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Former BioWare design director recalls the days of Baldur's Gate, Anthem, and The Old Republic.
Image credit: BioWare, Beamdog | Baldur's Gate 2 Enhanced Edition
Any CRPG fan knows Baldur's Gate 2 and I'd say most love the game, but it could have been very different and much less appealing if James Ohlen, former BioWare design director, wasn't competitive.
In an interview with Rock Paper Shotgun, Ohlen, who spent 22 years at the company, revealed that Baldur's Gate 2 has to thank Final Fantasy 7 for its deep characters. Apparently, he compared what the studio had at the time with SquareSoft's work and decided that BioWare needed to step it up.
“I’m very competitive,” Ohlen said. “I went and played Final Fantasy VII and was like, ‘Oh my good god, these characters make ours look like a bunch of cardboard cutouts. This is terrible.’”
The team was convinced then and better stories for companions, including Jaheira, were born. Interestingly, Ohlen didn't like Final Fantasy 7's gameplay, but its character work inspired him to Knights Of The Old Republic.
“I actually totally, entirely ripped off The Empire Strikes Back in such blatant fashion,” Ohlen shared. “You basically go to face the dark lord by yourself, and then you get into a lightsaber fight with him, and he kicks your ass. And then, after kicking your ass, he does the big twist. Then you don’t die because you’re rescued by your friends on the Millennium Falcon - I mean, the Ebon Hawk. It’s beat by beat the same thing.”
Image credit: BioWare, Broadsword | Star Wars: The Old Republic
And then there was The Old Republic after EA bought BioWare. It was a huge game – too huge for its own, and the studio's, good, Ohlen thinks. In his own words, they should have made it shorter to free time for story-heavy missions – Flashpoints.
“Everyone wanted Knights of the Old Republic Online, and it felt more like World Of Warcraft with Star Wars spray-painted on it and some BioWare juice thrown in,” he said. “Even though the Metacritic was pretty good, it wasn’t new enough to really take off.”
Ohlen also remembered the development of Anthem, an online multiplayer action RPG, which was a fresh breeze for some developers at the studio as it differed a lot from Baldur's Gate 2. Of course, EA had other reasons to be excited about the game.
“It was always chasing the gigantic successes instead of leaning into what BioWare was good at,” Ohlen mentioned. “It wasn’t just EA leaning on BioWare – there were lots of people in BioWare who wanted to do something different.”
Image credit: BioWare | Anthem
However, he saw that Anthem was everything the studio wasn't: “It got away from everything. It’s kind of like the anti-BioWare game.” Eventually, he left the company because he felt his perfect game wouldn't be possible under EA.
Now, Ohlen leads Archetype Entertainment; owned by Wizards of the Coast, it aims to make the greatest story-driven sci-fi RPGs. He seems happy to finally work on games he wants to create but he didn't offer any details on what we'll see from him in the future.
Hopefully, there will be more quality stories to come. Meanwhile, read the full interview here and join our 80 Level Talent platform and our Telegram channel, follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn, where we share breakdowns, the latest news, awesome artworks, and more.