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    Anthem

    Game » consists of 7 releases. Released Feb 15, 2019

    A multiplayer-focused third-person action RPG from the studio behind Mass Effect and Dragon Age, featuring fully-customizable exo-suits (known as Javelins) with a wide variety of special abilities.

    Anthem, don't hurt me no more.

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    Syndrom

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    I was looking really forward to Anthem, i really really was.

    But man it's been a long time since i've played something that's been such a disspointment. I guess my excitement started to dwindle when the beta/demo/whateverthefuck dropped and the game was in a very bad technical state. I was like, psssh this is an old build, shit will get fixed and the game will be fine. But boy how wrong i was. Let me get one thing straight, the core combat is pretty great. When it clicks it really fucking clicks. It's too bad everything else is just such a mess. It's a game i really want to play but it's like fighting me at every turn.

    The story is pretty mediocre generic sci fi. Big bad dude wants to take over the world and basiocally become a god. You're the only one who can stop him for some reason. In my opinion the story is so rote and boring, i had zero emotional investment in the characters. I remember playing the original Mass effect trilogy and actually having feelings and thoughts about the story. Here i just tuned out most of the time because it didn't interest me in the slightest. I remember reading every codex entry in Mass Effect, here i couldn't give two shits. I totally didn't feel connected to the world, my character is a faceless drone that has zero impact. The characters have no personality other than "hey i'm snarky". There is no uniqueness to a single one of them. You don't have a connection to them at all. Don't even get me started on the "dialogue" options.

    The world is pretty to look at most of the time, but holy shit there is no variety in the enviroments. It's just one big jungle with ruins and the occasional big weird relic. There is also zero world building in the enviroment. I mean look at The division, that world is pretty post apoc generic but it actually feels lived in. Anthem is a pretty themepark, it doesn't feel lived in.

    But hey ok, it's a looter shooter i can live with a pretty bland generic story in that type of game, even if it is from bioware. I'm here for the grind, getting loot and feeling powerful. But oh boy. 50 hours in and i'm banging my head against the wall. The loot system is broken as fuck, and even besides it being broken on a technical level. The loot is boring as fuck. Every gun looks the same. Masterworks and legendaries look excactly the same as a level 1 version, except for a paintjob. Like the story and characters i have no connection to the gear. I remember getting gjallarhorn in Destiny, i fucking worked to get that stupid rocket launcher. I cheered when i actually saw it in my inventory. I never had that feeling when i saw a MW/ legendary in anthem. This looter shooter has pretty shit loot y'all. There is no soul, it's lifeless.

    The things you do in this game are so boring and mindnumbing, there are 3 types of missions. Go there and kill some dudes / drop orbs in a fountain, kill some dudes / interact with an item and stand around while a bar fills and kill some stuff. There is not a single interesting mission gameplay wise in this entire game. Freeplay needs a total redesign, i mean how did they not copy the Destiny system of popping up events on the map and giving player direction. No, now i have to mindlessly fly around in this big map hoping something interesting pops up. And to top it all off, i have to do it with 3 randoms that i can not communicate with. The 3 strongholds are a real joke. The only one worth running is tyrant mine, the other two are a pain in the ass, the endbosses just fucking suck and a real drag to fight. And why did they recycle the last mission and call it a stronghold, Destiny did this and was not wel received, why did Bioware not learn from Bungie's mistake. Also the story is padded out with grindy content.

    There is no variety in enemies, you fight the scar faction 90% of the time, and the outlaw faction / dominion factions are just the same with a palette swap. The ai is also not interesting to fight, enemies just run at you are not really engaging to fight.

    The game is straight up not finished, it's one of the most buggiest pieces of software i have messed around with in a long while ( no i didn't play fallout 76 ). Games like this are not meant to run on Frostbite. And it's time that EA learns this simple fact. Destiny and Division have always had problems at launch, but not on this scale. The games were playable and i never experienced problems lik this. Also whenever they fix something, something else seems broken. This is a early acces games posing as a finished AAA game, it's crazy to me it released in this manner.

    Sure there are positives, like i said when the combat clicks it just clicks. The priming and detonation system is such a great gameplay system and is very satisfying when it works. The synergy with your fellow freelancers can really be amazing. The scale of the world is pretty cool, you really feel small in the huge and pretty enviroments.

    I really don't know if Bioware will be able to correct this in a way similar to Massive/ubisoft did with the Division.
    At the moment i'm of the belief that this game will not get there soon. It needs so much time and stuff that needs to be redesigned at a core level. I have no faith EA will support Bioware in getting this game where it needs to be. It is a such a dissapointment to me, but at the same time i've put 50 hours in it. But i actually think i'm done with it for now, i just had to see it trough to a certain point. I just can't play the game anymore since it really doesn't respect my time.


    Sorry if this comes over disjointed and is difficult to read. English is not my native language, and i'm pretty tired writing this. I just needed to put down some thoughts, i had to get it out of my head.

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    bmccann42

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    Perfectly clear, and I totally agree. I want to play Anthem, but don't actually have the desire to do it.

    I keep saying I will come back in a few updates and check it out - I stalled out at the 4 Tombs after clearing 1 of them and haven't played since.

    I can see the bones of something good, maybe something great, but its gonna take a lot to get there - more and better enemies, more and better loot, more and better feeling guns, and it really needs to find a "soul", that feel that sets it apart.

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    icoangel

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    Agree, as much as I try to like it, and I do really like some things about it, the bugs and the feeling I get that it is an unfinished game are starting to turn me off. its very much the feeling I got from Mass Effect: Andromeda.

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    Pezen

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    I'm fine with most of the things in the game, my biggest gripe is how much the game fights you to get to the actual gameplay. I understand cutscenes or if I'm being generous having to talk to people in the city. But what I can't quite forgive is how fast missions are and how much loading you need to jump through to get to the next mission. As Jeff has said, the game has a real problem with it's flow. Which in turn is making me almost want to skip over the story just to get to the meat of the game.

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    FrostyRyan

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    The Bioware we loved is no more

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    nutter

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    @frostyryan: Exactly. Anthem seems to prove that Andromeda was not a fluke.

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