May 2020 – Dublin

One game recently caught my interest: Greedfall, the game who claimed that they were the company that could fill the void that was left by Bioware. A bold statement considering the fact no one ever dared to challenge Bioware.

Considering the fact that it has been quite a while ago a played a proper brand new RPG I jumped the boat with Greedfall. I have finished the game a while ago and this gives me an opportunity to look back to my experience.

As I don’t have great internet here in Ireland my time count is totally incorrect, for this reason I have included my achievements to show that I actually have played the whole game.

For all non gamers who feel a little bit lost about what the article is about I have included in the first chapter an explanation who Bioware is. Furthermore, game design revolves around three topics: story, gameplay and graphics. As Bioware is known for its RPG gameplay and story I will discuss this and draw a comparison with Greedfall. In the end I will tell you if Greedfall managed to fill the void that Bioware left.

Who is Bioware?

For all non gamers let me explain this: Bioware has been considering as one of the best developers of all time in the RPG genre getting for each game (Mass Effect, Dragon Age, Kotor, Jade Empire, Never Winter Nights) every time numerous awards & recognition. The fame took it is toll as Bioware has been declining quality-wise since Mass Effect 2 (2010) reaching in 2017 with Andromeda the bottom (dull story, weird animations that have become memes). But it was the year 2019 that nailed the coffin, Anthem the newest game was plagued by bug issues making the game unplayable and the game differed too much from Bioware core business.

Gameplay

Like in all Bioware games you get in Greedfall a team that will help you out in battle at least that is the plan. Each team member has unique skills set, however your hero is the only one which gains experience throughout the game. As a consequence, how more you progress how more you useless your teammates become.

The reason for this is that they attack a random enemy instead of the one who is an immediate treat, getting lost somewhere in the battlefield and being slaughtered as you can’t find them. But the worst are the boss fights where your teammates are mercilessly slaughtered as they don’t anticipate to the boss attacks and you can count only on yourself.

Bioware is far from perfect especially Dragon Inquisition where your teammates are stuck somewhere and you have to jump to fix the bug and sometimes ignoring your orders but at least you have the ability to control and level up your teammates.

” HOW MORE YOU PROGRESS HOW MORE YOU ARE TRIPPING OVER YOUR SQUADMATES ”

The overall gameplay resembles a lot of underdog developers like Piranha Bytes: block, evade, attack or a range attack. At the beginning it feels okay, but how further you are in the game how long-winded the game becomes. You have become too familiar with the game mechanics and the tactic have become a repetition of moves as towards the end there are no interesting skills to invest on.

Unfortunately, the stealth system is underdeveloped as you can’t invest in stealth skills and the game took a very simplistic approach. You just press the crouch button and when enemy does not spot you can perform a sneak attack. It isn’t a bad thing but it would be cool to use your environment to your advantage as it has become a new trend in the gaming industry. Furthermore, the lack of enemy diversity doesn’t help as well.

Comparing Greedfall to Bioware it does a poor job, because Bioware games have a lot of skills to offer that make the fights dynamic and strategic. The reason for this is that you encounter new enemies during the whole playthrough and some skills are uneffective, slightly or very effective. For example some skills are focussing on healing, destroying armour, slowing down the enemy or becoming invisible for a short duration.

” HOW MORE YOU PROGRESS HOW MORE THE GAMES BECOMES A REPEAT OF MOVEMENTS ”

A big positive difference with Bioware at first sight is the fact that Greedfall has an unique faction system. Each factions differs in uniforms, views, quests and traditions. This offers an unique gameplay perspective as you can dress up as a Naut for example and avoid trouble in the faction area. However, to my disappointment this feature seems broke as I dressed up as a guard and nobody of the guards faction cared about my uniform.

” GREEDFALL WAS HOLDING THE WINNING CARD, BUT INSTEAD OF USING IT, THE FEATURE THAT COULD MAKE A DIFFERENCE WAS TOSSED AWAY ”

Story

Like in Bioware you have the freedom and power to shape the story by making decisions. The colonial setting is a perfect choice for this. Unfortunately, the whole system is poorly fleshed out as you do one quests that has a negative impact on the relationship with the faction, but the relationship can quickly be restored by doing simply one quests.

Also, there is no timer in missions which is a same as it would make it harder to take decision.

If we draw a comparison, Bioware fleshes out choices much better. The choices carry over to the next games and have sometimes a big impact for example: races can be wiped out, your squadmates can end up dead, who is the heir apparent etc.

Furthermore, the background of your character influences the dialogue and adds towards the replayability of the game. Another thing that Bioware offers which is quite appealing is the fact that the dialogues have various path: you can convince the other person, punch the person in the face, threaten the person etc.

This very aspect was missing in Greedfall, it might the age classification or the fact that you are diplomatic but again the power in RPG’s lies in the very fact you shape the hero and not the developper.

” THE KEY FOR RPG’S IS LETTING THE PLAYER LOOSE, THE HARD WAY IS THE ONLY WAY TO LEARN PLAYERS TO TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR THEIR BEHAVIOUR ”

Another thing are the companions. As in Bioware games, they have their own background, views, style of clothing etc. I must admit they have an interesting and unique input throughout the game and it is worthwhile to take this into account when you are selecting your squadmate, however the lack of interactions with the rest of your teammates makes you forget that you are travelling with humans.

One example what I really enjoyed in Bioware games is the situation that you were doing just your stuff and suddenly your teammates were killing each other and you had the solve the conflict. What’s more every time you took them on a mission they were insulting each other.

” THE KEY FOR SUCCESSFUL TEAMMATES IS THE ASPECT THAT MAKES US HUMAN THE CONNECTION AND INTERACTIONS WITH OTHERS ”

In general the story is quite unique due to the colonial settings and it has a really nice plot twist with interesting dialogues options as well. This is the very reason I played the game towards the end as I wanted to know the ending. However, after finishing the game I didn’t feel like lets do it again or being in awe in contrast to Bioware games where once a few years I am just returning back for a new round. Maybe it is too early…

Did Greedfall manage to fill the void that Bioware left?

In short, the game seems for me unfinished with regard to gameplay as well as story. It holds some great ideas like dressing up to avoid detection from a certain faction and the unique colonial setting that we haven’t seen before. But this is not enough to qualify the game as a masterpiece and the whole execution reminds me of a B company who lacked the time and resources to flesh out great ideas. Overall, it was quite alright but it failed to fill the void that was left by Bioware.

”ALTHOUGH BIOWARE HAS FALLEN IT IS STILL CASTING A SHADOW AND IT IS HIGHLY UNLIKELY IT WILL BE SURPASSED”

For more stories go to: https://mair.work/blog/