Bioware's Anthem

[Dr Fear 1268]

Yikes.

[bernorange 8359]

Boring?  I keep seeing that criticism mentioned here and there and I wonder if the peeps saying it have even played the game.  I've put almost 30 hours into it and I'm still enjoying it.  Different strokes I guess.

[Texas_Rocks 346]

Haven’t purchased Anthem and can’t say shit about it as a result, but I’d bet that some of the players calling it “boring” put in 30 hours in less than two days. Some cats are straight up crack addicts on this shit. Always chasing that first high, but the dealers are cutting their products with DLC these days.

 

Bungie went as far as selling a half bag of weed at full bag price to their loyal customers with D2. When you scraped the seeds it was more like 1/4. Having watched that play out first hand it’s a bit comical now. So many of us left standing there with our dicks in our hands. lol

 

 

 

[bernorange 8359]

I've played a bit while grouped up with a friend and it's fun.  I imagine that the final endgame (farming GM3 for legendaries) will almost require coordinated groups to succeed, but right now it's striking the right balance between challenge and fun at GM1 (for me).

[smokebomb 357]

Fairly in-depth article on the history of Anthem & why it turned out like it did:

https://kotaku.com/how-biowares-anthem-went-wrong-1833731964

 

[Storm the Field 5291]

Man, this game seems to have died off pretty quick. They just knocked $20 off the price and I just saw on Reddit that EA has several job postings looking for people to come in and overhaul the game systems 

https://ea.gr8people.com/index.gp?method=cappportal.showJob&layoutid=2092&inp1541=&opportunityid=155359&sid=https://www.ea.com/careers/careers-overview/worldwide-studios

I'll probably wait until the Holidays and scoop it up when it's $19.99. Hopefully they'll have fixed some of the major complaints by then.

[bernorange 8359]

I put Anthem on the shelf many months ago.  I've reinstalled it recently though to check out the latest update.  They released the Cataclysm event (finally - was supposed to drop back in May lol).  It's a pretty good update.

The Cataclysm event is very well done. Cool map and environmental visuals. Good mechanics and mysteries to solve (at least for folks who don't run to the internet for spoilers). Event specific loot (grabbit helmet) that doesn't suck. Event specific currency that can actually buy (a chance for better) gear and cosmetics.

But the 1.3 update had other really important changes that are taking Anthem in the right direction too. Better HP balancing for enemies on GM2/3. Better loot drops on GM2/3.

If BW keeps delivering more updates like this one, Anthem might just come back from the dead..

[Storm the Field 5291]

Sounds like Bioware is gonna take a crack at completely overhauling Anthem, and may already be well underway.

https://kotaku.com/sources-bioware-plans-a-complete-overhaul-for-anthem-1839892415

Details on Anthem Next are hazy, but among other things, the game’s developers plan to overhaul the loot, the quests, the social aspects of the game, the difficulty, the progression system, and the world map. One person on the project said they’re planning to change the game’s entire structure. Right now, the entire world of Anthem is set on a single contiguous map; separating the map into segments would allow developers to tweak and play around with those segments without worrying that they might create bugs and glitches all across the world. “We’re also looking at breaking up the need to go back to [Fort Tarsis] after every mission,” said the person, “and what a mission technically is. That was always a weird disconnect. [We’re] trying to integrate the disparate parts of the game together.”

With so much in the air, it’s impossible to know what will and won’t change, but it’s safe to say that Anthem won’t suddenly transform into a brand new franchise—we still expect to see Freelancer mercenaries, Shaper artifacts, Javelin exosuits, and all of the other core ideas that the game has established. BioWare’s plan is to zoom out and overhaul the gameplay systems that most players have agreed don’t work.

Edited November 20, 2019 by Storm the Field

[Storm the Field 5291]

Anthem was such a good idea for a game but just felt so hollow. I played for a few weeks but haven't touched it in months and have no desire to get back in.. There's this big giant "open" world but all you can really do is fly around in it doing on-rails quests, and then you have to wait until your mission ends and you head back to the fort to tally up your experience gains. The Fort itself was basically worthless besides a place to be given quests and tweak your loadout. Crafting was boring and you end up with very little variety as far as gear is concerned.

"You have now reached level 12,  you may now craft the exact same rifle you've been using since Level 11, but now it's Level 12 and does a little more damage!"

[Sam Lin 3550]

There are also rumors that the reworked Anthem will not be free to current Anthem purchasers, so Bioware can make you pay twice for 2 cups of steaming shit.

[bernorange 8359]

9 hours ago, Sam Lin said:

There are also rumors that the reworked Anthem will not be free to current Anthem purchasers, so Bioware can make you pay twice for 2 cups of steaming shit.

That would be exceedingly dumb (on Bioware's/EA's part). 

[Sam Lin 3550]

Which is what makes it so plausible, since every decision they've made on this game has been exceedingly dumb.

[Storm the Field 5291]

If anyone still cares, Bioware did a lengthy blog post about 2 weeks ago regarding ongoing progress on the Anthem do-over. This update focuses on what sounds like a full redesign of the level progression and equipment loadout systems.

https://blog.bioware.com/2020/10/28/anthem-update-javelin-gameplay-builds/

[bernorange 8359]

Sounds like they are exploring new ideas.  I'll be interested to see the final product whenever they release it.  I hope they get it right this time.

[Storm the Field 5291]

Saw some articles that a final decision on Anthem will be forthcoming from EA very soon. After having a small team of 30 or so looking into overhauling it the past year, sounds like the options have basically narrowed down to (i) fully commit to the re-launch and triple the size of the working group, or (ii) pull the plug and move on.

I'd wager on option 2.

[Continental Op 3934]

They announced they're pulling the plug today.  RIP, Anthem!  

[atomheartbevo 89618]

2 hours ago, Continental Op said:

They announced they're pulling the plug today.  RIP, Anthem!  

Yeah, have a friend that was working on it, and while he never spilled the beans on any insider stuff or anything, his enthusiasm for it resembled the aggy roller coaster gif.  I'll have to ask him sometime, but I got the impression from FB that he was pulled off of it earlier this year or late last year, based on t-shirts and vague comments.

[bernorange 8359]

Well, that's a shame.  

[MillerEP 30446]

Had such potential, but fell flat. I was so excited for this game when it first came out.

 

On the bright side, they said more ME and Dragons Age!

Edited February 25, 2021 by MillerEP

[rage-a-holic 4370]

On 2/24/2021 at 10:12 PM, atomheartbevo said:

Yeah, have a friend that was working on it, and while he never spilled the beans on any insider stuff or anything, his enthusiasm for it resembled the aggy roller coaster gif.  I'll have to ask him sometime, but I got the impression from FB that he was pulled off of it earlier this year or late last year, based on t-shirts and vague comments.

Yep. My buddy just got pulled off of it and he hasn't been happier in years.

[atomheartbevo 89618]

16 hours ago, rage-a-holic said:

Yep. My buddy just got pulled off of it and he hasn't been happier in years.

I think my friend will be a lot happier when he's not dealing with EA as a whole anymore, but it's currently the best gig for him right now.