With Mass Effect 3 just a few months away and Dragon Age 3 officially announced, not is as good a time as any to talk about Bioware. The company has long been lauded as one of the few developers that have put an emphasis on storytelling. Even their games that have featured largely unimpressive gameplay have been remembered as classics just because of how well the story was told. But with Bioware's latest two series they've found a very unique way of telling a story with the mechanics through each property's protagonists. Shepard and the warden are both vehicles for the player to act in a separate world and individual characters in their own right.
RPGs are often huge, sprawling endeavours. With limited playtime, we have to choose wisely, so here's the best western RPGs available today.
"I started playing games yesterday" the List... Meh!
How about a few RPGs that deserve some love instead?
1 - Alpha Protocol - Now on GOG
2 - else Heart.Break()
3 - Shadowrun Trilogy
4 - Wasteland 2
5 - UnderRail
6 - Tyranny
7 - Torment: Tides of Numenera
And for a bonus game that flew under the radar:
8 - Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden
Not only glorious jank, but the idea that the story can completely change depending on what you do, or say, or side with, makes it one of the most forward thinking games ever. The amount of story permutation is the equivalent of a Hitman level but in Story Form. And it wasn't just that the story changed, no, it was that you met completely new characters, or missed them, depending on your choices. Made Mass Effect feel static in comparison.
Alpha Protocol was absolutely glorious, indeed. And it was, and still is, more Next Gen than most anything out there these days. In this regard at least.
Pity.
Based on one narratively fitting ending in Mass Effect 3, Prothean squadmate Javik is highly unlikely to return in the next Mass Effect game.
He was one of my least favorite characters. I wish they would have done the Proths different.
Dragon Age: Inquisition, developed by BioWare, is the third installment in the cherished Dragon Age series. It represents a major evolution from its predecessor, Dragon Age II, incorporating elements that were well-loved in the original Dragon Age: Origins but also introducing new features that stand on their own. While Inquisition improves upon Dragon Age II in many respects, it falls short of the exceptional standards set by Origins.
stories so good with gameplay getting dumber for the masses, and far less rpg.
"One is not better than the other (even if the latter is decidedly out of vogue in contemporary design philosophy)"
Only with trolls/haters/fanboys ( all the same). The majority actually prefer having
characters you can relate to. And connect with, instead of a mindless drone
@below
and bioware has done nothing but make bad "rpgs this gen, I played the games likely more than you. I know a fantastic action adventure game when I see one.
And bioware themselves have addressed the lack of rpg qualities in its recent mass effect games so who do you think you are?
The Mass Effect games say otherwise.
They would be better if the choices would branch the story instead of just "making you good or evil* with different endings.
I know most of people here don't like visual novels or thing like that, but what make them unique is that the stories change a lot depending of choice.
The problem with this on games like mass effect is that the game is "too big", making 2-3 paths, with a different story each, is like making 2-3 different games with the same resources in the same disc, that will "weight" a lot, and greatly increase the development time of the game.
More like confusing as hell.
I think I prefer linear RPG (JPRG) than (WRPG).
I have to admit that Bioware stories are good, after (still) playing Skyrim I really can appreciate a decent narrative instead of mindless quests - still enjoy the Skyrim, but it seems more about leveling up than cool adventures.
Always believe that strong villains make for the best game stories.