Video game companies you rely on.

[eldargal]

Thinking about how dependent some people are on GW for their hobby (game space, miniatures etc) got me thinking, are people similarly dependent on video game developers (not franchises)? Are there are any developers that when they release a game you will know you will buy it just because they make it? Or if not to that extent, that you know what they will release will be quality even if it doesn't appeal to you?


For me, I have Bioware. I've bought every game Bioware have released except the two non PC games (Sonic Chronicles and Mass Effect Galaxy). If they make it, I will buy it and I will probably love it.:rolleyes: Just to illustrate how sad my addiction to Bioware games is, I commissioned an artist friend to make a full scale bronze sculpture of my Commander Shephard from Mass Effect as well as making myself dresses featured in both the ME and Dragon Age games.

Blizzard Entertainment, I've been playing their games sine Warcraft: Orcs and Human and will continue to buy their games. Though I did skip the Diablo and Diablo II expansions.

[scadugenga]

Thinking about how dependent some people are on GW for their hobby (game space, miniatures etc) got me thinking, are people similarly dependent on video game developers (not franchises)? Are there are any developers that when they release a game you will know you will buy it just because they make it? Or if not to that extent, that you know what they will release will be quality even if it doesn't appeal to you?


For me, I have Bioware. I've bought every game Bioware have released except the two non PC games (Sonic Chronicles and Mass Effect Galaxy). If they make it, I will buy it and I will probably love it.:rolleyes: Just to illustrate how sad my addiction to Bioware games is, I commissioned an artist friend to make a full scale bronze sculpture of my Commander Shephard from Mass Effect as well as making myself dresses featured in both the ME and Dragon Age games.

Blizzard Entertainment, I've been playing their games sine Warcraft: Orcs and Human and will continue to buy their games. Though I did skip the Diablo and Diablo II expansions.

Your missing out on Diablo's I & II. They were fantastic.

Blizzard and Bioware definitely are up there.

Square was, but the Final Fantasy online stuff is souring my outlook on them.

THQ and Namco are some-of-the-time, as is Tecmo Koei & Midway.

[Skragger]

I've lost a lot of faith in Blizzard over the years. They're raking in millions and millions a year from World of Warcraft, but it also takes them years and years to make anything non World of Warcraft related. They've really fallen as a company in my eyes.

Don't forget as well, bioware isn't a company anymore. Its a division of EA (Evil Arseholes) games. I miss the quality of the Baldur's Gate series. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy Mass Effect and Dragon Age, but I feel they just don't live up to Baldur's Gate 2.

Bethesda was also a big one for me. I lost track of the thousands of hours I logged on Morrowind, but even their stuff is becoming so.. bland now. Oblivion and Fallout 3 were both disappointments to me.

I'm finding myself drifting towards indie companies, like Mojang AB (can't wait to see how Scrolls turns out). I don't mean it in a "ooo I knew them before they were famous. Or I'm a hipster and I think Indie is so much better than mainstream *sips starbucks*". Mostly because their ideas are new and still fresh. Yes, most suck, but every now and then you get a goldmine. Like Minecraft, Tiny Bang Story, Dwarves, Super Meat Boy.

I could rant for hours on video games.. I should probably get away now...

[eldargal]

Oh I play Diablo I and II, just not the expansion(s). Not sure why not, never got around to it. Eagerly awaiting Diablo III. I have to admit I never liked Final Fantasy, though I don't dislike it.


I don't have a problem with Blizzard taking their time making other games, WoW is in demand and it generates most of their income, its only natural. Starcraft II was certainly worth the wait, in my opinion. I stopped playing WoW years ago as it got boring fast, though I do check out the expansions. I admit to still holding a grudge about them forgetting Alleria and Turalyon but that just goes into the 'too geeky' category of complaints. I can see how it would get frustrating though.

I adore the Baldurs Gate series, but I think Dragon Age and Mass Effect are on par with quality. I've actually cried at certain points in both games, I've been that emotionally vested in my character and the squad/party members.:rolleyes: I'm really looking forward to SW:TOR as well, if anyone can make a good story driven MMO it is Bioware.

Oh I forgot Creative Assembly, I've bought every Total War game to date, though I have to admit I preferred Empire to Shogun II.

[Skragger]

Oh I play Diablo I and II, just not the expansion(s). Not sure why not, never got around to it. Eagerly awaiting Diablo III. I have to admit I never liked Final Fantasy, though I don't dislike it.

Well.. we can keep waiting. I remember the release date was March 2010. Now its still TBA. Diablo 3 is going to become the new Duke Nukem Forever. Billions of dollars in that company, and can't even finish a game. Seriously.

On a slightly different note.. does anyone remember the Maximo series? Or the Gauntlet Legends series? Best party game ever = Gauntlet Legends

[eldargal]

I can understand how you feel but its actually one of the things I like about Blizzard, that they will delay a came indefinitely if they feel they need to. Bioware too, having recently delayed ME3. God knows I'd like it sooner, I'm already on my twelfth playthrough of ME through to ME2 and I'm beginning to feel a little embarassed.:rolleyes:

[Skragger]

I can see your point, I ran three runthroughs before I moved on. Its a bit frustrating with Blizzard because they didn't just wave some teaser trailers in our face and then quietly stop production (here's lookin at you GW!) they went as far as to show us gameplay trailers and set a release date. Something you don't do until you know your game is just about finished. And here we are, over a year later since the switch to TBA with no explaination why. It just seems strange to me. And annoying.

[Gotthammer]

I'm not so much companies anymore - it used to be anything by Bullfrog, but no more :( - now I'm more into series. For instace I love Mass Effect (in a manner as about as unhealthy as EG), but have no real inclination to play anything else by Bioware (I played and enjoyed DA:O, but it didn't grab me the same way). I used to be the same about Metroid until Other: M stank up the series.

Similarly I love all the Fallout games, even Tactics and the new ones, but that's due to the style and the world. I used to play games like Jagged Alliance, SWAT 2 and x-com a lot, but with the general decline in the strategy/rpg type games, I just don't play that many anymore.

[Emerald Rose Widow]

Eh, Blizzard can be frustrating to me, I used to play wow and the new expansion killed it for me, so i havent played in a while and have no plans to return. Loved starcraft 2 though, its an awesome game and I'm glad I have it. Bioware games always impress me, I just hope that EA doesnt screw that company up too much, as they are want to do.

Those are really the only two companies that really hold me down interest wise though.

[Necron2.0]

To be honest, I'm not a hardcore fan of anything. I used to be a fanatical Star Fleet Battles player, but that was years ago. I won't simply by GW schnitt because they made it. Frankly, I'm only into 40k because a few friends are into it. Otherwise, the game simply does not impress me that much - it's an idle pass time and not much more.

Likewise, there isn't a specific video game maker I follow religiously. The closest exception to this is BioWare, and specifically as it applies to their Star Wars games.

[Drew da Destroya]

Bioware and Blizzard are both up there for me. I just bought a brand new computer so I could stop playing SC2 on crap settings, and my friends can stop *****ing about me "slowing down the game". I'm also pretty excited for Diablo 3, expecially since it sounds like they fixed the loot system so my loot-whore friend won't suck the fun out.

I'm a pretty big Nintendo fan as well, although probably more on the hardware end. The 3DS is really cool, but I haven't played any first-party games on it (excepting Find Mii, Fishing, Archery, and that ball-rolling one). Ghost Recon was awesome, though, and I'm eagerly looking forward to Dead or Alive.

Speaking of... Dead or Alive is a series I love, although I don't care much about the other games released by Tecmo/Team Ninja.

[Psychosplodge]

I adore the Baldurs Gate series, but I think Dragon Age and Mass Effect are on par with quality. I've actually cried at certain points in both games, I've been that emotionally vested in my character and the squad/party members.:rolleyes: I'm really looking forward to SW:TOR as well, if anyone can make a good story driven MMO it is Bioware.

Oh I forgot Creative Assembly, I've bought every Total War game to date, though I have to admit I preferred Empire to Shogun II.

I can't imagine putting in the 120+hours on dragon age that I put in the original PC Baldur's Gate, the depth of play just isn't there. The new Bioware releases have been "dumbed down" t be shorter and appeal to the wider console market....

Still undecided on the change in the strategic game mechanics they introduced with medieval 2, Still play rome but not medieval 2....

[eldargal]

Tastes differ, me, I've sunk 300 hours into ME1+2.:rolleyes: Chronic insomnia ftw.

[wittdooley]

Rare used to be one for me, but not so much anymore.

Epic Games has been a win lately for me.

As for BioWare: Are they still doing a new Star Wars RPG? Knights of the Old Republic is probably my favorite RPG ever, and I need some more.

[Psychosplodge]

Tastes differ, me, I've sunk 300 hours into ME1+2.:rolleyes: Chronic insomnia ftw.

True.
ME1 is essentially rome without the updated army movement, but I preferred viking invasion to the main campaign 'cause it never got to the ridiculous 60 min turn of managing all of Europe, I don't even want to contemplate the hours spent on TW....


Rare used to be one for me, but not so much anymore.

.

Did they ever do another good game after MS bought them?

[wittdooley]

You know, I don't think they did. I didn't think Kameo was awful, but it certainly wasn't up to par with their previous efforts. Same for Perfect Dark Zero.

Jet Force Gemini was actually one of my favorite games by them. I still wish they'd have come out with a sequel. And seriously...why haven't we seen a 3D, Ratchet & Clank style BattleToads?

[Skragger]

Eh, Blizzard can be frustrating to me, I used to play wow and the new expansion killed it for me, so i havent played in a while and have no plans to return.

You and me both! This about sums it up:

http://fanboys-online.com/comics/20101204.jpg

[novatomato]

well I've never really depended on any game company but back in the 90s I would always look for games from ATLAS, they were never the best games, but they all were of good quality. I'm no longer a huge video game person so I don't know if that still holds true.

[Kieranator K82]

BioWare: Mass Effect is a pretty cool game series.
Bungie: Halo is awesome.
Treyarch: Call of Duty with zombies is better than Call of Duty without zombies.
VALVe: Team Fortress 2 is super awesome happy fun time. Half Life is pretty cool too, and so is Portal.

[pinchy]

I can't imagine putting in the 120+hours on dragon age that I put in the original PC Baldur's Gate, the depth of play just isn't there. The new Bioware releases have been "dumbed down" t be shorter and appeal to the wider console market....



Well I've played completely through DragonAge three times now so I guess I've put in 100+ hours. Have to agree on some of Bioware's other games being far too short though- ME2 took 20 hours the first time, 8 the second when I was just trying to skip everything that wasn't on the main path (maybe the game would be longer if they stopped devoting so many resources into overpriced DLC that should have been part of the main game). Really lost faith in Bioware after they made the story featuring my Shepard's romantic interest a paid extra- so much so that I haven't picked up DragonAge two (the first Bioware game in probably ten years I haven't gone out and bought straight away for PC).


Also am somewhat ambivalent towards Blizzard at the moment (a state I thought I'd never be in)- they've just been making so many dumb decisions later, particulalry when it comes to nickel and diming people already paying them a monthly fee- here's a thought you've profited off me for 3-4 years of subs (with a few short gaps in that time admittedly), why go and charge me $25 a head to move to the server that some of my friends are on. Not levelling through Outland/Northrend on another character and not paying $25 so they lost my monthly sub earlier this year.

Maybe it's me but it's becoming very hard to trust/rely on any developer these days- the only ones that I actually did trust got bought out by (or to use the marketing bollocks "merged with") people I don't.

[eldargal]

Wow, I can't do ME2 in less than thirty hours.:rolleyes: Not that I do speedruns, but my first playthrough was 38 hours doing everything I could. Its down to around 30 hours now.

[Psychosplodge]

consoles have killed the long story driven PC RPG,
And DLC is a scourge on modern gaming, who wants a game that 40% of it you have to buy separately?
And for the achievement/trophy complete-ists you often don't have the choice of not buying it as then you can only get 80% (luckily for me I'm not that OCD lol, but some people are....)

[pinchy]

Wow, I can't do ME2 in less than thirty hours.:rolleyes: Not that I do speedruns, but my first playthrough was 38 hours doing everything I could. Its down to around 30 hours now.

I did end up turning the difficulty back to normal, skipped nearly every conversation and killed off pretty much my entire crew the second time through (turns out Miranda is incredibly hard to kill)- and I knew exactly which path to take seeing it was immediately after my previous playthrough. That run did skip the best bits of the game though seeing the loyalty quests were of such higher quality than the main story (I think I did 3 of them that second time through?). Have heard of people claiming to get through in 3-4 hours- which I guess is possible if one did some of the side missions instead of the loyalties during the parts where you have to do so many missions before the next main plot point will happen (seriously some of the side missions you could do in only a few minutes if you really wanted to). Really can't be stuffed trying to do it that quickly though.

The first Mass Effect, however, just seemed to take so much longer which is why the second one disappointed me even though it's probably a better game in just about every respect (other than the main story).

[Drew da Destroya]

well I've never really depended on any game company but back in the 90s I would always look for games from ATLAS, they were never the best games, but they all were of good quality. I'm no longer a huge video game person so I don't know if that still holds true.

They did the Shining Force series, right? Now, that was a sweet SRPG!