I’m someone who bought Jade Empire based off a recommendation and the game sucked so I agree with your assessment. Then there was MAJOR hype leading up to Dragon Age as being the holy grail of rpgs (plus they used Marilyn Manson’s “New Shit” in the commercial). I preordered the game based solely off hype which I never do, and Jesus Christ I hate the game. The graphics suck, the gameplay sucks, the mechanics suck and to this day I cannot understand why the steaming turd got such high marks. It sits gathering dust because I won’t play it.

I never played that version of Baldurs Gate but I am a rpg and pen and paper rpg veteran so consider myself more than able to debate the merits of all kinds of rpgs. I’m on a hack n slash kick right now so playing: Dungeon Hunter Alliance, Sacred 2 and will be buying D&D: Daggerfall and Dungeon Siege 3. I’m also picking up Two Worlds II soon and later this year Dark Souls & Skyrim (in that order, Dark Souls over Skyrim).

I Feel So Very much the same way Alaric , Even my last attempt to play out a round Of DA 2 was less time spent that it was to install,

I see the writing on the wall for Bioware, and on the main Site right on the first page where it says Bioware – A Division of EA.

One thing is for certain – this site defiantly isn’t on the Bioware payola chuckwagon! And thank God for it, because we need a serious injection of honesty into the reviews world. Bioware hasn’t released a good game since KOTOR and everyone knows it. The sad reality is that the loudest voices in gaming are the nerdy snobs who buy a title based solely on the brand. I wish more people visited Avault..articles like this one need to be seen, and the gaming industry needs to know their being seen. As for The Witcher II, the PC version shipped with major game-breaking problems which are only starting to be patched. Between the buggy DRM, lousy console ports and Steam being jammed into everything, PC gaming is really becoming a nightmare. Other than MMOs I rarely find a new game I can stand. Most of what I play is at least five years old.

@The Bad Guy: “D&D: Daggerfall”? Daggerfall was the second Elder Scrolls title, and is a classic in its own right (despite a proliferation of classic Bethesda bugs, LOL).

lol @ psycros I have played every Elder Scrolls game since Arena on PC which no one knew about all the way through present. No I mean the D&D… oh shit I said fall whatever. Daggerdale Daggerfall same difference only completely different.

=( You know what I meant!!! I keep calling Two Worlds II, Two Towers II lmao. I’m having game name probs.

Hey, glad you guys liked it! Tell your friends!

While I certainly think that there are criticisms that could be leveled at Bioware for this or that element of their games, I rather enjoyed Mass Effect. The Bioware titles I’ve played are: Baldur’s Gate 1 and 2, Neverwinter Nights 1 (which I really only played a few levels of), KOTOR 1, and Mass Effect 1.

To my way of thinking, BG2 represents the zenith of their approach to gaming, while still giving the player a lot of control over the game itself. BG1 didn’t have as much interesting character interaction, but BG2′s size and character interactions were terrific, especially in how they translated over the course of the expansion packs and such.

KOTOR 1 had a solid story in a good setting. Mass Effect, as many have said, was a more polished KOTOR in a Bioware-native setting, but I liked that. I thought the story was entertaining and fun, and was told pretty well. I also tried to do as many side quests as possible, listened with interest at the news reports, and read the background info that you’d gradually find during the game. I thought the player controls (inventory aside) were solid, and my only gripe was the same gripe I had for KOTOR — not enough teammates at once. I liked BG2 because it gave me a nice big party to control, but I recognize that doesn’t translate as well.

NWN struck me as a weak entry in Bioware’s catalog, mostly because it felt….small. Probably because you only got one companion at a time, which I found fairly boring, especially coming off of BG2.

At any rate, I’m not about to jump on the Bioware hate or love trains, myself. I think they make decent games overall, but I’ve yet to play DA1, DA2, or ME2. I do think that, based on my own experiences, they CAN make crappy games from time to time, but I don’t fault them for sticking to a particular formula. I think Bioware is basically taking gaming in a particular direction — sort of the “interactive novel/film” approach, rather than a completely free-form game, and I’m cool with that. God knows there are plenty of “sandbox” games that do squat for me (I’m lookin’ at you, GTA IV…).

Regardless, I’m glad that Avault is willing to run stories like this. Even if I don’t always agree with them, it’s nice to find a gaming review site that isn’t “bought and sold” by the major distributors where one need merely announce publication of the next humdrum been-there-done-that sequel and be met with breathless excitement.

I’m the same type of gamer, Solo. I do all the side quests, read all the in-game encyclopedia descriptions, etc. =)

That’s cool. I mean, if it doesn’t do it for you, it doesn’t do it for you. I respect the fact that you offer a dissenting opinion amidst a sea of “I liked it too!” reviews. For my money (er…not that I pay you guys anything…), I actually prefer to read negative reviews because it gives me a better sense of what’s WRONG with the game and what I may not like.

One of the biggest problems I have with other review sites is how their glowing praise and high numbers end up masking deeper problems with the game. To my way of thinking, if you’re talking about the “A-list” franchises, development houses, etc., the question isn’t what they did right, but rather what they DIDN’T do right. I EXPECT the A-listers to get it right. I’m more surprised when they drop the ball and I want to know how they did it when it happens. Maybe it’ll be something I care about, maybe not, but at least I’ll know instead of having to read between the lines and pick out the potentially problematic stuff that’s barely mentioned in the review.

Yea, reviewing like that is problematic. For instance I often come a cross a game that I like a lot, but that also has a lot of flaws. If I list all of them, it will seem like there is a big disconnect between what I say about it and how I grade it.

I think there’s ways to balance it, personally. You guys strike a pretty good balance most of the time. Only on a few occasions have I seen a review that made me say “Wait…so, they hated it, but I should buy it?” I’m talking more about reviews where it’s just endless gushing and a complete glossing-over of any flaws.

But then, I’m actually at a point where I think gaming sites should do a “Two Months Later…” review column where reviewers go back and say “Ok, now that the shine’s off, is it really worthwhile?” Trouble is, there aren’t many gamers who wait that long to buy if the buzz has been largely positive, so I suppose there wouldn’t be much market for a column like that (aside from myself, of course…). I tend to think this is how game franchises stay afloat. Put out a new game in the franchise every 6-9 months, and basically make it the same game as before with shinier graphics and a few new MP maps. It’ll hold folks for the next 6 months until they get bored and pony up again.

Ya, that’s true. I had this conversation with Michele recently. It seems that after a certain point the interest in a game begins to drop exponentially. But the more hands-one time a reviewer gets – the more qualified he or she is to review the game. So it’s a balancing act between thoroughness and recency. Personally I’m a thoroughness type of guy, but I absolutely recognize the fact that even the best review ever is kind of useless if it comes out a year after the game does. =)

Exactly, although sometimes those year-hence reviews actually are (in my opinion) more honest. I find it particularly interesting how glowing initial reviews about games can be — both from gamers and professional reviewers — only to turn to gripes the longer people play the game. I’ve seen people’s reactions to games start with “AWESOME”, turn to “Meh,” and finally become “OMG IT SUCKS!” within the span of about 4-6 months. I guess I’m old, but I tend to think that a game should last you a bit longer than that for your $50-60…

In MY day, we played games for MONTHS! YEARS, even! And we didn’t have any salt! We ate dirt and LIKED IT! FEH!

You nailed that one, Solo! How long after release day are you going to still be playing that game? In the case of the orignal BG, I think we can all agree MONTHS if not YEARS. Since the finale of BG II, and I know many disagree with me on this, only the first DA attempted to come close to that.

And just for the record, my love affair with them isn’t over “yet”, but I’m currently cheating on them with Atlus and preparing for a tryst with Bethesda.

Wow I would never say I was cheating on Bioware.. Especially when dating Atlus and Bethesda. Bioware would be the homeless crack wh0r3 I let b.j. me in the sticky floored ladies room at the local skeezy dive bar while I was hammered to the point of black out from losing a Jaeger drinking match with a more seasoned alcoholic.

Wow… that was… kinda funny actually. In a somewhat disturbing kind of way.

I aim for disturbing. Thx for the compliment. =)

I don’t understand the DA1 hate. It’s not BA3 or NWN3, and I don’t know why that is expected. It’s a good game that has a poor selection of skills, which to me is better than say, a bad game with cool skills(I think of Bulletstorm, though it’s badness makes it good). DA2 is awful though, just awful. The story is so anti-climactic in comparison to the first game, and the freedom of choice is far too thin. DA1 really felt like a game where I was having a meaningful affect on the story. I got to make my character, my background, my look, my demeanor, basically everything about my character was my choice or influenced by me in some way. Say what you want about textures, there are plenty of mods to fix that if it is such a big deal. Really though, you’d have to be pretty superficial to worry about that sort of thing.

There is not a way to fix the textures on the PS3. The graphics were horrid. It is not superficial to criticize a game that was hyped as much as Dragon Age was. I never was able to zoom in on my character’s face which annoyed me also. The controls felt clunky and combat blew. Now maybe the pc version is incredible and “only” the PS3 version is bad but something tells me you might clean up some of the graphics but would not change the gameplay.

Be careful when you accuse someone of being superficial. In my case I own most systems dating back to atari 2600 and never put graphics over fun (which is why I am enjoying dungeon hunter alliance for example or made my own character in 3D Dot Game Heroes, playing Sacred 2 atm, and will buy Wizardry)

I have noticed a trend of call of duty, madden and/or pc gamers heaping love on dragon age. I think it’s a casual gamer’s rpg. More for folks with limited exposure to rpgs or WoW addicts.

“…pc gamers heaping love on dragon age. I think it’s a casual gamer’s rpg. More for folks with limited exposure to rpgs or WoW addicts.”

PC gamers = casual gamers

???

I will concede this, however, but before I do I AM NOT CALLING MY MALE COUNTERPARTS THAT ENJOY THE GAME EFFEMINATE, but…

it is a game for that has great appeal for the ladies.

I get your point but I wouldn’t make a blanket assumption that pc gamers are hardcore gamers. You have many cases where people have a pc at home (duh hehe) but because they aren’t hardcore gamers they simply play on the pc because of convenience/money.

I know the opposite is true also just saying some dude playing facebook games isn’t by default a core gamer because of mouse and keyboard.

I never analyzed the guy/girl factor when assessing DA. I know there is a big relationship component to the game but I seriously could not get into the game because of everything I already mentioned. I’m actually still pissed because I got it with super high expectations including buying DLC and I just dislike the fricking game immensely. Kinda funny if it weren’t so sad…

Oh I wasn’t, I just wanted to clarify that you weren’t implying PC gamers were all lumped into the casual crowd (that could put Alaric off his meds). I was at the other end of the spectrum going in – I had no expectations (not the case for DA2 – was looking for a continuation of what I believed had been a great game). I noticed the female factor about 3 months in, and began to wonder where all these girls had been hiding all these years. When your game generates thousands of pieces of fan fic (not that I would ever read that stuff) it has made an impression with the Buffistas.

I used to be an Evercrack addict, played Dark Ages, EQ2, Guild Wars and also DDO for a long time. I have a pretty good rig too but I am a console gamer at heart.

Impossible to argue that console hardware isn’t antiquated (PS3 included). Time for new consoles. I’m ready to bail on my PS3s for Project Cafe if it’s any good. I’ve hated Sony the last couple years, just had nothing better to turn to (PC still isn’t for me).

I love Buffistas so I guess I should bone up on Dragon Age =)

Sadly , what i see is a blatant use of the lion share of graphics power on the consoles and features second..across all platforms. god forbid you start expending precious bytes of ram and cpu/gpu clocks to run stuff like AI algorythims , collision detection , gameplay mechanics etc etc … as far as bEAware , Its obvious the last iteration of DA was a monygrab with an absolute minimum on the game . yes there was SOME kinda story .. but with the disconnection from DAO and the retarded amount of cut and paste content and mechanics i have to say 2/5 .. or .. BOOOOOOOOOOO

This crazy talk i hear about Kinect in ME 3 im sure is nonsense.. but i can totaly see the corporate end of EA thinking . yeh. sell more hardware with a nice fat kinect /pricepoint deal with microsoft.. most of the retards out there wont see it coming.. and we can sell more fluff that way !!!

There are some great games coming , a few ive been waiting on for some time.. none if any from bEAware for a year or 2 and alas, a PILE of garbage in the meantime.

and let me clarify when I say I’ve hated Sony I mean hated their business practice not the games. Games still are far superior (not counting multi-platform releases that seem to suck on PS3). Stealing OS, attempting to crucify GeoHot, phasing out backward compatibility, covering up the security breach and finally the pathetic “welcome back” package that looks generous to kids with no games or people who don’t know anything about business/marketing. Sony is doing a combined total of jack & shit and passing it off like they are giving away the entire store lmao. Works though so that’s why they do it. There are so many loyal rabid Sony fanboys that any time you criticize them legitimately you get flamed immediately. It’s sad.

I have a Sony Bravia, Dash, 2 PS3s, previous Sony consoles, had a Sony receiver, have a Sony 5.1 3D Bluray player surround system, pay for Playstation Plus, Qriocity, tons of games etc (not bragging by the way just pointing out I have a right to bitch if I want to) so when I criticize Sony for being dishonest, greedy & shady in their behavior it’s with knowledge, experience and open eyes.

I don’t say I am considering Project Cafe lightly. I really don’t “want” to bail, but honestly if a competitor can twist my arm and show me the goods I will. I have nothing against Mario/Metroid/Zelda most of the time they are fun as Hell. Nintendo will have to have better online functionality, new features and for Christ’s sake stop marketing 95% of the games to fucking toddlers. Let’s have some gritty shit on there and let parents do their damn jobs for a change. We can have our colorful Kirby paints rainbow paper shit and that’s fine, just balance it out for some adults also. Also Project Cafe better not “just be better” than PS3. Like Vapus is saying frickin’ put in some RAM for godsake and better CPU. It’s criminal how little RAM Sony put in their console. Imagine how much more developers could do if Sony had simply matched the 360 in the RAM dept? It’s unreal.

defaulted to my name for some reason – above post is The Bad Guy

Shame that Jade Empire actually had a lot of potential. They tried to posit the whole “Open Fist” / “Closed Fist” thing as being two legitimate different ideologies, but in practice did just usually result in you being irrationally evil or good for no reason. I loved the idea of the setting and world enough I could still enjoy the game, despite it’s myriad flaws, but have not cared for a game they’ve made since.

I can understand a lament based upon failed expectations, and I don’t fully know where you’re coming from since I’ve only intensely played two BioWare titles (ME 1 and 2). However there’s a major problem with your criticism, is that your expectations aren’t exactly confluent with what BioWare INTENDED to release with Mass Effect. You’re disappointed that your favourite RPG game developer has lost it’s way but in the case of a game like Mass Effect, they made a conscious decision to make an RPG/Shooter, and one I’d say was tilted towards shooter. You can’t expect it to be some purist RPG game when it makes no pretense about being one.

Sure the morality system was cosmetic change of the KOTOR system but sometimes you have to look at situations and try not to be dogmatic in your philosophy – what I mean is it isn’t always necessary to be innovative for innovations sake. I think in this instance, the cliche “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” worked well for Mass Effect. Sometimes it makes more sense to be pragmatic than idealistic when approaching game development. As for the story of Mass Effect, I think it is very well done and is heads and shoulders above its peers. I’m not trying to be harsh when I say this, but I think the lens through which you judged later BioWare titles was occluded by nostalgia as well and incongruous expectations/goals.

@GaussDragon I’d advise you to hold off the ME critic stereotypes and reread the article. At no point he criticizes ME for shifting towards the shooter side of the RPG/Shooter hybrid or not being a “purist RPG”.

GaussDragon, first and foremost – thank you for an intelligent and thought out response. =) In fact this entire thread has been surprisingly civil. You guys rock!

Anyway, it seems we have no choice but to agree to disagree when it comes to matters of subjective pleasure. You enjoyed the narrative of Mass Effect, and I cannot possibly tell you that you didn’t. At the same time I found it to be cheap and shallow, an afterthought, a pile of drivel. It’s the sort of kitsch that doesn’t even bother to pretend to be art. If it was a book it’d be printed on soft, yellow paper and would never see a hardcover edition. This is to say that I didn’t enjoy it. Nobody can tell me that I did. =)

Now, the reason I held it to certain standards and had certain expectations for it, was because it was advertised as an RPG first and foremost. Yes, BioWare did mention the shooter component, but they still insisted that it was an RPG. Plus, some shooting action is actually good. (Think of Deus Ex or System Shock.) The true problem was in the fact that things were in fact broken and needed to be fixes. I would never call for innovation for innovation’s sake, but there is quite a lot that is wrong with the KotOR-JE-ME mechanic. The reason they aren’t fixing it is because it sells. But since when have sales been an indicator of quality?

I also understand your point about nostalgia and hardcore PRGs. It may seem t o be the case, since in my article I praised a lot of the old games while complaining about the newer ones. Still, there are plenty of new RPGs that I think are as good (or better) than their old counterparts. Right now I am playing The Witcher 2, and I can honestly say – that game is better than anything BioWare has ever produced, yet it is neither old nor “hardcore.” Another example is Fallout 3, which is easily on par with the Baldur’s Gate series. So I’m definitely not stuck on old games.

In the end some people will continue loving these titles. Good for them, I wish them many happy hours of gameplay. Just because these are not quality products, doesn’t mean they are incapable of having mass appeal. If this is what BioWare intended to create – good for them. They are in the business of making money and I hope they made money. Still, I find it impossible to recognize their games as good games. Popular culture is not art and can never be art.

This thread is too civil. Anyone who likes Mass Effect is a n00b and doesn’t know shit about rpgs.

What a whine-fest this article is! Despite the author’s obvious talent for prose, it really is only four pages of whiney drivel.

You’re already voting with your wallet. That’s the only way companies respond.

Use your talent to write reviews and stop the useless diatribes. And stop being a p****.

Hey Boom, we actually write reviews AND subjective blogs. A good rule of thumb is that if there’s not a title for a game in the title of the article, it’s a personal blog post.

Feel free to ignore our personal blogs and only read reviews. If you want to limit your involvement by only reading game reviews, that’s your choice.

Maybe you write game reviews, maybe you don’t. If you do write game reviews, you should know why we write personal blog articles. [edited for content]

Mr. Booth,

You did very well for the first two paragraphs! I was nearly convinced of your competence for responding in general to an article you (ostensibly) weren’t involved with.

Your third paragraph dashed those hopes.

If you don’t want people to comment on your blog entries, take down the comment section. If you want comments which only support your viewpoints, don’t approve them. If do you want to have comments and also have them support dissenting opinions, be a good boy and let’s not get defensive, OK?

“an article you (ostensibly) weren’t involved with”

I might not be directly involved with the writing of this specific article, but I am involved with the website as a whole and it’s based on that involvement that I have the freedom to take offense with anything that detracts from the website’s goals.

“if do you want to have comments and also have them support dissenting opinions”

It wasn’t dissenting, your comment was rude. If you can’t see the difference between constructive criticism and what you wrote in your comment, then that’s you’re problem, not mine.

Alaric and I disagree on a lot of things but maintain a high enough level of respect for each other to refrain from comments like:

“Use your talent to write reviews and stop the useless diatribes. And stop being a p****.”

Relax, guys. =)

Boom is right in that the article does sound a bit whiny. It’s an opinion piece after all, and in this case my opinion was something of a lament.

As to voting with my wallet, I am not in a good position to do that. As a journalist I generally get games for free, and often they are not the games I would choose to buy of my own accord. The purpose of any given review or (to a lesser degree) an article such as this one, is to influence other people to vote with their wallets instead.

P.S. – He thinks I’m talented. LOL! =)))

Sorry Alaric. Sorry Boom.

You just gotta understand, it’s that time of the month, and I’ve been fighting with my mother, and I burned the casserole again.

Boom was right, you do like to whine =]

And unfortunately he also seems to have stroked your ego as well!

Flattery will get you everywhere. I also accept donations in the form of gold, spices, goats, precious stones and pleasure slaves.

And Booth, nothing to apologize for! Thank you for defending my honor! =)

I’ll have them terminated at once sir.

I am a man who will fight for your honor.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIYfgXKloMU

NWN was a kicka** game, not sure why so many people hate it. Probably because it has a single hero hmm? I love the lone hero thing btw, probably why I re-played NWN 10 times (yeah, you read that right). It wasn’t BG3. It was just a different type of game.

Mass Effect was awesome. It had some tedious parts, like planet exploration, but overall a really enjoyable game. I reminded me of Deus Ex: Invisible war in many ways. I picked ME2 a year ago, and I am keeping it aside for the day when I have a lot of free time, so I can take my time playing it and enjoying it!

I was writing a review for Dungeon Siege III this week, and that’s when I understood why I don’t like these games. They have been falsely advertised as RPGs. In reality they are really nothing but concealed dungeon crawls. Traveling narrow passageways, killing tons of mobs for loot. Semi-open “town” areas. Pedestrian plots.

Truth be told, for dungeon-crawls they aren’t that bad. If they were advertised as such I might have even enjoyed them. Alas the company called them Role-Playing Games, and that they are not.

@Alaric

Question:

What, to you, defines a Role-Playing Game? Is it the degree of freedom to explore? The fact that you gradually improve your own “stats” in the game? A branching vs. linear plot? The focus on character interaction/story instead of accumulation of loot? Variety of activities in which you can engage?

I actually find this to be a tougher question than it might seem on the surface. At least if one is to answer with something other than “I know it when I see it.” I mean, I’d say that Bioshock 1 and 2 weren’t RPGs….but why is that? They had character-building/customization. They had ethical choices that you could make in the game (albeit not many). There were usually multiple solutions to in-game problems. The world itself was fairly open to explore. The story was strong in both games. And yet, I’d still consider them “shooters.” I guess because the primary mode of interacting with the world was shootin’ stuff.

But there’s something else at work aside from the interface concerns. And that’s what I’m having a hard time putting my finger on, as far as defining an RPG. Just curious what you guys think, and especially Alaric who seems to be quite opinionated on…well…everything, but this subject in particular.

That, my good man, is a question better answered in another editorial.

One I can’t wait to read.

Good to see this site isn’t part of the PAID REVIEWS GENERAL!! crowd (see: every critic site on metacritic that gave Dragon Age 2 a high score). I feel EXACTLY the same way with this article. It’s just sad that DLCWare would rather try and bribe/buy good reviews than make good games anymore.

We should officially rename them ShovelWare – A Division of DLC Incorporated

I really have a hard time taking this article seriously. In order to make an entire critique of BioWare you really ought to have played through ALL it’s games- FULLY, including it’s later ones- DAO, ME, DA2 and ME2.

Honestly, I think you’d enjoy DAO. The customization is there, the writing is great, the characters are incredibly memorable, there’s lots of dialogue, decision making, and strategy elements… DA2 is really nothing like DAO, a lot of fans have dubbed it “Dragon Effect”- because due to ME’s giant success, BioWare thought it should redesign some elements about DA, and frankly, it’s become more of Mass Effect set in a fantasy world… disappointing for sure. But really, swallow your pride for a moment and give DAO a chance. It’s one of my FAVORITE games of all time- you get really emotionally invested in it.

And with each play through with a different origin story (male, female, elf, dwarf, human, commoner, noble, city, dalish)- characters can react to you differently, and situations and endings turn out different as well. It makes you WANT to replay over and over just to see how things change.

DAO is very transportive. Give it a chance and write about it as you progress through the game with your mixed feelings about BioWare, now THAT’S an article I’d love to read.

Or we think it still sucks and story doesn’t save it

Well, with ME3 coming out, I wonder if this bioware ban will still be in effect =)

This is a tough article to read, because everything the reviewer says about NWN and DA2 is basically correct, but ME2 and DAO are two of the best games I’ve played in the last five years…and of course those are the two that were skipped. I mean, I have played Deus Ex Human Revolution, and it is no ME2…it’s much worse.

But to each their own!