Kotaku: The Story Behind ME:A's Troubled Five-Year Development

I don't know. What I see is that there are some key facts known to anyone that can be taken and  twisted into any context one wants. I feel like 'oh it's been some weeks since kotoku got some  great click bait out of MEA/BW  so we were due.'  I suspect he got some of it right but it's the some of it any moron could have guessed mostly around casey's departure. Who didn't  think that would change things quite a bit? And probably a few other details pieced together. But at this point, it feels like people are holding a grudge against this game like it's got a handle and it's kind  of a joke to those that have moved on which is most people.  It's headed  toward  three months since it's  been out.  That's a long time for people to be hung up on a game  they didn't like.  I mean, three months might go by fast but there's so much more people could be doing and  instead it's dwelling on hate for  a game. If someone loves  it  or really likes it that is a different story. It's  energy spent feeling  good on something positive that you like. 

I agree.

And I hate agreeing because I've always regarded DA as the B franchise. DA:I at least feels like a game with a setting.

I remember going through Kadara and saying "This was made by a different team who weren't in contact with the others." It was obvious when remnant pillars and glyphs and beams suddenly starting changing colours depending on what planet you were on.

It just doesn't feel right to keep playing it when switching planets makes me wonder about the development process rather than what I want to do next.

While I don't really want to defend MEA too much, BioWare Montreal was clearly not up to the task and it should not have been given to them

It really isn't too detailed to dismiss. People have come up with far more elaborate shit to get some clicks. I just can't take it seriously without stated sources and other avenues backing up the claims. 

It seems my words on another thread attributing the poor reception of the game to Mac because he was the director, and the buck stops with the director, might've been, as it turns out, blind, as he wasn't even the original director but was brought in as a replacement director to salvage the game.  Perhaps his personal touch brought flaws, but he did deliver a full game that some enjoyed and some at least thought was ok.  So if that's the case, I take back my words about Mac.  He may have been the hero we deserved, even if not the one we needed right at release.

Kind of makes sense now though as to why a bunch of leads left during development.  I thought it odd and so did my cousin who works in the gaming industry that they would bail during production.  My cousin suspected something was amiss as did I.

This is what happens when you have a C team working on one of your top properties. They were basically doing heavy R&D to get a grip on how to copy what the other three games did, and then Walters came on and tried stiching a game out of their efforts. Awful.

Completely agree here. I remember everyone wanted Hudson and Walters gone after the end of ME3. In the back of my mind, all I could say was "Be careful what you wish for". When Hudson left Bioware, I knew it wasn't good news. I mean, say what you will about the ME3 ending (which may be his only mistake, according to some), the guy still did deliver some of the greatest RPG's of all time, including KOTOR and the entire Mass Effect trilogy. Credit given to all the people who made Mass Effect a reality, but at its core, Mass Effect was Hudson's baby.

Based off the Kotaku article, it sounds like he had enough. He wanted to give it another try, he toughed it out after the incredible backlash of ME3's ending. He wanted to do right by the franchise and make another worthy Mass Effect game. But in the end, all the internal politics and lack of progress made him say that enough was enough. With the reins handed to Montreal, it must have become difficult to coordinate and have a clear, cohesive vision like he had for the original trilogy.  And I honestly can't fault the guy for wanting to get out of an environment where he wasn't happy anymore.

It's quite sad that Hudson had to leave, but overall, I still think Mass Effect can recover from this. I think the potential was there for MEA, and considering that the game was built in such a short time frame, they should consider it a heck of an accomplishment. I can just dream as to how much better this game would have been if it had a solid vision from the beginning and no distractions.

And ironically enough, it's the ultimate "villain" himself, Mac Walters who saves the day.

I think I wrote this quote on these forums on the day Hudson left Bioware, but I think it hold true for Walters as well.

"You will have gone from being the Sith Lord himself, to the Savior of our galaxy"

(Bioware, all I can say to you, is "Keep to the stars, for one day soon, the dawn will come". I'm confident you guys will bounce back  )

Inb4 *posts new YongYea video*
Gotta milk that dead cow some more.

Its amazing to think about how bad it might have been before that, if true.

Alas, its been proven that it just doesn't work like that. People think that, for example, EA gives Bioware 50 million to make MEA, and then Bioware does what they want with the money to make MEA.

In reality, if Bioware pitches MEA as a single-player only game to EA, then they only get 30 million to make the game. They get the full 50 million if they include multiplayer, since it brings in money from micro transactions. EA gives Bioware a budget according to the potential money the game could make.

So in reality, Bioware couldn't just cut out the multi-player if they wanted. They were given 50 million to make MEA a single and multi player game. If they just wanted a single player game, they would have a smaller budget. 

In short, multi-player does not steal time and resources from single-player, as some think. Multi-player is given its own extra budget and resources to develop.

This...after reading the article tho.. part of me feels bad for Bioware. Seems like management was mostly to blame here, then with people leaving left and right, then another huge hiccup?.....Outsourcing....nothing good ever comes from that. You are clearly having studios make fragmented parts of the game then they send you that part back THEN you have to integrate it into the game itself. That entire article seems like the development of Andromeda was a torrential mess. Storyline issues, animation issues, sense of scope, level development, planet exploration, game direction..etc...these issues that normally plague game development seems to be ten-fold here.





I've always stated that this game was released because of EA's end of year fiscal commitments. They already had a ton of pre-orders and figured they weathered the storm through critical patches...but the game still had other pressing issues outside of animation and story concepts. I feel for the team tho, because it seemed like they REALLY wanted to make a great ambitious title for the fans....the team just wasn't capable and didn't have the necessary staff, skillset and resources to fully compliment the development.