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Bioware - New Dragon Age, Mass Effect titles will be heavily influenced by Anthem.

IbizaPocholo

NeoGAFs Kent Brockman
https://www.vg247.com/2018/09/02/new-dragon-age-mass-effect-influenced-by-anthem/

Speaking at PAX West this weekend, the team at Bioware said that Anthem’s story structure, which will be delivered as part of a live service allowing the team to continue to write and release new storylines post release, is a method it expects to employ for its other much-loved franchises.

Anthem is structured so that its hub world, Tarsis, is where players will experience the more traditional RPG elements and story-telling of the game, while it’s online open world is where players can get stuck into the looting and shooting.

“We’ve got the continuation of stories after we’ve launched,” said Michael Gamble, lead producer on Anthem. “If you remember back to the ancient times we released a game and that would the story for a set of characters, and we released DLC that enabled us to tell unique bits of story afterwards.

“For Anthem, where we’d all like to see us head, is the ability to tell new great stories throughout the years, throughout the months after launch.”

“So After Anthem we can say, okay, now we’re going to expand the storyline for one of those Agents, or now that certain points in the game world have happened, this changes the relationship, this changes this character, this changes the type of missions for certain characters. Or even we add new characters, we add new Agents. We can do all that and Anthem gives us the tools to do all that.

“My point is that I hope that future games, whether it’s Dragon Age or the other one that starts with ‘Mass’, continues to utilise this kind of storytelling.”

All future story DLC or content updates for Anthem will be free, letting all players follow the story without any paywalls. Mark Darrah, executive producer on Anthem, added it’s not just the structure and delivery of Anthem’s story that will influnce fuuture games, but also its depth.

“One of the things that we’ve really done in Anthem is focus a lot of attention on Tarsis,” he said. “It’s the primary place where we do the reactive storytelling.

“As a result we’ve pushed Tarsis further than we’ve ever pushed any of our hubs before. It’s a reactive space, a space that feels more living, more alive. And I think going forward with future Dragon Age games, or others games, that you’re going to see that reactivity, that depth in our hubs that we’re bringing out in Anthem.”
 

EDMIX

Member
"All future story DLC or content updates for Anthem will be free, " Nice.

So hoping thats what they do with Mass Effect and Dragon Age lol
 

Kacho

Gold Member
Watch this end up being their most successful game ever and they completely abandon single player games forever
 

Agent_4Seven

Tears of Nintendo
Then I've absolute zero interest in any future BioWare games. I wonder if Respawn will even finish their SP Star Wars game and not close their doors soon like Visceral and so many others. I mean, they're actually making a true video game people want to play and that is totaly opposite of what greedy fucks from EA want nowadays.
 
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dottme

Member
I was hoping for Anthem to get release quickly so Bioware can focus on their core competencies and make me dream.
But I think I don't care anymore.
Mass Effect was worse and worse at each iteration.
I did like Dragon Age Inquisition, but I don't think I can expect anything good any more from Bioware.
 

Fbh

Member
Watch this end up being their most successful game ever and they completely abandon single player games forever

Is there any hype for this ?.
Every time I see people talking about this the reactions seem to fall somewhere between "meh" and "oh, another destiny".

Their E3 presentation didn't really generate a lot of hype either. As disappointing as Destiny ended up being, everyone was eager to talk about it after it's E3 presentations while Anthem hardly gets mentioned compared to RE2, Sekiro, Cyberpunk, Spiderman , etc
 

ref

Member
Why can't they be heavily influenced by the games that worked well, like Dragon Age: Origins or ME1/2.
 

Kacho

Gold Member
Is there any hype for this ?.
Every time I see people talking about this the reactions seem to fall somewhere between "meh" and "oh, another destiny".

Their E3 presentation didn't really generate a lot of hype either. As disappointing as Destiny ended up being, everyone was eager to talk about it after it's E3 presentations while Anthem hardly gets mentioned compared to RE2, Sekiro, Cyberpunk, Spiderman , etc

None that I’m seeing. The game is definitely not getting over with enthusiasts.

I can’t write it off though. Think it has potential to become a big hit with everyone outside of the enthusiast circle. The release date will help and I expect my friend list to be full of people playing.
 

Drake

Member
Dragon Age is dead to me. They made one of the best RPG's ever with Origins and totally ruined the series after that.
 
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I'm sort of mixed on news like this because on one hand, I do like hub-based free roam games that constantly receive new updates. There's a online persistence to them similar to MMOs. It's why I really enjoy GTA V Online, and feel attachment to my GTAO character not unlike a WoW or EQ character.

In addition, Dragon Age and Mass Effect are two games and worlds that I would enjoy exploring this way... DA INQ had a lot of flaws in quality, but I really enjoyed the basic almost Suikoden-esque idea of building an army and a castle. Mass Effect is also the sort of world that sort of interests me that way. Not the main story, per se.... but some of the underworld stuff, like the Blood Pack mercs, characters like Zaeed, or obviously Aria and Omega. There's a corporate and criminal side to the original games that could make a great sandbox esque persistent world game.

Basically, when I completed any Dragon Age or Mass Effect game, there was a part of me that would have loved more free roam persistent online content to do over time.

What worries me though is that "when I completed" part... GTAO may have cost us DLC, but we still got a massive SP story with some of the highest production values around. A game like GR Wildlands, however -- which I love -- came at the cost of a more linear focused SP story.

So, on one hand, I'd love to have post-ending free roam content or an online version of the game a la GTAO... On the other hand, I don't want it at the cost of a traditional DA or ME single-player story. And considering Anthem, Bioware, EA, etc... I think it's likely.

As a fan of online games, persistent worlds or games based around long term progression... and also as someone that thinks both DA and ME could have great online free roam potential, certainly the idea intrigues me. I don't want to be pessimistic and say I'm against it. But the execution would worry me... and I'd go as far to say the only reason either of those even had any free roam intrigue -- and I'm going to say MEA is a good example of this -- is because of their SP stories. I'm not actually a big fan of sci-fi... and I went into the DA series late and I thought for a while it look boring. I really have no fundamental interesting in generic GAAS style games just featured the races or factions of those games per se. Any motivation to really sink hours into free roaming of those games really comes from their single-player experiences.
 

ruvikx

Banned
Speaking at PAX West this weekend, the team at Bioware said that Anthem’s story structure, which will be delivered as part of a live service allowing the team to continue to write and release new storylines post release, is a method it expects to employ for its other much-loved franchises.

But we already got new storylines post release in Mass Effect, i.e. they were called Mass Effect 2, 3 & all the DLC. They were also interconnected & player choices carried over from one game to another (something they've abandoned since). So I don't really see how Bioware is spinning this news as some sort of great advancement in storytelling or whatnot.
 
It's going to be weird seeing a Mass Effect with only two dialog options each time (that have no difference in what you choose).
 
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Scopa

The Tribe Has Spoken
Well, that’s disappointing news.

We need more CD Projekt Reds to pop up and make games that traditional gamers want when old classic companies like Bioware turn to shit.
 
Bioware keep letting monetizaztion practices influence their design.

Dragon Age 2 - “streamlined” combat to appeal to wider audience.

Mass Effect 3 -almost mandatory multiplayer if you want to get the best ending. “Readiness rating”... remember that? Of course, they sell you stuff in multiplayer.

Dragon Age: Inquisition - this had an unnecessary multiplayer added on just to sell you stuff. Campaign was pretty good and at least they left combat options if you like strategic combat. Still not as good as Dragon Age: Origins.

Mass Effect: Andromeda - they put the B-team on the franchise (nearly killing it?) in favor of putting the A-team on Anthem. Basically, they rushed out a half baked game because this type of game isn’t their focus anymore.

Anthem - GaaS heavily influenced multiplayer gaming. So far, it seems heavy on action and multiplayer and short on compelling rpgs elements. I hear that dialogue decision trees are simplified to two choices... that’s taking a step back.

They’ve basically been slowly moving away from making single player, story driven games in favor of action oriented multiplayer games. After all, those types of games are more profitable.

I love Bioware and usually pre-order their games. I even enjoyed Mass Effect: Andromeda. But, I have ZERO interest in the way they are going and don’t plan on touching Anthem at all. Maybe if it hits the $20 mark at some point? Maybe?

I love Bioware for single player rpgs. I fear it’s another case of EA buying a studio for what they were good at, and then forcing them to change what they do for monetary reasons...which of course, screws up why people loved the studio in the first place. Usually, these things don’t end well for the studio.

If Dragon Age and Mass Effect become Games as a Service products, I’m out.
 
Come on you guys.

This is a Games as a Service, persistent online, EA published, shared world, and third person action shooter with loot and hub world based missions.

What could possibly go wrong?

I, for one, am happy Bioware is moving on from heavy storytelling and character driven games.

/s
 
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Sygma

Member
Watch this end up being their most successful game ever and they completely abandon single player games forever

its gonna be a major hit for sure but it still is kinda odd that there's zero pvp whatsoever. Plus limited 4 men content at launch. Hopefully it wont be a Division 1 copycat on that end, got boring real quick

personally i think its cool that they're trying to do a more involving kind of story telling with online games. Not a lot of mmos actually have interesting lore and the way you go around is fairly limited. Sole exception would be The Secret World since everything is tied together, but you can't really interact with any of it, just immersed thanks to some really unique spins on traditional questing. Here's hoping Anthem has some nice tricks, otherwise here's hoping it will be a competent online arpg
 
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CatCouch

Member
That's about as bad of news as I can get, I loved these games for the romance options and branching paths that made for solid replayability. Those are the things that sound the least likely to return. Couple that with the almost certainly online only aspect and there's nothing here for me. GaaS is the end of gaming for me.

I remember when I was all excited for what new romance features would be in the games, it was one of the few things that I saw everyone get behind as it was handled well and included gay and straight people. I was waiting for a solid transgender romance option to push the positive parts of progressive gaming (to me, anyway) forward. Andromeda let me down pretty hard in that department. Looks like that whole thing is gone. I can't believe Assasin's Creed Odyssey is more appealing to me than anything related to Bioware...
 

klosos

Member
Look i've already accepted it , i felt like Bambi when his mum died when i came to the realization that its all over , at this point we should take Bioware out back and do the humane thing.

for me the Days of the great Baldurs Gate 2 ( best game ever made IMO ) , Star Wars knights of the old Republic , Dragon Age Origins and so on , are long gone. All the top guys from the two Doctors to writers gaider and karpyshyn to game director James Ohlen. they are a shadow of there former self run by a company like EA who are devoid of any new ideas , who pushes the developers onto the newest money making fads.

for you guys who are going to buy Anthem i hope its good for your'e sake , however there is apart of me that whats it to fail , so the final death blow to Bioware can be swift
 

Domisto

Member
Just let me know when it's safe to buy something made by EA again. It's been a downward spiral in the 2010s.
 

Pheace

Member
Not surprised at all, the whole industry is moving to games as a service where they can. DRM-free is slowly becoming meaningless when you have to be connected online to play at all.
 

hargwood

Banned
I'd honestly rather play FortNite than future Dragon Age or Mass Effect games at this point. How can EA fuck every single franchise up?
 
I don't know how a game like this is going to survive. It's going to have to blow people away because there's too many of these gaas titles and giant multiple player games coming out.
Call of duty, battlefield, fortnite, pubg, gta online, league, wow, the division, destiny.
Admittedly I'm not that big into these games so maybe I'll dip my toes in a few of them but these companies have to have realistic expectations cause the market is saturated. It's cool they aren't going to charge for additional story dlc but these guys bailed so hard on Mass Effect really fast and their track record has be abysmal lately.
 
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