71 réponses à ce sujet

[XFemShepX]

Chris Priestly wrote...

Drew semi-retired from BioWare. He moved to Texas to take up golf and concentrate on his writing (he writes books besides video games). He does work supporting the MMO team when he isn't on the golf course or writing novels.

Mac was one of the senior writers here at BioWare (Edmonton) and worked on Mass Effect 1. When Drew left, Mac was offered the position as lead writer for Mass Effect 2 and, now, Mass Effect 3.

Now you know and can put aside your conspiracy theories or whatever started this.

Thpp.  Did anyone bother to tell Drew that he was retiring from one of the best video game series of all time?  While I hate to hop on the Mac Walters hate-train, I will say that I've kind of disliked where he took the franchise in ME2.  I'm sure Drew had the story all mapped out to begin (big plot-points, anyways)...but I feel like Mac's writing skills are stronger in character development than telling an overarching story and linking it all together.  Drew was able to create a *universe* that awed people, and Mac wrote some memorable characters that fit in that universe.

Drew made me sad when he semi-retired, because I feel like the ME universe was a little less awesome for it.

[Zulu_DFA]

I think the real loss was Chris L'Etoile. Much of the "cohesion of Mass Effect's writing" came from the Codex and planet descriptions, which in ME1 were written entirely by Chris L'Etoile (according to his own claim anyway). In ME2 many planet descriptions were not written by him, and it showed. He should have been saved on the writing team at any cost, as the universe's Bible keeper (what whatever they call that position).

He also wrote Noveria - the best locale and mission in the entire series.

[XFemShepX]

Zulu_DFA wrote...

He also wrote Noveria - the best locale and mission in the entire series.

Agreed, minus the Mako drive. 

[SkittlesKat96]

Chris Priestly has already given the answer but I reckon another small part of the reason was that SWTOR needed more quality writers which I suppose is a good thing

[MrFob]

Have to agree with both Zulu and XFemShepX.
1. Chris L'Etoile did an amazing job with his in-universe descriptions and his genius also showed in his posts on the old forums.
2. Drew for the overarching story and Mac for character plots would have been the perfect combination IMO.

Ah well, too late for that now. What I heard so far about ME3 sounds pretty good though, so maybe the have learned and listened.

[didymos1120]

XFemShepX wrote...

 While I hate to hop on the Mac Walters hate-train, I will say that I've kind of disliked where he took the franchise in ME2. 

Since, according to Casey Hudson, Drew didn't leave until halfway through ME2 (waaaaay after the main plot was decided upon), Mac Walters didn't take it anywhere it wasn't already going.  And again: why do people think Lead Writers have carte blanche with the story?  They don't.  This has been made repeatedly clear in interviews with Drew, Mac, and Casey.  In the end, the person who determines where the story goes is Casey, and both he and the Lead Designer are part of the process of outlining each game's plot. 

Modifié par didymos1120, 13 mai 2011 - 04:37 .

[AtreiyaN7]

Drew went to work on TOR (edit: last I heard). That aside, who cares? Well, I mean except for the people obsessed with Drew leaving anyway.

Modifié par AtreiyaN7, 13 mai 2011 - 05:16 .

[Bluefuse]

This is what I've been saying all along. When an artist makes their work, only THEY are the ones who can interpret it properly. If you leave something unfinished and let someone else pick it up they will have other things in mind. That's why a few things in the game's universe don't connect. Mac Walters obviously has a different mind than Drew Karpyshyn and that's why you don't change writers for a trilogy.

Modifié par Bluefuse, 13 mai 2011 - 05:31 .

[InvaderErl]

Except ya know, Drew wasn't the only writer on Mass Effect and wasn't the sole person who came up with it.

Modifié par InvaderErl, 13 mai 2011 - 05:32 .

[AdmiralCheez]

Wasn't Mac responsible for Wrex and Garrus in ME1?

[InvaderErl]

Yes.

[AdmiralCheez]

Well, then. I guess I'm a Walters fan.

[AdmiralCheez]

MrFob wrote...

Have to agree with both Zulu and XFemShepX.
1. Chris L'Etoile did an amazing job with his in-universe descriptions and his genius also showed in his posts on the old forums.
2. Drew for the overarching story and Mac for character plots would have been the perfect combination IMO.

Ah well, too late for that now. What I heard so far about ME3 sounds pretty good though, so maybe the have learned and listened.

Yeah, this would have been a great system.

[ExtremeOne]

I hope he has a good idea for why Cerberus turned on Shepard in 3

[Bluefuse]

ExtremeOne wrote...

I hope he has a good idea for why Cerberus turned on Shepard in 3

Well, if he thought it was a bad idea, he obviously wouldn't of written it that way lol. And maybe he felt like he had to. He foreshadowed it in ME2 with Garrus saying that he's walking into hell with you and Tali saying that "You know that they will turn on you when they don't need you anymore."

[Quole]

ExtremeOne wrote...

I hope he has a good idea for why Cerberus turned on Shepard in 3

probably to punish moronic cerberus supporters.

[Bluefuse]

Quole wrote...

ExtremeOne wrote...

I hope he has a good idea for why Cerberus turned on Shepard in 3

probably to punish moronic cerberus supporters.

No, the fact that we can support Cerberus foreshadows that we will have a choice to side with either the Alliance or Cerberus to stop the Reapers at the end. In some form, we will be able to have control over Cerberus through the Illusive Man or yourself or have the entire Alliance command trust our judgement, whatever we choose. It's up to the writers to decide if it is one or the other or possibly both. I think that it would just be more dramatic if we had to take a side.

Modifié par Bluefuse, 13 mai 2011 - 06:23 .

[Bluko]

Zulu_DFA wrote...

I think the real loss was Chris L'Etoile. Much of the "cohesion of Mass Effect's writing" came from the Codex and planet descriptions, which in ME1 were written entirely by Chris L'Etoile (according to his own claim anyway). In ME2 many planet descriptions were not written by him, and it showed. He should have been saved on the writing team at any cost, as the universe's Bible keeper (what whatever they call that position).

He also wrote Noveria - the best locale and mission in the entire series.

Yeah I'm not sure what's up with all the Mac Walter haters. As far I know the dialogue and characters are all pretty well written. I mean I thought Mac wrote Wrex and the Genophage? Drew K. is good, but he isn't some sort of writing God. Also the main story for Mass Effect was created long ago, and I'm pretty sure Drew K. had a helping hand in creating the "Collectors". So if you think the Collector Plot is weak sauce you might as well blame him too.

The problem with ME2 and the series now is not the dialogue. If anything this vastly improved in ME2 and beyond. The problem is the technical writing (the real nerd stuff) has suffered. I'm going to agree with with Zulu in that it's probably Chris L'Etoiles departure that it is why the planet descriptions and technical details of armaments, ships, species biology, etc. are all noticeably less in ME2. Also the codex from ME1 was basically just re-used in ME2, with a few new additions. Honestly not sure why I even bothered to re-read half of it.

I'm not sure when L'Etoile exactly left, (during ME2?) but his lack of oversight seems to be present. As I understand it L'Etoile was the guy that knew most of the technical mumbo jumbo and was the stickler for coherence. (I believe he had some kind of Ph.D. so that's probably why.)

Modifié par Bluko, 13 mai 2011 - 07:13 .

[didymos1120]

Bluko wrote...

Yeah I'm not sure what's up with all the Mac Walter haters.

As best I can tell it works like this:  Person really liked ME1's story.  Same person didn't like ME2's at all or as much.  Person notes that Mac Walters is now Lead Writer.  Person thinks "Lead Writer" means "individual who decides what the story is".  Therefore, Mac Walters must be the reason ME2's story wasn't as good. 

Of course, that's not what "Lead Writer" means. They certainly have input into the story of a game, but they're neither the only nor the most important person who does. 

[xSTONEYx187x]

 I really don't understand the Mac Walters hate. 

At the end of the day, Casey "The Beast" Hudson as the final say as to what goes into Mass Effect and what doesn't. I mean, Mac developed TIM, an absolutely fantastic character. 

People need to chillax. 

[Niddy']

Arcian wrote...

>greentexting without making it green
>mfw

>implying i know how to green text

[Matt VT Schlo]

So, all the main people that wrote Mass Effect 1 and the universe's groundwork are all gone?!?!?! Argh, explains the 'well written' ME3 demo. This is most likely my last Bioware game - ME3