EA gets exclusive licensing rights to the Star Wars franchise from Disney

[Yegolev]

Just embrace getting old.  Jesus Christ.

[Paelos]

I chuckled when I realised that whoever made that image couldn't think of even one game made (rather than bought) by EA with a decent story.

System Shock 2?

[luckton]

I chuckled when I realised that whoever made that image couldn't think of even one game made (rather than bought) by EA with a decent story.

System Shock 2?

That was Eidos, I believe. 

[Azazel]

Lego Star Wars will still be very much a doable thing. TT are owned by WB these days, so the DC game was a no-brainer. Talks to Disney and we now have the Marvel/Avengers game. I'm sure some kind of cross-licencing deal could be done between TT/WB/Disney/EA, since it requires no work from three of those involved and results in money hats for all.

[Simond]

I chuckled when I realised that whoever made that image couldn't think of even one game made (rather than bought) by EA with a decent story.

KOTOR was just The Generic Bioware Storyline anyway:


KOTOR2 was the one with the interesting story.

[Morat20]

Isn't that mostly stock Hero's Journey stuff?

Humble origins, old mentor to teach you mysterious power, small group or individual questing for McGuffin to save the world, every hand against them and impossible odds?

Hell, I'm pretty sure Mission Impossible (the movie) fits most of those tropes. :)

[eldaec]

For a while bioware were hilariously consistent, 'heroes journey' didn't really cover it.

Amnesia
Training
4 Planets (twist after planet 3)
Reveal ancient civilization
Win.

[Morat20]

Not arguing with that. But then again -- it's a solid formula and Bioware did some good stuff with it. If it ain't broke, don't fix it was, I suspect, their motto.

Even now, they've only..tinkered. It's prologue, first conflict and resolution introducing overarching plot, multiple paths/areas that can be explored in any order, final area (twists, solidification of mystery/plot and intro to final battle), last battle, end.

It's not open world, but it gives the illusion of a lot more choice without requiring a ton of resources, and you can build a decent story onto it.

[amiable]

I would prefer to have someone do a standard story arc very well then something unique very poorly.

[Khaldun]

It's not just that this is stock Heroes' Journey stuff, it's a natural result of the conventions of an RPG. Namely, that the player be free to develop some aspect of their character's personality, backstory and friendships.

Hence:

amnesia and/or youth at the beginning (so that the character doesn't have an overly specific backstory that hamstrings your ability to shape a pathway through the game)
a martial and a magical companion (so you can make choices about what skills to develop in your own character)
you are important or central to some narrative that unfolds as time goes on (right, as compared to RPGs that make you out to be a faceless pawn stuck farming while the fate of the world is determined elsewhere)
there are ruins to explore (right, as opposed to what? monsters hanging out in the corner of a pub? dangerous enemies having a picnic in the town square?)

Anybody complaining about this kind of stuff is essentially complaining about RPGs, period. There are games that hand you much more specific, less open-ended characters to play and you play out their story as it was pre-written and guess what, they're not RPGs and then everyone complains about how those games are on rails, etc. There are games that tell much more specific stories and the same issue arises. Or character development isn't important at all and you're just one kind of skill-balanced character who fights other characters in a repeating setting or scenario, which are essentially just multiplayer first-player shooters.

Even Bethesda games, which are more open-ended than Bioware's, have most of these "cliches" because they *have* to. They solve the cliche of giving you a balanced party of companions by letting you basically be an overpowered ass-kicker who doesn't really have to worry about balancing against a companion.

[Yegolev]

Anybody complaining about this kind of stuff is essentially complaining about RPGs, period.

Yep.  Next up: "You Are In A Tavern..." and "Kill Ten Rats"

[Merusk]

you are important or central to some narrative that unfolds as time goes on (right, as compared to RPGs that make you out to be a faceless pawn stuck farming while the fate of the world is determined elsewhere)

Hey now, SimBeru had a lot of fans in the Pre-NGE days.   

[Ingmar]

you are important or central to some narrative that unfolds as time goes on (right, as compared to RPGs that make you out to be a faceless pawn stuck farming while the fate of the world is determined elsewhere)

And note, when a RPG dares to deviate from 'character saves the world' people whine like crazy (DA2).

[Paelos]

They whined about a lot more than that with DA2.

[Ingmar]

Sure, but the other parts aren't relevant to this. The story structure is.

The same sort of complaining happened with ME2's structural deviation from '4 planets' too.

[Yegolev]

I'm not terribly interested in complaints from idiots.  Unfortunately, people who sell things are.

[Kail]

Anybody complaining about this kind of stuff is essentially complaining about RPGs, period.

Kinda disagree, here.  It's entirely possible to notice that Bastilla is pretty much the exact same character as Aribeth and not suddenly hate all Elder Scrolls games since they contain dungeons.  There are tropes which we accept as being useful tools for avoiding having to spend hours trying to set up your world (dwarves, elves, etc.) and there are tools which are lazy narrative conventions (amnesia, magic dreams, etc.) which are kind of a cop-out in whatever medium you use them in, and don't get a special "except when Bioware does it" exemption because RPGs can't tell REAL stories or something.

[rk47]

They whined about a lot more than that with DA2.

Paelos, stfu and show bioware some respect. 

[Riggswolfe]

Anybody complaining about this kind of stuff is essentially complaining about RPGs, period.

Kinda disagree, here.  It's entirely possible to notice that Bastilla is pretty much the exact same character as Aribeth and not suddenly hate all Elder Scrolls games since they contain dungeons.  There are tropes which we accept as being useful tools for avoiding having to spend hours trying to set up your world (dwarves, elves, etc.) and there are tools which are lazy narrative conventions (amnesia, magic dreams, etc.) which are kind of a cop-out in whatever medium you use them in, and don't get a special "except when Bioware does it" exemption because RPGs can't tell REAL stories or something.

On a side note, you can't really compare Bioware games to Bethesda games. Bioware games are basically game systems wrapped around a story. Bethesda games are basically a thin story wrapped around a sandbox game.

[Paelos]

They whined about a lot more than that with DA2.

Paelos, stfu and show bioware some respect. 

Whenever I question Bioware, I just jump into the ME thread to see what kind of nutjobs they deal with as customers.