BioWare saved the genre from certain death

[VentilatorOfDoom]

Over 10 years ago the genre was almost dead, or so they say, but then 2 guys came to the rescue.

The joke is dusted off when we suggest that Neverwinter Nights’ single-player campaign was regarded by some as inferior to those BioWare presented in previous games – anaemic, even. “I would disagree,” Ray Muzyka counters

What would you do? Agree/Disagree?

“Every game we do we’re always striving to make better than the previous ones,” Muzyka explains, “and Dragon Age is one where the morality and alignment, the way the world looks at you, and the way you look at the world… There’s a lot more nuance to it.

Shades of grey I presume?

Set in the then-uncharted Sword Coast territory of Tactical Studies Rules’ Forgotten Realms setting, Baldur allowed Muzyka and Zeschuk to channel all their previous RPG experiences into a personal project. The problem? At the time, the RPG genre was dead, at least commercially speaking. The Gold Box games were the last major success in the genre, and with that franchise over, the future looked bleak.

“The RPG was in trouble,” Muzyka concurs. “People would tell us it was dead, but the thing is, we just didn’t believe them. We always felt that a great story, great characters, great world, profession systems… there was always a place for that. A lot of it was based on the confidence we had, having played a lot of those games in the past. We felt, ‘Hey, we can add something to that mix. We can bring back what people loved about RPGs in the Eighties’. And we’re always trying to keep doing that. Things change and we’re always adding new things, but the core goals remain unchanged.”

Good to know.

 

[Black]

Meh, I've already seen "bioware saved the rpg genre with baldur's gate" bullshit.

 

[Malakal]

They saved rpg genre in mainstream games. All the difference in the world.

 

[Micmu]

...or they killed the rpg genre by making it too mainstream

 

[Longshanks]

Diablo: released Jan 2, 1997
Baldur's Gate: released Nov 30, 1998
Even Fallout, not a massive hit, but a good seller for a "B" title was released in 1997

Bioware saved what now?

 

[Emotional Vampire]

I've been thinking about it recently and no other genre has been hit by the decline as hard as RPGs.

RTSes still get refined. Actually RTSes are pretty much dead, with what, two devs left making them? One of which has no intention of innovating anything ever. But RERIC does, even if it sometimes fails miserably. And they let other companies ruin them. And can't do balance. And can't patch.

FPS are doing pretty well. Sure most KKKodexers will say it's all same CoD health regen bullshit, but most KKKodexers are fucking retards who have no fucking idea what they're talking about. STALKER is still going and is better than ever, Metro 2033 is still an unknown, Crysis was a big surprise and even CoD is good for what it is(Since it's almost a separate genre at this point). A lot of boring FPSes like Halo 15 and FEAR 2 which was just a conole port of FEAR and AvP, but the genre generally doesn't go backwards; at worst it stagnates for few years.

Strategy games are very well, Paradox makes one Europe Rape game after another, then there's a lot of indie productions like Solium Infernum.

Even adventure games are still being made, almost exclusively by indie studios but it's a niche genre anyway.

But RPGs? It's not that they're not being made; it's that the genre has regressed so badly and everyone thinks these stunted, underdeveloped little shits they make now are the future. That's the real problem here, even if most modern FPSes are meh people realize they're meh, but when new Fallout 3 DLC gets made people are happy as pigs in shit for no fucking logical reason at all. And that's why the genre is doomed, if no one fucking realizes it's shit we can't hope for someone to try and make it not shit. Everyone knows new games are better than old games so no one will go back to isometry and multiple quest solutions and whatnot.

 

[Longshanks]

AGs have been hit hard too. They used to be top dog in PC gaming, now they're confined to cheap Euro junk. There has been a bit of a revival recently, but nothing too exciting has emerged. The main thing AGs have going for them is that, in relation to RPGs, they are quite cheap and easy to make, so there is at least still quite a few being made.

 

[Stoiv]

They saved the genre by removing all the RP from them.

 

[MetalCraze]

Diablo: released Jan 2, 1997
Baldur's Gate: released Nov 30, 1998
Even Fallout, not a massive hit, but a good seller for a "B" title was released in 1997

Bioware saved what now?

Was RPG in trouble at all before?

 

[denizsi]

I think one of the major setbacks to adventure genre has been this very aggressively pursued next-gen graphics PR bullshit that began early into this decade. If you didn't go 3D, employ bullshit shaders and bloom, made your game actiony, your game outright sucked and there is little genre differentiation to this mentality, which eventually shape the gamer base. Why point and click in 2D when you can WASD and shoot in 3D? It was only very recently that someone at Bethesda criticized Blizzard for sticking to "obsolete" standards and not getting on with times by making Diablo 3 a point and lick game with an overview camera.

 

[Longshanks]

^^Yes, but it's also that the more "interactive", especially actiony, genres started taking over from the mid 90s. Once these also added stories, AGs became redundant to the mainstream, then boring, then dead. A game with a story and shooting (and as you said, shiny graphics) trumps a game with story and inventory puzzles.

 

[sheek]

Thank you Greg and Ray, I am truly grateful.

It’s not surprising, then, that pretty much everything about BioWare comes in twos: the two founders; the partnership with Pandemic; the fact that for every good story path there’s an evil one; the corresponding double endings; or even the two companions who are allowed to leave the ship/tavern/safe house with you at any time, as has been the convention since Neverwinter Nights: Hordes Of The Underdark.

WTF?

 

[Black Cat]

As i said before it is the japanese who saved the genre, nya.

 

[Mattresses]

Thankyou, Bioware, for saving the genre with the steaming shit that is RTwP.

 

[PlanHex]

I, too, save people from being raped by killing them before I do it.

 

[entertainer]

I, too, save people from being raped by killing them before I do it.

[Intelligence] So you rape them after you kill them?

 

[Emotional Vampire]

As i said before it is the japanese who saved the genre, nya.

As I(and many other people actually) said before TITS OR GTFO.

 

[DraQ]

FPS are doing pretty well. Sure most KKKodexers will say it's all same CoD health regen bullshit, but most KKKodexers are fucking retards who have no fucking idea what they're talking about. STALKER is still going and is better than ever

It will be quite ironic if FPS games, through their continued growth, will become new RPGs, and FPS fans everywhere will explain to the degenerate fans of the bloated corpse of the RPG genre, that they prefer their games to be of more cerebral nature.

 

[spekkio]

As i said before it is the japanese who saved the genre, nya.

As I(and many other people actually) said before TITS OR GTFO.

Don't drag us into your obsession with BC's tits, EV.
Besides, with you being clearly a Pole, why don't you stick to RL polish ladies?

 

[Volourn]

Nobody saved anything.


"Diablo: released Jan 2, 1997 "

Not a RPG.

"Baldur's Gate: released Nov 30, 1998
Even Fallout, not a massive hit, but a good seller for a "B" title was released in 1997 "

Fo was a success for what it was but anyone outside of the 'hardcore' didn't give a shit about it.

 

[Haba]

Bah, most of you kids were about 5 years old when Baldurs Gate was released. CRPG as a genre was dead at that point, from commercial perspective. And yes, BG was the game that rekindled the interest in the genre. It sold 2 million copies (Diablo sold 2,5, but it still - it isn't a crpg), and proved that there was a large untapped market.

Pretty much every gaming magazine touted BG as the "second coming of CRPG" upon it's release already. And they were right - after BG's success a lot of projects got funding. Obviously in the end it didn't make much of a difference.

And Black Cat, Japanese have absolutely nothing to do with CRPG's.

 

[Dionysus]

Yeah, BG was definitely a big deal back then. Other than that, the big RPGs were Pokemon, FFVII, and Diablo.

 

[Emotional Vampire]

As i said before it is the japanese who saved the genre, nya.

As I(and many other people actually) said before TITS OR GTFO.

Don't drag us into your obsession with BC's tits, EV.

Use the Search function noob

 

[Kaanyrvhok]

It will be quite ironic if FPS games, through their continued growth, will become new RPGs, and FPS fans everywhere will explain to the degenerate fans of the bloated corpse of the RPG genre, that they prefer their games to be of more cerebral nature.

Thus the origin of the sandbox.

Bah, most of you kids were about 5 years old when Baldurs Gate was released. CRPG as a genre was dead at that point, from commercial perspective. And yes, BG was the game that rekindled the interest in the genre. It sold 2 million copies (Diablo sold 2,5, but it still - it isn't a crpg), and proved that there was a large untapped market.

:idea: :idea:
Thats not to mention what BG did for D&D and the Forgotten Realms. Of coarse Wotc didn't take advantage of it. They went out of their way to literally kill the Forgotten Realms. Almost all of the BG NPCs are dead now.

 

[Black Cat]

@ Haba

"And Black Cat, Japanese have absolutely nothing to do with CRPG's."

All the new Dungeon Crawlers i did play in the last year or so were, like, japanese. All the ones who weren't had, like, ten years or some thingie like that. Not all of the japanese ones where good and stuffies, sure, but neither all of the old PC ones were, and at least they were true, honest to God and Codex, dungeon crawlers, not emo story stuffies and thingies and nya.