Anthem - BioWare's take on Destiny

It could also be that the games getting pilloried just are that bad. It’s not like there aren’t other games getting great reviews at the same time. Right now, there’s another EA game averaging in the high 80’s even though it has all the ingredients for the influencer crowd to tear into it. EA, GaaS, battle royale, F2P, takes the place of a full sequel to a well-liked franchise. Somehow, Apex has run the gauntlet of negativity and come out strong. Weird.

Angry Joe, despite his moniker and histrionics, gives high scores out all the time. He very much likes Apex, for example, even while he made fun of the cosmetics costs.

Anthem is a victim of its own pre-release hype. They created expectations they didn’t live up to. It makes a lot more sense to keep your cards closer to the vest these days because people expect you to deliver on what you promise. In this case, it seems like there are a lot of things they didn’t deliver on.

That no one knew what an Apex Legend was before two Mondays ago really helped that game become a phenomenon. They delivered something no one knew they wanted, for free, and it’s really good.

It doesn’t pay to assign too much meaning to reviews anyway. They’ve never really been indicators of how much I’m going to like a game, but that may be due to idiosyncratic tastes in my part.

Which is not to say I don’t like or don’t read reviews. I love a well-written review that gives me insight into what parts work or don’t work for the reviewer, what they like or don’t like and why. But that’s as much for appreciation of good writing as anything else.

On of the most famous “Destiny” guys gave his impressions about Anthem:

Honestly, I welcome the shift in review scores. Getting a 7 just for showing up then only going up from there (for most big AAA games with massive marketing budgets) was too milquetoast for me.

Games are entering into an extremely crowded space in 2019. Anthem is competing against a whole slew of GaaS titles that are free, have years of refinement/support/, or better execute the core gameplay loop. It is a latecomer to a sub-genre that demands huge amounts of player attention and engagement.

There also may be a sea change in the hobby where the audience is becoming fatigued with the GaaS model and its dreadful reliance on excessive repetition to create content and solicit engagement.

So this just happened…

I can’t believe they call it Loot, instead of something more in-game lore appropriate.

So, how much loot did you have?

Guessing about 50 items maybe.

The “unlock” thing for Masterwork items is kinda nice. Noticed there is a little symbol showing how many of them it will unlock for you.

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You have a fair point, though the other key with Apex is that it is free.

I don’t agree that Anthem hasn’t lived up to the hype. I think they delivered exactly what they have been showing. They couldn’t possibly have been more transparent overall (a couple of exceptions, like microtransactions). This is not No Man’s Sky. They told exactly what the game was going to be and they delivered it. You don’t have to like it, let alone love it like I do, but they most certainly did deliver what they promised. And I expect it to get better and better with time.

There’s a brief comparison of loading times on HD/SSD on RPS. I see now why people are complaining!

Supposed to get better on Friday crosses fingers. My system is hybrid (hdd with a large ssd cache) and Oscuros is on an hdd. It regularly takes him a good two minutes more than me to load in.

This is what blueprints are for.

Generally, if you use a weapon enough, you unlock blueprints for the weapon that let you craft a new one with embers. This is effectively “rerolling” it, except that it doesn’t destroy an existing one.

Looks like Anthem is native 4K on Xbox One X.

It definitely looks really good. As primarily a PC gamer I do wish I had more controls over graphics settings. As good as it looks, I’d trade it for another 10-20 FPS in a game like this. I’m still torn on whether to purchase it on the Xbox (I want to play this from the couch) or PC (performance and friends) for that reason.

Once Blur actually can be disabled on the 22nd you might get those extra 10-20 fps’.

Would be nice to be also able to disable bloom.

Full patch notes from the day one patch.

High level fixes

  • Improved loading times
  • Fixed many infinite loading screens
  • Fixed multiple challenges not tracking properly
  • A number of issues have been fixed that were causing players to disconnect or crash
  • Weapons and gear now have numbers present for modifiers

General Fixes and Improvements

  • Loot Reveal and Expedition Summary now correctly play during the end of expedition screen.
  • The gather party mechanic has been made more lenient in a number of situations
  • At the end of expedition screen players will no longer get stuck on “Recording Victories” or “Skipping All”.
  • Game no longer hangs in Javelin menu when unlocking the second, third or fourth javelin
  • During the mission “What Freelancers Do” dying after killing Junkmaw & freeing Arcanists leaves you unable to progress, this has been fixed
  • Challenges now unlock for players at the correct levels
  • Fixed some camera issues during cutscenes
  • Legendary Contracts can now be accepted from the Social Hub contract board
  • Some enemies have had their shield values decreased
  • Loot now properly drops for players who are downed
  • The texture quality on the NPC Prospero has been improved
  • Final boss of strongholds now drop loot instead of only being shown on the end of expedition screen
  • Fixed the time outs on echoes and relics to prevent griefing and to handle disconnections properly
  • Players can no longer fall through the floor during the 3rd trial in the Fortress of Dawn
  • Completing the tutorial expedition will now show the correct Ranger appearance
  • After disconnecting, rejoining an expedition will now place you back into a squad if you were in one previously
  • Corrected an issue where players could not interact with each other in the launch bay in certain circumstances
  • Corrected an issue during the Mission “Bad Deal” where outlaws won’t spawn, blocking progress
  • The start of expedition screen has been improved
  • Addressed a variety of situations where killing enemies does not properly progress world events
  • Opening a chest now increments Tomb of the Legionnaire progress for all squad members present
  • Scar snipers can no longer shoot through Storm Shield
  • Corrected an issue where players would get stuck on the end of expedition screen in some situations
  • Players will no longer get disconnected if joining the “Finding Old Friends” mission while the cinematic is playing
  • Addressed a number of situations where players can get stuck on the environment in the launch bay
  • Increased the damage of the electric status effect
  • Corrected an issue where the Shield of Dawn could be crafted with less materials then intended in some situations
  • The Platinum Mission feat now grants completion as intended
  • Status effects can more reliably be applied to Titans

Stronghold s

  • Fixed an issue that would cause a Stronghold server crash after defeating the last boss
  • Temple of Scar - Players can no longer get stuck in the mined tunnel in the explosives room
  • Temple of Scar - Players can no longer be blocked from entering the explosives room due to fog wall
  • Fixed Tyrant Mine so people that join the stronghold in-progress do not end up locked away from their team
  • Adjusted lighting in Tyrant Mine underwater section to make it easier to navigate to the exit
  • The Swarm Tyrant will no longer get stuck in the side cave entrances in some situations
  • Corrected an issue where players would spawn into different areas of the Tyrant Mine in certain situations

Gear and Weapons

  • After having 1st pilot unlock suit after tutorials, creating a new pilot and going to forge no longer causes load screen hang
  • Ice damage bonuses are now correctly applied on ice gear
  • Suit-wide bonuses from inscription are now functioning properly
  • Players can no longer salvage equipped items
  • Javelin specific gear and/or weapons are no longer able to be used on javelins they aren’t intended for
  • Corrected an issue where in some circumstances Masterwork Components do not have any inscriptions
  • The Endless Siege Masterwork Autocannon no longer displays a damage increase of 0% in its tooltip

Javelins

  • The Colossus javelin is now able to activate its shield more quickly after using an ability or firing a weapon
  • The Storm javelin now reacts to getting hit when its shields are up
  • Fixed an exploit that allowed the Storm’s ultimate attack to be used more times than intended
  • The Colossus javelin can now shield and revive at the same time
  • Interceptor Combo Aura has been increased in power and now has a damage over time component

Crafting

  • Non-Masterwork materials purchased from the crafting store now show as their proper rarity instead of incorrectly showing as Masterwork

Controls

  • Additional Mouse and Keyboard control improvements have been made

UI

  • Some conversations were not popping up the reputation points post conversation completion, this has been fixed
  • The squad screen now displays the correct information for each player
  • Fixed a number of issues where subtitles will no longer get stuck on the screen after dialogue has finished as often
  • Settings should no longer reset upon exiting and restarting the game on Xbox One
  • Motion blur can now correctly be turned off
  • The Electric Status Effect now shows scaled damage properly
  • An option has been added to hide the Squad Member HUD
  • The edge of the compass will now pulse to indicate enemy locations
  • A notification has been added in Fort Tarsis if a player’s vault is at the cap of 250 items
  • On the “Repair the Strider” step of “A Cry for Help” the search radar has been adjusted to correctly lead the player to all 4 tools
  • Primer and Detonator icons have been added to all Interceptor gear
  • Corrected a user interface issue where a player’s ultimate would show as available when it isn’t

Looks like same list as yesterday?

Also, another (hopefully better) livestream tomorrow at 1pm Pacific

I’d play with you on Xbox, or anyone else who wants to group up. I have a debilitating fear of the average 13 year old gamer.

A youtuber goes into detailed description of issues of the endgame, after playing 30 hours
edit : you are right Rock8man!