It’s not often…in fact I think it’s a case of “Never has happened” for me to post two check-in posts in one week. It’s maybe not the best use of my writing time given how busy I am and with several stories that need finishing. However, I have felt the need to put my thoughts somewhere on a recent issue and there’s enough here about storytelling for it to belong on my website (plus, it’s my website).

As past posts have demonstrated, I hold an interest in video games and in particular the way that video games tell its stories. One of the most famous video game studios for developing story-driven games was BioWare. Today, EA as the parent company of BioWare announced that they were were shutting down BioWare. For those who following gaming, that’s really not surprising given EA’s general track record with their acquisitions and the fact that BioWare has had a series of poorly received and selling games. I’ve seen a lot of people today note this fact and usually then quickly point out that the people who made BioWare the storied company it was in the late 1990s and 2000s are mostly gone.

I’m not going to retread that argument. I will note that people saying that having love for a studio is foolish should look at the way that people treat sports teams or the McRib and then try and tell me that there isn’t something that comes with a name, that there isn’t value in loving something because of what it represented, even if it didn’t quite achieve those levels anymore.

I played Baldur’s Gate 2: Shadows of Amn on a friend’s computer when I was in middle school. It was one of BioWare’s earliest hits and it completely changed my understanding of what a video game could be and how I could find myself invested in not just the fun of the gameplay but the power of its story and the depth of its characters. I would go on to play Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and the Mass Effect trilogy. I played those games not because they were made by BioWare but because they were games that spoke to me, that delivered on grand and deep stories, that let me experience a tale that resonated with me. I would become aware that BioWare made those type of games and then expand into playing Dragon Age and going back to play many older games in their catalogue. I even spent some time playing the ill fated Anthem before it closed down.

BioWare excelled at making worlds that felt living and telling stories that drew you in, often because the stories let you make choices that could change the fate of the world/galaxy/etc. One of the key ways that they did this was through the quality of their characters. If you know games and RPGs you probably Revan, Minsc & Boo, and Garrus Vakarian. I remember beating Mass Effect 3, ending a trilogy that blows my mind to this day, and the part that most sits with me was the sadness I felt after the ending. A sadness not because playing the game was over but because I felt like I had gotten to know characters who fought alongside me in the game, had become friends with them, and with the game done I wouldn’t get to spend time with those friends anymore.

I think my love of characters, of grounding my stories with them, comes in large part from BioWare games and loving the stories they let me tell with my character and alongside those the studio had created. So, despite all the caveats people may say online, I am sad to see BioWare go. Even with their shortcomings, they represented a way of telling stories that was beautiful and I will miss their voice as the people who had worked there sought to carry on that legacy.

There’s a lot more I could say. I could talk about how the choices and deep role playing the games often let you do were great not just for the power fantasy but because they let me feel like I embodied all the morals I value. However, I don’t want to run on and so I will finish with two things. As is said at the end of the Citadel DLC of Mass Effect 3 “It’s been a hell of a ride” and beyond that…

“I should go,”

Sean