Did you guys have instantly strong feeling about "Reapers" and "The Citadel" before you played Mass Effect for the first time?
You have to actually play the game and read about stuff before things mean anything
If those things sound boring though why would I want to read about them?
I am not saying Anthem is as well written or interesting as Mass Effect, cause it ain't
But divorced of context, meaning without being familiar with ME, I don't see how Reapers or The Citadel or Spectres are any more interesting sounding than the Anthem and Dominion and Freelancers
The problem isn't Proper Nouns, its just that Anthem ain't particularly good once you learn what those Nouns are
The difference is that the names in Mass Effect and Dragon Age are names. They're words that immediately indicate discrete, concrete things. The words in Anthem are just a cloud of obscuring smoke.
A codex entry in Mass Effect reads like "The Reapers are a hypothetical race of machine entities that, according to the myths of various civilizations in the galaxy, are responsible for periodic mass extinctions." Or "The Citadel is a massive space station and the seat of galactic government." There's a straightforward connection between the name and the concept.
My friend has read a bunch of the Anthem entries aloud to me and it's all iike "The Psychers were called forth by the power of the Third Verse during the Night Age to battle the Spiritmonger and the armies of the Desolation but were corrupted by the Weltschmerz and forced to retreat underground to the Deep Havens while awaiting the Synecdoche."
It's just meaningless nouns pointing to other meaningless nouns in an endless, obscurantist onion; the mimicry of significance, rather than the substance. It could mean something, but the connective tissue has been left out. There's nothing concrete to get a hold of. It's just words that sound like things video games say.
Anthem's world feels like some real xerox-of-a-xerox shit, where a bunch of nerds who shudder and recoil at the idea of reading anything without a dragon or spaceship on the cover were asked to come up with a world and ended up with something that feels like someone put the past twenty years' worth of generic shooter lore entries into an algorithm
Ain't nothing wrong with only reading fantasy and sci-fi
If you want to write a story of your own, you do your own work a disservice if you have an extremely limited exposure to different genres of storytelling. Hamstringing yourself by writing something that can only be derivative of an already incredibly derivative and constrained body of work is a poor showing for your creative endeavor.
Look, if I want to write about cool wizards then I need to read about the coolest wizards, not about accounting or some nobody's boring biography or whatever.
I get what you're saying, I'm just being dumb now
0
Options
Shortytouching the meatIntergalactic Cool CourtRegistered Userregular
Did you guys have instantly strong feeling about "Reapers" and "The Citadel" before you played Mass Effect for the first time?
You have to actually play the game and read about stuff before things mean anything
If those things sound boring though why would I want to read about them?
I am not saying Anthem is as well written or interesting as Mass Effect, cause it ain't
But divorced of context, meaning without being familiar with ME, I don't see how Reapers or The Citadel or Spectres are any more interesting sounding than the Anthem and Dominion and Freelancers
The problem isn't Proper Nouns, its just that Anthem ain't particularly good once you learn what those Nouns are
The difference is that the names in Mass Effect and Dragon Age are names. They're words that immediately indicate discrete, concrete things. The words in Anthem are just a cloud of obscuring smoke.
A codex entry in Mass Effect reads like "The Reapers are a hypothetical race of machine entities that, according to the myths of various civilizations in the galaxy, are responsible for periodic mass extinctions." Or "The Citadel is a massive space station and the seat of galactic government." There's a straightforward connection between the name and the concept.
My friend has read a bunch of the Anthem entries aloud to me and it's all iike "The Psychers were called forth by the power of the Third Verse during the Night Age to battle the Spiritmonger and the armies of the Desolation but were corrupted by the Weltschmerz and forced to retreat underground to the Deep Havens while awaiting the Synecdoche."
It's just meaningless nouns pointing to other meaningless nouns in an endless, obscurantist onion; the mimicry of significance, rather than the substance. It could mean something, but the connective tissue has been left out. There's nothing concrete to get a hold of. It's just words that sound like things video games say.
Anthem's story is fuckin garbage, but I sure am enjoying flying around raining down ice until everything freezes and then shattering them with a giant lightning bolt.
Anthem's world feels like some real xerox-of-a-xerox shit, where a bunch of nerds who shudder and recoil at the idea of reading anything without a dragon or spaceship on the cover were asked to come up with a world and ended up with something that feels like someone put the past twenty years' worth of generic shooter lore entries into an algorithm
I'm not as harsh as you (I think "Humanity gets turned into slave race, revolts and escapes, and is now trapped on an artificial planet that is trying to kill them" has potential), but it does follow a long trend of MMOs that are set in the empty middle of the story - lots of cool shit happened in the past, lots of hints of cool things that are going to happen in the future, and you are trapped in the Long Now grinding for loot in the hopes that the next DLC might actually advance the story to the interesting parts.
The codex in Mass Effect and Dragon Age are written to explain it to us, human beings on earth playing a video game, and the one in Anthem is to tell people who live in Anthem what Anthem stuff is
Anthem's world feels like some real xerox-of-a-xerox shit, where a bunch of nerds who shudder and recoil at the idea of reading anything without a dragon or spaceship on the cover were asked to come up with a world and ended up with something that feels like someone put the past twenty years' worth of generic shooter lore entries into an algorithm
I'm not as harsh as you (I think "Humanity gets turned into slave race, revolts and escapes, and is now trapped on an artificial planet that is trying to kill them" has potential), but it does follow a long trend of MMOs that are set in the empty middle of the story - lots of cool shit happened in the past, lots of hints of cool things that are going to happen in the future, and you are trapped in the Long Now grinding for loot in the hopes that the next DLC might actually advance the story to the interesting parts.
this is a really good point and puts a finger on something that has frustrated me about a lot of games that I hadn't really had a name for before
Did you guys have instantly strong feeling about "Reapers" and "The Citadel" before you played Mass Effect for the first time?
You have to actually play the game and read about stuff before things mean anything
If those things sound boring though why would I want to read about them?
I am not saying Anthem is as well written or interesting as Mass Effect, cause it ain't
But divorced of context, meaning without being familiar with ME, I don't see how Reapers or The Citadel or Spectres are any more interesting sounding than the Anthem and Dominion and Freelancers
The problem isn't Proper Nouns, its just that Anthem ain't particularly good once you learn what those Nouns are
The difference is that the names in Mass Effect and Dragon Age are names. They're words that immediately indicate discrete, concrete things. The words in Anthem are just a cloud of obscuring smoke.
A codex entry in Mass Effect reads like "The Reapers are a hypothetical race of machine entities that, according to the myths of various civilizations in the galaxy, are responsible for periodic mass extinctions." Or "The Citadel is a massive space station and the seat of galactic government." There's a straightforward connection between the name and the concept.
My friend has read a bunch of the Anthem entries aloud to me and it's all iike "The Psychers were called forth by the power of the Third Verse during the Night Age to battle the Spiritmonger and the armies of the Desolation but were corrupted by the Weltschmerz and forced to retreat underground to the Deep Havens while awaiting the Synecdoche."
It's just meaningless nouns pointing to other meaningless nouns in an endless, obscurantist onion; the mimicry of significance, rather than the substance. It could mean something, but the connective tissue has been left out. There's nothing concrete to get a hold of. It's just words that sound like things video games say.
Did you guys have instantly strong feeling about "Reapers" and "The Citadel" before you played Mass Effect for the first time?
You have to actually play the game and read about stuff before things mean anything
If those things sound boring though why would I want to read about them?
I am not saying Anthem is as well written or interesting as Mass Effect, cause it ain't
But divorced of context, meaning without being familiar with ME, I don't see how Reapers or The Citadel or Spectres are any more interesting sounding than the Anthem and Dominion and Freelancers
The problem isn't Proper Nouns, its just that Anthem ain't particularly good once you learn what those Nouns are
The difference is that the names in Mass Effect and Dragon Age are names. They're words that immediately indicate discrete, concrete things. The words in Anthem are just a cloud of obscuring smoke.
A codex entry in Mass Effect reads like "The Reapers are a hypothetical race of machine entities that, according to the myths of various civilizations in the galaxy, are responsible for periodic mass extinctions." Or "The Citadel is a massive space station and the seat of galactic government." There's a straightforward connection between the name and the concept.
My friend has read a bunch of the Anthem entries aloud to me and it's all iike "The Psychers were called forth by the power of the Third Verse during the Night Age to battle the Spiritmonger and the armies of the Desolation but were corrupted by the Weltschmerz and forced to retreat underground to the Deep Havens while awaiting the Synecdoche."
It's just meaningless nouns pointing to other meaningless nouns in an endless, obscurantist onion; the mimicry of significance, rather than the substance. It could mean something, but the connective tissue has been left out. There's nothing concrete to get a hold of. It's just words that sound like things video games say.
Ehhhh
I think you're exaggerating a little bit
Like, The Dominion is the bad guy empire that used to rule shit and is coming back.
The Legion of Dawn is the army that wrested control from The Dominion and started a new human society.
The Freelancers are pilots that are essentially mercenaries that have not bound themselves to a single group or faction.
Cyphers are humans with psychic powers who help coordinate missions over long distances and process intel.
All of which are Proper Nouns but the name absolutely ties into what they are and makes sense
I am sure there are some totally nonsense names in there but The Citadel is no more grounded or tolerable than The Dominion or what have you
The codex in Mass Effect and Dragon Age are written to explain it to us, human beings on earth playing a video game, and the one in Anthem is to tell people who live in Anthem what Anthem stuff is
Yeah see this I can agree with
The problem is that the story isn't very interesting but also they have presented it to us in the most obtuse way possible and it sucks
Also I should probably clarify that I'm not saying Bioware's stuff is bad because their names aren't interesting enough. Names are fuckin' hard, they're always the thing I struggle with the most when coming up with characters or concepts and, as is becoming clear as we talk about previous Bioware stuff, you can make the names matter if you put in the work. The core of my complaint is that, rather than giving us a strong pitch for the game and using that to get us interested in the words they're saying, I feel like with Anthem they're pitching us all these words and hoping we'll be curious enough about them to find out what the game is like.
And I don't feel like they're good enough words to do that.
(and also then the actual game doesn't make a great first impression either and you're left with two underwhelming pieces trying to sell each other, thinking "I'm just gonna go play more Apex")
The thing is, one of my favourite games was not great on release.
But Ubisoft spent time and effort on Rainbow Six Siege and it's awesome now.
The question is, will bioware do the same?
I think the question is whether or not EA will let them.
I mean, look at Andromeda's post-release.
I think it's a fair prediction that if Anthem does not hit anywhere near its projected launch sales numbers, EA is far more likely to cut their losses than throw good money after bad
Why should we put more money into improving a thing with no guarantee it'll show a meaningful return on investment, they'll say
That's the most mercenary short-term thinking I can imagine and it fits with how they operate
This is what i know for sure. Anthem is gorgeous and super fun. The gameplay and controls are fantastic.
You can capitalize any of those words if it makes you feel better.
Yeah. I really liked the moment-to-moment gameplay in the demo and am looking forward to playing it with the full release tonight. It's a shame the game is getting savaged, because it is actually really fun as a game.
i'm about to win my first Civ 6 campaign on the expansion
at this point its just formality, i have double score and more army than everyone else combined.
it seems like it's over be before any of the new mid/late game stuff really came into effect, which is unfortunate
the AI seems worse than before because it doesn't seem well equipped to deal with the way strategic resources work now. if the AI doesn't receive map luck and isn't predisposed to a play style which would enhance resources, then it seems to get stuck in an endless loop of not having Important Stuff but also being too weak to do anything about it
in example, the year is currently ~1500AD, and while I have WW2-era Infrantry, the 2nd place AI still had an army composed entirely of it's unique warrior monk unit, which is Classical Era at best, presumably because it never got Iron or Nitre to update its units. As a result, his total military score is: 75. Mine is 1400
I enjoyed my time playing the demo but all of the problems that have been described and detailed outside of the gameplay (bad story pacing, gatekeeping mission structure, load times, having to load back to base to try any gear on, etc.) outweigh the fun I was having, personally
If I am spending 60 dollars on a game I want to enjoy all of it, not one part and tolerate the rest of it
My one-sentence summary of Anthem would be "It's at it's core a decent shooter, with every other piece of the package endeavoring to prevent you from accessing it."
0
Options
Tynnanseldom correct, never unsureRegistered Userregular
It's a shame Bioware has had two duds in a row. They try to tell the sort of story I want to see with the sort of game I really want to play, but they've been missing the mark in bad ways lately.
I enjoyed my time playing the demo but all of the problems that have been described and detailed outside of the gameplay (bad story pacing, gatekeeping mission structure, load times, having to load back to base to try any gear on, etc.) outweigh the fun I was having, personally
There's only one wall/pacing issue, and they patched it so that the quest starts counting from level 3 instead of when you get the quest, and they fixed the bug where it was only giving one person in a squad credit per chest
I did it before the patch and it wasn't really that bad
Part of the challenges is completing 3 missions. Missions you were gonna do anyway. And when you've completed those missions you've already finished most of the challenges
The patch also improved load times (though there are still too many load screens)
I hope people give the game a chance, because I think it is an amazing game
Like, potentially one of my all-time favorites
Won't blame anyone for wanting to wait for a couple more patches though
I will happily buy it down the road if they address the various issues, I would like it if the game succeeded because I had fun with the demo and like Bioware
But 60 bucks now is way too big of an ask for me, especially since it may not get a ton of support depending on the sales figures
It's a shame Bioware has had two duds in a row. They try to tell the sort of story I want to see with the sort of game I really want to play, but they've been missing the mark in bad ways lately.
Hopefully Dragon Age 4 has a smooth production, because I'm looking at visceral (two duds and a troubled production) and am worried that the only thing keeping Bioware alive is that EA doesn't have another company they want to buy at the moment.
0
Options
Olivawgood name, isn't it?the foot of mt fujiRegistered Userregular
I will happily buy it down the road if they address the various issues, I would like it if the game succeeded because I had fun with the demo and like Bioware
But 60 bucks now is way too big of an ask for me, especially since it may not get a ton of support depending on the sales figures
Yeah, that's the thing, I can't imagine spending sixty dollars on this product as delivered regardless of what the post-release support will be like
Releasing the game early for people who pay more (or who pay five to fifteen dollars for a month of EA Premier, itself a baffling decision) seems like the worst possible decision, since everybody is done with the game already and they're not putting out great word of mouth
After the stinker ME: Andromeda and this being mediocre, it's reasonable to assume that it won't be a blockbuster seller (especially since there seems to be no real hype and bad marketing), hence the assumption? No need to "jesus" me.
There is a gigantic leap between "Anthem may not be a success" and "EA killed Bioware. Its done."
Like, I am not saying Bioware's future is smooth sailing and secured but saying they are dead and buried literally the day the game launches is super super super jumping to conclusions
+1
Options
StraightziHere we may reign secure, and in my choice,To reign is worth ambition though in HellRegistered Userregular
You mean like a coffin with a handle on the inside
Wait, do coffins like latch when you close the lid?
No I mean like coffins with aboveground breathing tubes, or with a little string that was hooked up to a bell above the surface
Real popular during the nineteenth century
+1
Options
Munkus BeaverYou don't have to attend every argument you are invited to.Philosophy: Stoicism. Politics: Democratic SocialistRegistered User, ClubPAregular
Posts
imagine komrade boris's cat saying the lines instead
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MErfhEzce7s
The difference is that the names in Mass Effect and Dragon Age are names. They're words that immediately indicate discrete, concrete things. The words in Anthem are just a cloud of obscuring smoke.
A codex entry in Mass Effect reads like "The Reapers are a hypothetical race of machine entities that, according to the myths of various civilizations in the galaxy, are responsible for periodic mass extinctions." Or "The Citadel is a massive space station and the seat of galactic government." There's a straightforward connection between the name and the concept.
My friend has read a bunch of the Anthem entries aloud to me and it's all iike "The Psychers were called forth by the power of the Third Verse during the Night Age to battle the Spiritmonger and the armies of the Desolation but were corrupted by the Weltschmerz and forced to retreat underground to the Deep Havens while awaiting the Synecdoche."
It's just meaningless nouns pointing to other meaningless nouns in an endless, obscurantist onion; the mimicry of significance, rather than the substance. It could mean something, but the connective tissue has been left out. There's nothing concrete to get a hold of. It's just words that sound like things video games say.
Look, if I want to write about cool wizards then I need to read about the coolest wizards, not about accounting or some nobody's boring biography or whatever.
yeah, this is what playing Destiny was like, too
I'm not as harsh as you (I think "Humanity gets turned into slave race, revolts and escapes, and is now trapped on an artificial planet that is trying to kill them" has potential), but it does follow a long trend of MMOs that are set in the empty middle of the story - lots of cool shit happened in the past, lots of hints of cool things that are going to happen in the future, and you are trapped in the Long Now grinding for loot in the hopes that the next DLC might actually advance the story to the interesting parts.
Steam profile.
Getting started with BATTLETECH: Part 1 / Part 2
this is a really good point and puts a finger on something that has frustrated me about a lot of games that I hadn't really had a name for before
Reminds me of armored core games.
I think you're exaggerating a little bit
Like, The Dominion is the bad guy empire that used to rule shit and is coming back.
The Legion of Dawn is the army that wrested control from The Dominion and started a new human society.
The Freelancers are pilots that are essentially mercenaries that have not bound themselves to a single group or faction.
Cyphers are humans with psychic powers who help coordinate missions over long distances and process intel.
All of which are Proper Nouns but the name absolutely ties into what they are and makes sense
I am sure there are some totally nonsense names in there but The Citadel is no more grounded or tolerable than The Dominion or what have you
The problem is that the story isn't very interesting but also they have presented it to us in the most obtuse way possible and it sucks
And I don't feel like they're good enough words to do that.
(and also then the actual game doesn't make a great first impression either and you're left with two underwhelming pieces trying to sell each other, thinking "I'm just gonna go play more Apex")
I like Anthem's story wayy more than ME:A
It's pretty short so far, but at least there's no padding
Feels concentrated
I think it's a fair prediction that if Anthem does not hit anywhere near its projected launch sales numbers, EA is far more likely to cut their losses than throw good money after bad
Why should we put more money into improving a thing with no guarantee it'll show a meaningful return on investment, they'll say
That's the most mercenary short-term thinking I can imagine and it fits with how they operate
PSN ID : DetectiveOlivaw | TWITTER | STEAM ID | NEVER FORGET
Black Flag was real good.
You can capitalize any of those words if it makes you feel better.
Steam - Talon Valdez :Blizz - Talonious#1860 : Xbox Live & LoL - Talonious Monk @TaloniousMonk Hail Satan
Yeah. I really liked the moment-to-moment gameplay in the demo and am looking forward to playing it with the full release tonight. It's a shame the game is getting savaged, because it is actually really fun as a game.
at this point its just formality, i have double score and more army than everyone else combined.
it seems like it's over be before any of the new mid/late game stuff really came into effect, which is unfortunate
the AI seems worse than before because it doesn't seem well equipped to deal with the way strategic resources work now. if the AI doesn't receive map luck and isn't predisposed to a play style which would enhance resources, then it seems to get stuck in an endless loop of not having Important Stuff but also being too weak to do anything about it
in example, the year is currently ~1500AD, and while I have WW2-era Infrantry, the 2nd place AI still had an army composed entirely of it's unique warrior monk unit, which is Classical Era at best, presumably because it never got Iron or Nitre to update its units. As a result, his total military score is: 75. Mine is 1400
If I am spending 60 dollars on a game I want to enjoy all of it, not one part and tolerate the rest of it
There's only one wall/pacing issue, and they patched it so that the quest starts counting from level 3 instead of when you get the quest, and they fixed the bug where it was only giving one person in a squad credit per chest
I did it before the patch and it wasn't really that bad
Part of the challenges is completing 3 missions. Missions you were gonna do anyway. And when you've completed those missions you've already finished most of the challenges
The patch also improved load times (though there are still too many load screens)
I hope people give the game a chance, because I think it is an amazing game
Like, potentially one of my all-time favorites
Won't blame anyone for wanting to wait for a couple more patches though
But 60 bucks now is way too big of an ask for me, especially since it may not get a ton of support depending on the sales figures
A month should be plenty to play through the current content, and if you like it, Premier gives a 10% discount on the game
Hopefully Dragon Age 4 has a smooth production, because I'm looking at visceral (two duds and a troubled production) and am worried that the only thing keeping Bioware alive is that EA doesn't have another company they want to buy at the moment.
Yeah, that's the thing, I can't imagine spending sixty dollars on this product as delivered regardless of what the post-release support will be like
Releasing the game early for people who pay more (or who pay five to fifteen dollars for a month of EA Premier, itself a baffling decision) seems like the worst possible decision, since everybody is done with the game already and they're not putting out great word of mouth
PSN ID : DetectiveOlivaw | TWITTER | STEAM ID | NEVER FORGET
So.
EA killed Bioware, then? Is it done?
It having medicore reviews does not mean Bioware is dead, jesus
Wait, do coffins like latch when you close the lid?
https://www.paypal.me/hobnailtaylor
Like, I am not saying Bioware's future is smooth sailing and secured but saying they are dead and buried literally the day the game launches is super super super jumping to conclusions
No I mean like coffins with aboveground breathing tubes, or with a little string that was hooked up to a bell above the surface
Real popular during the nineteenth century
What reviews, Blank? What game?
Bioware has been dead for years
Bioware? Ain't heard that name in a long while...