And lastly, what difference does it make if BioWare is appealing to a different crowd as long as they’re still making awesome, breathtaking games? If you’re an RPG fanatic and want a full-on, hardcore RPG, you buy some other game. You know BioWare won’t develop those kinds of games anymore, so stop bitching about, and buy their games for what they are, and not what they should be. Buy them for the excellent, polished, extremely well developed action-packed experiences that they provide, and don’t go looking for deep inventory management, upgradation or comprehensive leveling up.
Like it or not, Mass Effect 2 was an excellent game.
And we shouldn’t forget that ever since one can remember, BioWare has been criticized for slowly casualizing their games. Everything from Baldur’s Gate to Baldur’s Gate II to Knights of the Old Repblic and Neverwinter Knights has received criticism and cynicism for the same reasons that Mass Effect and Dragon Age do these days. And yet, they’re still remembered as some of the greatest games ever developed, and are hugely respected by all gamers.
What hurts me the most is that people have suddenly started comparing BioWare to CD Projekt RED. I mean no disrespect to CDPR when I say this, but they’ve only just developed two games yet. I know that one of the was good and the other absolutely amazing, but they have got nothing on BioWare yet, who have several years and more than a dozen brilliant games and IPs under their belt. CDPR is sure a force to be reckoned with, but they’re not good enough to compete with elites such as BioWare. Their latest game, The Witcher 2, might have been better than BioWare’s counterpart Dragon Age II, but that’s just one case. I’m not sure being better than one half-good game is enough to overcome the years of excellence that BioWare has provided us with.
I agree that BioWare kind of lost their way with Dragon Age II- it was a disappointment, and I, as everybody, expected much more from the game, especially after the excellent Dragon Age: Origins. But one bad game is not enough to destroy the reputation BioWare built for themselves with so many unforgettable games, those which will and have had much larger impacts that DAII will or has.
Sure, The Witcher 2 is a great game, but it's not good enough to compete against the tons of great games that BioWare has made over the years.
I would like to add that despite all my love for BioWare, I’d like to see more franchises from them, or at least the revival of some old ones, like KOTOR and Baldur’s Gate perhaps.
I’ve been a huge BioWare fan for many years, but you know what I did rather than bitching about how they’re abandoning me and not sticking to their guns? I appreciated that they’re trying to do something new, and that they did everything they did almost perfectly. Yes, Mass Effect 2 was a nigh perfect game, and Mass Effect 3 looks even more excellent. I think it should be proof enough that BioWare is indeed one of the top developers around and that their games are still excellent ones. Don’t play them as RPGs- play them as games, and you’ll realize that BioWare are still as talented as they always were, if not more.
