Looks incredible so far

I do understand the worry. For a while Bioware was basically the studio putting out AAA RPGs. But I hope other games rise up out of indie (for example, Divnity OS II) and get to AAA levels (because for me the recent CRPG revival has been full of games that felt half baked).

But I think RPGs are popular and more games are going to try to make them in some form, even if it is sort of an RPG or a blurry line thing as I mentioned. I am glad to see the Witcher 3 is apparently influential (have seen multiple games inspired by it in ways, explicitly or no). And as I mentioned previously, I consider the Witcher 3 to be maybe the best RPG ever and it's an action game also.

They will still make a new regular Elder Scrolls game.

@thepanzini: I think you're grossly overestimating Bungie's potential output for Destiny 2. From what we know of that game it doesn't sound like a treasure trove of content. It sounds like Destiny with a bigger open world, a few side quests and mini dungeons.

If Bioware is able to achieve the promise of Anthem I could see it surpassing Destiny. It's clear Anthem aims to build the original promise of Destiny while Destiny 2 aims for a slightly better version of the Destiny that came out, a pale shadow of that original promise.

@artisanbreads: Does anyone actually care about The Division anymore? It's a shame developers are chasing the destiny pipe dream with trailers full of gamer cringe. It gives the perspective that major coorporations think of their fanbase as idiots easily lured by a carrot on a stick, evidenced by putting loot boxes into every single fucking game.

BioWare was a half-competent developer at best but they've dropped everything they're known for and started chasing this crap.

Yes and it sold incredibly well.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2016-03-15-the-division-sets-world-record-for-best-selling-new-ip

While exact sales figures weren't given for either title, we know that The Division generated an estimated $330m in only five days. Comparatively, Destiny raked in $325m in the same timeframe.

You don't like the game genre, cool. You don't speak for everyone.

@artisanbreads: Oh, I'm with you on the Witcher being great, but everything left is all fantasy stuff. Some of us aren't crazy about that. Scifi RPGs were either Star Wars or ME, all from the same dev. I do hope somebody swoops in to fill the vacuum.

I wish this was more single player with drop in coop rather than a Destiny clone...

@freedom4556: sorry I missed your sci-fi point. I agree on that. There is Cyberpunk 2077 at least. With new Star Wars interest I have to believe someone will finally make a new RPG.

@pyrodactyl: Never said D2 would have or has mountains of content merely saying Bioware never quite delivers on their promise, remember Anthem is a year and a half away alot can change from a vertical slice / target render of whatever it is they showed.

@artisanbreads: Did you hear poor Vinny during the Bethesda conference? "There's a shuttle and a spaceport....has to be a new game right? That's not Prey, is it?" I wanted to laugh and cry at the same time.

hahah he has been bringing up that Prey reboot game a lot (he brought it up on the Beastcast too at some point recently). I also think it looked awesome and it'd be cool to get a full on sci-fi bounty hunter game.

@artisanbreads: the Division might've sold well but saying people still care is a bit of a stretch. Ubisoft completely botched the end game and people fled in droves shortly after release. It didn't have 1/4 of the staying power of Destiny.

That being said I totally agree there is space for more than 1 loot shooter. It just has to be good and robust. The Division was not

@pyrodactyl: Even the people I know that claim to like The Division have stated they are playing it because it is the best Destiny, besides Destiny. As someone who would love a proper Destiny-that-isn't-Destiny so I can play two of them and hope they will release content spaced out from each other, I am super down for Anthem. Also because for some reason I am not interested in its PvP (if it has any) at all, so I can get it on PC. Unfortunately I have to get Destiny 2 on PS4 because I want to play the PvP (and don't want to use KB/M).

The Division sold really well but shortly afterwards its pop fell off a cliff after halting DLC Massive implemented several major QOL improvements bring most players back, the Division is a fine game but having no PVP and with third-person being nowhere near as popular as FPS it was never a Destiny competitor its popularity was always going to fade.

I don't think it would've been possible for me to be more disappointed by this. I just want Bioware RPGs, man.

So it's like Destiny except you go into first-person for the Tower equivalent and 3rd-person for the gameplay stuff. I'm down.

@pyrodactyl: I am in agreement with you (I am not some big fan of the game) but it sold and did very well. I mean, we can't expect all these games to last so long, especially given how many games are trying to follow the formula to some extent (games are often RPGy, grindy, huge open world things which are different but in the end the result is many more games are about 100 hour games to get through).

Like you say there is for sure room on the market. Like @zevvion points out it is in the same vein and some prefer it. Like I've mentioned before, Destiny seems to have left people wanting. I think this game is really well timed. Just have to hope it delivers.

For me the Division is one of those Ubisoft games that is huge but if you're a hardcore gamer on GB a lot type you really wouldn't probably think so. I bet a lot of people don't realize that I believe Ghost Recon Wildlands is the best selling release of this year so far (and it had a really big launch but didn't do as well as The Division at launch). While I think we see many on GB (staff and commenters alike) complain about the Ubisoft stuff a lot of it seems to be a giant hit. Which is probably why they are making their games to be this similar open world thing.

Similar to Destiny this MMO quest style of game doesn't allow much room for interesting quality content, it's more tailored to small repetitive quests in order to feed the "loot driven gameplay". That being said the gameplay does look fun, but the only message the trailer was interested in sending me was that i should play in order to get loot, and it's going to have to do a lot better than that to sell me on it.
The whole marketplace opening was weird as there was zero gameplay there, a small pre-animated walking section, is there anything to do in the "hub"? We don't currently know.

At the moment, not that interested.

I am interested but, yeah, definitely waiting on more information and seeing some people play it in a less controlled scenario. I'm also not as torn about this not being a big RPG. People were generally down on Bioware's storytelling and characters for a while now (I generally enjoyed them) but I wouldn't mind seeing them branch out a bit. I'm certainly not going to fault them for trying something a little different. Anyway, here's hoping it is good.

I think I basically feel the same as other bioware fans

The game itself, what we've seen, looks fine. I've played games like the Division etc and it's fine.

it's just that there are so few single player AAA RPGs these days (especially WRPGs) and now one of the best houses in the business is switching gears from what they do best to chase the success of the rest. Pretty much their main pillars now are the Old Republic and probably this Anthem game. With Mass Effect shelved, does that mean the only AAA RPG we'll get from Bioware is maybe a Dragon Age every 4-6 years? If so that really sucks. That basically means each generation You *might* get three big Western AAA Rpgs. One Witcher, One Dragon Age and one Betheseda game (elder scrolls or Fallout) That's not nearly enough product for RPG fans.

I don't want everything to go to live service games, but that seems to be how it's going. I think it's going to end badly for a lot of these guys though. I don't know about the rest of oyou but I don't have time in my life for more than one of these live service multiplayer games at a time. How many games like Anthem, Destiny, Wildlands, The Division, For Honor, Sea of Thieves, Skull & Bones, GTA Online etc can co-exist profitably on the market at the same time? I bet a lot fewer than game companies think..

It would be well timed if it came out anytime soon. It's slated for 2019 so who knows a that point.

My wife and I (and our gaming group) are pretty positive on exploring the world of Anthem after watching the extended trailer. Good to see something taking that Destiny-style experience as competition too!

It's slated for EA's fiscal year 2019, which is April '18 - March '19 on the normal calendar. From what I can tell that's probably a direct result of forcing Andromeda out before FY 2018 and it launching a broken mess as a result.

Yeah, this looks like the Destiny that people have been waiting for.

Looks amazing!

@freedom4556: fiscal 2019 means march 2019 at the earliest. It could get delayed further. What we saw in that trailer was not the game. It was a target render. They aren't that far along in development.

Anthem's launching Fall 2018 however EA said last month their new 'live service' IP project Dylan (Anthem) was delayed to fiscal 19 Source, I would put good money on Anthem releasing Spring 19 maybe even Fall.

It seems interesting but the video is the most vertical of slices, and it doesn't really reveal anything about the game that I think it will actually look or play like. And I'm a little on the fence given that BioWare hasn't really had a good 3rd person shooter experience before. ME was always serviceable, but it wasn't as solid as a lot of other 3rd person shooter games.

@thepanzini: Did you read your own source?

During EA's Q4 financial call today, the company revealed that the new "live service" IP from BioWare has been delayed until fiscal year 2018 to FY 2019, which could mean a launch in late 2018 or early 2019.

@pyrodactyl: Fiscal years are named for when they end, not when they start.

The website says 2018. The E3 trailer says 2018. It might be delayed, but it clearly is not yet.

@freedom4556: Wasn't disagreeing with you, merely pointing out EA gave investors a big date range.

I'm very much in the wait and see camp for this game. What little combat and dialogue I've seen from it just seems a bit on the shallow side. But man is it purdy.

I dig the whole loot aspect they're going for and like what I see, but it just seems claustrophobic. Sure it seems like a large world but when they're on the ground, it feels very corridor like (kind of like Rage). That's what has me worried. If they're going for that fidelity, I can see them needing to make it like a corridor for sake of keeping framerate up. Long way out, though, so who knows how it'll end up.

I loved that demo and I hope it's a good game. I would love to play that with some friends.

I'm cautiously optimistic. Can Anthem deliver on everything Destiny promised? Especially with Destiny 2 looking like Destiny 1.5.

Things that I'm hoping for:

A true open world

Actually good story(I know Bioware's been shitting the bed in the writing department, but they gotta be better than Destiny's barely there story right? LIGHT GOOD. DARK BAD.)

Distinct classes that actually play different.

Class abilities that are usable more than once every 5 minutes(a major reason why all classes felt the same in Destiny).

A good UI.

@freedom4556: I know what a fiscal year is. When they said fiscal 19 they meant 2019 at the earliest. They might hope for a 2018 release but that's not going to happen. It's actually more likely it gets delayed to fall 2019.

@pyrodactyl: I'm not as ignorant to state that the game cannot be delayed, these things happen often. But I don't really get the sense that they mean '2019 at the earliest' when they say it will be out in 2018. It seems they are trying to hit 2018 at least. If they were actually aiming for 2019, why not just say that?

@zevvion: because they (EA) would like to release it sooner. It won't be done sooner. This is how game dev goes. They either hit the absolute last deadline or the game gets delayed. Anyone arguing this will be released next year hasn't been paying attention to the last 10 years of video game development.

@pyrodactyl: Videogames hit their intended release dates just as much as they get delayed. It's not like everything is always delayed.

The only free time i can spare for gaming is during the weekends and unfortunately my friends aren't going to wait for me.

I liked everything i have seen of this game but i will have to drop it for this reason.

If that's your definition of incredible then I pity your sad, pathetic life. Nah, jk, it looks aight.

I sure hope this will be good. Bioware needs a new IP.

Way to stay relevant by generically copying what several other games have already done, including themselves. Adding on that Bioware hasn't made a good game in years along with a publisher who apparently skips QA and basic polishing to shovel the shit out to take our money faster, the only thing incredible about this is that people can still get excited enough to line up for it.

@bocckob: That sounds awfully negative. I'm not sure where it is coming from. As far as I know, there are only two of these types of games, Destiny and The Division. This specific genre is very new, I'm not sure why having a different perspective on it is a bad thing. It is also a bit odd since RPG's are still being made by the dozen. Why are those not 'generic copies'?

To be honest, I don't see anything in Anthem that looks generic. Yes, I like fun, I like having fun in games and since this one is looking amazing, I am excited to play it. No idea why that is so surprising.

Totally spot on. I would also like to ad that no game in the new shooter MMO-lite genre has nailed it completely. There is a wide open space for a game that gets it right the way Destiny and The Division couldn't. Think of what WoW did for MMOs or Halo for console first person shooters.

Not sure how Anthem can be generic we've only had two MMO-lite looter shooters so far with Destiny & Division who may share similarities but their wildly different games, from the brief trailer all we can really deduce is Anthem has a Destiny like tower with a vast Division like open-world and each player has three abilities. How many games nail it on their first try?

Are they though? Honestly? Like real AAA big-budget RPGs not of the Action persuasion? We've got Beth, Bioware, and CDProjekt... and that's it really. And Beth and Bioware are now both distracted by their online multiplayer live service games. Microtransactions and loot boxes are where it's at now. Just look at what happened to Rockstar after GTA Online. The indies are still carrying the torch to a degree, but I don't think there's any mistaking that Anthem represents the end of an era.

I feel like I was prepared for this and welcome this new direction for both Bethesda and Bioware. It's pretty clear their respective formulas grew more and more tired and their games decreased in quality in recent years. Big western RPGs aren't dead. CDProjekt is making Cyberpunk, Bioware might be working on more dragon age. But by focusing on other genres they might take the needed creative break and come back with fresh new ideas for the genre in a few years.

Yeah, the Destiny goldrush bums me out as well.

I had a really good time with the Division when it first came out, but I was unemployed and I haven't gone back since I got a job. The amount of time you have to invest to properly enjoy games like this just seems to be way too high for someone with a job and a wife who you share a TV with.

Obviously they do well and fair play to them. It's not even so much that I have no interest in playing games like this. Often it's that I think they look awesome, but I know I won't be able to get enough from them.

@freedom4556:

'By the dozen' was an overstatement, but in 2016 alone we had Divinity OS 2, Final Fantasy XV and Persona 5, along with some notable DLC for other recently released titles like The Witcher 3 and Fallout 4. So the notion that a third game in a new genre is somehow too much sounds weird to me.

As great as Divinity OS & Persona 5 are their not AAA but I feel we haven't had a classic Bioware game since DA Origins everything prior was GOAT but they never felt AAA anyway despite the budget.

I'm somewhat optimistic about this game. I feel like Bioware is sort of in a damned if they do, damned if they don't situation here. If they continue their well know games (Dragon Age/Mass Effect) they get flak for not being innovative enough and doing the same things over and over again. If they do something like Anthem they get flak for not making a single player RPG. So I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt and hope they figure out how to make a game that mechanically interesting and manages to tell a good story in the progress (which seems to be the hard part to me).

I do however still want singleplayer games from them. But after Inquisition and Andromeda I feel like they need to take a step back and take a good look at their formular. And most of all they need to get some serious writing talent.