Penny Arcade

Dog · March 2019

Penny Arcade - Comic - Barrier To Re-entry

Videogaming-related online strip by Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins. Includes news and commentary.

Showsni · March 2019

Gabe's anti computer field strikes again?

https://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2008/09/03

Darkewolfe · March 2019

I think in this case it's just that Anthem is hella broken for a lot of people. When I tried to play it it crashed 75% of the time.

Lucascraft · March 2019

I saw an article yesterday that Sony is offering refunds, no questions asked, for Anthem players on PS4. Must be pretty broken because Sony hardly ever issues refunds.

It isn't real "news" though. It's just a site reporting on what's happening in a Reddit thread.
https://gadgets.ndtv.com/games/news/anthem-ps4-refund-sony-psn-ps-store-2002491

rembrandtqeinstein · March 2019

I really wanted this game to be great because it originally looked like an upgrade to Firefall which I loved, warts and all. But I can't justify $60 on it considering I have Destiny 2 to sort of scratch that same itch.

The Ferox · March 2019

I don't understand why Anthem is receiving so much flak. I've had it since release (Feb 22) and have barely had any problems. I've been kicked a few times from server but every time except once was allowed to go back inside the match and not miss the mission. Couple of days it was laggy but still playable, although not pleasantly. People just LOVE to bitch about anything nowadays, but I've had hundreds of hours sank into Mass Effect games, and I'm telling you all right now Anthem is just as great. Its got decent dialogue with characters at the fort, actually some feelings in the voice acting, unlike so many other games. Its also a nice ME-like world with, of course, the good ole "Shaper" civilization that they have had in all ME's.
Not to mention games like D3, had a DISASTROUS start, and it was meant to be huge online game game but you could barely log on in the first 4 days, which was absolutely atrocious preparation.
Anthem does have some problems (like difficulties higher than GM1 being kinda hard and stupid, but mostly its cause of clueless teammates who just fly around and die, instead of focus-firing the mobs together, tactics that work on GM1 but not higher difficulties)
Apart from all that I have been enjoying the game A LOT, and I play a SHITTON of video games, so its gotta be decent enough to hold my attention (I mean I already beat Metro and FarCry 6, and Anthem is still what I play anyway).

DemonStacey · March 2019

The Ferox wrote: »

I don't understand why Anthem is receiving so much flak. I've had it since release (Feb 22) and have barely had any problems.

Ahh. Yes. The ol' "I'm not having these issues so everyone else must be wrong" position. That's... not a very good look.

Not everyone is having the same experience as you. There are issues. You not having those issues doesn't mean anything at all.

darkmayo · March 2019

Having played since the 15th the game is an unfinished mess that has a very fun flying and a usually decent combat system with very nice visuals with good voice acting.

Everything else is a mess of bugs, shit UI and way to many fucking loading screens.

Quickplay gets you dropped into broken missions most of time, freeplay is a pain to find anything to do let alone get folks together to do stuff since there is no typing and no waypoints.

Fort Tarsis is a waste of potential. The entire cosmetic microtransaction portion is barren, even if I wanted to buy premium credits there is nothing worth spending it on. 2 maybe 3 armor skins to swap between for various javelins, a couple vinyls and some emotes and a few textures.

Masterwork weapons which are neat but Legendary weapons are just the same Masterwork weapons but a little high stats.. fucking lazy. GM1 to GM2 is not a worthwhile jump. At least Diablo III at launch had variety of loot that could drop, you just never got it without having to hit the auction house....

They have a good idea what needs to change but I hope it isnt insurmountable, cause its a big effin list.

Delzhand · March 2019

Hawk one · March 2019

So, I am reminded about this particular gem about EA, online playing, and nectarines:

Back from this news post: https://www.penny-arcade.com/news/post/2004/09/13/undisclosed-propensities-part-3

Seems like they're still producing wriggling earwigs and selling it as fruit.

v2micca · March 2019

When Anthem first unveiled at E3 2017 with a proposed release date of Q4 2018, I told my friends that if EA actually released it in 2018, it would be a broken unplayable mess. If the game was to have any chance they would need to give Bioware until at least Q3 2019. Eventually the news was released that the game was being pushed to February 2019, and even then I suspected it would not be enough time. I expected EA just to pull another Destiny, or The Division style release. Get the basic infrastructure out there, even if the unfinished interiors were highly visible, and just hope the player base remains patient as you finish the game. Gamers had allowed both Activision, and Ubisoft to get away with it. So, I imagine EA was confident they could get away with it as well.

This goes well beyond even my lowest expectations. I expected the poor mission structure, lackluster single-player experience, and dearth of genuine end game content. But, even I was surprised by just how poorly constructed a looter-shooter that Bioware had replaced. At this point Bioware had years of examples from their competitors, yet failed to learn from any of their mistakes or successes. So, it was disappointing to see them create a game that leveraged non of the lessons learned from the past few years.

But now we are getting beyond flaw born of poor game design. We are talking about a released product that fundamentally does not work. Even most most dire predictions failed to take this scenario into account. Perhaps I am simply naive, but I didn't believe that even EA would release a game in this state and charge full price for it. The fact that Bioware allowed a game to release in this state tells me all I need to know regarding the power dynamic between Bioware and EA.

Lucascraft · March 2019

There is no power dynamic between Bioware and EA. They are one and the same. Bioware is wholly owned and operated under EA's umbrella. Bioware is not some independent game house that publishes through EA. They are a part of EA's organization.

There is no Bioware the company. There is only Bioware the dev team, minions of the whims of their evil corporate overlords.

H3Knuckles · March 2019

Also, haven't most of the people who defined the first (pre-KOTOR) and second (KOTOR-DA:I) eras of Bioware left? Like all the original owners, and a lot of the major talent from their more iconic games? My understanding was that Bioware today is sort of like Rare after the N64 Perfect Dark; same business entity, but not at all the same studio.

Twenty Sided · March 2019

H3Knuckles wrote: »

Also, haven't most of the people who defined the first (pre-KOTOR) and second (KOTOR-DA:I) eras of Bioware left? Like all the original owners, and a lot of the major talent from their more iconic games? My understanding was that Bioware today is sort of like Rare after the N64 Perfect Dark; same business entity, but not at all the same studio.

Blizzard is also like this.

I don't give money to either studio anymore. And likely never will again.

H3Knuckles · March 2019

Eh, as long as they make games I'll enjoy and I don't feel like the monetization is too bad, I won't hold personnel turnover against a company (for instance, I really like Overwatch, even preordered the $60 version based on feedback from the public beta, but on the other hand I haven't fallen into the trap of buying lootboxes). I just find it weird when people display a high level of emotional investment for a company that's had a pretty transformative change from the period they became a fan. Like, if you loved ME3's multiplayer, Andromeda, and Inquisition, then I could get rooting for Anthem to succeed, but if the games you loved from Bioware are ME2, DA2, or anything earlier you really shouldn't expect anything more than you would from any other AAA Destiny-esque game.

Edit: minor word change for clarity, I don't really care about a company's turnover. Other kinds of personnel changes, like layoffs, are a different story.

Twenty Sided · March 2019

I really haven't liked any Blizzard games to come out since Wings of Liberty.

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