Who is the best BioWare writer, and why?

That shows his versatility. Jacob and Kaidan aren't popular because of being "dry" or "boring", but I've always really liked them for being reliable, believable soldiers. Sera is a narrow-minded character who inspires strong reactions because she is so amazingly well written (and acted), and thoroughly believable. Same for his other work.

I liked them drama-free, but I'm in the minority. I think you're correct that it would've helped them quite a bit. People like me would've still liked them all the same, and everyone else would've found them less boring. I'm sure he's learned from the clear feedback regarding those characters.

I felt like DAI saw a marked improvement in many facets of the character writing. The story needed work, still, but the characters continue to get better and better. I hope MEA demonstrates similar evolution.

Lukas also wrote "In Your Heart Shall Burn", one of the most (or few) really exciting quests in DAI.

Chris L'Etoile definitely.

Out of all the writers that worked on Mass Effect, the vast majority of his contributions were focused on shoring up the science fiction side of the game; seeing as how this was marketed as a sci-fi action RPG and all. Bringing all the codex entries in line with science, or at least consistent pseudo-science, writing for and fleshing out the 'alien' aliens of the setting like the Rachni, Elcor, Hanar and Geth, etc.

His version of Ashley in ME 1 was much more nuanced than most people give it credit (IMO). And his work on EDI and Legion/Geth in ME 2 was miles ahead of every other mainstream depiction of artificial intelligences. It's really disappointing that after he left those two synthetics were turned into just another Johnny 5 or Commander Data.


The writing team working on the games does require a collaborative effort, but sometimes I can't help but feel that the wrong writers were put in charge. I mean Mac can write decent characters, but I personally don't think that he should have been the one directing the overall flow of the narrative, especially when it came to dealing with the more 'alien' elements. If your response to previously nuanced ,non-human portions of the setting is to green light the ignoring of them, making them just like us, or using them as cheap throw away jokes then I don't think you should be the one in charge.

haha, i was just thinking that as  scrolled down the page , going " huh? Who??? " 

How do I know? I just recall information from various sources. If you follow a franchise as a hardcore fan for a while, you pick up a lot of stuff.

"Jesus Christ" are the lines I'm interpreting as you and Arcian being "hostile" towards me.  I'm being defensive.  My saying to Arcian that he/she is being an apologist for L'Etoile is not, IMO, my being "hostile" towards Arcian.  When a person steps in and explains away another's transgressions... that's being an apologist.  You were being an apologist for Arcian by stepping in and excusing his/her swearing at me... and you exacerbated the whole thing by expanding on that swearing at me.

To smooth things over (since I'm not being hostile)... I will, hereby, apologize to Arcian.  You and Arcian, however, owe me an apology for swearing at me.

Should it matter to you?  Why ask?

I still don't see where whether or not I'm a "by-the-definition" sort of person is relevant to that.  At any rate, this is straying way off topic... so I'm going to end it here.

I'll bite - Why is it relevant, then?

I apologized even though I was not intentionally being hostile... So who's now being hostile, I wonder?