Anthem: Bioware's next Mass Effect-like IP

[SirCowdog]

I am trying to figure out the Colsuss and its Shields/Armor

Does it have Regen shields like the other Javs or a Shield/Armor(combined) setup? I dont see a Shield bar so not sure if I should equip Shield slots or go with straight Armor ones.

Colossus is different than the other 3 javelins in that it doesn't have Energy Shields. It's just a big fat health bar. Health in Anthem is referred to as "Armor" btw. This means that while you can take more hits in a general sense, there are some caveats you need to be aware of:

Because of the fatter healthbar, Colossus tends to get more value out of health pickups. However, health doesn't naturally regenerate in-combat like energy shields. Because there's no energy shield, Colossus is more susceptible to elemental effects, such as burning or frozen(this sux donkey ballz btw)

Instead of an energy shield, the Colossus has an actual, physical shield like an old-timey knight. The shield is awesome. It's got its own health pool and regenerates after not taking a hit for a short while. While holding the shield up, it blocks attacks and elemental effects, but only from the front of the Colossus(180 degree arc, AFAIK). While holding the shield up, you can sprint through most non-large enemies, knocking them down and doing damage. You can melee with the shield too! There's even mods to increase melee damage with the shield.

The main drawback of the shield is that it only covers the front arc, and you can't use most weapons while it's up. If you fire your gun or activate one of your ordinance launchers, the shield comes down. There are a few exceptions. Both the lightning weapons on the back of the Colossus can be activated while the shield is up. You can revive other players while the shield is up, as well as carry most objective items.

What I've learned about playing Colossus is that you need to be super aware of your position. Alternate between getting to cover, picking up health boosts, and using your shield to get around dangerous situations. A good tactic is to light up enemies from range, killing enough to drop some health and ammo pickups, raise your shield, then sprint through to gather all the power-ups. Turn around, rinse and repeat. This isn't always a great idea, since if you run into a big enemy you'll stop and be staggered. Also, charging turrets backed up by elites isn't generally a good idea.

Managing your health and shield is going to be key to being a good colossus player.

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Fair enough, I've seen that trope filled with a male character before too, but it's usually females in the shows I watch or games I play. Log Horizon, Ninja Scroll, Soul Eater, Full Metal Alchemist, The Avengers, Final Fantasy 7, Rise of the Kasai, even ninja games like Tenchu wrath of heaven had a male ninja and a female ninja and the female was the quicker one of the two.

Hold up. FMA has Greed/Ling, who's entire fighting style is agility when he's not blocking with his diamond skin. Edward is all about agility too, since he can't really afford to take hits. He's constantly leaping around and dodging bigger opponents. Hell, even King Bradley is depicted as using speed and timing over strength. And the actual Ninjas(Lanfan and Fu) are both pretty damn similar in terms of fighting styles.

God dammit...now we're talking about anime. >_<

[Baconeggcheese]

It's probably a lot like walking in drywall stilts.

The issue isn't the stilt so much as there's literally no room for a persons leg. You could reasonably fit your leg up until the ankle at which point the housing wouldn't fit your ankle down. The interceptors the most form fitting suit, from the looks of it your leg would fit pretty much perfectly in the first two sections, but that 3rd section has that bolt / joint which is where the ankle should line up but simply can't.

[SirCowdog]

The issue isn't the stilt so much as there's literally no room for a persons leg. You could reasonably fit your leg up until the ankle at which point the housing wouldn't fit your ankle down. The interceptors the most form fitting suit, from the looks of it your leg would fit pretty much perfectly in the first two sections, but that 3rd section has that bolt / joint which is where the ankle should line up but simply can't.

That's why I figured it would be like the spring-loaded version I linked earlier, although with your toes pointed more downward. As someone else mentioned earlier, the weight would primarily be distributed on the knees and crotch, leaving the foot more free to control the fine control of the shins and feet of the javelin. The actual feet would probably be somewhat automated like conventional prosthetic feet. Although the game makes mention a few times of "syncing" with the suit, so I guess there's some fantasy tech where fine control is subconscious or something.

[Dhrizzle]

That's why I figured it would be like the spring-loaded version I linked earlier, although with your toes pointed more downward. As someone else mentioned earlier, the weight would primarily be distributed on the knees and crotch, leaving the foot more free to control the fine control of the shins and feet of the javelin. The actual feet would probably be somewhat automated like conventional prosthetic feet. Although the game makes mention a few times of "syncing" with the suit, so I guess there's some fantasy tech where fine control is subconscious or something.

Pilots link to Javelins using a very limited connection similar to how Cypher's work, that's why Cyphers seldom make good Javelin pilots because they struggle maintaing both the narrow connection to the Javelin and the broader connection to the Anthem.

[Baconeggcheese]

That's why I figured it would be like the spring-loaded version I linked earlier, although with your toes pointed more downward. As someone else mentioned earlier, the weight would primarily be distributed on the knees and crotch, leaving the foot more free to control the fine control of the shins and feet of the javelin. The actual feet would probably be somewhat automated like conventional prosthetic feet. Although the game makes mention a few times of "syncing" with the suit, so I guess there's some fantasy tech where fine control is subconscious or something.

Still have the issue of there being nowhere for your foot to be.

[SirCowdog]

Still have the issue of there being nowhere for your foot to be.

The Anthem of creation makes your feet disappear when inside a javelin. ;D

[WoWGoneBad]

does anyone else get the dropped audio bug or is that just my machine?

One second explosions and then SILENCE....

[Edge-]

does anyone else get the dropped audio bug or is that just my machine?

One second explosions and then SILENCE....

I believe it's still an issue, but not sure if it's widespread or not. I had similar issues with either some/all audio cutting out during the demo and I've seen folks mention it a handful of times since launch.

[EyelessCrow]

Wow this game is just not fun. The only thing "fun" about it is the hope for something good. Nothing up to the point seems particularly fun to me and I rather enjoy these kinds of games. I never gave destiny a try because...well...I don't know why.

The loading screens aren't particularly long but there are a lot of them. The one for the inventory is weird because the edges of my 4k TV are perfectly visible. From the start of the load screen I can see things moving around as I move my controller. I have had many nights of more loading screen than gameplay I feel like because of CONSTANT crashes either in game or my PS4 just flashing an error and turning off. This usually happens when I join a stronghold and one time when I closed the game, not heat related.

Since the patch today I don't know what happened but my storm just drops from some kind of 1 shot, he's almost masterwork level geared and still drops. The thing is I'm not being targeted, there is nothing around me. I can be in combat and go behind a rock and hover...it usually happens during a hover. Then I just fall to the ground with a crack as my shield is broken and I'm down. Usually followed up by being revived and my elemental attacks don't do damage. It's not that they do 0 damage, they don't even register as hitting an enemy. I have to shoot a round from my gun and then I can do damage again.

The loot is not fun, I can't tell what I want because there is no stat screen to help me see what I need to shore up or focus on. I am not going to keep a notebook besides me and track my % stats. The update today does seem to help with not making some inscriptions completely dumb by not having anything to do with the item. Also legendaries seem to suck, maybe it's just me but I don't think I've equipped a single legendary on any of my characters.

I want to like this game but I'm starting to feel like Division 2 might be a more likable experience.

[SirCowdog]

I believe it's still an issue, but not sure if it's widespread or not. I had similar issues with either some/all audio cutting out during the demo and I've seen folks mention it a handful of times since launch.

I actually had it happen for the first time ever today in a tyrant mine run.

The devs are aware of it, but haven't been able to track down and eliminate the bug yet.

[kaelleria]

does anyone else get the dropped audio bug or is that just my machine?

One second explosions and then SILENCE....

They fixed some of the causes, but it's still a thing. The audio director said they found and fixed 3 more and narrowed down the code for a 4th, so we should get a fix sooner rather than later.

They seem to be on a 2 patch per week schedule so far - Thursday and Saturday.

[Edge-]

I actually had it happen for the first time ever today in a tyrant mine run.

The devs are aware of it, but haven't been able to track down and eliminate the bug yet.

Man, that's weird as shit. Never experienced it before in another Frostbite game. I'm just going to my usual fallback of, "BioWare needs to hire some better god-damn engineers."

[Sixnalia]

Man, that's weird as shit. Never experienced it before in another Frostbite game. I'm just going to my usual fallback of, "BioWare needs to hire some better god-damn engineers."

The more common ones are related to the Audio quality settings.

You can avoid almost all the audio issues by changing that on your PC-side.

Frostbite be duuuuuuuuumb.

[Baconeggcheese]

Man, that's weird as shit. Never experienced it before in another Frostbite game. I'm just going to my usual fallback of, "BioWare needs to hire some better god-damn engineers."

From my understanding the audio issues are almost entirely because of frostbite specifically.

It only supports 24b / 44100hz and like 1 other thingamajig which is what screws everything up. I changed to that early on after reading it and haven't had audio issues since.

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Wow this game is just not fun. The only thing "fun" about it is the hope for something good. Nothing up to the point seems particularly fun to me and I rather enjoy these kinds of games. I never gave destiny a try because...well...I don't know why.

Well if you can't find anything fun about the game besides hoping for items then yeah, might not be for you. Sounds like you're experiencing a lot of technical issues though, I don't use a PS4 and am not experiencing any of the issues you mention so I can't really help.

I really didn't enjoy the first division so I just don't see me playing the second unless something hefty changes.

[javierdsv]

does anyone else get the dropped audio bug or is that just my machine?

One second explosions and then SILENCE....

I do, but only once, it happened to me yesterday after playing for like 4 straight hours. All game audio went off but the rest of the PC sound was fine.

[EyelessCrow]

From my understanding the audio issues are almost entirely because of frostbite specifically.

It only supports 24b / 44100hz and like 1 other thingamajig which is what screws everything up. I changed to that early on after reading it and haven't had audio issues since.

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Well if you can't find anything fun about the game besides hoping for items then yeah, might not be for you. Sounds like you're experiencing a lot of technical issues though, I don't use a PS4 and am not experiencing any of the issues you mention so I can't really help.

I really didn't enjoy the first division so I just don't see me playing the second unless something hefty changes.

Yeah I guess I wasn't so clear about my initial statement, I like that in my games. I've played Diablo for forever...however the slog to get to that gear is what is completely not fun. The story was not fun nor very interesting. Didn't touch on really much at all about this world we are fighting for I felt like, not the people. The town seems dead, nothing happening in the story changed the town. It's the same from the start to the end as far as I can tell...aside from "thanks for doing all this stuff, we got a child to clean the koi pond, just want you to know we appreciate you fighting titans for us!". Setting up enemies for combos only to have them taken by someone else is not very fun. Granted I'm sure I get as much as I give in this regard.

And finally, yes the technical issues is what is making this all worse.

The only thing I disliked about division (aside from lack of content at the start) is bullet spongy enemies. However it's very hard to make games like these without that aspect. The thing about it is it's coded into my to collect all these attachments for a firearm realistic(ish) shooter and 1 shot headshot my enemies. Not applying 5 magazines directly to the forehead and STILL not killing an enemy. Which last I played the division was still there sorta just...felt better. In games like this it doesn't bother me as much, but in the tom clancy world bullet sponginess feels offputting.

[Hooktender]

Maybe but he is 100% right in this review.

[SirCowdog]

Setting up enemies for combos only to have them taken by someone else is not very fun.

Wait...what? Combos are SUPPOSED to be done with your teammates. I don't understand this point.

bullet spongy

I don't know how to tell you this without being blunt, but: It sounds like you just don't like this genre. LOL! I mean, you've basically complained about every aspect of these types of games, technical issues notwithstanding. There has to be SOMETHING you like about them if you keep playing them.

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OMEGALOL!!!!!

So....I know I've been trying to be pretty objective and fair to Anthem, but this just happened in the Forge. I think Warhammer 40k had a crossover, and I got a chaos/orc mechanic on my Colossus or something. Or maybe my colossus forgot to put on his pants or something. XD



Completely harmless graphical bug, but funny as hell.

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I was also playing around with some interceptor paints. Holy crap does it feel like I'm making a Power Ranger, or a Kamen Rider or something.

[RobertoCarlos]

Game looks really good.

Nice to hear they are reacting to feedback quickly.

They have the tools, so theres no need to wait 4 months for Anthem to be a playable game

[Charge me Doctor]

I don't know how to tell you this without being blunt, but: It sounds like you just don't like this genre. LOL! I mean, you've basically complained about every aspect of these types of games, technical issues notwithstanding. There has to be SOMETHING you like about them if you keep playing them.

I too think that anthem is too bullet spongy. You obliterate your opponents with couple of abilities, then unsheathe your pea shooter and think "oh god i wish my abilites had shorter cooldown". I am told that it's vice-versa with best weaponry, which doesn't help the case.

I really like warframe tho, in most cases you end up killing stuff quickly enough for game to not feel too bullet spongy, some frames abilities have really good synergy and change gameplay in a significant way. But sometimes you get that heavily armoured asshole that slowly walks towards you and exists only to eat 600 of automatic rifle bullets while eating away precious time for a time-limited mission. And after you unload 8th clip into someone who poses no threat unless you fall asleep you start questioning your choices.

Anthem is bullet spongy, just in a different way. In non-satisfactory way it seems to me.