Bryony Kate

Historian, traveller, casual musician, whisky student, occasional change manager.

[Bryony Kate @Bryony_Kate93]

@Love_Deepspace @LoveDeepspaceJP

LADS, don't agree with how the new LI has been handled. Reinstate Valko as an LI and his story. The global players are cheering for him!

#KeepValkoAlive #NoToValkoCancellation #BringValkoBack #JusticeForValko #Valko

[Bryony Kate @Bryony_Kate93]

@unifadewalker This is reassuring to hear! Haven't had a chance to play but I was a fan of the first one and have bought this one, but the reviews made me worried. Will give it a go with an open mind and not let reviews colour my experience. Should know by now to not always trust them...

[ALASTAIR CAMPBELL @campbellclaret]

More of this from 🇬🇧 politicians please. Why does it take an 🇺🇸 politician to do this? Though doubtless most of our media will focus with “Nigel Farage spoke out against the blah blah in DC today … and now we ask another talking head about the rise and rise of Reform …

[Larry the Cat @Number10cat]

Congress did its homework on Nigel Farage:

[Bryony Kate @Bryony_Kate93]

@andersmanifesto Hellooooo!

[Bryony Kate @Bryony_Kate93]

@FedUpMajority @pixnlove_games @expedition33 @SandfallGames On their website it says it will be

[Bryony Kate @Bryony_Kate93]

@CorbynRed @MassEffect_News This was my thought :( only mass effect now, nothing else

[Bryony Kate @Bryony_Kate93]

@kalaelizabeth I remember them launching copies of ME3 into space and people tracking them falling down. Some fell into people's gardens so those following them had to kind of trespass 🤣

[ALASTAIR CAMPBELL @campbellclaret]

Happy Brexit referendum anniversary day. It weakened the economy. Reduced investment. Tanked the pound. Damaged the City. Increased red tape. Increased immigration. Decreased the rights of the young. Staffed billions wasted. But hey - Johnson has PM on his CV and his partner in crime Farage has replaced him as the darling of the right wing rags. So all worth it for the tiny minority who gained out of an act of national self harm

[Synth Potato🥔 @SynthPotato]

Jason Schreier has released a scathing article regarding what went wrong during Dragon Age The Veilguard’s development:

Here are the highlights:

- BioWare was under immense pressure to succeed after the failure of Anthem and Andromeda with The Veilguard to stay afloat.

- Original concept (codename: Joplin) was a smaller, single-player experience.

- EA forced a pivot to a multiplayer live-service format (codename: Morrison) in 2017.

- Creative director Mike Laidlaw resigned over the shift.

- Matt Goldman replaced him and aimed for a lighter, “pulpy” tone fitting for online gameplay.

- Anthem’s failure in 2019 raised internal doubts about repeating mistakes.

- Pandemic disruptions and leadership resignations further complicated development.

- In 2020, the project was abruptly pivoted back to a single-player game, without proper pre-production.

- Team was given just 18 months to overhaul structure and rewrite the story.

- Tight timelines led to rushed decisions and a lack of meaningful choice in gameplay.

- Multiple delays didn’t allow redesigns “just extensions of flawed structures.”

- Feedback from alpha testing in 2022 pointed to a lack of impactful narrative decisions.

- Last-minute attempts to reintroduce meaningful choices were shallow and constrained.

- BioWare brought in a second team (from the Mass Effect project) in 2023 to help finish the game.

- Cultural clashes arose: Dragon Age team was laid-back; Mass Effect team was top-down and structured.

- Mass Effect leaders rewrote and added new scenes, including the game’s emotional finale.

- Dragon Age leads were frustrated, denied similar resources, and excluded from key meetings.

- Long-standing resentment emerged over EA favoring Mass Effect internally.

- Original multiplayer version’s snarky tone felt outdated.

- Concerns it would resemble Forspoken led to last-minute dialogue rewrites.

- Voice actor strike and overtime demands hindered these changes.

- Initial trailer looked like Fortnite, alienating the RPG fanbase.

- Marketing failed to properly convey the game’s actual tone and genre.

BioWare’s Future.
- BioWare contributes around 5% of EA’s annual revenue.
- EA primarily profits from sports and shooter games.

- Analysts say EA may continue supporting BioWare due to the potential payoff of hit RPGs.
- However, its long decline raises real questions about whether EA will ultimately shut it down.
- Analyst Doug Creutz: “If they shuttered the doors tomorrow I wouldn’t be totally surprised.”

Yeah seems like this game’s development was a disaster in every way and the blame lies at EA forcing the live service structure and then reverting it, wasting so much time and talent then not even letting them fully start over, what a mess.

[Bryony Kate @Bryony_Kate93]

@BryanDechart @AlixWiltonRegan and Andrew Wincott!

[Tim Walz @Tim_Walz]

I’m hitting the road, traveling to red states across the country to lend a megaphone to the people.

Your congressman may not want to listen, but they’re going to hear from us anyway.

https://t.co/Xat0jYqHrc

[Carol Vorderman @carolvorders]

European leader after European leader TONIGHT stating publicly that they stand with President @ZelenskyyUa and Ukraine against Russia

It seems Emperor Trump and his sidekick are the ones out of step....

[Shinobi602 @shinobi602]

🎮 Today is the 30th anniversary of BioWare 🎮

The company was officially incorporated 30 years ago today on February 1, 1995 by a few medical school graduates from the University of Alberta in Canada (Ray Muzyka, Greg Zeschuk and Augustine Yip). This studio means so much to me personally as they're responsible for some of my favorite games ever made.

I still remember my first exposure to the team when I installed Neverwinter Nights on my spanking new Pentium 3 at the time where I was blown away at the world building and characters like nothing else I'd played before. I still see Desther's betrayal and the fight against Maugrim and Morag in my head today lol.

Then it was love all over again the next year in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and holy shitballs, what a whirlwind that was (Revan!). They took me on more journeys into the lands of Jade Empire, through the Imperial City, inhabited by humans who harness the Five Elements. This game in particular got me through such a hard time in my life when I lost a close friend in high school. Hail Spirit Monk.

And of course, across the incredible world of Thedas and my all-time favorite series in Mass Effect. Nothing has ever captured that sense of being as a space explorer on the edge of the galaxy quite like the very first Mass Effect. Standing on a mountaintop watching the meteor showers fly across the sky on Edolus and hanging out with my best buds Wrex and Liara...what a sight.

Happening upon the glory of the Citadel for the very first time on a perfect night after class on November 20, 2007, getting introduced to the drama of the Elcor, chatting up giant talking jellyfish (love you Hanar), going on a suicide mission, curing the genophage, saving the Rachni, mending peace between the Geth and Quarians, shooting the shit with Garrus on the Citadel - I don't know if any kind of entertainment will ever replicate those feelings again.

For a team that's given me so much, it's hard to see them go through the hardships they have over the last several years. In Andromeda and Anthem, I could see the sparks of something great, even though they didn't fully hit the mark. There are so many amazing people who came together with impeccable creative vision and love for the medium of games to be able to pull off the things they did over these last 30 years. I'm deeply saddened to see many of them gone, the layoffs, the shakeups, when many were responsible for some my favorite characters and moments ever.

At the same time, I know there are still many who remain on the team who are trying their best to get through it and keep their heads high to create something special with a new Mass Effect. It's not in my character to punch down on anyone, so I wish them the best and hope that the future is brighter. Keelah Se'lai!🙏

#Bioware #MassEffect #DragonAge #BaldursGate #JadeEmpire

[Tim Walker @ThatTimWalker]

The banal, business-as-usual, hack reporting on Trump’s inauguration… and the uneasy sense that nothing is going be same again.

[Bryony Kate @Bryony_Kate93]

@LizagnaNoodles No of course, rooks are personal. But you're obviously so talented at this cc and I always have to go back and tweak over and over I'd be grateful for a template to start from! 🙏

[Dragon Age @dragonage]

We're happy to announce that #DragonAge: The Veilguard was nominated for Innovation In Accessibility - vote for us at https://t.co/3RqpC0atXA and join us @TheGameAwards on Dec. 12!

[Bryony Kate @Bryony_Kate93]

@sunkenaravel how did I miss so much in this game? 😭

[Bryony Kate @Bryony_Kate93]

@LizagnaNoodles Well, time to go back and reanalyse everything from the games. Guess I'll have to play them again. Oh no 🤣