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The "Bioware Formula" Coro, Khross, and I are pointing out has nothing to do with being segmented into acts, and everything to do with consisting of a number of interchangeable steps that must be completed, but do not build on each other, before progressing to the next stage.
It's not that OMG! You have to do A, B, and C that makes the formula repetitive, or in any way analogous to any literary storytelling in existence because Tolkien's heroes also did X, Y, and Z.
The problem is that because A, B, and C (or, as Khross and Coro point out, since the standard Bioware follows has 4 parts, D, as well) are presented to be interchangeable in order to claim that the story is "non-linear" and "the player has choices!" and "this isn't a game on rails," A, B, C, and D have absolutely no inter-relation, and do not build dramatically upon one another in any meaningful way. There's no sense of building tension, because there's no certainty which will fall where in the arc of rising tension.
It's particularly faulty, IMO, when applied to epic stories. That lack of escalation and tension completely fails to convey any sense of urgency, which is antithetical to the notion of an epic story. And it's not the fault of the writing in any one of the sections; it's the fault of the structure itself.
As for epic stories; I don't mean to suggest that my weariness of playing epics means I want to play a farmer who never matters in the grand scheme. It's not that I want to play somebody utterly mundane. I agree, that's boring, in the sense that I get that in my own life.
But just because the protagonist is, or becomes, special at some point in the story, whether that is due to some intrinsic quality or, often preferably, just due to being in the right place at the right time, doesn't mean that the rest of the setting has to recognize that he's special and point it out to him. And it also doesn't mean that the character's motivation has to be some paragon sense of altruism to save the world.
I'll make a quick example, just because it's been on my mind lately and it's convenient. Deus Ex is not an epic story, and neither is Human Revolution shaping up to be one. Both of the characters are "special," in that they're among a relatively small population of augmented individuals in a sea of normal humanity. But they don't set out to save the world; they're minding their own business, doing their job, when they become involved, as part of their job or simply for very mundane, personal interests (revenge, curiousity), in these conspiracies among people of power.
Are there global stakes eventually in play? Well, sure. But they get revealed slowly, and the character remains unaware of the true stakes until relatively late in the game, as it were.
In Deus Ex, JC Denton is, granted, one of the pilot cases for a new augmentation nano-technology. In this sense, he's special. But he has no mystical destiny. There's no sense that he's the only person in the world who could uncover these conspiracies.
Likewise, I'm finding, with Human Revolution. Adam Jensen isn't the first augment. He doesn't have powerful abilities that nobody else has. He's not the bloodline of long-lost royalty, he's not infused with demonic power. He's not even famed the galaxy over for his prowess (in fact, he was fired from the SWAT team in the aftermath of a royal ****, and it's suggested that the only way he landed a new gig was due to some personal connections). But he's got a job to do, and that job is investigating some terrorist/espionage attempts against his workplace, because the cops seem to be disinterested in following certain leads.
That's it. Nobody comes to him with the message that he's the salvation of the human race. Nobody tells him that he's destined to be a beacon of light in the face of darkness. Nobody tells him that he has the power to shake the foundations of power that governments and corporations are built upon. He's a chief of security, doing his job, and maybe motivated a little bit to go the extra mile to avenge his dead ex.
He's far from mundane, but he's eminently relatable, and the sense that a protagonist is getting in over his head is seriously refreshing.
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"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades
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