elegy to Bioware

Of all the doom and gloom that has permeated the game industry in recent times, the closure of Bioware hit particularly hard. This isn’t going to be a post about why Bioware had to shut down, as people who know a lot more than I do about the circumstances have written plenty about it. This is a love letter to a company whose games have left an indelible impact on my life. The first Bioware game I played was Baldur’s Gate II. I played it before I, funnily enough, and I can’t really tell you why because I don’t remember. What I do remember is that, as with so many other games that came to shape me as a person, I picked it up because I watched my father play it. After I finished II, I went back to play BGI, and then I replayed BGII. I don’t know how many times I replayed BGII. I still vividly remember the scenes of Imoen coming to my rescue right at the start of the game. Minsc and Jaheira are so near and dear to me that meeting them again in BGIII was probably the highlight of that…