Anthem Twitter Thread

that's funny because i remember the discourse when ME1 came out that specifically said bioware is "ditching their old school RPG approach and going more action focused and expanding more into what other games do". and yet if they hadn't done that we would have never gotten the ME trilogy. the OT is successful BECAUSE they ditched the old-school RPG approach to appeal to a larger group of fans. bioware has always managed to stay relevant by ditching niche aspects from their games and going mainstream. anthem is just the current evolution of that strategy. i mean, you complain about open world, but DAI was also open world and yet it was critically and financially successful so that's clearly not the problem here

people are acting like them releasing a poorly received and tepidly sold game like MEA is the end of times for the whole bioware brand, and yet even as BW Montreal was absorbed by another EA studio the rest of bioware is still getting money from EA and hiring and working on at least two other games. i bet lots of other studios wish they were going through hard times like that.

as for the andromeda "backlash" i guarantee that if bioware announced tomorrow they were making another mass effect game a shitton of people would preorder it the second the announcement drops. gamers are fickle like that. bioware is just waiting out this shitshow and dangling new toys in front of people until no one cares about andromeda anymore, just like almost no one cares about da2 or the me3 endings anymore

The idea does hold water cause I'm one of them. I like their newer games, but they're undeniably very different than what they used to make. DA2 going hack and slash was part of the action push with that franchise, one I have harped on even in inquisition cause it serves no point at all and then I've had issues with mass effect just getting watered down since the first, ME however has just been inflicting more to itself with ME3 and how Andromeda went. 3 was a FU to the fans as en ending and we all know how Andromeda went.

id rather see bioware even stay consistent before thinking they're doing well cause they've been on nothing but a roller coaster the last few games and I think it's caught up to them now.

I understand what change is and how developers go through it. Some experiment with new things, that's not exactly the issue at hand though. Yes change is involved in a sense, but the issue is a drastic change where identity is lost and people have said this for a while now. I personally don't mind them doing Anthem, I support it. What I don't like (and we've had this argument before as an fyi) is them watering down in the RRG elements of their current franchises. Like I said to Heimdall, to me ME1 and Andromeda are very different games only recognized by being in the same universe.

I've been playing BioWare games since KOTOR and and every game they have done since was completely different from the last one.

Anthem is nothing like Dragon Age, which is nothing like Mass Effect, which is nothing like Jade Empire, which is nothing like KOTOR, which is nothing like Neverwinter Nights, which is nothing like Baldur's Gate which is nothing like Shattered Steel.

BioWare constantly tries new things which is why they are still making AAA games while other studios have either shut down or are resorting to kick starter to make games that look like they were made in 1999.

If only it were "evolving". People have said the same for various other franchises that end up decline or just dead. Regardless the point isn't so much about evolving but more so of ditching what you had for something else entirely. There's no loyalty ditching fans. 

How is moving from a genre that literally put them on the map to one that's completely oversaturated "evolving" again?

Who says it's oversaturated? Fans are fickle and even when one has been loyal to a brand for many years (COD, TF2, Halo), that doesn't stop one from trying something new. Particularly if that new thing offers an improvement or something unexpected (like, a really good narrative) that no one else offers yet.

That said, the grind of a loot-shoot does add friction to the system. If you are a pro grinder, you have a disincentive to jump to another franchise, since time is loot, as it were. Starting over at level 1 is pretty painful if you are just a few levels short of some legendary gear you've been grinding hours and days for. But eventually, you do get all the legendary gear worth getting and you do hit the level cap, and it's at that point that grinders become free agents.

Can anyone tell me what it's called to use the word 'literal' before a saying? I'm interested in this grammatical tour-de-force.

Either that, or the gear stop being worth pursuing, because other players moved on. Grinders always have a lot of keeping up with Johnsons in them.

And would EA have bothered acquiring Bioware (and thus letting them make Mass Effect 2) without huge hits like the Baldur's Gate games and KOTOR?

And sure Anthem will look more similar to ME2.  A glass of iced tea will look more similar to an Arnold Palmer than it will a glass of lemonade 

Jay Watamaniuk‏ @jaywatamaniuk
Lots of great new #AnthemGame art up on the walls at work. I'm humbled by the talent I get to work alongside.

InfiniteStateMachine‏ @tremblinglight
Every time I see that game in action I'm blown away and completely humbled. Amazing art. Holy shoot.


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