Anthem (XB1/PC/PS4) - Anthem NEXT cancelled

I think The Division 2 shows it is still possible to make a good game with a decent amount of content that doesn't screw over all its players with microtransactions.

I have a feeling the entire culture at both EA and Bioware need to change and they may need to drastically downsize and start just making games they can actually manage to release in a finished state. Not everything has to be a $1B epic taking 6 years to create as they obviously just fail spectacularly when they do that.

I can't see DA4 coming out any time soon certainly. I know this was true of Anthem to a certain extent, but DA4 is going to be a watershed moment for the studio... If they strawberry float it up they're done.

Then again, with the main writer and most of the previous team gone (with the former having left after BioWare cancelled the original DA4 to concentrate on an ailing Anthem), one could argue pretty convincingly that the writing's already on the wall.

Tafdolphin wrote:I can't see DA4 coming out any time soon certainly. I know this was true of Anthem to a certain extent, but DA4 is going to be a watershed moment for the studio... If they strawberry float it up they're done.

Then again, with the main writer and most of the previous team gone (with the former having left after BioWare cancelled the original DA4 to concentrate on an ailing Anthem), one could argue pretty convincingly that the writing's already on the wall.

They need to take the series back to the heady days of Origins.
Go back to a tactical style game with no multiplayer and a great story. It doesn't need to be a hulking epic but it does need to be high quality and a finished product with limited or no microtransactions and when it does appear DLC that is good value and adds extra story.

They just need to look back at however they made Origins and do that again they don't need to reinvent the wheel. They also don't need to chase graphical highlights as I don't think the fans care as long as it doesn't look horrendous. They just want it to not have loads of bugs.

Ha, I think that's the least likely thing to happen. They've already said they're building DA4 off the back of Anthem, and there's no way they're making a tactical RPG in Frostbite.

It'll be bigger and more action based, that's the only thing that's for sure.

That's a shame as Origins is the best game in the series by miles.
I had it back when I had a PC and the game with the zoomable camera and pausing at will to play the game as almost an RTS made it pretty much a perfect RPG for me.

Oh well :cry:

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I loved me som DA:O. I remember being incredibly sceptical after a terrible marketing campaign but it won me over immediately.

Anyway, in 'stopped clock being right twice a day' news:

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2019/0 ... g-pr-fire/

In a mere 424 words, BioWare handwaved away the entire brutal content of Kotaku’s piece. The original article alleged gruelling working practices, devastating levels of mental health issues amongst staff, and awful-sounding issues with direction and leadership. BioWare appeared to dismiss all these matters, whether factual or not, as “not a major topic of feedback in our internal postmortems.”

But even more seriously, they also appeared to condemn the very concept of journalism itself. Of shining light into darkness. To do this, they bend time and space to imply that the article was about “tearing down” individuals and people’s work, rather than acknowledging an article that directly quotes staff’s thoughts and feelings about the actions of their superiors, in amongst lengthy details on the process of the game’s creation.

Peter Crisp wrote:That's a shame as Origins is the best game in the series by miles.
I had it back when I had a PC and the game with the zoomable camera and pausing at will to play the game as almost an RTS made it pretty much a perfect RPG for me.

Oh well .

Welp

The story behind this reboot isn’t just a story of a game going through multiple iterations, as many games do. The Dragon Age 4 overhaul was a sign of BioWare’s troubles, and how the company has struggled in recent years to work on multiple projects at the same time. It was indicative of the tension between EA’s financial goals and what BioWare fans love about the studio’s games. It led to the departure of several key staff including veteran Dragon Age creative director Mike Laidlaw, and it led to today’s Dragon Age 4, whose developers hope to carefully straddle the line between storytelling and the “live service” that EA has pushed so hard over the past few years. (EA did not return a request for comment.)

https://kotaku.com/the-past-and-present ... 1833913351

PostRe: Anthem (XB1/PC/PS4) by **Peter Crisp** » Tue Apr 09, 2019 10:07 pm

I have no idea what "Welp" means in this context?

Are you insulting me or just sad about the news? I'm getting old and have no idea any more :fp:

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PostRe: Anthem (XB1/PC/PS4) by **Tafdolphin** » Wed Apr 10, 2019 7:06 am

Peter Crisp wrote:I have no idea what "Welp" means in this context?

Are you insulting me or just sad about the news? I'm getting old and have no idea any more .

It's a resigned sigh of realisation that the game we both want is about as likely as a successful Brexit.

(I'm commiserating with you)

PostRe: Anthem (XB1/PC/PS4) by **Parksey** » Wed Apr 10, 2019 10:25 am

Urgh I really like the Dragon Age series - even Dragon Age 2, which I think took some interesting turns (I like the idea of an RPG set in the same city over a number of years - but I had no idea of the turbulent development behind DA4. I imagine it might follow the ME series, slowly shedding it's RPG routes and becoming more of an action game. Inquisition, while pretty good, had a lot of MMO-y elements already. Can see Bioware adding to them next time.

PostRe: Anthem (XB1/PC/PS4) by **Peter Crisp** » Wed Apr 10, 2019 10:39 am

It really is a shame to see a series that had the recipe right from the start morph into something I'm unlikely to even try now.
I know Origins was maybe a bit nerdy and that may possibly have hurt sales but screw it, not every game needs to try and sell to everyone I just want a good old fashioned RGP in the style of Origins with a good story and slightly upgraded graphics.

If they mess up again and take yet another series down the shitter maybe it's time they did just go bust and let a smaller and more focused team pick up the Dragon Age franchise.

PostRe: Anthem (XB1/PC/PS4) by **Tafdolphin** » Wed Apr 10, 2019 10:49 am

Peter Crisp wrote:It really is a shame to see a series that had the recipe right from the start morph into something I'm unlikely to even try now.
I know Origins was maybe a bit nerdy and that may possibly have hurt sales but screw it, not every game needs to try and sell to everyone I just want a good old fashioned RGP in the style of Origins with a good story and slightly upgraded graphics.

If they mess up again and take yet another series down the shitter maybe it's time they did just go bust and let a smaller and more focused team pick up the Dragon Age franchise.

There's a bit in the article that specifically mentions that's the way BooWare were feeling internally when compared to their studio brothers and sisters. DICE and the FIFA teams were the jocks and BioWare were the nerdy geeks hanging out behind the science block. The piece posits this is a reason for the greater emphasis on action in Anthem.

PostRe: Anthem (XB1/PC/PS4) by **Tafdolphin** » Tue Apr 23, 2019 9:09 pm

twitter.com/PaulTassi/status/1120772557639168000

The car crash continues.

I don't think it's reached quite the levels of awful that Fallout 76 did, but it's getting close. At least Bethesda stuck to their update schedule though.

PostRe: Anthem (XB1/PC/PS4) by **Met** » Wed Apr 24, 2019 2:00 am

"Hey Everyone,

It’s been 10 weeks since the early access release of Anthem."

Hehehe...

PostRe: Anthem (XB1/PC/PS4) by **Tafdolphin** » Wed Apr 24, 2019 9:17 am

Yeah, that went down particularly horribly and rightly so. Trying to retroactively claim your $60 game is early access is shitty even by EA standards, and this came directly from BioWare.

Gemini73 · PostRe: Anthem (XB1/PC/PS4) by **Gemini73** » Wed Apr 24, 2019 10:03 am

So now it's an early access title? For £50/$60?

EA/Bioware :lol:

PostRe: Anthem (XB1/PC/PS4) by KK » Wed Apr 24, 2019 10:28 am

Unless it's on Xbox Game Pass, maybe one day people will finally get the message that they should stop buying games at launch. You are paying up to 50% more to play an unfinished, broken product early.

PostRe: Anthem (XB1/PC/PS4) by **jawafour** » Wed Apr 24, 2019 12:41 pm

KK wrote:...maybe one day people will finally get the message that they should stop buying games at launch. You are paying up to 50% more to play an unfinished, broken product early.

I think you're right, KK - especially for the "live service" games.

I still do it sometimes, though :fp:

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PostRe: Anthem (XB1/PC/PS4) by **Godzilla** » Wed Apr 24, 2019 4:55 pm

It'll be free to play by the end of the year and bioware will be EA-vaporated within 3 months of that happening.

Considering the leaks about the next Dragons Age game it's not looking good for Bioware. Bit like Rare and now Bethesda they sell on nostalgia. When it comes to standing alongside current triple A games they are shown up.

PostRe: Anthem (XB1/PC/PS4) by **Peter Crisp** » Wed Apr 24, 2019 6:48 pm

It's pretty amazing to see such huge companies make such massive blunders.
They must know that Anthem was a huge wasted opportunity and if Dragon Age is indeed a lite on content mess then the fans just won't stand for it any more and go elsewhere. I'm a potential customer for a new Dragon Age but I now have pretty much no faith that they can deliver a game that actually does justice to the series and I don't think I'm alone in this.

EA need to give developers space and stop meddling and just stick with a game idea for 4 years and make that game. They have good people just stop throwing everything in the bin and starting from scratch and expecting everything to be fine with an ultra limited final development push.

Anthem (XB1/PC/PS4) - Anthem NEXT cancelled

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