BioWare - Interview @ Sarcastic Gamer

The Biodocs were interviewed by the Sarcastic Gamer at the recent Eurogamer Expo. The article-format conversation covers their attitude on working with the Star Wars IP and some very general comments about BioWare's future:

“The vision for us is a broadening of the genre,” Muzyka said. “We see a lot of other genres incorporating features of RPGs and in turn RPGs are incorporating features of other genres. There are more action elements, there’s different ways to tell a story, there’s different ways to have characters interact for adventure games, action games, shooters, and that’s exciting to us.
“It’s actually making a lot of other games more engaging in the same way we could make RPGs more engaging and successful … by incorporating features that are popular in different genres. But we want to bring our core fans along with us on that journey too, so it’s not always easy to get a balance that does both, but we’re striving to do that.”

More information.

Is it just me, or have the good doctors been a lot more talkative these past few months?
For their own sake, I think they should stop talking.

Mixing genres into half-assed attempts doesnt make them more engaging, it's the opposite of that. There was a time when i had respect for BW, all they see now is dollar signs..

Originally Posted by vurt
Mixing genres into half-assed attempts doesnt make them more engaging, it's the opposite of that. There was a time when i had respect for BW, all they see now is dollar signs..

Which games were half assed attempts, I'm curious…or is this some random ranting?

I'm mostly thinking of ME, it's not like you're getting either the ultimate shooter experience OR RPG experience by playing a hybrid, you get a so-so RPG/shooter. I thought KOTOR was a way better game than ME.

They keep saying this stuff over and over but their sales are not going up. DA2's sales actually were down. So whatever they are desperately trying to do to get more sales… I mean "broaden the genre"… is not working.

Just make RPGs and budget to your audience. It's really not that hard.

Stop making hybrids and go back to making RPGs please.

Originally Posted by vurt
I'm mostly thinking of ME, it's not like you're getting either the ultimate shooter experience OR RPG experience by playing a hybrid, you get a so-so RPG/shooter. I thought KOTOR was a way better game than ME.

Me 1 and ME2 both sold very well and are good games, so regardless of the rants on here it doesn't matter. It's not a run and gun shooter, at least thats not how I played it. Funny thing is if you were to use a bow in say Gothic, and no melee weapons would that be considered a shooter then?

Originally Posted by rune_74
Me 1 and ME2 both sold very well and are good games, so regardless of the rants on here it doesn't matter. It's not a run and gun shooter, at least thats not how I played it. Funny thing is if you were to use a bow in say Gothic, and no melee weapons would that be considered a shooter then?

They both sold in the 2-3 million range. Dragon Age, a core RPG, sold more than that.

Originally Posted by rune_74
Me 1 and ME2 both sold very well and are good games, so regardless of the rants on here it doesn't matter. It's not a run and gun shooter, at least thats not how I played it. Funny thing is if you were to use a bow in say Gothic, and no melee weapons would that be considered a shooter then?

I'm sure Justin Bieber or "Smurf hits" sells way better than much of the classical rock or instrumental master pieces that exists.. This doesnt mean "Smurf Hits" is a quality product. It means some people doesnt know any better and that a lot of effort was put into marketing.

And no, that doesnt make G2 into a shooter, the ability to jump in a RPG doesnt make it into a Super Mario clone either.

Originally Posted by DoctorNarrative
They both sold in the 2-3 million range. Dragon Age, a core RPG, sold more than that.

Um, no. That simply is not true. In the first week of mass effect 2 it sold over 2 million. Dragon age did not do that well at all.

How on earth you can say it is not a quality product is beyond me. There is obviously very good production values and time put into the game. If you don't like it, fine. It's got a great story which I enjoy. Smurfs, jesus you guys are getting bad here.

Originally Posted by rune_74
Um, no. That simply is not true. In the first week of mass effect 2 it sold over 2 million. Dragon age did not do that well at all.

BioWare themselves said that Dragon Age Origin sold better than Mass Effect and was more popular.

Originally Posted by azarhal
BioWare themselves said that Dragon Age Origin sold better than Mass Effect and was more popular.

Yes, if you read the last line "Mass Effect, of course, was released on two platforms - whereas Dragon Age was released on four (including Mac)." it explains sort of why…fast forward to mass effect 2(which this article is not talking about and it did as well or better then then dragon age…whereas dragon age 2…not so well.

Originally Posted by rune_74
Um, no. That simply is not true. In the first week of mass effect 2 it sold over 2 million. Dragon age did not do that well at all.

Dragon Age sold over 4 million. I am going on what Bioware themselves have said on their forum and in interviews.

How on earth you can say it is not a quality product is beyond me. There is obviously very good production values and time put into the game. If you don't like it, fine. It's got a great story which I enjoy. Smurfs, jesus you guys are getting bad here.

When did I say ANY of this?

Originally Posted by DoctorNarrative
Dragon Age sold over 4 million. I am going on what Bioware themselves have said on their forum and in interviews.



When did I say ANY of this?

Mass effect 2 has sold around 4 million to date now as well….sorry the other part was directed at the person stating it wasn't a quality product.

when did sales number equal quality?

I liked the "shooter" combat in ME and I am one of those people who don't like FPS games. I think Bio did a good job converting "shoot" combat to RPGs in that, unlike proper FSP games, player skill (player dexterity, reflex etc) doesn't matter much. I think Bio should be commended for trying a new type of combat in RPGs.

However Bio did dump downed the RPG elements in ME games, more so in ME2 than ME1. This is the bit that I don't like. If they kept the RPG elements in addition to "shooter" combat, I think I will rate ME games in my all time top 10 list.

So on balance I think I agree with vurt, ME games are so-so RPG/shooter and they did *feel* like half-assed attempt to attract RPG and FPS games for more money. If they have kept the RPG elements, then it would have been great RPG trying a new combat mechanic.

Originally Posted by DoctorNarrative
They keep saying this stuff over and over but their sales are not going up. DA2's sales actually were down. So whatever they are desperately trying to do to get more sales… I mean "broaden the genre"… is not working.

Just make RPGs and budget to your audience. It's really not that hard.

THIS THIS THIS THIS!!!!!!
!!!!!

and more !!!!!!!

I have never seen a more perfect quote that ties up the problem so elegantly!

I have been concerned about this company ever since BG2 and the unnecessary, 3D elements and actiony/Diablo type direction.

Originally Posted by rune_74
Mass effect 2 has sold around 4 million to date now as well…

Even if that is true it still didn't sell better than Dragon Age. So then the question still is: how rewarding has their shift to hybrid games been? I'm not saying ME2 was a bad game at all, in fact I loved that game. My only point is that they seem to think real RPGs are no longer viable sales-wise, yet real RPGs like Dragon Age and Fallout New Vegas sell just as much if not more.

To take that example further, Fallout New Vegas added RPG depth and complexity. It had no main character voice over and the dialogue options displayed exactly what you were saying. The aiming and accuracy is stat-based. It has all these elements that Bioware insist are no longer viable in today's market and yet it sold more than any of their games. It makes them look silly.

@DN: I've seen people make similar arguments over at the Bioware forums many, many times but even when Bioware employees do come to the boards they won't hear of it. They are absolutely convinced they are on the right path and nothing will convince them otherwise. If they have even the slightest doubts, they are doing one hell of a job hiding it.

Honestly, the more I see them talk lately the more I get the feeling that they think genres are a bad thing and gaming would be better off if every game were more or less like every other, just one big genre-less mish mash. I can't think of anything more dull or that would make me less interested in playing games.

Originally Posted by Motoki
@DN: I've seen people make similar arguments over at the Bioware forums many, many times but even when Bioware employees do come to the boards they won't hear of it. They are absolutely convinced they are on the right path and nothing will convince them otherwise. If they have even the slightest doubts, they are doing one hell of a job hiding it.

Oh I know, I lurk there somewhat often and read the dev comments. They are convinced there is some magic recipe that gets 10+ million people to buy their games.