Bioware has changed... kinda.

[robinkom]

But therein lies my question for my fellow Escapists.

Am I the only one that was disappointed with Mass Effect 2 and Dragon Age II?

With both sequels in their two current main franchises, I felt largely disconnected from the experience in terms of gameplay. I found that some of it was due to the removal of so many RPG mechanics and elements and streamlining of certain things. I also had trouble, especially in Dragon Age II, connecting with the story and characters. The whole experience just felt disjointed and cluttered to me.

As it stands, I greatly prefer the first Mass Effect and Dragon Age: Origins over their successors. I felt they were better written and played closer to something I was more accustomed to from them. The paranoid side of me thinks EA have dug their claws in too deep and have had an influence on Bioware's work.

With that, I'd like to hear some honest impressions, especially from those of you that have played Bioware's games since Baldur's Gate.

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EDIT: Here's the thing, today I watched my friend beat Dragon Age II for the third time overall. Neither of us had touched it since around when it came out, I beat it once and I felt like I was done. He went ahead and beat it with each class. So I'm half-watching him, half-playing another game, and it started to all come back to me... how unimpressed I was with it the first time. Just so many things about it are awful. Looking at the bigger picture though, Bioware isn't the only developer out there doing this. You can't please everyone all of the time but the people that brought you to the dance should be priority, namely those of us that have supported them and bought their games in the past. We don't all react the same way for drastic changes to the tried and true Bioware formula.

 

[funksobeefy]

Im gonna wait and see how the new Star Wars MMO turns out before accepting their death. However I already fear the end because they choose to join the cash cow of trying to make and mmo from one of the best single person series ever.

 

[DanielBrown]

I wasn't disappointed with ME2, but I didn't like that it took a Gears of War approach and dumped the RPG-feel to the game. Never played DAII, so I can't say anything about it.

 

[Wuggy]

Am I the only one that was disappointed with Mass Effect 2 and Dragon Age II?

You're never the only one. And these are two games that people ***** about a lot here. I can't belive you've missed it.

I personally liked Mass Effect 2 better than the original. They streamlined it, yes. And maybe a bit too far, yes. But at least it wasn't as awkward to play.

I also liked Dragon Age 2 even though it was somewhat of an disappointment when compared to it's predecessor.

 

[King of the Sandbox]

I finished Mass Effect 1. Couldn't finish 2. Too little role-playing, too much hide and shoot.

Dragon Age 2 was fine, the only gripe I had was lack of character customization.

And yes, I played Baldur's Gate on launch day. I've beaten it and it's sequels several times. Ironically, I did not enjoy Planescape: Torment. Go fig.

 

[LarenzoAOG]

Am I the only one that was disappointed with Mass Effect 2 and Dragon Age II?

Every time you utter the phrase "am I the only one..." all the other people that are/doing/feeling/whatever, what you are about to desribe have their life spans shortened, and that a lot of people, this is the internet, not trying to be rude but if you think you are the only person with a given opinion you are incredibly wrong and you just might have an inflated opinion of yourself.

Again, I'm not trying to be a dick or anything, I'm just laying down some truth, you dig?

 

[Phlakes]

I like ME 1 and 2 for different reasons. I went into 2 knowing it was more combat focused and prepared myself for it, and that made it a lot more enjoyable.

 

[Ridgemo]

I felt that both Mass Effect 2 and Dragon Age 2 were improvements on the original games. Especially Dragon Age 2, it had a different story structure to the normal tired Bioware formula, the combat was a million times more fun to play than Origins, and i felt the characters in my party were very good (except Anders, he can fuck off).

 

[LostCrusader]

I wasn't that disappointed by ME2, though they definitely were trying to remove as much RPG as they could. DA2 was a massive let down and I still am not capable of trying to finish it.

 

[lacktheknack]

Am I the only one that was disappointed with ... Dragon Age II?

No. In fact, you were one of an unending plague tsunami that left behind <link=http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/dragon-age-ii>review bombs and "FUCK YOU BIOWARE"s everywhere it went spreading misery and annoyance to anyone who didn't care/liked it.

This is probably one of the most important cases of "you are never the only one". In fact, you appeared to be a majority. And by GOD, you were annoying.

<color=white>This has been a less then subtle attempt to get you to do a drop of research before asking questions like that. Research that would yield results such as A. You are NEVER the only one, B. that Dragon Age II hate was one of the most overblown and explosive forces you ever missed, and C. most Escapist members, such as me, see red whenever the words "Am I the only one" are uttered.

 

[BreakfastMan]

Honestly, I felt Bioware really went downhill after KOTOR (Yes, Jade Empire was good, but it wasn't great and didn't compare in the slightest to their previous efforts. And Mass Effect had so many flaws, it makes Deadly Premonition look polished in comparison). I only started really liking their games again when DA:O and ME2 came out. Just my 2 cents, and I suspect many, many people disagree with me. But whatever, I still say that the original ME is one of the (if not the) most over-rated games in existence.

 

[The Madman]

They've been steering away from their rpg roots for a couple years now and I expect it's a trend they're intent on continuing, though why I don't quite understand. By all reports Dragon Age: Origin was their single best selling game ever yet for some reason they continue to emphasize how they've been simplifying and streamlining things.

Did they never once consider that the reason Dragon Age did so well is because it was more complex than everything out there at the time and that by moving away from those fundamental rpg mechanics they're only hurting themselves?

But that's just me. Perhaps I'm wrong.

 

[Mr Thin]

COME ON! You've been here since 2009, you're not some two month old newb who's barely seen the forums. You have no excuse for asking that question.

OT: There is no OT! I refuse to supply you with an answer! In fact, under such circumstances I normally wouldn't post at all! Grrrrr!

 

[Undead Dragon King]

To answer your concerns:

Mass Effect 2 is one of my favorite games of all time, but if the original Mass Effect was more your game, then don't worry too much. Mass Effect 3 will be a synthesis of 1 & 2. At least that's what it's billed as.

Dragon Age 2: Lesson learned, right? You could say that BioWare had an aura of "can do no wrong" before Dragon Age 2 came out. Maybe this will make them see that gamers won't eat everything that BioWare puts on their plates, so they should focus more on making the high-quality games that they became famous for. More like Valve without the ridiculously long wait times.

 

[robinkom]

You're never the only one. And these are two games that people ***** about a lot here. I can't belive you've missed it.

It only dawned on me again today after semi-watching my friend beat Dragon Age II for the third time while I was doing something else. I did write a review for friends and whoever they spread it to but I wouldn't want to post it here.

In Mass Effect, I was one of the people that actually likes to handle everyone's equipment personally and manage an inventory, that's part of being an RPG. I also liked the driving side-quests a hell of a lot more than scanning planets in the second one. As Yahtzee pointed out, and it was a realization I had myself separately, it added more scope to the size of the universe you were in to be able to land on several planets and explore them. I was a bigger fan of the first game's story as well.

Dragon Age: Origins felt like I was playing a proper modern Baldur's Gate III, which I know they likened it to while originally hyping it. Dragon Age II had some of the most one-dimensional companions, they didn't even have optional stories to ask them about in between whatever you're doing, only when it told you to talk to them. I didn't like the combat either, it completely went against the pacing of the dialog and narrative. It was too fast.

Of course, everything I like is counter-intuitive to "game accessibility" because they want to make it easier to get into for people that are unfamiliar with RPGs (and make more money). To those people I say, if you really find an RPG interesting but don't know the basics of the genre, LEARN.

 

[enriel]

You're never the only one. It's quite irritating when threads start with that sentence.

But I digress; never played Dragon Age, either one, so I really can't say much about that. The only input I have is that my friend loves both of them. As for Mass Effect, a series that I ignored completely until this last summer and a series that is now one of my favorites of all time, I actually preferred ME2 to 1. But only ever so slightly. I came to the conclusion that the halfway point between 1 and 2 would be the perfect Mass Effect experience, and from what I can tell that's what they're aiming for with 3.

So perhaps you should go ahead and let them finish off their trilogy before you hammer in the nails. You never know, Mass Effect 3 could be their magnum opus.

 

[Jawfree]

I look at it this way, all 4 of the games mentioned had great stories, ME2 felt different game-play wise, and I preferred it to ME, even though I still really enjoy ME1. DA2 just improved combat on DA:O, IMHO. The ONLY problems I had with DA2, were the bugs, and the copy-pasted environments; which were mainly caused by a rushed release.

 

[infinity_turtles]

...Sort of? I hated Dragon Age 2, but I did like Mass effect 2 more then the first. But then, that's only because there was more focus on the characters, and there were more of them. Cutting back on the RPG elements and the dialogue being even less predictable were things I didn't like. I enjoyed the combat far less, the thermal clips and inability to screw with my weapon load-out between firefights making it fairly routine after awhile. But I liked the Character focus enough to make up for disliking pretty much everything else about it more then the original.

Bioware seems to be going from making games I love, to games I'm okay with. DA2 alone means I don't pre-order their games anymore, because I need to make sure they're not similar cases. If the trend for more "Cinematic" and "Streamlined" games continues I'm going wait for a price drop before I pick any of their stuff up.

 

[Lawnmooer]

I liked ME2... (I haven't played DA2 so I can't really comment on it)

Sure they stripped out a lot of elements from it but lots of the removals improved the game (Such as not having to check different pieces of equipment every now and then to see if there is one that is +1 from your current stuff) the combat became much more fun and involving (Stuff like Biotics and offensive Tech abilities being much funner to use with shorter cooldowns and the ability to curve them around things to hit people in cover, and the fact that it was more than holding M1 until everything died... Headshots actually meant something and you had to make sure you where at least somewhat accurate to not run out of ammo)

Very few things became worse... I can only think of stats (There where much less of them in ME2, though the final point giving a choice between 2 styles was nifty (Can't remember if ME1 had that)) and the gathering of materials (Going from riding around planets in the Mako and then playing Frogger, which I admit got kinda repetetive after a while to scanning planets which was dull from the start)

I personally am going to wait to see how ME3 turns out before judging Bioware (Mainly because I read about their MMO, it doesn't sound like it will last and what I'm hearing of ME3 has me worried...)