Maybe it's just me, and maybe some people will see me as a troll........but theirs been something thats been bothering me that REALLY hit me today, and thats the quality of todays games. First of all I love Bethesda, Fallout 3 was great, Fallout NV was good (I was a tad bit disappointed, but it was still a good game). I loved both Oblivion and Morrowind.
However I think this is because Bethesda has more or less remained on their own as a company. Ya Zenimax is their parent company.....but generally I think Zenimax is a pretty good company, I def. wouldn't consider them as evil as something like......EA for instance.

Which brings me to my point, I bought Dragon Age 2 today.....and I witnessed what was a blatant rush job, (mostly EA's fault) but regardless it was a blaring disappointment. 60 dollars and 4 hours later the game sits in my drawer never to be played again, while this may be MY opinion I am certainly not the only one (read the bioware forums if you need)

BUT thats not the point, this has been a growing trend in video games lately. (Rush titles, Poor quality, "rehashed" sequels)
There are a few game companies remaining that still (in my mind) produce or at least TRY to produce quality games, you can argue that Oblivion svcked or w/e......but it was still a good effort and still had a good quality put into it (it took a good while to develop and get out), even if you don't agree with the changes made.

Bethesda, if you ever read this. Please don't ever sell your soul to the EA devil, and the same goes for you Zenimax.....don't ever let some soulless huge publishing corp buy you out. Pretty much Skyrim is one of the few games im looking forward to that I hope will at least be decent (and I expect it will)......because the video game industry is in a SAD SAD state right now.

Bethesda regularly spends 4+ years on TES games. Bioware typically spends a year and a half at most.

also Zenimax isn't really anything. like it IS but it's not.

also where EA regularly interferes in the development cycles of its studios, Bethesda rarely interferes with the development of the games she publishes. if they did, Rogue Warrior wouldn't've been so [censored].

You pretty much echoed my concerns in your post. The recent bleepstorm with DA2 has everyone wondering which of their favorites will get a similar treatment (STALKER 2, Witcher 2, Skyrim).

Although in Bethesda's defense, I doubt it'll happen to the degree it did with DA2, if at all.

Well, my definition of an evil company is not a company that shell crapy games. There are companies that uses death scuadrons to enforce their interests and child and/or slave working hands.

Returning to video game companies, Skyrim was started five years ago, so I don't think there will be any rush here.

I think I dont need to rectify how much I hated DA2 literally 60 bucks wasted. I wish I could've just given that money to bethesda if I knew how bad. but then again they basically made it in a year, Bethesda has been working on this for awhile now I believe.

EA is not the devil. They are a business. You cannot blame them for poor decisions (in your opinion) on the part of BioWare. Especially when you take into account what you described is a BioWare trend this generation. Mass Effect started more RPGish. Mass Effect 2 went away from that. Same thing with Dragon Age.

All in all though Mass Effect 2 scored higher than Mass Effect and was better received. So they are obviously doing something right.

EA is a terrible company.....I don't see how you can't think this. Have you heard how they treat their workers?
http://ea-spouse.livejournal.com/274.html (5-6 years ago) i wouldn't be surprised if things haven't changed.

Not necesarilly. The second part of a series, having more sucess than the first one is something predictable. People like the first game and so buys the second one.

Lucky for you, Bethesda publishes their own games. You don't have to worry about a third-party publisher messing things up.

You sure about that?


http://digg.com/news/gaming/bioware_forum_bans_affect_access_to_your_game

^^The guy in this story lost access to DA2's signature edition and all DLCS, which he PAID for, because he criticized the game on the forums. When questioned, Bioware employee Stanley Woo said:

"Consider it an added incentive to follow the rules you say you're going to follow."

I see how people claim they are treated. And I'm sure there is some truth to that. But the company cannot be that bad otherwise they wouldn't get big studios doing deals with them.


I never said sales. I said it got higher reviews and was better received. I,e the majority of the gaming community seem to prefer it over the original.

I know I'm taking a unpopular stance here because obviously big bad publisher is a easy target. I'm saying there is a lot more to it than "muahaha *twirl mustache* we're evil"

Edit* to Roland that would be BioWare making that decision. Not EA. Like I said you cannot blame the publisher for the choices of the developer.

At least Bethesda hasn't put out a crappy marketing campaign...

Wait ... DA2 was bad? I was planning on getting it! What made it bad?

On topic: Don't worry. Bethesda knows not to make crappy games (considering they only make one every couple years, not basically every year like some developers). They know what they're doing.

No. DA II was bad in some peoples opinions. It is a very different game from Origins. But it is not a bad game.

Edit* To be safe though I would rent it first if possible for that very reason. (it being a very different game)

You know what, Bioware really isn't a cool company now. Bethesda and Blizzard all the way, and even then I can see some problems brewing with Blizzard.

EA = Emperor
Bioware = Anakin Skywalker

Go figure.

Blizzard is going down the tubes as well. They force you to buy multiple copies of the same game in order to play with your family in the same house.

What exactly made DA2 a bad game (in your opinion)? I personally didn't like the unrealistic, flipping around, bouncing off the wall, disappearing and reappearing(rogue) combat; also perhaps the cheesy characters and storyline. What else?

Btw, imo, these companies such as EA, Bioware, and even Bethesda could care less about the consumers. Well, they listen to what we want, but hey, that increases sales. It's all about money, and I'm sure EA is doing something right considering the size of their compay. (I personally hate most of their games though, Bethesda ftw). (All this just my opinion, pretty useless)

Actually I think they don't know how to make a crappy game.
Also; EA games aren't that great, but Spore was pretty good!

And this, boys and girls, is why I get nervous when you have to go online and activate things you buy with a persistent account. You shouldn't have to worry about losing money because you insulted a thin-skinned dip at EA.

Spore was a cool game but probably overhyped more than Fable 1.
Yes it's require a lot of hard work to manage it

STALKER 2 has been in development for a long time so on that you don't have to worry.

Skyrim will be better then Oblivion was by far. Not because OB was bad but because Skyrim is just going to be that much better. Bethesda is the only game company I know of that openly admits its mistakes and tries to fix them. They put a lot of time in there games and are a standard for what game development should be.

EA isn't terrible, they just found a way to make bad workers work better.

I can only play RPGs, strategy games and the occasional sports title and all of those genres are in recession (at least for consoles). I could see myself not gaming anymore if Skyrim was not good or watered down etc. The average action game or sports rehash doesnt cut it and hasn't for the last decade. So I guess we are in the same boat TC.

http://i208.photobucket.com/albums/bb319/joniscrazy/RoadWarrior-1.jpg

Being their own publisher is a great advantage for Bethesda. I trust them know how to be profitable and keep the quality standards up. As regarding BioWare, I'm a big fan of their rpg's, but as much as I enjoyed their older titles like BG, Kotor, Jade Empire, ME, I don't like their recent sequels at all (ME2, DA2) they lack the quality and seem to make rushed and "lighter" products, I can't help myself pointing at EA. Before EA they used to make high quality rpg's.

There has been two games I have been truly excited about in the last 4 years: Halo: Reach and Skyrim. This is because in my opinion Bungie and Bethesda are some of the very few making good long lasting games.