Anthem: Bioware's next Mass Effect-like IP

[Dhrizzle]

I must say that guy that pushed their ass to make game pretty and better was on the money there. Graphics and flight are some of the better features of Anthem for sure.

Honestly, I am not even sure if Frostbite really the issue there, much larger issues seems to me by the article that they have wasted insane amount of time being indecisive as fuck. Frostbite would not be an issue if they would get off their asses and entered production like year faster.

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Maybe they actually work best when someone is sitting on their ass with a whip from EA, if that article is true. They really needed this “wtf is this shit” back in 2014-5, not 2017.

A few times I've said that EA's studios seem to have the problem of not enough oversight, it's especially bad for newer acquisitions who aren't used to massive budgets or, like in this case, established devs who have fallen in love with the smell of their own farts.

[Yriel]

Does anyone actually believe that Anthem can turn around after this article?

All in all the game is pretty solid now, it is just severely missing content. So it's not difficult to turn it around, it's just a lot of work.

[Kylecat15]

I really don't have faith in the game especially after that article.

The real question is do people really want to support the game and how terribly it was managed? With what they did to Mass Effect and now this.. I really am just getting sick of BioWare at this point. There was a time when I wanted nothing more than BioWare games.

Now, its like a plague when they are making a game

[Coldkil]

Yeah sure, why wouldn't I?

We're looking at a lot of the exact same kinds of issues that plagued every other game in this genre as well as other genre's and when they've been given the time they tend to work out. People are speaking well of Warframe, Destiny, the division, even diablo 3 for a time, and all these games had similar levels of issues and turned it around. So why wouldn't they be able to do that with this game given time?

Hell someone just mentioned no mans sky as well.

Just jumped in for this. The issue is not the Anthem game itself (which is in a very poor state and it's completely unacceptable) but this kind of general behavious players as customers allowed to companies to follow.

They can easily dish out a shit game developed in 1 and 1/2 year (which costs a lot less) and focus on marketing and people will just flock and buy millions of copies anyway even knowing it's smelling like bullshit.

I'm not against studios getting back on their feet and making a good product out of a shit one, i'm against the habit of doing shit stuff because the money comes anyway wothout the need to actually support them.

It's basically like they know that developing a good game takes time, so they sell it unfinished and make money out of it. I'm totally against this crap, that's way i'm now just waiting years to play a game so at least i can experience a full product instead of an half-assed one.

I assume that working as a developer in this environment must be hellish. But hey, things changed when big money started to flow.

[Ophenia]

I'm glad we're back on the good tracks on this topic, we finally get to talk about the gaming industry and being offended by everything again. I think I missed it.

Are y'all somehow triggered when a game topic dares containing discussions about the game itself ?

[Kylecat15]

I'm glad we're back on the good tracks on this topic, we finally get to talk about the gaming industry and being offended by everything again. I think I missed it.

Are y'all somehow triggered when a game topic dares containing discussions about the game itself ?

Okay, what would you like to discuss about Anthem that isn't this article and how shitty the whole situation is?

I'm sure there are some super cool and interesting things to discuss about the game itself right now, right? No there really aren't.

[Gaidax]

Okay, what would you like to discuss about Anthem that isn't this article and how shitty the whole situation is?

I'm sure there are some super cool and interesting things to discuss about the game itself right now, right? No there really aren't.

Pretty much, let's talk about all that amazing content Anthem has... *tumbleweed*

I really hope Anthem will be made an example of how not to develop and release games.

[Kylecat15]

Pretty much, let's talk about all that amazing content Anthem has... *tumbleweed*

Exactly. Lol

[Ophenia]

Okay, what would you like to discuss about Anthem that isn't this article and how shitty the whole situation is?

I'm sure there are some super cool and interesting things to discuss about the game itself right now, right? No there really aren't.

There were some topics, as usual completely switched off by people who can't understand what it means to "move on" and "leave people who enjoy things enjoy things".

There are a lot of stuff to discuss about. But as on every single forum on the internet, when it is riddled with trolls, no discussion can ever emerge for more than 5 posts before someone comes back. Here, it means one of those guys who never ever thought about playing the game "discussing" about EA, "Scams", or The Division.

What a nightmare of a forum this is, when even "mods" are disrupting the conversations, shitting on companies that "steals money" when they promote 30$+ Alphas on other posts.
Those are even worse, as you can't even ignore them.

Edit: but np, I'll continue posting nonsense as everyone else here, that moves the postcount forward, it's the only thing that matters!

[Kylecat15]

There were some topics, as usual completely switched off by people who can't understand what it means to "move on" and "leave people who enjoy things enjoy things".

There are a lot of stuff to discuss about. But as on every single forum on the internet, when it is riddled with trolls, no discussion can ever emerge for more than 5 posts before someone comes back. Here, it means one of those guys who never ever thought about playing the game "discussing" about EA, "Scams", or The Division.

What a nightmare of a forum this is, when even "mods" are disrupting the conversations, shitting on companies that "steals money" when they promote 30$+ Alphas on other posts.

Then by all means feel free to start a discussion, because right now you aren't.

This was a MAJOR article not just for anthem but BioWare in general, so obviously its being talked about. Because there is literally nothing interesting to discuss with the game.

Want to talk about the lack of content? The terrible loot drop rate? Lack of different items?

[Greyvax]

One of the scummiest things from the article was when they discussed putting in more time-gated hurdles to slow down players, solely because they knew there was little to do at end-game. Pretty sure that's why they will not bump up the loot drop rates. Once you get the gear there's literally nothing to do with it.

I'm starting to feel like the "90 day roadmap" was just something they put together quickly to contain the damage to sales by scathing initial reviews. I'm not confident they will deliver any worthwhile/lasting content in the coming months.

It's a shame, because i really enjoy the gunplay and flying (as most others have stated), but with Borderlands 3 having just been announced for September, i doubt i'll ever touch this game again once that's out.

[Makabreska]

There were some topics, as usual completely switched off by people who can't understand what it means to "move on" and "leave people who enjoy things enjoy things".

There are a lot of stuff to discuss about. But as on every single forum on the internet, when it is riddled with trolls, no discussion can ever emerge for more than 5 posts before someone comes back. Here, it means one of those guys who never ever thought about playing the game "discussing" about EA, "Scams", or The Division.

What a nightmare of a forum this is, when even "mods" are disrupting the conversations, shitting on companies that "steals money" when they promote 30$+ Alphas on other posts.
Those are even worse, as you can't even ignore them.

Edit: but np, I'll continue posting nonsense as everyone else here, that moves the postcount forward, it's the only thing that matters!

Sure buddy, we will conveniently "move on", just when a big and thorough article revealing Anthem shitshow production emerged, article that everyone talks about. And suuuure, we are all trolls for daring to discuss this article, and speculating about Anthem future. Guess r/Anthem is full of trolls aswell, since that's what they are all talking about on the front page now. Poor, poor Bioware, they only wanted to release a contentless game after almost 7 years of development!

I'm starting to feel like the "90 day roadmap" was just something they put together quickly to contain the damage to sales by scathing initial reviews. I'm not confident they will deliver any worthwhile/lasting content in the coming months.

Tbh, roadmaps are pretty much a standard now in "live service" games. Sell you an unfinished product, with a vague promise of future content.

[Gaidax]

One of the scummiest things from the article was when they discussed putting in more time-gated hurdles to slow down players, solely because they knew there was little to do at end-game. Pretty sure that's why they will not bump up the loot drop rates. Once you get the gear there's literally nothing to do with it.

I'm starting to feel like the "90 day roadmap" was just something they put together quickly to contain the damage to sales by scathing initial reviews. I'm not confident they will deliver any worthwhile/lasting content in the coming months.

It's a shame, because i really enjoy the gunplay and flying (as most others have stated), but with Borderlands 3 having just been announced for September, i doubt i'll ever touch this game again once that's out.

Well the tomb quests were pretty blatant time gating they threw in to extend story campaign, especially considering the "reward". It was pretty obvious there, no need Kotaku to confirm it was just that.

[Yriel]

Well the tomb quests were pretty blatant time gating they threw in to extend story campaign, especially considering the "reward". It was pretty obvious there, no need Kotaku to confirm it was just that.

I wonder if they changed anything, i did not play the pre-release, i just bought the game when it released and played 1-2 hours after work each day, so when i got to these quests they were no grind or anything, i just played the stronghold a few times and some freeplay (both stuff that i hadn't touched before) and i got all four quests. Was an evening or so. I was more disappointed that the tombs themselves were no dungeon or something but just one room with a shitty lootchest/coffin in the middle.

To me it seemed more like a "Hey there is other stuff besides the quests, why don't you try freeplay or strongholds for a change" indication. But according to Schreier they were build as a time-gate so who knows.

[Gaidax]

I wonder if they changed anything, i did not play the pre-release, i just bought the game when it released and played 1-2 hours after work each day, so when i got to these quests they were no grind or anything, i just played the stronghold a few times and some freeplay (both stuff that i hadn't touched before) and i got all four quests. Was an evening or so. I was more disappointed that the tombs themselves were no dungeon or something but just one room with a shitty lootchest/coffin in the middle.

To me it seemed more like a "Hey there is other stuff besides the quests, why don't you try freeplay or strongholds for a change" indication. But according to Schreier they were build as a time-gate so who knows.

They reduced the amount of crap you needed to do. It was not "huge" at any point, but it could be several hours of unrelated nonsense just to progress the story, which is why it felt wrong for many, in addition to reward being so lame. People would not remember it that badly if the reward would be some sort of mission and/or event in said tomb, but instead we got a casket and some text string? Really now.

[kaelleria]

Guess r/Anthem is full of trolls aswell, since that's what they are all talking about on the front page now.

r/AnthemTheGame is full of trolls... There's literally been more traffic in that subreddit than some of the default subs since the game launched. It didn't help that the moderation team basically didn't/don't moderate. There are people that literally have never played the game that just jump on to post inflammatory things "for the lulz!".


That being said -
Discussing this article is applicable though as it is pertinent to the narrative surrounding the game.

Thinking about things more - I'm more upset about the state of the industry. Something needs to change.

As shitty as BW was managed under Aaryn Flynn and Jonathan Warner, there are plenty of other companies just as guilty if not worse. CD Projekt Red has a year+ long crunch time. Rockstar is so bad that they've had spouses write open letters to the paper. Their QA teams were basically required to work at least 6 days a week for 4 months solid.

We as consumers haven't helped things by rewarding shitty practices. Unfortunately the answer isn't a simple one. Boycotts don't really work and when they do they displace people in the industry where their options are to leave the industry or pray.

[Jastall]

Man, if half the shit in that article is true, it does seem like Bioware in its entirety has grave systemic problems. Previously I assumed it was mostly the Montreal studio, but the entire company looks to suffer from piss poor management, and in that case I'd argue EA didn't even hinder them that much save for forcing Frostbite down on them so we can't blame the overlords either.

I don't care about Anthem now, but this has me worried about DA4. I don't want that game to suffer from the same problems behind the scenes.

[Edge-]

But wouldn't it require even more crunch, more stressed out devs? Can they fix the game while also fixing the culture in the company? Is it even worth it?

Not necessarily, especially now that they actually have a game and a solid direction and aren't left rudderless. That's a big deal, and especially now that they're getting feedback and player data they have a much more clear direction to go.

They can fix the game, eventually. As I said it won't be fast or easy, but we've seen deeply flawed games turn around with enough time (Division, Destiny 1/2, FO 76 etc.) and the Austin team seems pretty capable.

And they can't fix the culture within BW, that's on BW leadership and EA to address. We'll see if anything comes of this piece and the subsequent criticisms, but I can't say I'm terribly optimistic that there will be any meaningful improvements right now.

[Dhrizzle]

I'm glad we're back on the good tracks on this topic, we finally get to talk about the gaming industry and being offended by everything again. I think I missed it.

Are y'all somehow triggered when a game topic dares containing discussions about the game itself ?

I'm probably just as sick as you of people who seem to hang out in threads just to complain and derail discussions about the game itself, but this is an article that ties directly to Anthem's development so it fits the thread no matter how salt people are.

[Eleccybubb]

Had a read of that article.

Bioware is finished. They cannot salvage this game and this will probably be the final nail in the coffin.

And even if they do manage to salvage it then it'll just be an NMS situation where it ends up with a fraction of the players rather than the amount it could have had.