Blizzard vs Bioware (Escapist March mayhem)

[Praetor_Ixab]

That a tough question... i play both company's games (SC, Diablo, WoW ont he blizz side, Jade Empire, Mass Effect, Dragon Age, KOTOR for Bioware) and... well im torn right down the middle. If i had to choose though... Blizzard would have to win. They only produce winners and have so much going for them its hard to see them stumble. plus, blizzard listens to its fans more than most developers and their community relations is fantastic. bio ware has got great titles going for it, and the mass effect story is the best i've ever in a long time. I know that bioware hasn't done any MMOs yet, but they will have the Star Wars MMO very soon, and i think that will allow us to judge a little more fairly.

[sandwich_bird]

Well Bioware actually released some games recently contrary to blizzard who just made wow expansions. Not only did they released games but dragon age and mass effect are triple A titles. Also, the closest thing you will have to bioware's RPG from blizzard will be Diablo. If I had the chance to chose between Diablo and Dragon Age or Mass Effect I'd go with Bioware without a doubt.

With that said, Blizzard did release Starcraft which is my favorite game ever. I'd probably have to go with bioware anyways though.

On another note, Zynga should never have won anything and Nintendo should have won over Blizzard for obvious reasons even if the wii is the worst thing that ever happened to the gaming industry.

[Kacaier]

With that said, Blizzard did release Starcraft which is my favorite game ever. I'd probably have to go with bioware anyways though.

You probably would if it was any other place, but since this is a StarCraft 2 forum, you're totally going to vote Blizzard. Right? Right? *pulls out a stabby instrument*

[Triceron]

Normally I would vote Blizzard, having been a great supportor (and still am!); but having played Mass Effect 2, I have to give Bioware props on this one.

[sandwich_bird]

You probably would if it was any other place, but since this is a StarCraft 2 forum, you're totally going to vote Blizzard. Right? Right? *pulls out a stabby instrument*

Already voted for Blizzard Just saying that bioware deserve it more though.

[Nicol Bolas]

Let's see:

Blizzard can't write themselves out of a paper bag, while BioWare has some of the best writers in the industry who for some reason can't help but keep writing the same plot over and over.

Sorry, I'm going for Valve here. They're the total package: no weaknesses. Well, except the inability to make any game that isn't first-person.

[deadlyhazard]

Let's see:

Blizzard can't write themselves out of a paper bag, while BioWare has some of the best writers in the industry who for some reason can't help but keep writing the same plot over and over.

Sorry, I'm going for Valve here. They're the total package: no weaknesses. Well, except the inability to make any game that isn't first-person.

The writing in Valve games isn't exactly brilliant, either. The Half-Life story is weak at best.

I'm not going to disagree with you about Blizzard though. The stories are weak in their games, too.

They do need to hire professional writers on the level of Bioware :P.

[Gifted]

While I can say that Blizzard's writing staff is not to the par of Bioware's most recent games, let's look at some of the facts.

1. World of WarCraft's story has improved significantly over the last expansion/vanilla expirience, is it on par with the story of ME2? Nowhere near, and I've not even played the game yet.. yet.

2. We have no recent game to show the emphasis on storyline yet, StarCraft II will be the first "story" based game to push forward with. However, it's not the writing at times, but also the methods used. Dragon Age and Mass Effect were written in a sense to be like books by game design decision. They are a game that tells a story.

I'm sure if Blizzard went that direct, it would be competitive at least. However, they haven't made a story like that as the focus of their games are different. In this case, I'd have to say it's not a case of comparing "Better writers" and "worse writers" but rather "Apples and Oranges". You can't compare the writing prowess of RPG designed story and RTS designed story.. it won't fit well. And their most recent example being WoW is still MMORTS, and it's still not the same caliper.

Don't know if you agree with me? Look at the following two examples and realize how one feels like a "good comparison" and the other looks like an "iffy" comparison.

StarCraft II writing vs Mass Effect 2 Writing
Mass Effect 2 writing vs Final Fantasy 13 writing

When you compare two options within the same genre, it feels a lot better of a comparison. Let's take another angle

Command and Conquer 4 writing vs StarCraft II writing.

Even though many of us don't have a full perspective or scope of StarCraft II's unreleased story, it still feels better.

That's all I really have to say, it's an unfair comparison because of the design of the games.

[spychi]

I'm Commander Shepard, and Bioware is my favorite developer on the Citadel.

made my day

[Perfecttear]

Voted for Blizzard , haven't actualy played any Bioware games except Dragon age, and i didn't realy like it.