Bingo.
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Best game to get into BioWare world?
- Thread starter butman
- Start date
Bingo.
The answer is obviously Dragon Age Inquisition... *troll face*
I loved NeverWinter Nights back in the day, and Dragon Age Origins is excellent. I haven't finished Mass Effect but I enjoyed the 10 hours I played.
Also, I seriously enjoyed Dragon Age Inquisition. To each their own.
I loved NeverWinter Nights back in the day, and Dragon Age Origins is excellent. I haven't finished Mass Effect but I enjoyed the 10 hours I played.
Also, I seriously enjoyed Dragon Age Inquisition. To each their own.
krizalidzero
Member
I believe that game should be the best option, and in order of better to worse version
PC ⇨ X360 ⇨ PS3
Hopefully with the expansions.
They are all good, though. I had it for PS3.
Thing with this game is that it does everything right, and it's super addicting (like most BioWare games), but it's also super accessible and easy to play without losing any depth and character customization!
Much better than Mass Effect if you really want to "feel the BioWare" IMO.
Mass Effect 1 is great, though, but maybe a bit short and you can tell it's not as polished as Dragon Age.
krizalidzero
Member
Since both are Sci-Fi, just out of curiosity, which one would you put as your first choice?
Count of Monte Sawed-Off
un33dab@dpu$$y
It's Baldur's Gate 2. Nothing they've made before or since comes to it.
Edit: Knights of the Old Republic is where they start to become the Bioware we know today. It's a good game, but still a massive downgrade from BG2.
Edit: Knights of the Old Republic is where they start to become the Bioware we know today. It's a good game, but still a massive downgrade from BG2.
paragonpro
Banned
Subjectively mass effect 1, objectively mass effect 2. Subjective curve ball and my 2nd favorite dragon age inquisition.
krizalidzero
Member
I don't think comparing it to Final Fantasy does any of the series justice. They are just too different.
Zap Rowsdower
Banned
To be honest you're better off playing Black Isle/Troika/Obsidian's stuff first to really play some of the best WRPGs have to offer. (Also Alpha Protocol is a better Mass Effect game by design than any of the Mass Effects.)
Bioware games aren't bad persay, Mass Effects 1 and 2 and Dragon Age 1 aren't bad games, but Bioware made games at a time when they were like the only big name player in WRPGs left in the mid to late 2000's so they got overhyped. Because of this they really aren't that great, for example their writing and game structure is super formulaic for the most part, hitting the same character archetypes and overall plot beats. They were almost amateur hour in a way compared to contemporary RPGs such as Planescape Torment and Vampire The Masquerade Bloodlines. (And I say this as a person who go into PC RPGs through ME 1 and 2/DA:O era Bioware.) Nowadays these problems are even more glaring when you have more people making fantastic RPGs like CD Projekt and Harebrained Schemes who blow Bioware's stuff out of the water. It also really doesn't help that Bioware really fell apart when they got bought out by EA and its just been a downward spiral since.
Bioware games aren't bad persay, Mass Effects 1 and 2 and Dragon Age 1 aren't bad games, but Bioware made games at a time when they were like the only big name player in WRPGs left in the mid to late 2000's so they got overhyped. Because of this they really aren't that great, for example their writing and game structure is super formulaic for the most part, hitting the same character archetypes and overall plot beats. They were almost amateur hour in a way compared to contemporary RPGs such as Planescape Torment and Vampire The Masquerade Bloodlines. (And I say this as a person who go into PC RPGs through ME 1 and 2/DA:O era Bioware.) Nowadays these problems are even more glaring when you have more people making fantastic RPGs like CD Projekt and Harebrained Schemes who blow Bioware's stuff out of the water. It also really doesn't help that Bioware really fell apart when they got bought out by EA and its just been a downward spiral since.
REALLY hard to choose. Mass Effect is amazing sci-fi in the classic tradition of Arthur C. Clarke. KOTOR is much more mythic, more space fantasy.
Mass Effect has an incredibly immersive sense of place and culture about it that really makes it stand out.
KOTOR is (for me) the finest interactive Star Wars story ever told, and a truly significant addition to the overall Star Wars franchise. It also has what I think is the finest plot twist in any video game.
These are both all time classics for me, and immensely hard to choose between.
applesaucejaxon
Member
I want to say KOTOR, but I've tried to go back to it a few times recently and it doesn't hold up well. For me, at least.
Taking that into account, I think ME2 is pretty great!
But that may be the box of wine talking...
Taking that into account, I think ME2 is pretty great!
But that may be the box of wine talking...
Listen to this guy!
paperspace
Member
Last edited:
LurkerPrime
Member
Baldur's Gate 1 and 2 (played in order) are it. As much as I like some of their other games, The BG series is on a whole different level--it established pretty much everything that makes Bioware what they are known for. (I want to say "what they are," but they haven't been a premiere RPG developer for a while now.) Do not let their age scare you off--they are still phenomenal games even today.
Beamdog's Enhanced Editions are the best way to play these classics nowadays.
Beamdog's Enhanced Editions are the best way to play these classics nowadays.
Depends on what platform you have access too. You can get Kotor on your phone and its pretty good. You can pause the game and turn it into a turnbased SRPG which makes it ideal for mobile.
Mass Effect has realtime shooter combat and its graphics hold up better on a big screen.
Both are fine choices. Just depends on how you like to play. Also if having unresolved plot bothers you maybe skip Mass Effect since Mass Effect 2 is a hard reset on the series and nothing you do in mass effect 1 carries forward in a satisfying way. Kotor is much more self contained
This is the right answer. I'll accept Baldur's Gate 1.
But I haven't even gotten past the tutorial of first Balder Gate
eot
Banned
It's not the best option at all. Someone who barely plays CRPGs is going to bounce right off it.
KotOR 2 shits on the first one and its infantile writing.
That seems to be the meme on GAF, which has never met a broken Obsidian game that it didn't praise excessively.
KOTOR 2 has some interesting thematic content, but it is incredibly unpolished. Even the fan-patched version feels incredibly janky and incomplete at times.
The original game is far more complete. The writing is a bit more upbeat and heroic (as opposed to the murky and moody style of 2) but it is far from infantile. The first KOTOR produced some of the finest expanded universe character ever in a Star Wars product (HK-47, Canderous Ordo, and Jolee Bindo).
Holundrian
Unconfirmed Member
Baldurs Gate 2 if that's too old,
Kotor or Dragon Age: Origins or Mass Effect if that's too old,
Mass Effect 2 if that's too old there is no hope for you in which case you might enjoy Dragon Age 2.
Kotor or Dragon Age: Origins or Mass Effect if that's too old,
Mass Effect 2 if that's too old there is no hope for you in which case you might enjoy Dragon Age 2.
BuckRobotron
Member
I would say KOTOR. They got so much right with that game.
it's a smaller game and the plot doesn't quite stack up to BG2. BG2's chapter 2 alone is nearly as big as vanilla BG1.
both games are murderously difficult but in different ways, BG1 simply because low level AD&D is deadly, BG2 because fuck wizards.
BG1 is worth playing just because you can kill
Drizzt
thepenguin55
Member
Mass Effect 2
Infinite_Daremo
Member
ME: Andromeda and Dragon Age 2
Florida_Man_5000
Member
In some ways, you have to understand a game during its zeitgeist. In the past, Bioware was ahead of other Western RPGs. Bioware took branching storylines to further extents than a non-text or overhead game. They created the light/dark persistant character trait. And many other game design pillars of today.
But now in a post Skyrim and then Witcher 3 world, they're facing more competition and the expectations of fans are not quite being met for a studio with its history.
I'd play ME 1-3. But I love me some Jade Empire.
But now in a post Skyrim and then Witcher 3 world, they're facing more competition and the expectations of fans are not quite being met for a studio with its history.
I'd play ME 1-3. But I love me some Jade Empire.
Count of Monte Sawed-Off
un33dab@dpu$$y
I love BG1, but BG2 is just one of those sequels that takes everything good about the first game and just amplifies it. BG1 is a bit slower with a ton of open areas that aren't exactly full of content, and the low level combat can get tedious after awhile. But still, I think people will get a bit more out of playing BG2 if they've played BG1 first.
bati
Member
Low level AD&D is fucking shit. You can cast like 2 spells or use one of your abilities twice and then you have to whack things with a stick. And you have like 4-10 hp so every bear can wipe your party if you're not careful.
Napalm_Frank
Member
No. You will begin with higher level characters tho with way more spells ect. so it might be a bit overwhelming at first if you are not used to the systems.
Count of Monte Sawed-Off
un33dab@dpu$$y
It's not. I think you'll get a bit more out of 2 if you play 1 first, but it's not a huge deal. And both are really long games so trying to play them back to back could burn you out, and if you're just going to play one of them, then 2 is definitely the way to go.
This guy knows what's up.
If you want the best character interactions. Baldurs Gate is the best one.
Agreed. I'd beseech you to play on pc & download the "Skip the Fade" mod. Its imperative you do so. Just trust me.
Taliban Stan
Member
If it can only be one game, then KOTOR.
Megalosaro
Banned
Neverwinter Nights is better than Baldurs Gate and Baldurs Gate 2
There, I said it.
There, I said it.
