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The Good and Bad of Anthem So Far - MMORPG.com
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
The Good and Bad of Anthem So Far - MMORPG.com
I’ve been playing Anthem this weekend, despite some frustration I’ve had with its design choices. The moment to moment action of Anthem is top-notch. They’ve nailed the combat, and the verticality of the world is as interesting as they posit. I love what I’ve seen of the characters and learned of the world, but there are fundamental issues I have with the UI and some design choices. Here are a few high level good and the bad bits of Anthem so far, as I see it.
Comments
that for me is a insta skip on this game, if I was hoping bioware could deliver that is
Tell us about the load times, because everything I heard is they are ridiculous.
I have the game installed on a 850 EVO (not the fastest SSD out there but not slow either) and average loading times between areas like, for instance, Tarsis and Forge is about 5 seconds maybe. Little longer going from Tarsis to a mission though, no more than 10 seconds.
Not bad but the real issue is the fact that their is that many loading screens to sit through to begin with.
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I read a (I think it was PC Gamer) critic that put it best: Anthem feels like Bioware got so butthurt about the facial animation memes in Andromeda that they went full-tilt the other way and removed almost all branching dialogue and player narrative agency just so they could pinpoint the facial animation to make damn sure this title didn't get gif-teased.
The flight and combat, once you get to it, is incredible. Lots of fun playing the Colossus and running over enemies or raining down mortars. Not so fun is the load screen into the Forge, then into Tarsis, then into the mission, then into a small area in the mission you need to go just to hold F then (one more load screen) as you immediately leave that area. Bioware should've taken some cues from Div on that one; a smaller game world can feel bigger when you can run across the length of it, including functional NPC camps, without loading each piece along the way.
Tarsis feels completely unnecessary. The weapons are fairly bland in that there's about three different models of each type, each only essentially different on the bland "This one fires slower, but hits harder and is more accurate! On the other end, this one's hits softest and is least accurate, but has the highest rate of fire!" kind of way. The weapon types could've used a lot more imagination. The gear and Javelin abilities are much better in this regard, though we still get a lot of largely identical abilities that merely swap out the type of damage done (fire/shock/physical/etc.).
Also it's lacking mini-map, text chat, map markers - as if it was released six months too early. Best buy candidate for August or maybe Halloween sales.
Thank you for your time!
Every Weapon gets a new skin at lvl 30 with masterworks, and also a new functionality that makes them more "varied", in addition the inscriptions in the game are really powerfull the same weapon can feel a little diferent based on the inscriptions alone.
As an example I crafted 2 Siege Breakers (Whirlwind upgrade, the weapon new perk is that it freezes on 3 consecutive hits), one of them had +75% weapon dmg and -15% recoil, it hits like a truck, the second weapon on the other hand had +125% mag size +100 ammo and +10 fire rate, well it was like having another weapon.
I think they are reserving the weapon and skill variation for the masterwork/legendary versions, a the moment there is only one Masterwork for each weapon but with updates we will get more with more crazy effects.
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The story didn't get any better, and the characters still feel generic as hell and boring, but I was having more fun.
I really really really really wish that they would improve upon time it takes to do things like opening menus, equipping gear, having conversations, and getting around the hub. That part takes away from the fluidity of the gameplay so much that it makes me want to just log out. Oh you want to change gear? Well go back to the hub, wait for that long loading screen, go to the forge, wait for another loading screen, go through 3 different menus for each piece you want to change out, and then load again getting back into the hub, and load again after selecting a mission. It's insane how long everything takes. I thought Destiny took a while for things, but this is Destiny times 10.
The real problem is that there are still people playing on HDDs. Fix your computer people.
There's more enemy factions/types coming with the live service... you'll know later in the story.
Sorry if that was a bit of a spoiler but sometimes you just have to correct these early first impressions.
The loot gets waaay better once you start getting masterwork and legendary items. It really gives you that awesome drop feeling.
The masterwork and legendary hunt is actually really good and satisfying. It changes everything when you realise just how powerful they can be. It is enough to keep people playing until the next bit of content comes along. You 'will' want to try get that awesome legendary with the perfect modifier roll. I was expecting to cancel premier and not bother buying the game properly until more is added but after getting a few top tier items.. I think I might just keep playing.
Also, they have alliances/guilds planned. The alliance menu shows a pool for 'Alliance' that does not tally the extra coins you get from friends. The system is clearly in place, they just haven't activated yet it for some reason.
The random modifiers become more important than the default ability on gear and weapon type when you're at endgame. When you're levelling it's really just use the one with the highest power. That ends when you start doing Grandmaster.. or it should, if you want to live.
Specs:
980ti Water cooled
8350K (4Ghz Quad core)
16gig DDR4
WD 500gig Blue SSD (game drive)
4K settings on medium
Not many performance issues except a low frame rate for most people. But to be honest here I paid little to no attention to this as it is barely seen (at least by me, I am not FPS sensitive and have a hard time seeing any difference above 45-50fps). Load times between zones and scenes could be improved a bit, but its not like OMFG its ruining my enjoyment in the game. If anything I noticed from running missions is the fact that people need to really slow down. I have ran quite a few and people are missing that chest over there, or crafting mats. Its like everyone is on a race to get to and kill the mobs first.
If they focus on getting rid of as much of Tarsis and loading screens as possible, then provide a steady stream of new weapons/inscriptions/Javelins to go with some fresh new content periodically, they'll pull up back into line with games like Destiny and Division, who each went through this same kind of hit and miss at release.
I've hinted at that elsewhere: I'm not sure if it makes this worse or better that it seems to suffer the same pitfalls it's precursor franchises did. On one hand: it's isn't like this is any worse than Destiny or Division when they released, but on the other hand: it's got the same sort of pitfalls Destiny/Division did when they released years ago.
While understandable, I think many of us hoped they could learn from the endeavors of their competition for our sake.
I agree but they have definitely got it set up in a way that makes it very easy to add new content.
I suspect they already have tons of content finished and that's why the roadmap shows content updates every month. They are probably staggering it's release. Good for casual retention, bad for people like me who have stormed through it.. not rushed it.. but put in a ton of hours already.
Edit:
OK today I seem to be able to salvage from the vault. Ah nvm. I guess it was the default items from when I first started the character. I read somewhere you can't salvage those.
As long as this comes up between Destiny and Warframe I'll be happy...Warframe was and still is my siren song even though right now I'm focused on all the good single-player games that came out this year.
If you're looking for a giant red flag for why the game didn't appeal to me I don't have one. I had an issue with the amount of load screens and the time each one took, along with audio dropping for no reason. These were frustrating. If the game were better I think I might have been able to overlook them more easily.
It's a decent game outside of a few bugs/optimization issues. A majority of the game is middle of the road. At another point in time that might have been enough to keep me playing it but not currently. As far as looter shooters I still haven't played through Destiny 2 and I would rather try that out. Anthem is a good, but not great, game for me. YMMV