Anthem [PC, PS4, XBone] - February 22nd 2019

[DjchunKfunK]

Getting Dragon Age 4 out this year would be some job considering the last we heard anything about the game it was that the small development team that was working on it had been moved and the project put on hold. It's going to be at least 2 years before we see a new Dragon Age game.

[Sly Boots]

If they really are expecting 10m sales in the first week or two and anything less will be considered a failure then it's not looking good. I'm not business-minded but I've never understood the mentality that growth must be constant, as it seems obvious to me that eventually you'll hit a ceiling, as has happened with AAA games in the past few years, the market is only so big - arguably smaller given the increasing number of games competing for the same segment of live-service games that demand weeks, months, years of your full attention and continued investment.

[Wrathbone]

Getting Dragon Age 4 out this year would be some job considering the last we heard anything about the game it was that the small development team that was working on it had been moved and the project put on hold. It's going to be at least 2 years before we see a new Dragon Age game.

I think it was right about when EA devoured Bioware that DA2 was rushed out the door at breakneck speed. I can see them attempting something similar for DA4 if they want a fast cash injection. I hope they don't - I'd much rather they take their time and get it right, assuming they're allowed that opportunity.

Back to Anthem, I watched some gameplay last night and I can't get my head around how boring it looks. If it wasn't a Bioware game I wouldn't pay it even a mite of attention. As it stands, I'm paying it precisely one mite of attention on the basis that I don't want Bioware to collapse. The game itself seems worse than I'd imagined.

[Lee]

But this is Bioware making said game then isn't that damning on what to expect from the next Dragon Age? I mean there is hope for the next title but when you have a pattern then it's more a delusional fantasy.

[Raid]

I'm not business-minded but I've never understood the mentality that growth must be constant,

It's just executives trying to look good to shareholders so that they don't get kicked out. If not, shareholders will start looking at others promising bigger returns year on year, even if they're not actually possible. Jim Sterling talks about this ad nauseum, but he's right, growth in this market simply isn't sustainable at the rate it's at now, as people are getting more and more jaded it seems. Anthem is supposedly going to be charging $20 for a skin, which is a ridiculous figure when you can buy entire games for less money. It's possible that information was leaked to guage user responses, or to launch at a lower cost and appear more reasonable by comparison.

[Mantis]

The price of micro transactions for skins is only going to become more outrageous as time goes on given that so many countries are looking at severely limiting or outright banning loot boxes. Publishers like EA and Take Two were able to sustain such significant growth year on year largely as a result of exploiting loot box mechanics, EA in particular makes an ungodly amount of money from FIFA Ultimate Team. They're still raking it in, but the publishers won't have a choice but to diversify a little in order to keep the gains coming.

The pricing for items on Fallout 76 was similarly laughable. Moreso because of how bad the game was.

[Snowy]

I know I am in the minority, but a Bioware game is not such a draw for me. I have tended to find their titles tedious more often than not. The Mass Effect game I played put me off ever trying any of the others (think it was 2), same for the Dragon Age game (couldn't tell you which it was - just remember glacial plot advancement and death by conversation between characters who I almost universally disliked).

Shocking disclosure, I never played Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale or Planetscape Torment, so can't comment on those.

But yeah, what I have played from them has not impressed me, so will be avoiding this steaming little number like the turd it is looking like being!

KOTOR was pretty good as I recall, but SW:TOR was pish.

[Lee]

Both Icewind Dale and Planescape Torment was from Black isle

For me they haven't done anything remotely as good as Dragon Age Origins but that game was delayed to make sure it was good.

[DjchunKfunK]

I think Mass Effect 1 and 2 are good games, not Bioware's finest but good games in their own right. It's been a steady decline since then though.

[Sly Boots]

Kind of agree. While technically ME3 was superior in many ways to both predecessors, and it's certainly not a bad game, of the trilogy it's the one I've replayed the least, in fact I think I've only completed it fully the once and subsequent replay efforts have fizzled out long before the end.

DAO was excellent and have replayed multiple times. DA2 had many issues, which I've gone on about at length in the past, but the central premise (staying in the same city and influencing events there over the course of a decade) and main story are pretty good. It's also the shortest game, about 30 hours probably, and together those mean despite its flaws I've replayed several times. It's main issues stem from it being rushed out, imo, but the foundations are fairly solid. DAI... I'm coming to near the end of my replay, and total play time for the two campaigns I've done is apparently around the 220 hour mark (and I've still got the last main story section and Trespasser DLC to go). That's... an unreasonable size imho. The story picks up pretty well after you've endured the dirge of the opening 20 hours and areas, but there's still so many huge areas you have to trawl through, and side missions keep sending you back to places you've already been so many times... as I've been playing it the game it most recalls to my mind is Guild Wars 2. It's basically an MMO with a (for the most part) better story.

For DA4 I would definitely like them to rein that in a bit, and take the best bits from all the predecessors - get a killer premise and story, and make the action fun and breezy enough so it doesn't ever feel like a chore or busywork. More is not necessarily better - forget the busywork filler fetch quests, focus on content that is meaningful and impactful. The game doesn't need to be 100+ hours, I'd much rather play a game a third the length where everything was as tight and engaging as it could possibly be.

[DjchunKfunK]

ME3 felt like the game when Bioware's storytelling fell apart. Since then they haven't been able to tell a good story.

[Lee]

Aye ME 1 was goodish and felt like a more action oritented RPG but 2 went more towards action even if it had the better story. 3 was just shoot shoot shoot and I got tired of it real quickly. Thankfully didn't pay for it so was all good and 4th I just staid well clear of.

[Mantis]

Ironically it was after ME3 that the two founders of Bioware left the studio. People always prescribe so much acclaim to certain studios when the reality is that it's people who make games, and without a strong creative force/team at the head of a project there is no guarantee at all that they will produce anything of worth.

Bioware is just a name, hence why they managed to turn out such a mess with the last Mass Effect because it was just a random B Team. EA can dissolve the studio for all I care.

[DjchunKfunK]

Not sure how much the Doctors really had to do with the Mass Effect series, was more Casey Hudson as Creative Director.

[Mantis]

Who also left after Mass Effect 3, and I'm sure plenty more people have come and gone since then too. I wasn't saying it was necessarily the two founders who were behind every great thing that they did, just making the point that a studio is just a bunch of people at the end of the day and people expecting a game to be good just because it's made by the same studio who made game X are probably going to be disappointed in the end somewhere down the line.