• Light/Dark
  • Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.

Bioware is 25 years old

ivan.k

ivan.k

Banned
Dec 30, 2017
1,304
Moscow


What are you favorite games and memories?

List of games:
  • Shattered Steel
  • Baldur's Gate
  • MDK2
  • Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn
  • Neverwinter Nights
  • Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
  • Jade Empire
  • Mass Effect
  • Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood
  • Mass Effect Galaxy
  • Dragon Age: Origins
  • Mass Effect 2
  • Dragon Age II
  • Star Wars: The Old Republic
  • Mass Effect 3
  • Dragon Age: Inquisition
  • Mass Effect: Andromeda
  • Anthem
 
Gero

Gero

Member
Oct 28, 2017
10,207
leave the last 2 out and its a really nice list. Now where is my ME trilogy remaster?
 
Kane1345

Kane1345

Senior QA, Starbreeze Studios
Verified
Oct 27, 2017
389
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic is one of my favourite games of all time. I was invested the whole way through and it had a lasting effect on me.
 
Van Bur3n

Van Bur3n

Avenger
Oct 27, 2017
26,089
Haven't done anything good in the last 6 years. Arguably 8 years. Arguably 10 years.

Remaster the ME trilogy and I may forgive you yet, BioWare.
 

devSin

Member
Oct 27, 2017
6,194
BioWare started making games 25 years ago. They made medical software before that.

Baldur's Gate II is the best CRPG ever made, and one of the best games ever made.
 
ThereAreFourNaan

ThereAreFourNaan

Member
Nov 8, 2017
13,085
Love a lot of their games but they fell off hard in their teenage years. Going off the rails at age ~16-18 sounds about right.
 

Deleted member 2533

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
8,325
In my backlog I have:

Neverwinter Nights
KOTOR
Jade Empire
DA:O

Which of these should I play? I like ARPGs and CRPGs equally and have no problem playing older games or dealing with jank.
 
rainz

rainz

Member
Nov 1, 2017
396
Dr.Acula said:
In my backlog I have:

Neverwinter Nights
KOTOR
Jade Empire
DA:O

Which of these should I play? I like ARPGs and CRPGs equally and have no problem playing older games or dealing with jank.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
KOTOR if u never played it no question.

Currently playing through BG2 trying to actually finish it for once and goddamn is it still incredible.
 

Deleted member 2533

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
8,325
ivan.k said:
No they didn't
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

I believe that is correct.

Edmonton is a place far removed from the gaming nexuses such as San Francisco, Vancouver, Seattle and Los Angeles — but it was there that BioWare had its humble beginnings at the University of Alberta's Faculty of Medicine in 1994. During their residency in family medicine, Drs. Greg Zeschuk, Ray Muzyka and Augustine Yip bonded over their love of computer games, comics and classic board games. They began to experiment with medicine-based software, creating the Gastroenterology Patient Simulator, but the creative itch to do something more was too great. On February 1st, 1995, BioWare Corp. was founded in a small room in Greg's basement.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
 
Aniki

Aniki

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,792
Baldur's Gate 1 was the first game of theirs i played and it made me an instant fan.

My favorite games include:
Baldur's Gate 1&2
Knights of the Old Republic 1
Jade Empire
Dragon Age: Origins
Mass Effect 1

With Andromeda and Anthem they've made two stinkers back to back but i'm still hopeful they recover. I really hope Dragon Age 4 will be a return to form.
 
JustJavi

JustJavi

Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,116
New Zealand
Their first game I played was Baldur's Gate. I think I was 11 or 12 at the time. I wish I could play their more modern games and feel that way again.
 
Sanctuary

Sanctuary

Member
Oct 27, 2017
14,198
They used to be one of my top five favorite developers. At least we'll always have Baldur's Gate 1&2, the Mass Effect trilogy and KOTOR. I guess DA:O as well, but for me the best thing about it was the companions. The gameplay wasn't really anything exciting for PC since it was basically another NWN game, albeit consolized.
 
Sanctuary

Sanctuary

Member
Oct 27, 2017
14,198
ivan.k said:
Inquisition is great.
The only real problem are fetch quests and operations with timer. But companions, tactical gameplay, world, story, are god tier
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Eh, it had its moments for sure, and while the combat was pretty fun depending on the class you focused on the most, it still tried to have the best of two different styles and didn't really excel at either. The open-world is really what dragged it down though. A lot.
 
GrrImAFridge

GrrImAFridge

ONE THOUSAND DOLLARYDOOS
Member
Oct 25, 2017
9,659
Western Australia
Dr.Acula said:
That's like saying The Beatles didn't play cover songs in church basements, that was The Quarrymen.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

BioWare's first product was a game developed by around two-dozen people (excluding testers), not Muzyka, Zeschuk, and Yip themselves. Saying "BioWare made medical software" because that's what the founders did prior to creating the company is akin to saying "Valve contributed to the development of Windows 95".
 
Last edited:
OP
OP
ivan.k

ivan.k

Banned
Dec 30, 2017
1,304
Moscow
Sanctuary said:
Eh, it had its moments for sure, and while the combat was pretty fun depending on the class you focused on the most, it still tried to have the best of both worlds and didn't really excel at either. The open-world is really what dragged it down though. A lot.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
BioWare just didn't make this open world exciting. No interesting content and garbage side quests. Aside from that game is on par with DAO🤔
I think they'll learn their lesson with DA4
 
Coxy

Coxy

Member
Oct 28, 2017
2,187
At one point one of my favourite devs - but they aren't what they used to be anymore

KOTOR
Mass Effect 1-3
Dragon Age Origins

All incredible

Jade Empire and Dragon Age 2, Inquisition are good games too.

Gone off the boil now Same as Bethesda, Blizzard etc...
 
Elven_Star

Elven_Star

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,953
I would argue that it died years ago so it's not really 25. Had a nice run before selling its soul though. RIP.
 
Cincaid

Cincaid

Member
Oct 28, 2017
687
Sweden
I have extremely fond memories of Neverwinter Nights, but I have not played it since it first released. Not sure how difficult it is to go back to it today, but I'm thinking of picking up the remaster they released for consoles.

I would also pay a lot of money to play a Mass Effect trilogy remaster, or remasters of Dragon Age: Origins and even Dragon Age II.
 
KushalaDaora

KushalaDaora

Member
Oct 27, 2017
7,838
Still have hope for Dragon Age 4. I hope they return to cRPG root but I'll take anything as long as they don't fk it up.

ivan.k said:
BioWare just didn't make this open world exciting. No interesting content and garbage side quests. Aside from that game is on par with DAO🤔
I think they'll learn their lesson with DA4
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

I wish they use the resource to make the main story bigger and better. Trespasser is imo a good example on how each main missions in Inquisition should be.
 
KushalaDaora

KushalaDaora

Member
Oct 27, 2017
7,838
ivan.k said:
What are you favorite games and memories?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Dragon Age Origins is my favorite RPG of all time and is pretty much my gateway to c/WRPG as someone who grew up with JRPG.

To this day I'm still waiting for a true successor of DAO of marrying classic cRPG gameplay with modern presentation and AAA production value. Here's hoping for Dragon Age 4 and Baldur's Gate 3.
 
Femto0

Femto0

Banned
Apr 28, 2018
2,591
Happy birthday bioware I still trust you don't disappoint me again

Ps where is my mass effect trilogy remaster with all the dlc?
 
Cecil

Cecil

Chicken Chaser
Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,445
Star Wars: Knight's of the Old Republic
Dragon Age: Origins
Mass Effect

That's the titles that meant something to me.
 
SeriuzBiznus

SeriuzBiznus

Member
Jan 14, 2020
199
London, UK
It's probably quite pathetic just how much the Mass Effect series means to me, but as a struggling teen, those games were an immense comfort and a place to escape to.

I will always be thankful to the team that created the Mass Effect trilogy and I hope that current BioWare will get back to that incredible level of work.
 
DSP

DSP

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,120
Inquisition and Andromeda are actually really similar games. I guess Inquisition doesn't have funny animations but the reason their reception was wildly different is probably because of expectations that come with Mass Effect name.

Their last game I enjoyed actually is Mass Effect 3. Yeah, ending drama and all that, it had excellent moments and played well enough, I like it enough and I think it is fair to say it had an emotional impact on everyone that played it and not just because of the ending. The music, a lot of dialog etc are just good and there are pay offs to earlier story threads from previous games like genophage and characters. I refuse to throw it in the same pot as Andromeda or Inquisition. It is a good and unique game.

So that's like 8 years of no good Bioware for me. I miss it quite a lot actually. I hope they bounce back.
 
Jegriva

Jegriva

Banned
Sep 23, 2019
5,519
They should scale back and make character-focused smaller games. Dragon Age 2 was the right idea.

Was my favorite studio in the world until Mass Effect 3. Baldur's Gate, Kotor, Jade Empire, Mass Effect 1-2, DA Origins all masterpieces.

ivan.k said:
Inquisition is great.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Inquisition is a great 20 hours games trapped inside a 60 hours good game.
What held together was the good story, something Andromeda stumbled in a comical way.
 

Deleted member 62561

Dec 31, 2019
539
and since their last two games bombed, if the new dragon age is not a success then I'm guessing ea will shut down the studio. they've certainly closed studios for less.
 
Kyubajin

Kyubajin

Member
Feb 22, 2019
1,095
I'm ashamed to admit that I've only played the Mass Effect trilogy and Dragon Age: Origins. I know someday I have to push myself and play Baldur's Gate and co.
 
Sec0nd

Sec0nd

The Fallen
Oct 27, 2017
6,042
I remember reading about KotOR in some random game magazine I got from my parents. I looked and sounded absolutely incredible. I was hyped beyond belief. It felt like a long ass time between reading that article and the actual release (I don't think the date was actually included so I had no idea when it was coming out). But when I got to play it it was incredible, and definitely lived up to the incredible hype.

I very much enjoyed replaying the game on the iPad not too long ago. And finally be able to finish the damn game lol (after switching the difficulty to the easiest setting at the last boss fight...)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.