BioWare (Dragon Age, Mass Effect)

[Aragorn]

I know they've done other things but this is what they've mostly done for the past 15 years so y'know

I've played both. I honestly don't have very strong opinions on Mass Effect, it was always second choice to me compared to Dragon Age.

Dragon Age is a series I have fierce, fierce opinions on in general - Origins was a great start but an extremely flawed gem but I genuinely think that subsequent games have improved on a lot of things that they don't get credit for.

Veilguard is controversial and while I think the game has some severe flaws with its tonality I think it's the best the series has been in terms of the gameplay loop.

It's a shame that this series is likely dead for the foreseeable future since Veilguard didn't perform up to expectations.

[NateDog]

I adored Mass Effect, the first in particular which still surprises me to this day. Yes its combat is clumsy but its world building, characters and exploration is superb.

Unfortunately I have very little hope for the new one and I think Bioware are very close to being a thing of the past after Andromeda and DA: Veilguard.

[Null]

These need separate threads because both games have entirely different fanbases on here. I have no interest in DA but I think Mass Effect is one of the best game franchises of all time.

[Aragorn]

I should probably give ME another shot since I haven't played it single original release. Also been meaning to restart Inquisition (Trespasser might be the best piece of BioWare content period)

[BULUPTAX]

I recently replayed ME1 and 2. 2 is one of my favourite games of all time and 1 is a super great experience too but I just can't fully get behind 3. The gameplay itself is just fine but they really stripped back what made me love 1 and 2. I got about 3/4 through ME3 but couldn't bear to play it any more so I just didn't.

Andromeda was a hard slog for me at first but at around 12 hours it suddenly clicked and I ended up enjoying it quite a bit. It's definitely not of the same caliber as the first 2 but it held my interest enough to make me see it through

I agree with NateDog in saying that I don't have high hopes for 4. It really feels like a "break glass in case of emergency" type of situation, and the people who really made the first 2 what they were likely don't work at BioWare any more

[Jassassino]

Dragon Age is similarly something I have huge emotions regarding. It's one of, if not the, first ever game series I poured hours worth of time into - reading every piece of lore, playing the browser based Facebook spin-off games, playing every single path and choice and exploring every DLC and ending to it's fullest. Origins still stands as one of my favourite and maybe most influential games of all time, II gets undeserved hate and only ultimately because it failed to retain or refine things which Origins was heralded over, and Inquisition is maybe one of my most internally self-debated games of all time on if I love it or hate it lmao.

I've no interest at all in playing Veilguard, however. It's tone, aesthetics and presentation has confirmed to me that Dragon Ags and its future will likely cater very much so to the lowest common denominator. We went from ASOIAF fan fiction and dark fantasy, gruesome aesthetics with quest lines involving...(TW - SA)

Spoiler:

Demi-Gods raping women to force them to constantly spawn minions and be in a bloated, constant state of pregnancy

To somebody coming to terms with their pronouns.

The latter wouldn't be a problem in most cases, but Thedas already has such a unique relationship with gender identity and roles, as well as sexual identification thanks to its religions and cultures doctrines. Inquisition knew that and handled it great.

Ultimately DA's decline, and hesitancy to tackle legitimate issues posed by this fantasy setting, is such a shame for me. II and all the quest lines it had involving the Tevinter Imperium and their slaves, Fenris, etc. which was only hinted at in a single quest in DAO with a Magister in the Elvish equivalent of a ghetto was so interesting and dark. Why are these Magisters suddenly so quirky?

Lowkey its graphical style is a consequence of Fortnite lmao (only half joking...)

[Suede]

Mass Effect is one of my favourite series ever, I play through the trilogy every once and a while with Mass Effect 2 being my favourite one. I also played through Andromeda again for the second time ever last year and it's OK, I don't think it's terrible just kinda boring and suffers from a bunch of technical issues. It also has some of the worst facial animations I've ever seen.

I like Dragon Age as well, I played through The Veilguard at launch and got the platinum and actually kind of loved it, I was pretty shocked when the hate for it started to grow and grow, the writing is definitely weak, but I had a tonne of fun playing it. I guess part of it comes down to me not being super into the world of Dragon Age.

[NateDog]

Mass Effect is one of my favourite series ever, I play through the trilogy every once and a while with Mass Effect 2 being my favourite one. I also played through Andromeda again for the second time ever last year and it's OK, I don't think it's terrible just kinda boring and suffers from a bunch of technical issues. It also has some of the worst facial animations I've ever seen.

[Refluxe]

I'm so intrigued by Veilguard, but BG3 has effectively ruined most (recent) RPGs for me at the minute. I will give it a go though at some point.

I was all about Origins when it released and have played all of the others up to Veilguard, but oddly they're not RPGs I really revisited (unlike, for example Neverwinter Nights which I still play to this day).

And actually pretty similar for the Mass Effect games too. Enjoyed them, but never became an obsession.