Hey, I liked Andromeda! Maybe it just needed a few patches, I played it a few months after release and didn't see any of the bugs I remember people posting about.
I played it a good while after launch. I couldn't find any of the goofy bugs either by then and I did actually like the beginning of the game. But I felt the story was the strongest at the beginning and then it became a bit formulaic. Overall though I didn't think it was a bad as some made it out to be but also not stellar of course.
Esta entrada fue editada (miércoles, 21 de octubre de 2026, 20:49)
ME2 is amazing and ME1 was great. 3 had good mechanics but worse writing, and Andromeda was terrible on many fronts but the ability to change your build on the fly was cool.
When I talk about Exodus and Expanse Im talking more about the style of third-person sci-fi RPGs with companions.
Apparently day 1 of Firefly filming he told Alan Tudyk to go buy an Xbox so they could play Halo. Day 2 he asked Alan "so what'd you think" and Alan was confused, having thought it to be a joke. That day he had to go and buy said Xbox.
I'm listening to their podcast (Once We Were Spacemen) right now, though the episode where they talked about how they became friends was ages ago, so I might be misremembering some details. They also have an episode with the guy who directed the Uncharted fan film Nathan starred in, Allan Ungar.
Apparently day 1 of Firefly filming he told Alan Tudyk to go buy an Xbox so they could play Halo. Day 2 he asked Alan "so what'd you think" and Alan was confused, having thought it to be a joke. That day he had to go and buy said Xbox.
And then both of them ended up in Halo as Buck and Mickey in ODST.
They should make that failure of a game, Anthem, open source. No money to be made there. Make it so everyone knows just how bad. As an example of a terrible game and assuming terrible source code. Only 1 way to find out. I'm not still hopeful that it has huge potential. Nope nope nope.
On one hand, hundreds of people without a job, but on the other hand, seeing one of the many companies I boycott on ethical principle bleeding money bolsters my resolve
David Pirner reveals why he wrote his ‘metaphor for depression’, while Tony Kaye recalls what inspired the video – which showed the faces of missing children and became a phenomenon
It wasn’t always plain sailing for the families afterwards – kids don’t run away from happy homes – but maybe things had changed when they went back or they were older and able to cope better.
i don't know the specifics, but that sounds like what they're trying to say very gently. i wouldn't go so far as to say it ruined their lives, but in our experiences (two of my cousins and one niece ran away when they were teenagers) if their lives were ruined it was the shit that caused them to run away that did it.
i know, small sample size, but most people expect their lives to be ordinary. it makes it easy to fall into the logical trap that everyone has the same experiences
The bigotry is probably a new thing for them then because at least back in the day they didn't give a fuck as long as it made money. Bioware games usually had LGB(perhaps not T, don't remember any) characters, often as romance options and I recall racial justice being a theme in both Mass Effect and Dragon Age games.
But I suspect the new owners don't really want their games to infect anyone with the gays(tm)
Esta entrada fue editada (miércoles, 21 de octubre de 2026, 22:17)
Ah, I didn't know about that one because I could never get into Inquisition myself. Though it seems to have been well received enough as a game that perhaps I should try it.
Part of me wonders if Krem received less hate than some other Ts in media because the Internet hate machine mostly seems to have it out for MTF rather than FTM folks or because he genuinely had good writing rather than being shoehorned in
Esta entrada fue editada (jueves, 22 de octubre de 2026, 0:28)
You're right, I don't get to decide whether you're a bigoted piece of shit, but I can certainly call you a bigoted piece of shit. You bigoted piece of shit.
Making a difference yet, Internet crusader? Maybe instead of spending your time on video games and yelling at people on the Internet, lying to yourself that you're "hehe trolling some bigot" you do something real. Get a real degree. Get a real career. Become useful and maybe you'll finally get a date. Your life will change around and maybe you won't be so angry with the world anymore.
Or nah, keep at it here instead. Reddit, discord. Continue being an intolerable idiot instead. That's more fun and you'll never have to face the reality that the problem was all you all along. That's what you'll do, you'll show me.
You're the one who's miserable. Constantly lashing out at strangers on the Internet. Hatred of people who you perceive as doing better than you. That bitterness is never going to go away and it will consume you unless you do something about it.
Good news is that EA self-destructed in the Saudi deal so a few guys at the top could fill their pockets one more time. The debt they loaded EA with will be paid by selling everything. There is no other way. EA can no longer operate and their IPs will go to different studios. Let‘s hope one or two of them treat the franchises a tiny bit more carefully. Maybe. Or it will all be AI slop. Time will tell. But the way I see it EA is toast.
A year ago? People called it eight years ago with the Anthem disaster that Dragon Age 4 would be the studio's last chance. BioWare was already dead, this is just the merciful last bullet.
Depending on how old you like your old school, you might enjoy Spiderweb Software's games. They (mostly just a guy and his wife) have been cranking out RPGs since 1994. While all their games are superficially similar, there's an impressive amount of narrative and mechanical variety. If you're a D&D fan, especially the Forgotten Realms setting, you might enjoy the Avernum series. You're a prisoner, banished to the underground realm of Avernum , never to see the light of day again. However, you are not alone, as the ruthless Empire which sentenced you has long enjoyed sending its dissidents into the subterranean realm. In fact, there are several factions which vie for influence, and the player can throw their lot in with any or all of them. In some ways, it feels like an old school Underdark module for DnD.
Their other series are worth checking out too. In Avadon, you play a party of inquisitors (essentially) for a tyrannical, immortal overlord who exercises nigh totalitarian control over an alliance of 5 nations. Over the course of the game, your party uncovers a far-flun
... Mostrar más
Depending on how old you like your old school, you might enjoy Spiderweb Software's games. They (mostly just a guy and his wife) have been cranking out RPGs since 1994. While all their games are superficially similar, there's an impressive amount of narrative and mechanical variety. If you're a D&D fan, especially the Forgotten Realms setting, you might enjoy the Avernum series. You're a prisoner, banished to the underground realm of Avernum , never to see the light of day again. However, you are not alone, as the ruthless Empire which sentenced you has long enjoyed sending its dissidents into the subterranean realm. In fact, there are several factions which vie for influence, and the player can throw their lot in with any or all of them. In some ways, it feels like an old school Underdark module for DnD.
Their other series are worth checking out too. In Avadon, you play a party of inquisitors (essentially) for a tyrannical, immortal overlord who exercises nigh totalitarian control over an alliance of 5 nations. Over the course of the game, your party uncovers a far-flung conspiracy against your boss for his abuses of power, and you are free to RP your characters' reaction to this in a number of ways. Even further afield of that, the Geneforge series is set in a science fantasy world which blends magic with bioengineering and genesplicing. As an apprentice of the Shapers Guild, you have the power to change (or even create whole-cloth) life forms to suit your purposes. Brings created in this way are programmed (for lack of a better word) to be completely obedient to their Shaper, despite otherwise being sentient, free beings. The ethics of this form a large part of the tension in the plot. Mechanically, though, it means that the game is like a weird Ultima/Pokemon hybrid, where your party consists of your mad scientist chimera creations, who will protect your squishy gene wizard until their dying breaths.
Thanks! I have played the beginning, the start is really cool IIRC on a ship, but then it just bogs down in an incomprehensible mess in a village in the jungle (or I'm too stupid)... Maybe I'll try it again, at least I already have it!
I mean BioWare has been a disaster for like a decade now, hasn't it?
2007: Mass Effect. BioWare acquired by EA.
2009: Dragon Age: Origins
2010: Mass Effect 2
2011: Dragon Age II (not AS loved as the first one, but still fun game, just a bit repetitive; Good reviews, great sales), SWTOR
2012: Mass Effect 3; The two remaining cofounders resign (the first one dropped off earlier to get back to her medical practice, apparently all 3 founders were fresh med school grads when they started).
2014: Dragon Age: Inquisition; Not my cup of tea, but sales disagree, BioWare's best selling game (definitely at that point, but possibly still?).
2017: Mass Effect: Andromeda; Sales still strong, but critical reception bad. A lot of people dislike it. Feels rushed, like a cheap "hey we own this IP, let's make a game unrelated to the previous ones" game. They really backed themselves into a corner with the ending of ME3 and at this point a prequel would've done better, but not an unrelated sequel in another galaxy.
2019: Anthem. Live service bullshit. S
... Mostrar más
I mean BioWare has been a disaster for like a decade now, hasn't it?
2007: Mass Effect. BioWare acquired by EA.
2009: Dragon Age: Origins
2010: Mass Effect 2
2011: Dragon Age II (not AS loved as the first one, but still fun game, just a bit repetitive; Good reviews, great sales), SWTOR
2012: Mass Effect 3; The two remaining cofounders resign (the first one dropped off earlier to get back to her medical practice, apparently all 3 founders were fresh med school grads when they started).
2014: Dragon Age: Inquisition; Not my cup of tea, but sales disagree, BioWare's best selling game (definitely at that point, but possibly still?).
2017: Mass Effect: Andromeda; Sales still strong, but critical reception bad. A lot of people dislike it. Feels rushed, like a cheap "hey we own this IP, let's make a game unrelated to the previous ones" game. They really backed themselves into a corner with the ending of ME3 and at this point a prequel would've done better, but not an unrelated sequel in another galaxy.
2019: Anthem. Live service bullshit. Sold well, but not as well as previous BW games. Abandoned after 2 years, but they continued selling in-game currency after stopping work on the game.
2021: Mass Effect remaster
2025: DA Veilguard. Well received, but sold poorly. Under half of the expected sales. Review bombed on some platforms for being "woke", but that's probably irrelevant given it started off "mostly positive" on Steam that requires you to actually play the game before reviewing it. Dropped the whole "your decisions from previous games influence the world" thing BioWare used to have. Explain all the mysterious lore and suddenly everything is simple and straight-forward...
They used to drop literal gold every 2 years or so on average. Now 6 years between two actually new games and quality seems to be dropping. The original people who made BioWare what it was are mostly gone, all of the founders long gone.
This while EA Games has actually been fairly hands-off with their studios. Respawn has been creating single-player games and has another one in the works. Those have no post-launch monetization whatsoever.
But anyway, EA was used as a vehicle to drop a bunch of debt into. I don't think any of their studios are going to be doing great by the time the decade's over.
Anthem was discontinued after like a month. They kept the servers open but gave up pretty much right away.
Which is a shame, because the gameplay was fucking tight as hell. I loved that game. It could have been the next Destiny if they'd just kept it around long enough. The only reason it was received so poorly in the first place was because the internet hate machine didn't have enough fodder that month.
Bioware has been dead to me since they got bought by EA anyway. All this means is that if they ever made a Jade Empire 2, it's gonna be bland and stupid.
Esta entrada fue editada (miércoles, 21 de octubre de 2026, 21:02)
That was my last experience with the Mass Effect setting and it felt like a very appropriate sendoff.
I was initially looking forward to Andromeda, but I'm glad I waited for the reviews. I would have been disappointed if that was my last Mass Effect experience.
EA has bought so many good game studios and forced them to make shitty games and then closed those studios because the shit games that they forced them to make didn't turn a profit, i played Red Alert 2 so much and had so much fun and knowing we'll never get anything like that again makes me want to launch all these life sucking corporate ghouls into the void.
I just replayed all of the mass effect games and dragonage games about a year or 2 ago, once Saudi Arabia bought EA I was like, welp, there goes that. (PIF can suck my DIF)
Now with Bioware being closed, glimmer of hope a new powerhouse independent studio pops up.
I've eventually managed to play it through to the end, there's some enjoyment but it's such a forgettable experience to me. Maybe I've misunderstood it, one day i'll give it another go. It has very little to do with the original trilogy, in anything except name and some references. Combat isn't too bad but the story is not that compelling
It has a different feel than 3 does, but I liked it as it's own thing.
I definitely recall the ship bugged me a little more, the beginning you're forced to navigate it and that bugged me. There are a lot of good aspects to it. If you like the series it definitely deserves a play. When I was playing and reading reviews I felt many reviews were overly critical and not really accurate. More popular to bash it, etc.
I spent so much time modding Generals and it was fun BUT it had a problem that's present even today that if you play longer it would get slower and slower and eventually crash, there might be a fix but i haven't bothered to check for the past 20 years.
I’m a bit out of the loop with studio purchases, but were they going under originally and needed to sell? I have to assume anyone selling their company knows it’s on borrowed time.
EA offered them a ton of money 100 mil or something in the ballpark and they thought they could keep going as before but with EAs corporate boot on their throats they fell apart, unhinged demands, release dates that required a ton of overtime, etc., just typical corporate assholes destroying a team that created some of the most iconic strategy games to date.
Neverwinter Nights. Dragon Age Origins. Mass Effect. Knights of the Old Republic. It may all be considered unc slop now but man Bioware at its peak was some good times in gaming.
i keep having trouble with this because most of the people in my newest band are boomers. i have to remind myself that i'm very fortunate to find people who don't fit stereotypes
You're right, it's good to separate the individual from the group. We obviously shouldn't specifically blame every single person in that age group, but we know the generation, in general, took most of the wealth and opportunity, then pulled the ladder up behind them, denying it to the following generations. They also voted for most of the current politicians and policies that are keeping inequality high.
Sounds like EA is doubling down on live service games, Star Wars and sports. Not surprising, the industry has been moving away from the big AAA single player game culture for a long time. That might end up being an era that was linited to Millennials.
So much better game experience, but nowhere near the cash cow of people blowing money on cosmetics in live service games and pay to win. Even super low effort mobile games will frequently milk out way more cash.
Basically the good money is with low quality content, so good quality has to come out of enthusiasm for gaming, not from board rooms.
Wait for an upcoming patch where they don't change any of the actual content, but if you're in a gay romance it just continually spawns hostile units every time you enter an area.
At Bioware we're constantly evolving with the times, and searching for ways to create exciting, dynamic new interactive experiences. That's why we're thrilled to announce the first new update to Mass Effect's gameplay in 20 years! The Queer Death DLC introduces a brand new law enforcement agency to every visitable planet! Simply engage a same-sex romance to experience ultra detailed brutal new chase and death sequences!
Aw man. Neverwinter Nights, Mass Effect, and OG Dragon Age saw me through some of my formative gaming years and it’s been a shame to watch since. I didn’t even bother with Veilguard.
Larian is our big shining hope for this kind of game now, it seems.
Check out Owlcat's new Expanse game, Osiris Reborn. It's an obvious love letter to everything about the Mass Effect series, while also being the best looking video game adaptation of the Expanse yet.
Thanks for the recommendation. I’m not familiar with the Expanse but I’ll keep an eye on the reviews! My windows gaming days are over but if the Xbox version is good I might pick it up.
The TV show is also great once you get through the first half of the first season, which is sloooow. The rest is amazing though, I actually prefer some aspects of it over the books (like introducing Avasarala earlier and giving Bobbie more to do).
I suspected this would happen after the Saudi take-over. I haven't played Veilguard, but i did see something about a non-binary character. I'd be very surprised if the saudi's funded something progressive like that, even if it was poorly executed from what i've seen.
Mass Effect 5 studio was reportedly told to tone down inclusivity by EA after Saudi Arabia buyout, former BioWare dev alleges, "so as to not cause offense"
Because an entire race of Blue Polysexual Mono-Gender females only able to birth other females didn't seem to click very well with the Saudis.
EarMaster
in reply to Scrubbles • • • Public Messageryven
in reply to EarMaster • • • Public MessageJiral
in reply to ryven • • • Public Messagems.lane
in reply to ryven • • • Public MessageI don't think you patch out the idea of 'exploring a new galaxy except someone else already did all the exploration for you'
YoFrodo
in reply to Scrubbles • • • Public Messagerafoix
in reply to YoFrodo • • • Public MessageWhat void? The void of casual role playing games with bad gameplay and worse writing?
I don’t think that void needs to be filled. The last BioWare game I enjoyed was Mass Effect 2 in 2010.
YoFrodo
in reply to rafoix • • • Public MessageME2 is amazing and ME1 was great. 3 had good mechanics but worse writing, and Andromeda was terrible on many fronts but the ability to change your build on the fly was cool.
When I talk about Exodus and Expanse Im talking more about the style of third-person sci-fi RPGs with companions.
MilitantAtheist
in reply to rafoix • • • Public MessageYoFrodo
in reply to MilitantAtheist • • • Public Messageboonhet
in reply to YoFrodo • • • Public MessageWho actually is a gamer himself too
Apparently day 1 of Firefly filming he told Alan Tudyk to go buy an Xbox so they could play Halo. Day 2 he asked Alan "so what'd you think" and Alan was confused, having thought it to be a joke. That day he had to go and buy said Xbox.
I'm listening to their podcast (Once We Were Spacemen) right now, though the episode where they talked about how they became friends was ages ago, so I might be misremembering some details. They also have an episode with the guy who directed the Uncharted fan film Nathan starred in, Allan Ungar.
zikzak025
in reply to boonhet • • • Public MessageAnd then both of them ended up in Halo as Buck and Mickey in ODST.
inb4_FoundTheVegan
in reply to Scrubbles • • • Public Messagelazymoose
in reply to Scrubbles • • • Public MessageDarkCloud
in reply to Scrubbles • • • Public MessageCarlos Solís
in reply to Scrubbles • • Public MessagemHtt
in reply to Scrubbles • • • Public Messageill never forgive EA for destroying westwood studios and maxis,
FUCK EA
ummthatguy
in reply to mHtt • • • Public MessageFuck. Now I have to add Bioware to the pile.
feinstruktur
in reply to ummthatguy • • • Public Messageummthatguy
in reply to feinstruktur • • • Public MessageMulligrubs
in reply to ummthatguy • • • Public MessagemHtt
in reply to ummthatguy • • • Public Messageyoyo they found 21 missing people off of that music video. its really a song of hope.
theguardian.com/culture/2022/oct/31/missing-kids-soul-asylum-runaway-train-tony-kaye-david-pirner#%3…
‘We found 21 missing kids’: Soul Asylum on making Runaway Train
Dave Simpson (the Guardian)ummthatguy
in reply to mHtt • • • Public MessageCouldbealeotard
in reply to mHtt • • • Public MessageMinnesotaGoddam
in reply to Couldbealeotard • • • Public Messagefrom the article:
i don't know the specifics, but that sounds like what they're trying to say very gently. i wouldn't go so far as to say it ruined their lives, but in our experiences (two of my cousins and one niece ran away when they were teenagers) if their lives were ruined it was the shit that caused them to run away that did it.
i know, small sample size, but most people expect their lives to be ordinary. it makes it easy to fall into the logical trap that everyone has the same experiences
Soulphite
in reply to mHtt • • • Public MessageNOT_RICK
in reply to Soulphite • • • Public Messagesychthys
in reply to NOT_RICK • • • Public MessageNOT_RICK
in reply to sychthys • • • Public Messagecheat700000007
in reply to NOT_RICK • • • Public Messageboonhet
in reply to Soulphite • • • Public MessageThe bigotry is probably a new thing for them then because at least back in the day they didn't give a fuck as long as it made money. Bioware games usually had LGB(perhaps not T, don't remember any) characters, often as romance options and I recall racial justice being a theme in both Mass Effect and Dragon Age games.
But I suspect the new owners don't really want their games to infect anyone with the gays(tm)
samus12345
in reply to boonhet • • • Public MessageKrem (Dragon Age) - Wikipedia
Contributors to Wikimedia projects (Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.)boonhet
in reply to samus12345 • • • Public MessageAh, I didn't know about that one because I could never get into Inquisition myself. Though it seems to have been well received enough as a game that perhaps I should try it.
Part of me wonders if Krem received less hate than some other Ts in media because the Internet hate machine mostly seems to have it out for MTF rather than FTM folks or because he genuinely had good writing rather than being shoehorned in
QueenHawlSera
in reply to boonhet • • • Public MessageTypically MTFs are seen as "misogynistic perverts" and FTMs are seen as "misunderstood lesbians"
Neither are an accurate picture but one is far easier to sympathize with.
the_crotch
in reply to QueenHawlSera • • • Public MessageGaslov
in reply to the_crotch • • • Public Messagethe_crotch
in reply to Gaslov • • • Public MessageGaslov
in reply to the_crotch • • • Public Messagethe_crotch
in reply to Gaslov • • • Public MessageGaslov
in reply to the_crotch • • • Public MessageKeep at it. Powerless. Yelling into the void.
Making a difference yet, Internet crusader? Maybe instead of spending your time on video games and yelling at people on the Internet, lying to yourself that you're "hehe trolling some bigot" you do something real. Get a real degree. Get a real career. Become useful and maybe you'll finally get a date. Your life will change around and maybe you won't be so angry with the world anymore.
Or nah, keep at it here instead. Reddit, discord. Continue being an intolerable idiot instead. That's more fun and you'll never have to face the reality that the problem was all you all along. That's what you'll do, you'll show me.
the_crotch
in reply to Gaslov • • • Public MessageGaslov
in reply to the_crotch • • • Public MessageCosmoNova
in reply to mHtt • • • Public MessageMwa
in reply to mHtt • • • Public MessageAnchorxiety
in reply to Scrubbles • • • Public Messagertxn
in reply to Anchorxiety • • • Public Messagerafoix
in reply to rtxn • • • Public MessageValmond
in reply to rafoix • • • Public Messageredhorsejacket
in reply to Valmond • • • Public MessageDepending on how old you like your old school, you might enjoy Spiderweb Software's games. They (mostly just a guy and his wife) have been cranking out RPGs since 1994. While all their games are superficially similar, there's an impressive amount of narrative and mechanical variety. If you're a D&D fan, especially the Forgotten Realms setting, you might enjoy the Avernum series. You're a prisoner, banished to the underground realm of Avernum , never to see the light of day again. However, you are not alone, as the ruthless Empire which sentenced you has long enjoyed sending its dissidents into the subterranean realm. In fact, there are several factions which vie for influence, and the player can throw their lot in with any or all of them. In some ways, it feels like an old school Underdark module for DnD.
Their other series are worth checking out too. In Avadon, you play a party of inquisitors (essentially) for a tyrannical, immortal overlord who exercises nigh totalitarian control over an alliance of 5 nations. Over the course of the game, your party uncovers a far-flun
... Mostrar másDepending on how old you like your old school, you might enjoy Spiderweb Software's games. They (mostly just a guy and his wife) have been cranking out RPGs since 1994. While all their games are superficially similar, there's an impressive amount of narrative and mechanical variety. If you're a D&D fan, especially the Forgotten Realms setting, you might enjoy the Avernum series. You're a prisoner, banished to the underground realm of Avernum , never to see the light of day again. However, you are not alone, as the ruthless Empire which sentenced you has long enjoyed sending its dissidents into the subterranean realm. In fact, there are several factions which vie for influence, and the player can throw their lot in with any or all of them. In some ways, it feels like an old school Underdark module for DnD.
Their other series are worth checking out too. In Avadon, you play a party of inquisitors (essentially) for a tyrannical, immortal overlord who exercises nigh totalitarian control over an alliance of 5 nations. Over the course of the game, your party uncovers a far-flung conspiracy against your boss for his abuses of power, and you are free to RP your characters' reaction to this in a number of ways. Even further afield of that, the Geneforge series is set in a science fantasy world which blends magic with bioengineering and genesplicing. As an apprentice of the Shapers Guild, you have the power to change (or even create whole-cloth) life forms to suit your purposes. Brings created in this way are programmed (for lack of a better word) to be completely obedient to their Shaper, despite otherwise being sentient, free beings. The ethics of this form a large part of the tension in the plot. Mechanically, though, it means that the game is like a weird Ultima/Pokemon hybrid, where your party consists of your mad scientist chimera creations, who will protect your squishy gene wizard until their dying breaths.
I first came across their work when I watched Jeff Vogel's GDC presentation several years ago. It's an hour long, but, if you have the time and interest, it's a very candid look at how the sausage is made in indie game development. In particular, I appreciate that he is very conscious that the games' visuals could at best be described as "quaint", but that just encouraged him to lean into the writing even harder to make up the difference, since that cost almost nothing.
Failing to Fail: The Spiderweb Software Way
GDC Festival of Gaming (YouTube)Valmond
in reply to redhorsejacket • • • Public MessageOooh I must check this stuff out, I have never even heard of it 😮!!
Thank you a whole bunch!
rafoix
in reply to Valmond • • • Public MessageValmond
in reply to rafoix • • • Public Messagerafoix
in reply to Valmond • • • Public MessageValmond
in reply to rafoix • • • Public MessageDementedSociety
in reply to Scrubbles • • • Public MessageJigglySackles
in reply to Scrubbles • • • Public Messageboonhet
in reply to JigglySackles • • • Public MessageI mean BioWare has been a disaster for like a decade now, hasn't it?
2007: Mass Effect. BioWare acquired by EA.
2009: Dragon Age: Origins
2010: Mass Effect 2
2011: Dragon Age II (not AS loved as the first one, but still fun game, just a bit repetitive; Good reviews, great sales), SWTOR
2012: Mass Effect 3; The two remaining cofounders resign (the first one dropped off earlier to get back to her medical practice, apparently all 3 founders were fresh med school grads when they started).
2014: Dragon Age: Inquisition; Not my cup of tea, but sales disagree, BioWare's best selling game (definitely at that point, but possibly still?).
2017: Mass Effect: Andromeda; Sales still strong, but critical reception bad. A lot of people dislike it. Feels rushed, like a cheap "hey we own this IP, let's make a game unrelated to the previous ones" game. They really backed themselves into a corner with the ending of ME3 and at this point a prequel would've done better, but not an unrelated sequel in another galaxy.
2019: Anthem. Live service bullshit. S
... Mostrar másI mean BioWare has been a disaster for like a decade now, hasn't it?
2007: Mass Effect. BioWare acquired by EA.
2009: Dragon Age: Origins
2010: Mass Effect 2
2011: Dragon Age II (not AS loved as the first one, but still fun game, just a bit repetitive; Good reviews, great sales), SWTOR
2012: Mass Effect 3; The two remaining cofounders resign (the first one dropped off earlier to get back to her medical practice, apparently all 3 founders were fresh med school grads when they started).
2014: Dragon Age: Inquisition; Not my cup of tea, but sales disagree, BioWare's best selling game (definitely at that point, but possibly still?).
2017: Mass Effect: Andromeda; Sales still strong, but critical reception bad. A lot of people dislike it. Feels rushed, like a cheap "hey we own this IP, let's make a game unrelated to the previous ones" game. They really backed themselves into a corner with the ending of ME3 and at this point a prequel would've done better, but not an unrelated sequel in another galaxy.
2019: Anthem. Live service bullshit. Sold well, but not as well as previous BW games. Abandoned after 2 years, but they continued selling in-game currency after stopping work on the game.
2021: Mass Effect remaster
2025: DA Veilguard. Well received, but sold poorly. Under half of the expected sales. Review bombed on some platforms for being "woke", but that's probably irrelevant given it started off "mostly positive" on Steam that requires you to actually play the game before reviewing it. Dropped the whole "your decisions from previous games influence the world" thing BioWare used to have. Explain all the mysterious lore and suddenly everything is simple and straight-forward...
They used to drop literal gold every 2 years or so on average. Now 6 years between two actually new games and quality seems to be dropping. The original people who made BioWare what it was are mostly gone, all of the founders long gone.
This while EA Games has actually been fairly hands-off with their studios. Respawn has been creating single-player games and has another one in the works. Those have no post-launch monetization whatsoever.
But anyway, EA was used as a vehicle to drop a bunch of debt into. I don't think any of their studios are going to be doing great by the time the decade's over.
moakley
in reply to boonhet • • • Public MessageAnthem was discontinued after like a month. They kept the servers open but gave up pretty much right away.
Which is a shame, because the gameplay was fucking tight as hell. I loved that game. It could have been the next Destiny if they'd just kept it around long enough. The only reason it was received so poorly in the first place was because the internet hate machine didn't have enough fodder that month.
Jiral
in reply to Scrubbles • • • Public MessageHogGirl
in reply to Scrubbles • • • Public Messagecheat700000007
in reply to HogGirl • • • Public Messagebobalot
in reply to HogGirl • • • Public Message🇰 🌀 🇱 🇦 🇳 🇦 🇰 🇮
in reply to Scrubbles • • • Public MessageEngineerFromTheBush
in reply to 🇰 🌀 🇱 🇦 🇳 🇦 🇰 🇮 • • • Public Messagedatavoid
in reply to Scrubbles • • • Public Messagejustlemmyin
in reply to datavoid • • • Public MessageBigBananaDealer
in reply to justlemmyin • • • Public Messagezarathustrad
in reply to BigBananaDealer • • • Public MessageLol. They already pull in $17B/yr, ~4B/yr profit, ~70% market share, <400 employees.... Privately held...
Gabe already has >9B himself.
Why would they sell?
Sure, some day they may enshitify, but by the time that happens, I'll be able to reverse engineer and recompile my STEAM library on my home server.
BigBananaDealer
in reply to zarathustrad • • • Public Messagetb_
in reply to datavoid • • • Public Messagedarkmogool
in reply to tb_ • • • Public Messagetb_
in reply to darkmogool • • • Public Messagechiliedogg
in reply to darkmogool • • • Public MessageLushed_Lungfish
in reply to Scrubbles • • • Public MessageMass Effect Citadel DLC was the final good product that Bioware made. It's oddly prescient.
Been a damn good ride.
zikzak025
in reply to Lushed_Lungfish • • • Public MessageThat was my last experience with the Mass Effect setting and it felt like a very appropriate sendoff.
I was initially looking forward to Andromeda, but I'm glad I waited for the reviews. I would have been disappointed if that was my last Mass Effect experience.
Eternal192
in reply to Scrubbles • • • Public MessageElChinchilla
in reply to Eternal192 • • • Public MessageI just replayed all of the mass effect games and dragonage games about a year or 2 ago, once Saudi Arabia bought EA I was like, welp, there goes that. (PIF can suck my DIF)
Now with Bioware being closed, glimmer of hope a new powerhouse independent studio pops up.
FordBeeblebrox
in reply to ElChinchilla • • • Public Messageadhdsergio
in reply to FordBeeblebrox • • • Public MessageElChinchilla
in reply to FordBeeblebrox • • • Public MessageIt has a different feel than 3 does, but I liked it as it's own thing.
I definitely recall the ship bugged me a little more, the beginning you're forced to navigate it and that bugged me. There are a lot of good aspects to it. If you like the series it definitely deserves a play. When I was playing and reading reviews I felt many reviews were overly critical and not really accurate. More popular to bash it, etc.
PattyMcB
in reply to Eternal192 • • • Public MessageEternal192
in reply to PattyMcB • • • Public MessagePattyMcB
in reply to Eternal192 • • • Public MessageHence my /s
The mass-unit slowdown was terrible, sadly because the mods were epic
ApollosArrow
in reply to Eternal192 • • • Public MessageEternal192
in reply to ApollosArrow • • • Public MessageRandom Dent
in reply to Eternal192 • • • Public MessageTempest Rising on Steam
store.steampowered.com0xDREADBEEF
in reply to Scrubbles • • • Public MessagePsythik
in reply to 0xDREADBEEF • • • Public Messagesamus12345
in reply to 0xDREADBEEF • • • Public MessageIlandar
in reply to samus12345 • • • Public MessageJanx
in reply to Ilandar • • • Public MessageMinnesotaGoddam
in reply to Janx • • • Public MessageJanx
in reply to MinnesotaGoddam • • • Public MessageIlandar
in reply to Scrubbles • • • Public Messagejj4211
in reply to Ilandar • • • Public MessageSo much better game experience, but nowhere near the cash cow of people blowing money on cosmetics in live service games and pay to win. Even super low effort mobile games will frequently milk out way more cash.
Basically the good money is with low quality content, so good quality has to come out of enthusiasm for gaming, not from board rooms.
ms.lane
in reply to Scrubbles • • • Public Messagetrainsrkool
in reply to Scrubbles • • • Public Messagems.lane
in reply to trainsrkool • • • Public MessageFor letting them have free reign and them squandering it?
BioWare did this entirely to themselves.
chronicledmonocle
in reply to Scrubbles • • • Public MessageThis meme was a prophecy.
RampantParanoia2365
in reply to Scrubbles • • • Public Messagekat_angstrom
in reply to RampantParanoia2365 • • • Public MessageRampantParanoia2365
in reply to kat_angstrom • • • Public Messagenullspace
in reply to RampantParanoia2365 • • • Public MessageRampantParanoia2365
in reply to nullspace • • • Public Messagerizzothesmall
in reply to Scrubbles • • • Public MessageAngryCommieKender
in reply to rizzothesmall • • • Public MessageI remember being excited for the original Neverwinter Nights that was made by Stormfront and SSI
forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Neverwinter_Nights_(AOL_game)
terwn43lp
in reply to Scrubbles • • • Public MessagePatrikvo
in reply to Scrubbles • • • Public Messagesomeguy3
in reply to Patrikvo • • • Public MessageMonkderVierte
in reply to Patrikvo • • • Public MessageDylanMc6 [any, any]
in reply to Scrubbles • • • Public MessageSippyCup
in reply to DylanMc6 [any, any] • • • Public Messageooo_shiny
in reply to Scrubbles • • • Public MessageAw man. Neverwinter Nights, Mass Effect, and OG Dragon Age saw me through some of my formative gaming years and it’s been a shame to watch since. I didn’t even bother with Veilguard.
Larian is our big shining hope for this kind of game now, it seems.
Voroxpete
in reply to ooo_shiny • • • Public Messageooo_shiny
in reply to Voroxpete • • • Public MessageSippyCup
in reply to ooo_shiny • • • Public MessageCitizenKong
in reply to SippyCup • • • Public MessageSippyCup
in reply to CitizenKong • • • Public MessageI stopped somewhere in season 2. I kept hearing it gets better and it just kept on being the same.
Miller was also quite a bit more sympathetic than he seems on the page which is... Well it's a choice.
onceandfuturealice
in reply to ooo_shiny • • • Public MessageAnn Archy
in reply to Scrubbles • • • Public MessageBlackmist
in reply to Scrubbles • • • Public MessageRegrettable_incident
in reply to Blackmist • • • Public Messagemechoman444
in reply to Scrubbles • • • Public MessagePatariki
in reply to Scrubbles • • • Public MessageI suspected this would happen after the Saudi take-over. I haven't played Veilguard, but i did see something about a non-binary character. I'd be very surprised if the saudi's funded something progressive like that, even if it was poorly executed from what i've seen.
Edit: Called it.
PhoenixDog
2026-10-28 20:22:40