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by Sol Invictus, Level 54
Last updated at November 6, 2009, 8:55 pm
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Please note that the list I've created is rather tongue-in-cheek and takes none of the nuances of each game's narrative into proper account. Be sure to click the image for a larger version.
Update -- Bioware's Patrick Weekes responded to a post on the official Mass Effect forums with some comments on the chart:
So I'm supposed to believe someone is smart enough to do a big Excel spreadsheet with color coding and stuff but not smart enough to know about Campbellian archetypes?
Yeah, guys, every BioWare game has the same plot! See, things are kind of normal, and then things change and you have to go out and do stuff, and you go to crazy weird places! Aaaaaand so yeah, totally the same story.
That's asinine.
The core idea isn't that bad -- I sense that someone started out with a good concept, like "Hey, you go to four places a lot," and then they just decided to add some more filler rows to try to make a real zinger, except that when you actually read the cells, a lot of them are stretches.
In any event, the "intro, four planets, finale" structure is something we have used often for a few simple reasons:
1) It's easy. It's not as easy as making the player do everything in order, but you can generally just treat each area separately except for a few variables, which makes logic-testing and QA work a ton easier. What happens on Feros stays on Feros. BioWare knows how to make these games, make them solid and workable, and ship them -- and if need be, we can always cut areas, which sucks, but we can do it if need be. Some structures don't allow for that, which is why you end up with games where it's clear that the devs ran out of time or money at some point.
2) Players can understand it. In usability tests on one project, we learned that players with more than four things to do at a time in any given area will feel frustrated -- they get overwhelmed and have no idea what to do first and get the names mixed up. So you don't dump twenty small planets on the player all at once. You hit them with a few big things that they can understand: "Go to Feros." And then once they're there, they unlock several different things to do that don't compete with the rest of the universe, because right now you're on Feros. "Kill Varren." "Get Power Cells." "Turn on Water Valves." "Go to ExoGeni." (And we even cheat a bit by giving you missions, which are big and obvious, and assignments, which we tell you are less important.)
In testing out our missions for ME2, the single biggest lump of story feedback we've gotten has boiled down to Information Flow. When a mission feels clunky, nine times out of ten it's because we either told the player way too much all at once and expected the player to keep it all straight, or we didn't actually tell the player enough and so the player is kind of lost. Dividing up our game into four or five large worlds allows us to control information a bit better.
(And to be clear, that four-worlds-and-out thing is a simplification that ignores major critpath events and makes it sound like you only visit four big areas in KotOR, which flat-out isn't true.)
3) There's nothing wrong with it. It's a structure, like any other. Humorously snarking that our games have a beginning part that is streamlined and introduces you to the game, a middle that allows you the freedom to go to several places and have adventures, and then a tightly focused ending is like riffing on how romance novels generally start out with two people being attracted to each other but having emotional issues, then gradually building trust, then having a complication that splits them up, and then in the end they get together and are happy. People who create fiction in any form use a structure appropriate to that form. They do it because their audience understands and responds on an emotional level to that structure.
Why so serious, Patrick?
Dragon Age and Mass Effect are hands down two of the best games I've played this decade. And yes, I do admit that some of them are stretches. I just want to make it clear that this chart wasn't meant as criticism of the writing in the games.
The narrative structure is the same, yes, but the stories themselves are not. And yes, for everyone who's mentioned it -- I'm well aware of Joseph Campbell's Hero with a Thousand Faces.

46 comments
JackSlack Nov 7, 2009 at 8:53 pm
+1 votes
I totally forgot about that! You will have dreams or visions that herald the future of the story.
KoTOR: You have dreams about the attack on Darth Revan
Jade Empire: You have visions of the Blue Dragon
Mass Effect: You have visions of the protheans
Dragon Age: You have visions of the Darkspawn.
KoTOR: You have dreams about the attack on Darth Revan
Jade Empire: You have visions of the Blue Dragon
Mass Effect: You have visions of the protheans
Dragon Age: You have visions of the Darkspawn.
Marcus Nov 8, 2009 at 11:18 am
+1 votes
You might try reading Joseph Campbell's "Hero with a Thousand Faces", it explains the cliche very well, also explains the Star Wars (4,5,6) very well. In a nutshell, the hero is forced to leave home through some tragedy, forced to survive trials to gain powers and friends, returns home to set right what was destroyed originally, ascends to enlightenment. It's a circle, and all good mythologies embrace it.
james degn Nov 8, 2009 at 7:42 pm
+1 votes
hey i just started playing mass effect-- and actually, you start as pretty much a normal soldier. you do not become captain of the ship until you gain your spectre status, after about an hour or so into the game.
Sol Invictus Nov 8, 2009 at 11:25 pm
+1 votes
That's arguable. You're a commander, not a normal soldier -- and a war hero, or leader. You've already been chosen at the start to represent humanity. I'd say that's a pretty big deal.
Bob Nov 8, 2009 at 8:18 pm
+1 votes
"I’ve always found similarities in BioWare RPGs – particular clichés unique to their games..."
Unique my ass. I read your chart (and liked it). I compared the cliche plot to Dragon Warrior IV (by Enix) and it fits almost perfectly. In fact, DW4 fits your chart better than most of the games on your chart fit your chart.
Unique my ass. I read your chart (and liked it). I compared the cliche plot to Dragon Warrior IV (by Enix) and it fits almost perfectly. In fact, DW4 fits your chart better than most of the games on your chart fit your chart.
gansch Nov 8, 2009 at 11:58 pm
+1 votes
not to be picky, but in DA, the deep roads arnt really ancient. they were built by the still living dwarves, but the land was lost to the darkspawn. its ruins are from a still living civilization with the same technology, minus the golems. also, they even said another city had survived for a 200 (?) years without them.
Karl Auckland NZ Nov 9, 2009 at 12:22 am
+1 votes
Very funny, just............... don't analysis sitcoms/SF TV Shows too closely hokay?
- Karl, Auckland, NZ
- Karl, Auckland, NZ
Falaina Nov 9, 2009 at 1:29 am
+1 votes
Man, how did you forget the person in power who becomes a traitor and serves as the primary antagonist for some portion of the game.
Baldur's Gate: Traitor elf
Jade Empire: Traitor master
KOTOR: Traitor general
NWN: Traitor Paladin (or whatever hte hell aribeth was)
Dragon Age: Traitor general
Baldur's Gate: Traitor elf
Jade Empire: Traitor master
KOTOR: Traitor general
NWN: Traitor Paladin (or whatever hte hell aribeth was)
Dragon Age: Traitor general
Falaina Nov 9, 2009 at 1:32 am
+1 votes
Oops, and of course
Mass Effect: Traitor Spectre
Mass Effect: Traitor Spectre
Sol Invictus Nov 9, 2009 at 1:34 am
+1 votes
Wow. Yeah, I can't believe I missed that one. Obsidian/Black Isle Studios games featured a couple of traitors, too -- Ignus betrays you, as does the sorceress in NWN2. Oh, and the Jedi in KOTOR2.
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