Spending so much time doing simple fetch quests took away any sense of urgency, unlike Origins where the map was slowly eaten up by the Blight. The main characters were a big positive for the game, but the villain was laughable. And the story was all over the place as the massive open world didn’t mesh well with BioWare’s style of storytelling. The world was bland, it felt cold and empty. A feeling I was most certainly not used to having when playing a BioWare game. I was a die hard fan, I had loved the series more than even Mass Effect, yet when I bought the game on day one, I was disappointed. It took me two years to find my peace with Inquisition. This seems to be a running theme for developers: they fail to reach the high mark they set for themselves, usually because of time limits. Not being able to give the amazing Trespasser DLC, which contained key pieces of the story, to those still using the older generation of consoles was a betrayal to many.īioWare promised much with Inquisition, but when the game launched, it felt completely different than what we’d seen in early trailers. I understand that they wanted those who couldn’t afford the new consoles to be able to continue their Dragon Age experience, but it backfired. The first mistake, in my opinion, was to keep it both on the old generation and the new. This was where Bioware moved to the next generation of consoles, and started working with EA’s Frostbite engine. While it can be incredibly beneficial to listen to your fans, this was the start of Bioware pandering to their fans. Regardless, what’s important to note here is that this was a turning point for BioWare. Having come to the trilogy late, I already had access to the Extended Cut DLC, but I realize many people were unhappy with the direction the trilogy went in the end. Mass Effect 3‘s ending is, as you know, one of the most infamous things in all of gaming history. Despite its faults (like reused environments) it was still highly stylized (didn’t look like a copy of the first game) and the combat had improved while keeping with what BioWare does best: story and characters! While some fans may say Mass Effect 2 was the best in the trilogy, the same can’t be said for Dragon Age 2. If anything, it was their vision that many others tried to imitate. It was then that BioWare knew what they wanted they had their identity, and they didn’t feel the need to imitate anyone else. Both had passion behind them, and BioWare stylized the games to the point that they became unforgettable. Both Dragon Age Origins and Mass Effect (which I later played, having eaten up the Dragon Age series) were clunky in combat, but their stories and characters (especially their villains) were compelling. This, for me, was the time that BioWare was at its peak.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
May 2023
Categories |