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Angelus on 07 February 2019
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shikamaru317 said:
Angelus said:

That seems like an oddly specific thing to highlight as the key reason you're not getting a game. Certain mechanics, and features are simply not suited to certain types of games. We shouldn't put developers in a box, and tell them "hey, you've always made this style of game, and done X/Y/Z, so you better keep doing that forever or I won't buy your game." It's totally fine you're not interested in Anthem, but the fact of the matter is that romances and companions wouldn't really add much of anything to the type of experience they're going for here. It would really suck if gamers just started looking at all devs as one trick ponies, and refused to entertain the notion of checking out their games unless they always adhere to very specific things they've done in the past. 

How many other third person shooters, loot driven, or co-op centric games, etc. are you looking at and going "well….the main reason I'm not into this is because there's no romances or companions"? Probably not too many, right? Like, whenever Borderlands 3 drops for example, I doubt you're going to be passing on that for those reasons.

Again, it's totally cool if Anthem isn't your cup of tea for a myriad of reasons, but I would really hope that those reasons line up with how you judge the kinds of games it's actually competing against. Because if you're not, then you're part of the reason that most publishers would rather force devs to play it safe, than give them to freedom do something completely different (such as GG completely switching lanes from Killzone to Horizon: Zero Dawn). It's not fair of us to expect somebody to do basically the same thing over and over with a different coat of paint. The message you're sending Bioware shouldn't be, "I'm not buying this game because it doesn't a copy a formula you've followed in the past." It should be "I'm not buying this game, because I don't think it's good enough at what it's actually trying to achieve."

It's one of the things I liked most about their games though, the companion and romance system, it allowed for deep RPG world building that Anthem is almost certainly going to lack because they removed those systems. Imagine if for instance, a developer that you liked alot removed the things you liked most about their games from a new game they were making, I'm sure you would be displeased as well. Also, the lack of AI controlled companions pretty much ruins the solo possibilities for the game, forcing you to work with other players to experience all of the content, which I just don't want to do. 

The last time a developer I liked, Bungie, tried to break the mold and make a totally different type of game from what their fans were used to, Destiny, the end result ended up being a total mess that I hated personally. Bungie went from a top tier dev for me personally to bottom tier in just the last few years. I don't want to see the same thing happen to Bioware, they've already been on a slow decline with their last several games (Mass Effect Andromeda, Dragon Age: Inquisition, and Mass Effect 3) disappointing alot of their fans to varying degrees, I don't want to see Anthem become the final nail in their coffin just because they decided they wanted to "break the mold". Regardless, it seems likely that the Anthem idea was forced on Bioware by EA anyway, EA saw the financial success of Destiny and wanted a chunk of that "games as a service" pie for themselves, I find it hard to believe that after over 2 decades of making RPG's, Bioware suddenly decided that they wanted to make an MMO lite loot shooter. 

I don't have to imagine. I love Bioware's RPGs too. More than most, I'd wager (and anyone who's seen my playtime on Bioware games would likely recommend I seek help). Like you, I'm a huge fan of their companions, and the relationships (romantic or otherwise) you develop with those characters. Again though, this is an entirely different type of game. So I don't go into it with the mindset that they've removed something I love, but  rather that they're simply creating something entirely different, and as such, the priorities during development aren't going to necessarily align with things that made sense in their other games. I'm completely fine with that. I don't want them by any means to abandon those things moving forward, with their other franchises. I'm just also perfectly happy for them to try their hand at something else once in a while. Admittedly, they've pivoted to another genre I very much enjoy, so perhaps my feelings would be more negative if they were developing a fighter, or walking simulator, or something….certainly there are games they could make that wouldn't interest me much. Still, as long as they make them well, and they don't completely neglect their roots, I'd like to think I wouldn't be too mad at them for it.

And as far as I can tell, Anthem wasn't forced on them. According to Bioware, it's been in development since about a year prior to the original Destiny's launch. Plus, they seem to be genuinely excited about the game when they're communicating with the fans (which they've been doing quite a lot). Is there a chance EA maybe nudged them in the direction regardless? Sure, I suppose. It is EA after all. But that's their publisher whether I like it or not (I don't), and unless they go under, or put Bioware on the chopping block, all I can do is judge the games on their own merit. As far as that goes, all I can say, is that I personally find Anthem to be a ton of fun to play. I expect I'll get a lot out of it, and that it will very much be a worthwhile game in the space it's occupying.