Bioware General (Mass Effect/Dragon Age/Other)

[Vol]

Though they may no longer be hosting our little slice of the internet, they were still the game studio that we once rallied around, and their games have really shaped our lives for it. Despite it all, and there's a lot, I earnestly hope ME4 is a new beginning for the series.

If nothing else, their TOR branch is doing fantastic in terms of subscribers and revenue too. There's still good people working for them.

So with cautious optimism, let's keep an eye on how this Ryder fellow turns out.

[TTTX]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luB0zxTO0AU&list=WL&index=15

Well I think most of us can agree that ME3 didn't live up to the hype.

[Alienmorph]

Indeed. As per usual, people still think the only problem was the damn ending, while the whole game was pretty much dead on arrival, given the premise, but either way, "overhyped" is a very fitting one-word definition for it.

[Someone With Mass]

It really didn't help that I had combed through the entire leaked script for ME3 and saw what we could have gotten or at least a rough idea. I would have gladly taken Javik as the Catalyst over the three colors and the idiotic star-child shithead.

As for Andromeda, my biggest fear is that it's taking way too much from Dragon Age: Inquisition in terms of scale and quest designs. Neither of those were entertaining for me whatsoever. Felt generic and familiar (as in, I've done this in so many other games, it's getting tedious at this point) as all hell.

[TTTX]

Indeed. As per usual, people still think the only problem was the damn ending, while the whole game was pretty much dead on arrival, given the premise, but either way, "overhyped" is a very fitting one-word definition for it.

ME3 unfortunately suffer because of ME2's lack of plot that adds to nothing (The plot feels like something from a Transformers Michael Bay movie and ME3 had to make up for it by having us find a ) and the whole "we need to take Earth back" markting that EA and BW was pushing from day 1, despite Earth not being very special in the ME universe, hell we didn't even see it until the 3rd game and even then it was only a glimpse of a destroyed city.

The ME trilogy is very good example of why your shouldn't make up the story as you go along.

Which is very sad, because it is a very good universe, that could work both great as a TV show and movies.

[TheodoricFriede]

ME3 had waaaaaay more problems that just the Ending.

Frankly I think the whole plot of that game is nonsence, the RPG elements were striped bare, and the gameplay was only ever mediocre.

Ultimately they had a great, grand universe, and killed everyone in it. Perhaps that makes sense when the Reapers are involved, but it doesn't change the fact that all rubble looks the same, and it got very very repetitive.

[Spartanburger]

Given the amount of hatred this community has for anything Bioware these days, I think any positive discussion of ME and DA should be moved to the Guilty Pleasures thread. Hence, I'll post about my recent experience with finishing DA:I over there, once I'm done writing it.

[Alienmorph]

I think we can use some positivity instead. I do admit that I tend to be pissy when it comes to BW at this point, to say the least. But I'm happy to know if/when someone else is still enjoying their work.

Do what you feel like, though.

[Dragaros]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6m667Mvn50

[Dragaros]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjJfW1JB8uQ

[Dragaros]

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

[Dragaros]

[Dragaros]

"Mass Effect Andromeda E3 Content Was Held Back to Give Other EA Games a Chance to Shine"

"Mass Effect Andromeda Won't Be At Gamescom 2016 At All"

[Vol]

Wasn't Gamescom supposed to be the event we got lots of info at? I could have sworn EA said something to that effect around E3.

Mind you, we're in mid-August. Game's supposed to be out early 2017. So half a year is a fair estimation to go still, so we're getting close to the ad times.

[Alienmorph]

When ME3 was in the works half a year prior we got a ton of media coverage. So I think either EA is not confiden of the game's quality and wants to keep it hidden as long as possible (which would be kind of a weird M.O. for them) or BW is still struggling with putting the damn thing togheter, and the game will actually get delayed again.

[Vol]

From a quick look, the female Shepard marketing stuff was public knowledge in June of 2011, and the game didn't launch until March of 2012.

Also, holy fucking shit, 2012?!

From Wikipedia:

On September 13, Casey Hudson posted to Twitter that Mass Effect 3 was seeing signs of its final stage of production.[78] A few days later, lead writer Mac Walters revealed that writing for the game was almost finished.[79] Music started going into the game around the same time.[80] On October 27, the development team transitioned into an "editing" stage where story elements were evaluated and key lines or scenes were re-written.[81] Character lighting was being polished as of November 7 and voice overs were completely recorded by December 7.[82][83] On December 10, the game was presented at the 2011 Spike Video Game Awards with a new teaser trailer.[84] On January 9, 2012, Sam Hulick turned in his last audio mixes for the game.[85] On February 22, 2012, SCEA offered bonuses to those that pre-order via the PlayStation Network. These incentives include A M55 Argus weapon and a Mass Effect 3 PS3 theme.[86] On March 2, the game became available for preload on Origin in the case of digital purchases.

So they were in active production until about 4 months before release, with major stuff wrapped up by 5 months before. Patrick Weekes did a marketing thing by writing as Shepard in a blog staring Dec 12. Barring more information, they're actually on about the same track so far, since we're easily more than 5 months out.

[FrozenShadow]

It really didn't help that I had combed through the entire leaked script for ME3 and saw what we could have gotten or at least a rough idea. I would have gladly taken Javik as the Catalyst over the three colors and the idiotic star-child shithead.

Indeed. I was one those, who really went through every single detail in that leaked script. It was actually kind of sad to see the final result, as some parts of that LS were so much better than anything we actually got it game.

Endings being one of them, as there were 6-7 different endings in leak script. And what you actually did in game did affect to them.

So, yeah, leak script really got me hyped....too bad that final product wasn't anything like that, for many parts.

As for Andromeda, my biggest fear is that it's taking way too much from Dragon Age: Inquisition in terms of scale and quest designs. Neither of those were entertaining for me whatsoever. Felt generic and familiar (as in, I've done this in so many other games, it's getting tedious at this point) as all hell.

Yep, I really hope Andromeda would be more than just generic RPG slash action game. But I'm keeping expectations really low.

[FrozenShadow]

When ME3 was in the works half a year prior we got a ton of media coverage. So I think either EA is not confiden of the game's quality and wants to keep it hidden as long as possible (which would be kind of a weird M.O. for them) or BW is still struggling with putting the damn thing togheter, and the game will actually get delayed again.

Well, this might actually be a good thing. I mean, this could mean that they're actually concentrating making the game good. Actually, I would say that Bioware concentrated way too much for marketing ME3. All of that talk of the game just created the hype for the game, hype that become unrealistic very fast. After all that talk of the game, people expected so damn much out of ME3 that the game could never have lived up to the hype it got. It just wasn't possible.

Of course, there was also that some of that their marketing end up being totally wrong, if not even "false advertisement". Best example of this was Casey Hudson and his comments of the game not having the common a,b, c endings. But boy, how wrong he was and his saying were probably one of the most commonly quoted or memed words after the game came out.

But those kind of words of game not having your basic common ending increased the hype and was part of games marketing campaigns. And it failed spectacularly.

This is reason, why I'm actually happy we haven't seen all that much of Andromeda. It gives me hope that they are concentrating on making good game and then let the game talk for itself, when it's released. Not just developers and writers trying to market and create hype for product that people can't make their own opinions.

[Someone With Mass]

Yep, I really hope Andromeda would be more than just generic RPG slash action game. But I'm keeping expectations really low.

I don't mind grinding in an RPG, because I've been doing it ever since I got Pokemon Blue for my Game Boy on my birthday the same year it came out. It's just that the game should have something strong to offer besides that and I think a lot of recent major RPGs or games in general don't know that and puts grinding in as a main feature. It's most likely to promote microtransactions, but even games that don't have such a system are doing it for some baffling reason. Grinding is rarely so much fun that it can drive an entire game.

[TTTX]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GArRtJUixn0&list=WL&index=15

I can't agree on TIM and Aria being on the list.

[Alienmorph]

Aria I can kinda sorta understand. But TIM?! LolNO!

[Someone With Mass]

If it had been a list of the most boring Mass Effect characters, then I would have agreed with Timmy's spot. I honestly have never seen what's so great about him. Yeah, he commands a network of black ops agents doing what they deem necessary to protect the human race from...whatever's more convenient at the time, but when his projects suffer catastrophic failures and he just puts them under the rug without even acknowledging the problem and desperately clings to anything, no matter how small, just so that he can say that it was a success, the incompetence is really ruining his image.

Not to mention that all he does is sitting in a chair and telling his lackeys to do everything. The intrigue of a puppet master must be earned and I have never seen him do anything cool.

[Dragaros]

I can't agree on TIM and Aria being on the list.

I’m with you. I never got on board the Aria train and how the hell is TIM on a top ten list when characters like Grunt or Mordin, aren’t? Like, really? WTF? Jack, Legion, Kasumi, Javik, Miranda, Zaeed and Vega are all more interesting characters than TIM! Put Saren on there since he was a cool and compelling villain. Put Sovereign, Vasir, the Yagh Shadow Broker or Virgil over TIM! Hell, even Harbinger was better than TIM.

I got so sick of TIM's speeches it wasn't even funny. Or that he and his organization do nothing but fail and get their own guys killed and he pretends as if he's succeeding.

[Dragaros]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTQWfNuz5FE

[Dragaros]

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

[Alienmorph]

Actually... scratch that. TIM I can kinda understand (I could see someone liking the concept of The Illusive Man, even with its lackcluster execution) but what the fuck is SAMARA doing on a list of best characters? She's literally just a placeholder for Liara, and the most original and interesting thing about her is her space-cleavage.

In general that whole list stinks of BW fanboy that ate up even the last game like it was the best thing ever. Anderson in the Top3? No Jack, no Grunt, no Mordin... hell I would have taken even EDI and Legion more than half the people on that list.

[Dragaros]

[TheodoricFriede]

Hey remember when everyone said, "Theyll remaster those games, and EA said they wouldnt, and we all said "Bullshit", and EA said, "no really!"


I wonder if they will make you buy the DLC again?

[Someone With Mass]

Do we really need remakes? While the first game is rough and isn't aging gracefully, I think the only thing it'd need is a performance boost. ME2 is playable just fine as it is and ME3's flaws are within its foundation. Not to mention that its multiplayer servers are not getting any support, so that'd die off quickly too.

[Spartanburger]

Really, the only thing the Mass Effect games need to be "modernized" without completely changing the feel of the game (like ME1's arguably archaic gameplay) is updated textures (including those used in the particle effects and film grain) and bumpmaps.

Both of which already exist for all three games with mods.

The only benefit a remake would have is the ease of achieving the better visuals, and consistency as some textures have no mods that improve them. Or maybe they want to bring saves into the current console generation for importing into ME:A?

[Grand Admiral Cheesecake]

The only benefit a remake would have is the ease of achieving the better visuals, and consistency as some textures have no mods that improve them. Or maybe they want to bring saves into the current console generation for importing into ME:A?

That's not going to happen. ME:A is a desperate attempt to escape from the trap they wrote themselves into with that ending.

At most they MIGHT include some vague references to Shepard and they JUST MIGHT let you decide if Shepard was male or female. I don't have any faith in them doing more.

[TheodoricFriede]

That's not going to happen. ME:A is a desperate attempt to escape from the trap they wrote themselves into with that ending.

At most they MIGHT include some vague references to The Shepard and they JUST MIGHT let you decide if Shepard was the sexist choice or female. I don't have any faith in them doing more.

Oh im sorry let me fix that for you.

[Alienmorph]

Why, of course they're gonna do it.

And by that, I mean they're proabably just gonna improve light maps and textures, slap all of the DlCs in an overpriced Season Pass and call it a day.

Of course though they'll claim the game has been vastly improved, make people think there's some actual new content and make a shitton of money with the kind of improvements that people could get for free via modding years ago already.

[Spartanburger]

What's the past precedent on games that had a bunch of single-player DLC being remastered? DLC included with the package or sold separately? The only one that comes to mind, since loads of single-player DLC is more of a modern thing, is the Remastered BioShock, and that is setting the precedent that all three games in the "trilogy" and all DLC be included in one single package.

The Mass Effect Trilogy package includes all ME1 DLC (if you're on PC), but none of paid ME2 DLC (the free stuff like Zaeed, Firewalker, and the Normandy crash site are included), and none of the ME3 DLC. BUT, the trilogy package came out before all the DLC for ME3 was even out*, and any savvy businessman will tell you that a remastered collection would need something more than just updated visuals and current generation console compatibility to sell well, so I would bet that, especially given that it's been over three years since the last piece of DLC came out (Citadel released on March 5, 2013), that the package would include everything. Anything else would be a phenomenally poor decision by EA.

*I'm making the assumption here that "Game of the Year" style packages that include all the downloadable or expansion content for a game come out after all the DLC for a game are out. For example: Dragon Age Inquisition GOTY edition came out on October 6, 2016, around a year after the last DLC released (Trespasser released on September 8, 2015). So precedent has been set even within EA for GOTY style packages to include all content, and if the games are remastered, I think it's likely that the package will be treated like a GOTY edition, with all the content.

[Someone With Mass]

I wonder if Andromeda will even dwell on the fact that it's completely possible for element zero and mass effect technology to exist there too, since element zero is created when planets or other solid matter are exposed to the energy of supernovas. Maybe not something as expansive as the mass relay network in the Milky Way, but I'd imagine that similar technology would flourish without something like the Reapers being around.

[SciFlyBoy]

Hey everyone, the Shadow Broker is real!

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/%E2%80 ... li=BBnbcA1

[FrozenShadow]

I can't agree on TIM and Aria being on the list.

I’m with you. I never got on board the Aria train and how the hell is TIM on a top ten list when characters like Grunt or Mordin, aren’t? Like, really? WTF? Jack, Legion, Kasumi, Javik, Miranda, Zaeed and Vega are all more interesting characters than TIM! Put Saren on there since he was a cool and compelling villain. Put Sovereign, Vasir, the Yagh Shadow Broker or Virgil over TIM! Hell, even Harbinger was better than TIM.

I got so sick of TIM's speeches it wasn't even funny. Or that he and his organization do nothing but fail and get their own guys killed and he pretends as if he's succeeding.

Well, all of these "Most popular this and that" lists are really subjective. And as people opinions varies greatly, this something you can't really argue with. It's mostly wasted breath with things like this.

Besides, TIM also falls for in two other categories, which might explain some of his popularity. First being Cerberus supporters. To those, TIM is pretty much front man. He represents everything cool in that (not that I see anything good in Cerberus and its ideas). Second category is people, who likes the types on TIM. More or less mysterious character with dark/edgy wipe, yet still rather sophisticated and sort of snobbish noblish person.

Alas, if you would list "most important characters in ME", then I could see TIM being there. No matter what you think of him, you can't really argue with the fact that he has huge impact on happening in ME universe in games.

[Someone With Mass]

The only benefit a remake would have is the ease of achieving the better visuals, and consistency as some textures have no mods that improve them. Or maybe they want to bring saves into the current console generation for importing into ME:A?

Considering that Andromeda is supposedly half a year away, I doubt they'd make something pre-launch that would draw attention away from their new release.

[Dragaros]

Well, all of these "Most popular this and that" lists are really subjective. And as people opinions varies greatly, this something you can't really argue with. It's mostly wasted breath with things like this.

Besides, TIM also falls for in two other categories, which might explain some of his popularity. First being Cerberus supporters. To those, TIM is pretty much front man. He represents everything cool in that (not that I see anything good in Cerberus and its ideas). Second category is people, who likes the types on TIM. More or less mysterious character with dark/edgy wipe, yet still rather sophisticated and sort of snobbish noblish person.

Alas, if you would list "most important characters in ME", then I could see TIM being there. No matter what you think of him, you can't really argue with the fact that he has huge impact on happening in ME universe in games.

Of course it’s subjective. That’s why I’m expressing my own subjective opinion in reply.

I’m not trying to tell anyone they can’t like TIM or denying that he has a big role in the story. My point is I simply don’t understand how TIM could be MORE loved than someone like, for example, Mordin. That makes no sense to me. It baffles my mind.

The diversity of human thought at play. Wondrous and yet confusing as hell.

[Dragaros]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HasOIM10g3c

[Dragaros]

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

You gotta lift off, and nuke the entire site from orbit. Its the only way to be sure.

[TTTX]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UB4_1W6j0SI&index=15&list=WL

[Dragaros]

Interview with Rogue One's screenwriter Gary Whitta discussing Star Wars, Telltale, BioWare, Hollywood, and other subjects

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-l8nlEwPAsY

[Dragaros]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHKCz5TGjgI

[Dragaros]

[Vol]

What's the past precedent on games that had a bunch of single-player DLC being remastered? DLC included with the package or sold separately? The only one that comes to mind, since loads of single-player DLC is more of a modern thing, is the Remastered BioShock, and that is setting the precedent that all three games in the "trilogy" and all DLC be included in one single package.

*snip*.

From the cases I can think of, it's variable. But a lot of the time, the "Game of the Year" or "Total Experience" or whatever editions tend to not have everything. In the case of ME, Pinnacle Station probably wouldn't get included, but that's conjecture. All those preorder packs in ME2, the potential sale value of the better ME3 (so I hear) DLC, it's hard to say. I wouldn't expect everything though.

[TTTX]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuDKbPt5ZQg&list=WL&index=15

[Dragaros]

[TTTX]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jk9LrXh00jc&list=WL&index=15

[TTTX]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vVuHrTqmJE&index=16&list=WL