narrative Director, Ashley will oversee all of the game’s storytelling efforts as we continue to unfold the mysteries discovered in Legacy of the Sith.
Caitlin Sullivan Kelly, Lead Writer: Caitlin has been an indispensable contributor to SWTOR’s narrative team for almost eight years. Caitlin will carry our players’ ten-year-long personal Star Wars sagas forward with all of the new stories, characters, romances, betrayals, and impactful choices SWTOR is known for.
Alan Copeland, UX Director: Alan has been on the frontline of modernization in SWTOR, leading the team that is updating our UI/UX experience to make the game more clear, accessible, and fun to play.
George Smith, Gameplay Design Director: George has been a part of the SWTOR design team since well before launch, led our Operations team up through Shadow of Revan, and now oversees the full gameplay team.
The world of game development is always evolving and we’re excited to chart out the journey for Star Wars: The Old Republic going forward and share more about those plans with you soon.

– Keith

A Note From Charles Boyd, Creative Director

Even after almost sixteen years, I still can’t fully believe how lucky I’ve been to work on Star Wars: The Old Republic. The Star Wars galaxy has always been a huge part of my life since I was a kid, so getting to play a role in SWTOR’s growth from its initial vision to a colossal release and then an incredible live service for over a decade has been an amazing experience. The team’s passion, creativity, and dedication to this game are incredible; I don’t think I can ever fully express how much I’ve admired and appreciated working with them every single day.

As always, there are some exciting things in the works for the future of SWTOR – storylines and planets and gameplay and characters that I can’t wait to see come to life. I’m really looking forward to experiencing them all right alongside our players.

So to the team, to our longtime partners at Lucasfilm, and to all of you: thank you so, so much for this amazing journey. I may be moving on from the project, but the Old Republic will never leave my heart.

– Charles ]]

[Dragaros]

"I went on the DA theme park ride"

[Dragaros]

[Mazder]

"I went on the DA theme park ride"

Now in video form and explanations, lol
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYqFzdoOsF0&ab_channel=GhilDirthalen

[Alienmorph]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNVUBkI4I5M

Bruh

[Dragaros]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xz-iEf1RBss

[Dragaros]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3YNB99XJqI

[Dragaros]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJRu0duvRqk

[Dragaros]

https://vulkk.com/2022/07/29/bioware-pr ... ivestream/

[Dragaros]

[Dragaros]

[Dragaros]

[Dragaros]

https://www.nexusmods.com/masseffectleg ... /mods/1361

[Dragaros]

https://www.nexusmods.com/masseffectleg ... /mods/1362

[Dragaros]

https://www.nexusmods.com/masseffectleg ... /mods/1363

[Vol]

When you guys played ME3, the first time and subsequent times, did you feel the tonal dissonance of fucking around on side questions during the space apocalypse, or did you notice it afterwards when you thought about what Shepard was doing?

[magnuskn]

I'm pretty good at tuning those things out, since I am well aware that I'm playing a game.

[TTTX]

When you guys played ME3, the first time and subsequent times, did you feel the tonal dissonance of fucking around on side questions during the space apocalypse, or did you notice it afterwards when you thought about what Shepard was doing?

I think overall it works.

[Vol]

I'm pretty good at tuning those things out, since I am well aware that I'm playing a game.

That's how I remember experiencing it. The faffing around during apocalypse thought only hit me afterwards.

I think overall it works.

It worked insofar as we didn't notice, heh.

But would it have made more sense for the writers to "create" time to justify it? Like with the Citadel DLC.

[TTTX]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uUduuV9aSE&ab_channel=Gingy

[TTTX]

It worked insofar as we didn't notice, heh.

But would it have made more sense for the writers to "create" time to justify it? Like with the Citadel DLC.

meh, the writers basically waste most of ME2 on side plots and a main plot that didn't go anywhere, not to mention they made the ME trilogy under terrible conditions.

there are quite a few things that doesn't make sense if you analyse the writing and some of the creative choices.

[Vol]

meh, the writers basically waste most of ME2 on side plots and a main plot that didn't go anywhere, not to mention they made the ME trilogy under terrible conditions.

there are quite a few things that doesn't make sense if you analyse the writing and some of the creative choices.

I think I just don't like "imminent world-ending threat" stories so much. Or, rather, I don't like them being the premise from the start. ME1 did that very well, where the Reapers were a galaxy-ending threat, but not imminent (beyond Sovereign's gambit). KOTOR1, it would suck if Malak won, but it's not the end of everything, and you need to level up first. Jade Empire, literally an ending where the PC can give up for the greater good (more a middling good). Non-Bioware, Sekiro, it's only one clan's province really, for all the crazy stuff that happens. Tyranny, you're only a provincial wandering judge more or less, the place is a backwater.

What do you guys think? The concept of the Reaper threat as the overarching motivation was always cool at least.

[TTTX]

What do you guys think? The concept of the Reaper threat as the overarching motivation was always cool at least.

concept great, execution kinda terrible.

[Dragaros]

meh, the writers basically waste most of ME2 on side plots and a main plot that didn't go anywhere, not to mention they made the ME trilogy under terrible conditions.

there are quite a few things that doesn't make sense if you analyse the writing and some of the creative choices.

What especially annoying in hindsight is that BioWare had an avenue available to them that could have help them in that regard: the Shadow Broker.

Imagine this scenario: The Shadow Broker is the one who helps Shepard in ME2 and reveals why he was against Saren in ME1: as the Broker, he has access to a data stream that goes back to the Protheans, and all the previous Shadow Brokers did too, going back centuries to the very first Shadow Broker, who was a Prothean who awakened from stasis after the Reapers left once the cycle restarted, armed with all the collected knowledge they had managed to uncover and save, both from their cycle and from cycles before them. For one example of how this could have helped, picture this: the Shadow Brokers had secretly begun construction of the Crucible centuries ago, and all the money they made off of selling information and providing favors is to help fund their anti-Reaper operations, and their vast spy network is to keep an eye out for Reaper activity and indoctrinated Reaper agents. That way the Crucible doesn't just pop out of BioWare's ass in the third game the very day the Reapers invade Earth and ever-so conveniently found in the Mars Archives of all places.

But instead we got a focus on Collectors and Cerberus which didn't advance the story any further than were ME1 left off. Fun loyalty missions with our squad, but no narrative progression to set the stage for the trilogy's end.

What do you guys think? The concept of the Reaper threat as the overarching motivation was always cool at least.

The Reapers as they were presented in ME1? Absolutely. A whole race of Mecha-Cthulhu sleeping beyond the galaxy's horizon, waiting for the right time to purge all advanced life for reasons beyond mortal comprehension in a nightmarish cycle that goes back millions of years? That's right up my alley. Especially with how well Sovereign sold the concept. You felt the scale of the threat. You felt that god-like intelligence turning its cold gaze at you and seeing you as nothing more important or special than a speck of dust. You see how just one Reaper with just a little Geth back-up can kick the ass of multiple fleets without even trying, so the idea that there's untold legions of these things just waiting to wake up and begin an eons-old cyclical cosmic genocide that no one's been able to stop is good shit.

The issue is that the writers made a lot of mistakes with them going forward, including but not limited to:

They forgot the number one rule when it comes to Lovecraftian Horror: you can't give the audience too many details. It's the fear of the unknown that makes it. We had no idea how they came to be, what they gained for enacting these harvest cycles, or what they're long term goals were. Once you make their origins and motives clear, it sucks the god-like aspect out of them, reduces them to just mere machines, removes a lot of the fear factor. Reapers go from Mecha-Cthulhu to just extra large Terminators. Even more so when the details BioWare went with were just so underwhelming and lame. This is something that should have remained a mystery to encourage "speculations from everyone!" After all the hype and build-up, nothing would have satisfied, so the simple solution is to keep it in the dark.

They made them behave in ways that seemed less like the civilization destroyers that have done this a million times and more like Saturday Morning Cartoon Villains. Harbinger is a pale echo of Sovereign's menace. The Reaper on Rannoch is like arguing with a spoiled child. The Reapers also make rookie mistakes in tactics, like how they just conveniently ignore the Citadel for most of ME3 for no valid reason, then when they finally do make a play for it, they don't use it to shut down the relay network, which would effectively win the entire war for them right then and there, nor do they just do the simple solution of turning off the transport beam in London.

The Reapers ended up having to share the spotlight with Cerberus massively when they finally took center stage, which kinda undermines their impact. TIM feels more like the Big Bad of ME3 at times than the robo-squids annihilating civilizations.

I can go on, but I'm treading old, old ground here.

When you guys played ME3, the first time and subsequent times, did you feel the tonal dissonance of fucking around on side questions during the space apocalypse, or did you notice it afterwards when you thought about what Shepard was doing?

It never bothered me.

At the end of the day, this isn't a novel or a movie, this is a video game, and an RPG at that. There are certain limitations and expectations that come with that, built into it by its very nature. Part of the experience is to play it, to immerse yourself in the world, not just engage with the narrative.
They're all optional, so if it is an issue for some folks, they can elect to not do them.
Most if not all of them are related to the war with the Reapers to some degree or another, so it's not like Shep's doing random shit that has nothing to do with the main thrust of the story.
Most if not all of them help provide greater context and information for the ongoing space apocalypse.
One can hand-wave it away as "The Normandy took some heavy fire escaping that last hot zone, it needs a minimum of 3 days in dry-dock at the very least" and Shep has a ton of time to kill even after filling out reports and meeting with the Council and going through Spectre intel and whatnot.
One can also partially hand-wave it away by playing the "Shep needs some shore leave side-quest fun on occasion as the space apocalypse is weighing so heavily upon him/her that if they don't they're going to break under the strain and stress and that doesn't help anybody" card.

Funny enough, this was something that was touched upon a little, in the leaked script. Much like Liara, Garrus, and the Virmire Survivor, Tali also had a unique date scene with Shep on the Citadel if romanced, that would have taken place after the cut quest line involving Daro'Xen going full crazy and experimenting on refugees and unleashing viruses on the Geth. Tali and Shep mention feeling a little guilty taking some time to themselves while the galaxy burns, but bring up the importance of shore leave to clear their heads and remind them of what they're fighting for. Had a copy of the leaked script saved on a flash drive back in the day. Should have looked after it better; I can't remember for the life of me where it is. I'm old and I forget things!

[Dragaros]

Most likely something unrelated, but on the freakish off chance its Mass Effect related:

[magnuskn]

Well, I'm back from Paraguay, and I brought my best friend, Kike Moscarda, his own N7 leather jacket. I'm the big blonde lug on the right.

[Vol]

Welcome back! Jackets look great on you two. Hope in <x> years I can say the same.

The leather a good quality? Looks it at a distant.

[Vol]

I can go on, but I'm treading old, old ground here.

I largely agree, so let me ask this; How would you change it?

Off the top of my head, ME1 was mostly fine. I'd cut down on Sovereign talking directly with Shepard, or failing that, make it seem much less comprehensible. Not in the sense of machine gibberish, but in the, "this thing is so fundamentally alien and incompatible with anything I believe or value that the words hurt my head." Which would be a challenge. Then work out the fight with Saren/Sovereign to seem less silly. ME2, toss Harbinger. And so on.

Because nothing ever felt quite as menacing as the first time playing ME1, getting to talk to Sovereign, and realizing how deep the shit the Scooby Gang was in. The idea of "pattern of behavior," as both the cause of the Reapers, and their eventual mission, was fairly clever and structurally sound, but it didn't quite make sense, in no small part because knowing all that in-setting defuses it. Granted, Leviathans were really cool, but c'moooon.

It never bothered me.

At the end of the day, this isn't a novel or a movie, this is a video game, and an RPG at that. There are certain limitations and expectations that come with that, built into it by its very nature. Part of the experience is to play it, to immerse yourself in the world, not just engage with the narrative.
...

Funny enough, this was something that was touched upon a little, in the leaked script. Much like Liara, Garrus, and the Virmire Survivor, Tali also had a unique date scene with Shep on the Citadel if romanced, that would have taken place after the cut quest line involving Daro'Xen going full crazy and experimenting on refugees and unleashing viruses on the Geth. Tali and Shep mention feeling a little guilty taking some time to themselves while the galaxy burns, but bring up the importance of shore leave to clear their heads and remind them of what they're fighting for. Had a copy of the leaked script saved on a flash drive back in the day. Should have looked after it better; I can't remember for the life of me where it is. I'm old and I forget things!

I appear to be the odd one out then. Granted, I never thought about it until afterwards, so it wasn't immersion breaking. Fair points.

Wasn't that in the game? I could swear I've seen that line mentioned elsewhere, in the distant past, several times. Tali especially, being communally minded, would've said something...

[magnuskn]

Welcome back! Jackets look great on you two. Hope in <x> years I can say the same.

The leather a good quality? Looks it at a distant.

Yeah, the leather is quite good, very supple and thick enough to be quite isolating against cold. The inner lining also is customizable by the company. Each jacket cost about 275 Euros to make and you can send in your measures as well, since they are custom built. They are made from a company Theo recommended to me a few years ago.

[Vol]

Shepard was 29 when ME1 started, 32 by ME3.

Excuse me, I can feel the chill hand of the grave on my leg.

[Dragaros]

I largely agree, so let me ask this; How would you change it?

Off the top of my head, ME1 was mostly fine. I'd cut down on Sovereign talking directly with Shepard, or failing that, make it seem much less comprehensible. Not in the sense of machine gibberish, but in the, "this thing is so fundamentally alien and incompatible with anything I believe or value that the words hurt my head." Which would be a challenge. Then work out the fight with Saren/Sovereign to seem less silly. ME2, toss Harbinger. And so on.

Because nothing ever felt quite as menacing as the first time playing ME1, getting to talk to Sovereign, and realizing how deep the shit the Scooby Gang was in. The idea of "pattern of behavior," as both the cause of the Reapers, and their eventual mission, was fairly clever and structurally sound, but it didn't quite make sense, in no small part because knowing all that in-setting defuses it. Granted, Leviathans were really cool, but c'moooon.

It's hard to say, because it's one of those things where if you change one thing, the ripples spread out far and wide, which would necessitate changes to grand swathes of the plot. On a general level, play up the horror aspect (more stuff like "The god's mind is gone, but it still dreams!"). When you hear "ASSUMING DIRECT CONTROL", you should be scared shitless, knowing one of the machine gods is deigning to directly intervene, instead of groaning in annoyance or laughing at what meme culture has made of it. I would eliminate the Starbrat and the Leviathans for sure. Reaper origins and motives need to remain a mystery. Maybe you can allude to them being the result of some monstrous post-singularity event the happened eons ago or something, but nothing more than that. You can drop hints that the Reapers have some grand goal they're working towards, but it's something so beyond a mortal mind to grasp it would be like explaining quantum mechanics to an ant. As Vigil said, what's important is stopping them, not understanding them. I'd keep Saren throughout all 3 games, show him as he was and following through a tragic decent into despair and madness as he becomes more and more corrupted by forces beyond his comprehension. TIM and Cerberus would be dealt with before the Reapers arrive, and would be more in line with how ME1 portrayed the group.

I've toyed with the idea of switching around the stories of ME1 and ME2: Start with Shep investigating disappearing human colonies, and while the Council doesn't want to get involved, they're using it as a means to test Shep's eligibility to joining the Spectres, and Saren is the dude they send to evaluate you. (Renegade Shep would have an easier time earning his approval, whereas Paragon Shep has to fight tooth and nail and produce results that go above and beyond to earn his respect) Shep would fight Collectors--who have formed an alliance with geth--but remain in the dark of just what their goals are or who they're reporting to; towards the end Saren goes off on his own to follow his own leads, discovers the puppet master directing them, Sovereign, and becomes indoctrinated. Saren betrays you, you're recovered by the Shadow Broker (like I've said before, I think the Shadow Broker should have had a bigger role in the overall narrative, and could have been a good way to introduce key anti-Reaper countermeasures without super convenient ass pulls like the Crucible being found on Mars of all places shortly before the Reapers invade Earth), and then the plot of ME1 plays out largely the same, minus some changes here and there, and when Sovereign dies, a signal is sent out to awaken his fellows, and they enter the galaxy through a backdoor contingency plan. War erupts, and after much toil and strife, a united galaxy pulls off the impossible and achieves victory at heavy cost (without the element of surprise and the advantage of absolute control over the relay network, even their might and cunning fell to the power of teamwork and friendship! A swarm of ants brought down a pride of lions! Huzzah!)... only to discover to your sudden dread that the Reaper force you destroyed was just a tiny scouting party by their standards, the rest are still asleep, and while you committed all your heavy hitters to the battle, Harbinger headed towards the all but unprotected Citadel. You get there, just as the relay network shuts down and the pathway to dark space becomes available. (I've always been of the belief that there must have been a corresponding Citadel in dark space for the Reapers to utilize their jump into the galaxy proper, and I've always thought the visual of Shep being in dark space and seeing a multitude of stars only to realize with mounting terror that those aren't stars but a vast army of Reapers waiting to wake up and kill everything he hold dear was cool) From there, a better writer than me could find a way to negate the Reapers awakening from hibernation somehow or use the relay network against them or using an anti-reaper weapon devised from the same cycle the Reapers first emerged from or what have you, and Harbinger is destroyed in a final boss fight, the Reaper body facing off against the Normandy and what's left of the allied fleet, and Saren's monstrous possessed husk being battled by Shep and his squad.

Its just one of many ideas I've played around with. Back in the day I had dozens of different alternate endings and whatnot. Thought experiments for days. After ME3's ending, I needed an outlet.

[Dragaros]

"The Game Awards 2022 date has been announced as Thursday 8th December 2022. Interestingly Mark Darrah recently said that his bet is that we’ll see Dreadwolf at TGA this year. This was his assumption before they announced the title, and now he’s even more confident in that. He also said: “So I expect to get BioWare at The Game Awards [2022]. Probably just Dragon Age. Probably nothing for Mass Effect this year. That would be my guess. […] Pretty sure they’ll be at The Game Awards. Pretty sure that Dreadwolf will be at The Game Awards because, that would fit, that would make sense with announce the name now in June, six months to get a trailer together, get some gameplay together and show. If they are on track for next Fall, like, November next year, that would also make sense.”

[Dragaros]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPFtFICJl1A

[Dragaros]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTqvvlMzDuQ

[Dragaros]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0fEmwG1ijM

[Dragaros]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9x7iCHuUek

[Dragaros]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNft1pgsqcQ

Remember when BioWare thought no one would want to romance Tali?

[Vol]

Remember when BioWare thought no one would want to romance Tali?

"I don't see what...oooooooooh. _Hello_ there."

Much improved. "Chicken feet," ah, simpler times.

[Mazder]

Who you romanced in Mass Effect games (all) says about your personality.

[Dragaros]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p54CrfvVe1k

[Dragaros]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfYQOlkPo7I

[Dragaros]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k35qmfTz2gk

[Dragaros]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyexJh3iqx4