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Mass Effect - Has Bioware became EA's new dumping ground?

DOGMA1138DOGMA1138 Member UncommonPosts: 476

 


It feels like EA is grooming Bioware to become Westwood 2.0 by dumping a huge MASS (pun 1.0) of talent, IP's and inflated dreams into it's lap, which in my opinion will result in a very adverse EFFECT(pun 2.0) on the studio, its talent pool, the industry and of course on EA itself.


 


Bioware was already spread thin enough prior to the EA equation especially by forming its Austin branch and taking allot of new blood in order to make SWTOR.


 


After EA bought BW it basically "cut off its head" by placing its key leads as VP's of "insert bland generic job title here" and by placing 2 or even more studios in its lap.


Bioware now has to deal and direct 2 additional studios which were EA Mythic and "Danger Close"/Victory Games, EA also dumped the C&C IP into BW's lap and asked them to make C&C: Generals 2 together with DICE(mainly as tech support for the frostbite engine) and what was left of EA Westwood.


 


Gaming studios just like other studios of just about any other type of art form have a unique style which is basically derived trough the guidance of its lead directors and core assets of each field(tech, art, story, sound design etc.')


So now Bioware leads not only have to oversee multiple projects with in BW and the entire EA empire but also tons of new blood was poured into what used to be a fairly small Canadian studio which means that a ton of foreign execution methods, ideas, and philosophies was injected into the core of what used to be BW.


 


No studio can survive such "harsh" treatment and remain intact, add to that the fact that BW is now also in charge of projects they never have dealt with before such as FPS (the Medal of Honor series) and RTS(C&C: Gen's 2), to me this seems like a disaster is just waiting to happen like a patient that receives a blood transfusion of the wrong blood group.


 


Yes studios and acquire other studios and produce same and even higher quality games but that usually involves a lengthy transition and adjustment period - even a new dev inserted into an existing development team is something that can take months to adjust to completely.


And yes studios have switches, or entered into new genres before but even then they have usually needed to focus all their attention to that single project, Blizzard had to put on hold its entire RTS and ARPG departments to make WoW not only due to the tremendous amount of effort it would take to make that game but also because you can't be distracted when you are doing something you've never have done before.


 


This of course also means that you can no longer expect the same quality of games from BW, we've knew that but i don't think that even the hardest of BW's fans understand how drastic and devastating the changes to "Bioware" were and will still be.


 


I'm not basing this on things like "OMG SWTOR SUX" I've actually like it quite a bit, and although I'm not playing it as much as I've used to play WoW, EQ, or PS at first I'm still quite excited and hoping it can unleash it's true potential.


I'm also am not basing this on the fact that i thought ME3 was a total mess, it was a good game overall but a complete mess in terms of a Mass Effect game / Cinematic Space Opera experience and no not because of the ending - the game itself is just too schizophrenic and anticlimactic as if almost every aspect of the game seems to be the anti-particle of a different aspect of its self or of what makes Mass Effect / the genre great.


 


I also don't believe the EA is evil excluding their "treatment" of Bio ware for the past 3-4 ears EA seemed to be "getting" it has published very controversial games and green lighted sequels of games that never would've seen the light in many other studios like Dead Space 2 and Mirror's Edge 2. It also was the first large company that understood micro-transactions with games like BattleForge.


 


I don't understand people who say "EA IS PURE EVIL" or "EA WANTS TO RUIN BIOWARE!!!", EA is a company it answers to its shareholders - it needs to justify its actions to them and it needs to keep its value in order for additional money to keep pouring in. EA paid close to 900 Million, yes 900 Million for BW and Pandemic - amounts is higher than the GDP (as in the entire country makes in a year) of half the African countries (respectively)


If you believe the latest PC Alliance figures for 2011 which was the best year(in gross profits) of PC gaming industry that's about 5% of the total revenue of the entire PC gaming market.


 


NO company not ever and ever justify turning a purchase which pretty much cost them an eye and a kidney into a steam pile of shit.


Also i don't believe that a company the size of EA doesn't know how to manage its own business, unlike many others i don't believe that EA is either run by monkeys or devils (or according to some people by baby eating zio-fascists which want to make every one angry to start ww3 by destroying the game industry - yes I've read that comment several times on YouTube). I just think that both EA and Bioware got star struck and decided (respectively) to dump much more on one's plate and to bite much more than one can chew.


 


In my eyes only thing now left is hope, not hope that Bioware will pull through because that’s pretty much impossible to achieve. No company, group, or a society can do that and we've all seen what happens when foreign values are forcibly injected into a group of individuals on all scales and trough history.


 


I really hope is that both Bioware and EA will realize that they've overestimated what the once tight group of brilliant and creative people is capable off, and start backing out of what many people call "The Franchising of Bioware", EA needs to understand that they've acquired a company which its main asset lies in its talent and "way of doing things" not in its brand, or IP's.


And Bioware especially the people who got those fat cheques and VP titles needs to understand that you can't duplicated a success by diluting your core, and in many cases the whole is usually greater than the sum of its part.


 


P.S./OP's note:


 


This is my own Mass Effect 3 rant and personal catharsis, I'm not a part of the gaming industry, nor am I a journalist, reviewer, or related to any media outlet. I wanted for several weeks not to write a Mass Effect 3 break down in order to satisfy my own personal needs for venting and closure but if it has already been done, and will be don’t more and more until it will be done to death by many people who many of them are much more observant and talented than me.


So instead I've chosen to try and figure out to the best of my ability the core problem that seems to be looming over Bioware's and I belive to some extent over the entire industry's heads.


This article has many opinions and little fact mostly because facts in this matter are impossible to gather and I refuse to base any of my opinions of "rumors" and "gossip" like "EX" employ blog posts, tweets, and other things that are more slander than content.


 


 


 

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Comments

  • CeridithCeridith Member UncommonPosts: 2,980

    Yes.

    EA has a habit of taking good studies and lobotomizing them into souless cogs in the EA corporate machine, abusing the good names of said studios to sell poorly made games.

    It's happened to both Westwood and Maxis... two of my alltime favorite developers... and Bioware is now up on the chopping block.

  • TyvolusNextTyvolusNext Member Posts: 192

    BW's strength USED to be single player games.  EA has not only destroyed that for them, they now have them making MMOs, RTS and FPS games.  I am about as interested in playing a BW RTS as I was their "MMO."  no thanks.  In fact I wrote BW off after DA:O.  I didnt think it was very good and the DLC was the end of the line for me buying BW games.

  • UnlightUnlight Member Posts: 2,540

    Originally posted by Ceridith

    Yes.

    EA has a habit of taking good studies and lobotomizing them into souless cogs in the EA corporate machine, abusing the good names of said studios to sell poorly made games.

    It's happened to both Westwood and Maxis... two of my alltime favorite developers... and Bioware is now up on the chopping block.

    It was Bullfrog and Maxis for me, but Maxis was the hardest one to watch.  It's what finally motivated me from angry and frustrated to full on EA hate monkey.  I wonder how many EA apologists today have even heard of Bullfrog...

  • ZekiahZekiah Member UncommonPosts: 2,483

    Bullfrog.

    /sigh

    EA is a bunch of jackwagons.

    "Censorship is never over for those who have experienced it. It is a brand on the imagination that affects the individual who has suffered it, forever." - Noam Chomsky

  • CeridithCeridith Member UncommonPosts: 2,980

    Originally posted by Unlight

    Originally posted by Ceridith

    Yes.

    EA has a habit of taking good studies and lobotomizing them into souless cogs in the EA corporate machine, abusing the good names of said studios to sell poorly made games.

    It's happened to both Westwood and Maxis... two of my alltime favorite developers... and Bioware is now up on the chopping block.

    It was Bullfrog and Maxis for me, but Maxis was the hardest one to watch.  It's what finally motivated me from angry and frustrated to full on EA hate monkey.  I wonder how many EA apologists today have even heard of Bullfrog...

    I completely forgot about Bullfrog being under EA.

    So many hours lost playing Themepark...

  • ZekiahZekiah Member UncommonPosts: 2,483

    Originally posted by Ceridith

    Originally posted by Unlight


    Originally posted by Ceridith

    Yes.

    EA has a habit of taking good studies and lobotomizing them into souless cogs in the EA corporate machine, abusing the good names of said studios to sell poorly made games.

    It's happened to both Westwood and Maxis... two of my alltime favorite developers... and Bioware is now up on the chopping block.

    It was Bullfrog and Maxis for me, but Maxis was the hardest one to watch.  It's what finally motivated me from angry and frustrated to full on EA hate monkey.  I wonder how many EA apologists today have even heard of Bullfrog...

    I completely forgot about Bullfrog being under EA.

    So many hours lost playing Themepark...

    Populous for me. Good stuff.


    Bullfrog Productions



    From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


     


     


    Bullfrog Productions

    company logo

    Industry

    Interactive entertainment

    Fate

    Merged

    Successor(s)

    EA UK

    Lionhead Studios

    Mucky Foot Productions

    Founded

    1987

    Founder(s)

    Peter Molyneux, Les Edgar

    Defunct

    2004

    Headquarters

    GuildfordUnited Kingdom

    Products

    Populous series

    Dungeon Keeper series

    Website

    www.bullfrog.com(archived version until 2002-11-25)

    Bullfrog Productions was a UK computer game developer that was founded in 1987 by Les Edgar and Peter Molyneux. The company achieved recognition in 1989 for their third release, Populous.

    At the time of the company's founding, Edgar and Molyneux were already involved in an enterprise called Taurus Impex Ltd. Bullfrog's name was derived from "Taurus" (the Latin word for bull) and Edgar's daughter's love of frogs.[citation needed]

    Electronic Arts, Bullfrog's publisheracquired the studio in January 1995.[1] Molyneux had become an Electronic Arts vice-president and consultant in 1994, after EA purchased a significant share of Bullfrog. Molyneux left Bullfrog in August 1997 to found Lionhead Studios while other members of the original team founded Mucky Foot Productions. The last titles to bear the Bullfrog logo were published in 2001. 2004 met the final end of Bullfrog when Electronic Arts combined their side studios into EA UK.

    In August 2009, Electronics Arts was considering revising some of Bullfrog's games for modern-day systems,[2] and in 2011 they signed a deal with Good Old Games in order to do this.


    [edit]Notable titles



    "Censorship is never over for those who have experienced it. It is a brand on the imagination that affects the individual who has suffered it, forever." - Noam Chomsky

  • infofrontinfofront Member UncommonPosts: 160

    Well said, OP. What EA does to formerly good studios is probably bad for gamers, but good for shareholders.

    Or is it?

    It seems Activision has pretty much left Blizzard alone and let them do whatever they want. Not only are they still (arguably) the finest developer in the world, but they've been able to rake in an unbelievable amount of cash. It seems Activision has taken a more hands off approach and it has paid off. If EA had bought Blizzard, there's no doubt there would be several more "Blizzard" games than there are currently, probably of Dragon Age 2 or C&C 4 quality.  Diablo 3 has been in development for about 11 years. EA would've rushed that shit out the door in 2008.

  • CeridithCeridith Member UncommonPosts: 2,980

    Originally posted by infofront

    Well said, OP. What EA does to formerly good studios is probably bad for gamers, but good for shareholders.

    Or is it?

    It seems Activision has pretty much left Blizzard alone and let them do whatever they want. Not only are they still (arguably) the finest developer in the world, but they've been able to rake in an unbelievable amount of cash. It seems Activision has taken a more hands off approach and it has paid off. If EA had bought Blizzard, there's no doubt there would be several more "Blizzard" games than there are currently, of poor quality no doubt. Diablo 3 has been in development for about 11 years. EA would've rushed that shit out the door in 2008.

    Uh, as a former avid Warcraft/Diablo fan and former 6+ year WoW vet, I disagree with the highlighted statement.

    Also, Blizzard wasn't bought by Activision. Blizzard is a subsidiary of Vivendi, and Blizzard actually merged with Activision.

  • UnlightUnlight Member Posts: 2,540

    Originally posted by Zekiah

    Originally posted by Ceridith


    Originally posted by Unlight


    Originally posted by Ceridith

    Yes.

    EA has a habit of taking good studies and lobotomizing them into souless cogs in the EA corporate machine, abusing the good names of said studios to sell poorly made games.

    It's happened to both Westwood and Maxis... two of my alltime favorite developers... and Bioware is now up on the chopping block.

    It was Bullfrog and Maxis for me, but Maxis was the hardest one to watch.  It's what finally motivated me from angry and frustrated to full on EA hate monkey.  I wonder how many EA apologists today have even heard of Bullfrog...

    I completely forgot about Bullfrog being under EA.

    So many hours lost playing Themepark...

    Populous for me. Good stuff.


    Bullfrog Productions



    From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


     


     


    Bullfrog Productions

    company logo

    Industry

    Interactive entertainment

    Fate

    Merged

    Successor(s)

    EA UK

    Lionhead Studios

    Mucky Foot Productions

    Founded

    1987

    Founder(s)

    Peter Molyneux, Les Edgar

    Defunct

    2004

    Headquarters

    GuildfordUnited Kingdom

    Products

    Populous series

    Dungeon Keeper series

    Website

    www.bullfrog.com(archived version until 2002-11-25)

    Bullfrog Productions was a UK computer game developer that was founded in 1987 by Les Edgar and Peter Molyneux. The company achieved recognition in 1989 for their third release, Populous.

    At the time of the company's founding, Edgar and Molyneux were already involved in an enterprise called Taurus Impex Ltd. Bullfrog's name was derived from "Taurus" (the Latin word for bull) and Edgar's daughter's love of frogs.[citation needed]

    Electronic Arts, Bullfrog's publisheracquired the studio in January 1995.[1] Molyneux had become an Electronic Arts vice-president and consultant in 1994, after EA purchased a significant share of Bullfrog. Molyneux left Bullfrog in August 1997 to found Lionhead Studios while other members of the original team founded Mucky Foot Productions. The last titles to bear the Bullfrog logo were published in 2001. 2004 met the final end of Bullfrog when Electronic Arts combined their side studios into EA UK.

    In August 2009, Electronics Arts was considering revising some of Bullfrog's games for modern-day systems,[2] and in 2011 they signed a deal with Good Old Games in order to do this.


    [edit]Notable titles





    Syndicate and Dungeon Keeper here.

  • RednecksithRednecksith Member Posts: 1,238

    Originally posted by infofront

    Well said, OP. What EA does to formerly good studios is probably bad for gamers, but good for shareholders.

    Or is it?

    It seems Activision has pretty much left Blizzard alone and let them do whatever they want. Not only are they still (arguably) the finest developer in the world, but they've been able to rake in an unbelievable amount of cash. It seems Activision has taken a more hands off approach and it has paid off. If EA had bought Blizzard, there's no doubt there would be several more "Blizzard" games than there are currently, of poor quality no doubt. Diablo 3 has been in development for about 11 years. EA would've rushed that shit out the door in 2008.

    And yet, Blizzard games have not only fallen drastically in quality, they're now rushing out Diablo 3 with missing features instead of 'when it's done'. Also, if you think Activision had nothing to do with Blizzard's decision to 'monetize' Starcraft 2 by splitting it into 3 parts, then you're incredibly naive.

    All the real talent left Blizzard a long, long time ago. Saying anything otherwise is just completely laughable.

  • DistopiaDistopia Member EpicPosts: 21,183

    Originally posted by Unlight

    Originally posted by Ceridith

    Yes.

    EA has a habit of taking good studies and lobotomizing them into souless cogs in the EA corporate machine, abusing the good names of said studios to sell poorly made games.

    It's happened to both Westwood and Maxis... two of my alltime favorite developers... and Bioware is now up on the chopping block.

    It was Bullfrog and Maxis for me, but Maxis was the hardest one to watch.  It's what finally motivated me from angry and frustrated to full on EA hate monkey.  I wonder how many EA apologists today have even heard of Bullfrog...

    Who hasn't heard of Bullfrog? Anyone familiar with P.M would know of them, especially due to the titles they released.

    For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson


  • UnlightUnlight Member Posts: 2,540

    Originally posted by Bunks

    This is EA vision of the future for games.

     

    http://penny-arcade.com/report/editorial-article/flight-control-rocket-is-everything-bad-about-pay-to-win-schemes

    That's Diabolical and impressive ... kind of like how the devestation left behind after a hurricane is impressive.

  • ZekiahZekiah Member UncommonPosts: 2,483

    Originally posted by Rednecksith

    Originally posted by infofront

    Well said, OP. What EA does to formerly good studios is probably bad for gamers, but good for shareholders.

    Or is it?

    It seems Activision has pretty much left Blizzard alone and let them do whatever they want. Not only are they still (arguably) the finest developer in the world, but they've been able to rake in an unbelievable amount of cash. It seems Activision has taken a more hands off approach and it has paid off. If EA had bought Blizzard, there's no doubt there would be several more "Blizzard" games than there are currently, of poor quality no doubt. Diablo 3 has been in development for about 11 years. EA would've rushed that shit out the door in 2008.

    And yet, Blizzard games have not only fallen drastically in quality, they're now rushing out Diablo 3 with missing features instead of 'when it's done'. Also, if you think Activision had nothing to do with Blizzard's decision to 'monetize' Starcraft 2 by splitting it into 3 parts, then you're incredibly naive.

    All the real talent left Blizzard a long, long time ago. Saying anything otherwise is just completely laughable.

    What they've done to D3 is an absolute travesty, but I expect nothing less from EA.

    "Censorship is never over for those who have experienced it. It is a brand on the imagination that affects the individual who has suffered it, forever." - Noam Chomsky

  • DistopiaDistopia Member EpicPosts: 21,183

    Originally posted by Zekiah

    What they've done to D3 is an absolute travesty, but I expect nothing less from EA.

    Wait what? :P

    For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson


  • UnlightUnlight Member Posts: 2,540

    Originally posted by Distopia

    Originally posted by Unlight


    Originally posted by Ceridith

    Yes.

    EA has a habit of taking good studies and lobotomizing them into souless cogs in the EA corporate machine, abusing the good names of said studios to sell poorly made games.

    It's happened to both Westwood and Maxis... two of my alltime favorite developers... and Bioware is now up on the chopping block.

    It was Bullfrog and Maxis for me, but Maxis was the hardest one to watch.  It's what finally motivated me from angry and frustrated to full on EA hate monkey.  I wonder how many EA apologists today have even heard of Bullfrog...

    Who hasn't heard of Bullfrog? Anyone familiar with P.M would know of them, especially due to the titles they released.

    There are gamers today who weren't even born when I was playing Dungeon Keeper, let alone Syndicate.  And when the studio was finally closed down, those same gamers were starting kindergarten.  I imagine there are many people who haven't heard of Bullfrog.

  • ZekiahZekiah Member UncommonPosts: 2,483

    Originally posted by Distopia

    Originally posted by Zekiah



    What they've done to D3 is an absolute travesty, but I expect nothing less from EA.

    Wait what? :P

    • It's incomplete (missing PvP and who knows what else)

    • The graphics look and feel like WoW/Torchlight

    • It was desinged for consoles and kids

    • They stripped ALL character customization out of Diablo except for gear

    • Pretty much everything is handed to the player now at level-up

    • The only drops left are gear and gems

    It will play well with the WoW crowd though, no doubt about that. For me, a Diablo fan since the beginning, it's absolutely pathetic. PoE is more of a successor than D3 is.

    Simply put, it's now WoWablo.

    "Censorship is never over for those who have experienced it. It is a brand on the imagination that affects the individual who has suffered it, forever." - Noam Chomsky

  • AnubisanAnubisan Member UncommonPosts: 1,798

    Originally posted by Zekiah

    Originally posted by Distopia


    Originally posted by Zekiah



    What they've done to D3 is an absolute travesty, but I expect nothing less from EA.

    Wait what? :P

    • It's incomplete (missing PvP and who knows what else)

    • The graphics look and feel like WoW/Torchlight

    • It was desinged for consoles and kids

    • They stripped ALL character customization out of Diablo except for gear

    • Pretty much everything is handed to the player now at level-up

    • The only drops left are gear and gems

    It will play well with the WoW crowd though, no doubt about that. For me, a Diablo fan since the beginning, it's absolutely pathetic. PoE is more of a successor than D3 is.

    Simply put, it's now WoWablo.

    EA does not own Blizzard.

  • ZekiahZekiah Member UncommonPosts: 2,483

    Originally posted by Anubisan

    Originally posted by Zekiah


    Originally posted by Distopia


    Originally posted by Zekiah



    What they've done to D3 is an absolute travesty, but I expect nothing less from EA.

    Wait what? :P

    • It's incomplete (missing PvP and who knows what else)

    • The graphics look and feel like WoW/Torchlight

    • It was desinged for consoles and kids

    • They stripped ALL character customization out of Diablo except for gear

    • Pretty much everything is handed to the player now at level-up

    • The only drops left are gear and gems

    It will play well with the WoW crowd though, no doubt about that. For me, a Diablo fan since the beginning, it's absolutely pathetic. PoE is more of a successor than D3 is.

    Simply put, it's now WoWablo.

    EA does not own Blizzard.

    You're right, was thinking Activision. Same difference, same end result...crap.

    "Censorship is never over for those who have experienced it. It is a brand on the imagination that affects the individual who has suffered it, forever." - Noam Chomsky

  • CeridithCeridith Member UncommonPosts: 2,980

    Originally posted by Zekiah

    Originally posted by Anubisan


    Originally posted by Zekiah


    Originally posted by Distopia


    Originally posted by Zekiah



    What they've done to D3 is an absolute travesty, but I expect nothing less from EA.

    Wait what? :P

    • It's incomplete (missing PvP and who knows what else)

    • The graphics look and feel like WoW/Torchlight

    • It was desinged for consoles and kids

    • They stripped ALL character customization out of Diablo except for gear

    • Pretty much everything is handed to the player now at level-up

    • The only drops left are gear and gems

    It will play well with the WoW crowd though, no doubt about that. For me, a Diablo fan since the beginning, it's absolutely pathetic. PoE is more of a successor than D3 is.

    Simply put, it's now WoWablo.

    EA does not own Blizzard.

    You're right, was thinking Activision. Same difference, same end result...crap.

    Activision doesn't own Blizzard either, they merged.

    That's not to say that Activision's corporate culture of greed hasn't bled into Blizzard though.

  • ZekiahZekiah Member UncommonPosts: 2,483

    Originally posted by Ceridith

    Originally posted by Zekiah


    Originally posted by Anubisan


    Originally posted by Zekiah


    Originally posted by Distopia


    Originally posted by Zekiah



    What they've done to D3 is an absolute travesty, but I expect nothing less from EA.

    Wait what? :P

    • It's incomplete (missing PvP and who knows what else)

    • The graphics look and feel like WoW/Torchlight

    • It was desinged for consoles and kids

    • They stripped ALL character customization out of Diablo except for gear

    • Pretty much everything is handed to the player now at level-up

    • The only drops left are gear and gems

    It will play well with the WoW crowd though, no doubt about that. For me, a Diablo fan since the beginning, it's absolutely pathetic. PoE is more of a successor than D3 is.

    Simply put, it's now WoWablo.

    EA does not own Blizzard.

    You're right, was thinking Activision. Same difference, same end result...crap.

    Activision doesn't own Blizzard either, they merged.

    That's not to say that Activision's corporate culture of greed hasn't bled into Blizzard though.

    Perhaps on paper but we all know the suits now run the show. The point is, Blizzard is no longer the Blizzard we came to know and love and regardless of what name is on the letterhead, they've been chewed up and spit out like many other gaming companies. Just the fact that they're releasing without PvP is a sad thing considering "we won't release until it's ready" used to be their mantra.

    Now it's like the vast majority of gaming companies out there, "CASH IS KING, SCREW THE CUSTOMER".

    "Censorship is never over for those who have experienced it. It is a brand on the imagination that affects the individual who has suffered it, forever." - Noam Chomsky


  • Originally posted by Zekiah

    Originally posted by Anubisan


    Originally posted by Zekiah


    Originally posted by Distopia


    Originally posted by Zekiah



    What they've done to D3 is an absolute travesty, but I expect nothing less from EA.

    Wait what? :P

    • It's incomplete (missing PvP and who knows what else)

    • The graphics look and feel like WoW/Torchlight

    • It was desinged for consoles and kids

    • They stripped ALL character customization out of Diablo except for gear

    • Pretty much everything is handed to the player now at level-up

    • The only drops left are gear and gems

    It will play well with the WoW crowd though, no doubt about that. For me, a Diablo fan since the beginning, it's absolutely pathetic. PoE is more of a successor than D3 is.

    Simply put, it's now WoWablo.

    EA does not own Blizzard.

    You're right, was thinking Activision. Same difference, same end result...crap.

    Why play diablo 3 when you could play Titan Quest with the underlord mod?

    I've always felt the far superior class customization of Titan Quest made it a superior game and underlord takes it a step further and makes the game harder.

  • Tutu2Tutu2 Member UncommonPosts: 572

    If you want to stop EA from turning everything they touch into steaming piles of poo, only truly effective way is voting with your wallet. I definately will be alot more leery of buying anymore Bioware games at this point. Dragon Age 2 was the start of it. I could not believe Bioware had actually created that. I forgave them because they had created so many games I had loved in the past and bought Mass Effect 3, since Mass Effect is one of my favourite franchises then this whole multiplayer crap buying stupid equipment boxes with real money, day 1 DLC that's a friggin' prothean and that horrendous ending... It's starting to leave a sour taste in my mouth. It's getting clear Bioware isn't the same beloved studio it used to be. It's depressing.

  • DOGMA1138DOGMA1138 Member UncommonPosts: 476

    Originally posted by Tutu2

    If you want to stop EA from turning everything they touch into steaming piles of poo, only truly effective way is voting with your wallet. I definately will be alot more leery of buying anymore Bioware games at this point. Dragon Age 2 was the start of it. I could not believe Bioware had actually created that. I forgave them because they had created so many games I had loved in the past and bought Mass Effect 3, since Mass Effect is one of my favourite franchises then this whole multiplayer crap buying stupid equipment boxes with real money, day 1 DLC that's a friggin' prothean and that horrendous ending... It's starting to leave a sour taste in my mouth. It's getting clear Bioware isn't the same beloved studio it used to be. It's depressing.


    Voting with your wallet won't really help, EA makes more money on the Sims and madden in a year than Bioware probably made in its life time. Honestly until Mass Effect BW was pretty much a niche player, it made solid game for a very limited market and never had huge hits, they've sold well but with their genre they were very limited.


     


    Mass Effect appealed almost just as much to the FPS player who likes Scifi to the people who liked BG, heck even more i think, i've liked BG2, and IW, and NWN but i unlike many of their "true" fans im not playing them until today, heck I've only tried NWN MP once of twice and only in the original story mode.


     


    Unlike previous purchases EA made like Westwood, BF, or Maxis(btw EA didn't killed maxis, they bought it only for will wright and he is still there designed games SPORE was his, and the Sim City 3K remake is his too) they never paid so much and gotten such as huge company. Westwood was small, Maxis was small, BF was fucking tiny.


     


    They've also never bought a company that holds as many IP's and as much fans as BW does. Westwood, Maxis, Bullfrog and others were small studios which were bought by a big company in every situation like that some people leave doesn't matter who buys you some people can't or don't want to cope with change in management. When 10-20 people leave or more from a studio which is 100 or less people like they were it much more drastic than some people leaving a 500+ studio like BW was when EA bought it.


     


    Also i don't blame EA for the day one DLC, i have a strong feeling that was BW and BW alone they've wanted to capitalize on one of their IP's for a long time, BW introduced their BW points long before EA, and if ME1 had MP then most likely they would've had something similar there too.


     


    EA's shoving of failed IP's and failed studios into BW on the other hand are something i really dislike and believe is much worse than day 1 dlc at the end. Mass Effect is an expensive game to make; the voice casting alone can probably cover the dev costs of Call of Duty Modern War of The future 56 if you exclude the marketing costs.


     


    You got tons of famous actors and pretty much the top of the voice actors in the industry, and they not only need to compete with other games on the market they also can't charge more than them. I'm not saying that it's OK for Activision to charge 60US for COD, or for BW to charge 70US for Mass Effect but if they both want to have the same proffit margins Mass Effect needs to cost more, voice acting, real people for some of the models, engine license and other things make it more expensive. The costs in the end are much higher, it still doesn't make it OK for them to release day one DLC especially not like they've done it basically forced many people to pay 20US extra if they couldnt get it from the Origin store.


    I would rather pay 70US for a complete game with no day one DLC than 70 for a game + DLC, it just feels like a spit in the face of their fans since they are the ones that being exploited the most. People who play mass effect for good action and cool story dont give a flying duck about a prothean, most of them dont realy know what they are, the people who do and care are the people who played the shit out of the game.


    And the fact that the DLC sucks, its not even 20min long, you dont get any intersting story, Javik is a total dick and the most boring char ever(after the jersy shore dude) and totally not worth 20 extra bucks just makes things worse.


     


    AHHH i'm MADDD MADDDDDDDDDD


     

  • dronfwardronfwar Member Posts: 316

    Originally posted by DOGMA1138




    Voting with your wallet won't really help


     

    They will still make money without you and in ten years it will be normal to pay $100 + $100 DLCs

    atleast then you are not the guy who was

    trolled by Bioware image

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