[Aptorian]

I'll pick it up when it shows up in the library around summer time.

[Cause]

Anthem is being beaten on! Apparently it is unworthy

[Khellendros]

SkillUp’s 45-minute (Part 1!) review is absolutely brutal, but based on my own brief experience, I can’t say I disagree. I do wonder to what extent the core baked-in issues of the game - ones which other looter-shooters have shown don’t need to be a problem, like open worlds without constant loading and teleporting, or half-competent enemy AI, are down to the Frostbite engine, which from all accounts BioWare majorly struggled with.

“Ubisoft are making really good narrative-driven games [Odyssey] and Buoware are making shitty repetitive open-world garbage.” lol.

This post has been edited by Khellendros: 21 February 2019 - 09:36 AM

[Aptorian]

Ahhh, I play everything that Ubisoft makes and nothing they've released recently strikes me as really good narrative. Fun, repetitive open world content sure but their writers are garbage.

[Serenity]

Khellendros, on 21 February 2019 - 09:35 AM, said:

SkillUp's 45-minute (Part 1!) review is absolutely brutal

I was just about to come here and post a link to that video. I only watched it out of curiosity, as the game has never interested me, but if I had been interested and then watched that I would've cancelled my pre-order immediately

[Mentalist]

Yeah, that video was pretty solid. Watched it yesterday.

Early metacritic reviews are pointing to a mixed mediocrity. Ofc, nothing is gonna be determined until the game hits consoles tomorrow.

My opinion stands: this is a 20 dollar Origin sale material at some point down the line to solo the 20 or so hours of story.

Metro and Far Cry appear to be winning the February release competition.

EDIT: PC gamer gave Anthem a (slightly) lower score than Fallout 76... comment drama ensued.

This post has been edited by Mentalist: 21 February 2019 - 10:33 PM

[Obdigore]

Been playing a ton of Anthem lately. Fun. A few bugs here and there and a few systems that need to be sorted out.

Skill-Ups review is pretty shitty, especially since he states he's mad at Bioware for not making a Dragon Age/Mass Effect game, so he's starting them at -10/10 and they have to try to work up from there.

The core gameplay is a ton of fun, much better than Destiny. If they fix the bugs/crashes, and then the loot system, and keep adding content,t his could be the 'looter shooter' game.

[Morgoth]

It seems to me that fixing the loot system in a shlooter is a pretty big deal.

[Maark Abbott]

Morgoth, on 05 March 2019 - 07:18 AM, said:

It seems to me that fixing the loot system in a shlooter is a pretty big deal.

Just make it so that Tiny Tina distributes the looty for bringing her badonks some booty.

Instant fix.

[Aptorian]

Morgoth, on 05 March 2019 - 07:18 AM, said:

It seems to me that fixing the loot system in a shlooter is a pretty big deal.

Please don't propagate the term shlooter. It's an offensively terrible name.

[Morgoth]

Alternative Goose, on 05 March 2019 - 11:11 AM, said:

Morgoth, on 05 March 2019 - 07:18 AM, said:

It seems to me that fixing the loot system in a shlooter is a pretty big deal.

Please don't propagate the term shlooter. It's an offensively terrible name.

It's disgusting and wonderful.

[Obdigore]

Morgoth, on 05 March 2019 - 07:18 AM, said:

It seems to me that fixing the loot system in a shlooter is a pretty big deal.

Not sure what shlooter is, but the loot system currently works, its just a helluva grind. And legendaries are pretty rare, and when you do get them, they can drop with really shitty rolls.

Its like Diablo 3 before loot 2.0.

You either need to swim in legendaries, with the current random-ass rolls, or they need to set it so legendaries (and to a lesser extent, masterworks) roll well when you do get them.

[Malankazooie]

Is there any chance this could pull a 'No Man's Sky' and git gud? I keep seeing headlines cross my feed that there may be efforts in the works to turn it around like No Man's Sky did.

[Maark Abbott]

Apparently it's been rebranded as 'early access'. I'm howling with laughter.

Then again, it's EA, so this is to be expected.

[Galactic Council]

Maark Abbott, on 25 April 2019 - 07:40 AM, said:

Apparently it's been rebranded as 'early access'. I'm howling with laughter.

Then again, it's EA, so this is to be expected.

Source? I doubt that’s a thing they would do at this point, sounds more like a rumour designed to beat further on a game already sprawled in the mud.

[Silencer]

https://www.google.c...tent-delay/amp/

Literally the devs during a live stream and Reddit post while justifying the massive delays to any new content and trying to explain the shambles that was the launch.

https://www.google.c...velopment_team/

They do this to themselves because people for some reason still think they aren't this bad. They're literally begging the world to hate on them at this point. Wouldn't be surprised if EA mandated this as an attempt to divert hate onto Bioware more so they can close yet another studio.

[Galactic Council]

Silencer, on 25 April 2019 - 10:53 AM, said:

https://www.google.c...tent-delay/amp/

Literally the devs during a live stream and Reddit post while justifying the massive delays to any new content and trying to explain the shambles that was the launch.

https://www.google.c...velopment_team/

They do this to themselves because people for some reason still think they aren't this bad. They're literally begging the world to hate on them at this point. Wouldn't be surprised if EA mandated this as an attempt to divert hate onto Bioware more so they can close yet another studio.

That’s a misinterpretation of what that guy meant, I believe. Anthem DID release in early access for about a week/two weeks before official release, which was what the guy was saying when he said “it’s been ten weeks since Anthem’s early access release”. Clumsily worded, maybe, but it’s not saying that they consider Anthem in early access now.

And I enjoy ragging on EA as much as the next person, but have you read Jason Schreier’s article on Anthem’s development? This one appears to be on Bioware’s management.

This post has been edited by Galactic Council: 25 April 2019 - 11:06 AM

[Silencer]

Galactic Council, on 25 April 2019 - 11:05 AM, said:

Silencer, on 25 April 2019 - 10:53 AM, said:

https://www.google.c...tent-delay/amp/

Literally the devs during a live stream and Reddit post while justifying the massive delays to any new content and trying to explain the shambles that was the launch.

https://www.google.c...velopment_team/

They do this to themselves because people for some reason still think they aren't this bad. They're literally begging the world to hate on them at this point. Wouldn't be surprised if EA mandated this as an attempt to divert hate onto Bioware more so they can close yet another studio.

That’s a misinterpretation of what that guy meant, I believe. Anthem DID release in early access for about a week/two weeks before official release, which was what the guy was saying when he said “it’s been ten weeks since Anthem’s early access release”. Clumsily worded, maybe, but it’s not saying that they consider Anthem in early access now.

And I enjoy ragging on EA as much as the next person, but have you read Jason Schreier’s article on Anthem’s development? This one appears to be on Bioware’s management.

From what I'm reading it's not a misinterpretaion. They said something similar in the live chat. Given the state of the game, it isn't exactly inaccurate, either.

ETA: Also, if it is them choosing their words poorly, that's even worse. Because it displays a further lack of thought. This was a typed, PR release and they chose that phrasing? Not "since Anthem exited early access" "since Anthem initially released" "since Anthem intitially launched in EA and 8 weeks since the full releaese"?? They are (and should be) in damage control mode, there is no excuse for cocking up a sentence that badly when they expect the internet to nitpick? That, if anything, displays more contempt for their dwindling fanbase.

As for this being Bioware's mess, yes and no. Schreier did a good job of exposing bad business practice in the developer, and typically bullshit attitudes towards staff, but I take a similar view to this as the problem with Bungie and Destiny. Bungie got noticeably worse and their actions more greedy after they became an Activision company. A lot of the old guard left.
Its similar here. As much as Bioware was at fault, it is still ultimately because of EA that they got to that point. Without the pressure from EA and the requirements to make certain types of games in certain time frames, a lot of the other rubbish that Bioware did wouldn't necessarily have happened.

I think the article is a good indictment if industry "best practice", but it's not the same as absolving EA. Given we know that EA, Activision, etc exert massive pressure on most of their studios, given we know they are exclusively about squeezing every last cent out of a game, and force microtransactions and dlc at every turn, I think it's not fair to say Bioware bears sole responsibility. Not to say it's all EA either, but it's the distinction between the street thug breaking people's legs because they haven't paid for protection this month and the thugs' boss who both instituted the racket and hired the thug and told him to break legs instead of picking pockets. Both are criminals but without one the other is much more benign.

[Galactic Council]

Silencer, on 25 April 2019 - 11:33 AM, said:

Galactic Council, on 25 April 2019 - 11:05 AM, said:

Silencer, on 25 April 2019 - 10:53 AM, said:

https://www.google.c...tent-delay/amp/

Literally the devs during a live stream and Reddit post while justifying the massive delays to any new content and trying to explain the shambles that was the launch.

https://www.google.c...velopment_team/

They do this to themselves because people for some reason still think they aren't this bad. They're literally begging the world to hate on them at this point. Wouldn't be surprised if EA mandated this as an attempt to divert hate onto Bioware more so they can close yet another studio.

That’s a misinterpretation of what that guy meant, I believe. Anthem DID release in early access for about a week/two weeks before official release, which was what the guy was saying when he said “it’s been ten weeks since Anthem’s early access release”. Clumsily worded, maybe, but it’s not saying that they consider Anthem in early access now.

And I enjoy ragging on EA as much as the next person, but have you read Jason Schreier’s article on Anthem’s development? This one appears to be on Bioware’s management.

From what I'm reading it's not a misinterpretaion. They said something similar in the live chat. Given the state of the game, it isn't exactly inaccurate, either.

ETA: Also, if it is them choosing their words poorly, that's even worse. Because it displays a further lack of thought. This was a typed, PR release and they chose that phrasing? Not "since Anthem exited early access" "since Anthem initially released" "since Anthem intitially launched in EA and 8 weeks since the full releaese"?? They are (and should be) in damage control mode, there is no excuse for cocking up a sentence that badly when they expect the internet to nitpick? That, if anything, displays more contempt for their dwindling fanbase.

As for this being Bioware's mess, yes and no. Schreier did a good job of exposing bad business practice in the developer, and typically bullshit attitudes towards staff, but I take a similar view to this as the problem with Bungie and Destiny. Bungie got noticeably worse and their actions more greedy after they became an Activision company. A lot of the old guard left.
Its similar here. As much as Bioware was at fault, it is still ultimately because of EA that they got to that point. Without the pressure from EA and the requirements to make certain types of games in certain time frames, a lot of the other rubbish that Bioware did wouldn't necessarily have happened.

I think the article is a good indictment if industry "best practice", but it's not the same as absolving EA. Given we know that EA, Activision, etc exert massive pressure on most of their studios, given we know they are exclusively about squeezing every last cent out of a game, and force microtransactions and dlc at every turn, I think it's not fair to say Bioware bears sole responsibility. Not to say it's all EA either, but it's the distinction between the street thug breaking people's legs because they haven't paid for protection this month and the thugs' boss who both instituted the racket and hired the thug and told him to break legs instead of picking pockets. Both are criminals but without one the other is much more benign.

Contempt for their player base? Seems a harsh judgement of the developers to me. Mistakes and miscommunication happen also when people are stressed and tired. Had Anthem released peachy fine no one would have batted an eye at this sentence, but now everyone’s very quick to jump on any sign of weakness. Having played it, Anthem is, for me, a bad game in a lot of trouble and in need of further development. Perhaps they should go down the NMS route of completely shutting down coms while they work on the game if every sentence they utter is going to be jumped upon.

As for the EA stuff, Schreier’s interviews seem to make it plain that BioWare was heading down a bad road for many years. The same people had little bad to say about EA (even the awesome flying mechanic, Anthem’s one big pro, is credited to Soderlund wanting them to stick with it, before which they kept changing their mind), other than them insisting that Anthem releases by the end of their financial year. Considering the game had already been delayed and was funded by EA for, what, six years, you can understand why they insisted. EA has implemented many poor practices within the industry, but they seem to have given BioWare a surprising amount of leeway. The key people who left appear to have done so due to differences with Bioware’s management, not EA’s.

[Obdigore]

Ironically,

It appears Bioware could have benefited from more interference by EA, assuming EA was like 'the gameplay here is great, but jesus you all need to get your shit together on all the supporting systems.' Or maybe to say 'you said you were releasing in 18 months and you just changed everything but the core gameplay, thats a no from us, Dawg.'

I agree with Silencer regarding the larger companies buying up and milking the smaller devs, but thats capitalism, where short term shareholder value is the only thing.

If you want to ridicule EA, ask them why they let Bioware, known for single player RPGs, make a shared online shooter, and let Respawn, some of the best shooter devs in the business, make a single player RPG.