02-27-2012, 03:24 PM
(This post was last modified: 02-27-2012, 04:13 PM by [wcip]Angel.)
Guess EA opened their warchest for Bioware.
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I thoroughly enjoyed ME1 and 2, and I was anxiously awaiting ME3 last November. However, since then, reportings about the game have left me a bit skeptical. Multiplayer and kinect-support are two resource-consuming features that could just as easily have been left out. My spidey-sense tells me EA wanted to tick those boxes on the back of the DVD-case, which is the reason for the delay. Call me cynical if you like.
Not only am I a bit anxious about the Bioware/EA partnership and how the creative process might be affected by these new partners, I've developed a distaste for the good/evil paradigm seen in so many video games. The Witcher 2 blew me away with an action/consequence-system that
1. Didn't force the player to choose between two very clearly defined "evil answer"/"good answer"-types of responses.
2. Was expertly able to hide the presumed consequences and delay them until later in the game.
3. ... and because of #1 and #2, this system produced the fantastic experience of making an actual choice that was only relevant to what you thought was the correct choice there and then.
Very often in these kinds of games, you choose one path of answers because you want to "max out evil" or "get the coolest upgrade on the side of light". The characters exist in the extremes, and therefore you end up answering the same way throughout the game simply because you're "going the evil route". This doesn't FEEL like roleplaying. The Witcher 2 on the other hand gave you options that didn't feel neither good nor evil; and it was very difficult to predict what the outcome of your actions would be. As a result, you can't choose your answers/actions from a predestined selected route, because you simply can't see it. What you're left with is the one, singular question staring you in the face, and the decision you make has everything to do with that single question, and has nothing to do with what you're trying to accomplish in the game... which DOES feel a hell of a lot more like actual roleplaying than what we see in the ME-series.
So, I don't think I'll be able to boycot the game. But I am anxious to see the extent to which Bioware has compromised their vision to serve both their new masters, but also a wider audience. The transformation of a certain female character doesn't bode well. I'll pick it up and judge the game on its own merit, but I was not this wary of 2 as I am of 3.
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I thoroughly enjoyed ME1 and 2, and I was anxiously awaiting ME3 last November. However, since then, reportings about the game have left me a bit skeptical. Multiplayer and kinect-support are two resource-consuming features that could just as easily have been left out. My spidey-sense tells me EA wanted to tick those boxes on the back of the DVD-case, which is the reason for the delay. Call me cynical if you like.
Not only am I a bit anxious about the Bioware/EA partnership and how the creative process might be affected by these new partners, I've developed a distaste for the good/evil paradigm seen in so many video games. The Witcher 2 blew me away with an action/consequence-system that
1. Didn't force the player to choose between two very clearly defined "evil answer"/"good answer"-types of responses.
2. Was expertly able to hide the presumed consequences and delay them until later in the game.
3. ... and because of #1 and #2, this system produced the fantastic experience of making an actual choice that was only relevant to what you thought was the correct choice there and then.
Very often in these kinds of games, you choose one path of answers because you want to "max out evil" or "get the coolest upgrade on the side of light". The characters exist in the extremes, and therefore you end up answering the same way throughout the game simply because you're "going the evil route". This doesn't FEEL like roleplaying. The Witcher 2 on the other hand gave you options that didn't feel neither good nor evil; and it was very difficult to predict what the outcome of your actions would be. As a result, you can't choose your answers/actions from a predestined selected route, because you simply can't see it. What you're left with is the one, singular question staring you in the face, and the decision you make has everything to do with that single question, and has nothing to do with what you're trying to accomplish in the game... which DOES feel a hell of a lot more like actual roleplaying than what we see in the ME-series.
So, I don't think I'll be able to boycot the game. But I am anxious to see the extent to which Bioware has compromised their vision to serve both their new masters, but also a wider audience. The transformation of a certain female character doesn't bode well. I'll pick it up and judge the game on its own merit, but I was not this wary of 2 as I am of 3.
