The Bioware Method: Why Bioware's stories are so good

​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.

[Stealth2k]

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?

[Spydiggity]

i don't understand this comment. the gameplay in an RPG is about a "dumb" as it gets. dice roll, hit/miss, x number of points damage. repeat.

an action game actually requires more skill because the action is less about the dice roll and more about timing.

yes, the horrific inventory system from the first game was removed...that's a good thing. other than that, i don't see anything that was really 'dumbed' down. the combat improved, the graphics improved, the weapons improved, the dialogue was improved, the story...well i never thought the ME story was anything special. Point is, nothing is "dumber."

this is just the typical complaint of a person that has nothing better to do with his time than complain about nothing.

[JaredH]

@Stealth2k

Wow you sound like a AWESOME person based on that comment with your high self-importance...

[ElliePage]

The Mass Effect games say otherwise.

[LordLaguz]

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.

[Burning_Finger]

More like confusing as hell.

I think I prefer linear RPG (JPRG) than (WRPG).

[Venjense]

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.

[Megaton]

I've really been sucked into the Mass Effect universe, but I couldn't possibly care less about anything else BioWare makes. I almost think Mass Effect was a fluke, that they just got lucky.