General Gaming Update: RIP in Peace, Anthem

[JPDunks4]

10 minutes ago, Spawn_of_Apathy said:

....that sounds like an expensive extra 10 hours.

 

 

Especially since I do not have EA Access now. That’s $60 for 20 hours. Which wouldn’t be bad if I was buying a game, but I already bought the $80 version of the game. 

 

I just wanna play it 

 

Yeah u can do $5.00 for a month.  I have a few Free Codes from preorders and what not that I used for my 2nd 10 hours.

[Spawn_of_Apathy]

2 minutes ago, atom631 said:

I’m pretty sure I pay $5/mo for ea access?  

I haven’t seen a $5 option on Xbox. I only ever see the $30/12mo option. 

 

I may may need to look again on the Xbox store. 

[Anzo]

Spoilers for that quest everyone hates. Consult this when you get to it I guess.

Spoiler

 

 

[Biggie]

40 minutes ago, Spawn_of_Apathy said:

....that sounds like an expensive extra 10 hours.

 

 

Especially since I do not have EA Access now. That’s $60 for 20 hours. Which wouldn’t be bad if I was buying a game, but I already bought the $80 version of the game. 

 

I just wanna play it 

I feel your pain. Looking at it pre-loaded on my Pro with the timer is torture.  

[Mr.Vic20]

OK, just wrapped up the main story quest. Pretty satisfying! Can't say much more until more folks have time to play through it. I cleared it as level 22 for reference. 

[atom631]

1 hour ago, Mr.Vic20 said:

OK, just wrapped up the main story quest. Pretty satisfying! Can't say much more until more folks have time to play through it. I cleared it as level 22 for reference. 

How long did it take?

[atom631]

My 10hr trial just ended. I wound up clearing 1 tomb. The others I am very close. I have get more combos, but I can’t figure out what exactly triggers a combo. I’ve gotten it work playing with others, but can get one to trigger solo. Playing as a ranger. 

 

Freeplay needs work. 

 

1.) they need a minimap 

2.) they need to incorporate the squad member status in hud like they do in the main missions. 

3.) squad should appear in the minimap 

4.) you should be notified of world events and they should also appear in the minimap

4.) I should be able to fast travel to striders in other areas. As of right now it’s quicker to leave the instance and reload in on the strider you want. 

5.) if a squad memeber is not in combat, you should be able to fast travel to them 

6.) they need more people in freeplay. It’s much to large for 4 people. Should be 12-16

 

the open world they created is intriguing and full of cool shit but as of right now feeeplay = solo play and a lot of the world events are tough solo. 

[Mr.Vic20]

10 minutes ago, atom631 said:

How long did it take?

I’m not 100% sure, but based on how much my facial hair has grown out, i’d Say 20 hours?  Keep in mind I did very side question that was offered and engaged in all the dialog options in town between every single quest.

[JPDunks4]

4 minutes ago, Mr.Vic20 said:

I’m not 100% sure, but based on how much my facial hair has grown out, i’d Say 20 hours?  Keep in mind I did very side question that was offered and engaged in all the dialog options in town between every single quest.

 

I am Level 17ish right now with I think 16 or so hours in.  I've been doing all side missions and contracts I can take as I move along.  I'm still technically on the Tomb's Mission, but have had all the requirements done, just was clearing all side content.  

 

I've tried the Stronghold on Hard with randoms, and damn I gave up.  My Javelin wasnt really upgraded properly either, but man my teammates were down all the time.  It feels harder than it did in the demo.

 

The developers have talked about being very excited for the 22nd, the real Launch Day cause thats when the Day 1 Patch Releases, and when the game actually goes Live in a sense..  That's where Im curious to see if we actually have a real living story being told continuously in game.  

 

I love the world and the gameplay, so I really look forward to where they take this in the future.

[JPDunks4]

13 minutes ago, atom631 said:

My 10hr trial just ended. I wound up clearing 1 tomb. The others I am very close. I have get more combos, but I can’t figure out what exactly triggers a combo. I’ve gotten it work playing with others, but can get one to trigger solo. Playing as a ranger. 

 

Freeplay needs work. 

 

1.) they need a minimap 

2.) they need to incorporate the squad member status in hud like they do in the main missions. 

3.) squad should appear in the minimap 

4.) you should be notified of world events and they should also appear in the minimap

4.) I should be able to fast travel to striders in other areas. As of right now it’s quicker to leave the instance and reload in on the strider you want. 

5.) if a squad memeber is not in combat, you should be able to fast travel to them 

6.) they need more people in freeplay. It’s much to large for 4 people. Should be 12-16

 

the open world they created is intriguing and full of cool shit but as of right now feeeplay = solo play and a lot of the world events are tough solo. 

 

Need to prime them with one element, like electricity then hit them with a blast.  If you freeze then melee.  Those are the 2 I have had with my own builds solo.  I run the Interceptor with Cryo Claive, Freeze enemies then do a drop attack melee and it combos.  

 

Agree with most your issues with Free Play.  I like the overall activity in Freeplay, as I fly around there seems to be stuff happening quite frequently around me to engage with.  But I have to constantly pause to figure out where I'm going kind of. Using the compass more has helped though, but a mini map would be nice.

[skillzdadirecta]

27 minutes ago, JPDunks4 said:

 

I am Level 17ish right now with I think 16 or so hours in.  I've been doing all side missions and contracts I can take as I move along.  I'm still technically on the Tomb's Mission, but have had all the requirements done, just was clearing all side content.  

 

I've tried the Stronghold on Hard with randoms, and damn I gave up.  My Javelin wasnt really upgraded properly either, but man my teammates were down all the time.  It feels harder than it did in the demo.

 

The developers have talked about being very excited for the 22nd, the real Launch Day cause thats when the Day 1 Patch Releases, and when the game actually goes Live in a sense..  That's where Im curious to see if we actually have a real living story being told continuously in game.  

 

I love the world and the gameplay, so I really look forward to where they take this in the future.

It is harder than the demo... I did a mission on hard and we got the the end and the boss was a fire titan. He would down us with one hit with a fire attack. After wiping a couple of times,  me and my squad of randoms finally beat it and it was just three of us. I was definitely the runt of the litter, I was level 8 and the other two guys were level 13 and 14.

[ALIEN-gunner]

I had a feeling you all were just beta testing.

[Anzo]

@atom631 Abilities with a Circle/dot in the corner are Priming abilities. The ones with an explosion looking thing in the corner are detonators. When you hit then with a priming ability you will see a status effect above their head (freeze, flame, shock etc.) At that point you hit them with the detonator and PING! Combo pops up. Melee attacks are always detonators.

[Xbob42]

I really love the gameplay in this. Do yourself a favor and don't play it like a shooter. You have guns, and they do work, but your big boy damage comes from your abilities, especially combos. If you're running around on foot firing an assault rifle constantly, you're fucking up in a major way. Get in the air and use your abilities every single time they're off cooldown, watch for friendly primers and detonate accordingly.

 

Keep your gear, including your abilities, up to date. Even if an ability is really cool or fun, if it's 10 levels out of date you're gonna be in a bad way outside of baby difficulties, which you should not be on since they're boring and encourage bad habits that have you crying about damage sponges and things being "impossible" the second you're required to actually play the game.

 

Use your fucking dodge button, and fly! Dodge seems to have iframes or prevent enemies from targeting you, so use it liberally to avoid big hits and get behind cover, or just to to buy time for a cooldown. Flying is almost always an option and can be used to buy lots of time and escape hordes of enemies. Don't just sit in a corner getting wrecked like this is Destiny or The Division. Your defensive options are super powerful and you should never let them slip from your mind.

 

If you're not a Colossus or under heavy fire, you should be doing a lot of bombarding while hovering or while flying by, lots of abilities still work while in proper flight, and I know Storm gets more powerful shields while hovering to assist with its bombardment-specific playstyle. Storm should seriously be like 80/20 abilities to shots fired if you're playing as that javelin.

 

You will absolutely find the game pretty boring if you're playing it like a shooter. This is a cooldown based RPG, not Borderlands. Be more active, do more stuff, have more fun, all while being significantly more effective.

 

Seeing how boring everyone plays by default has really cemented the idea that gamers tend to be really uncreative and like doing the same thing without change. No fucking wonder people hate wallrunning, they just wanna run down a hallway and shoot another assault rifle for the 30th time this week.

 

None of this creates end game content or changes the mission structure, which sounds like it needs work, but at the very least you'll be having fun.

[Mr.Vic20]

All good advice! If you are a colossus though, use your melee! Double jump then ground pound! It leads combos galore and often does more damage, more quickly than your guns!

[Xbob42]

That said, don't let my wall of text excuse the game's absolutely abysmal job of training you on this shit. One of the things I hope is patched on real release is better tutorialization and tooltips.

 

 

I think this game has the potential to be really fucking awesome, but I'm getting some Destiny vibes from it feeling like it was pushed out the door too early. Not quite as "what the fuck is this" as I had with the original Destiny (or Destiny 2 after a month) but definitely in that direction. Luckily, also like Destiny, the gameplay is really solid. Except this time around I can be the one saying that instead of yelling "Holding L2 and R2 isn't good gameplay no matter how good the guns feel!" while everyone devours my flesh.

 

1 minute ago, Mr.Vic20 said:

All good advice! If you are a colossus though, use your melee! Double jump then ground pound! It leads combos galore and often does more damage, more quickly than your guns!

Also excellent advice! The classes all seem to truly play differently from each other, with core mechanics of "how" to play being very different. Again, I make a comparison to Destiny, where they made enough abilities for a single class, and then split that into 3 classes that didn't feel unique from each other at all when you were actually playing most of the time. They weren't EXACTLY the same, but it just wasn't enough. Here, a Colossus and a Storm are nothing alike, at all.

[Spawn_of_Apathy]

59 minutes ago, Xbob42 said:

That said, don't let my wall of text excuse the game's absolutely abysmal job of training you on this shit. One of the things I hope is patched on real release is better tutorialization and tooltips.

 

 

Maybe it’s because of my experience with Division, Destiny, and Mass Effect that I did not feel there needed to be a tutorial. At least not an intrusive one with a pop up article or on screen prompts that do not go away until you do what the game wants. 

 

In Mass Effect I always play with a heavier power focus, because I can. In Destiny and Division I try to, but the cool down times are much longer. So from the Demo Anthem felt more like what I have been wanting. A power focused looter. 

 

And because there have have not been anything telling me how I should play, I feel more like I have been developing my own “style”. While nowhere near as difficult, I imagine this is how Dark Souls fans feel about that franchise. 

[Xbob42]

1 minute ago, Spawn_of_Apathy said:

Maybe it’s because of my experience with Division, Destiny, and Mass Effect that I did not feel there needed to be a tutorial. At least not an intrusive one with a pop up article or on screen prompts that do not go away until you do what the game wants. 

 

In Mass Effect I always play with a heavier power focus, because I can. In Destiny and Division I try to, but the cool down times are much longer. So from the Demo Anthem felt more like what I have been wanting. A power focused looter. 

 

And because there have have not been anything telling me how I should play, I feel more like I have been developing my own “style”. While nowhere near as difficult, I imagine this is how Dark Souls fans feel about that franchise. 

That's all fine and well, but you don't boot up Dark Souls and play it like CoD by mistake for 20 hours before you realize there are literally over a dozen systems that could've been helping you play far better. There's absolutely depth and stuff not explained in Dark Souls, but no one is relying on you. It's just you. When you realize you have been the shitty person on the team who keeps wiping the group because you didn't understand combo aura pulse rates, then that's not a fun moment of discovery, it's a failure of teaching. It doesn't have to show you how to play, but it should absolutely let you know what systems exist and accurately describe what they do.

And also a stat screen. FFS it's an RPG.

[Mr.Vic20]

As more and more players clear the initial campaign and th difficulty level rises, the lack of combat systems knowledge will become more apparent. I saw way too many rangers just sitting at a distance endlessly plunking away with a rifle. Not gonna get the job done little Johnny! 

[skillzdadirecta]

To be fair, anyone who has played a Mass Effect game would know to use your powers as often as possible.  While the game CAN be played like a straight shooter, that's just not the best way to play it and get the most out of it. Every year it seems like gamers get lazier and lazier and want games spoon fed to them... whatever happened to learning how to play something? I remember when it "clicked" for me how to properly play Mass Effect I couldn't wait to try each class. Same with different builds in games like Dragon Age and Dark Souls. Not every shooting based game is meant to be played like GOW, Halo, COD etc...

 

Also does anyone bother to read the codex entries? There's a lot of info in those about gameplay and abilities... again, nothing new in Bioware games. This is how they've ALWAYS conveyed info in their games.

[Keyser_Soze]

20 minutes ago, skillzdadirecta said:

Also does anyone bother to read the codex entries?

 

I listened to them because the game won't take away the exclamation point till you do and the guy had a cool voice. (In Mass Effect)

[Anzo]

Ok, in free play they absolutely need to add a waypoint system. Using the icons up in the compass is not intuitive at all. 

[Spawn_of_Apathy]

49 minutes ago, skillzdadirecta said:

 

Also does anyone bother to read the codex entries? There's a lot of info in those two about gameplay and abilities... again, nothing new in Bioware games. This us how they've ALWAYS conveyed info in their games.

I do, but when time allowed to play the game is finite.  I will read them all starting 2/22. 

 

I guess ine one thing they could have done is having an very early game mission, or significant part of a mission where you have no ammo, and ammo drops don’t happen. Your Cypher suggest using your skills and utilizing aerial mobility. This way the player can see how fast they recharge and see how much damage they do. Once they kill a few waves of enemies ammo drops again right as another wave comes in. Now they can quickly compare damage output of their gun and skills. 

[JPDunks4]

It is shocking how people try to play this like a cover shooter, then whine about how its not very good.  

 

I literally almost never use my guns using my Interceptor.  Just skills and melee and zipping all over.  

 

I'm still pretty shocked by the hate the games getting.  The world is really quite amazing, gameplay is very solid.  Mission Structure is repetitive, but what game like this isnt?  

 

For a Looter Shooter, the story is pretty far above most others, and I see so many complaining about having to talk to people in town.  "Why do I have to waste time talking to people in town about stupid things, I just want to play".  Its like they never payed a Bioware game before.  All these little conversations will probably lead to something down the line, thats the beauty of their games.

 

I'm still loving it, can't stop playing.... 

[Mr.Vic20]

11 minutes ago, JPDunks4 said:

It is shocking how people try to play this like a cover shooter, then whine about how its not very good.  

 

I literally almost never use my guns using my Interceptor.  Just skills and melee and zipping all over.  

 

I'm still pretty shocked by the hate the games getting.  The world is really quite amazing, gameplay is very solid.  Mission Structure is repetitive, but what game like this isnt?  

 

For a Looter Shooter, the story is pretty far above most others, and I see so many complaining about having to talk to people in town.  "Why do I have to waste time talking to people in town about stupid things, I just want to play".  Its like they never payed a Bioware game before.  All these little conversations will probably lead to something down the line, thats the beauty of their games.

 

I'm still loving it, can't stop playing.... 

This game will continue to get such criticism as it’s attempting to merge an action RPG MMO lite with a traditional nail RPGs sensibilities in story telling, all at the same time trying to court John Q COD. It’s an in possible balancing act and one I feel they are handling well so far. I do worry that they won’t be. Able to pump out enough content to keep my interest long term though, as the  quality of the narrative does not scream “monthly story updates!”

[AlwaysDyingX]

13 hours ago, ALIEN-gunner said:

I had a feeling you all were just beta testing.

 

 

Are you ever not a salty bitch? 

[Mr.Vic20]

Could not disagree with PC Gamer's take on Anthem more! 

 

https://www.pcgamer.com/anthem-review/

 

The story is forgettable?! Really, how? It fun, has layers with big arches and little one to weaver a world of great stakes and private, smaller problems! Its the opposite of what they are saying. What game did they play? 

[Spawn_of_Apathy]

I only played an hour last night. Yes, I got a month of Ea access just for this. I hate myself I gave ea $5 more to reward this stupid staggered release schedule cash grab scheme, but god dammit, I wanted to play. I plan to play the remaining 9 hours across my off days, Tue-Thur this week. 

 

I got right past where I picked my Javelin and did a little customizing on it. I’m going with Storm, which was my favorite from the Demo. 

 

 

Now apparently guns will have some importance in the end game. BioWare said the Ranger will e the only class that can use a weapon type that penetrates enemy shields. If the gun packs enough of a punch then during Strongholds and such it will be the Ranger’s job to prioritize those shielded assholes. While Infiltrators and Storms work on decimating ground targets. 

 

I love how how animated and big some of the personalities are in the game. Their voice acting and animations really grab my attention. Maybe I just haven’t encountered it yet, but I have seen criticism of bland story and one dimensional flat characters. I don’t see it. So either everything goes way down hill, or people are full of shit, trying to hate the game. 

[AlwaysDyingX]

4 minutes ago, Mr.Vic20 said:

Could not disagree with PC Gamer's take on Anthem more! 

 

https://www.pcgamer.com/anthem-review/

 

The story is forgettable?! Really, how? It fun, has layers with big arches and little one to weaver a world of great stakes and private, smaller problems! Its the opposite of what they are saying. What game did they play? 

 

Interesting. I haven't finished the story but I think this other article is very on point.  


https://www.pcgamer.com/anthems-8-biggest-problems-so-far/

 

 

I downloaded it through Premiere so no big loss for me lol. 

 

 

[Mr.Vic20]

20 minutes ago, BasemntDweller2 said:

 

Interesting. I haven't finished the story but I think this other article is very on point.  


https://www.pcgamer.com/anthems-8-biggest-problems-so-far/

 

 

I downloaded it through Premiere so no big loss for me lol. 

 

 

I agree with some of those points, but not all.

 

Example, changing your gear in "free play". The free part clearly refers to allowing you to travel the world while not being locked into a specific mission. Why does that necessitate allowing user to change our load outs on the fly? Do we think the Javelins have a pocket TARDUS? How does the lack of ability to change load outs on the fly not make it a free mode? 

 

Pacing issues? Come on people, I'm not a "Git gud!" guy but seriously, its one mission where you have to explore the world for a few hours! God forbid you spend time in this world people! Its a quest clearly designed to take a break midway through the story and say, "learn to do these things, you'll need to know how later!"

 

Disjointed game, Again I disagree! It has main missions, side missions, and lore. They all go together pretty smoothly actually.  There is exactly ONE mandatory gated mission (as per my comment above. LET IT GO FOLKS! )

 

I do however 100% agree with the load screen issues in general, and the ridiculous, catch up or you get another load screen! (guessing that's a frostbite engine issue)

 

Look, EA is a big, questionable corporation, and they don't need me to come to their defense,. That said, I will defend this game because half the complaints I'm hearing are either just kinda crazy (the story is good compared to most of these types of games and very much a human tale!) The n there is the one mission people hate, which drags the whole thing down? SUUUUURE. Come on, it does way more right than it does wrong! LAST TIME, LET. IT. GO! You've done harder things in other games, that were far more boring! I'll guarantee it! 

 

 IF I have any complaint/fear about Anthem its that they won't be able to kick out the content as fast as gamers would like. I really hope they have a month on month strategy and don't pull a Destiny where story an world building gets and update about once every 6 months-year and the rest is just new tournaments, weapons, and vanity items.  

 

 

 

 

[Anzo]

I don’t quite know what these reviewers were doing where they hadn’t even revived a single person let alone 3. Maybe it’s because I’ve been playing on hard but I’ve revived numerous people by now. 

 

I started the Tombs mission and found two of them before work. Most of the stuff was already completed! 

 

My one gripe with those is what I posted earlier today. Let me mark a tomb with a way point to be able to find it more easily. I don’t know the map like the back of my hand yet so a little help until I get to that point would be nice. 

[Mr.Vic20]

Now this is a legit complaint and NOT something you want happening in a story driven game!

 

https://www.pcgamer.com/anthem-bug-sends-low-level-players-into-the-final-mission/?utm_content=bufferdb5c5&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=buffer-pcgamertw

 

 

[Spawn_of_Apathy]

I wasn’t planning on doing quick play until I beat the story anyways. But good to know there’s a good reason. 

[Mr.Vic20]

Just broke 300! Purples are starting to drop more commonly! 

[JPDunks4]

@Mr.Vic20 you stated you had done all the story and side missions and contracts right? and were Level 20?

 

You sure you did all the Character side missions?  I'm still plugging away at all of it and hit Level 20 now.  I still seem to have so many side stories and still the main story line to do as well.