Should the video game industry attempt anything on the scale of Mass Effect again?

[Halicia]

When i first played mass effect i was astounded that the story form is so fucking similar to kotor.

When you break it down like that, it kinda describes any party-based RPG.

a videogame/story needs an antagonist, and an easy way to get players to connect with their progress is "homebuilding".

[ati87]

The Witcher 2 and 3 area amazing but they are in terms of storytelling in no way as deep as the Mass Effect trilogy.

Decisions made in the ME carry over to the next story and change the effect of the story it has on you, sure in some cases you could just throw in a random character but the way Mordon dies in ME3 amazing storytelling because your decisions carried over from 2.

Would love to see a game that takes ME way of gameplay and story to the next level.

[Mirishka]

The Witcher 2 and 3 area amazing but they are in terms of storytelling in no way as deep as the Mass Effect trilogy.

Decisions made in the ME carry over to the next story and change the effect of the story it has on you, sure in some cases you could just throw in a random character but the way Mordon dies in ME3 amazing storytelling because your decisions carried over from 2.

Would love to see a game that takes ME way of gameplay and story to the next level.

I'd said this before, but I really wish more people made Bioware-style games. It amazes me that more companies haven't, TBH.

[ati87]

I'd said this before, but I really wish more people made Bioware-style games. It amazes me that more companies haven't, TBH.

Bioware themselves kind of stopped with it though.

I liked the DA series but the characters themselves always felt like the weakest link compared to other games like Kotor and ME.

[XangXu]

If developers stopped giving so many fucks about the graphics being "stunning"...

Part of the reason games are so shitty now is that they are so expensive to make, when they don't need to be.

I fucking hate to admint it, but when Nintendo was talking shit about the other consoles when the Wii came out, about graphical ability not being what it needed to be, they were right.

You don't need top tier graphics in order to create an deep, story rich game.

[StrawberryZebra]

I'd said this before, but I really wish more people made Bioware-style games. It amazes me that more companies haven't, TBH.

If there were other studios making Bioware style games, then would we also need to have Bioware too? From a creative stand point you get a much broader, more innovative spread of games if you've got studios doing their own thing rather than having lots of very similar games on the market.

Would you like Skyrim to be a Bioware style RPG? What about Final Fantasy, Divinity or the Witcher?

You don't need top tier graphics in order to create an deep, story rich game.

You also don't need to be making an RPG to have a good story either. If even Mortal Kombat can have a decent story mode, I think we're at the point where any genre can pull it off already.

The problem really is that RPG's are lagging behind when it comes to core gameplay mechanics. It's why a lot are hybridised with other existing genre's by adding RPG-like elements to other gameplay mechanics. It's how Mass Effect came about afterall. Mixing RPG elements with a sports game gets you Pyre, action combat mechanics results in something like Dark Souls.

RPG's have become a victim of hardware advances for sure, but not so much in the graphical department. Other genres can also have compelling narrative in their games too, stealing a niche that 15-20 years ago was occupied by RPG's almost exclusively. Other genres can deliver on the sprawling open worlds full of content that RPG's previously had a monopoly on too.

[Gaidax]

Well, with Bioware in its death throes after ravenous fans almost killed it with Andromeda, I don't see who besides CD Projekt or maaaaybe Larian can deliver such a thing.

Bioware made a deal with the devil and it will be the end of it, which is a shame because it is genuinely a wonderful studio with many awesome games under the belt.

[Tech614]

The Witcher 2 and 3 area amazing but they are in terms of storytelling in no way as deep as the Mass Effect trilogy.

Disagree entirely.

Mass Effect story is about as deep as a kiddie pool. Witcher universe is like the ocean in comparison. Just in the first arc of W3 alone there is more depth then the entire trilogy of ME.

All ME did was do sci fi with a decent budget. Then they fooled people into thinking illusion of choice actually mattered when their shit is basically no different then a telltale game, no matter what choice you make the game will then find a way to keep you on the same path regardless. Bioware/ME trilogy wishes it had stories as deep as the Bloody Baron quest line among many many others in the Witcher games.

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When you break it down like that, it kinda describes any party-based RPG.

Not really, only bioware ones.

In fact I can't think of a single party based RPG even remotely similar to that formula outside of Bioware. It was cool in KOTOR but by know the Bioware formula is tired, exhausted and uninspired.

[Will]

You speak about the "video game industry" as if it's a singular organisation. Should the "video game industry" make a game like this, etc. Are you asking if the industry should collectively get together and make such a game? It's entirely up to an individual developer to decide to make such a game.

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If developers stopped giving so many fucks about the graphics being "stunning"...

Part of the reason games are so shitty now is that they are so expensive to make, when they don't need to be.

I fucking hate to admint it, but when Nintendo was talking shit about the other consoles when the Wii came out, about graphical ability not being what it needed to be, they were right.

You don't need top tier graphics in order to create an deep, story rich game.

There are plenty of excellent games still coming out these days. I get so tired of hearing this whole "games are awful now" diatribe, because it's complete nonsense. Yeah, there are a lot of shit games coming out. And a lot of good games. The way you lot talk, you'd think there's not a single decent title coming out anymore! I've gamed for over 2 decades and believe me, even in the early days there were uncountable numbers of garbage games coming out all the time.

[Wilian]

Bioware RPG form

There is a threat
Player need to assemble a team and base/ship
After assembling a team, the player take team to stop the threat

from kotor and jade empire all the way to mass effect

When i first played mass effect i was astounded that the story form is so fucking similar to kotor.

[Afrospinach]

BiowareBiowareBioware

They have a spectacularly rigid form to their games, almost down to the lore mechanics like codex's and stuff. I think they do enough to keep in interesting in that space but yeah, the cliche is real.

[blackblade]

They have a spectacularly rigid form to their games, almost down to the lore mechanics like codex's and stuff. I think they do enough to keep in interesting in that space but yeah, the cliche is real.

Even their animation style is cliche'd. How many conversations end in dragon age, KotoR, SWotoR, and Mass Effect, with the person saying his peace, and then, turning ~90 degrees and walking away.

[StrawberryZebra]

They have a spectacularly rigid form to their games, almost down to the lore mechanics like codex's and stuff. I think they do enough to keep in interesting in that space but yeah, the cliche is real.

Bioware have never really strayed too far away from the Heroes Journey model of story telling. As story structure goes it's been a staple since Ancient Greece, so don't try fix what isn't broken, I guess. You can get wildly different stories from applying it, everything from The Odyssey to The Matrix, so it's by no means a flawed method.

That said, they have stuck a little too rigidly to the same formula at the same time. They tried to buck the trend with Andromeda and the game failed spectacularly, not as a result of the story structure but it's hard to call it a success. Should Bioware survive the disaster on the horizon that is Anthem, I'd fully expect them to stick with their tried and proven successful "safe" model.