The Writers of BioWare

[Kavachi]

Oh god, you guys really suck. I mean, Bioware keeps making good games, and yes, they look abit alike, but it is that kind of thing that really pulls you in. And I really don't care if it looks like mass effect and kotor and stuff, 'cause these are just brilliant games and you guys have to fuck it up again.

 

[Desert Tiger]

Meh, don't really care. I still love Dragon Age.

 

[nezroy]

I think it's more of a "house style" than anything else. There's plenty of new blood in the BW writing staff, but the leads who plot the overall course of the games naturally tend to have worked at the company the longest. Seniority and all that.

It is definitely a house style, and not simply an issue of the same people rehashing the same stuff on every game. It is more than just the leads plotting the course, though... it's an entire cultural thing. The "new blood" is recruited because their ideas mesh with the existing company style, and that perpetuates the same concepts. In some ways it's actually worse because of this; if it were the same people for every game, they might realize they've "done this before" and move on. As it is, their house style has become obvious and a bit tiresome in their games.

In addition to the shop perpetuating a familiar culture, some of it is due to the talent pool they draw from. A lot of the BioWare RPG folks are the way they are simply because they 1) are Canadian, 2) often come from the same few educational institutions & socioeconomic backgrounds, and 3) are living in Edmonton. The winters here *do* things to your brain, man. Also, hiring is based heavily on "who you know", and if someone inside BioWare is your friend and connects you for employment, chances are good that you already think like them. This is true for most companies, of course, but I think it shows more in BioWare games because of the type of games they create and because they have managed to keep their "small shop" feel for so long.

Beyond that, I'm still amazed at how many people fail to see that the entire Mass Effect story was just a really bad Star Wars ripoff. Far past the "oh they're just classic archetypes!" argument. I'm even more amazed at the staunch personal belief by many of the BioWare folks that this was one of their greatest stories ever.

It's also interesting to follow some of the folks who have left BioWare, and watch how their style evolves. Their origins are not usually hard to spot.

Sources: I've met with some of the people in your list in casual conversation, regarding their life at BioWare and just shit in general. Not trying to name drop (much , pretty sure none of those folks would remember me, and it's not exactly hard to find BioWare folks to chat with if you live in this city and have any involvement in the tech scene.

 

[SilverKyo]

To me, the archetypes present in these games are a good thing. Not just for their writing, but for the way in which they act as environmental cues for how I might wanna act. As a focus in Bioware games seems to be on the player having to consider the outcomes of his decisions (much more than whether you get a sport a halo or devil horns on your head), the archetypes provide a way for us to predict what will happen if we, for example, decide to let the stupidly overprotective mother die to save her son (you mean that might piss someone off?). We are able to be considerate of different relational dynamics that exist between ours and other characters and actively work to manage those relationships, much like we have to do in real life. Plus, it provides a great device by which to make me unsure of what decision to make, as I'm trying to balance what the core of my character is with the value systems of my companions. I don't know how many times in Dragon Age I've been afraid to make a decision because of how I expect it to influence my party members. Good stuff.

http://www.justpushstart.com/2009/11/07/dragon-age-origins-gifts-giving-guide-raise-approval-ratings/
you'll never worry about that again. i say whatever i feel and because of the gifts i still keep all my relations at max. it's a nice little loop hole in the character approval that lets you do whatever you want.

 

[Gindil]

This article is just a rehash of this:
http://digg.com/gaming_news/BioWare_RPG_Cliche_Chart

including its failure to list any games pre-KotOR (Baldur's Gate)

The Bioware writers have already defended themselves against this accusation by pointing out that all heroic characters follow patterns, first identified and thoroughly defined in Joseph Campbell's 'The Hero with a Thousand Faces' and other works. If you look at those archetypes they are the heros and main protagonists of virtually every game and work of fiction.

If there is a problem with originality in games it is industry-wide, and not fair to single Bioware out.

Amen brother. Oddly, the Game Overthinker said the exact same thing [http://gameoverthinker.blogspot.com/] in episode 29, Continuum. As I read this, I couldn't help but feel that archetypes aren't going anywhere and no matter how you slice it, everything is going to feel familiar in some way shape or form.

 

[Littaly]

How am I gonna put this without having someone yell "IGNORANT FANBOY!"? I don't think it's possible, but I'll try.

Yes, Bioware have a few molds that they reuse but it's not as bad as you make it out to be. Take Garrus, Carth and Alistair, while they all share a common trait they are as a whole very different characters. Even so it's a formula that works, It all comes down to storytelling, and for that there are a few character stereotypes that work better than others.

Though I wish they would stop milking HK-47 -.-

 

[Jared]

Good point, but I think that BioWare has managed to characterise their "archetypes" so well (both voice actors, backstory and visual design) in their different games, that it doesn't really stand out as a cliché or something cringeworthy.

Agreed.

They may have mized everything up but they have done it in a good way, for me anyway.

 

[Turing]

Although a bit of change would certainly be interesting, Archetypes Are Good!
Speaking as long-time roleplayer, both PnP and computer, archetypes are easily definable ways of establishing character and setting. Of course, in pen & paper rpgs, you can more easily expand on the archetypes once you're comfortable with the basics.
This is a bit harder in computer games since there's no room for improvisation.

That being said, Bioware does a wonderful job of establishing an easily relatable setting with easily recognised and relatable NPCs, which is in the end mostly a backdrop for the main story.
Most of the times, they succeed making said NPCs so much more than their archetypes, if you read a bit into their behaviour and take the time to get to know them, although of course at times the personalities don't shine as much or subvert the trope as much as we could hope and want for. At other times, like Wrex as far as I'm concerned, they go far beyond awesome.
Its a bit of a hit/miss thing I suppose, some characters just don't shine as much as others.
On the the other hand, Bioware games usually have a large handful of NPCs, so there's bound to be something for everybody. After all, you're not necessarily supposed to like EVERYONE you hang around with to save the world/galaxy.

On the note of Mass Effect being a Star Wars rip-off, I honestly saw it more as a Star Trek/ Lovecraft inspired story and not particularily rip-offy. Kind of like the Borg meets the Great Old Ones, who will rise when the stars are right from beyond the comprehendable universe and harvest all insignificant lifeforms for their lunch or whatnot

 

[mechanixis]

I, too, leap to the defense of Garrus' honor.

Really, I think this is an overreaction. In all fully-realized stories there's going to be an overlap of character roles. Because similarities can be drawn does not make these characters replicas of one another.

 

[Namewithheld]

Alistair is not emo! He's a goofball trying to deal with the sudden pressures of having all his friends get torn to pieces, then getting stuck with fixing a problem that normally requires the might of multiple nations (The Blight) and THEN he gets told he has to run a Kingdom, which requires a lot of personal sacrifice and will pretty much shoot any chance he has to actually do what he wants through the face...

Yeah! I'd be kinda upset too. But Alistair always has a joke handy or a witty quip.

So, I guess I'm the only one in the "I <3 Alistair" club...

 

[Booze Zombie]

I feel somewhat like you only looked at these characters at face value, they are actually much more developed than their inital appearances would lead you to believe.

Also, I think the writers acknowledged their face value appearances, as I did note that there is an option to tell Morrigan that she's a "disgusting, hateful shrew".
FYI, that's the "I hate you and I'm just saying spiteful things to hurt you" option.

Anyway, I personally believe that even though you can just file these characters under archetypes for personallity traits, I feel like they're more developed than a mere archetype, the archtype is just something they're wearing because that's how they want the world to see them.

Kind of like how guys in hoodies are trying to seem "hard" when all they probably need is to get laid, really.

Also, is it me or is it really just too easy to be cynical and call every character ever a copy of another character?

"Casabanka is g-!"

"SHAKESPEAR DID BETT-!"

"BUT THERE WAS SOMETHING BEFORE THA-!"

"THERE WAS SOMETHING BEFORE THAT!"

 

[bjj hero]

I agree with you on most of these except for Alistair and Garrus.

How is Garrus emo?

Personally, I wouldn't even call Alistair emo. At least in this neck of the woods (and in certain circles) emo has come to signify someone acting moody and depressed with no good reason to do so. In Alistair's case, seeing your close friend and long term mentor die due to a last minute act of betrayal and also bearing the potentially huge responsibility of having to be King someday, despite the fact the very prospect scares the hell out of you. seem like viable reasons to me.

Exactly, I'd say it made Alistair human rather than emo. Normally when people die in game its a case of "shit happens... Right; what's for lunch?"

Alistair at least could show some sort of connection.

 

[Elementlmage]

Nice to see somebody skipped over Baldur's Gate and NWN so easily.

K'mon? Space hamster? When has Bioware EVER done a space hamster in any game since BG; hell he even has dialogue!

And my God man, how could you leave out Aribeth! Talk about someone who defies archetype.

 

[jtesauro]

Note: Ok I'm being lazy because I'm at work and I don't want to look through all four pages to see if someone said this already. If they did, please disregard and I sincerely apologize. If not, however.

I thought it worth mentioning that you forgot the Rogue Archetype. Zevran (Dragon Age) Sky (Jade Empire)

The "Don't hate me because I'm handsome, hate me because I may knife you in the back when someone throws me some cash" character that you either keep around because you really enjoy the dialogue, or because you just need someone to open those chests because you couldn't be bothered putting points into lockpicking yourself.

 

[nezroy]

That's because it's actually a really good Dune rip off ;-D

Well if anything the lander part was just a bad starcon2 rip off And the cyclical evil from beyond is probably the most excusable trope of that game...

 

[nezroy]

Yes, Bioware have a few molds that they reuse but it's not as bad as you make it out to be. Take Garrus, Carth and Alistair, while they all share a common trait they are as a whole very different characters. Even so it's a formula that works, It all comes down to storytelling, and for that there are a few character stereotypes that work better than others.

Yes, it is a formula that works. In that regard, it's like buying the latest iteration of Final Fantasy, only they don't name their games so boringly. When you buy a BioWare RPG, you know exactly what you're getting; black & white moral "choices", a predictable cast of party members, and an "epic" storyline to save the universe from some big bad evil. There's nothing wrong with any of that, really... especially since they only come out every couple of years anyway so there's plenty of time inbetween to get all nostalgic for another classic BioWare game.

I think the frustrating part is when they pretend it's NOT going to be another formulaic BioWare game. I remember reading articles about how Mass Effect's paragon/renegade system was going to be nothing like the binary black/white morality system of all their previous games. Uh huh. I also remember reading about how their revolutionary dialogue system was going to be, um, revolutionary, but then turned out to be just another BioWare dialogue tree that was slightly easier to get through with an xbox controller (and never mind the horrible UI flaw that skipping over dialogue used the same button as selecting a tree option, leading to countless "do-overs" as I accidentally picked choices I didn't mean to make while skipping through text). Or their "immersive action gameplay" system which turned out to be an autolock FPS-knockoff that I would have happily gone without in exchange for the classic turn/squad combat mechanics of KoTOR, which might have actually allowed me to use my party members as more than just an interesting difficulty enhancement mechanic.

I can't speak for any of the other "complainers", but for me I would simply like to see the talent at BioWare try something truly innovative/new for once, just to see what they could come up with.

 

[nezroy]

Nice to see somebody skipped over Baldur's Gate and NWN so easily.

Mainly because BG and, to a lesser degree, NWN, established what we think of as the "standard" BioWare RPG in the first place. It would be like getting mad at Wolfenstein or Doom for being too "typical" an FPS. We all know that when BG came out it was fantastically interesting and new. The issue is that BioWare hasn't really strayed from the storytelling formula they laid down in BG so many years back. This isn't strictly a bad thing, but let's not pretend that it isn't true.

 

[tendo82]

You forgot one type: Hopelessly stereotyped Chinamen - all jade empire characters

That's an innocent jibe. I give them all the credit in the world for making an RPG based on non-western fantasy tropes, even if it wasn't so great.

 

[Tyrannowalefish_Rex]

I really only see this as criticism when the type used is very simple. Like Wrex in Mass Effect, who couldn't have been any simpler without delving into "Super Mario" ground (he's already a thinking Bowser, isn't he?). Also Alistair, though very well done and entertaining, bothers me a bit with his uncanny resemblance with Carth, Atton Rand, and probably a few others.

But a bigger problem is when storytelling seems familiar, because you probably still have the memory of when when this element worked best in another game, and while others might not consciously notice it, those who cherished a similar element in another game, might find the rehash less worthwile.