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A brief response to Alaric’s rant against BioWare, to Jim Redner’s PR goof, to Michele’s assertion that our reputation is not for sale, and to Angel’s commitment to stay out of the mainstream.
Recently, Alaric vented his anger at BioWare. I wanted to respond at the time, but my response was really too long to fit as a comment. Since I can just write an editorial blog anytime I want, I figured I could respond in a more lengthy and thoughtful way from my own soapbox.
First of all, let me just say that I have had some of the same feelings as Alaric. While I don’t bear the same kind of malice against BioWare that he apparently does, I completely understand his frustration. In my case, one of the last straws was NWN2. While NWN itself suffered from some problems, the writing and characterization of NPCs got much better in the Hordes of the Underdark expansion. The plot involved making some real choices, and had some interesting characters with compelling dialogue. (Whoever wrote Deekin’s dialog during the final encounter with Mephistopheles gets a gold star.) But by the time we get to NWN2, most of that wonderful writing is gone. NWN2 had so much potential that went unused because most of the NPCs were uncompelling and the plot had a kind of recycled feeling to it. The antagonists were named something different, but the ancient evil from the past schtick was something we had covered before in NWN. (One of the things that made Hordes of the Underdark so interesting was its unique plot construction when compared to the original NWN.) The game also suffered from a buggy release and unjustifiably high system requirements for the kind of graphics it had. The best NPC was Bishop, but you only got to see his full characterization if you made certain choices towards evil. (Bishop’s refusal to help Garius towards the end and his scathing commentary was pretty good. Just because Bishop was evil did not mean he had to just do what the bad guy said to do.)
What is perhaps more troubling to me, though, is that brief flashes of good writing like Bishop pop up in other works. While most players thought The Sith Lords was inferior to the original Knights of the Old Republic, I found that some of the characters were compelling. I was also very pleased by the way that game handled the standard ethical choices of Star Wars. Not only could you fall to the Dark Side or pursue a path of virtue via the Light Side, but your companions could be influenced in their ethics as well. All of your companions had their own starting ethics, but several characters could be convinced to see the world your way thanks to the influence system. While convincing Visas Marr to accept salvation and embrace the Light Side and abandon her devotion to her Sith training and moral outlook was fairly easy, convincing Brianna, the Handmaiden, to fall to the Dark Side was much more difficult. In fact, one of the chief satisfactions of playing The Sith Lords were these interactions with your companions. I played through multiple times just to see who I could convince to do what. Also, HK’s dialog, while probably not quite as good as the original Knights of the Old Republic, was still a lot of fun. His lecture on how to kill Jedi, and his complete disgust for people who try to shoot Jedi with blasters, was almost worth the price of admission.
Yet, these encounters with great characters and gameplay mechanics tend to underscore Alaric’s complaints. Even when BioWare has had a real winner on its hands, something has caused it to move into the land of “meh.” Smart players have looked into the files of The Sith Lords and discovered all kinds of content that would have made the plot make a lot more sense. The best thing they discovered was content related to the place where HK was made (tying up a loose end regarding the number and mission of HK assassin droids). This kind of thing points to something other than a lack of creativity. BioWare has had some good writers, but it seems like somewhere in the production process, interesting things got cut.
Of course, I am talking about games that are several years old. I have not really spent time with more recent BioWare titles for two reasons. One, since I am on staff here at Avault, I tend to spend time reviewing games; I can’t go out and spend billions of hours playing through Mass Effect and its sequels without compromising my employment, my review schedule, or my time spent with cats. Second, since I have to budget my time accordingly, I have to pick and choose games that I play outside of my capacity as a reviewer very carefully so that I don’t waste time on something I won’t like. While BioWare products continue to get good press from some quarters, nothing I have read makes me want to run out and pick up a copy of any of these recent titles. And that’s with our very own Michael giving some very high praise to these titles.
Wait a second now…Michael Smith of our own staff gave those games good reviews? I thought reviewers were part of a hive mind that reached a Borg-like consensus on what every game was worth. What in the Hell is going on here?
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Awesome article and something I’m looking forward to responding to in a blog. Especially after reading an AVault readers comment on Watts’ review of Killing Floor. The reader asserted that Watts had not played the game and his 4/5 score should have been a 5/5. Based on this discrepancy, the reader felt that it was appropriate to stop reading our reviews and urge his fellow gamers to do the same.
I often give games 3 or 4 stars, but find myself wanting to give them 4. Not because of the PR or the developer’s reputation, but because I’m pretty casual in my approach to gaming and often enjoy almost everything I play. There are very few complaints that I have with any game. It makes me feel awkward when I can’t mirror the sentiments of my peers, but I guess I just have to follow my own judgement for my reviews.
This is a bit awkward, but… Neverwinter Nights 2 was not developed by BioWare. They had the same publisher (Atari) but the developer for the second game was Obsidian.
Oh, by Loki’s arse, do not get me started on Obsidian. KotOR 2 was horrendous and NWN 2 was probably one of the worst games ever created. Alpha Protocol and Fallout New Vegas I haven’t played, but from what I hear these two games were also nothing to write home about.
To be fair I am playing Dungeon Siege 3 right now, and although seeing Obsidian’s logo at the start gave me much fright, after putting a bit over three hours into it, I am not ready to condemn it. As with any game I see some parts that I like, and some parts that I dislike. Time will tell what shape the overall experience will take, but I genuinely hope that Obsidian was finally able to do a decent job. Believe it or not I really don’t like having to hate game developers.
A few thoughts.
1.) I think an open discussion on how the review and PR industry operate and interact would be fascinating to read. I’ve had my own theories of how the review industry operates for a while (some of which I posted in the “Reputation Not for Sale” comments), but it’d be interesting to see the PR guys’ side of things.
2.) @Matt, don’t sweat it. From the perspective of a reader, do what you do. Reasonable readers will make their own individual decisions, and chances are, even if they disagree with a given review, it will simply inform their opinions on the individual reviewer and how seriously to take that reviewer’s reviews. Even so, reasonable readers will simply “agree to disagree” but will keep reading nonetheless because (A) there’s usually some relevant, useful information in each review, and (B) the reviews here are well written. I don’t, for example, agree with every criticism or praise that Alaric posts, but I find his reviews and blogs interesting to read and well written at that. Personally, I don’t look to review sites to confirm my own existing attitudes about a game. I look to them to provide me with info and insight into games I’m considering purchasing.
3.) I think it’d be terrific to hear from all of the reviewers here what they think makes for a really good game and what influences (in general terms) their reviews. It’d help readers discern how closely this or that reviewer hews to their own attitudes, and whether to take this or that element of such reviews with a grain of salt. (IE: “Ok, this reviewer really puts a lot of emphasis on graphics, but is less concerned with story. That’s not so much like me. On the other hand, that reviewer really digs innovation in game design and I’m all about that.”)
@Alaric – I read on the NWN2 wiki page that Bioware, while not the main developer, still had a significant role in guiding Obsidian. Does that count?
I followed the development of NWN2 back in the day. It was my understanding that Obsidian was developing under the Bioware umbrella. If I am wrong, then I guess I should have done more homework.
I should probably have mentioned that Obsidian had some of the staff from Black Isle Studios. In some ways, with Obsidian being a spiritual successor to Black Isle Studios, you would have expected even more from NWN2. After all, Black Isle Studios only made Planescape: Torment. And if its one thing that Alaric and I agree on, its that we both loved that game.
Black Isle also was responsible for the development of Fallout 1 and 2, which, in my opinion, are bona fide classics.
I just want to say that Neverwinter Nights 2 was made by Obsidian, and not BioWare. Furthermore, I honestly think that NWN2 was a great game in every aspect, while I couldn’t get myself to finish NWN 1 as I found it to be horrible. I loved the characters, especially Ammon Jerro, loved the story and it’s execution as it’s much more important then the idea itself and loved the expansions. Mask of the Betrayer alone beats all of Bioware games ever produced; with the exception of Baldur’s Gate 2, but that game was co-developed with Black Isle.
And no, I do not like BioWare, but then again I never did. Obsidian is a much better company, because you can patch a buggy game and wait for a more powerful PC to play it, but you can’t patch a lackluster BioWare title and expect any kind of improvement.
Mass Effect and Dragon Age series only show that. ME series is not even an RPG series, but a mediocre third person shooter with dialogues and no consequences whatsoever, while Dragon Age Origins had clunky combat system with bad scripting and Dragon Age 2 was probably the worst game ever produced by a big studio; it’s just abysmal.
Last I knew KOTOR 2 was also done by Obsidian. At the time Bioware was doing Jade Empire I believe.
Yeah, I think that’s right. Bioware may have published it, but I think Obsidian did the actual development work.
Seems Bioware really didnt have anything to do with making or publishing it,all they did was give a bit of technical assistance.Personally I thought KOTOR 2 was not nearly as good as KOTOR for storyline or gameplay. To name one thing that was atrocious is you couldonlyuse 7 specific parts in the known galaxy to make your lightsaber.Not 7 types…7 parts peroid or you got stuck with a vibrosword. Here is what wikipedia had to say about it:
The game is the sequel to BioWare’s commercially and critically acclaimed Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. The change of developers came at BioWare’s suggestion based on their familiarity with Obsidian Entertainment’s previous work,[2] as BioWare was busy developing Jade Empire and started focusing on their own intellectual properties.[3] Development on The Sith Lords started around the same time of Knights of the Old Republic’s Xbox release.[4]
The Sith Lords was constructed using an updated version of Knights of the Old Republic’s Odyssey game engine, which Obsidian obtained from BioWare Company.[2] BioWare also provided technical assistance to Obsidian’s developers.[2] New features include more combat animations and interface scaling.[5]
Well, it looks like I goofed up.
On the other hand, I hope my sincere offer of dialog is taken up by all interested parties.
@Alaric: Oh, please. NWN2 was a great game. MUCH, MUCH better than the borefest which was Morrowind. Personal Opinion, of course.
NWN2 was one of the worst games ever made, but I didn’t enjoy Morrowind all that much either. Oblivion and Fallout 3 were quite good though. And this too is my personal opinion. =)
It’s mostly because the original creator isn’t the one in charge of production or lore. This means what was once an original story written with atmosphere and consistent logic, now becomes a committee result. And while committees of people can do some interesting things working together, they cannot put out a consistent, whole, spiritually expansive, work of artistic expression like a written story.
The key that made Planescape Torment superior is that the person who wrote all the dialogue and stuff, was also the one in charge of production and got to decide how to fit things within his Creative Vision. This is often called Creative Control, and committees of writers don’t get creative control over much of anything when it comes to the finished product.
I see this all the time in Japanese visual novels (which is the place to go to for people who want good stories, some of it is even translated into very good English) which get adapted for anime shows. Horrendous disruption in plot, characterization, and creative world details just from moving from one creator to a director that was somebody other than the original creator. Just from that alone. Even with a good director, they would have problems.
On the other hand, original work animes that had the same director and writer, tended to be pretty good. Ano Hanna (That Flower that we still don’t know the name of) was certainly one of the more emotional pieces and it was only 11 episodes long, compared to the 13 or 26 of a normal season (4 seasons in a year).
Anyways, people who have read Utawarerumono (PC) and Fate/StayNight *PC* should easily be able to distinguish between the artistic consistency of a work made with creator control and American PC games made by committees where the writer may only have a small input into how the artwork, game plot, and mechanics is produced.
Sword of the Stars and Homeworld 1 were examples of a good teamwork between MC and Arin Dembo, in which their collaboration worked and didn’t hurt the creative vision. Homeworld 2, of course, didn’t have Arin Dembo or Martin C, thus it felt different. It had to be. Art by a different hand and maker just isn’t the same. Which is why HOmeworld Cataclysm was the truer sequel.
Bioware’s Bioshock, and Dragon Age and Mass Effect, are getting close to full creative vision and control. They just aren’t quite there yet. Almost though. They are on the edge and getting better. What they mostly lack is that the writing and character panels need to be CONNECTED to the plot and the actual combat. Meaning, a character needs to have an attack and an attack name, that suits his background and attitude.
While DAO1/2′s combat was actually pretty fun and interesting, what with the spells, it was only somewhat connected to the plot. None of the cutscenes did much to focus on using specific spells and their combos, for example. Why not, when the combos are already there and it is what the player is most familiar with combat wise. Instead it’s just animated characters using daggers, even the wizards. Disconnect there. It has less impact that way. But Mass Effect has a primary writer and that allows them to have a great background in terms of the Citadel and the aliens. Dragon Age also has great background fiction and materials all tied together. They just now need to tie in the actual gameplay like they did with Bioshock. They’ve gotten close. Their synthesis is almost there. They just need a few tweaks to be able to get tear jerker endings where people feel real emotions, and powerful ones at that.
Utawarerumono and Fate/Stay: Night endings were so powerful, that it left the reader stunned days afterwards, still contemplating the ramifications of what they read and saw. It’s a great experience and a great ending to spending a lot of time with characters in a game.
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