Anthem Review Thread

jmelons · Feb 24, 2019

I've now reached end game and have zero desire to continue. I'm not interested in loot as it's mostly garbage and I have trouble seeing any impact of the modifiers. I'm not interested in harder content as it would require that loot that I don't care about. I've played 30 hours and have never heard a single person use mic during missions. There's zero need to communicate as everyone seemingly does their own thing, occasionally stopping to rez downed teammates.

There's no incentive to play. While it's fun to, as a Ranger, run in and prime with melee, then detonate, the fun stops when you realize that is all you do. Zero depth. This game should have released in September-December, not February. GaaS effect indeed.

I'm glad I paid the $15 for origin access and not the full $60. It gave me 30 hours of middling entertainment and some coins to spend on Apex. I'll check back in September once this game eventually fleshes out.

ShadowAUS · Feb 24, 2019

jmelons said:
I've now reached end game and have zero desire to continue. I'm not interested in loot as it's mostly garbage and I have trouble seeing any impact of the modifiers. I'm not interested in harder content as it would require that loot that I don't care about. I've played 30 hours and have never heard a single person use mic during missions. There's zero need to communicate as everyone seemingly does their own thing, occasionally stopping to rez downed teammates.

There's no incentive to play. While it's fun to, as a Ranger, run in and prime with melee, then detonate, the fun stops when you realize that is all you do. Zero depth. This game should have released in September-December, not February. GaaS effect indeed.

I'm glad I paid the $15 for origin access and not the full $60. It gave me 30 hours of middling entertainment and some coins to spend on Apex. I'll check back in September once this game eventually fleshes out.

You're making the right choice IMO. I probably should of stopped at around that mark. I've only had 2 moments of fun in the last 20-30 hours (out of 71) 1. A Legendary drop (still my only one) and 2. I'm finally happy with how one of my Javelins look after spending so much time with different paint schemes and hating them all.

Almagest · Feb 24, 2019

I'm not one for conspiracy theories of this sort but, man, how did EA release Anthem corollary to APEX? It's gonna be crippling by sheer comparison, even if they don't really scratch the same exact itch.

Unless they actually wanted to divert attention from it...

The whole situation is baffling.

Maledict · Feb 24, 2019

Almagest said:
I'm not one for conspiracy theories of this sort but, man, how did EA release Anthem corollary to APEX? It's gonna be crippling by sheer comparison, even if they don't really scratch the same exact itch.

Unless they actually wanted to divert attention from it...

The whole situation is baffling.

This is by no means the first time EA has done this (Titanfall 2 for example). They are happy to push multiple titles out of the door at once in the hope one succeeds, especially when year end is coming up and they need it to reflect well in the financials.

It's also sunk costs - they had a full game ready to go with Apex, delaying Anthem would increase an already expensive game even more.

shimon · Feb 24, 2019

ShadowAUS said:
An update to the video I posted earlier by Mtashed. Mostly covering the community, endgame, the roadmap and his disappointment with the game.

This is a good video and people should watch it. It's very easy to dismiss ANY criticisms and/or negative opinions as: "Oh they're just haters/toxic".

ClarkusDarkus · Feb 24, 2019

The glitches are my only highlight, Love it when I change my helmet/paint and my squadmates tell me they can't see my head. Yet still get headshot from a scar enemy not even near me.

TsuWave · Feb 24, 2019

astro said:
I just weant back to Destiny and finished TLW quest and remembered what a good loot shooter feel like.... this ain't it.

said it before, but yeah, Anthem excels at reminding you how good Destiny is.

ElBoxy · Feb 24, 2019

Here is Towelliee's review of Anthem. He's a popular WoW streamer:

He likes it but keep in mind this is the only looter shooter he's dumped a ton a hours into. He never played a lot of Destiny, Warframe, and The Division.

Thornquist · Feb 24, 2019

If Bioware isn't going the way of the meme, I wonder who there will get the chopping block. I assume someone will have to pay for this costly mistake. First instinct is to say Casey Hudson, but if I recall he did return to Bioware 1,5 year ago (probably to salvage this fuck-up).

ShadowAUS · Feb 24, 2019

Thornquist said:
If Bioware isn't going the way of the meme, I wonder who there will get the chopping block. I assume someone will have to pay for this costly mistake. First instinct is to say Casey Hudson, but if I recall he did return to Bioware 1,5 year ago (probably to salvage this fuck-up).

Wouldn't surprise me if development basically rebooted when Casey came back.

Dog of Bork · Feb 24, 2019

TsuWave said:
said it before, but yeah, Anthem excels at reminding you how good Destiny is.

I think I said much the same in one of these threads. Anthem is the most effective Destiny ad in existence.

My friends and I almost pulled the trigger on D2's ultimate edition (with all past and future DLC) for PC last night. Alas, if it was $50 instead of $60 I could have convinced everyone.

Bungie, sell it for a bit cheaper. Now is the perfect time to steal everyone who hits the atrocious "endgame" of Anthem.

-PXG- · Feb 24, 2019

takriel said:
It's going to be interesting to see the sales of this turd.

Didn't EA say they wanted to sell 5-6 million it's first month?

ShadowAUS · Feb 24, 2019

Yet another "Review From Shadow's Inbox." This is mostly covering it from the standpoint of an RPG player and BioWare fan rather than the GaaS aspects and endgame.

Deleted member 5864 · Feb 24, 2019

ShadowAUS said:
I think my biggest problem at this point in the game is that NOTHING I have done has been even slightly challenging or difficult. Not. One. Thing. I'm running everything on GM2 at the moment and it's no more difficult than hard (or even normal) was, it's just more tedious because everything's health is buffed to the nth degree. I haven't tried GM3 but from what I've heard it's exactly the same, everything just takes an even more obnoxiously long time to kill.

Also, another thing that's annoying me, I'm currently grinding GM2. WHY. WHY AM I STILL GETTING WHITE DROPS FROM CHESTS!?. Hell, why am I still getting green and blue drops from chests? Pretty much all my Javelins are geared to full Purple 36 which means 95% of my drops are 100% useless, they're not useful for equipping, they're not useful for crafting as I have basically infinite pre-MW mats that I'll literally never use as I don't need them anymore and you can't sell stuff for coins.

I've said it before, they are making mistakes Diablo 3 made in 2012, before this game was in full production. They are making mistakes Diablo 3 fixed in 2014. 5 years ago!

The developers have namedropped Diablo in several interviews... There is no excuse. If they can't learn from those mistakes, and they refuse to learn from their own, what is the hope they right the ship?

ShadowAUS · Feb 24, 2019

inky said:
I've said it before, they are making mistakes Diablo 3 made in 2012, before this game was in full production. They are making mistakes Diablo 3 fixed in 2014. 5 years ago!

The developers have namedropped Diablo in several interviews... There is no excuse. If they can't learn from those mistakes, and they refuse to learn from their own, what is the hope they right the ship?

I firmly believe there was no proper ~~QA department~~ playtesting done for this game. There are too many basic, easy to spot, fundamental flaws in this game. I don't review games but I often write notes as I play commenting on things that stick out, negative or positive. (One day I will write a review, maybe. Probably not.) If I was given 1 hour with this game while it was in development I could've written 2 pages worth of notes on why this just won't work.

It's like they wanted to make a game that was a mix of Diablo's game flow, Monster Hunter's combat design and rhythm, Mass Effect's story, world building, narrative, characters and Warframe's feeling of movement.

The problem is they fucked all of them up in at least 1 major way and many minor ones by trying to do way too much. As far as I can see they were trying to make a game that was everything to everyone which is effectively an impossible task.

Edit: Updated the first paragraph, rest still stands.

Deleted member 27471 · Feb 24, 2019

Waiting for these reviews are

Dog of Bork said:
I think I said much the same in one of these threads. Anthem is the most effective Destiny ad in existence.

My friends and I almost pulled the trigger on D2's ultimate edition (with all past and future DLC) for PC last night. Alas, if it was $50 instead of $60 I could have convinced everyone.

Bungie, sell it for a bit cheaper. Now is the perfect time to steal everyone who hits the atrocious "endgame" of Anthem.

Lol this is what I almost did as well. But it was 25 dollars to much for everything.

Hailinel · Feb 24, 2019

ShadowAUS said:
I firmly believe there was no proper QA department for this game. There are too many basic, easy to spot, fundamental flaws in this game. I don't review games but I often write notes as I play commenting on things that stick out, negative or positive. (One day I will write a review, maybe. Probably not.) If I was given 1 hour with this game while it was in development I could've written 2 pages worth of notes on why this just won't work.

It's like they wanted to make a game that was a mix of Diablo's game flow, Monster Hunter's combat design and rhythm, Mass Effect's story, world building, narrative, characters and Warframe's feeling of movement.

The problem is they fucked all of them up in at least 1 major way and many minor ones by trying to do way too much. As far as I can see they were trying to make a game that was everything to everyone which is effectively an impossible task.

As someone that has worked in game QA before, allow me to just say

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA no.

There was QA on Anthem. The problem is that Bioware didn't spend enough time fixing bugs before their ship date and very likely marked a variety of high priority, easily reproducible issues as "Won't Fix" for the sake of shipping.

QA is almost never to blame when the situation is this fucked. The problem is people not listening to QA and ignoring quality concerns for the sake of making the scheduled launch date.

Minthara · Feb 24, 2019

ShadowAUS said:
I firmly believe there was no proper QA department for this game. There are too many basic, easy to spot, fundamental flaws in this game. I don't review games but I often write notes as I play commenting on things that stick out, negative or positive. (One day I will write a review, maybe. Probably not.) If I was given 1 hour with this game while it was in development I could've written 2 pages worth of notes on why this just won't work.

It's like they wanted to make a game that was a mix of Diablo's game flow, Monster Hunter's combat design and rhythm, Mass Effect's story, world building, narrative, characters and Warframe's feeling of movement.

The problem is they fucked all of them up in at least 1 major way and many minor ones by trying to do way too much. As far as I can see they were trying to make a game that was everything to everyone which is effectively an impossible task.

As Hailinel said, there as unquestionably QA on this game, and lots of it. The problem is that they either closed the issues, thinking no one would care/they could not fix them, or they made a bad judgment call and thought they could launch with them and fix them later.

Also, QA is not going to catch bad game mechanics, boring story, long load times (that aren't excessive) or a myriad of other things that Anthem may or may not suffer from. They are merely there to make sure everything is functioning as the developers intended. Whether or not the experience is "fun" or "well designed" is not the job of a QA department.

Deleted member 27471 · Feb 24, 2019

ShadowAUS said:
I firmly believe there was no proper QA department for this game. There are too many basic, easy to spot, fundamental flaws in this game. I don't review games but I often write notes as I play commenting on things that stick out, negative or positive. (One day I will write a review, maybe. Probably not.) If I was given 1 hour with this game while it was in development I could've written 2 pages worth of notes on why this just won't work.

It's like they wanted to make a game that was a mix of Diablo's game flow, Monster Hunter's combat design and rhythm, Mass Effect's story, world building, narrative, characters and Warframe's feeling of movement.

The problem is they fucked all of them up in at least 1 major way and many minor ones by trying to do way too much. As far as I can see they were trying to make a game that was everything to everyone which is effectively an impossible task.

This is a common missconception. QA can catch every bug in the game. They can even tell you it sucks. But you need people to fix all that. Once they're found they need to be prioritized and fixed, but judging with how Anthem is, they probably had bigger issues and a lot of the content was probably getting thrown in last minute. Which means more bugs that won't be fixed.

Its still a miss managment by senior staff because the rule of thumb is you want to catch bugs as early as you can. I do wonder though if anyone in QA or in any position really, said anything about how this game wasn't going to do well. I imagine, politics and internal conflict with the direction of the game. I would honestly be asking what senior staff were doing over the last 6 years.

ShadowAUS · Feb 24, 2019

Hailinel said:
As someone that has worked in game QA before, allow me to just say

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA no.

There was QA on Anthem. The problem is that Bioware didn't spend enough time fixing bugs before their ship date and very likely marked a variety of high priority, easily reproducible issues as "Won't Fix" for the sake of shipping.

QA is almost never to blame when the situation is this fucked. The problem is people not listening to QA and ignoring quality concerns for the sake of making the scheduled launch date.

Oh I agree, IMO QA departments are pretty much never to blame and I wasn't putting it on them. The problem is that bugs are THE LEAST of this games issues, in terms of MMO (or MMO-Lite) launches the major bugs were fairly light, the biggest ones being a couple of gamebreaker/save corrupters and the fact that so many end game abilities are just outright broken and not working.

I was more talking about fundamental design choices they made, so ~~maybe~~ definitely I should have said playtesting instead of QA. My bad :)

Ploid 6.0 · Feb 24, 2019

Thornquist said:
If Bioware isn't going the way of the meme, I wonder who there will get the chopping block. I assume someone will have to pay for this costly mistake. First instinct is to say Casey Hudson, but if I recall he did return to Bioware 1,5 year ago (probably to salvage this fuck-up).

A EA CEO, or whoever got them to make a GAAS shooting game instead of games they are good at making.

Deleted member 36622 · Feb 24, 2019

IGN Italy is going to give Anthem a big score (7 or 8), the guy who's reviewing it kept hyping the game for weeks saying EA deserves a second chance (except they don't), despite everyone in their comments sections are complaining about it every day. lol

SmartWaffles · Feb 24, 2019

ShadowAUS said:
I firmly believe there was no proper QA department for this game. There are too many basic, easy to spot, fundamental flaws in this game. I don't review games but I often write notes as I play commenting on things that stick out, negative or positive. (One day I will write a review, maybe. Probably not.) If I was given 1 hour with this game while it was in development I could've written 2 pages worth of notes on why this just won't work.

It's like they wanted to make a game that was a mix of Diablo's game flow, Monster Hunter's combat design and rhythm, Mass Effect's story, world building, narrative, characters and Warframe's feeling of movement.

The problem is they fucked all of them up in at least 1 major way and many minor ones by trying to do way too much. As far as I can see they were trying to make a game that was everything to everyone which is effectively an impossible task.

QA is the least problem of Anthem. QA isn't going to catch the technical deficiencies and the bad design decisions that come from that.

ultracal31 · Feb 24, 2019

SmartWaffles said:
QA is the least problem of Anthem. QA isn't going to catch the technical deficiencies and the bad design decisions that come from that.

More importantly QA isn't meant to bug test tech deficiencies and bad design

Heck we may be given lip if we mention it but that depends on the team and leads

Deleted member 5864 · Feb 24, 2019

Yeah, I don't think this is on QA. I've even heard stories of QA members being told off for commentary on design, mechanics or art. I'm sure they noted all the bugs and other instances, but Bioware deemed them shippable due to time constraints.

There is very clearly an issue at the top. Either Bioware struggled with tools and design yet again, had weak leadership, had to put the game together very late in development, are completely out of their depth in this genre or likely all of the above.

ByWatterson · Feb 24, 2019

astro said:
I have another month of premiere as I forgot to cancel, so I might dip back in every now and then, but I just weant back to Destiny and finished TLW quest and remembered what a good loot shooter feel like.... this ain't it.

Especially when it ends with a gun as unique and situational as The Last Word. Both D1 and D2 launched with loot grind system problems - one too stingy, one too generous - but both launched with at least a couple of *those* weapons. Gjallarhorn. The Last Word. Wardcliff Coil. Vigilance Wing. Sunshot.

What makes endgame worthwhile in a looter is great loot. That the weapons in Anthem are so banal and uniform is a mistake I truly don't understand.

juventino13 · Feb 24, 2019

-PXG- said:
Didn't EA say they wanted to sell 5-6 million it's first month?

Indeed they did, they wanted 6 mil by the end of March i think it was

Socivol · Feb 24, 2019

BlueRose said:
Word of mouth definitely influences sales.

The marketing materials and dummy boxes we received for our Anthem endcaps and displays are largely promoting the game as having been voted "best action game". I'm not sure what vote is been referenced, but in light of readily available reviews, it surely comes across as dishonest and misleading to more informed consumers.

This is also on the box about the game which is super misleading, I assume they got those awards from E3 or some other trade event

Gunslinger · Feb 24, 2019

I just hope BW doesn't go out of business. I also hope after two failed MMOs BW moves on to doing what they do best and make great SP RPGs. Remake KoToR one. Capcom bounced back after the release of RE1 and RE0 HD remaster. And really regained its legendary status with MH, RE7 and REMake 2. If Capcom can bounce back after being one Of the most disliked company, BW can too. Just keep EA out.

Hailinel · Feb 24, 2019

Gunslinger said:
I just hope BW doesn't go out of business. I also hope after two failed MMOs BW moves on to doing what they do best and make great SP RPGs. Remake KoToR one. Capcom bounced back after the release of RE1 and RE0 HD remaster. And really regained its legendary status with MH, RE7 and REMake 2. If Capcom can bounce back after being one Of the most disliked company, BW can too. Just keep EA out.

1. Bioware can't keep EA out. They're an EA studio.
2. They can't remake KOTOR without Disney's say so, and at this point, KOTOR is part of the original expanded universe that Disney shelved in favor of starting over.

The Cowpuncher · Feb 24, 2019

You know legendary gear isn't even unique compared to masterworks? Finally got one and its the same as the masterwork I had. Just 2 points higher and different attribute rolls.

Gunslinger · Feb 24, 2019

Hailinel said:
1. Bioware can't keep EA out. They're an EA studio.
2. They can't remake KOTOR without Disney's say so, and at this point, KOTOR is part of the original expanded universe that Disney shelved in favor of starting over.

Sorry I should have been more clear what I mean by keep EA out is similar to what happened to Apex legends. It's the best BR game out now because they let respawn work on it without any interference.

ItIsOkBro · Feb 24, 2019

ShadowAUS said:
I firmly believe there was no proper ~~QA department~~ playtesting done for this game. There are too many basic, easy to spot, fundamental flaws in this game. I don't review games but I often write notes as I play commenting on things that stick out, negative or positive. (One day I will write a review, maybe. Probably not.) If I was given 1 hour with this game while it was in development I could've written 2 pages worth of notes on why this just won't work.

It's like they wanted to make a game that was a mix of Diablo's game flow, Monster Hunter's combat design and rhythm, Mass Effect's story, world building, narrative, characters and Warframe's feeling of movement.

The problem is they fucked all of them up in at least 1 major way and many minor ones by trying to do way too much. As far as I can see they were trying to make a game that was everything to everyone which is effectively an impossible task.

Edit: Updated the first paragraph, rest still stands.

anthem feels like a game borne out of a bunch of suits making financial and business decisions and then a game was jerry rigged onto a desired business model. im sure the game was thoroughly playtested and QA'd, issues were raised, some suit asked how will addressing this make us more money, the explanation fell on deaf ears, flagged issues weren't fixed, and then anthem was released.

Deleted member 27471 · Feb 24, 2019

Is there really no update on new reviews? I know Angry Joe had his. Havnt payed attention to anything else outside this thread.

ShadowAUS · Feb 24, 2019

CG Amor said:
Is there really no update on new reviews? I know Angry Joe had his. Havnt payed attention to anything else outside this thread.

There's been a lot of reviews. Most major publications have theirs out and all the big YouTubers do as well. Any reviewers, in particular, you're waiting on?

Servbot24 · Feb 24, 2019

I think this will hold at 60. I doubt Easy Allies would give it less than 6.

Kyuuji · Feb 24, 2019

Servbot24 said:
I think this will hold at 60. I doubt Easy Allies would give it less than 6.

I think Edge will go low to a 4.

ShadowAUS · Feb 24, 2019

ItIsOkBro said:
anthem feels like a game borne out of a bunch of suits making financial and business decisions and then a game was jerry rigged onto a desired business model. im sure the game was thoroughly playtested and QA'd, issues were raised, some suit asked how will addressing this make us more money, the explanation fell on deaf ears, flagged issues weren't fixed, and then anthem was released.

You're probably right, I suppose I just don't want to quite believe the AAA industry has fallen to the point where the publishers are fine with pushing out games they know are fundamentally flawed and poorly designed 4-5/10 games just to meet a bottom line, which I suppose is naive of me.

gogojira · Feb 24, 2019

Dog of Bork said:
I think I said much the same in one of these threads. Anthem is the most effective Destiny ad in existence.

My friends and I almost pulled the trigger on D2's ultimate edition (with all past and future DLC) for PC last night. Alas, if it was $50 instead of $60 I could have convinced everyone.

Bungie, sell it for a bit cheaper. Now is the perfect time to steal everyone who hits the atrocious "endgame" of Anthem.

I've never committed to Destiny 2 beyond an hour or so, but since playing Anthem, I went back to Destiny 2 and have put about 5 hours in and I'm loving it so far. I know that's nothing compared to the average user, but I don't have a ton of time to play and I've only just started. I'm enjoying it thoroughly and to be honest, the difference in quality is staggering (and I'm just at the base game).

-PXG- · Feb 24, 2019

juventino13 said:
Indeed they did, they wanted 6 mil by the end of March i think it was

I was skeptical of that happening. Sure as hell not happening now. Poor word of mouth will kill this game.

kadotsu · Feb 24, 2019

-PXG- said:
I was skeptical of that happening. Sure as hell not happening now. Poor word of mouth will kill this game.

I think they'll reach it but will get killed by churn very shortly afterwards.

Deleted member 27471 · Feb 24, 2019

ShadowAUS said:
There's been a lot of reviews. Most major publications have theirs out and all the big YouTubers do as well. Any reviewers, in particular, you're waiting on?

I usually just go to the front page of the review thread and check out some of the major publications reviews but I don't see the usual ones.

Besides that, waiting on EZA but I havnt seen a video from them yet.

Toxi · Feb 24, 2019

ultracal31 said:
More importantly QA isn't meant to bug test tech deficiencies and bad design

Heck we may be given lip if we mention it but that depends on the team and leads

It's bizarre to me that video games don't normally have playtesting for detecting non-bug issues.

Tabletop games have had playtesting for measuring player opinions on design for decades.

I guess it comes down to the crunch-causing rush to release approach most video game publishers have. There isn't time for incorporating any feedback beyond "does it actually work?"

ShadowAUS · Feb 24, 2019

Toxi said:
It's bizarre to me that video games don't have playtesting for detecting non-bug issues.

Tabletop games have had playtesting for measuring player opinions on design for decades.

I guess it comes down to the crunch-causing rush to release approach most video game publishers have.

They do have playtesting (which is what I meant with my post but brainfarted as it was like 3:30am when I made it). This video explains it pretty well.

juventino13 · Feb 24, 2019

kadotsu said:
I think they'll reach it but will get killed by churn very shortly afterwards.

That's my feeling as well, it will sell but the concurrent players will fall off a cliff

stan423321 · Feb 24, 2019

Toxi said:
It's bizarre to me that video games don't normally have playtesting for detecting non-bug issues.

Tabletop games have had playtesting for measuring player opinions on design for decades.

I guess it comes down to the crunch-causing rush to release approach most video game publishers have. There isn't time for incorporating any feedback beyond "does it actually work?"

Actually, no, I think you have it backwards. The "simpler" the feedback for a complex game, the harder it is to handle. "The game loop actually does not work" is a disaster unless you consider not releasing an option. "The default button mapping is uncomfortable since it asks for L3+R3" is the type of thing that has multiple potential solutions.

ByWatterson · Feb 24, 2019

gogojira said:
I've never committed to Destiny 2 beyond an hour or so, but since playing Anthem, I went back to Destiny 2 and have put about 5 hours in and I'm loving it so far. I know that's nothing compared to the average user, but I don't have a ton of time to play and I've only just started. I'm enjoying it thoroughly and to be honest, the difference in quality is staggering (and I'm just at the base game).

I think Anthem demonstrates how hard it is to do what Destiny makes appear very simple.

The Silver · Feb 24, 2019

Really though this game isn't going to kill Bioware. Dragon Age 4 is still going to happen, and THAT game will either be the studio's redemption or it's death knell. It's all they have left after ruining Mass Effect and EA won't let KOTOR 3 happen apparently.

Anthem has put BW in the dazed state that happens before a fatality. If they fuck up Dragon Age 4 then it will far easier for EA to get away with putting them down.

Heid · Feb 24, 2019

Servbot24 said:
I think this will hold at 60. I doubt Easy Allies would give it less than 6.

Being reviewed by Jones who just did Crackdown 3. Not sure if that'll be for it and against its favor lol

ByWatterson · Feb 24, 2019

Heid said:
Being reviewed by Jones who just did Crackdown 3. Not sure if that'll be for it and against its favor lol

Jones is also a Destiny guy, so I have a feeling the comparisons will be inevitable and unfavorable.

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