3227

They must not have consulted @Alstein. I think he chose Anthem as his absolute best gaming experience in the world this year.

3228

Eh, I think calling Anthem the worst game of the year is hyperbole to the max, and I say that as someone who has been harshly critical of it.

The game didn’t have enough stuff to do, was buggy, and had a bad story, but worst game of the entire year? No. Most disappointing? Most unmet expectations? Sure. Though that assumes you had high expectations going in, and I think most people were very skeptical by then.

Reminds me a bit of Andromeda, where the gleeful internet pile-on sorta destroyed any sense of objective assessment - though I think Andromeda was a better game than Anthem.

This mostly tells me Joe doesn’t play nearly enough games to make such lists.

3229

I think it was Alastair who did in a moment of being contrary like Armond White. His pick of it as GOTY is obviously a subjective personal choice not borne out by any other notable votes of support for it as GOTY from games media or players. There will always be some rube that picks something that’s otherwise reviled.

Anthem had only a small speck of an enjoyable gameplay loop that was wasted and undeveloped because the whole game is not even finished. It is bad at being a looter shooter because the loot still is horrible (RNG on top of RNG with only some useless prefixes removed in a hitfix at launch but others like bonus 0% or + dmg on non dmg ability continue for months) and they failed in fundamentals needed for an always online multiplayer game with broken netcode, server instability, no text chat still, for months. The high production value of the art assets went towards … nothing with the game unfinished. The magnitude of Anthem’s abject failure and inability to deliver on the craven Games As A Service model should not relegate it to merely “most disappointing.” Its anti-consumer roadmap failure needs to be made an example of. Add to it the behind the scenes human cost of corporate mismanagement and burnout make it a dumpster fire.

Compounding the deceptive roadmap, the shit-tactic months long radio silence non communication with the players interrupted infrequently with useless updates from the CM’s personal Twitter account set a new low bar for community engagement after the constant back-and-forth communication when the players were uncritical right up to launch. It all disappeared at launch.

I enjoyed and finished Andromeda twice.

3230

Damn. I get all these people with letter avatars confused. I can’t be arsed to read actual names.

3231

I see he picked the consumer-hostile Breakpoint too. Anyways I didn’t in the GOTY thread and won’t criticize him here personally for his choice except make my own case why Anthem continues to be deserving of being called out for being the fucking worst.

3232

Huh, I never played the game. No idea why I’m mentioned here.

3233

Whatever you do, don’t read anything past the post you replied to.

3234

It’s an unknowable mystery to be certain.

3235

Andromeda was hot garbage.

3236

It was nothing of the sort.

3237

Haha, the timesavers part for Ghost Recon was great.

1-555-GOFCK-URSELF as the phone number to call to order it. lol.

Even had the old VHS scanlines, good one.

3238

Will the last person left in the Anthem office turn off the (Christmas) lights?

3239

This is Anthem’s Icetide seasonal event, which was extended to run through February. This wasn’t an oversight. The author has not done his homework.

3240

The Icetide event is pretty good. They have taken the Cataclysm mechanics and applied them to Strongholds, rotating to different ones each week. The legendaries drop rate has been drastically increased, and there are some great QOL changes (e.g., mass salvage).

This isn’t 2.0 yet, but I’m having fun tooling around and getting good loot again.

3241

Speaking of not doing homework, the article mentions this, haha.

“The Icetide event was added to the game back in December, adding festive wreaths and holiday lights, as well as blanketing its sprawling landscapes in a beautiful coat of fresh snow. The celebration was originally supposed to wrap up by now, a couple of weeks ago, BioWare decided to have it continue through into this month. Take that, Groundhog Phil.”

I suspect they did it because they simply have nothing else coming up in the near future, so why not. It just makes for a pretty poignant image.

3242

OK, so he’s just an idiot. I stand corrected.

3243

Anthem 2.0 confirmed, more or less, but it’s not close. Here is the text of a blog post today from Bioware’s GM, Casey Hudson:

Hey everyone!

One year ago, we were preparing to launch Anthem – a game that represented a big leap into new territory for us as a studio. It was an exhilarating and terrifying experience to go out to the world with something new and different, and we are grateful to all the players who have come along with us on the journey. It has been a thrill for us to see the creativity of our players in designing customized Javelins, and watching them master Anthem’s flying and fighting gameplay. I am so proud of the work the team has put into this game, and at the same time there’s so much more that we – and you – would have wanted from it.

Over the last year, the team has worked hard to improve stability, performance and general quality of life while delivering three seasons of new content and features. We have also heard your feedback that Anthem needs a more satisfying loot experience, better long-term progression and a more fulfilling end game. So we recognize that there’s still more fundamental work to be done to bring out the full potential of the experience, and it will require a more substantial reinvention than an update or expansion. Over the coming months we will be focusing on a longer-term redesign of the experience, specifically working to reinvent the core gameplay loop with clear goals, motivating challenges and progression with meaningful rewards – while preserving the fun of flying and fighting in a vast science-fantasy setting. And to do that properly we’ll be doing something we’d like to have done more of the first time around – giving a focused team the time to test and iterate, focusing on gameplay first.

In the meantime, we will continue to run the current version of Anthem, but move away from full seasons as the team works towards the future of Anthem. We’ll keep the game going with events, store refreshes, and revisiting past seasonal and cataclysm content – starting with our anniversary towards the end of the month.

Creating new worlds is central to our studio mission, but it’s not easy. Sometimes we get it right, sometimes we miss. What keeps us going is the support from players like you. Your feedback gives us guidance on how we can improve, and your passion inspires us with the courage to create. I look forward to working together with your involvement and feedback towards the best possible future for Anthem.

Casey

Summary: We’re re-working the game, no timelines given, and no new content in the meantime

Link (which is down at the moment):

https://blog.bioware.com/2020/02/10/anthem-update-february-10/

3244

Maybe they could team up with Valve and release an Anthem/Artifact super reboot bundle when the time comes.

3245

They should re-launch it on Stadia too.

So no new content until whenever after a year of Iraqi-misinformation-minister-levels of lying about reworking since launch. Thanks for the no-update in September before he the Live Services VP bailed to found a new startup. This is as meaningless an update as that one.

“The rides are all broken, but the gift shop is open 24 hours. Pardon our dust!” - Keep buying the in-game store crap!

Just shut it down and focus on DA4.

3246

What? The only story about a big rework came from a journalist. Bioware has been completely silent about the game’s future for quite a long time. I can’t see how that could be characterized as lying.

You need to let this go, man… it almost seems unhealthy to hate something that much.