Anthem (Bioware's new property)

In theory, maybe. Companies shouldn't be afraid of stepping outside their comfort zone a bit and learning new things. But people are worried that if Anthem is does well, EA will decide that Bioware should only work on Anthem from now on, and we'll never get another Bioware style RPG from them again. Games like this basically print money if done right (and even if done wrong they're still pretty damn profitable), but they require a lot of time and attention. It's not like a single player game where once it's finished, it's finished, and the developers can move onto something else.

It's not the end of the world if Bioware completely gives up on their old style. Other companies will pick up the slack. Sometimes in odd places (a lot of Assassin's Creed: Odyssey was "let's see if we can do Dragon Age in the AC universe"), but someone somewhere will get it done. But... we already had a company that did Bioware style RPGs. So it's frustrating to wait years for someone else to fill the niche.

This is also the first sort of Looter-Shooter thing that Bioware’s worked on. They’ve made open world stuff with Inquisition and Andromeda though.

I’m cautiously optimistic about this, but I may still wait for a while after the release to help them work out the bugs.

Wasn't Bioware's first game a tank simulator anyway?

That and, there are some basic branching storylines tucked away in Fort Tarsis. What you tell the NP Cs is saved between visits, so there's a little narrative about Lucky Jak, Amal or Zoe going on.

I thank you for making me bother to look this up because hey that's fun

Very basic story-line stuff though.

That binary dialogue choice just feels fucking archaic as hell.

Edited by slimcoder on Feb 8th 2019 at 6:30:09 AM

This isn't Bioware's first game with flying exosuits either. It's just the first that didn't also have a four-armed dog that smokes cigars.

Not to derail but didn't Bioware also work on MDK2? Sequel to Shiny Entertainment's MDK?

I loved the game! I love both

Edited by Dhiruxide on Feb 8th 2019 at 5:46:21 PM

x7

The problem is that there are very few companies doing it well either. And when Bioware already had a dedicated fanbase... That's a lot to throw away and people who have few other players to turn to.

As an LGBT gamer, I already have next to nowhere that I exist in. Sure, I can play my Kingdom Hearts games and etc. But in RP Gs? I don't exist. And, no, Assassin's Creed: Odyssey isn't a good story nor is it a particuarly compelling RPG game. And its Gay characters are little more than paper-thin fuck holes, many of whom are kind of creepy.

And I wholly understand the shitstorm over Everyone Is Bi in Dragon Age 2, although for an entirely different reason. Better to have a well-written Gay Option than a cheap-ass cop-out.

The best LGBT representation I’ve seen in a Bio Ware game is Bull’s second in command from Inquisition. If he hadn’t outright TOLD ME that Krem had previously been a woman I’d have had no idea that he was transgender because he was just normal and they didn’t make it a big part of the character to go “LOOK HOW INCLUSIVE WE ARE” like they did with that one transgender character in Andromeda.

I think the problem with Andromeda's was that they weren't significant enough of a character to warrant the interaction.

Krem worked because he was important to Bull and someone we did get to know. It didnt feel unnatural.

With Andromeda, while I respect and understand the need to show representation in more NPC quest givers, the less important a character is the more need to know their dialogue becomes.

A farmer who's wife went into the woods and hasnt been back for a day likely isn't going to bring up that his father was a drunk alcoholic who beat him as a kid.

I did like how they framed it: New Galaxy so now is the time to think about who you are now that no one knows you. But that in of itself could have been a story element to explore elsewhere.

I hate the "LOOK HOW INCLUSIVE WE ARE" approach. It always means that the inclusivity is forced and the writing will come apart right at square one.

Meanwhile, payments for preorders have been collected, a rather underwhelming launch trailer was released and preloads start on Wednesday.

Edited by NotSoBadassLongcoat on Feb 11th 2019 at 1:03:43 PM

Guess what, a Neill Blomkamp short movie produced by Oats Studios is out on the Premiere release day as well.

Oh? Like, Anthem-related?

Apparently so! I mean, he is Mr Mech suit, so seems a good fit.

Should be interesting to see at least.

Of course, I wouldn't mention it here otherwise.

Live-action Anthem short movie. I am interested.

Flashy, but rather hollow.

Indeed. It takes place way before the story, too, so I have no idea how the hell this relates to the actual game. Plus, who are the "Urgoths"? Were they the Neglectful Precursors that fucked off when the world was half-built?

Anthem looks really good as a movie, though.

It does look pretty good as a movie. Too bad Anthem is a game and not a movie. So making a live action movie trailer that shows fuck all actual gameplay seems...kind of odd?

Hey, it worked for Halo, the fans absolutely loved the live-action stuff Blomkamp made, especially since his props were of such exceptionally high quality and showed a true attention to detail.

Edited by SgtRicko on Feb 15th 2019 at 11:10:03 PM

Wait, that Landfall stuff was him?!

Full armor cosmetics kit costs 850 shards.

Now, do y'all feel stupid?

I'll need a comparison before I think of feeling stupid. Go over the shard stuff again please. And by "Full armor cosmetics kit" do you mean one that will mess with your entire Javelin rather than body parts?

Are you seriously calling other people here stupid for being upset at a grossly overpriced cosmetic kit? It having the price reduced NOW doesn't make them retroactively wrong to be upset.

Also, this.

Edited by M84 on Feb 16th 2019 at 12:25:42 AM

Yeah, I still haven't heard anything definite about what a 'shard' is worth. Is 850 shards $4 or $14? Get us this information and then we'll decide who's stupid.