Why I'm Excited, But Still a Bit Apprehensive About Anthem - MMORPG.com

MikeB

Why I'm Excited, But Still a Bit Apprehensive About Anthem - MMORPG.com

I’ve been interested in Anthem ever since the game’s announcement at E3 2017. But even with my excitement growing each day as we get closer to the game’s launch, I’m still left with a few questions that leave me a bit apprehensive.

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Ikeda

The more I see, the more I realize that game developers aren't doing things that I find interesting or worth my time. Maybe that's me being older. Maybe that's them and their disconnect. Of course, the Fortnite game proves that millions like trivial stuff that doesn't remotely interest me anymore.

ShadowStyleB

The loot seems to be designed more like Diablo III or how the Division is. It will be interesting to see how the drops are and how doing the content helps in getting the drops needed.

Aeander

I like what I see with Anthem. Incredible visual customization, solid but simple build diversity, third person camera, high mobility, and great graphics.

Where I'm concerned is what I am not yet seeing. While story isn't hugely important for a game like this, it needs to be sufficient enough to anchor one into a game and make them care about what they are doing. This was very much not the case with Destiny's "I don't even have time to explain why I don't have time to explain" storytelling, and I worry it could be similar here. Also, while Destiny's beta was an incredibly fun and polished experience, I would have never guessed that such a paltry sum of content would represent a considerable percentage (say 20-25%) of what the base game had to offer. I worry that Anthem could launch similarly content light, even if its beta/demo gives off an incredible first impression, as Destiny's did.

Were it not for Destiny, I would be openly excited for Anthem. Perhaps that isn't fair, to use one series by a different developer and publisher as a cautionary metric for another, but that's the way of things.

Alverant

I'm curious about Anthem. Partially because I got a new rig last month and want to play one of the new games. But given how AAA publishers have acted lately (releasing broken games, adding microtransactions after the initial reviews and the majority of sales have been made, etc) even if it's great I'm going to wait and see how it is a month or two after release. Sorry publishers, it's your own fault.

Octagon7711

I said this in another post and will repeat it here. Strange that a company known for good story telling isn't focusing on the story in these demos. All I see is flying and fighting missions. One streamer did talk a little about lore and the storyline but he wasn't excited about it.

A lot of streamers mentioned they were still working on balance issues. Someone else stated the wildlife seemed disconnected. They were there but it felt like they were just filling up space and unlike other games weren't really doing anything. Someone else noticed that at the time he played you couldn't see what your drops were until you returned to your base. So he couldn't switch to a better weapon or change his load-out at all until he returned to check his inventory.

Hopefully most of this stuff will be worked out before launch.

Ilaya

Nice Article tho!

But it says inside; "but in Anthem, you’ll have to just recraft (if possible) or keep hunting manually for the perfect version of whatever it is you’re looking for."

And tbh, isn't that the Grind we all look for? What hooks us and make us stay in the Game? As in every other Game as well? I like that, it gives me the Grind/the replayability i "need/i look for". To get that one good roll which i want/i need. If Anthem does that right, i'm good.

So....i hope that the Demo will show us what is going on in Anthem. Looking forward to it.

ShadowStyleB

Octagon7711 said:

I said this in another post and will repeat it here. Strange that a company known for good story telling isn't focusing on the story in these demos. All I see is flying and fighting missions. One streamer did talk a little about lore and the storyline but he wasn't excited about it.



A lot of streamers mentioned they were still working on balance issues. Someone else stated the wildlife seemed disconnected. They were there but it felt like they were just filling up space and unlike other games weren't really doing anything. Someone else noticed that at the time he played you couldn't see what your drops were until you returned to your base. So he couldn't switch to a better weapon or change his load-out at all until he returned to check his inventory.



Hopefully most of this stuff will be worked out before launch.

I mean if you're about the story then it makes sense that you can't change equipment till back at the fort. I mean who is going to put it on your equipment out in the field? The story mainly takes place back at the fort where the team that works with getting your equipment ready and where you get missions are at.

Octagon7711

ShadowStyleB said:

Octagon7711 said:

I said this in another post and will repeat it here. Strange that a company known for good story telling isn't focusing on the story in these demos. All I see is flying and fighting missions. One streamer did talk a little about lore and the storyline but he wasn't excited about it.



A lot of streamers mentioned they were still working on balance issues. Someone else stated the wildlife seemed disconnected. They were there but it felt like they were just filling up space and unlike other games weren't really doing anything. Someone else noticed that at the time he played you couldn't see what your drops were until you returned to your base. So he couldn't switch to a better weapon or change his load-out at all until he returned to check his inventory.



Hopefully most of this stuff will be worked out before launch.

I mean if you're about the story then it makes sense that you can't change equipment till back at the fort. I mean who is going to put it on your equipment out in the field? The story mainly takes place back at the fort where the team that works with getting your equipment ready and where you get missions are at.

I don't see how that would make sense unless they actually determine what you have when you open your inventory in town and what you pickup in the filed is just a place holder till then.  This would give them more control over your leveling speed as a lot will be determined by gear quality.  What other game does that?

AlexanderVendi

You can't burnout if you are a gamer .. because NO gamer plays only one game.

timeraider

Its EA. Its not a question if they ruin the game.. the question is when exactly they will ruin the game.

Kajidourden

I am a bit apprehensive but I am also certain I will at a minimum get my money's worth out of the game. Given their stance on things like content patches and making them free I doubt we will see a lot of content come out after the fact. If they do end up giving away little bits of content here and there for free vs going with a big DLC or Expansion model then that's fine by me, and I will get more than sufficient playtime/enjoyment out of it as I don't expect something for nothing.

BadSpock

Aeander said:

I like what I see with Anthem. Incredible visual customization, solid but simple build diversity, third person camera, high mobility, and great graphics.

Where I'm concerned is what I am not yet seeing. While story isn't hugely important for a game like this, it needs to be sufficient enough to anchor one into a game and make them care about what they are doing. This was very much not the case with Destiny's "I don't even have time to explain why I don't have time to explain" storytelling, and I worry it could be similar here. Also, while Destiny's beta was an incredibly fun and polished experience, I would have never guessed that such a paltry sum of content would represent a considerable percentage (say 20-25%) of what the base game had to offer. I worry that Anthem could launch similarly content light, even if its beta/demo gives off an incredible first impression, as Destiny's did.

Were it not for Destiny, I would be openly excited for Anthem. Perhaps that isn't fair, to use one series by a different developer and publisher as a cautionary metric for another, but that's the way of things.

If there is anyone I trust to do story telling right, it's still Bioware.

As long as the gameplay is solid, which I really hope it is, and the loot chase is engaging and not punishing and stupid like Destiny, may be a game a spend a significant # of hours in.

Looking forward to the demo at the end of the month!

Mechanism

I'm curious if EA might be hoping to regain some goodwill with this game and hold back on monetization and dev reallocation in order to release a product that people feel good about for more than a month. Or is this game just business as usual?

GeezerGamer

You know it's going to be bad if the team who gave FO76 a "7" is "apprehensive"

Xiaoki

Octagon7711 said:

I said this in another post and will repeat it here. Strange that a company known for good story telling isn't focusing on the story in these demos. All I see is flying and fighting missions. One streamer did talk a little about lore and the storyline but he wasn't excited about it.

Im only guessing here but do you think its possible that the developer known for story wants you to actually play the story and not watch Youtube clips of it a month in advance from a beta demo?

momintim

I will wait 6 months to see how EA slips in the sneaky MTX and make a decision but for the most part anything with an EA label won't be receiving my money.

boris20

Im okay with random loot tables, if bosses ect have higher unique loot drop chance. 

MadFrenchie

Octagon7711 said:

I said this in another post and will repeat it here. Strange that a company known for good story telling isn't focusing on the story in these demos. All I see is flying and fighting missions. One streamer did talk a little about lore and the storyline but he wasn't excited about it.

A lot of streamers mentioned they were still working on balance issues. Someone else stated the wildlife seemed disconnected. They were there but it felt like they were just filling up space and unlike other games weren't really doing anything. Someone else noticed that at the time he played you couldn't see what your drops were until you returned to your base. So he couldn't switch to a better weapon or change his load-out at all until he returned to check his inventory.

Hopefully most of this stuff will be worked out before launch.

Oh god.


In before it releases with frozen wildlife and no way to check your inventory on mission and we have a back and forth with folks trying to apologize for the dev studio and critique the negative fan reception.

[Deleted User]

The user and all related content has been deleted.

azarhal

Octagon7711 said:

ShadowStyleB said:

Octagon7711 said:

I said this in another post and will repeat it here. Strange that a company known for good story telling isn't focusing on the story in these demos. All I see is flying and fighting missions. One streamer did talk a little about lore and the storyline but he wasn't excited about it.



A lot of streamers mentioned they were still working on balance issues. Someone else stated the wildlife seemed disconnected. They were there but it felt like they were just filling up space and unlike other games weren't really doing anything. Someone else noticed that at the time he played you couldn't see what your drops were until you returned to your base. So he couldn't switch to a better weapon or change his load-out at all until he returned to check his inventory.



Hopefully most of this stuff will be worked out before launch.

I mean if you're about the story then it makes sense that you can't change equipment till back at the fort. I mean who is going to put it on your equipment out in the field? The story mainly takes place back at the fort where the team that works with getting your equipment ready and where you get missions are at.

I don't see how that would make sense unless they actually determine what you have when you open your inventory in town and what you pickup in the filed is just a place holder till then.  This would give them more control over your leveling speed as a lot will be determined by gear quality.  What other game does that?

It's not that different from ME2/ME3 where you can only change gear at loadout stations which are almost inexistant in mission (limited to unlocking new weapon types during missions and a few long missions). You can only change armor parts in the Normandy though.

You know the gear quality and type right away when you pick something in Anthem (there is a small popup that says "rare pistol" for example), but you have to equip everything via the Forge interface at Fort Tarsis.

Robbgobb

Loot hunt is only part I am worried about. If it is fun then I will enjoy the game. If it is a dreaded grind then I will probably stop.

MikeB

Ilaya said:

Nice Article tho!

But it says inside; "but in Anthem, you’ll have to just recraft (if possible) or keep hunting manually for the perfect version of whatever it is you’re looking for."

And tbh, isn't that the Grind we all look for? What hooks us and make us stay in the Game? As in every other Game as well? I like that, it gives me the Grind/the replayability i "need/i look for". To get that one good roll which i want/i need. If Anthem does that right, i'm good.

So....i hope that the Demo will show us what is going on in Anthem. Looking forward to it.

I want to hunt for the good rolls, too! But there are a bunch of layers of RNG here. First you need to find the item, then it needs to roll four Inscriptions you want, and then those Inscriptions need to have the values you want. And keep in mind these items can drop anywhere in the game. So you can't just go farm one boss over and over to focus on finding that god roll for a particular item.

Given all of those things, it's my opinion that there should be some bad luck protection (some form of rerolling) built into the game. This is pretty consistent with what other games have been doing after learning this lesson the hard way. My hope is that BioWare reverses course on this before launch so that it doesn't have to do it reactively in response to players quitting in frustration.

Maybe you disagree and that's OK, too. But that's my position.

Psistorm

I'm somewhat apathetic as well. The recent events in triple A development have shown that any pre-release footage means absolutely nothing given the immense spin and embellishment put on everything.
That alongside the more and more dodgy and greedy releases and mechanics in games nowadays really make me wonder not if, but how this particular game will be greedily monetized ontop of its price tag.

Perhaps there already is information out there, but at the very least I'm anticipating a full price title with preorder bonuses, early access preorder special, and one or two special editions, with microtransactions coming either at launch or once the main review wave has come and gone, only whether they will be the cosmetic type or the p2w type remains to be seen.
That and how much the game will be tailored around these additional purchases, which, given its a looter/shooter, might be quite easy to do in an overwhelming fashion.

There is, of course, the possibility that it will become this amazing new title that does lots of things right and marks a departure from triple A overmonetization, but given EA is backing this one, I highly doubt that they would have a change of heart. Even with bad press and an outcry, RMTs are simply too big of a profit factor to not dip in with both hands for these companies, and shareholders wouldn't tolerate them making one cent less than they possibly could.

Nilden

hallucigenocide

MikeB said:

Ilaya said:

Nice Article tho!

But it says inside; "but in Anthem, you’ll have to just recraft (if possible) or keep hunting manually for the perfect version of whatever it is you’re looking for."

And tbh, isn't that the Grind we all look for? What hooks us and make us stay in the Game? As in every other Game as well? I like that, it gives me the Grind/the replayability i "need/i look for". To get that one good roll which i want/i need. If Anthem does that right, i'm good.

So....i hope that the Demo will show us what is going on in Anthem. Looking forward to it.

I want to hunt for the good rolls, too! But there are a bunch of layers of RNG here. First you need to find the item, then it needs to roll four Inscriptions you want, and then those Inscriptions need to have the values you want. And keep in mind these items can drop anywhere in the game. So you can't just go farm one boss over and over to focus on finding that god roll for a particular item.

Given all of those things, it's my opinion that there should be some bad luck protection (some form of rerolling) built into the game. This is pretty consistent with what other games have been doing after learning this lesson the hard way. My hope is that BioWare reverses course on this before launch so that it doesn't have to do it reactively in response to players quitting in frustration.

Maybe you disagree and that's OK, too. But that's my position.

they've mentioned that you can find blueprints to craft items as some sort of bad luck protection.
not sure how it'll work but it's something i guess. will probably add re rolls later if enough people ask for it.