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Bioware's Anthem

MillerEP

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MillerEP

MillerEP 30455

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17 minutes ago, bernorange said:

Looking forward to this one.  Looks like some good coop fun. Wonder how it will compare to Destiny.

I'll see if I can find the video, but ign asked the Director how different it was from Destiny and he indicated it's pretty similar. It varies in that your class is based off the Javelin (suit) you're wearing, so you can swap classes out on one character whereas in Destiny you're stuck with 1 class.

Not the video previously mentioned but this explains the class systems more:

 

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MillerEP

MillerEP 30455

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Some more info:

The maps are MASSIVE, and there is no limit to how long you can fly, so there is a lot of "verticality" to levels.

There is no PvP, only PvE.

Events will run as "seasons" like a TV show, so as events are announced, everybody will experience the events at the same time.

To switch out your Javelin (Suit) you have to go back to your base. Your base is that giant mobile walker shows in the videos.

There is a HUUUGE focus on RPG elements, which hasn't been shown. 

Comes out Feb 22, 2019 for PC, XBox, and PS4.

Also, they re-iterated that BioWare's has been making this game way before they even knew Destiny was a thing, so it will have some marked differences in that (mostly in story as previously mentioned). 

The game requires always online access.

There won't be romances.

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Suckapuncha

Suckapuncha 3

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I played the closed alpha for this. It is similar to Destiny, but the gun play and exploration feel more like The Division. I am not a Destiny fan, and I really enjoyed the Anthem alpha. There are missions you can run solo or co-op, and then you can just free explore areas for loot etc. They didn't have all the areas open during the alpha but the ones they did have were nicely done and fun to play. The areas are pretty huge so you have plenty of room to fly and explore, but the missions are within a defined area. I did see where someone posted there is no limit to flying, but that isn't accurate. Your javelin will overheat if you fly too long. You can cool it off with water to fly longer, but it is not unlimited. You can also select different difficulties before entering an area, which increases or decreases your chances of getting rare loot drops.

For an alpha, the game looked great and played really well. The areas and functions that were available were cool and I didn't have any major glitches while playing. Except the hands on your character were a little warped when getting into your javelin. From the short time I had with it, I will pick it up when it drops.

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Suckapuncha

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7 minutes ago, bernorange said:

As one who never played The Division and did like Destiny, could you expound on this a bit more? 

Destiny felt very slow to me, idk, like a dumbed down shooter. Also I didn't feel like the strikes were very engaging. And even though there were multiple weapons with different perks or stats, I didn't like the limited customization. And the raids just felt like rinse and repeat grinds. As mentioned above, you also have set classes in Destiny. In Anthem, the missions are similar to strikes, except they move much faster and the AI is way better imo. So they are more challenging and engaging. Your weapons are part of your javelin, so you can mix and match a lot of different options to really customize your character. But you also have character skill trees to build specialization. There were no raids when I played, so I can't compare that, could be the same. 

But like The Division, the aiming and fighting mechanics in this game felt much smoother and responsive. But the addition of the javelin makes the combat even more fun and sometimes strategic. And you break down weapons you don't want into components to craft other parts for other weapons. Each weapon also had its own skill tree so you could specialize in specific aspects of that particular weapon. And when I played, there was one main base where you went to do all of this and switch javelins, Tarsis.

Also, it wasn't in the alpha, but the alpha forums had rumors of PvP areas being added later, like the Division dark zones. So it wouldn't be death match type PvP like Destiny. But more open world PvP in the designated areas. Of course, everything here is subject to change since it was only an alpha.

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ztejas

ztejas 43449

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I'll check it out since I have Origin Premier but it looks a little RPG-cheesy for my taste and not enough twitch shooter. (spend time around your base getting to know your friends! They're all quirky and not cliche! We promise! Yawn.)

Is there really NO pvp? Like you can't even deathmatch? The coop better be hella satisfying if that's the case. 

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Storm the Field

Storm the Field 5294

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Producers confirmed that there is public match-making for every activity in the game. However, you can toggle it off and play solo as much as you want, though certain activities will be basically impossible without a team. You can also still form private teams if you want. 

Right up my alley as I'm pretty far from interested in the multi-player aspects of these games. Played the shit out Destiny 1 and 2 solo and did all the strikes with publicly-matched teammates, but have never done a single raid. The chances of me forming or joining a private group and playing with a headset on are 0%. 

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bernorange

bernorange 8361

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Struggling through the Vault of Glass (first Destiny 1 raid) when it first dropped (before 18 billion youtubes walked you through it, before cheeses were public knowledge or patched, before DLCs made it obsolete) with a group of people I barely knew when we started may have been the singular most satisfying video game experience I've ever had.  It's a damn shame that so many Destiny 1 players never got to experience that.

I doubt Anthem matches that experience, but I am liking what I'm hearing so far.

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GabrielsHorn

GabrielsHorn 2183

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Played it for a bit (just enough to unlock second Javelin and then got Storm). Was pretty fun, particularly when people are synergizing. Still think I am going to just check out the first 10 hours on EA Access to figure out if I like it or not as it seems like some of the Javelins are better than others and it may have some of the issues The Division had when it launched (very beefy enemies unless you're playing with others).

Seems like it's much more competition for Warframe/The Division than Destiny though as the gunplay is just okay. The abilities are really the highlight and a ton of fun to use, though. 

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UTDD

UTDD 362

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Having tried it, I think the controls are better than Destiny and the verticality is pretty good, but overall it feels like another looter shooter and not so much a typical Bioware game, which of course they have been clear about for a while.  Either you like this kind of game or you don't, and I like this kind of game for a bit as the novelty of the world/mechanics are new, but it can't last forever as too much grinding burns me out and I usually move on to something else at some point.  If they nail a great story which makes the world more immersive, it might have more lasting power for me.  

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ztejas

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I just played like 30 minutes and so far it's a buggy fucking mess. 

The visuals are great. I mean, one of the prettiest games I've ever played. 

But... Jesus. It's giving me controller prompts for actions on PC and made me quit out to the menu then just straight up DCed after that. 

So, yeah, I guess it has potential? Not sure I'm buying this being a AAA title at launch two weeks from now. It seems like a half-assed alpha from what I played. No surprises given that it's EA, but this seems like a project that needs another 6 months of development to be playable. 

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jofus

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fwiw, BioWare has provided a summary of items that are already corrected in the launch build. The demo build is more for scale testing. 

http://blog.bioware.com/2019/01/31/hello-anthem-community/

  • Further performance Improvements
  • Additional stability fixes
  • Fixes to inscriptions showing up incorrectly
  • Fixes to inscriptions from other Javelins being chosen
  • Fixes to disappearing customization settings
  • Fixes to XP gain behavior
  • Audio improvements
  • Improvements to PC controls, including flight and aiming
  • A Social Hub: The Launch Bay
  • And a few thousand more (literally)…
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ztejas

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3 hours ago, jofus said:

fwiw, BioWare has provided a summary of items that are already corrected in the launch build. The demo build is more for scale testing. 

http://blog.bioware.com/2019/01/31/hello-anthem-community/

  • Further performance Improvements
  • Additional stability fixes
  • Fixes to inscriptions showing up incorrectly
  • Fixes to inscriptions from other Javelins being chosen
  • Fixes to disappearing customization settings
  • Fixes to XP gain behavior
  • Audio improvements
  • Improvements to PC controls, including flight and aiming
  • A Social Hub: The Launch Bay
  • And a few thousand more (literally)…

Seems like "scale testing" is something you should do in a closed alpha or a beta or early release.

Calling it a "demo" is a good laugh.

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bernorange

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The patch they issued just prior to the open "demo" this weekend seemed to fix the 95% loading screen bug.  That's good.

Unfortunately, the game has a serious issue with "the server has shutdown" bullshit.  Almost always happens during the final boss fight of the stronghold mission.  I think I went 6/6 yesterday with it.  Maddening.

The "lost" echo/fragment when a player is holding one and DQs is another big problem.  They don't respawn and the mission cannot progress.  The team has to wipe and start over.

I read that the spawning behind a closed door on the final boss fight of the stranglehold mission is being fixed.  I hope so, it's quite stupid to join a session and not be able to play unless the team wipes.

I played a good bit of freeplay and the map/world is really amazing.  Some of the events are cool too.

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Suckapuncha

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From the first demo to this last one, they definitely fixed some of the really bad stuff. This last weekend's demo was based on a 6 week old development build, so the final build will also have some corrections and differences. As jofus pointed out in that huge list.

 

This demo, I played a little over 20 hours to get a feel for any repetitive issues and to get used to the different sensitivity settings. In that time, I experienced no infinite loading screens. I also had a total of 1 game crash, 5 disconnects, and several "Connection to server has been lost" pop-ups, which just went away when I hit OK, but didn't disconnect me. I don't know what that was about. So from my experience, they made some real progress in the connection issue area.

I did experience the quest item bug where someone with a quest item would DC, and then you couldn't finish the mission. That was super annoying, but I guess I got lucky because it only happened to my group 3 or 4 times the whole weekend. And on Sunday, it happened, but the item re-appeared in its original spot so someone else picked it up and we could still finish.

I also was getting hit through cover from several of the AI. Like the game I was seeing wasn't in sync with the AI on the servers. Several times I would get targeted by a sniper, and I would cover behind a rock or wall, and I would still take the full hit. Unless the snipers of the AI can penetrate any surface completely (which the player snipers do not), then there was a sync issue between what I was seeing and what was being relayed to the server.

In a few places during open exploration, I did notice that some enemies would still disappear after you opened fire on them. It was not nearly as frequent as the first demo, but it still happened from time to time. It did not happen during any of the world events I played, nor did any of the world events just reset randomly. So that was good.

I was able to complete the campaign missions several times without any issues. They all played through normally, and I was able to complete the objective and turn them in, and move onto the next mission. I will say that the first time I tried to join a mission, it match made me to a group that had half dropped, the only person left was one guy and he was at the end boss. So my first game play was literally being dropped in on a boss fight with one other newb, and like 50 adds. I got killed immediately, and then revived and killed and revived several times until we finally killed the boss. Since I spawned in at the end of the mission, I got no loot from that one, but I did get some XP. Every other time I joined match making, I started at the beginning of the mission. Also the in game VOIP worked fine for me throughout the demo.

I also got a few of my friends online and we were able to get a private group going, despite private being disabled in the demo. We just had 4 in our group so no one else could join. The grouping worked fine, and we didn't have any issues when playing with 4 of us. However, the interface when creating a group seemed buggy and is not intuitive. You can send invites easy enough, but a couple of my friends would hit accept, and then not join our group, even though it said they were with us. So we had to take turns having each person invite the other 3 until we were all on one team. And each time someone accepts the invite, or you change any level setting (like difficulty) everyone has to go back to the Squad menu and "Ready" up again. So that was kind of lame. But once you know, it isn't really that bad, I just think they could have done a better job with that. 

The last day, I played the Stronghold over and over trying to loot as much as I could. I reached the level 15 cap pretty easily the first day, but it took running the Stronghold on "Hard" several times to get all Rare, Power 19 loot outfitted, which was the highest available in the demo. What I learned from this is that if the bosses in other strongholds are like this one, then they will be pretty tough to kill, but they all have specific weaknesses. This boss had 4 sacs, two on each side, that you could shoot at and pop after enough damage. After you popped the sacs, it left 4 open wounds on its body which would do critical damage if you shot it there. So while the bosses in the stronghold will probably take work to kill, you can identify their weak spots to make it much easier. And you get loot for completing each stage of the Stronghold, and from random drops. The loot I got for stage completion seemed to have a good mix each time of Common, Uncommon, and Rare. So if the drop rates stay the same, then you get decent loot each time you play through.

From what I saw, there was a good amount of diversity in loot drops. There were many different skills and components that would be specific to, or more fitting for each of the Javelins. I would imagine there will probably be even more in the final release, so I think you will have good customization choices for how you want to outfit your Javelin. The weapon types I collected in the demo were:

Assault Rifles

Light Machine Guns

Marksman Rifles

Sniper Rifles

Auto-cannons

Shotguns

Pistols

Each Javelin also has two skill slots, which have Javelin specific skill drops you get from playing. I can't list all the different skills I saw, but there were a lot.

Each Javelin also has component slots, up to 5 of them, so you can fit components like Shield Modifiers, Armor Modifiers, Increased Ammo Capacity, Increased Damage Output, etc. There were also several of these I got from looting.

I'm not going to go into the Javelins because I already posted a vid explaining the differences above, and I think it does a good job. My personal preference was the Storm.

 

Overall, I had a good time playing the demo. The game play was smooth, the guns felt good and were very different to use, which I like. I hate when all weapons feel the same. There was good diversity in the weapons, skills, and components. The cosmetic customization  options were pretty extensive, if that's your thing. And visually, the game is nothing less than stunning. I mean it is one of the best looking games I have played in a long time. At its heart, it is a looter shooter, and I would say it lives up to that description. So if you like flying through vast, beautiful worlds, shooting and exploding things, and then outfitting yourself to get even more awesome, then you'll probably enjoy it. My main concern is end game content. It is being continually developed, but I just fear that if you get geared out and there is no reason to try to grind any higher gear, then I'm not sure what the point would be. but I figure it will take a while to get there, so hopefully I will know by then.

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MillerEP

MillerEP 30455

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I've been playing all day on PC and loving it. They've fixed most of the issues from what I've seen so far. I have encountered a couple lag spikes when a bunch of particles and shit is going off, but I dropped my graphics settings from high all the way to low and haven't had any issues since. It probably would be better if I rebooted because there was a new nvidia driver I installed today, but that would've cut into my game time.

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bernorange

bernorange 8361

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Played a good bit this past weekend.  They have definitely fixed a lot of the bugs.  The game runs fairly stable although I did experience a couple of crashes.

Looks like there were a few tweaks to the game as well.  You can't equip duplicate components now.  Class specific components had the armor and shield stats adjusted - very noticeable on the Colossus components.  Hard mode stronghold appears to be a bit harder than it was during the demo.

The "There will be Giants" event in freeplay (killing the 4 named titans) is/was pretty awesome.  My son and I fought them all and each one took around 20 minutes to kill.  Their death sequences are crazy.

It's amazing how alive the environment feels as you roam about the world.  They did a fantastic job there.  I usually despise the "find the collectibles" grind to games that employ them, but in this one, I don't mind a bit exploring the environment.

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Storm the Field

Storm the Field 5294

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Haven't played yet, but from reading around, it sounds like the big complaint so far has been about the loot and progression systems. 

The guy that was instrumental in fixing Diablo 3 wrote a long reddit post about the issue:

https://www.reddit.com/r/AnthemTheGame/comments/ato54p/reward_structure_issues_and_ideas/

This seems like one that I'll probably wait around until later this year when hopefully there's a lot more content and there's been enough feedback and tweaking to make the game feel right.

Edited by Storm the Field
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