Think about Anthem, think about Destiny, then think about how FUCKING cool it would've been if the i

Its probably not the narrative a lot of people use, its just how I see the game and the easiest way I can describe the problems I have with it.

The first things I remember from BioWare was comments like "open world from Mass Effect 1", "characters like Mass Effect 2", and "gameplay like Mass Effect 3" combined with doing things like a classless skill system or crafting it becomes how I view fanfiction by taking things people want/like and then write a story around that.

Then your complaint of "ME:A's main problem was a lack of coherent vision beyond "let's make another sequel for the franchise"" in theory could work as well if there was "enough vision and talent behind them".  I am not exactly sure why you are wanting to pick apart how I felt about the game, I am not claiming to be speaking for anyone aside from myself and the final product felt like fan-fiction to me.  If all the problems don't matter or how people think about the game doesn't matter either if the right people are involved all the whining people have been doing all along doesn't matter for the same reason you are dismissing how I felt.

---

Hm...

Haven't played D1. But, as a wish fantasy, if Anthem was a close Destineesh clone with "upgrades", I suppose it would be cool. Though, personally, D1 has no attraction for me.

My understanding is that Anthem is a 4 man co-op game with P2P networking. This, per se, imposes limitations on group size. Also, Bio has solid experience with this design (ie: ME3MP, MEAMP) and a 4 man unit appears to be the optimum number in terms of response time / min lag time. Of course, EA may have a limited number of central servers for Raid Events that increases the unit size but this goes against the min cost mantra.

Unit size aside, I can't see any story development for a co-op group, (think MEAMP / ME3MP). Now, if there is a meaty SP component, that is where the focus of story telling ought to be made. Nevertheless, I suppose there could be stories around saving exploration groups, aiding other Forts,  taking out nasty fauna, harrassing enemy convoys, searching for alien tech... etc.

But, like D1, the gaming community will run through the initial Anthem story contents in no time. After that?... well think MEAMP. Or, in the case of Anthem being a "live service", we wait for the opportunity to spend $$$ for a DLC. Perhaps these Shaper Storms may be the "plug-in" that allows Bio to engage us with new content. 

For the sake of Bio, let's hope initial sales meet expectations.

ME has too much baggage at this point, just like Star Wars.

I kind of agree that what we've been shown to date doesn't step very far away from Destiny, or ME for that matter. It's pretty generic SF alien planet/post-invasion earth where humans aren't the apex species trope. But that is entirely a business driven decision -- you don't take a risk with a big new expensive AAA IP by attaching it to a franchise with baggage, or conversely, to something that's too novel and unfamiliar. That drives the setting to something safe and mediocre.

I would have preferred cyperpunk, but CDPR has that locked up, or olde-timey pirates, but Microsoft has that locked up now. That leaves steampunk. That genre is wide open. It's possible The Order:1886 might have ruined steampunk for a while, but I hope not.

Watching SW BattleFront:2 struggle and head towards the junk pile demonstrates that the open world MMO with famous characters just doesn't seem to be what the fans want. Of course, the loot crate monetization scheme might have helped push people away.

Anthem will have to stand on it's own as a unique game that people enjoy playing. A success will be due to the developer's vision of the new game, not fan fantasy based on games that have already been made...

I agree that they wasted 2 opportunities to get a Mass Effect MMO right and build on it (ME:3 and ME:A).

A Mass Effect story-driven co-op game modelled on Borderlands (more-so than Destiny) set in Andromeda could have been amazing... If they'd only combined the budget and resources of MEA and Anthem together into a single cohesive project in the years since DAI - it could have had some of the trappings of old-school role-playing but with a heavy focus on a co-op shared experience I can't help but think that sounds like a much more logical business proposition. Mass Effect and BioWare had earned some goodwill and credibility prior to MEA, and it would have been closer to the fresh take the series needed rather than the insipid re-tread of ME1 we got on the back-burner that has effectively ruined the series.

We're less than a year out and Anthem has practically zero identity or name recognition at this point and is going to need a fortune spending on it in marketing alone to penetrate an established market with very well funded competitors which will make break-even sales requirements and investor expectations even more outrageous than usual on the back of a controversial flop warranting series cancellation and public backlash against their publisher's predatory practices just in time for the pre-release marketing blitz.

The reason Destiny appealed to me is because I think it has a lot of the same pull that Mass Effect as an IP did. It's this unknown, mysterious universe, the music invites you into this ethereal sense of space and the center of the game is this mystical social space dubbed "The Tower" which has the real centerpiece of the setting on the horizon, this spherical entity called "The Traveler" which has a strange power that has prevented this city and last place on earth from dying out.



In that sense even Anthem is a little similar to Destiny but even Andromeda could've used The Nexus as that social space where you gathered with players, checked out loot and resources and took side-quests (which is how Destiny does it) and where live-events happen from time to time. Even compared to games like WoW this space is such a perfect blend of being immersed in the game world and also feeling like a part of a piece of fiction IMO.

Then you go to your ship and select a mission while this plays over a beautiful space backdrop with your customizable ship hovering kinda like the Tempest



Then once you hit a mission you're either soloing, exploring these nicely scoped places sprawled with enemies, recurring objectives and main missions that take you through a piece of the larger narrative, and you'll often see 2 or 3 players who you can either ignore or join along the way and the entire story as well as the PvP and the strikes can be played with up to 3+ players. By all means this formula is great in that it's all-encompassing. It's definitely a formula for Anthem's success too if they can capitalize on there being solid amounts of content and a good netcode for online which I'm very worried about given how much rubber banding I experience in Andromeda or even ME3MP whereas Destiny's online experience is absolutely slick.

I'm definitely excited for Anthem's universe too especially because I think their exo-suit is a great unified way of letting players express themselves with loot, fashion and abilities and then for traversal it's great because it can fly instead of having to spawn a mount or a vehicle like in other MMO-type games including Destiny. That said, the driving of your Sparrow in Destiny is so fucking good in terms of mechanics I find it hard to picture anything better, but hopefully BioWare lets us fly high.

That said, I worry maybe the exosuit concept is a little TOO unified. I mean, for one we'll hardly get a look at our custom made human characters, let alone in cinematics, and meanwhile in Destiny both 1 and 2 you get 3 races, male or female, 7 different faces and facepaint, makeup etc. (not much but it matters)

As would I.  Add in real char gen for your borderlands esq character and I'd probably lose my job when I forgot to go to work repeatedly. 

This sort of game would not fit Mass Effect setting.

It would be fucking cool. Play Destiny and realize the potential. You have story missions and exploration. You have a custom made player character who speaks in cutscenes and then you feel the other players being part of the same journey you're on. Fucking fuck, this is great, tjendjbrbrjskejerb

I love Destiny. I played it contnuously since the very first beta and went through every expansion, and put in so many hours grinding or hitting PvP, and then taking it to private matches for some good old fashioned shit-talk between friends.

But, I don’t want Mass Effect to be like this, and to add to that, being the miserable sadist that I am, would have nuked multiplayer entirely if I had my way.

As for Anthem, I hope it can replace Destiny entirely, as I’m finding myself burned out on Destiny 2 a lot sooner than I thought I’d be. The campaign itself is better than D1’s, yet somehow, just about everything else is worse.