Bioware Has No Balls

"Bioware Has No Balls" is something a friend said to me recently in conversation, and it was one of those casual statements that stopped me silent for a few seconds as I pondered over it. Felt like the sentence was tangible, textured, as if I could bite into it like a fruit and let my brain run through all of the flavors I tasted.

It was like that because… there might be some truth behind it.

The internet archived a decade ago the "Bioware RPG Cliché Chart." Frankly, the list isn't merely cliché for Bioware, it's cliché for fantasy storytelling in general. I've easily played/watched/listened/read dozens of stories with that basic pattern. Many would say this formula is what made Bioware such a successful company, and being this Chart was released during the company's peak, you'd be right.

And considering where the company's reputation went after Mass Effect 3 & Dragon Age 2, one could make the point that those games drifting further from this chart, could be attached to their more debatable quality.

However, the reasons for these risks, had nothing to do with taking them for the sake of artistic integrity. Dragon Age 2 isn't using a single city you play over the course of ten years with no gameplay or visual changes because Bioware wanted to, they had to, as per the demand by their publisher the success of Dragon Age Origins be pounced upon.

It didn't pursue Action RPG combat as an all new venture into an untapped market, but to appeal to the biggest market at the time of Action Adventure games. It didn't emulate Mass Effect's dialogue system to grow from its D&D upbringing, but because Mass Effect 2 sold nearly twice as many copies.

Recently there were headlines that Bioware expressed wishes to have made characters like Jack in Mass Effect 2 bisexual as it would've not only been a progressive step for gaming in 2010, but also because it lines up with her backstory she's told to Shepard.

That regret makes plenty of sense, and reminded me how Dragon Age 2 made every romanceable character bisexual… not as a statement, but because a game made in 11 months can't afford to host unique dialogue, scenes, and other variables depending on what character you build.

There's the company's consistent overreaction to criticized game-mechanics, taking the same item to the Mako, RPG Management, and planet scanning…

A knife.

And of course, there's answering the questions of your own galaxy's conclusion, by going to an entirely different one with the same overall plot.

More than that, when I think back to it, the reason for so many more people playing paragon might not just be because people like to be the hero in games, but also because there's no consequence for being a paragon. At no point in Mass Effect is doing the right thing the hardest thing. Maybe it is through the character's emotions but nothing to do via gameplay.

Perhaps needing to spend minutes, maybe hours on planet scanning to buy upgrades so your crew doesn't die is considered a difficult task for doing the right thing, but that's not only a stretch, there's no emotional turmoil.

It's an equation.

Get this right, or you fail.

That's not a debate I'm going to be thinking about for years to come.

There's ultimately nothing wrong with playing things safe. I'm somebody who's always been on the sidelines, people watching, observing those taking the risks rather than doing that myself. It even worked for Bioware, and through that safety, built what is still my favorite science fiction universe.

And… that safety might've stemmed from their hysterical over ambition in the concept phases. When Mass Effect 1 was called "SFX" and it was effectively trying to be Star Citizen on the "Xbox 2" while retaining Bioware's storytelling prowess.

That's ballsy as hell, and I'm glad they toned down the concept as things went into production, that would've likely resulted in a specular failure considering that Star Citizen is struggling to be Star Citizen today, let alone in 2003.

However… Bioware needs a new generation. New generation of people, creativity, design; it needs what ID Software got after RAGE. Ushering in a new stream of talent with enough of the old-school heart to rekindle the magic in an all new way.

And if there's one way that Bioware could possibly achieve it, is mixing in that quality and commitment to writing and storytelling… with some balls.