It looks promising, but remember, most of Biowares good staff is gone. They really aren't the same Bioware anymore. I'm telling you, it will flop.
You guys didn't believe me when I told you ME2 would be dumbed down.
Didn't believe me when I said Dragon Age 2 would be shit.
Didn't believe me when I said ME3 would be a train wreck.
Didn't believe me when I said The Old Republic would fail.
I'm telling you again, Bioware is a sinking ship and EA will do away with them completely, soon enough.
I seriously laugh every single time someone mentions how ME2 was "dumbed down". Because any kind of streamlining is a form of dumbing down apparently. Really, I've been playing cRPG, console RPGs and PnP for the better half of 30 years now and stats and inventory never bothered me until someone finally decided to clean that shit up, and now I can't really stand most inventories (just depends on the game). The inventory system of Mass Effect was
fucking awful. I actually feel bad for anyone that had to play the game on the console. I rented it when it first came out, played it for five hours, then said fuck this shit. Gave it another chance once it hit PC (and goddamn was I glad that I did, but the inventory was still crap even with a better UI).
Most of the weapon upgrades you picked up were converted into omnigel, and you either started ignoring most things or you just sifted through a list of 60+ items to convert or sell so that you could grab the best X armors, the cooldown + regen armor upgrades and either Tungsten, Shredder or the occasional HEX ammos and that's it.
In the case of the skill trees and stats; this is where people seem to get their panties in a bunch the most over, and it's goddamn ridiculous. The exact same investment is in ME2, but instead of having to dump four points to get a 20% upgrade or whatever, you would just buy one of four ranks in ME2 for that same percentage, and the points took longer to get. It was the same goddamn thing. I mean who the fuck would only dump 2-4 points into any given trees for a character and stop in the first game? No one who was actually trying to be efficient, that's who.
The combat was
vastly improved too in the second game. Squad AI was still dumb as shit, even when fully controlling them, but they were still leagues beyond what the first game offered and this time around you actually had legitimate "classes" instead of three base classes and a bunch of hybrids that basically played really similar to the base class, but with a twist. The game was
always supposed to be a shooter/RPG hybrid. That's what Bioware always said it was from the very start, and it's just people on forums bemoaning how ME2 was no longer an "RPG" that the first game was. The first game had absolute shit combat, but it was fun because of biotics and ragdolling people. Because of that shit combat, and because of the stats, interesting premise and story, it seems like people forget that it wasn't meant to be
just an RPG. ME2 didn't perfect combat, but it made it a lot closer to what they were initially aiming for with the first game.
The biggest downside initially to me with ME2 was how Biotics was inadvertantly nerfed through the shield/armor bullshit mechanic. It really made playing an Adept feel weak as hell compared to practically any other class. I still don't like them now, even though I've easily beaten Insanity with them. I do however think that the ME2 Vanguard is probably the funnest class I have ever played in just about any action/adventure/RPG type video game ever. Aside from the random charge bugs, it just never got old. Bioware also upped the presentation of the series by a huge amount over the first. The universe was so much more realized and had a much better, fleshed out and cohesive aesthetic. In retrospect, the only thing the first game did better to me was the story. It just felt more epic and urgent, but the second game's "story" was really all of the squad quests, which made it a lot less epic in feel, but a lot more personal. ME3 tweaked the combat even further, but I've already mentioned why I don't like that game. Hell, I would replay it despite the combat if it at least had more than two interesting squadmates, and if I could drop Vega off on Virmire with a bomb.
Bioware has not flopped with any game yet have they? Even with the backlash from DA2, they still made money off of it; especially when you consider how much less they spent on it compared to the first game (which sold only 4.2 million). They have even openly admitted many of the faults with DA2 and seem to have honestly been trying to correct that mistake. Yep, they are in it for the money like any other company, and EA is just more pre$$ure to be sure, but they still have loads of talent and haven't completely sold out yet. You can't really fault them either for trying to grab the widest audience with how expensive these games are to make. You couldn't have the Mass Effect or Dragon Age series on an indie budget. If ME4 ends up being almost a straight up shooter, with just random cutscenes, oh well, I won't be buying it. But at least there will always be ME2. I'm also not sure how DA3 could possibly be as bad as DA2 (which I very much liked many aspects of), and it looks like they are going for a lot better controls when you are playing in real time (almost like a slower action game) as well as still giving you the full tactical setup if you want to play it that way, even on the console versions.
The games I am most looking forward to are:
The Witcher 3
Lords of the Fallen
Dragon Age 3
The Evil Within
Bloodborne
Bayonetta 2
Xenoblade Chronicles X (formerly just X)
Mass Effect 4 (possibly)
Also, why the fuck would EA dump a development group that constantly makes them money?
Despite (or perhaps in part thanks to) the controversy surrounding BioWare's latest game, Electronic Arts is sitting pretty with $200 million in sales. Yep, Mass Effect 3 made some premium cheese amidst the rage and outcry. Truly, the Star Wars for a new generation.
EA didn't break down sales figures, but one can reasonably assume we're past three million, given the monetary amounts involved.
Mass Effect 3 was credited alongside Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning and FIFA Street and SSX for giving EA strong financial results this quarter. All four games have been classified as "successful" by the publisher's standard as it boasts of an "All-Time High Non-GAAP Net Revenue of $4.2 Billion in Fiscal 12."
It may be voted the worst North American company of the year, but it's looking to be one of the richest publishers of the industry. Again.
