If you crave a classic fantasy setting, there are probably 20 great sidequests in The Witcher 3 you still haven't done even if you've played it before, while Divinity: Original Sin 2 has great character stories with a similarly playful tone to classic BioWare (and fare more interesting and nuanced choices). Because the truth is, we have better.ĭisco Elysium is the RPG to play if you want a modern Planescape Torment, a game that thrives on writing alone. Here at the end of 2020, I don't think it makes sense to pine for games that feel like BioWare RPGs. Over time, the shine has come off their games, while more thoughtful RPGs (like Obsidian's KotOR 2) have stuck with me.
But they also built games that were largely light & dark in terms of morality, with simplistic paths through the story and writing that were serviceable more than memorable. BioWare was early to making RPGs with more "immersive" over-the-shoulder conversations, and quests rooted in character more than MacGuffins. Wes Fenlon: When I think about the era of 3D BioWare RPGs-Knights of the Old Republic through Mass Effect and Dragon Age-I think of games that, today, feel very basic. A sense that not only did my choices have consequences, but that I wasn't able to predict the outcomes, and sometimes they'd blow me away. For me that's hitting some similar notes to what I enjoyed most about KOTOR, Baldur's Gate 2 and to some extent Mass Effect. That game's world and writing are so rich that I was enraptured by the minutiae, cared far more about decisions than I probably should have, and rarely got the outcome I expected. Salvatore, Raymond, Castle Adventure, Rogue, Atari 2600, Drew, Edwin, Istvan Pely, Fallout (series), Stanley Kubrick, Matt, Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Pikmin, The MinnMax Show, Halo, Hitman (reboot).Rich Stanton: I found Disco Elysium slotting into that part of my brain which adores long and detailed NPC interactions and prevaricating over text boxes for an inordinate amount of time. Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Nintendo, Forgotten Realms, The Hobbit/The Lord of the Rings, George Lucas, The Phantom Menace, The Elder Scrolls (series), Dark Souls, Eternal Darkness, Brian Taylor, Soren Johnson, Jill Murray, Tomb Raider, The Crystal Shard, R. Issues covered: names in reverse, a brief tour of one title in Brett's childhood library, side content, discovering someone swapped your Oil of Speed for a Potion of Confusion, when things were added to the map vs being actually playable, the potential for hitting the level cap, balancing to the save system, the sense of going out and finding stuff being missing for a non-completionist, the way the main story is much clearer, the journal as guide, the way we draw connections in the tabletop that make their own stories and how that crosses over with the CRPG and the journal, a game made by fans for fans, the sense of getting to the big city, intrigue and the setting, the Doppelganger Banquet, retrieving the dying Duke, leaning on the thievery, Tim's greater difficulty at the end of the game, talking your way through things, having to design in all the options, accentuating the horror, two ways skipping side content hurts you, having very little interesting gear, wanting the blessings of the RNG, feeling like you have two many options, being framed by Sarevok at Candlekeep, circling back to where you began, having a murder mystery where you're the prime suspect, exploiting knowing where the enemies were vs using protection from paralyzation, missing a critical bit of information and getting lost, the battle in the castle, the lack of clarity in the tactical rules, messing with the maze, the ruined city beneath the city, entering Bhaal's cathedral, being blessed by the RNG Gods, having a hard time making the final moments epic because of reloading, how quickly the game ends, the large number of sequels the game should have, Brett's Book Recommendation, using ASCII characters for games, not playing or watching a lot over the last year, the way graphics are in our memories, how much you can talk about as far as bugs go, triaging bugs, losing the ability to even evaluate a game at the end, self-handicapping, using achievements to find unusual ways to play. We talk about the end of the game based on our two approaches to play, some fun side content, and other issues! Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.
Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on Baldur's Gate, the 1998 D&D interpretation that put BioWare on the map, as it were.