When I initially put out a call for fans, developers, creators, and media to reach out to me with stories about their experiences with BioWare, the now-shuttered developer of some of the most beloved western RPGs of the past 30 years, I was frankly overwhelmed by the outpouring of responses from people who had a story to tell. I was so overwhelmed, in fact, that I was only able to use a fraction of what showed up in my inbox for this collection of memories, praise, righteous anger, and mourning. Whether they were old heads who had been playing BioWare games since the days of Shattered Steel and the original Baldur’s Gate or folks who fell in love with the Edmonton studio’s work through Mass Effect and Dragon Age, it’s clear that BioWare’s games left an imprint on fans that has outlived the company itself.

If BioWare’s games have proven anything, it’s that everyone’s story has its own unique beginning, and that’s reflected in how its fans came to know its work through so many different points of entry.

My first BioWare experience was with the first two Baldur’s Gate games. I wasn’t much of a PC CRPG gamer in 1998 but BG1 just absolutely blew me away with what, at the time, felt like endless options for character customization, the broad sweep of the story that felt like a true investment in the Dungeons & Dragons tabletop I had been playing for only a few years at that point – and the Forgotten Realms where I cut my teeth as both player and Dungeon Master – and the amazing writing on the characters.

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