Bioware General (Mass Effect/Dragon Age/Other)

[Alienmorph]

Pretty much. The general consensus seems to be "It's not as borked as Destiny2, but not as fun to play as Warframe. It's just kind of there."

And it's worth remembering the demo is the version with the tweaked difficulty and the main marketplace turned off. So all the main grinding and microtransactions b.s. is yet to be put in.

[Alienmorph]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZcD341WO0U

What a surprise...

[Someone With Mass]

They EA'd it up again.

[magnuskn]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IKs4d5oj04

[TTTX]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Faiix6sXmxo

Came across this video.

Thought I share it.

[Alienmorph]

Aw, the way the guy in the video is trying to fool himself to think BioWare wouldn't let EA to force the next Mass Effect to not be Multiplayer only, or very MP-heavy, is kind of adorable. Wish I was still that naive, in a way.

Either BW dies, or EA will force them to "Anthem-up" all their games to some capacity. And unlike Bungie with Activision they can't just walk away, because they aren't just partners with the rEApers, they got bought out by them.

All that's left to see is if the company dies with a whimper or with a bang.

[magnuskn]

Shot in the back of the head, to join the other studios murdered by EA, I always say.

[Alienmorph]

[Someone With Mass]

Ah, yes. The best strategy when you're failing. Copy Ubisoft and their twenty thousand different game versions.

[TheodoricFriede]

Why not? It worked for Battlefield V.

(What? Really? Oh... Oh god. How many? Fuuuck.)

Ok, I've just been told it did not work for Battlefield V.

[Deano]

Well I've tried anthem for 5 hours. I'm not impressed.

Pros:

The core gameplay (movement/abilities) is kinda fun.
The javelin customisation is good.

Cons:

Slightly laggy menus that clearly favour console
Fort tarsis feels fake, more desolate than busy, but to be fair I could see this already being fixed by in the full game.
Where is the music? Did they even employ someone to create a soundtrack.
The little dialogue there was is very reminescent of Andromeda, sounds like it was written by home ridden person writing their first fan fiction. Your replies to any dialogue may as well not exist.
The very few missions that were available feel the same, somehow.
Some missions must be done publicly not only with friends, I see no gameplay related reason why.
The guns feel like peashooters.
The stats on pieces of gear are broken sometimes. The opposite of what they should be.

I wasn't expecting a lot and still feel disappointed, I don't see all this stuff being fixed within a month. I hope I'm proved wrong.

[TTTX]

I also tried anthem on ps4.

Some issues I had was frame rate drops from time to time in the hubworld.
I also lost all sound during my first mission and had to do it without it, I had to restart the demo to get it back, but then I couldn't get back in because of connection issues.

I'm not really impressed, but the gameplay is fun, so the game might have a chance if people love the gameplay enough.

Still don't understand the whole there needs a response option as the avatar just sound like an emotionalless human (I know it's BW, but it's a waste of time in this game as it adds and does nothing nothing), even Ryder sounded better.

[Alienmorph]

Some missions must be done publicly not only with friends, I see no gameplay related reason why.

If I were to take a guess, I'd say it's for the same reason CoDWWII had the "open the lootcrates in public!" mechanic. It's a mean to use veteran players to promote all the ingame items you can buy instead of enduring ungodly amounts of grind earn legitimately ingame.

[Raga]

I started replaying Andromeda yesterday and immediately encountered a bug that made it impossible to save and also prevented the audiosave from working. The only fix I could find was to completely delete all of my old saves and start the game over. Luckily I only lost like 15 minutes of play so it wasn't a big deal, but yea...not the best impression 15 minutes in.

[Dragaros]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBtLYVG4HSs

[Dragaros]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_spNG-iVjI

[Dragaros]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oh2RHMcfHkg

[Dragaros]

https://www.reddit.com/r/masseffect/com ... i_created/

[Dragaros]

https://www.nexusmods.com/dragonage/mods/4689/

https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2019 ... -and-items

[magnuskn]

https://www.reddit.com/r/masseffect/comments/ammt9k/a_mass_effect_infographic_i_created/

Well, at least that puts statistically the annoying "FemShep was the best, hurpadurpaderrrrrp!" crowd into perspective, with 4/5's of players choosing MaleShep. I'd have been interested to see how many of those made their custom avatar or used Sheploo.

Also, Liara sadly is the most chosen love interest (little wonder with how BioWare was trying to make her the canon), but Tali is actually very close to that.

And although I like Vega, I really am a bit perplexed that Huge McMuscleslab was one of the three most chosen squad members.

And, heyo, I'm in the 4% who did the game on Insanity. It's really very easy as a Vanguard. Also, at least Vanguard is the third most played class. Good.

[Someone With Mass]

And I was one of the 5% that did the only playthrough as an Engineer. I think it was on Insanity too.

[Alienmorph]

I always liked Sentinel. I din't get either the most advanced tech or biotics, but I had fun messing a bit with both.

[Raga]

Well, at least that puts statistically the annoying "FemShep was the best, hurpadurpaderrrrrp!" crowd into perspective, with 4/5's of players choosing MaleShep. I'd have been interested to see how many of those made their custom avatar or used Sheploo.

Uh, when was this ever a thing? Been on BSN and its antecedents since I was 16 in Ye Olde Neverwinter Nights days. Never seen anything like this as an organized front.

Inasmuch as I remember there being any issue related to this, it was more with like people complaining about Miranda asscam or femshep's breastplate armor obviously just being maleshep's for everything but the N7 armor. And that being met with a response that was basically like "Get over yourself. Nobody plays femshep anyway."

(That being said, I do think femshep is superior to maleshep, but I also think maleHawke is superior to femHawke. Ryders & Inquisitors are roughly equal). A huge part of that is up to the quality of the VA, but there are other factors such as LIs & subtle stuff.

[magnuskn]

I'm a big fan of the voicework for MaleShep over FemShep, specifically because it was very even when choosing Paragon or Renegade options, while FemShep was all over the place when you weren't strictly one alignment path.

And if you've seen enough videos about Mass Effect and are a fan of MaleShep, it becomes really annoying, because so many of video creators seem to be in the "OF COURSE I chose FemShep" virtue signaling group.

[Raga]

I only watch gameplay videos & I usually mute stupid commentary, so yea, I've fortunately missed those people.

That being said, I have to admit that I have chosen to play first playthroughs of Bioware characters as female since ME2 as a point of principle (and I don't for other games where I can chose. In those, I'll frequently chose a male character as my first & I usually chose a male character in a game with no LIs).

But that wasn't to virtue signal. It was because Bioware started making stupid decisions based on metrics and they especially emphasized first playthrough metrics. For example, the reason Wrex was largely absent from ME2 was because apparently statistically speaking a lot of stupid people failed to get his armor in ME1 and thus he was dead in an improbably large percentage of playthroughs. Likewise, a good part of the motivation to do away with any race but human in DA2 was because statistically the overwhelming majority of people play as humans anyway.

So to that end a lot of times I'll intentionally choose to play a female character of the weirdest race available with the weirdest LI available just to pad those numbers. Later on, I play a variety of stuff.

To be fair, Bioware is so big on representation for the sake of representation that I doubt this is still the issue it once was, but it was a legit fear (and still is insofar as weird playable races, classes, and LIs goes).

[Riptide]

And I was one of the 5% that did the only playthrough as an Engineer. I think it was on Insanity too.

Caster classes unite, I was an Adept, also on insanity.

[magnuskn]

I only watch gameplay videos & I usually mute stupid commentary, so yea, I've fortunately missed those people.

That being said, I have to admit that I have chosen to play first playthroughs of Bioware characters as female since ME2 as a point of principle (and I don't for other games where I can chose. In those, I'll frequently chose a male character as my first & I usually chose a male character in a game with no LIs).

But that wasn't to virtue signal. It was because Bioware started making stupid decisions based on metrics and they especially emphasized first playthrough metrics. For example, the reason Wrex was largely absent from ME2 was because apparently statistically speaking a lot of stupid people failed to get his armor in ME1 and thus he was dead in an improbably large percentage of playthroughs. Likewise, a good part of the motivation to do away with any race but human in DA2 was because statistically the overwhelming majority of people play as humans anyway.

So to that end a lot of times I'll intentionally choose to play a female character of the weirdest race available with the weirdest LI available just to pad those numbers. Later on, I play a variety of stuff.

To be fair, Bioware is so big on representation for the sake of representation that I doubt this is still the issue it once was, but it was a legit fear (and still is insofar as weird playable races, classes, and LIs goes).

Okay, that is really far beyond what I would personally be concerned with. But, good on you.

[Vol]

I can't tell if Origin has pushed out a ton of updates since I last used it's bugged like the piece of shit it is. They somehow made the GUI more irritating than I remember, but at least my password doesn't get broken by their encryption process and require a reset every single time I log in anymore.

So I bought Anthem, if you're not on my Origin friends list, tell me or PM me.

[Joblom]

But that wasn't to virtue signal. It was because Bioware started making stupid decisions based on metrics and they especially emphasized first playthrough metrics. For example, the reason Wrex was largely absent from ME2 was because apparently statistically speaking a lot of stupid people failed to get his armor in ME1

I'm not disagreeing that Bioware's reasoning is perhaps somewhat flawed, but I do want to quibble over Wrex. It is pretty reasonable for a lot of players to wind up doing Virmire before they have a chance to do Wrex's side mission and perhaps they invested more heavily into combat than into charm/intimidate. It's totally reasonable to do that on your first play through. Frankly, I'm glad that Wrex wasn't back and I don't think Tali and Garrus should have been back. Letting Wrex go off and develop a new life for himself, to grow as a character, was a lot better than keeping him as a squadmate. He'd just have continued on being a mercenary forever. A loser like Garrus or pointless like Tali.

As well, I understand Bioware's reasoning here. Why spend all the effort on content that most players will not see? Budget, time, disc space are not infinite. I wish this were not so and that Bioware could have focused on writing without regard to these practical considerations, but that just isn't realistic. Frankly, I think that Mass Effect would have benefited if from Shepard having a set gender. Might have been easier then to work Shepard's class (if that isn't set too) into the game's story. Customization comes at a cost and I'd be willing forfeit a lot of it if it meant a deeper story with richer characters and as long as I still got to roleplay Shepard's world view and methodology.

[magnuskn]

Well, wow. Couldn't disagree more with you.

[Raga]

Okay, that is really far beyond what I would personally be concerned with. But, good on you.

Well, it also matters that usually the weirder races and LIs are my preference anyway. I am consistently in the minority in a lot of stuff on RPGs based on pure metrics. "Company makes decisions by metrics" is really just shorthand for "company takes away 75% of what you like about RPGs."

[Raga]

I'm not disagreeing that Bioware's reasoning is perhaps somewhat flawed, but I do want to quibble over Wrex. It is pretty reasonable for a lot of players to wind up doing Virmire before they have a chance to do Wrex's side mission and perhaps they invested more heavily into combat than into charm/intimidate. It's totally reasonable to do that on your first play through. Frankly, I'm glad that Wrex wasn't back and I don't think Tali and Garrus should have been back. Letting Wrex go off and develop a new life for himself, to grow as a character, was a lot better than keeping him as a squadmate. He'd just have continued on being a mercenary forever. A loser like Garrus or pointless like Tali.

As well, I understand Bioware's reasoning here. Why spend all the effort on content that most players will not see? Budget, time, disc space are not infinite. I wish this were not so and that Bioware could have focused on writing without regard to these practical considerations, but that just isn't realistic. Frankly, I think that Mass Effect would have benefited if from Shepard having a set gender. Might have been easier then to work Shepard's class (if that isn't set too) into the game's story. Customization comes at a cost and I'd be willing forfeit a lot of it if it meant a deeper story with richer characters and as long as I still got to roleplay Shepard's world view and methodology.

Yea, but statistically speaking a huge percentage of people never even finished the game as well. Frankly, who cares about shaping the game mostly around the failshep non import playthrough? At that point, why even bother having a trilogy with the same characters? It makes more sense to just make a whole new game with new characters and a new story.

Per this article only 40% of people finished ME1 and only 56% finished ME2. Bioware generally has really low completion rates so frankly they should be concerned what the people who finish the game want because those people are almost certainly more likely to be the people who buy more of the games based on the brand name.

[magnuskn]

True enough. Tali counts as one of the "weirder choices" BioWare made and look how that turned out.

[TTTX]

So I bought Anthem.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhckuhUxcgA

I feel like someone had to post this video when reading that.

Still good for you, remember to tell us how it is.

[Joblom]

Yea, but statistically speaking a huge percentage of people never even finished the game as well.

To my knowledge they didn't factor in the people who didn't finish the game in terms of importing. Rather they would have considered how they could structure and direct the game differently so as to compel people to finish the next game. People not finishing your game is a bad sign and something you'd want to avoid in the next iteration. Related to this, is the need to write each game as a viable entry point for a new fan. It's just good business sense.

[TTTX]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CgRU7RIeQ0

[DarkStorm]

I can't tell if Origin has pushed out a ton of updates since I last used it's bugged like the piece of shit it is. They somehow made the GUI more irritating than I remember, but at least my password doesn't get broken by their encryption process and require a reset every single time I log in anymore.

So I bought Anthem, if you're not on my Origin friends list, tell me or PM me.

If it makes you feel better, I forgot my account got hacked awhile back and had to reset my password and lost all of my games and friends. So at least that didnt happen ;3

[TTTX]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iykkS4W9Se4

[Dragaros]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfA6OMxkGQE

[Dragaros]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1rk7RCXTms

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wka5RovFEo8

So that's what Neill Blomkamp and Oats Studios have been working on.

[Alienmorph]

That's probably gonna be the coolest thing related to Anthem.

Also Blomkamp is working on a new Robocop movie, if you have missed it.

[Dragaros]

[Dragaros]

[Dragaros]

[Dragaros]

[Vol]

I'm going to be an Interceptor, that's my ninja way, dattebayo!

4chan folks are giving their impressions, but I can't tell what's real or trolling. Exciting!

[magnuskn]

This is one where I'd definitely wait for lots of user reviews to come in. And that's aside from the fact that if this is super successful, EA probably won't let BioWare make single player games ever.

[Raga]

I have a coworker who was gunning to go home and play this game last Friday so I'm waiting to see what he has to say about it. (Not that I'll listen too much because his standards in games are basically like "If it's free-to-play and multiplayer I"ll play it.")

[magnuskn]

Well, so far it looks... average. And of course all our fears about shallow story elements seem to be exactly as expected.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PT2P4ugUX8&index=10&list=WL&t=0s

[magnuskn]

Also, watching Delrith play the game on the Angry Joe twitch channel right now and, well. Your character is a bullet sponge, the shooting looks a bit underwhelming (mostly like Andromeda), some of the enemies are also complete bullet sponges and it honestly feels to me as if I'd vastly prefer the multiplayer gameplay of ME3 to this, if it were modernized. BioWare still using the armor/shield/health combo we've known for years from Mass Effect.

I don't know. Given the variety of classes we had in ME3 multiplayer, with some really innovative class design, what they got now looks very barebones.