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Angry Joe: Anthem review

Onebadlion

Onebadlion

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,189
I enjoyed that review enough to sit through the whole thing. I thought Joe was pretty fair and his frustrations mirror mine. Anthem is one of the most irritating games I've ever played. It reeks of a game that doesn't understand what it is supposed to be, and that's kinda unforgivable given BioWare have had the benefit of watching and learning from the trials and tribulations of various other devs who have made similar games this gen. They've made all the same mistakes, and a few new ones.
 
m_dorian

m_dorian

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,403
Athens, Greece
I 've watched a good number of reviews on Anthem but none that thorough (Skillup is very close). Good job AJ.
Now, I am extremely worried about Bioware's future.
 
aevanhoe

aevanhoe

Slayer of the Eternal Voidslurper
Member
Aug 28, 2018
7,331
CrazyHal said:
I don't think that it's possible to fix such a fundamentally broken game.
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What is "fundamentaly" broken and unfixable other than, perhaps, loading screens?

The items can be fixed. New endgame can be added. Bugs can be fixed. New stories can be told. Seriously, what is "unfixable"? The core gameplay is fun and the game looks great. These are the only two things that can't be fixed in time, and Anthem nails both of them. The rest is very problematic, but fixable. I said it here before - criticism is one thing, but some people are almost cheering for the game to fail long term.
 
Mg.

Mg.

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,980
No joke, I'd rather listen to Other Joe's goldfish misadventures for an hour than play Anthem for a minute.
 

Deleted member 15136

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
521
Man, that's one hell of a review! Lol.
My friend's inviting me to grab the game on PS4 though, I'm sure for example, that the loading issues can be patched.
 
bytesized

bytesized

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
5,882
Amsterdam
I don't know, if I had to choose what a game like this does wrong i would much prefer the looter than the shooter part which seems like it's quite fun. What seems more difficult to fix is the loading times because I guess those are due to structural reasons of how the game is built. I mean loading screens between menus is really really fucked up.
 
CrazyHal

CrazyHal

Member
Nov 1, 2017
1,325
aevanhoe said:
What is "fundamentaly" broken and unfixable other than, perhaps, loading screens?

The items can be fixed. New endgame can be added. Bugs can be fixed. New stories can be told. Seriously, what is "unfixable"? The core gameplay is fun and the game looks great. These are the only two things that can't be fixed in time, and Anthem nails both of them. The rest is very problematic, but fixable. I said it here before - criticism is one thing, but some people are almost cheering for the game to fail long term.
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Yes things like the loot and the bugs can be fix, but a the boring ass story and super repetitive missions probably can not. Adding new content won't magically fix the old one.
 
Iucidium

Iucidium

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,046
Kain-Nosgoth

Kain-Nosgoth

Member
Oct 25, 2017
15,588
Switzerland
forget about the loadings... the crafting and grinding is freaki awful, my god who would want to grind so much even after finishing the game??

lmao what a joke
 
IIFloodyII

IIFloodyII

Member
Oct 26, 2017
23,996
The loot is actually embarrassing. Just 2 slightly different armour options and a bunch of reskinned weapons? Looking cool is like half the point of these games.
 
Dynedom

Dynedom

Member
Nov 1, 2017
4,700
Yeah I'm done buying games at full price that have the "promise" of being good. I can't believe this is what the gaming industry has been reduced to. Waiting for the next update or patch, etc.

Division 2 / Destiny 3 / whatever else of these Looter-Shooter/MMO-lite games in the future are never getting day 1 purchases from me.
 
aevanhoe

aevanhoe

Slayer of the Eternal Voidslurper
Member
Aug 28, 2018
7,331
CrazyHal said:
Yes things like the loot and the bugs can be fix, but a the boring ass story and super repetitive missions probably can not. Adding new content won't magically fix the old one.
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Story is better than Destiny story, IMO and is not that important for this type of game. As for missions - well, sure, the old ones will stay the same but new ones will, hopefully be better. Again, same like Destiny. This is a game where you won't do old missions again anyway.
 
DigitalT

DigitalT

Member
Oct 27, 2017
326
I was so excited for this game, but the fact I can't get a consistent 60fps on low settings killed it for me.
 
Salty AF

Salty AF

Member
Oct 30, 2017
6,122
User Warned: drive-by posting
Can't stand this dude. Literally cannot sit through more than :30 seconds of listening to him. He reminds me of my annoying relatives that live in Long Island.
 
Cpt.Underpants

Cpt.Underpants

Member
Nov 3, 2017
1,158
Avitus said:
Sometimes YT comments aren't bad
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0K4gKfc.gif
 
Evolution of Metal

Evolution of Metal

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
6,960
aevanhoe said:
What is "fundamentaly" broken and unfixable other than, perhaps, loading screens?

The items can be fixed. New endgame can be added. Bugs can be fixed. New stories can be told. Seriously, what is "unfixable"? The core gameplay is fun and the game looks great. These are the only two things that can't be fixed in time, and Anthem nails both of them. The rest is very problematic, but fixable. I said it here before - criticism is one thing, but some people are almost cheering for the game to fail long term.
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EA isn't going to fix the game. If 6 years got you that mission variety, weapons, stories, AI, endgame missions, locations - you are looking at 2020 Holidays to get to the point where Division 2 is going to get on Day 1.

Keep in mind, there is a pile of games which got their support axed by EA (Andromeda, NFS Payback, Battlefront II and probably BFV). So between the incompetence of Bioware to get the game into a good state after 6 years AND EA's lack of interest in growing their games - what is a realistic scenario?
 
khamakazee

khamakazee

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
3,937
I could do with less yelling but he brings up good points. I'm only about 4 hours in and enjoying it so far but it sounds like later on it gets very repetitive. So far I'd give it a 7.

The loading screens are not a big deal to me so maybe he played before the latest update. Yes they are there but not very long, at least for me, maybe 20 seconds. I think the biggest problem with these games are the in-game currencies and the balance between free updates and microtransactions. A free to play model in a $60 game is never a good idea so I expect a lot of (warranted) outcry and corrections will be made later on.
 
TelluricTokoro

TelluricTokoro

Banned
Apr 16, 2018
1,760
No way this game was made in 5 years.

It was probably hastily cobbled together in its last 18 month similar to Final Fantasy XIII.

Only difference is I actually liked that game.
 
Apathy

Apathy

Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,992
Dynedom said:
Yeah I'm done buying games at full price that have the "promise" of being good. I can't believe this is what the gaming industry has been reduced to. Waiting for the next update or patch, etc.

Division 2 / Destiny 3 / whatever else of these Looter-Shooter/MMO-lite games in the future are never getting day 1 purchases from me.
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Too be fair, it's not all of the gaming industry. Metro just released, full game. We just had a year of amazing Sony and Nintendo Games that were complete, critically good and respected players.

Good companies need to be supported and shown the market is still there for decent games. There are reasons why I and others support Sony and/or Nintendo
 
-PXG-

-PXG-

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
6,186
NJ
How do you honestly have just two or three armor sets per class and only a handful of gun models per weapon type? Like, how does that happen? Even if they restarted development 18 months ago, wouldn't they still have some stuff, like armor and weapon models they could salvage? What, is there only one part-time artist at Bioware?

And the Strongholds. As Joe pointed out, one is was from the demo. One is just a repeat of the final boss, and apparently the last one is actually original, but boss is a repeat of one you fight from another mission, but it has an energy force field. And people thought Bungie reusing and recycling stuff in Destiny was bad.

My mind is just blown away at the pathetically meager amount of content. SIX YEARS!?!? And that's all a AAA studio and publisher has to show? It's beyond embarrassing. It's shameful.
 
aevanhoe

aevanhoe

Slayer of the Eternal Voidslurper
Member
Aug 28, 2018
7,331
Evolution of Metal said:
EA isn't going to fix the game. If 6 years got you that mission variety, weapons, stories, AI, endgame missions, locations - you are looking at 2020 Holidays to get to the point where Division 2 is going to get on Day 1.

Keep in mind, there is a pile of games which got their support axed by EA (Andromeda, NFS Payback, Battlefront II and probably BFV). So between the incompetence of Bioware to get the game into a good state after 6 years AND EA's lack of interest in growing their games - what is a realistic scenario?
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No idea. Maybe it won't be fixed. I hope it does because it's really fun. Personally, I'm enjoying it way more than both Destiny and Destiny 2 on their launch days. I just hope enough people are having fun and the game does well so we get Anthem 2 eventually.

Of course, if it were up to Era, BioWare would get shut down. Seriously, it's like vultures flying around the game.
 
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Tankard

Tankard

Member
Oct 28, 2017
7,849
Brazil
Love AJ game reviews. This one was one of his best and he always go in depth but this review in particular was a dissection.
 
Keasar

Keasar

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
5,724
Umeå, Sweden
"Remember, this is Bioware."

Why do people keep saying that like it's somehow supposed to give the company who made this more respect? Yeah, exactly, it's Bioware, this checks out completely then how it turned out. They haven't done anything significant for the past one and a half decade.

"Makers of Mass Effect"
A game series that started out strong then completely flopped over when trying to pay off the story.
"Knights of the Old Republic"
A game series that was better when another studio made it and tried to actually do something interesting with the Star Wars property.
"And Dragon Age."
A series that started off as a light Baldur's Gate and ended as a watered down action game.

None of what's going on is surprising anymore, so why do people get surprised? It's like when they come and cry that another Bethesda game was boring and bad to play and I have to go "Yeah, exactly, just like the previous one and the one before that!" Fallout 76 was a natural evolution of the series since clearly people didn't give a toss about story and quests because they preferred FO3 and 4 over New Vegas.
 
MillionIII

MillionIII

Banned
Sep 11, 2018
6,816
It's just crazy that BioWare managed to make a worse game than their "b team" which got closed. While Andromeda was a laughing stock in the gaming world many believe that the "true" BioWare are yet to release their masterpiece, aaaand we got this.
It's like if Bethesda were to release a shittier game than fallout 76 a few years later, that's two strikes in a row for the BioWare teams. honestly I don't know how EA will react if this doesn't hit their sales target, which I doubt it will.

Going by the roadmap the big endgame event is coming in May, hopefully the game will survive for that long.
 
aevanhoe

aevanhoe

Slayer of the Eternal Voidslurper
Member
Aug 28, 2018
7,331
Dynedom said:
Yeah I'm done buying games at full price that have the "promise" of being good. I can't believe this is what the gaming industry has been reduced to. Waiting for the next update or patch, etc.

Division 2 / Destiny 3 / whatever else of these Looter-Shooter/MMO-lite games in the future are never getting day 1 purchases from me.
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To each their own. I got Division and Destiny 2 at launch and had fun with D2 (Division only so-so). Now I got Anthem and having a blast. I'll almost certainly get Division 2 day 1 next month, I'll be there for Destiny 3 and - you know - if we ever get Anthem 2.

Some people like looter shooters. I know it's hard to grasp, but - for example - I wish I could get my money back for Red Dead Redemption 2, but this one I'm having a lot of fun with. That's the thing with different tastes: they are, indeed, different.
 
VariantX

VariantX

Member
Oct 25, 2017
16,891
Columbia, SC
CrazyHal said:
I don't think that it's possible to fix such a fundamentally broken game.
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Nah its something that's fixable over time. Loading times and bugs can be addressed. How and when players get interesting loot can be addressed. UI issues can be addressed. I don't see anything from a gameplay standpoint that's unfixable.

That being said, with all these issues plaguing it at launch, Anthem has zero buisness being on store shelves right now. It probably should have dropped in the summer at the earliest. All these things are likely due to not giving the devs enough time to properly let QA do its job.
 
Corporal

Corporal

Member
Oct 27, 2017
807
If there is any justice in the world, Bioware should (fix the game and then) patch in an NPC that talks about exploding goldfish...
 
BBboy20

BBboy20

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
22,018
Keasar said:
"Remember, this is Bioware."

Why do people keep saying that like it's somehow supposed to give the company who made this more respect? Yeah, exactly, it's Bioware, this checks out completely then how it turned out. They haven't done anything significant for the past one and a half decade.

"Makers of Mass Effect"
A game series that started out strong then completely flopped over when trying to pay off the story.
"Knights of the Old Republic"
A game series that was better when another studio made it and tried to actually do something interesting with the Star Wars property.
"And Dragon Age."
A series that started off as a light Baldur's Gate and ended as a watered down action game.

None of what's going on is surprising anymore, so why do people get surprised? It's like when they come and cry that another Bethesda game was boring and bad to play and I have to go "Yeah, exactly, just like the previous one and the one before that!" Fallout 76 was a natural evolution of the series since clearly people didn't give a toss about story and quests because they preferred FO3 and 4 over New Vegas.
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I'm gonna guess that when people get tatoos of the Normandy, the impact BioWare games have are that signficant.
 
DNAbro

DNAbro

Member
Oct 25, 2017
25,943
Jeez at the weapons being basically the same. I remember when we heard Anthem wouldn't have PvP, people said "now that they don't have to balance weapons for PvP, they can do crazy weapons" and it turns out they do even less. I don't understand how you can make a looter SHOOTER and all the guns are basically the same with pretty much no real cool or unique weapons. I couldn't imagine Destiny without exotics.
 
Dynedom

Dynedom

Member
Nov 1, 2017
4,700
Apathy said:
Too be fair, it's not all of the gaming industry. Metro just released, full game. We just had a year of amazing Sony and Nintendo Games that were complete, critically good and respected players.

Good companies need to be supported and shown the market is still there for decent games. There are reasons why I and others support Sony and/or Nintendo
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Agreed.

aevanhoe said:
Some people like looter shooters. I know it's hard to grasp
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Don't give me this bullshit. When Destiny 1 and 2 "got it right" after Taken King, Forsaken, etc they were fine and I enjoyed them. The criticism is that it takes far too long to get there and day 1 is almost inherently bad. This shouldn't be an expected feature of these types of games and people shouldn't be expected to fork over the retail price of games that are more complete at launch (see the above quote I responded to). That's what people are rallying against. Maybe that's hard for people like you to grasp.
 
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Zetta

Zetta

The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
7,644
shimon said:
Unlikely indeed, no way EA throws that much money/resources at Bioware. They probably think the game is good enough as it is. Hell, they released it at full price so...
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Well the game is grindy with ridiculous pricing on the "best gear" which leads to using RL money to buy shit.....so yeah its good for EA.
 

UnderNewOwnership

Member
Dec 4, 2017
3,097
-PXG- said:
My mind is just blown away at the pathetically meager amount of content. SIX YEARS!?!? And that's all a AAA studio and publisher has to show? It's beyond embarrassing. It's shameful.
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From what I undestand of project flows, the model used by EA for their companies (the waterfall) has a critical flaw in that, if a fundamental design issue occurs relatively late in the cycle and cannot be repaired, everything has to be dumped and restarted from scratch (pretty much feels like they did). Which is why I joked that Bioware should adopt AGILE instead, in that "what would you do..." thread.
 

Deleted member 1759

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
3,582
Europe
Lyng said:
To be fair some of the swtor stories (Imperial Agent comes to mind) are better than a lot of single player story driven games as well.
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I have had SWTOR installed for ages but never played it. Can I play the "good" stories (is there a list of them?) without the premium sub? I know that I can play them, just not sure if it will get grindy or something when playing it without subscription.
 
OldBenKenobi

OldBenKenobi

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,697
Francesco said:
How do you know so much about what is in the division 2? Is the game out?
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Can't speak for him but I played the beta plus I mean they have a whole end game trailer showing you what's coming plus all the other stuff leading up to the end game There's a ton of content coming in Division 2 and Ubisoft has been very up front about a lot of it.
 
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