Bioware Was Already Dead: You Just Didn't Know It....
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- Опубліковано 7 лют 2025
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What can really be said about the death of Bioware? They died years ago....I said my goodbyes and frankly I feel nothing about the news...but there are some things that are worth commenting on...which I have done.
That Weekes guy also went downhill he wrote Solas and Mordin and then we got Taash. I think that perfectly represents the fall and death of bioware too.
These people are like the Joker. They were "normal" because they were comfortable in an insane world. Then Trump came along who promised to upend thier lunacy, and that's when they turned into psychopaths. A bit like Joker in some DC stories who was a comedian that went off the deepend when Batman started to fight crime.
Let’s be real, mordins va did a LOT of the heavy lifting for the character.
Yeah, but an actor can only do so much with the script@logan-zf2wr
That Weekes guy was still a straight guy when they wrote Mordin. They became nonbinary and wrote Taash. Not a coincidence.
Mordin was a goat character. Writing, acting, story, all top-notch.
My favorite part of all this is how everyone who was on council are now saying they didn't like THE veilguard that much and are saying how big of a mass effect fan they are lmao.
They ARE doing that, aren't they?
I wouldn't be surprised if Mass Effect silently gets cancelled within the next year or two.
Promise? 🙏🏼
Honestly it might be for the best.
Given that it's pretty much still in pre-production, it would be the smart thing for EA to do and I believe it might happen and are just waiting to not get too much bad PR right now.
@@apres-lachute8718 Mass effect is already dead they're just desecrating the corpse at this point.
I hope it does. Let the series die. I've already seen what current bio has in mind for it and it sucks
Τhe Irenicus introduction was fantastic. Deeply appreciated from a gamer (45 year of age right now) that considered Irenicus the best villain of that era.
Absolutely. The voice actor is amazing. I forget his name but he's great at anything he does. He is Evil in Time Bandits (the original) and The Lobe in Freakazoid. Love hearing his voice.... always recognise it.
Just got into my forties myself. Irenivus is my spirit animal, and I wish I could put that quote on my license.
Okay, I might be taking that too far...
@@domm6812 That was David Warner (RIP). He stood out as a professional in a time when game VA generally wasn't considered important enough to warrant significant expenses.
@@Asankeketthat's why games like soul reaver stood out above the rest. I still marvel at the VA for Kain and Razael. Great writing too. Same for DA origins. That game is packed with phenomenal voice actors
A character and a voice actor from another age. 👏
It's weird how so many people don't realise the simple fact that a brand's name is just a name without the people who make it great they're just as prone to producing mediocre and sub standard products as any other studio,
This has been a long time coming bioware wasn't the same even back in 2012 and now it's just a skinwalker.
Well said. I played and loved ME1, ME2, and ME3 (9-10/10). However, I knew when I played ME: Andromeda, that something was for sure lost/amiss. I don't think Andromeda sucks (it's a 7/10 post-patches, etc.) but it lacked a lot of polish even 18 months after release. Something just wasn't great about Andromeda.... the game is too long (with pointless stuff) and too short (on actual good stuff). Would have been a good 40-hour game, but it's an okay 80-hour game.
Fast forward to Anthem - again even 18 months post launch with patches, etc. - and we're down to like a 6/10 game at best. The bloom was off the rose and I realized that BioWare was done making good games. I never played another BioWare game and I never will. BioWare had its day and that day is done. Time to move on.
@@John_II People will brush it under the rug saying oh it's just a game when it's like any other product you're spending money on and it's not cheap so being cautious is good.
Corporate people don’t really see things that way. They don’t really see or understand art and talent. They genuinely believe that the artist can be replaced and they think the success can just be boiled down to a data spread sheet. Like to them they look at a game like Fortnite and they think “oh okay this game did well because it hits these demographics and yada yada”. Never do they think about it from an artistic or spiritual point of view. It’s why corporations will just copy each other, they’re just following data
Kids and teens are dumb an see the superficial. Now they're hyped about GTA6.
@@hermitcard4494 I've seen plenty of adults shill for their favourite corporations and products it's not just a kid problem
It's kinda crazy how far Bioware has fallen. From making amazing CRPG's to this husk that we have now with no one relevant still at the studio. At least we still can go back and enjoy BG1&2, Neverwinter Nights, Jade Empire, Kotor 1, Dragon Age Origins and ME 1-3 (with a big asterisk on the third one due to the ending).
It's because of Bioware that we got the Golden Age of CRPG's and they've lost their way ever since the Doctors left the company (imo).
Embrace old classics
Reject modern barv slops
Time to dust off KOTOR2 again. “I can change her” The Game.
@@editorrbr2107 Well that one is made by Obsidian, but good choice nonetheless.
They lost their way before that. Because ME3 was the Dr's final product.
No it's not crazy, this is normal, that's what we're trying to tell you gen z or whatever.
You have washed my soul today. I rarely get to hear something I agree so hard with. Good job my dude, you are awesome.
One of the snarkiest uses of the word "the". 😁
Brightens my day every time I hear it 😅
"da vEiLgUaRd"
I love it every time i hear it, just don't be drinking anything.
duh Veilguard!
My first Bioware game was Baldur's Gate II demo when I was a kid, never convinced my parents to buy it lol. Then I got a pirated copy of Neverwinter's Night, that was the first Bioware game I fully completed multiple playthroughs, then I bought and played all the games save Jade Empire until Dragon Age 2 that I just abandoned half way through, but I did finish Mass Effect 3. That is when Bioware died to me.
David Warner, best voice actor in the BG series. And what a quote too. Good stuff.
His performance really elevated Irenicus.
Brilliant video, love the way you put this. 1998-2012 Bioware is my favourite run of a developer of all time, but its time to let go. Frankly, it already was long ago. There are deeply talented, passionate developers and writers out there, and the downfall of these rotting bulwarks of the industry can only be good to break holes in the market, for the good to shine through again. Hang in there guys, that renaissance has to be on its way
It is. Trump era = back to business again. The woke mob is forced to go underground now like the orcs in Goblin Slayer.
At 55, I recall the beginning. While I agree with you, I'm also fortunate to have many other loves and hobbies besides gaming to keep me occupied. I'll never stop playing those early games because they hit all the hot spots for ME and until something new comes along that can do the same thing I'm content to stick with my favorites and I mourn what has been lost. Perhaps I am stuck in my ways, but I know what I like and what I don't. The world just keeps spinning.
Irenicus was a timeless villain, like Kefka before him. It is regrettable we do not get many like him.
I'm gutted by this, but utterly unsurprised. I'm also (controversially) slightly relieved to see the worst offenders from the VeILgUaRd dev team being laid off. I generally hate seeing devs being given marching orders, but this is one case where I totally agree with EA. They put in monetisation and budget requirements. They didn't make BioWare create what is it now? 5 games in a row ranging from mediocre at launch to outright abysmal.
I also can't blame EA for removing staff who insult and promote dog piling of *paying customers* then flat out tell us to "fuck of this game is not for you".
I'm also exhausted by the idea that we're "fans". No. They can straight up eff off with that. We're *customers* who are expected to pay through the nose for a *product* .
The most notable devs who were 'invited to leave' or fired were not "poor, starving, hard working artistes", they're workers making a saleable product. If that product is not saleable, and they're insulting us while telling us they *don't* want us buying that mediocre product, then crying with hands out asking why we're not buying their slop! They piss and moan and carry on about getting heat and abuse from players, as if EVERYONE on the internet hasn't recieved some kind of threat or dog piling or abuse. Hells, I got *death threats* for daring to say ThE VeiLgUaRd was problematic (speaking AS their target market!). *They* choose to go on socials and tell people who they are in a professional capacity. THEY choose to throw down in online debates. THEY choose to stoke the fires in the forums and on socials... Any influencer or content creator could tell them, you fuck around, you find out. NO it's not "right" that they "have to put up with that"... but *do they really??* Do they really *have* to put up with that, or could they just... not piss where they eat?
Nope. This time, EA made the right choice.
I'm sad for the collateral damage, not the ones who deserved it.
A very astute comment. I second this.
I like that comment but this is EA. They don't listen to criticism. The reason they are forced to use activists is they took blackrock money. Companies like nintendo don't need corporate welfare. So they are woke-free. If they take the welfare they have to do what the devil says. You must reward companies for honoring thier word. Western companies don't care about honor. Companies that don't believe in corporate welfare do. Support those ones. Bioware is still owned by EA and these guys have a history of destroying developers people love.
The writing was on the wall and the screen years ago. The copium was real...and it still is.
bioware been dead since 2016
Ikr just look that the Disney adults. Theyre all broken
The Mass Effect OST "An End Once and for All" is a bittersweet, but fitting choice for the video.
I gotta hand it to them… It took a special effort to make a companion more loathsome and universally despised than Carth Onasi from Knights of the old Republic.
It reads like the New Testament: Carth begat Jacob who begat Liam who begat Taash…
Or Kai Leng...
What was so bad about Carth? My memory is a bit hazy but I don't recall him as being badly written or unlikable.
I never minded Jacob too much, he was just bland if anything. Vega was far more insufferable to me. I don’t think anything will be worse than Sera and Dorian, excluding veilguard of course.
@@logan-zf2wr I loved Dorian and Carth. I didn't like any Failguard characters.
The first Bioware game I played was Baldur's Gate 1, but I didn’t fall in love with the company until Baldur’s Gate 2, which I probably spent 300+ hours playing. I loved Dragon Age: Origins and played through it four times as well.
While I was somewhat critical of how janky Mass Effect 1 was, I still enjoyed it, even though it sometimes felt unfinished. Mass Effect 2, despite moving away from its RPG roots, was still a lot of fun-the immersion, characters, world-building, and art style really sold the franchise. I liked Mass Effect 3, but the writing had gone off the rails too much. The focus of the story had changed, and I’m not just talking about the ending.
Dragon Age: Inquisition was when the company completely went off the rails for me. I could not, for the life of me, understand why this game won Game of the Year and sold so many copies. It’s not a very good open-world game, and I actually hated a lot of the female party members. Sera was so annoying, and this was where we started seeing the uglification of characters. Even Cassandra was attractive with her short hair in Dragon Age 2-at least I thought she was-but I hated her appearance in Inquisition. The dialogue system also felt half-baked; they didn’t even zoom in the camera when talking to people like before. The combat was boring as hell, and the constant “scanning” just to see loot on the ground was infuriating. Loot was so easily visible in Origins or Dragon Age 2-what the heck happened? Also, the momentum-based walking made it frustratingly difficult to stop your character and pick something up off the ground-wow, was that annoying.
And then it just went all downhill from there.
This is such a good video that covers exactly the same feelings i have been having for a while. People jump to blame either EA or Bioware when both are to blame for this and on top of that people always keep saying "but what about the devs" as if the developers arent like any other job out there, you do a bad job at something you move on to a different job, its not for you. It sucks to get fired, i have been fired from a job but it sucks even more to have incompetent people at their job that make worse products for their customers and tank their businesses, no one reasonable is gonna tolerate that.
Also one part of your video caught me off guard, you said some people on the council took down their Veilguard reviews after the game tanked massively in terms of quality and sales and I though there was no way, so i went to a certain channel to look and OMG you are right... that Kala person took down her review of Veilguard... these people are not only horrible individuals but they are spineless.
Indeed. She is known to do such things; with videos, comments, everything pretty much...
Yep she deleted a comment she made on one of Mr. Hulthen videos, where myself and a couple others called her out.
Saw your response to Slandered Gaming last night and knew you would be making a video!
Glad he did. While I respect Slandered's right to his views, in this I don't really agree with him. The whole existence of Veilguard (and the last several games if I'm honest) have made me feel like I'm in a fever dream, seeing the devs increasingly unhinged behaviour and increasingly sloppy game development. I'm sad about this, but I'm utterly unsurprised and almost... relieved that it's finally coming to an end.
@@noctoi Him going after CohCarnage was just in bad taste. He's becoming more reddit leftwing radicalized where any sensible disagreement means you get labeled as a grifter/nazi. It's too bad because he used to be fairly level headed.
And he was immediately attacked by one of the Veilguard toxic white knights, accusing him of making rage baiting videos.
These people live in total delusion.
@@SeventhheavenDK yes I hate political activists ruining my hobby. Trump is antiwoke and this will see the rise of non-woke games. The goal of these activists is to make white people feel guilt. It's time to push back. No more ugly women in games, no more preaching identity politics, no more hiring the least-capable people instead of hiring based on merit. Clown world must end. 👎
@@SeventhheavenDK That's why I'll never understand his alegiance to the "community panel" content creators. They literally trawl the DA related vids and promote that behaviour. I ended up blocking a bunch of them (including kala) because every time I even mentioned being (and I'm not underselling what I said here) "concerned about the combat chances and retconning". The one mentioned above took my freaking head off then promoted a downvote brigade while upvoting everyone in their comments who joined the dog pile.
I've never been so disgusted in my life. I was literally complementing her vid, but that ONE line in the comment sparked a deluge of abuse and threats in my DMs. The same people who have shit fits that people do the *same thing* to the devs when the devs are already being abusive to us!
Everything to do with that game is poison, including the devs and their pocket content creators.
On your general point of this video: No brand deserves your loyalty.
If they make a good product they can get my money. If not I look elsewhere.
Juist.
The brainwashing is more sophisticated and if you're old enough to know they've been hacking into children's brains as soon as they can because they know it all works. Cocomelon is basically peak tv for this.
The pain will only be passing; we should survive the process.
I see what you did there!
On to more..."experiments"!
One of the greatest quotes from video games. Irenicus was such a great antagonist.
I used to be able to recite his entire spiel with the Cowled Wizards upon escaping his lair from memory, lol.
@@planescaped "They will suffer! They will all suffer!"
Yes, indeed. Now I'm 50 so around your age, give or take, but I see things this way too, perhaps it's simply life experience that opens the eyes to what the reality of what a job actually is, at the end of the day. You may have once written a "bestseller" but if you're not doing that anymore, well, it's time to see this and look back wondering what changed and if it can come back again.
Bioware self-deleted with ME3. Everything afterwards is just them riding on past glory. I joined the Bioware bandwagon in 1998 myself, with BG1, but when ME3 dropped I was one of the people writing on their forums how they should be ashamed of the ending of the trilogy, and that I will not buy antyhing from them ever again. And so I haven't :)
EA should just remaster Dragon Age Origins. (no woke re-edit)
ME3 music hits hard
nothing hits harder than ME2 suicide mission music, that shit gives you goose bumps just thinking about it.
@@fs5866 hits hard in the depression i mean. fitting with the theme of the video.
I'm actually quite surprised that EA fired the Weekes. Him and his wife have done a really poor job for several games in a row but since he went they/them I thought his seat was secured.
Exceptional quote to reference, used it as well with respect to this whole situation. And the amount of people attempting to convince me to treat these people like close family and empathize with them losing their job, feels so much to me like the same people who forge unhealthy parasocial relationships on a whim, and who don't actually have close family for which to share those feelings with. Or, unsurprisingly, have or had financial incentives to big-up the far faded myth.
This video is absolutely amazing. It is rare to see a video where I watch and think to myself "I 100% agree with everything said", so definitely was a pleasure to watch.
I haven't started playing BioWare games as early as you have, but I begun with DA:O/ME1, and it has been so sad to see the once beloved game studio consistently lose steam release after release. The BioWare I knew ended with ME3 (as I vehemently disliked DA2 and DAI). Every other release, at least in my eyes, has been uninspired fanfiction.
The funny thing about situations like this is that we, the people who have been complaining about the deep dive in quality of their products and realizing the company was no longer what it once was, are called haters and are being blamed for things like companies shutting down or firing of employees, when in truth it's the other way around.
The echochamber people of the gaming subreddits and channels that only praise the products while accepting not even a bit of criticism are the ones that have been dragging the industry (in this case bioware) down by supporting bad products for the sake of satisfying their desires. "Its better to have a bad star wars movie/show/game than none at all" mentality.
The real friend is the one that tells the truth even when it's not what you want to hear, not the one that just agrees with you not to upset you.
That is very true. I heard George Lucas is back to 'fix' the mess of SW now but I'll play a 'wait and see' approach. I see Disney as the bad guy and as owners of SW, they still have all the power to have final say in what is approved. George is just a pawn.
This video was a long ass ramble about things that are blatantly obvious to 99% of the population
Gods, this music just hits you in the feels.
Spiders, a French AA studio is one of my favourites, and I'm rooting for them to make their upcoming rpg, GreedFall 2 a success. It is clear that their fans, we who play the EA are almost certainly won, and they have to appeal to the current rpg player base as a whole to get good sales numbers. I wish that lots of people with different crpg history and knowledge give them supportive and valuable feedback they can truly implement in the process.
I just came here to listen to him say "THE VEIL GUARD"!
Keep in mind one thing. Taash was written by Trick Weekes. Mordin was also written by them. What I'm trying to say, is that studios and people, grow and change. You might get amazing product once, and next one will be awful. And I also think that's a bit... normal? in terms of Art at least. Not your every shot will hit the mark. Question is how many misses you did.
Bioware didn't made a good game for how many years? People who Made Bioware, who made amazing games like Jade Empire, Kotors, DA1, BG, ME. Those people are long gone. Yet people still think this studio is same as it was nearly 15-20 years ago. It's not. It sucks, but that's the reality.
But... It's easy to say all those things. It's hard to let go, especially if you experience those things at young age. Playing ME as teenager was magical for me. It's really hard to let go of hope, that maybe there is still ''Bioware magic'' somewhere there. But there isn't.
Wow awesome intro. It never gets old when you say Dragon Age THE VEILguard lmao
Wow, that Irenicus quote couldn't be more appropriate. I recall how much of an advancement for CRPGs Baldur's Gate was in 1998. Now, any love is gone indeed, because it has been spurned...
I'm pushing 40 and have been playing Bioware games since 2000. Played virtually every RPG they have produced because when it had the name "Bioware" attached you knew it would be great. But since, and including, DA Inquisition I haven't really enjoyed anything they made. Inquisition was okay but you could already see the politics seeping in which soured my enjoyment. Now they are Bioware in name only.
Thanks for the upload, really enjoyed this one.
Jon Irenicus monologues about love and loss and memory. A tragic character, evil rotten to the core and you cant help but sympathize with him at that moment.
Taasch throws a fit and bullies an elderly wizard for being a necromancer and shouts "WHO DOESNT LIKE DRAGONS!?" like a toddler.
Pikachu surprised face that these people get axed on their jobs ffs.
honestly that conversation with Irenicus alone is enough to make me want to play BG2 again, what a damn good game. Its filled with moments like that, every single companion has moments like that. It is simply a masterpiece in writing through and through imo.
I hope you take this as a compliment, and this ages me quite a bit lol, but you really have that evening AM Radio host sound with your voice and mic. It's a very classic sound.
Tbh I lost interest in Bioware and moved on weeks ago. But I keep coming back to these videos just to hear the iconic "THE Veilguard"
100% agree with you.
Sometimes we disagree but you and RPG division will remain my two favored tubers.
Köszönöm!
@spellandshield mi a f,😱
Because i made the comment about Carphatian mountain and the new REBEL WOLFS game? Or we are fellow based? ( A) You have an amazing memory. (B) I am not surprised that you are down on Earth person.
At some point, if not now, BioWare will be bad for longer than they were ever good.
BioWare died after Mass Effect 3, approaching the wall at high speed in slow motion.
I think the music you used in the background was very fitting!
My first Bioware game was BG1. I'm happy that Bioware never made BG3 themselves. At least I can still have that.
Back on the old Bioware social forum i saw the customer support and interaction go downhill in real time
Good times
"*THE VEILGUARD*" never gets old :D but yeah, can't help but agree, although i still have some slight slimmer of hope that ME5 turns out good, and if that comes true they'll pull a disney star wars with another dragon age game saying "VEILGUARD DIDN'T COUNT AND IS OUT OF THE LORE" .... one can dream........
Lot of people tend to get nostalgic about particular studio(s), groups, companies, you name it. I used to be one of them. One day it just hit me, it is wrong and stupid to think that if studio has a history of making fine products it will continue to do so in the future. Why? Because people change in these companies all the time (amplified by various upper-corporate fu*kery) . It is not as easy (or foolproof), but it is waaay more logical to follow key people in this industry and who they answer to.
E.g. ex-bioware people now making Exodus in Archetype ent., or ex-cdpr people with dawnwalker
It is not a sure bet, but I think Exodus will be much better than new Mass effect. Same way as Dawnwalker will be better than new Witcher.
I've said it before, there is no such thing as a great studio, there are studios with great people in them but those people move on and are not easy to replace.
Businesses are predicated on the idea of selling a service or product to a customer. Meaning, if your product/service is not appealing to the customer, they will not buy it. This is why the saying "The customer is always right in matters of taste" exists.
The minute you forget this and think that you can shove something the person you're trying to sell a product to doesn't want, you will fail. Calling them names for not buying your product doesn't help either. The fact the people directing Dragon Age "The Veilguard" either willingly ignored this simple fact of business 101 or simply didn't know about it speaks volumes about how BioWare is run and it makes total sense how they lost the people that had real talent.
People always look at a company as if it's a sentient being. "BioWare made X and Y, how can Z fail?" Simple. A company is the sum of its parts. When the key components that made it good are gone, it's no surprise the machine as a whole fails.
Love the mass effect 3 soundtrack in the background. The last true master class of the og bioware
Well, you reap what you sow
Damn, that Irenicus intro hit hard...
EA's triumphant return to form (closing once-great studios).
What i don't get is how any CEO or executives can look at the writing on this game and, for years, think that it was acceptable. Veilguard was magic schoolbus level writing, which is abhorrent. I'm paraphrasing but at one point a character says look a dock and another character starts explaining what a dock is and how they work as if everyone is a moron. This is the quality of writing we have had on the majority of games for the past decade and it doesn't look good for the intelligence and education of these new generation of developers. Also Veilguard isn't even an rpg it's 90% on the rails with some superficial choices.
??? You think CEO's know anything about their products in detail?
@myfakeaccount4523 A good CEO should be able to at least know the basics of a project.
I never thought I’d say this, but you’ve insulted the magic schoolbus…
@kingleech16 I loved magic schoolbus, but it was written for kids to teach, and that was what Veilguard seemed to be going for.
Very well spoken. I got a kick out of how you said they 'felate each other' hah!
I think the day the Bioware founders left after the disastrous backlash of Mass Effect 3's "endings" written by that awful hack Mac Walters was basically the end of the studio. That was way back in 2012, but it feels like yesterday. Everything else after that were just husks running around pretending to be Bioware.
love the BG2 quote :)
"My interest in Dragon Age THE Veilguard was initially solely predicated on a morbid curiosity as to how the story of the... world of Thedas comes to an end."
I wasn't so morbidly curious and did have better expectations of the new dev team... and it did come to an inglorious, morbid end w the sounding cry of the Neverwinter Nights villain Gulnan, "Die! Die and be FORGOTTEN!" (Irenicus is a lot more articulate than THE Veilguard deserves.) Once a franchise enters the territory of canon antithetical to its own existence, it is already irrelevant... other than for "the memes." As the "divorce" goes, we knew it was over when Bioware (of all companies) was trying to pivot to a live service looter-shooter... because... huh? The RPG company? You're not the company I married! But the Traashing of the DA franchise was so defiling that, of course, it had to be a bitter end rather than an "amicable" divorce. We're not staying friends after...
My first Bioware game was Knights of the Old Republic. I wasn't even a Star Wars fan and still loved that game to bits. Good writing and good gameplay have a tendency to do that.
I also get annoyed at the "celebrefication" of these developers, but I understand where it comes from. You'll no doubt have heard or seen some variation of "Such n such product/story got me through X period of my life..." This instinct to cling to our emotional buoys prevents honest conversations about the quality of the products we consume, and artificially elevates the people who produce them. The irony is if only people could disentangle themselves from their emotional dependencies and provide more honest and timely feedback... these studios would have much more longevity, and the developers more stable careers. Toxic positivity is still toxic.
My first Bioware game was Baldur's Gate 1. I literally dreamed about *installing it* while waiting for its release because I was so starved for a CRPG. Mass Effect 3, namely its ending, was Bioware's death knell.
Irenicus spittin! 😂
Yea, I don’t like the thinking around “support devs” or “gamers” those things have been so twisted it really just makes me annoyed when they are said now.
I hate, “people worked really hard on it” we all work hard on things we do but if you do t make the customer happy you don’t expect to make large returns on it.
Wow Patrick did tassh? Hall of shame. He must have gotten character insights from Corrine before he *left* BW.
Saying “it’s not about the money, it’s about sending a message” works for the Joker. Turns out it’s not an effective way to make money or run a business.
ME3 Ending/SWTOR post launch was the beginning of the end. What was that about 2012? Been a slowly rotting husk since. I truly believe that SWTOR was the death blow. The company lost so much talent during that time. And while I enjoyed the Class stories greatly, that studio was not ready for an MMO and what it cost them was everything.
Then you add in the mind virus, and them filling the vacated positions with a lot of under qualified cult members...Well the results speak for themselves.
Bioware ended in a trail of red blue green lasers.
Just stumbled across your channel thanks to the UA-cam algo, and as a new content creator, I just wanted to throw you a compliment and say I really like the way you do things!
I'm never one to say "How the hell did people enjoy this game?" but I can't help but have that thought in the back of mind whenever I see or play The Veilguard. Perhaps its the way the game looks, plays, and presents itself in the context of the other DA games that make it so lackluster to me, but this truly is one of my most disappointing games of all time.
I feel you man! I am not quite your age, but I still remember how at the tender age of 9 I got my first taste of Bioware by playing Baldur's Gate 1. I followed that up by playing 2, with the Throne of Bhaal confirming that Bioware was my favourite gaming studio. From that moment I bought anything and everything Bioware, truly buying into their brand.
The stuff we've been getting for the past ten or so year are not the same. Not by a long shot. Now generations and decades removed from my experience I can still boot up games like Baldur's Gate 1 & 2, KOTOR, Neverwinter Nights and even the first Mass Effect Games and have a good time, but the games since then?
Made by another studio. Bioware is just a name now. A hollow golem with none of its former glory behind it. Leave it be and move on to newer, worthier successors.
I think you pretty much nailed it when you said that "bioware was over a long time ago". Or should i say, it started a slow but sure downward spiral that ended with the last Dragon Age? Also a question i've been plagued with. How can you end a game(inquisition) with a cliffhanger, come and "answer" it 10 years later, and hope it's still relevant? Especially when the core, even the genre of the game was altered completely. The only people that cared where the hardcore dedicated lore fans, and those who only care for romances or interactions, which were still dumbed down a lot. A shame, really. I hope by some form of miracle, actually competent people come into the studio and they reboot Dragon Age at some point.
Weekes' brain friend when he started dyeing his hair blue. Still surprised he's the "mastermind" behind Taash. How the mighty have fallen.
Thanks you for your honest reality based take instead of the pity party nonsense that I have read and seen elsewhere. There are people so delusional they did/could not see this inevitable outcome until it actually happened. Intelligent people have seen this happen for almost a decade. Make n bones about it, this is on Bioware. They chose the actions that led them this outcome.
The Bioware team that made the first Dragon Age and the Mass Effect trilogy will never die. They will continue to inspire others and give birth to future good games.
Irenicus was a great character and I love the actor who gave him a voice and personality. Good use of his words. Time to move on, indeed. Let the dead lie.
They died with Muzyka and Zeschuk's departure. They had no vision after that.
Finally someone said it out loud…couldn’t agree more
Don't weep. The BioWare we all loved is long gone. What remains is a Ship of Theseus type thing.
Farewell, Bioware. I'm straight, white, Catholic, conservative... I guess you always hated me. But I loved you. I didn't want you to die like this.
I unfortunately got into bioware games when they were going downhill. So I was never their in their prime it must suck.
I still hold Baldur’s gate in high regard and play an ME trilogy run and KOTOR every year. I still remember the trepidation when BioWare became just another studio under the EA umbrella and the hollow assurances that BioWare would remain the same studio despite its new overlords. Many more people were willing to give the benefit of the doubt back then and with new BioWare releases only dropping every few years the studio was able to ride that good will far longer than it really deserved.
The bungled ending of ME3 and first steps away from what made origins so popular in Inquisition made the utter failures of Andromeda and Anthem unsurprising.
I don't know when it started that everyone felt the need to talk about how great game developers are and how hard their job is. But I find it nauseating at this point, to be honest. I'm sure game development isn't easy, but I honestly don't really care. I don't sit around thinking about how hard people worked to make the various different products that I use. I use them because they are quality products that enhance my life in some way or just provide a necessary service.
Gaming is the one industry that I interact with where I have to constantly hear both devs and a slice of the fanbase provide non-stop reminders of how hard it is to make a video game. There are exceptions to this rule in that it does genuinely bother me or I will look for alternatives if I find out slave labor in other countries is being used in order to make the product I desire. But game devs (at least in the west) are far from 'slaves' or treated unfairly. They typically work in amazing offices and make six figure salaries, along with bonuses if their product actually sells well.
I don't care how hard you worked to make your below average video game. I don't care that you got laid off for shoving your weird activist nonsense into the game. I don't care that you have to look for another job because the game you made came out as a buggy mess. I don't respect your 'artistic vision' given that it is something that no one really wants to experience.
I care if the product you produce is good or not. You can have my 'thanks' by the $70+ that I end up paying for it.
Thank. You.
I am tired of demands that we uncritically empathize with and support those by mere dint of their employment, even when they suck at their job.
I did capital murder appellate cases for a while. I watched three men die in front of my eyes - and guilty or not (and they were), that shit takes a toll on your psyche.
All jobs have difficulties. The scale and magnitude may vary, but their impact on the person doesn’t: hard work is hard, bad bosses are bad, and doing a bad job gets you fired.
Why is this hard to understand?
I can only chalk it up as an artifact of toxic positivity.
Right? Who's cares about the "job". I'm a customer, I give money you give product or service. I'm happy you happy. I don't care about your job, you are supposed to be fairly compensated for your work. It's not up to customers to provide that outside of a purchase.
My first BioWare game was Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic. I got that game because I was(and am) a Star Wars fan(old EU forever.) Then when I learned BioWare was making a game called Mass Effect I was in(I've lost count of how many times I've played ME.) Then EA bought BioWare and while I was a little concerned, I was comforted by how good ME2 and Dragon Age Origins were. I loved ME3(despite it's flaws) had an enjoyable time with DA2, DA Inquisition and ME Andromeda, but with each new game the paper over the cracks was getting thinner and thinner. Then the radio silence. I was cautiously optimistic about DA Dread Wolf. Anthem was a shock of cold water. With a couple exceptions(Star Trek Online, and Star Wars the Old Republic) I despise multiplayer games, I can accept it if it's an afterthought to the single player game or if they integrate it well,(ME3s MP eventually won me over) but otherwise I work a 9to5 and have nowhere near the time nor the inclination to get into MP only games. I began to move on. The Witcher series, Cyberpunk 2077(despite it's flaws in the beginning) and Baldurs Gate 3 began to replace my anticipation for new releases(I have the older games and will keep playing them until I can't anymore.)
Then DA Veilguard was released and with it's shoehorning in of modern politics, it's grade school fanfiction level of writing and it execrable characters the bad feeling I'd been having since EA acquired BioWare and I'd started acknowledging with Anthem graduated into acceptance that the BioWare that crafted some of my favorite games was gone, gutted by EA. If I want to adventure in the Milky Way or in Thedas, I'll just play the old games again or read fanfiction by authors who have actual passion for the games stories and are plain better writers.
No no, you don't understand, these people are the sacred priests of The Ideology. You MUST support them because they have divine right of historical grievance and therefore they must not be held to mortal standards.
Amen Brother. I’ve played Baldurs Gate and Shadows of Amn a half dozen times. For me, BioWare died with the release of Dragon Age 2. These youngsters don’t know what they missed.
I miss Jade Empire. I wanted so many more adventures in that mysterious land 😢
While I also love Owlcat's stuff (3000+ hours in Kingmaker, yet to finish it) and about 500 hours in WOTR (completed a no-death playthrough on that), I can't agree completely with you on their 'great' customer relations. They've also made some boo-boos (eg. the sneaky updated EULA with the 'spyware' on the Pathfinder games, which they eventually backtracked on after a lot of folks review bombed them on Steam). That was pretty slimy. To their credit though (apart from making great games), their PR and engagement with the fans on social media is very good as you mentioned.
Background Music: Mass Effect 3 - An End, Once And For All. I see what you did there.
You know when I realized Bioware was done for? It was when they started trying to bury the legacy of their iconic games that came before *Vanguard*. The fact that they didn’t even bother to acknowledge those masterpieces told me everything I needed to know-this isn’t the same team that brought us those unforgettable, magical experiences we all hold so close. It’s like the soul of what made Bioware great just… vanished. What game is that in your background? I’m very interested in it
Mass Effect Andromeda Multiplayer...died years ago.
@ ohhh on wonder it looked so familiar! I forgot it had a multiple at one point.
I've always thought the hands across America for gamedevs was ridiculous. It started years ago with "crunch", and now we have decade long development cycles because they can't work any overtime.
I agree.
Yes, it does make me a bit sad to see Bioware in what may be it's death throes, but it's certainly no surprise to me. I boggles my mind to think that there are people out there who haven't seen where this has been going this last almost-decade. I mean, maybe I get it a bit, you want to believe they'll pull it together, right? I even hoped I was wrong and they'd do the thing that would surprise me and make a good Dragon Age game, but I didn't hold my breath.
I do think there might be some slim hope for ME3, but that depends mainly on how far along it is. Can they pivot away from the assorted pitfalls that buried DAVG? Do they have the time? Again, I am not holding my breath. I expect crap. I would very much welcome them proving me wrong, though.
Very well said! 🙂👍
The "veilguard", or the fail hard?
Okay, I probably shouldn't post comments after drinking.
Recently I played the two KOTOR games and JE. Currently playing SWTOR Jedi Knight story (closest to KOTOR3 we can get) and it’s pretty fun.
It just shows you how much has changed. I do have some lingering questions about andromeda but I’m okay with leaving the Milky Way alone tbh
Owlcat originated in Russia. Let's hope the Ukraine war will not force them to "virtue signal"
Let's hope Larian Studios will not become the next Bioware
No developer belongs to the priestly class. Yes, I agree.
Kenshiro: U already dead kang 🙏
Bioware died when the doctors left.
Bioware's been dead for some time. DAO/ME2 were the last games of classic Bioware (basically when EA bought them), they've been slowly dying since then. There's no singular cause, but the fall of Bioware I'd say definitively began then, a steady and inexorable descent into worthless crap. The indulgence and adoption of DEI idiocy, all but abandoning their single player RPG roots/strengths accelerated the process incredibly, and insulting and attacking their consumers for rejecting the inarguable agenda-driven lecturing garbage they've been releasing....I feel no sympathy for them. These are the consequences they brought upon themselves.
I have never understood this generation and their support the company nonsense. I agree with you, and it's probably because I'm in my 40s, but a company has to earn your business. I am not the privileged one to be able to buy their product. They need to make a product that I want and enjoy. And once they burned my trust, they're probably not going to get it back.. ie CDPR
It's called brainwashing. Why do you think companies target children the most? Did you not notice this in highschool?