What is it about Bioware that makes people insane?

[Vault101]

no this isnt a [b/] raaaaaggghhhh BIOWARE SUCKS![/b] thread

it also isnt a [b/] *sob* LEAVE Bioware aloooooooooooone! thread [/b]

[small/]fan or not Im trying to be neutral here [/small]

this is somthing ive noticed, not just because of the ME3.....thing...or the DA2..."incident"

but Bioware seems to be a developer that attracts so much "passionate debate", at least in this part of the internet, love..hate...discussing their games, I havn't seen this with any other developer, make a thread about a Bioware game or Bioware themselfs and off it goes like a wind up toy on redbull

why?

is it because alot of us are bioware "fans"?...is it because their games are "good"...is it because they are like the hindenburg? all glorious and beautiful but are soon going to crash and burn because of EA?

is it EA? (its EA isnt it?)

[b/] why does Bioware get us all riled up? [/b] why not bethdesa or valve or blizzard? or am Is my "fan" perspective kind of skewed?

 

[tippy2k2]

People LOVE their games (like..."they'd marry their Bioware games if it were legal where they are at" type of love).

However, whether through their own perception or if it has actually happened, people see Bioware games as falling from grace (See Dragon Age 2 backlash). With former games such as Knights of the Old Republic, Jade Empire, Mass Effect, Baulder's Gate, and so on, people have put them on such a high pedestal that when the games inevitably fail to live up to said expectations, they go nutter butters.

Most other developers are allowed to have mistakes (Bethesda games are notorious for being buggy; Valve lives where "Episodic gaming" and "multi-year development" are allowed to be in the same sentence, Blizzard releases a game once a decade, etc.) but for some reason, Bioware is not allowed to slip.

 

[Kahunaburger]

For me, Bioware is that one dev that releases some okay-to-good games, some hilariously bad games, and gets praised to the sky for no apparent reason. Add to that a fanbase with a tendency to over-invest to an epic degree in the bad-to-mediocre romantic subplots, and you have a winning recipe for something that is fun to laugh at.

 

[tendaji]

Right now the Wheel of Hatred is set to EA/Bioware. Last November it was on Activision and CoD. Whatever the wheel lands on next will be the next thing everyone gangs up on to hate.

 

[Smithburg]

Basically, their games are excellent, (at least to me) and to people the latest games havent been as good. The problem that happened with Mass Effect, is the series was wonderful, then they messed up some important things in the end. They grabbed a stock image of Tali's face, and one of the Star child poster from deviant art, then they fucked up the end. It was like seeing your favorite basket ball team going against your rival, and the game is incredible and at the end of the game it is tied, then the star player of your favorite team dunks the basket at the last second on the wrong hoop and fucks the whole thing up. As for DA2 apparently they dumbed it down too much, which is one of the main complaints I hear for tons of different companies, the games arent as good as the previous ones because so many options were dropped.

 

[Vault101]

snip.

yeah, that makes alot of sense..

For me, Bioware is that one dev that releases some okay-to-good games, some hilariously bad games, and gets praised to the sky for no apparent reason. Add to that a fanbase with a tendency to over-invest to an epic degree in the bad-to-mediocre romantic subplots, and you have a winning recipe for something that is fun to laugh at.

you know...the things Ive seen it makes me wonder if ANYONE actually likes Bioware, at least here

I mean a screen shot that happens to have some brown in it "OMG COD SHOOTER BIOWAR EEND OF THE UNIVERSE!!!! RAAAGGGHHHH!!"

 

[tippy2k2]

you know...the things Ive seen it makes me wonder if ANYONE actually likes Bioware, at least here

I mean a screen shot that happens to have some brown in it "OMG COD SHOOTER BIOWAR EEND OF THE UNIVERSE!!!! RAAAGGGHHHH!!"

Honestly...the complaining on these boards are the vocal minority. This company just went into the final two in March Madness; the big Escapist popularity contest. People may not like them or trust them as much as they used to but I'd wager a large sum of money that slapping the name "Bioware" on a game is going to garner it sales.

Even then, "hardcore" gamers are a very fickle (or maybe just spineless, I haven't figured out which yet) bunch. If it pleases the court, I would like to submit Exhibit A:

Spoiler

 

[tippy2k2]

Well I don't think all the complaining is a vocal minority. I mean the ME3 ending complaints definitely went beyond this forum.

I meant overall Bioware hate; I wasn't specifically referring to Mass Effect 3 (I edited a bit more into my post but it was after you got to it...my bad I do that a lot if no one has quoted me yet; for example, I've edited this post about three different times since I posted it fifteen minutes ago...

I think that Bioware getting to the final two in MM shows that the Mass Effect 3 ending hasn't tarnished their reputation with the majority of fans.

But ultimately, there is one vote that matters: $$$ I would be shocked if Bioware didn't continue to make a stupid-large amount of "votes" with their future endeavors. We'll find out soon enough if "Bioware Hate" is strong enough to actually make a difference.

General Rant time:
I personally will continue paying for their games as long as I find enjoyment in them. If you hate them as a company for their actions, I urge you to not buy their games. Just don't be that guy who spouts hatred of Bioware (or any company really) and then hands them your money while you grumble to the cashier about how much you hate that company.

 

[Hal10k]

They get a lot of media attention. Their games thereby get more attention from the average consumer, and their faults are therefore discussed more widely and generally become more well known.

Same thing happens with a lot of other popular games. If ten or so people out of a thousand or so total customers really hate a game, you aren't going to hear about it. But if fifty thousand out of five million customers really hate a game, you're going to see some rather brilliant flame wars. It isn't a matter of people hating it because it's popular; the hatred just becomes more identifiable and translatable due to the popularity.

 

[Atmos Duality]

Personally, it's depressing to see a company go from the heights of Baldur's Gate to Dragon's Age 2, and for reasons beyond their control.

As for everyone else: I cannot say. I haven't personally bought their games since EA bought them out (though I was gifted ME1 and 2 over Steam. Before Origin).

 

[Terminate421]

Its EA

I have nothing against the cold steel of that publisher but people think they are Satan. History is something to look at for only certain situations. As far as I'm concerned, they won't kill Bioware, let alone "force" them to make shitty cash-ins.

Ironically, ME2 gets the most bashing I've seen (aside from dragon age 2) compared to most of their games and ME2 sits on the #7 spot of my top 10 games list. Its quite surprising that people haven't yet attacked them for just breathing yet.

 

[Rawne1980]

BioWare? EA?

I have only one solution.....

 

[Emiscary]

They do just enough well to get your hopes up, and just enough horribly to send them crashing back down.

 

[StriderShinryu]

As much as people like to complain about Bioware's writing and scripting, the fact is people get so crazy about them because they love the characters and worlds thet Bioware creates so much. If there wasn't that amount of love there would never be the amount of hate.

 

[Indecipherable]

They have made some extemely successful and fun games and people expect that to continue. The marketing there hypes the living hell out of their games too and leave them overpromising and underdelivering.

 

[Fieldy409_v1legacy]

I think it's because they were considered one of the last bastions of oldschool rpg gaming. Except that EA has "corrupted" them in the eyes of the public.

 

[pilouuuu]

I think it's because their games were considered some of the best RPG ever like Baldur's Gate 2 and KOTOR, but after EA took control their games have been suffering some severe mainstreaming, milking their franchises, DLC and it's become much more a business and less of a developer that always focused on art integrity and quality above all.

Maybe the expectations are too high and they're not as amazing as we thought. They're games are still very good though, just not as perfect and epic as would like them to be.

Mass Effect 2 was great, better than Mass Effect 3. Dragon Age 2 was enjoyable, but the perfect example of dumbing down and milking a franchise. Turning The Old Republic into a MMO is almost unforgivable though. Surely a decision based solely on business. I hope that EA give them more freedom to keep creating good games, as that is the reason why Bioware is a great company, its games and the amazing worlds and characters they have created.

 

[Thatrocketeer]

For me, Bioware is that one dev that releases some okay-to-good games, some hilariously bad games, and gets praised to the sky for no apparent reason. Add to that a fanbase with a tendency to over-invest to an epic degree in the bad-to-mediocre romantic subplots, and you have a winning recipe for something that is fun to laugh at.

Summed up my feelings for Bioware completely. Bioware's just really overrated, they don't understand the powers of subtlety, don't do morally grey situations properly, and JRPGs create better characters than them.