Do I quit BioWare with Anthem?

@darkmoney52: If it's attempting to compete with anything gunplay wise it is definitely not Destiny. Warframes a closer target there and it definitely shoots better than that.

@efesell: I don't think the gunplay is supposed to be the focus. There are guns, they might do cooler things later, but I feel more diablo like "making a build" around equipment modifiers and abilities than destiny's "getting exotic guns" and shooting shit really well. I'm early on in anthem grind(mid in story?), I only played post taken king destiny 1 and a shitload of diablo 1/2/3, for what my thoughts are worth.

I honestly barely touch guns while playing my colossus. Got on a modifier for a huge boost of damage to my shield bash, literally running around with my shield out(Cole Train), and then I perform combo's off of myself by either using a flamethrower to "prime" enemies and "detonate" them with a arc lightning shoulder mounted gun(which I turn on and let it automatically target nearby enemies and I put my shield back up), or I just prime them with the flamethrower and detonate them with a melee strike. I use guns sometimes on shielded targets because they can't be primed while shields are up, sometimes I melee, sometimes I pop my ult which is a triple shot mini nuke rocket launcher.

Not all other builds and javelins work like that, but maybe more than people might initially think.

i've made my peace with it. bioware was probably my number 1 dev with a bullet (mass effect 2 might be my all-time fave)- but it's clear their time has come and gone. they're incapable of drawing on their previous strengths- so i'll just have to force my brain to evaluate their output as i would any unproven studio. which is difficult- but IMHO they no longer deserve the benefit of the doubt.

anthem looks like a fleetingly fun but flawed shlooter. i think i'll reinstall DA:O and maybe finally get around to playing Jade Empire.

@mellotronrules: I mean if what you want is to relive the days of Bioware, in your view, knowing what it was doing then maybe don't worry about Jade Empire.

People like to shit on Andromeda, but it does everything Anthem does, but better. Better loot, better crafting, better story, better combat, more abilities, I honestly am kinda shocked in the state this game is in.

But I blame the publisher more than the dev. I'd also recommend checking out indie crowdfunded RPGs.

Played a bunch this weekend, and while Anthem does things fine it's just boring.

The forced group mechanics I find annoying, particularly the "rubber banding" where you get yanked forward to join a group you were never given the choice of joining. It makes soloing this game almost impossible other than the Freeplay mode.

It's definitely got room to grow, and is very reminiscent of early Destiny but with it being an EA property I'm not 100% sure it will get the chance to grow.

Anthem is not the game i want, which is fine, but still makes me sad. i still have hope for a new dragon age though.

@bmccann42: I'm not sure I understand the rubber banding comment. You can enable everything but freeplay as Private meaning freeplay is the only place where what you're describing could happen.

@efesell: What I mean is the pull forward of you if the group moves on into a new load area during a normal game.

Anthem doesn't make soloing possible for campaign missions, only for Freeplay. The group play for someone like myself who tends to solo games (e.g. Destiny), and would be more than happy to do campaign missions at my own time, it gets really annoying to have events and missions completed before I can even tell what is going on.

The odd part is that the game can't figure out if it is a single player game or a team game - most of the dialogue is centered around a lone Freelancer, but are immediately put into a group setting as soon as you start a mission.

If you can do the missions in a private setting, the game never communicated that as an option - but then the game fails to actually communicate a lot of things.

@bmccann42: There is a setting you can use for missions that make the game private. So you can solo the campaign. It will warn you that anthem is "best played with people" though and ask you if you want to make the game public when you launch.

@bmccann42: I HATED that in the demo. The pacing for the game is atrocious.

You get a group of friends together and launch into the map. Cool. Once you’re in the world, you can’t stray from a path you can’t see without being threatened by loading screens. You can split off without someone getting a loading screen. You can’t enter a cave without forcing everyone into loading screens.

I’m not even that bothered by the disjointed solo story hub vs co-op gameplay map, but once you all settle in to play a mission, the game is actively saying fuck you.

This should have been a single player game with squad AI and a more meaningful story (that Bioware seems incapable of pulling off these days, anyhow). Co-op in Anthem KILLS gameplay flow in an unforgivable way...I’m a huge co-op guy, too.

@mellotronrules: That’s where I am. The name Bioware doesn’t mean anything any longer. They had a hell of a run for a number of years, kinda settled-in to a comfortable formula after Dragon Age 2, and just really produced some crap starting with Andromeda. That run should really be celebrated, though. They were doing cool shit for a long time.

I guess they could recover, or core folks could leave and bring the legacy back as a new studio, but any faith that I’ve had in this shop was shattered with Andromeda and swept away with Anthem. They need to earn my attention, excitment, and money going forward.

@bmccann42: Yeah you can just click the right stick to switch any regular mission to private. The game absolutely did tell me this because it made a specific note of saying that Freeplay could only be public.

@efesell: I must have totally missed it - thanks for the info!

I feel you. I pretty much quite Bioware too, and it's a bummer.

The thing about Bioware is that I used to not be so wary of their games. I have played and enjoyed KOTOR, Mass Effect 1-3, Dragon Age Origins, Dragon Age Origins: Awakening, Dragon Age 2 and Dragon Age: Inquisition. I kind of got a bit worried for future games while playing DA: I because it seemed like an RPG with very MMO-like missions. A lot of stuff that didn’t really matter filling out a large world that was pretty empty. But I really liked the story and characters, so I preordered Mass Effect: Andromeda. But I was suspicious. I really should have known better, but Mass Effect is one of my favorite all time series.

Lo and behold that game was a dumpster fire upon release. Buggy beyond belief for a AAA game, the UI was a chore to navigate (even compared to the first game) and the crafting was dumb. I literally found one weapon for my play style and that was all I used because it was so good. Whats the point of a crafting system where when you get to certain weapon, everything else is trash? The story was also far less interesting than prior games, but it still kept me playing for a while. The best thing about the game was the combat, but I never went to Bioware games for the combat. I went for story, characters and how everything came together to keep me emotionally invested. This game did none of those things, really. It was simply okay, and that was a bad thing for me. I was expecting awesome. My hopes were too high and my expectations were not properly calibrated.

So, I waited on Anthem. It never looked like something I wanted to play when I was already playing stuff like Destiny and The Division. I have enough looter shooters that are more than competent, I want RPGs with fiddly bits and characters I care about and epic stories. All of the materials released prior to the game coming out didn’t hint at any of that, not really. No preorder, I would wait and see.

I did try the Anthem demo and I didn’t really dig it. The combat was cool and the flying was a standout, but the missions seemed very simplistic. I figured that that was just the demo and waited to see what people were saying once the full game came out.

Now I see all the reviews and I have watched a lot of streamers to see if anything really jumps our at me. It's a pretty game, fun combat, but it's nothing to get me super excited unfortunately. Right now I am playing through Far Cry: New Dawn completely co-op with my husband and we're having a great time, so I'm not actively looking for a new shooter. I may pick up Anthem if it gets more content, but I'm not in a rush. I fear for Bioware's future, though. I figure they need a hit and this doesn't look like it's sparking much excitement. :/

I won't quit them until they stop making games. Oh, I won't buy Anthem...but I won't give up on them.