28 réponses à ce sujet

[Natashina]

For me, it was BG2 and Neverwinter Nights that got me into the company. I was a huge 2nd ed D&D fan, and the Time of Troubles was one of my favorite stories.

What about you guys?

[Dean_the_Young]

Mass Effect and moral choice systems. I enjoy playing the devil's advocate, and the Renegade spectrum had more interesting moral delimmas and deliberation of ethics than the Paragon side.

[HuldraDancer]

My cousin who owned DAO did, he highly recommend the game and lent it to me and even hounded me to play it for a while, while I was staying over at his house before I left. From there I went onto DA2 and fanart eventually got me into ME then I just sort of found some of the other games. My cousin and I can't talk DA with one another though I find that we feel differently on a lot or I'm too 'meh' about things that he cares about in game like the Templar Mage war.

[nightscrawl]

Neverwinter Nights was my first BW game. I got it because a friend pestered me to, kept talking about the toolset and mods, so I eventually just broke down and played it. After that, I got really caught up in World of Warcraft (especially the raiding, which is all-consuming) for several years and hardly played another game. Unfortunately, I played Neverwinter Nights 2, made by Obsidian; I didn't find it to be very fun, which was quite upsetting.

 

Then I saw the TV spots for DAO in 2009 and that was all she wrote, really. I was so happy with DAO, and it felt to me like what NWN2 should have been. I've been obsessed with the franchise ever since.

[daveliam]

Once upon a time, I discovered Baldur's Gate.   I was always a huge D&D fan (although I didn't really play the tabletop game -- for me it was more about the books and video games) and Forgotten Realms was (with Dragonlance) one of my favorite world settings.  So when BG came out, I couldn't resist.  I didn't play it until 2000.  I had just graduated college and gotten my first "real" job (it was still part time at 34.5 hours/week, though) and bought my very first computer.  And BG was the first game that I bought for it, followed quickly by Icewind Dale and then both sequels. 

 

And then.....I forgot about Bioware.  I didn't have an Xbox when it first came out and my old desktop couldn't handle real gaming.  So almost all of my gaming was on my PS and PS2.  In 2007, I went out and bought an old refurbished Xbox because of all of the games that I had missed.  Top on my list?  Fable and KOTOR.  I still didn't put two and two together still, though.  

 

It wasn't until 2008, when I was reading a Game Informer issue and saw that there was a new fantasy RPG series coming out that was the "spiritual successor to Baldur's Gate" and, and I'll never forget this, the picture showed a dwarf!  I've always felt a kinship with them.  So I read more about it and saw that it was called Dragon Age: Origins.  But it was an Xbox 360 exclusive.  I ran out to buy an 360 and figured I'd kill time with this other game that had piqued my interest:  Mass Effect.

 

And that's when I put it all together.  Bioware.  All of these games that I loved were all from the same developers.  So I checked to see if there were any of their games that I'd missed.  Cue my first playing of Jade Empire.  And then I visited the BSN for the first time.  And I lurked for about a year or so before I just couldn't keep my big opinionated condescending mouth shut anymore.  And, thus, daveliam was born.

 

And then we all lived happily ever after! (after we get our venting thread back)

[Steelcan]

I remember very distinctly after ME2 released being in a Gamestop and thinking "meh not my thing" but I still bought it a month or so later since I saw the first one was like $5 and I borrowed the 2nd one, and still haven't given it back.

 

I didn't get into DA until well after ME3 released

[Evamitchelle]

Baldur's Gate, maybe a year or two after it came out. IIRC my dad got it when he bought a new graphics card, but since he doesn't play any video games I ended up with it. I loved it from the beginning, though it took me years to actually finish it because I couldn't get past the mines of Nashkel (I was like 8 years old). A family friend later gave me BG2 SOA & TOB, which I also loved. I didn't really take an interest in their other games though, I just kept replaying the BG series at least once a year until I found out about DAO aka "spiritual successor to Baldur's Gate" in early 2009. Dragon Age replaced BG as my yearly series replay.

I only played Mass Effect for the first time last year. I'm not sure why I waited so long - I even bought a disc version of ME3 in 2013, but I was finally motivated last year after reading the Expanse, which also has a near-future space opera setting. I also have KOTOR and Jade Empie sitting in my backlog.

[vertigomez]

For me, it was BG2 and Neverwinter Nights that got me into the company. I was a huge 2nd ed D&D fan, and the Time of Troubles was one of my favorite stories.

What about you guys?

Yaaaaay, what a great question! I'm a huge Time of Troubles fan, myself.

I grew up watching my uncle play Baldur's Gate, but Neverwinter Nights was the first Bioware game I really played (and subsequently fell in love with). I played a lot of evil arsebiscuit clerics of Bane. And monks, because I liked killing Mephistopheles by punching him repeatedly in the nads. Daelan Red Tiger the half-orc barbarian was my first video game love and I am only slightly ashamed.

Let's see... after that, I started obsessing over the Forgotten Realms and medieval fantasy in general, and once again it was my uncle who introduced me to Dragon Age. He showed me his souped up party and said, "This is Alistair. And this is the b*tch witch. And that's the bisexual elf."

The rest is history.

Unfortunately, I played Neverwinter Nights 2, made by Obsidian; I didn't find it to be very fun, which was quite upsetting.

Did you ever get around to playing the NWN2 expansion Mask of the Betrayer? Because that was stellar. Completely blows the OC out of the water, but I'm biased.

[nightscrawl]

Let's see... after that, I started obsessing over the Forgotten Realms and medieval fantasy in general, and once again it was my uncle who introduced me to Dragon Age. He showed me his souped up party and said, "This is Alistair. And this is the b*tch witch. And that's the bisexual elf."

The rest is history.

*Snort* This is terrible, but hilarious XD. I so want to know his names for everyone else, now.
 

Did you ever get around to playing the NWN2 expansion Mask of the Betrayer? Because that was stellar. Completely blows the OC out of the water, but I'm biased.

One of the reasons I didn't enjoy it was because I was unable to beat the final battle. On Easy. I was literally unable to finish the game. I don't know if it's because I had a poorly arranged party, or could not wrap my head around the final fight (there was a weird barrier mechanic), or what. I did use online guides and tried and tried and tried, but I just gave up in frustration and never picked up the game again. I still have the OC, so I suppose I'll try it again one of these days.

Of course, now I'm so spoiled by a voiced protagonist that I can barely play DAO, let alone some other game without one.

[HuldraDancer]

Heh I remember the way my cousin was describing the game I was picturing the characters in an anime style and always thought Morrigan was a dude and Alistair was really flamboyant with long red hair until I actually saw the game. My cousin decided I needed a demonstration before I played and mostly showed me Alistair, was so funny him trying to show me the love scene, realizing that he forgot he was romancing Leliana in his game, broke up with her and went after Alistair.

 

I also always had some weird thoughts about Mass Effect too before I played it just going by what my cousin and his friends said about the game, used to picture it as some scifi horror game and thought Tali was a lizard lady and Liara was a robot. I don't even know how I came to any of those conclusions either

 

Felt lucky though getting into all that years after it had been out so I could go out and get everything at once when I became interested.

[SporkFu]

My older brother bought a copy of Baldur's Gate, and just reading through the user's manual was enough to get me interested. Then I watched him play through the opening bit until he got out of Candlekeep. That clinched the purchase. 

[Panda]

Dragon Age Origins, it was first game I bought for my PS3 cause my friend recommended it and had no idea about Bioware and their games before that. After DAO I bought DA2 and eventually bought ME cause I saw DA fans talking and posting about it a lot.

[SardaukarElite]

Knights of the Old Republic. It was the Star Wars game at the time it came out and these RPG things sounded cool. 

 

Though I didn't really start following BioWare as a company until I first heard of ME1 before release and joined the forums. 

[wright1978]

Got Baldur's Gate 2 as a christmas present. After that i dropped out of playing games for a while till i discovered Origins and Mass Effect about simultaneously and then cottoned on that they were responsible for Baldur's Gate 2. Got hooked on both but especially Mass Effect.

[Biotic Apostate]

After finishing Icewind Dale 2, and pestering my brother for more, he gave me his copy of BG2. I don't remember how many times I played it. A lot. Was terrible at it at first, probably because I was only 9

And I've been following BW ever since. Got NWN shortly after, couldn't get enough of SoU and HotU. Picked up JE at launch, waited a bit with with DAO until DA2 was almost out, and with ME, I started when ME3 was on its way.

 

@gomez

Daelan Red Tiger was a catch, and you would be crazy not to have a crush on him!

I had a thing for Keldorn and Cernd (daddy kink is strong with this user)

[Jorji Costava]

Long and boring story: My first exposure to Bioware was Baldur's Gate; I loved the overall atmosphere of the game, but I also found it hard as hell. My most vivid memory of the game was using Jaheira to spring all of the magic traps in the Nashkel mines. Her fighter/druid multiclass was awful in that game, and I couldn't be arsed to find a thief who would be able to disarm all the traps, so I just used her as fodder. Pretty mean, all things considered.

 

Big confession: I didn't get very far in Baldur's Gate II, for a couple of reasons. First, it came out after Planescape Torment, which pretty much blew me away and is still one of my all-time favorites, so BGII was bound to be a step down. Second, I was still in the BGI mode of thinking of the NPCs as mostly expendable and interchangeable meatshields, so when BGII expected me to treat them as lifelong friends I had deep relationships with, I struggled to relate. Third, the game has almost no music for most of its duration. I know it sounds trivial, but OSTs are a big thing for me with video games, and while BGI had an amazing soundtrack, BGII was severely lacking in that department.

 

I didn't have anything to do with Bioware games for a long time after that; I missed KOTOR initially because I was pretty much out of gaming in the mid-2000s (when I finally got around to playing it around 2011 or so, it became another favorite of mine). I saw my brother play ME2 around 2010 and got interested in the series; I went back to play ME1 and loved it. I'd say that's when I really got into Bioware as a studio and as a brand. Looking back now, the numerous flaws of the series are obvious, but it'll always have a special place for me in my gaming memories: At this point, I've gotten as much mileage out of playing and talking about ME as anything in gaming.

[BraveVesperia]

Mass Effect was my first. Mr brother bought it, and I wasn't initially interested until I saw him get to the character creation scene. Then I saw that you got to pick your dialogue and basically shape your character. I'll never understand why Bioware doesn't advertise that properly on the back of the box. 

 

Anywho, I got really sucked into ME and watched my brother playing it whenever I could. Started my own character and since I couldn't go on the Xbox very often, I wrote fanfics in between play times. I've loved Bioware games ever since. I haven't been able to play any of  the PC ones though, except for that brief and ill-fated encounter with NWN. 

[Donk]

My first experience was also with Mass Effect.

Back then I wasn't all that interested in RPGs, I was in my late teens and was your typical, "RPGs are for nerds with no lyf lol". Instead I played shooters and sandbox games.

I used to buy a magazine every month called Hyper, seeing as I had limited internet access back then. Hyper wrote a glowing review for ME, and I was intrigued. So I bought it for my Xbox 360.

My first impression though? Not good. The dialogue wheel and Cc was different but I found myself growing impatient during cut scenes. add to that, I despised the combat. It was clunky in comparison to what I was used to, so I abandoned it.

Then weeks later, I decided to give it another shot. Overlooking my initial problems with the game, I got right into it. I fell in love with the story. I also found myself getting into the romance aspect of it (which I was previously unaware of) I found some sense of.. I dunno, emotional realism and adoration towards Liara and liked that my Shep could be with her.

Anyway, months later DAO was released on console. Since it was a Bioware game, and I was so pleased with ME (to the point it became my favourite game at the time) I just had to give DAO a shot.

And again, I didn't like it. Hated the combat, thought the graphics were ugly. I shelved it and played other games.
But again.. I went back to give it another shot, and got sucked in, just by overlooking those flaws.

The final battle in Denerim sent chills down my spine.

So from that point on I continued to play DA and ME. I was so happy when I found out ME2 would be released, and spent hours and hours playing it on the first day.

Same thing happened with DA2. Most people despise that game but I loved it.

[lynroy]

My brother had this weird console called Xbox 360 and borrowed this strange game from a friend called Mass Effect. This was only seven years ago. At that time I didn't like to play games with a shooting element because I always thought I was never very good. Growing up playing Goldeneye 007 on N64 with my five brothers taught me I was not good at shooting stuff and I always came in last place. I preferred Mario, Zelda, Banjo-Kazooie, that stuff. Anyway, because of the shooting aspect of ME, I didn't have a desire to play, but would always watch my brothers play it. It was a strange new world. Voiced protagonists? Dialogue options? Choices? Squad members you can bring with you? Holy Lore, Batman! What? I was enraptured with the story as well. I became an expert on the game from my spot on the couch. If any of my brothers had questions about missions or what not, I was able to answer. OMG and then Mass Effect 2 was announced! One of my younger brothers was kind enough to keep me updated on the development. I had never been so excited for a sequel to a game I had never played before.

 

Well, the more I watched the more I wanted to play the game myself, but that shooting stuff, man. Brothers thought I was nuts because the shooting was different than what you get in a first person shooter. "It's not like Goldeneye, and you can set the difficulty to casual so you don't even need to worry about dying all the time." I finally played ME myself for the first time about a week before ME2 was released. I fell in love with the game all over again. It was one thing to watch my brothers play it, it was another experience to immerse myself in the game. I also discovered that I was quite a decent marksman in video games. Can beat the bros at shooters now. 

 

After that BioWare games became a staple in my game collection. I came to the Dragon Age party fairly late. I didn't play DAO until after ME3. It was a few months after ME3 was released, I was playing the crap out of the MP (ME3MP5lyfe), but wanted a new game to play. It really was perfect timing. EA gave me DAO for free for having my EA turned Origin account for a year. Well, they gave me a choice of three games, but DAO was BioWare and I loved Mass Effect so why the hell not? It's free! Best free game ever. I played it to death on my poor laptop (didn't have a PC at the time) at a whopping 7 FPS. I managed to play through it at least three times at that frame rate because I loved it so much. Been a fan of Dragon Age since then. Thanks for the free game!

 

tl;dr I like BioWare games.

[Donk]

Thank f for a Tl;dr

Kidding. But cool story, bro.

[lynroy]

I wrote the tl;dr just for you.

[vertigomez]

*Snort* This is terrible, but hilarious XD. I so want to know his names for everyone else, now.

I called him up just to get an answer about this. He didn't remember half the characters (the heretic!) but did tell me he dealt with the hot granny. I... I still don't know what 'dealt with' means in this context and I'm kind of scared to ask. AND THEN THIS HAPPENED.

Gomez: What about Shale?
Uncle: Who?
Gomez: Shale. The golem.
Uncle: Like Sméagol?
Gomez: Not Gollum. Golem. Like Jewish?
Uncle: You mean the Imoen nun?
Gomez: No- not... well yeah, Leliana too, but I meant the big honking golem. Hates pigeons.
Uncle: OoOohHH!! You mean Rock of Ages!
Gomez: Are you ****** kidding me. Rock of Ages? Go home.
Uncle: I am home. *laughs for three minutes straight* ..........God, I ****** hate pigeons.
Gomez: We are not related.

WHY.

One of the reasons I didn't enjoy it was because I was unable to beat the final battle. On Easy. I was literally unable to finish the game. I don't know if it's because I had a poorly arranged party, or could not wrap my head around the final fight (there was a weird barrier mechanic), or what. I did use online guides and tried and tried and tried, but I just gave up in frustration and never picked up the game again. I still have the OC, so I suppose I'll try it again one of these days.

Of course, now I'm so spoiled by a voiced protagonist that I can barely play DAO, let alone some other game without one.

You know, I don't think I've ever actually finished the OC either? I get stuck on that wall. Usually I just skip right over to MotB because I enjoy the campaign and characters more. You never know, you might like it!

@gomez
Daelan Red Tiger was a catch, and you would be crazy not to have a crush on him!
I had a thing for Keldorn and Cernd (daddy kink is strong with this user)

Great minds lust alike. (That's a thing, right? )

[Donk]

Hot granny

[Biotic Apostate]

Great minds lust alike. (That's a thing, right? )

Has to be. There's just too much evidence supporting it

 

Also

- Go home.

- I am home!

 

I laughed at this way too hard.

[Natashina]

I remember what brought me onto the BSN. It was a year before I start posting here with any sort of regularly. I grabbed a mod for NWN2 that was really nice for tweaking the party AI. I had run into an issue, and I shared that as well as my fix. NWN2 OC isn't all that great (though I do enjoy building up the keep,) but MotB is one of the best expansions I've ever played in a game that was related to BioWare. I know BW didn't finish it, but I know that they laid the ground work.

About a year later, after my experience on the ToR forums, I came here. It was a combination of MP'ers, SP'ers and even the embittered that recommended ME to me. I usually avoid shooters, since I royally suck at them most of the time. I figured that since folks mentioned it was a RPG with some light shooter mechanics, I would give it a shot. The controls on the PC are kinda wonky, but I was able to deal with it. As much as I will always love DA, I think the ME series is overtaking the top spot for my favorite BW series.