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Post by PapaCharlie9 on Feb 26, 2019 2:41:53 GMT
Maybe I’ll never get what I want again. (Assuming you're being serious now.) The sooner you accept that, the happier you'll be. This is how I felt after Fallout 4 and now FO76. I'll never have that Fallout 3 feeling again, Bethesda just isn't the same. I have pretty low expectations for TES6.
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Post by Andrew Lucas on Feb 26, 2019 3:21:38 GMT
it is not... for how I'm replaying andromeda, and compared to anthem it's a masterpiece Also, I finally got my ryder's looks just right (and I somehow ran out of save space and had to delete a whole profile o.o ) Agreed, Andromeda is actually damn good now.
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Post by Andrew Lucas on Feb 26, 2019 3:29:17 GMT
Let's take out the "bad" then. I would say the game is just below average, it's nice to look at, some good animations here and there, but the systems it tries to implement are a complete total failure. The repetitive quests (by the second mission you have seen it all), the terrible AI, the matchmaking, the end game, the boring loot for a looter shooter, recycled content, the weak writing and story, I could go on forever, it can barely do a thing well. Andromeda at least keep me engaged and things somewhat worked, even if they were uninspiring, an average game at best. Both fail to meet BioWare's reputation, one got a studio closed and the other is getting an even worse reception. I want this game to actually sell for their sake, but it doesn't deserve to. Well, here's for DA4. And we all can enjoy these failures of games, just don't pretend they're a misunderstood game. Heck, I enjoyed my time with Ark despite it being a turd. The bolded is perhaps the key part here, but also sort of the ironic thing about BioWare. Perhaps putting them on a pedestal was a bad move. Like the plot of Anthem, it is mostly predictable, by the numbers "save the world" kinda stock stuff, but BioWare always does that stock "save the world" fantasy styled game. They were never known for pure nuance, save for maybe Dragon Age 2 where it was clunky, and thats being generous to the Mage/Templar plot. It was their character writing that always was the saving grace to push them through. And the character writing is very Joss Whedon-style where its natural banter and bits of sarcasm. I can stomach some of that, but for others it's grating for sure. That does wear down in the game though, and may cause problems for people and how they view game's overall writing and tone. That is the kind of irony there though. Their plots were never their strong suit, but we always praised them for "story", even in the press, when we should of recognized that their stories were never beyond the pale of standard tropes. Or at the very least, acknowledge those tropes more, even when they are well done and subvert or play with cliches instead of playing them straight. Their narrative direction, while still cinematic, is also underwhelming and "safe" by BioWare standards from the past (sticking to cliches vs playing with them). Nowhere near as safe as Andromeda id say so far, but definitly a very noticable change in their character direction. They have gotten gunshy if that makes any sense. I meant that BioWare is know to be releasing damn good games since the dawn of the time, the last one being Inquisition which still was a solid entry in their history. Anthem and Andromeda weren't. Story wise, BioWare was also know to be the one place you should go to if you wanted to get invested in a videogame tale, which is why they were my favorite developers for many years, and the writing comes in play here even if some don't think it's any good and etc, they were effective with their pen. The difference between story/writing from past titles to the current ones are night and day, it's as if they aren't giving jobs to people who can actually make these things happen, which makes sense considering how many key people left the studio at this point. Shit hurts.
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Post by river82 on Feb 26, 2019 7:43:05 GMT
So ... on a scale of 1-10, how brutal is the Kotaku review? As much as Anthem can be fun to play at times, there comes a point in every game like it where some snag leads you to look at the clock and, for an instant, see your whole future with the game flash before your eyes.
The weight of the hours you’ve already spent playing it get projected out into the coming weeks and months, and the fatigue of a futile climb up the ladder from rare loot to rarer loot begins to set in.
In Anthem, it doesn’t take long for that exhaustion to turn into dread, as you stare into the soul of the game and all that stares back is the ghost of someone continually rolling the dice in the hopes of getting a better gun.www.kotaku.com.au/2019/02/anthem-the-kotaku-review/
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Post by alanc9 on Feb 26, 2019 8:28:36 GMT
Ow. But that bit almost sounds like it's directed at the genre itself.
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tjmitchem
N2
To the Archon! Face down, ass up.
Games: Mass Effect Trilogy, Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda, Anthem
Origin: tjmitchem
Posts: 179 Likes: 283
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Post by tjmitchem on Feb 26, 2019 10:56:08 GMT
Ow. But that bit almost sounds like it's directed at the genre itself. It's nothing that hasn't been said about Destiny and The Division, that's for sure.
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Post by lennybusker on Feb 26, 2019 11:23:22 GMT
So ... on a scale of 1-10, how brutal is the Kotaku review? As much as Anthem can be fun to play at times, there comes a point in every game like it where some snag leads you to look at the clock and, for an instant, see your whole future with the game flash before your eyes.
The weight of the hours you’ve already spent playing it get projected out into the coming weeks and months, and the fatigue of a futile climb up the ladder from rare loot to rarer loot begins to set in.
In Anthem, it doesn’t take long for that exhaustion to turn into dread, as you stare into the soul of the game and all that stares back is the ghost of someone continually rolling the dice in the hopes of getting a better gun.www.kotaku.com.au/2019/02/anthem-the-kotaku-review/Wowsers. Bioware is lucky that there are so many unscored reviews. Pieces like this, the Ars Technica one, and others sound like 5/10 or more 4/10s. I mean fucking hell this game could have launched with a red metacritic score, how fucking insane is that.
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saandrig
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Games: Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, KOTOR, Baldur's Gate, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda, SWTOR, Anthem, Mass Effect Legendary Edition
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Post by saandrig on Feb 26, 2019 11:33:02 GMT
So ... on a scale of 1-10, how brutal is the Kotaku review? As much as Anthem can be fun to play at times, there comes a point in every game like it where some snag leads you to look at the clock and, for an instant, see your whole future with the game flash before your eyes.
The weight of the hours you’ve already spent playing it get projected out into the coming weeks and months, and the fatigue of a futile climb up the ladder from rare loot to rarer loot begins to set in.
In Anthem, it doesn’t take long for that exhaustion to turn into dread, as you stare into the soul of the game and all that stares back is the ghost of someone continually rolling the dice in the hopes of getting a better gun.www.kotaku.com.au/2019/02/anthem-the-kotaku-review/Wowsers. Bioware is lucky that there are so many unscored reviews. Pieces like this, the Ars Technica one, and others sound like 5/10 or more 4/10s. I mean fucking hell this game could have launched with a red metacritic score, how fucking insane is that. Nobody believed me when I said MEA will one day also be said to be the last good/true Bioware game (like just about any BW game in the past 10 years). It's a pattern. And it usually takes just the next BW game for the trend to continue 😂 Now imagine if we ever have to say that Anthem was the last good Bioware game...
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Post by Ieldra on Feb 26, 2019 11:36:46 GMT
Ow. But that bit almost sounds like it's directed at the genre itself. That would be well-deserved from my POV. These games do nothing but feed an addiction. And I could be even less generous and say they create one.
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Twitter Guru
gateway beverage
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Post by midnight tea on Feb 26, 2019 11:47:53 GMT
Let's take out the "bad" then. I would say the game is just below average, it's nice to look at, some good animations here and there, but the systems it tries to implement are a complete total failure. The repetitive quests (by the second mission you have seen it all), the terrible AI, the matchmaking, the end game, the boring loot for a looter shooter, recycled content, the weak writing and story, I could go on forever, it can barely do a thing well. Andromeda at least keep me engaged and things somewhat worked, even if they were uninspiring, an average game at best. Both fail to meet BioWare's reputation, one got a studio closed and the other is getting an even worse reception. I want this game to actually sell for their sake, but it doesn't deserve to. Well, here's for DA4. And we all can enjoy these failures of games, just don't pretend they're a misunderstood game. Heck, I enjoyed my time with Ark despite it being a turd. The bolded is perhaps the key part here, but also sort of the ironic thing about BioWare. Perhaps putting them on a pedestal was a bad move. Like the plot of Anthem, it is mostly predictable, by the numbers "save the world" kinda stock stuff, but BioWare always does that stock "save the world" fantasy styled game. They were never known for pure nuance, save for maybe Dragon Age 2 where it was clunky, and thats being generous to the Mage/Templar plot. It was their character writing that always was the saving grace to push them through. And the character writing is very Joss Whedon-style where its natural banter and bits of sarcasm. I can stomach some of that, but for others it's grating for sure. That does wear down in the game though, and may cause problems for people and how they view game's overall writing and tone. That is the kind of irony there though. Their plots were never their strong suit, but we always praised them for "story", even in the press, when we should of recognized that their stories were never beyond the pale of standard tropes. Or at the very least, acknowledge those tropes more, even when they are well done and subvert or play with cliches instead of playing them straight. Their narrative direction, while still cinematic, is also underwhelming and "safe" by BioWare standards from the past (sticking to cliches vs playing with them). Nowhere near as safe as Andromeda id say so far, but definitly a very noticable change in their character direction. They have gotten gunshy if that makes any sense. One can have a simple plot direction yet still be a good story. What I personally like about Bioware stories is that in them the devil lies in detail. I'm not going to argue that they're the best storytellers across all mediums, but they are skilled in fleshing out or recontextualizing events as story chugs along... But that usually comes past the first beat of the story. So why should they throw a punchy plot in what is effectively a prologue? Its role is to introduce us to the world and get Frelancers/our NPC/Tarsis in the position of a fresh start towards... well, something bigger than it is now and likely something more complex. There have been quite a few things set up there (if one knows something about storytelling and knows where to look) that will likely only become apparent if they manage to keep the story going. I think the problem with Bioware is that people have gone impatient, or forgetting that they're looking at Andromeda or Anthem - both fresh stories still encumbered with a task of setting the stage almost a decade after Bioware has last done this - through a lens of stories that Bioware had much more time to tell. One would probably argue that first chapters to ME or DA were better than this, but I have to say that as somebody who stumbled at BW games fairly recently and played earlier games after being told how much better they are than their successors... I just don't see it. I think rose-tinted-glasseitism may be involved. Bioware characters aside, my personal appreciation for the story usually kicks in when I see how it unveils or melds into a bigger whole. Will it with Anthem? Well, that remains to be seen - for me the story only makes sense if it's going to continue. The set-up and potential are there - the rest depends on what is going to happen next.
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Post by Sartoz on Feb 26, 2019 11:56:20 GMT
Metacritic User score of more than 2200 people rate this game under 5. Scoring an 8 is delusional. Putting the game on sale (Germany and Australia) a few days after launch confirms my viewpoint.
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Post by Sartoz on Feb 26, 2019 12:01:27 GMT
One can have a simple plot direction yet still be a good story. What I personally like about Bioware stories is that in them the devil lies in detail. I'm not going to argue that they're the best storytellers across all mediums, but they are skilled in fleshing out or recontextualizing events as story chugs along... But that usually comes past the first beat of the story. Big Snip
I agree with you.
BUT
What we have in Anthem is mostly encyclopedia entries to be truthful. Bio calls it Lore. What chugs along will be more entries in this vast encyclopedia.
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Post by river82 on Feb 26, 2019 12:36:52 GMT
The bolded is perhaps the key part here, but also sort of the ironic thing about BioWare. Perhaps putting them on a pedestal was a bad move. Like the plot of Anthem, it is mostly predictable, by the numbers "save the world" kinda stock stuff, but BioWare always does that stock "save the world" fantasy styled game. They were never known for pure nuance, save for maybe Dragon Age 2 where it was clunky, and thats being generous to the Mage/Templar plot. It was their character writing that always was the saving grace to push them through. And the character writing is very Joss Whedon-style where its natural banter and bits of sarcasm. I can stomach some of that, but for others it's grating for sure. That does wear down in the game though, and may cause problems for people and how they view game's overall writing and tone. That is the kind of irony there though. Their plots were never their strong suit, but we always praised them for "story", even in the press, when we should of recognized that their stories were never beyond the pale of standard tropes. Or at the very least, acknowledge those tropes more, even when they are well done and subvert or play with cliches instead of playing them straight. Their narrative direction, while still cinematic, is also underwhelming and "safe" by BioWare standards from the past (sticking to cliches vs playing with them). Nowhere near as safe as Andromeda id say so far, but definitly a very noticable change in their character direction. They have gotten gunshy if that makes any sense. One can have a simple plot direction yet still be a good story. What I personally like about Bioware stories is that in them the devil lies in detail. I'm not going to argue that they're the best storytellers across all mediums, but they are skilled in fleshing out or recontextualizing events as story chugs along... But that usually comes past the first beat of the story. So why should they throw a punchy plot in what is effectively a prologue? Its role is to introduce us to the world and get Freelancers/our hero and get Frelancers/our NPC/Tarsis in the position of a fresh start towards... well, something bigger than it is now and likely something more complex. There have been quite a bit of things set up there (if one knows something about storytelling and knows where to look) that will likely only become apparent if they manage to keep the story going. I think the problem with Bioware is that people have gone impatient, or forgetting that they're looking at Andromeda or Anthem - both fresh stories still encumbered with a task of setting the stage almost a decade after Bioware has last done this - through a lens of stories that Bioware had much more time to tell. One would probably argue that first chapters to ME or DA were better than this, but I have to say that as somebody who stumbled at BW games fairly recently and played earlier games after being told how much better they are than their successors... I just don't see it. I think rose-tinted-glasseitism may be involved. Bioware characters aside, my personal appreciation for the story usually kicks in when I see how it unveils or melds into a bigger whole. Will it with Anthem? Well, that remains to be seen - for me the story only makes sense if it's going to continue. The set-up and potential are there - the rest depends on what is going to happen next. When you look at Bioware's earliest games for PC, they were a different beast. To me, while Baldur's Gate 1 and 2 had enjoyable stories for games at the time, what made me play the game repeatedly was the in depth strategic RPG gameplay. The combat system, the characters you could painstakingly roll (30 minutes plugging away to get a great dice roll) the exploration was decent in those days finding pretty decent rings in impossible to see tree trunks. When Bioware moved from PC to console they started to simplify their gameplay systems. KOTOR was still semi complicated, with still a heavy emphasis on how you build your character, but we'd eventually get to ME2 and DA2 which are practically action games with smatterings of RPGness. To make up for this, in my opinion, story and romance started to fill that void that no longer could be filled with detailed gameplay, and suddenly Bioware was known as a story and romance studio. For newer Bioware fans it's important to remember when playing their older games that their priorities were different. "Bioware is no longer the same company" as Knowles said, and for some Anthem really drives that point home.
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N3
USN-Retired
Games: Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, KOTOR, Mass Effect Andromeda
Origin: mmoblitz
PSN: NotPC
Posts: 515 Likes: 590
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Post by mmoblitz on Feb 26, 2019 13:04:07 GMT
They certainly are a different Bioware that I grew to love. The magic that captured me in the ME Trilogy and the first couple DA games is gone. DAI failed to capture that and Andromeda, well I don't want to get started on that. I never had an interest in Anthem, but from what I have seen and read, that same magic is still missing and I doubt it's ever coming back.
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midnight tea
Twitter Guru
gateway beverage
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Post by midnight tea on Feb 26, 2019 13:12:40 GMT
One can have a simple plot direction yet still be a good story. What I personally like about Bioware stories is that in them the devil lies in detail. I'm not going to argue that they're the best storytellers across all mediums, but they are skilled in fleshing out or recontextualizing events as story chugs along... But that usually comes past the first beat of the story. So why should they throw a punchy plot in what is effectively a prologue? Its role is to introduce us to the world and get Freelancers/our hero and get Frelancers/our NPC/Tarsis in the position of a fresh start towards... well, something bigger than it is now and likely something more complex. There have been quite a bit of things set up there (if one knows something about storytelling and knows where to look) that will likely only become apparent if they manage to keep the story going. I think the problem with Bioware is that people have gone impatient, or forgetting that they're looking at Andromeda or Anthem - both fresh stories still encumbered with a task of setting the stage almost a decade after Bioware has last done this - through a lens of stories that Bioware had much more time to tell. One would probably argue that first chapters to ME or DA were better than this, but I have to say that as somebody who stumbled at BW games fairly recently and played earlier games after being told how much better they are than their successors... I just don't see it. I think rose-tinted-glasseitism may be involved. Bioware characters aside, my personal appreciation for the story usually kicks in when I see how it unveils or melds into a bigger whole. Will it with Anthem? Well, that remains to be seen - for me the story only makes sense if it's going to continue. The set-up and potential are there - the rest depends on what is going to happen next. When you look at Bioware's earliest games for PC, they were a different beast. To me, while Baldur's Gate 1 and 2 had enjoyable stories for games at the time, what made me play the game repeatedly was the in depth strategic RPG gameplay. The combat system, the characters you could painstakingly roll (30 minutes plugging away to get a great dice roll) the exploration was decent in those days finding pretty decent rings in impossible to see tree trunks. At the time. Key word here. It's not '98 anymore. I am also not the same person I was two decades back, so I don't expect Bioware and people there to be. Plus, their priorities may have been different because games were also different. Times were different. Gaming market as a whole was different. Perhaps they've always had ambitions as they do now, just didn't have tools for it. I remember speculating on the forum about Obsidian, after they were bought by Miscrosoft following POE2 flopping pretty badly and what could that mean for them. Will they just stick to doing what they know - or is Microsoft's backing will let them compete with the likes of CDPR, Bioware or Bethesda?
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midnight tea
Twitter Guru
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Post by midnight tea on Feb 26, 2019 13:17:43 GMT
One can have a simple plot direction yet still be a good story. What I personally like about Bioware stories is that in them the devil lies in detail. I'm not going to argue that they're the best storytellers across all mediums, but they are skilled in fleshing out or recontextualizing events as story chugs along... But that usually comes past the first beat of the story. Big Snip
I agree with you.
BUT
What we have in Anthem is mostly encyclopedia entries to be truthful. Bio calls it Lore. What chugs along will be more entries in this vast encyclopedia.
A lot of details and story is actually told through characters. There are a few of those who are there for a flavor or joke or just to be quirky, but a good amount of even short exchanges is there to build up the world. This is hardly just 'encyclopedia entries' (though codex/cortex/whatevs entries have always been a staple of BW people interested with story and world-building have eagerly read, so I don't see why they should be maligned).
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Post by river82 on Feb 26, 2019 13:28:27 GMT
Perhaps they've always had ambitions as they do now, just didn't have tools for it. Nah, it's much more likely the reverse. Back then with all their original founders and as a small company which they didn't treat as corporately, they did whatever their passion was. They built Shattered Steel because they loved big robots. They wanted to do top down games, loved D&D, and loved Forgotten Realms, and hey presto we have Baldur's Gate. Yip said they were such geeks back then. At some point the Doctors got burnt out and lost their passion. So somewhere between their very passionate early days with BG2, and their latter days of Dragon Age and Mass Effect they just didn't love what they did anymore. So I would say their earlier games likely capture their ambition much better.
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Post by Sartoz on Feb 26, 2019 13:38:19 GMT
I agree with you.
BUT
What we have in Anthem is mostly encyclopedia entries to be truthful. Bio calls it Lore. What chugs along will be more entries in this vast encyclopedia.
A lot of details and story is actually told through characters. Snip.
Yes. However, I rather prefer getting the story organically rather than through "fire side story telling".
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midnight tea
Twitter Guru
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Post by midnight tea on Feb 26, 2019 15:23:15 GMT
Perhaps they've always had ambitions as they do now, just didn't have tools for it. Nah, it's much more likely the reverse. Back then with all their original founders and as a small company which they didn't treat as corporately, they did whatever their passion was. They built Shattered Steel because they loved big robots. They wanted to do top down games, loved D&D, and loved Forgotten Realms, and hey presto we have Baldur's Gate. Yip said they were such geeks back then. At some point the Doctors got burnt out and lost their passion. So somewhere between their very passionate early days with BG2, and their latter days of Dragon Age and Mass Effect they just didn't love what they did anymore. So I would say their earlier games likely capture their ambition much better. So they couldn't have built Anthem because those who stayed still love the idea of mecha and co-op? Shattered Steel had a multiplayer after all and they crammed multiplayer or co-op modes wherever they could. Seeing their history for me Anthem is a pretty natural extension of that old passion, regardless of whatever has changed around or how they changed themselves. Bioware had its founders, however, I think it's a mistake to think of BW as an auteur studio. The fact that the Doctors got burned out and lost their passion doesn't mean that the rest did too. It's been years already how older devs have found it amazing that there are people working in their studio that has grown up playing their games and bring with them new kinds of passion. So, as I said - I have changed, so I don't expect for Bioware and people within to not change too and use whatever is available to them to tell stories in their own way. DA and ME after all started as higher-ups directive, namely: "we want a fantasy and a sci/fi franchise - go!" with not really much in terms of underlying vision. And they've largely pulled that off. No reason to think they can't pull Anthem off, so long as they're given enough room or support. Which hey - is true of any project, indie or corporate.
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Post by midnight tea on Feb 26, 2019 15:25:22 GMT
A lot of details and story is actually told through characters. Snip.
Yes. However, I rather prefer getting the story organically rather than through "fire side story telling".
I don't really see how more 'organically' the story could be told then through its characters, world, visuals, and texts and notes that we can find. Which is what happened in past games and happens in Anthem too.
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Post by lennybusker on Feb 26, 2019 16:38:19 GMT
Perhaps they've always had ambitions as they do now, just didn't have tools for it. Nah, it's much more likely the reverse. Back then with all their original founders and as a small company which they didn't treat as corporately, they did whatever their passion was. They built Shattered Steel because they loved big robots. They wanted to do top down games, loved D&D, and loved Forgotten Realms, and hey presto we have Baldur's Gate. Yip said they were such geeks back then. At some point the Doctors got burnt out and lost their passion. So somewhere between their very passionate early days with BG2, and their latter days of Dragon Age and Mass Effect they just didn't love what they did anymore. So I would say their earlier games likely capture their ambition much better. That's what is so disheartening about Anthem. The world looks beautiful - the art design team clearly brought the thunder. The traversal and bare bones combat is really great, so whatever design team headed that up was clearly in love. But then: The story The dialogue The loot system The mission design The live service gameplan The engine and technical aspects All of these feel like there's absolutely no love in them, like they were done by people just doing whatever their boss's boss's boss told them to do. It feels like they just... gave up and said fuck it, release.
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Post by dropzofcrimzon on Feb 26, 2019 16:48:37 GMT
Nah, it's much more likely the reverse. Back then with all their original founders and as a small company which they didn't treat as corporately, they did whatever their passion was. They built Shattered Steel because they loved big robots. They wanted to do top down games, loved D&D, and loved Forgotten Realms, and hey presto we have Baldur's Gate. Yip said they were such geeks back then. At some point the Doctors got burnt out and lost their passion. So somewhere between their very passionate early days with BG2, and their latter days of Dragon Age and Mass Effect they just didn't love what they did anymore. So I would say their earlier games likely capture their ambition much better. That's what is so disheartening about Anthem. The world looks beautiful - the art design team clearly brought the thunder. The traversal and bare bones combat is really great, so whatever design team headed that up was clearly in love. But then: The story The dialogue The loot system The mission design The live service gameplan The engine and technical aspects All of these feel like there's absolutely no love in them, like they were done by people just doing whatever their boss's boss's boss told them to do. It feels like they just... gave up and said fuck it, release. Notice how ALL you listed could likely stem from the hypothesized change in direction caused by EA demanding a looter shooter live service game when Bioware was doing something else?
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Post by lennybusker on Feb 26, 2019 16:57:33 GMT
That's what is so disheartening about Anthem. The world looks beautiful - the art design team clearly brought the thunder. The traversal and bare bones combat is really great, so whatever design team headed that up was clearly in love. But then: The story The dialogue The loot system The mission design The live service gameplan The engine and technical aspects All of these feel like there's absolutely no love in them, like they were done by people just doing whatever their boss's boss's boss told them to do. It feels like they just... gave up and said fuck it, release. Notice how ALL you listed could likely stem from the hypothesized change in direction caused by EA demanding a looter shooter live service game when Bioware was doing something else? At this point it's basically a countdown until Jason Schreier posts his behind the scenes article revealing that Anthem had a drastic reboot 18 months ago.
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Post by dropzofcrimzon on Feb 26, 2019 17:07:09 GMT
Notice how ALL you listed could likely stem from the hypothesized change in direction caused by EA demanding a looter shooter live service game when Bioware was doing something else? At this point it's basically a countdown until Jason Schreier posts his behind the scenes article revealing that Anthem had a drastic reboot 18 months ago. if that happens, considering I called this over a year ago I wonder if , again, I will be called a paranoid fearmongering idiot or if finally some of the pollyannas will concede that I was right
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Post by Doc on Feb 26, 2019 18:45:37 GMT
Notice how ALL you listed could likely stem from the hypothesized change in direction caused by EA demanding a looter shooter live service game when Bioware was doing something else? At this point it's basically a countdown until Jason Schreier posts his behind the scenes article revealing that Anthem had a drastic reboot 18 months ago. I think that's genuinely the most likely scenario; recent, massive direction shift turning a nearly finished game into a disjointed mess. Reworks don't work. Please stop, devs
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