Sfdebris.net

Let's be honest, BioWare is not doing very well right now. While Veilguard did alright in sells it still under-preformed and the reception to the game is mixed.

And this has been a trend of BioWare as of late, the company's last major success was Dragon Age: Inquisition which some felt was still lackluster when compared to other open world games but was still an overall success which is best show by how the game was able to get 3 massive DLCs released.

But after that we got Mass Effect: Andromeda, Anthem and Dragon Age: The Veilguard and while I wouldn't call any of the games bad (I still think Veilguard is a lot of fun) none of them have really captured what made past games so beloved. Not helping matters is several people have either left the studio or have been fired.

Right now Mass Effect 5 is really the companies last chance assuming it even gets made.

But there is a way for BioWare to gain a lot of good faith and it's all comes down to the tried and true method call Remasters.

I know a lot of people are getting tired of Remasters and Remakes but the simply truth is these are ultimately good for the media. As Chuck said it's frustrating to see how companies are just letting old games by leaving them behind on older systems and not doing anything to bring them back. Repeating the mistakes by letting old stories just die an unremarked death.

Did you know we there are about 740 works by William Shakespeare that are lost. We're still missing Doctor Who episodes, there are several black and white films that are just gone and likely will never be recovered.

And it's happening again with the latest and currently most popular media, video games.

So any game that gets remastered is a good thing, even if the games in question are of questionable quality. I'm not really interested in the older Tomb Raider games but I'm glad that all the older games have gotten remastered and with the game Angel of Darkness getting cut content restored and having updated gameplay so it's a bit better then it was in the original release.

And of course there was Mass Effect with it's remaster the Legendary Edition.

And all these games have done very well in sales so it's win win for everyone involved.

That then leads to the point of this post should BioWare put a hold on ME5 and just focus on re-releasing their older games.

Baldur's Gate
Neverwinter Nights
Knights of the Old Republic
And Dragon Age 1 through 3

While KOTOR is getting a remake BioWare could still make a Remake of the game that put them on the map.

However, Balder's Gate and Neverwinter Nights might be better served as remakes instead of remasters.

Dragon Age? Well I have an idea.

Remaster all three games with improved graphics, maybe some restored cut content and improved gameplay and quality of life improvements (like removing pick animations in DAI) AND make a remake of DA2. Same story, same choices, same ending but reworked from the ground up.

Just one example of how a remake could improve the story without changing the choices in the Dragon Age Keep aka Tapestry it's stated that Merill's clan lives or dies it does not say HOW you come to that outcome. One of the moments I hate the most is how you can unintentionally kill Merill's entire clan by choosing to stand up for her and the only way to not kill them is to partake, at least a little, in the abuse against her.

I would change it to where whether the clan lives or dies is down to choices you make throughout the game. Change it so the entire clan is split in opinion on what Merill is doing with some being on her side, some being against her and some are more neutral. The Keeper still dies in the same way but when the other clan members come out to confront us they will either attack or let us go based on how you played the game.

This would require being able to reason with the ones against Merill, turn the neutrals to the side of either agree with Merill or at least convincing them that the Keeper and the other members of the clan are overreacting. Or be as rude and uncaring and strike back at them for mistreating Merill for no real reason.

There are many ways to rework the story while sticking true to the original game that's just one.

Though the biggest change I would make is in Act 3, namely by completely reworking it top to bottom. The events still play out the same but now it's stretched out by 6 or 7 hours. Basically make the third act a game in and of itself with use dealing with threats as we come across them. Like with the game we do decide between mages and templars but it's a number of choices made throughout the act.

Like defending mages being attacked by Templars, or defending Templars against an abomination. We still fight Orsino and Meredith but instead of those events happen one right after the other their instead their own missions.

There are other changes I would make (include a personal rival for Hawke, flesh out Kirkwall as a whole and make Anders, you know, likable) but for the most try to modify the story without actually changing it.

I would also be tempted to do a remake of Veilguard but that's besides the point and I would still want a remaster when it came time for it to get one.

But BioWare NEEDS this and fans would except them. They get games they love and they get a chance to improve on them in number of small ways. Win Win.

Honestly I think Bioware will be shuttered in the near future.

ME: Andromeda was a fine game. But the overlords at EA demanded they switch to a different game engine that did not do what the RPG did. Then they took assets and people to the golden game Anthem. Which was half baked because it was to be a lootbox jamboree, oh and you can play some stuff maybe.

With EA calling the shots, I do not think Bioware gets to even decide what they will be working on. Remasters or new works.

They're probably going to lay most of them that are left off as soon as ME4 drops no matter how it goes.

Right now Mass Effect 5 is really the companies last chance assuming it even gets made.

I don't see a single scenario, where Mass Effect 5 will get a good reception. At best, it's going to be a Tour de Force of memberberries, like Picard Season 3. Sure, there will be a few good moments, but overall, it's still the Picard-series and will be largely forgotten just a year later, with nobody ever bothering with it again, other than watching Shorts of the few good moments on YouTube.

What BioWare needs is, to take a step away and forward. They can't do this by rehashing the past, but rehashing they must by corporate mandate and the leaving of creative talent. Mass Effect Andromeda was exactly what the series needed, despite the engine letting it down at times. Same universe, different framework and no constant bombardment by things of days gone by. That's what's needed.

On the topic of remakes, I got mixed feelings. Often, a lot of the limitations of the time, needed to be worked around in creative ways and often leading into great moments and achievements being remembered decades later. Now you remake it and suddenly, you don't have the issue of a given limitation and you can either stick with what once was and run the risk of disappointing a more modern audience or you update and run the risk of severing a thread you may not realize was there, until it's too late. Remakes are a very delicate affair and there is no single recipe for success, but many roads to failure. I generally feel it's best, to leave the piece of art unchanged and just make it work on modern tech.

Yes, Bioware is dead.

What exists left is its corpse reanimated by warlocks.

CharlesPhipps wrote: ↑Sat Mar 01, 2025 6:20 pm Yes, Bioware is dead.

What exists left is its corpse reanimated by warlocks.

Sometimes what's dead comes back to life, Ōkami is living proof of that. A game that bombed back in 2006 and is now getting a sequel by a company that died with it. Sure Capcom is helping but the fact that an 18 year old game that bombed so hard that it got a studio killed can pull a comeback then BioWare still has a chance.

I mentioned this on the DAV remake question page but the best thing for the studio and the IPs it owns is for someone else to buy the series.

Maybe an existing company or a new one but someone to just get these series to a more healthy working environment where BS like what happened in the last 3 BioWare games is less likely to happen, at least for a few years.

There have been series that have managed to come back from far worse fates so until then I won't count out BioWare or these series yet.

I think you'd have better luck following the creators you like than sticking with the shell of a company. Ohlen and Karpyshyn's new game Exodus looks pretty promising.

I'll say this for mass effect, after I beat it.

I missed a whole DLC, but because of how I played, I have to replay the whole game to do it. The story is great, the characters are fun, gameplay is solid... but no. I refuse. Every single set is the SAME, and I refuse to replay the game, ever, because of that. If Mass Effect gets a reboot, the number one thing to fix is that every level is the same.

hammerofglass wrote: ↑Sat Mar 01, 2025 9:14 pm I think you'd have better luck following the creators you like than sticking with the shell of a company. Ohlen and Karpyshyn's new game Exodus looks pretty promising.

Poor choice of words on my part what I should have said is I will wait for their comeback and hope that said comeback is soon. Until then I will go on to other series and other stories and check in on them when I get a chance and see how their doing.

I don't buy games that often so it's not like this a serious commitment. I will hope for the best but until then I'll just check out other series that I find interesting.

My first reaction was basically something like Kirk's from ST6, "Let them die". They may not have killed a family member or blew up my ship, but dangit, they hurt me. Hurt my time, and hurt my feelings, and made me feel like a fool for ever getting invested in the first place.

Then I read KOTOR and a thought struck me. Remaster the MMO into an actual Kotor 3. That thing had such incredible stuff in there but it was drowned by all of the timewasting slop. Make the combat more interesting so it's not just hitting buttons cooldown, and drastically reduce the amount of combat needed so it doesn't get as old as it did, polish up the graphics, and you could get something incredible. I'd love to see what was going on with that Imperial Agent after I got bored by the slog.