The Anthem Skepticism Thread

Until you see the products I wouldn't worry. They had one major misstep with Andromeda and that was pretty much an outside developer working under the name BioWare. I don't buy games on Day 1 regardless of who makes it and BioWare is still a developer I will generally buy in the launch window, but I want to be informed before purchasing. The only reason why I even bought Andromeda as early as I did was because of a friend showing me the game during the Origin Access early release.

The reports that I have read in the past with Dragon Age 4 is that they were always going to move on from the areas they have done in the past. Unlike Andromeda in Mass Effect it still will have elements of the lore since they aren't leaving the planet they are just moving to a new continent so they can tell new stories or showing something like the Tevinter view on the mage/templar conflict.

I am looking at Anthem as BioWare looking for something different to do with their old team of developers, for I am pretty sure there were plenty of the Mass Effect developers that wanted to do something different after being chained to Mass Effect for a decade. Especially with the "norms" that if they weren't included people would go apeshit over. Things like Romances, I am pretty sure it was David Gaider that said he doesn't like putting romances in the games, but at this point its expected.

Or you could just wait and see the product. Crazy idea, I know.

My expectations are the same as they were this morning.

Nowhere from the discussions we've been having do we know if some of the ideas will be implemented well or badly.
The Edmonton team remains highly experienced with veterans of up to 20 years service on the project.

We've had one 7-minute trailer and some scuttlebutt, that's all.

There's no need to panic...

Not supporting Mass Effect Andromeda further with extra content was pretty much the death of Bioware to me.

OP, pretty much yep. Bioware we once loved is long dead. I don't even see DA4 makes the light of day as a SP RPG.

I think DA4 will be released as a SP game and that will be it. The fate of Visceral awaits.

DA universe is not as popular as Star Wars so I doubt that it will be turned into a MP game

Oh don't mistake me, I will happily buy DLC if I think I'll enjoy what it offers.

I'm merely remarking on how the discourse around DLC has changed so dramatically.

Not so long ago, the dominant narrative was that if a game had DLC, the devs should be skewered for making you pay extra in order to get 'the full game'. By that logic, the fact that there is not and will not be any DLC for ME:A means consumers got the 'full game' at launch, and therefore ought to be happy, yes?

Now, DLC is referred to as 'further support', and is expected or even demanded. A practice that was previously largely viewed as being 'anti-consumer' is now apparently pro-consumer, and that's just fascinating to me. I have to wonder how and when this cultural shift took place.

Why does it have to be a brick?

Use a feather - it much more useful. You can e.g. tickle the girlfriend`s back with it.

My expectations are actually rising, between BioWare taking its time to obviously rework things after BF2 critique and Casey talking about DA4 as something that will have additional content planned after release (which he said what the “scary” life-service means for them). We might actually get a decent MP module with DA4, that would be very cool. And Anthem is unlikely to have blatant money press barring progression built-in.

And, judging by Andromeda, they finally beat Frostbite into submission too, so with that version ironed out, they can do super-pretty games and focus more on content/more variable assets now.

So, yeah.. as usual, BioWare is jumping out of its skin to listen and please. What more do you want?

And, I am happy to pay for decent extras, though yup, I still refuse to pay for ME DLC packs because each costs more than the full trilogy.

Well, whatever. I am just saying, I am pretty happy about the news, because they are really good, particularly with what Hudson chimed in. It’s actually giving me hype for DA4, while before I was very meh about it after DAI fiasco. And I am way less worried about progression roadblocks in Anthem now. Thanks, BF2, you took one for the team.