Anthem.... another let down.

Mushin

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This is still going? If you like it play it kinda thing, opinions don't mean shit if you already have your mind made up. In my case, opinions mattered because I was already on the fence, and wasn't drawn in by my first impression.

I think Anthem will get better, assuming EA allows for Bioware to keep updating it. I enjoy enough about it to play it, but with the past Mass Effect Andromeda serving as a measuring stick, I don't see Anthem getting beyond the current roadmap. I think Bioware dropped the ball on the story also, it starts strong, hits a high note, drops for the rest of the game, then hits predictability at the end.
 

Phil

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Why oh why Montoya do you keep calling this a "spiral staircase" no no no absolutely not, all games when released are supposed to be a complete product when its sold, yes I agree this does not mean the entire story is complete that is what updates, DLC and expansions are for but to sit here and say the game was sold deliberately unfinished because its a "live service" is just not true or we would be paying a monthly fee. Fact is the game was sold unfinished or lets say unpolished and the dev's are playing catchup with these updates period. Now if we had gone 2-3 months and had these complaints I could understand but the fact is many of these complaints came out in the first few days of early access and then again in the first week of the official release, this is not right and to act like it is is just crazy. There are far to many issues in this game to call it anything but average at best, yes I imagine a few more updates and patches later things will be better but that's the whole point it shouldn't take half a dozen updates in the first 2-3 weeks of release to fix major problems in a game we just paid 60$ for.

Look again I am not saying the game sucks, I can hop on for 1-2 hrs and I am done but ya its fun for about 3-6 missions and that's it, the strongholds suck period I won't even do them anymore, free play is ok if you get a decent group that actually works together, the loot is bad, the loot drop rates are bad I have had so many duplicates its not funny and half of them I won't even equip because they just suck, still a few bugs here and there but nothing game ending for sure but outside of the actual game play itself the game is so subpar its laughable.
 

Phil

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Good stuff, I just think this game has more problems than just loot although that is a big one. I still find it pretty funny the two weapons they showed in the E3 trailer in 2017 looked better than anything we have seen in the game currently lol. All the guns are replica's of the first one you get, seriously Masterworks should have been something better not just the same gun with a paint scheme but oh well.
 

Montoya

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Why oh why Montoya do you keep calling this a "spiral staircase" no no no absolutely not, all games when released are supposed to be a complete product when its sold,
You misunderstood.

Some games are linear, like Borderlands 2. Its a looter shooter, but with a story line that you play from the beginning, to the end. Once you are done, you can play again, start at the beginning, and get to the boss at the end.

Anthem is not a linear story. It has a story aspect to it like Destiny, but the game loop is a spiral staircase model.

In Anthem you go shoot things in freeplay, or in dungeons called Strongholds. You get a loot drop that has +25% dmg. Nice.

You go run the stronghold again, you get a better drop.

You go run the stronghold again, you get a completely different weapon type which forces you to consider changing your play style that is more effective.

You gun the stronghold again...

Spiral staircase higher.

On the topic of a game being sold as a complete product, by its very definition, a game as a service can not be a complete product. Can you tell me WoW was sold as a complete product 15yrs ago? No, they added more and more content with time.
 

Phil

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The original World of Warcraft was a complete product, they added expansions every 2-3 years, they really didn't start adding content patches until much much later in the game. :P Now if were talking update patches which are primarily about fixing or adjusting the game that's completely differently and imo has nothing to do with being a live service. Also you pay a monthly fee for WoW.

Hey its all good I am not here to argue, if you like it I am glad but for me 65-70 hrs in and I can barely play for more than an hour its gotten that boring. And I will be honest both Destiny and Division 1 kept me around for about 3 months before I really started having issues with the game, but 2 weeks out? If they had more variety in the skills and specials etc... I could see myself adjusting, better loot, better end game etc... the game play is solid for sure but its already at the point where you have to play cookie cutter specs to be effective at the higher levels and I hate playing cookie cutter specs lol.
 

atpbx

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Its a looter shooter with shit loot, appaling story, terrible combat mechanics, truly abysmal mission design and zero end game content, which is what I said it would be when it dropped.

The key to its survival is Biowares race to fix these things before what there is of its player base dissapears.

Dont forget, as Montoya has pointed out, this is a game as a service, but its a game as a service with NO paid DLC, just cosmetics.

For it to survive and EA not to pull the plug its needs a massive player base buying those cosmetics like mad men just to keep the lights on.

And just a reminder, EA dont subsidise failing games, if it doesnt pick up massively they will shut it down without a second thought,
 

Montoya

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The original World of Warcraft was a complete product, they added expansions every 2-3 years
My analogy was not to compare a looter shooter to an MMO, these are different genres.

The point was that the story in WoW continued, and still continues.

The argument that Anthem is an incomplete game is one that every youtuber out there is parroting off Angry Joe's review.

I strongly disagree.

It all comes down to expectations, and almost every reviewer and "critic" out there had the same expectation. They thought they were getting Mass Effect: Anthem.

When the got Anthem actual, they were pissed.

I told everybody that it was going to be Warframe in Ironman suits. We got Warframe with Ironman suits.

I was right, everybody else was wrong and then called it a disappointment because it fell short of their imagined ideals.

But lets be fair here, its not all roses!

There are several issues that universally bad, like the load screens, UI, menu system that is not optimized, missions in freeplay not working at the moment and a loot system that needs serious tweaking. These are things Bioware needs to listen to the community and act upon, like they just did with the first tweak for loot this past week.
 
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Phil

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I don't think people are judging the game as incomplete based on the story rather than lack of content, examples like their E3 trailer showing guns that don't exist, the main city hub being more vibrant and active than what we have, the loot system that is broken or bad, the lack of variety in end game content, the bugs, this is what we mean by incomplete, unfinished or unpolished. Watching interviews with their own dev's promising stuff that is not in the game currently. I understand this will be added over time but this is the area that bothers people, it should have been in the game at release and that is how many people feel.

Me personally I felt the story was ok, was it up to mass or dragons or KOTOR standards? Hell no, even Titanfall was better in many ways, I do agree with you based on the story aspect alone you are 100% correct but when you watch those reviews they are basing their opinions on the final product on much more than just the story.
 
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