Anthem: Bioware's next Mass Effect-like IP

[quijote3000]

Of course it is. Games aren't judged for their quality against comparable games released 6 years ago, they're judged against their actual competition.

Totally agreed. Like people comparing Epic store today with Steam when it started. Sorry, but time to catch up

[Baconeggcheese]

$80 was the last price I saw in the XBox store, I might be misremembering it though.

Oh, I don't think xbox has origin, but I think there's something similar.

Either way its a very contentious game so you're gonna have to figure this one out since its cool to hate on the game right now. I personally enjoy it while also recognizing that its very much an unfinished game and is going through those growing pains. The devs have been super transparent and active on reddit though, and they've had a good turn around time on fixing things thus far. Which are the two biggest things that made me decide to buy the game after my origin sub ran out.

Yeah I tend to try to ignore ME1's graphics, and just remember it was made in 2007, and graphics technology was still fairly primitive then.

Technically, they probably started making models and textures in 2005-6, so that's even earlier.

Yeah its just an art style that doesn't age well with gameplay that doesn't age well. Its rough playing these iconic games years later.

[Jastall]

Yeah I just started ME1 and its... yeah... its not just the gameplay... the graphics are uncanny valley as all hell and didn't age well at all and the dialogue at least at the very beggining is.. eh.

I'm tryin though.

It didn't age well at all. The graphics as you say somehow look far worse than ME2's to me, the gameplay is absolute ass, and it was clearly the first time Bioware used the paraphrase system because a good number of choices mean nothing or almost nothing in terms of what Shepard says. On a replay you can also see how the story on the Citadel makes very little sense, the humans hoping that the Council would throw their top agent to the wolves based on one eyewitness testimony was stupid.

The characters are still pretty good however, especially Wrex and Ashley, and the soundtrack is killer. But then again Mass Effect has by far the best soundtrack of any Bioware production.

[Baconeggcheese]

What “logical leap”, dude… holy fuck, I don’t know about you, but generally speaking, people have different expectations depending on the price they are paying for shit, I’m not going to expect high quality from cheap/free shit, of course it doesn’t mean it can’t happen, however if I’m paying a high buck for something, in this case, the typical triple A game price, I seriously bloody expect the damn thing to be good, and not good as a free game released back in 2013.

Oh this game is better than Warframe now as far as I'm concerned, yet alone Warframe in 2013. That's apples to oranges, Warframe has a better progression system for the moment and inferior pretty much everything else.

Also Freemium games have monetization schemes like everything else.. your logic would make sense if they didn't actually expect you to pay for anything... but they do. The crack dealer method isn't a novel concept.

If Anthem was launched as a F2P title (… and btw, Warframe skins cost around 10-20$ if I remember correctly and you can acquire the currency without spending a single dollar), people would still complain about it, just the same way they complained about all those other games you’ve mentioned, they don’t get “free passes”, however this kind of shit is usually taken into consideration when rating the damn game like it or not.

People are acting like Anthem is DOA, its not at all the same. (and we weren't only talking about Warframe... and the prices on Warframe stuff is all over the map)

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the humans hoping that the Council

Yeah this is one of those things, I keep hearing them talk about the council and I'm given dialogue choices where I can make him like super anti-council or fine with them or whatever yet I have no idea who the council really are or why he would be for or against them. Its just odd storytelling.

[Baconeggcheese]

That’s just your opinion about it

Hence "as far as I'm concerned"...

Freemium? Hang on, are we calling Warframe a freemium game, or you decided to bring that up now cuz reasons? Because freemium model and f2p model are two different things.

so... F2P is a literal term... freemium is any product (this is not limited to games) that are free, but have offerings at a premium. For instance, a F2P game, with a cash shop where you buy things at a premium... is a freemium game... The two are not mutually exclusive...

Hence most F2P games are also freemium games... Warframe is in fact... a freemium game... as is PoE... and every other F2P game with a cash shop...

you can fully enjoy the game (F2P models) without paying a cent for it… thus I don’t really get it, what’s your point?

That's where we're going to disagree. Things that people are going to want are purposefully cut and put into the shop so they can get paid.

Its one of the biggest reasons I preferred MMO's like WoW for so many years... because freemium games are notorious for having really shitty shops and you'd always end up spending more money if you got invested in the game. edit: and the games would always be lower quality.

I have no clue what you mean by that, I have very little interest on fighting games, no clue what’s going on with DOA.

DOA = dead on arrival, is that what you're confused about?

[yasiru]

Ah the good old playtime paradox.
Played less than X: "You can't judge the game yet, you havent played enough. Wait for lategame!"
Played more than X: "You are not allowed to complain anymore, you played enough and got your moneys worth".

Although it really doesn't take 100 hours to see anthem for what it is.

You obviously have no idea what you are talking about since I meant neither of those choices. Way to stereotype though, bravo....or was it a case of just twisting my words to meet your own agenda? My entire point was, if I think a game is a piece of garbage there's no way I'd last 100 hours...

[Kokolums]

Even with a company as massive as Blizzard, you can see the same effect in Battle for Azeroth, the most recent expansion. The art team knocked it out of the park

Wat?

The art in BfA is TERRIBLE. Absolutely TERRIBLE.

Most zones look like crap. The raid sets were cut WAY back from 1 for each class to 1 for each armor type and they are totally bland and uninspired. Boralus is ugly as hell. Zul'dalazar is incredibly annoying. Most zones just look like mud pits.

The ART team knocked it out of the park? The ART team?

[yasiru]

@Baconeggcheese LOL, found a youtube video that basically sums up all the youtubers I hate:

[SirCowdog]

Wat?

The art in BfA is TERRIBLE. Absolutely TERRIBLE.

Most zones look like crap. The raid sets were cut WAY back from 1 for each class to 1 for each armor type and they are totally bland and uninspired. Boralus is ugly as hell. Zul'dalazar is incredibly annoying. Most zones just look like mud pits.

The ART team knocked it out of the park? The ART team?

You not liking the style doesn't mean they didn't do a good job of attention to detail. Separate your personal preferences from the objective craftsmanship.

Christ I hate these forums sometimes. You can't say anything without someone taking it the wrong way.

[chazus]

Two questions!

1) I'm 4/10 of Cycle of Pain (Upgraded Sledgehammer), but I've never had this weapon. Does using the Sledgehammer after I get Sledgehammer III completed give me points in that?

2) I'm doing GM1 stuff now, and have mostly 38 gear, or masterworks. A lot of it is decently tuned. Do I -do- anything with rares and even epic embers/parts? Can I somehow turn them into Masterwork parts? It just seems very strange that sub-30, you never really craft anything, and the moment you hit 30, almost all that craftable stuff becomes useless in a matter of missions.

[Baconeggcheese]

“Fact”, lol, no.

We're talking about definitions here... you honestly gonna pretend like you didn't skip over the ones that support the definition I'm using? We gonna do the semantics thing?

you can’t enjoy a games content without a specific shiny skin?

Have you not heard of how profitable cosmetic only business models are? Or thought about why that might be?

and again, we are ignoring the fact that some of these games allow you to purchase almost everything if not everything from the shop just by playing the game, therefore it’s not even a matter of having dem shinny skins “cut”, it’s just that you’ll take longer grinding for them than the guy who just throws cash at the monitor.

Some yes, others no... and more importantly how these things are priced vs time to earn. You can easily drop 60$ in PoE for one full outfit with no way to earn it in game... and its a freemium game... and people praise the shit out of it... and you look like a clown if you don't drop $...

Now again... imagine Anthem went in with that model... I don't care if the game was gods gift to loot grinders people would scream bloody murder at the premise of having to pay 60$ for an outfit because EAware but give a freemium game a pass because its made by a smaller studio making a less ambitious game?

Ahh, I’m unfamiliar with the abbreviation, just that, the only thing that was popping up my mind was “Dead or Alive”

Yeah I figured once you said something about fighting games lol. Took me a second.

Dead on arrival? Of course not, the game has a lot that can be improved upon, I don’t think I’ve seen anyone around here denying it’s potential.

My dude read the thread, people have been acting like the game was DOA even before it launched simply because it was an EA game and was going to have like Warframe or god forbid PoE levels of MTX instead of what it ended up with.

People feel the need to post every day about how the games failing.. if it was a conversation about potential the thread would look very different. These dudes jerkin' themselves at the thought of having not bought the game while still posting here don't care about its potential.

The question is, can Bioware flip this in time before EA fucks them over?

Yup, and funnily enough my biggest concern is they aren't giving us much of a reason to spend any money in the shop. Worse yet they're just giving us 100 cosmetic drops for free from stronghold boxes coming out soon™ that easily could have been monetized. At least as far as I've read nothing about that system is monetized, maybe they'll sell the keys since IIRC they're tied to leggy contracts?

Its hilarious how people non-stop kept saying to me that the game would have super scumbag MTX "because EA" and here I am worried that they aren't scumbaggy at all.

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Two questions!

1) I'm 4/10 of Cycle of Pain (Upgraded Sledgehammer), but I've never had this weapon. Does using the Sledgehammer after I get Sledgehammer III completed give me points in that?

2) I'm doing GM1 stuff now, and have mostly 38 gear, or masterworks. A lot of it is decently tuned. Do I -do- anything with rares and even epic embers/parts? Can I somehow turn them into Masterwork parts? It just seems very strange that sub-30, you never really craft anything, and the moment you hit 30, almost all that craftable stuff becomes useless in a matter of missions.

1) There's all sorts of bugs when it comes to MW blueprints, I hear all kinds of things can cause it. Like you using the purple version of the gun and someone else with a MW killing it will give credit apparently.

2) They just didn't design the system well. Once you're able to do legendary contracts and GM1 strongholds you just do those to get your full set of MW since there's guaranteed ones and then keep doing those things and freeplay if you wanna grind.

[chazus]

2) They just didn't design the system well. Once you're able to do legendary contracts and GM1 strongholds you just do those to get your full set of MW since there's guaranteed ones and then keep doing those things and freeplay if you wanna grind.

So just pretty much ignore rare and epic materials once I've outgrown them? (Though I imagine there will be an upgrade system for it..... next year?)

[Baconeggcheese]

So just pretty much ignore rare and epic materials once I've outgrown them? (Though I imagine there will be an upgrade system for it..... next year?)

Yeah, you can use them for consumables or crafting masterwork items once you've unlocked them but otherwise eh.

[irnchriz]

Im 100 hours in now, playing on Xbox One X, mostly co-op with friends. For a game that has had so much grief its pretty fun.

I have had more fun on this in the 100 hours played than the last 100 hours I played on WoW. I have played maybe 12 hours on Division 2, a much higher rated game, and it is already just as boring as Division 1 after I played that for 6 months.

I still go on Anthem to help out friends as they level, which is fun, but I play other games as well, since hanging up my WoW boots. I currently have Div 2, God of War, Spider-man, Crackdown 3, Sea of Thieves on the go. I also dip in and out of Diablo 3 for each season. Going to pick up Days Gone in April.

I have to thank Blizzard for getting me back to other games after BfA being such a washout and killing WoW for me after paling for 14 years +.

[quras]

I guess the weird thing is, at least from the time I started paying attention to the game... they released exactly what they said they would + a myriad of bugs which are rapidly being fixed.

That's not a glowing review, but its not a scam either. A lot of people seemed to project what they wanted out of the game on it, and then got upset when it was what the devs said it was going to be in the time running up to launch.

When you have something like this sold to gamers and never redacted by bioware, I think there are a number of people that feel scammed.

https://www.reddit.com/r/AnthemTheGa...gs_just_a_few/

Now, bioware can hide behind the BS statement of "oh well, things change" but that doesn't change the fact that they could have at least told gamers what they showed is no longer the case. They had time to set things right.

I don't this is the case of bioware releasing "exactly what they said". I don't think this is a projection of what gamers wanted either. bioware hyped their own game here and got the gamers hyped and then released a substandard game not up to per with what they showed but also filled with that myriad of bugs and game issues after a very long development time.

I think scammed is the right word here.

Customers are free to be critical. The game is absolutely flat out awful. Easily one the worst of 2019 so far imo. It's a poor mans Destiny/Warframe hybrid that offers a story that has no depth, barely any customisation options except maybe a few loadouts and nothing innovative to the already existing looter shooter genre on top of the issues of the game being a complete bugged mess and the devs lying to players. Hence why I gave the game a 4/10.

Nothing but truth there and I can only agree with you.

However death threats are not criticism. You can argue it all you want. It's a fact they aren't.

and if you read my posts I once again agree with you. I have always had that stance. I'm not talking the over the top BS drama and nutty things like death threats or wishing them harm. I'm saying, it's well past time to be nice and when gamers feel scammed and in their posting it comes out as some really harsh asshole'ery comments. I'm at the point where I think that does more good that what we have been told to do by those game companies. Screw that take it easy on them when they sell you such screwed up products.

Gamers are pissed. That's why they are being critical. However once you start throwing vile shit like death threats out you've lost any right to be heard or to have your opinion taken with any credibility.

Agreed but I'm no longer of the thinking you have to be nice even in the slightest either.

[Lindon]

Two questions!

1) I'm 4/10 of Cycle of Pain (Upgraded Sledgehammer), but I've never had this weapon. Does using the Sledgehammer after I get Sledgehammer III completed give me points in that?

Yes, if you kill enough legendary mobs with Sledgehammer you will eventually unlock the blueprint for Cycle of Pain. The same goes for every other MW weapon.

[Eleccybubb]

Im 100 hours in now, playing on Xbox One X, mostly co-op with friends. For a game that has had so much grief its pretty fun.

I have had more fun on this in the 100 hours played than the last 100 hours I played on WoW. I have played maybe 12 hours on Division 2, a much higher rated game, and it is already just as boring as Division 1 after I played that for 6 months.

I still go on Anthem to help out friends as they level, which is fun, but I play other games as well, since hanging up my WoW boots. I currently have Div 2, God of War, Spider-man, Crackdown 3, Sea of Thieves on the go. I also dip in and out of Diablo 3 for each season. Going to pick up Days Gone in April.

I have to thank Blizzard for getting me back to other games after BfA being such a washout and killing WoW for me after paling for 14 years +.

I don't think anyone is saying you can't enjoy the game though.

It's just a usual forum thread mate. Discussion, criticism and the other stuff.

If you enjoy the game then great. Sadly there are those that threw £60 on it and are not too happy with the game. Just the way it is.

[Dhrizzle]

When you have something like this sold to gamers and never redacted by bioware, I think there are a number of people that feel scammed.

https://www.reddit.com/r/AnthemTheGa...gs_just_a_few/

Now, bioware can hide behind the BS statement of "oh well, things change" but that doesn't change the fact that they could have at least told gamers what they showed is no longer the case. They had time to set things right.

I don't this is the case of bioware releasing "exactly what they said". I don't think this is a projection of what gamers wanted either. bioware hyped their own game here and got the gamers hyped and then released a substandard game not up to per with what they showed but also filled with that myriad of bugs and game issues after a very long development time.

I think scammed is the right word here.

"Scammed" is bullshit, a few minor things from a promotional video didn't make it into the game, it doesn't change the core gaming experience or make it so you're not getting what you paid for.

If you say the bugs ruin the experience for you, or you find the endgame unsatisfying that is perfectly valid criticisms. Once you start whining about being scammed you just sound clueless.

[quras]

"Scammed" is bullshit, a few minor things from a promotional video didn't make it into the game, it doesn't change the core gaming experience or make it so you're not getting what you paid for.

Sorry but I no longer see it that way. Scammed is a solid fit. It was presented at one of their biggest showings and then they chose to never say otherwise. I can understand where people get the scammed idea from. Plus, this probably isn't the first time it's happened to them either.

If you say the bugs ruin the experience for you, or you find the endgame unsatisfying that is perfectly valid criticisms. Once you start whining about being scammed you just sound clueless.

I also throw this into the scammed area as well. There are certain expectations in a AAA game that costs $60. Buying it to then find out it's filled with bugs and a shit ton of load screens constantly interrupting game play and bugs crashing consoles and screwed up loot and the list goes on and on. Combined with the new bugs or issues (aka level 1 loot being the best, taking gear off to have more DPS) we still get hit with every few days it seems.

I can get where gamers feel a good bit scammed for the $60 cost on a game sold as AAA. It's not a crazy over the top expectation to think it should have worked and been a better polished and put together game.

After all that, scammed is not so far off the mark, so no. We wont be agreeing here.

[stellvia]

"Scammed" is bullshit, a few minor things from a promotional video didn't make it into the game, it doesn't change the core gaming experience or make it so you're not getting what you paid for.

I think those things have more than just a "minor" affect on the atmosphere and experience of playing Anthem. The difference is like saying playing baseball in an MLB stadium is the same as playing yardball with a stick and a ball of yarn with spraypaint marked on pavement for bases. Both have the same "core gameplay" but the experience is dramatically different.