BioWare is not the company fans have grown to know and love over the past few years. That is to say compared to the last generation of consoles on PS3 and Xbox 360, they struggled on this generation. Mass Effect: Andromeda bombed in 2017, which was followed by another failure in Anthem last year.
They seemingly can’t catch a break. If Dragon Age 4 also doesn’t do well then it might be three strikes and they are out. Should BioWare put all of its eggs in one basket with Dragon Age, or should it refocus on Mass Effect instead? Let’s see what each franchise does better than the other.
10 Mass Effect: Last One Was A Wash
Mass Effect: Andromeda has its fans, but altogether it was looked at as a failure. The last Dragon Age game, Inquisition, on the other hand was more universally praised. That said Mass Effect needs more of a home run or more like a redemption arc. BioWare needs to prove they still know how to make a good entry in this series even if it scraps the canon in Andromeda to then reboot everything again.
9 Dragon Age: Keep Up The Momentum
Andromeda left a bad taste in everyone’s mouths and it didn’t help that Anthem was not well received either. Again, the last good BioWare game from a critical success was Inquisition. That then may be why that should be the next franchise that BioWare tackles. They should keep up the momentum even though technically it has been dragging since Inquisition launched in 2014.
8 Mass Effect: Not Enough Space
Last year’s The Outer Worlds and Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order proved that fans were hungry for more space adventures. This is especially true when it comes to The Outer Worlds as it was like Mass Effect plus Fallout: New Vegas. There are plenty of fantasy RPGs out there so the time is right for more space epics.
7 Dragon Age: Build Off The Witcher Hype
This is marketing 101, but developers know when to strike when the iron is hot. This is exactly why so many companies have pushed out battle royale type games, or modes, which built off of the hype of PUBG.
The same can be true for BioWare chasing RPF trends as The Witcher 3, despite being five years old, is still selling well. Getting a similar action RPG out there may be better than space.
6 Mass Effect: Race Wars
Dragon Age has unique races to itself, but it also plays off of a lot of standards like elves and dwarves. Because alien races aren’t a thing in reality, yet, BioWare had to create their own races. This gave the series a big advantage. Mass Effect honestly feels like the more rich world due its diverse cast of races, each with in-depth details about their species and struggles.
5 Dragon Age: Can’t Beat Dragons
That said, the one race Mass Effect can’t beat are dragons. In fact, the enemies aren’t too grand and or diverse in that series. Fighting one alien race is like fighting another whereas Dragon Age has better creatures to strike fear into players. Dragons, of course, are near the top of the list. There is nothing quite like fighting a dragon in an RPG as cliche as that might sound.
4 Mass Effect: Music
This might be a small victory for Mass Effect, but the soundtrack in those games are slightly better than Dragon Age’s. They are both wonderfully orchestrated, but because there are so many like Dragon Age, it also doesn’t stand apart next to its competitors. Mass Effect, on the other hand, has more technological beats which help give the universe a certain vibe. Giving fans a new game and a new soundtrack then would be killer.
3 Dragon Age: Visceral Action
Players can do more than shoot guns in Mass Effect, but the telekinetic-like powers pale in comparison to casting a fireball on something. Magic as a whole us just cooler to both use and look at. Not only that but guns are overused in video games. Shootouts in those games don’t feel as visceral as getting up in personal in Dragon Age. It’s not like swords aren’t overused either, but the point still stands.
2 Mass Effect: Multiplayer
Both of these series don’t need multiplayer. That said, what Mass Effect has done in the past was actually good.
It was an interesting take for the series in Mass Effect 3 to have multiplayer effect the end result. It wasn’t perfect, but again it was a good idea that could prove to be even better if BioWare wanted to evolve it.
1 Dragon Age: Tactics
Another part about the combat that makes it great is its diverse set of player input options. Want to play it like an action RPG? Go ahead. Want to play it like a tactical, turn-based game? That is an option too. Mass Effect does allow players to issue commands, but those games have never felt as robust and or strategic in nature.