Everything we know about Anthem

I kind of agree, hate Skyrim's/Fallout's silly day/night cycles that can go three cycles when I'm just walking from point A to B.

But the problem with near real time cycles is that since I only ever get to play after work on weekdays, I'd always only play night cycle, which would suck. Or always the same phase anyway, since 6 hours per phase would align with the real 24 hour day.

But make a full cycle longer than a day, like 72 hours or 96 hours, that would be cool. 1.5 to 2 consecutive real days of day phase, followed by 1.5 to 2 of night phase, would make it fair for everyone.

For me, I think it mostly depends on how much of an impact it has on gameplay.

Skyrim's 24 hour cycle takes 1 hour & 12 min. (x20 speed). I find that it's usually more jarring in the early going than later in the game, because there's nothing that can't get done in a day or night if it requires it. Vampirism I think might be the only hiccup. So then it becomes something I get used to. I just try to take a moment to enjoy those ridiculously modded sunrises/sunsets...   

But in Assassin's Creed Origins (which I think is the same speed as Skyrim), there I feel that time passes too fast. And that's because as I was leveling up, trying to clear the larger strongholds could easily take all night and into the next morning. It just feels off that it would take 12+ hours to kill... 20 or so people in a relatively confined space.

So with the under-one-hour day/night cycles in Anthem, I wonder if missions are generally fairly quick.

I've updated the Anthem playlist



Did anyone notice any interviews with Casey, Mark, Mike or Jon, not featured in this list?

I'm only including official trailers and interviews with BioWare folk, not 'opinion pieces'

Summary of the recent AMA: anthemuniverse.com/articles/mark-darrahs-amaaaa-twitch-summary/

Interesting bits:

Strongholds will run a typical 35-40mins.

Game is best balanced to 4 players

Game makes subtle adjustments for all player mixes, and allows for single player of course, but ideal is 4.

You can harvest plants. Cannot hunt animals

There are no domesticated animals in the world. Its a far too dangeours world for that. And. You are not a hunter.

In the game-demo trailer we have crossed over maybe 1 subregion. Of which there are 10 in-game.

Referenced Star Wars and Marvel Universe as similar types of Fantasy Fiction

No wall running, though all sorts except the colossus can do: barrel rolls, manoeuvres, and of course the Teleport for Storm

You will not get Storm till approx Level 5.

Can't say I'm jumping for joy either...

I haven't seen this posted yet, clips of the AMA I guess?




1. Damage number size

Can be changed.

2. Damage reduction

Toned down boss damage in demo. Ultimate bar visible and filled.
Should have been able to charge and use ultimate 2 or 3 times during this raid boss fight.

3. Swords?

Not talking about Intercepter and Storm

4. Gear have random rolls for stats?

Yes

5. Cloaking?

Not talking about Intercepter and Storm

6. Romances?

No

7. Emotes?

Yes. See waves in demo.

8. Stronghold Details

Inside and outside adventuring, not just dungeons. Big spaces.

9. Stronghold Length

30-45 minutes.

10. Is the Strider Drivable?

Cannot drive it as a player.

11. What do map icons mean?

Stronghold, missions, free play, fast travel, landmarks.

12. Map scale

Cross 1 subregion, 10 in game. The game is comfortably large.

13. How does Strider work vs. Fort Tarsis

Fort Tarsis is higher, so your flight can go further. Merchants in the fort.

14. Strider customization

Story might change it. Not at launch.

15. Crafting.

Stuff, including plants. But not animals for crafting, but might have hunting missions. Ambient creatures can be attacked, but herds might fight back.

16. Can materials be bought from merchants?

Small amount, only with earned currency.

17. Death penalties

No. But still tuning, might change at release. TBD.

18. How will grinding stay fun?

World is dynamic, not same mobs in same ambush all the time.

Gear is fun to chase.

"Sentinels"? What are Sentinels?

19. Cross-play?

Not currently in the plan. Looking into it. (Mentions Sony)

20. Titanfall crossover

Not in lore. Cosmetic possible. (I want the Darth Vader javelin.)

21. Dead space skins?

Maybe.

22. Grabbits?

Little monsters.

23. Solo combo

Yes. Freeze + shock mace. Lightning + rail gun.

24. Saved loadouts

Yes. Number isn't decided.

25. Rarity tiers

Common. Uncommon. Rare. Epic. Legendary. Masterwork (name TBD).

26. Where does missed loot go?

Get posted to you at the Fort.

27. Can you get out of Javelin outside of Fort

For story reasons only.

Was this posted? I've found full recorded livestream on youtube.

So based on this, and my past experiences with developers saying "we expect activities to take around x minutes to complete", a good team should be able to complete them in 20-25min. Can't wait to see if I'm right or wrong.

Well, we do know that there's more than one mode of difficulty. Plus, a question remains whether all strongholds or other activities would all require similar time to complete. Perhaps there are shorter and easier strongholds and longer and harder... then longer and easier and shorter but more intense too? Hard to say.

Also - no idea how much we could just skip there. But considering that we can just fly over enemies...

I think I would be surprised if there weren't any achievements for speed runs. Like 'yeah, you're proud that you can complete this place in 20 mins? Ok, here's an achievement for figuring out how to complete it in 10 mins!"