Perhaps its time to stop covering Bioware

[JemyM]

There's obiously a market for cRPG's that haven't disappeared. What exactly captures the spirit of cRPG's is difficult to pinpoint but I believe one of it's strengths are the diversity. cRPG's cater to many minds, the minmaxer, the grinder, the socializer, the stretegic mind, the puzzlesolver and the creative. These mindsets do not cease to exist due to market trends. They did not cease to exist when DOOM got popular.

Bioware are not a contender in the evolution of the cRPG market. They aren't a prophet for the new direction the cRPG's need to take. They aren't a voice in what's hot and what's not. They simply cater to a different mindset now with a different direction that is separated the future of cRPG's.

I believe it's time for RPGWatch and other RPG-community websites to accept that this is the case and stop covering them unless it's strictly RPG-related (which doesn't include Biowares recent opinions about why RPG's are no longer their direction).

Let them go.

[skavenhorde]

Seriously? You started a thread about this? Are you bored?

You know as well as I do that if the game is RPG related then it might be covered. Might being the keyword in that sentence. For example: We covered Bioshock thoroughly and some Bioshock 2, but how much Bioshock 3 coverage do you see?

If it's popular with the people here then you'll probably see more coverage, but if it's "meh" like Bioshock has become then maybe a newsbit once in a blue moon.

[fatBastard()]

Bioware are not a contender in the evolution of the cRPG market. They aren't a prophet for the new direction the cRPG's need to take. They aren't a voice in what's hot and what's not. They simply cater to a different mindset now with a different direction that is separated the future of cRPG's.

Wait what?!? O_O

Who put you in charge of what "future of the cRPG" is supposed to be? ;)

[Alrik Fassbauer]

I'm split, personally.

I'm positive about stopping about Bioware's non-RPG games. Or EA, for that matter.

But I believe that "we" should still cover Bioware's RPGs. There's news about HOMM in the news section as well, and King's Bounty, too. Which are not really RPGs either.

And personally, I call the ME series as a new sub-genre : "Shooter-RPGs" ...

[CountChocula]

And personally, I call the ME series as a new sub-genre : "Shooter-RPGs" …

ME3's "RPG-ness" setting sounds like quite an interesting feature. Certainly it is at least newsworthy.

[Biff The Understudy]

As yet another Ea brand i dont think bioware will ever again create anything that can really be called an rpg even if they themselves will lable it as such.
We now have Dragon Age and its awesome button, Mass effect the full motion video dating simulator and lets not forget their new company of heroes thingy.
The web is allready saturated with information on everything they do so i can see how a site dedicated to rpg's might want to skip them in the future.
I know i stopped paying attention to them sometime around jade empire.

[JDR13]

Hey, at least it was different from the usual "Bioware sucks now" rant.

Btw: Bioware sucks now.

[JemyM]

You know as well as I do that if the game is RPG related then it might be covered. Might being the keyword in that sentence. For example: We covered Bioshock thoroughly and some Bioshock 2, but how much Bioshock 3 coverage do you see?

If it's popular with the people here then you'll probably see more coverage, but if it's "meh" like Bioshock has become then maybe a newsbit once in a blue moon.

Is Bioware popular here and are many of the recent news regarding Bioware (have a look) RPG related?

[JemyM]

Who put you in charge of what "future of the cRPG" is supposed to be? ;)

They did. They...

[pibbur0x2a]

No, we didn't!

We are pibbur........

[Jaz]

If your biggest worry is about the direction some video game corp or other might take with their games ... well, then you must be one happy person ^^.

[pibbur0x2a]

Hey, at least it was different from the usual "Bioware sucks now" rant.


until ....

Btw: Bioware sucks now.
!!!

I simply HAD to write this.

pibbur, who one might say is PREDICTABLY predictable.

[skavenhorde]

Is Bioware popular here and are many of the recent news regarding Bioware (have a look) RPG related?

I'll say it again. More clearly it seems. If the game is RPG related and popular among our visitors then we will cover more of it. Just like we are continuing to cover this new Bioware offshoot. The second they show us that it isn't RPG related at all, is the day I will stop covering it. Can't speak for Dhruin, but I won't touch it with a ten foot pole. Even the not-so-popular RPGs get an appearance here like the roguelikes and Project Zomboid to name a few.

It's pretty much the same deal we give anybody. Show us a rpg that people here might be interested in and it gets posted. I could give a rat's ass who publishes or develops it.

So no I do not see Bioware as a whole being dropped completely. That would be idiotic. In the end who really cares who makes it? Sure names can mean something, but not with Bioware anymore. It will be the game that will be weighed. It will be measured and if it is found lacking then it won't appear here.

Same as before. Nothing has changed just because Bioware has gone off the deep end. It's the game that gets judged.

As for all the chatter about Bioware now well of course there is. This is all brand spanking new and hot off the presses. Come on Jemmy. You know all this. Are you really this bored….hell am I really this bored to be responding……..I guess I am. Screw that I'm going back to Terraria. Have fun here.

[Alrik Fassbauer]

The other side of the extreme are the Action-RPGs by Blizzard, those which not a small number of people say/claim are not RPGs at all.

And those are covered here, too.
Because still, even although they resemble very little of "traditional" RPGs, they still have some parts of what an RPG constitutes of in them.

Imho the same reasoning could be applied for Bioware's "Shooter-RPGs".

(Interesting that these new sub-genres were invented by companies beginning with a "B" ...)

[darkling]

I think RPGWatch should only cover the RPGs I approve of. Of course, that includes the Dragon Age RPGs. That means me and JemyM should battle. QTE's at 20 paces. You in?

[bjon045]

Skyrim is at least 10x as good as anything bioware has put out in recent years so it is only fitting it gets 10x the coverage bioware does.

[Alrik Fassbauer]

I think RPGWatch should only cover the RPGs I approve of.

Then hand over your list.

Should the staff prepare an appendix to every newsbit saying "Now approved by darkling !" ?

[Thaurin]

More console news and JRPGs!!

[tennishero]

they started going downhill ater jade empire

although they were always sh!t, they were less sh!t with KOTOR

[Alrik Fassbauer]

Monty Python says : Life's a piece of BEEP, if you look at it.
So, where is the difference, actually ?

[Carnifex]

Keep covering Bioware imo, it's nice to have something to giggle at. Like, their recent attempts at crpg's =p. I'm predicting much more giggleworthiness from their direction in '12!


-Carn

[rk47]

You should read Bioware forum to understand their core market.

Good luck disproving these guys that what Bioware is making isn't RPG anymore. But their justification is pathetic at best. XD I gotta say, even though ME isn't much of RPG - I still enjoy the shooty bits and Shepard over the top action scenes. Let's hope they don't screw up in the finale by introducing Merrill in space.

[darkling]

Then hand over your list.

Should the staff prepare an appendix to every newsbit saying "Now approved by darkling !" ?

JemyM never accepted my QTE battle challenge so nothing has been decided!

My spacebar and right mouse button are ready for the flashing icons and bars accompanying epic cinematics!

Random aside: Why does The Witcher 2 get a pass for all its shitty QTE sequences when every other QTE-laden nightmare is regarded as a QTE-nightmare?

[Drithius]

Random aside: Why does The Witcher 2 get a pass for all its shitty QTE sequences when every other QTE-laden nightmare is regarded as a QTE-nightmare?

A pass from whom? I remember that mechanic being panned by a couple people, myself included. I still recall fumbling around with that monster in the first chapter for a couple hours because I continuously missed the brief QTE instruction. Nevertheless, it's generally forgivable, because of the other quality aspects of the game.

[Damian Mahadevan]

Actually SWTOR is easily better than WoW. I love it. Excellent story and actually very fun considering it is an MMO.

[Wicked Witch of Loliland]

Wathlandia wants to stop covering Bioware? May this mean *gasp* KKKodexia was right all along?

Good to know. I love being right about stuffies.

[Mortmal]

Actually SWTOR is easily better than WoW. I love it. Excellent story and actually very fun considering it is an MMO.

It is much better its a mix of the goold old kotor with a interisting story for each character class and a classic wow clone. Theres really a lot to do, even shooter sequences , and i dont remember a mmo in better shape with so much content at release.
However outside the storyline quest, its always go fetch x , kill y , full voiced with cinematic, yes but it gets boring very fast. I ended up skipping most quests and just doing the xp in pvp. Hutt ball is really an interisting concept, and dare to say fun.
After the garbage that was dragon age 2, its a good surprise.
Now for mass effect 3 i dont see why you should cover it, its gear of war with dialogue choices more than likely.Strangely i dont see very good titles like dark souls covered by the watch, although considerably superior as a rpg than latest bioware games.

[Humanity has risen!]

SWTOR has indeed a good story and good writing, but the gameplay is the same inane WoW stuff as ever. I can't understand for the life of me how some people can spend most of their waking time walking 15 minutes between objectives and staring at refreshing skill icons to spam the same few ones over and over again. My head starts feeling like it will pop after 2 hours in. Not to mention that the environments are always based on the same pattern of camp, path, plain, camp, path, plain.... the quests no matter how well disguised, are always just go meet x, activate x switches, bring me x stuff... this is supposed to be fun?

It feels really awkward, it feels like constantly switching abruptly between WoW and KOTOR, and not in a good way.

Also are there completely separate storylines for the sith and the jedi?

The only game with that sort of gameplay I enjoyed was Everquest 2, because at least there was much more variety and complexity in the environments and a much bigger focus on wonder and exploration, instead of just prettying up the same boring three quest patterns over and over again.

[Infinitron]

Wathlandia wants to stop covering Bioware? May this mean *gasp* KKKodexia was right all along?

Good to know. I love being right about stuffies.

>Implying that the Codex doesn't constantly talk about Bioware

[Wicked Witch of Loliland]

The difference is that we never say anything good about them!

Oh, wai...

Gee, move along. Alright.

[GameBrian]

Stop covering any first person or single player character game as if it were an RPG. Let the Superbowl ads be the marketing for these garbagefests.

[CountChocula]

A pass from whom? I remember that mechanic being panned by a couple people, myself included. I still recall fumbling around with that monster in the first chapter for a couple hours because I continuously missed the brief QTE instruction.

Same here. I enjoyed the first Witcher game quite a bit more than the second..