BioWare’s Closing Sucks
Okay, first things first, I’m absolute shit at actually keeping this updated, etc etc etc.
I avoid writing here because I always feel like I have to write half a page of content to acknowledge that fact, which is due (maybe I’ll write a writing update on this afterward). All of these obligations exist on my part as a write on my website I made to, you know, manage my writing career.
Got it.
However, today there was news that BioWare closed and I realized I couldn’t let that day pass without noting it. I could write an essay on this topic (and look, I just did), but I took a break from work to eat and do this so it’s gotta be short and sweet and there’s no better way I know to frame this:
- BioWare gave us Baldur’s Gate, and more importantly for me, they gave me Baldur’s Gate 2.
- BioWare gave us KOTOR which is still hands down my favorite Star Wars story (yes, I am including the movies).
- BioWare gave us Mass Effect, and specifically it gave us Mass Effect 2, which I consider to be the best game of all time.
There isn’t an ounce of hyperbole in the above statements. A lot can and will be said about BioWare in the last decade of their existence. That’s all fair. A lot will be said about EA, and that’s all fair too (though it needs to be acknowledged that ME2 and DA:I were both made under EA). People will point to Anthem as one of their first missteps and again, yes, that is fair. While not a good example of storytelling or gameplay, it was killed too early and ended a game that had way, way more promise than it’s been given credit for (RIP Anthem, seriously).
BioWare was not the first developer to tell a story in gaming. But they were the first one for me.
I escaped from the dungeon of Jon Irenicus having no idea what the hell was going on, knowing only that I was helpless in the grips of that story. Fifteen years later I was looking up images of that dungeon, of its lab, as inspiration for the Black Isle. This was my first foray into Dungeons and Dragons and still the closest I have experience the Forgotten Realms.
I don’t remember finding out Vader was Luke’s father, but I remember finding out I was Revan. It was the first place I ever heard of a Mandalorian and it STILL contains some of the best dialogue from a party member in the form of HK-47.
I 100% survived the Mass Effect 2 ending, and did so on every single one of the five or completions I did after that. Mordin Solus is one of the best characters I’ve ever seen, no qualifier for medium invited or accepted. When Garrus showed up, I beat my chest and hooted and hollered and then I went to war with the gangs he was hunting and dragged him back into my crew as a returning brother. I did not romance Tali’Zorah vas Normandy every time but I did the first and most memorable time (and, as you can see, also TOTALLY screwed up her trial).
There are other games they made. There are other stories they told. There are negatives to be had and many of them are fair but the purpose of this is to recognize that for the majority of their existence they told stories amongst the best storytellers out there. They are one of the many core foundations that affected me at an early age and as I grew into adulthood and they made me want to tell stories.
To those that departed before this, those that depart now, that legacy is known and remains. Take solace, take pride, rest in hard times, and best of luck in your next steps.
To EA, so many horrible things could be attributed to how you run things. The sheer magnitude of how much value you have been allowed to take possession is eclipsed only by how much you have wasted it. Do better.
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