Anthem

[Von Reinthaler]

Watch Anthem at EA PLAY at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qw16v3oGXso for:

A New Trailer
That’s right, we’re delivering an unseen trailer that delves into the dangerous world of Anthem. You’ll get a glimpse into the story, characters, and monsters that bring the game to life.

More Gameplay
Last year we showed off some of the core gameplay that you can expect from Anthem – flying, fighting, and of course, collecting loot. And this year we’re happy to show off some more. Tune in to see it all.

Deeper Combat Showcase
One thing we’ll be showing in-depth this time around is combat. The power of the Javelin exosuit will be on full display as players take on the most ferocious enemies seen yet.

Developer Insights
The dev team at BioWare has been hard at work, and now they’re ready to show it off in-person. Hear some of the guiding principles that have shaped the development of Anthem as BioWare General Manager Casey Hudson, Executive Producer Mark Darrah, and Lead Writer Cathleen Rootsaert take the stage.

A Look Behind The Curtain
Along with hearing from the developers themselves, we’ll be showing off some of the concept and production art of Anthem. You’ll get a chance to see the craftsmanship that has built this incredible world from the ground up.

[Destry]

I blinked my eyes !!

[Von Reinthaler]

[Von Reinthaler]

[chbix]

I’m still optimistic. The more I see the more it looks like a destiny/division hybrid, which isn’t a bad thing.

We shall see. Was probably the best thing out of ea at e3.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Von Reinthaler]

[Von Reinthaler]

Anthem Game Information

The Game Concept

• Team with up to three other players in cooperative adventures that reward both combined effort and individual skill. Each player’s choice of Javelin exosuit will shape their contribution and strategic role. As you explore, you will discover a gripping story filled with unique and memorable characters. Seamless and intelligent matchmaking will ensure you can quickly and easily find other players to adventure alongside. [Source]

Launch and Demos

• Global Launch date: February 22nd 2019 [Source]
• Demo: We plan to get the game out to a wider group before launch, but can’t discuss specific plans right now. [Source]
• Signing up for the newsletter offers 'a chance to be selected to play in a pre-launch Anthem demo'. [Source]

• Pre-Ordering grants 'VIP Access' to the demo. [Source]

The World of Anthem

• At the time of its inception, gods known as Shapers used huge pieces of powerful technology to command a force called the Anthem of Creation, forming the planet. Then, they left. [Source]
• Shaper technology litter the landscape, and they are far from dormant. They seem to activate randomly, causing cataclysmic changes to the world and creating a hostile environment... [Source]
• It’s not Earth. “There are humans here, but they are not Earthlings,” Warner says. “There are no ties to Earth or another planet. This was the place they originated.” [Source]
• “Part of the mystery of the whole IP is: Where did this stuff come from?” Gamble says. “Where did the Scars come from? Where did that giant Titan creature come from?” [Source]
• “We conceived the world as different ecosystems,” Warner says. “Each ecosystem has its own band of creatures that are native to it. So as you traverse the map, you’re going to encounter different types of creatures.” [Source]
• The Dominion: Your primary enemy in the story will be the Dominion, a human nation bent on subjugating the other people. The Dominion believes that they can control the tools of the Shapers and bend them to their own purposes. The Dominion are an ancient enemy with a secret in their past. [Source]
• Main Story: The main story has a climax and a conclusion but the game continues after that. [Source]
• There will likely be nods to BioWare's other franchises. [Source]

Basic Game Mechanics

• “The encounters are set up for four players,” says lead producer Ben Irving. “That’s where the fun is, and they’re built with that teamwork in mind.” [Source]
• The javelins are designed to work together, creating opportunities for each other to shine. If a group of Scars are standing in the water, a lightning blast from the storm can shock them, doing damage and creating some clear shots for the ranger. A colossus may walk into the range of a mine, but with a raised shield to deflect damage and protect the party. [Source]
• When certain abilities interact, you might get additional bonuses. These combos don’t seem to be as rigidly defined by the primer/detonator distinction we saw in the Mass Effect series. [Source]
• “But even yourself, you’re able to pull off some combos. If you’ve frozen something, and then you detonate that with a missile or a melee strike, you’re going to get some cool combo bonuses.” [Source]
• “For the critical path … if you do want to play by yourself, you can,” Gamble says. “We’re not limiting that artificially. But the game itself is built for you and a bunch of friends – because your friends are your companions in this case. That’s the whole point.” [Source]
• You will need to be Online to play. [Source]

• Health recovery is through pick-ups, as well a Revive mechanic. [Source] [Source]
• There will be Ammo & Loot Drops in the world, and they will drop near the bodies (no searching). [Source] [Source] [Source]
• There will be Crafting. [Source]
• There will be Emotes. [Source]
• They may implement cosmetic Idle Animations that you can change. [Source]
• There will be Aim-Assist for controllers. [Source]
• FPS is not locked on the PC. [Source]
• Newer consoles may not be locked at 30 FPS. Still unclear for older consoles. [Source]
• No plans for Cross-Play at the moment. [Source]
• Looking into Cross-Platform saves. [Source]
• We should be able to disable Damage Floaties when the game launches. [Source]
• Anthem should be able to run on Ultra-Wide monitors. [Source]
• They are looking into UI Customization. [Source]

Online Game Mechanics

• One of the key aspects of the world is its unpredictability, which results in new events taking place all the time. Maybe certain Shaper technology has switched on, and you need to shut it off. Or maybe a terrifying creature has spawned that you can take down. [Source]
• Free Play: another activity which has you out in the sprawling world with no specific objectives to chase. [Source]
• In Free Play you can jump in and help others with an objective, combat, etc. without having to join the group. [Source]
• The game also generates minor tasks to complete; we saw a downed freelancer who needed help, and a member of the Sentinels (an organization that protects Fort Tarsis) to rescue. [Source]
• If you want more directed play, you can tackle formal missions. These might be part of the critical path, or quests given to you by other characters in the world. [Source]
• “We have NPC quest-givers in Tarsis,” Gamble says. “They’re called Agents, and those agents give you missions. The type of mission an agent will give you is based on a certain type of context. Some will give you context on the Scars, some will give you context on the Sentinels... [Source]
• On the higher end of the challenge spectrum are Strongholds, which is a general term for instanced areas that require more teamwork and coordination than typical missions. [Source]
• Though you encounter some Strongholds as part of the critical path, they also represent one of the ways Anthem continues to entice and challenge players in the elder game, after completion of the main story. [Source]
• You cannot solo Strongholds but you do not need to do strongholds to complete the story. [Source]
• If you’re in Fort Tarsis and want to team up for a mission, you just open your map. That shows you the world and the available activities, along with who is currently undertaking them (weighted toward people on your friends list). If there’s an open slot, you just jump right into action. [Source]
• “Our map system is kind of a LFG [looking for group] lobby and the world map from an RPG blended together,” Darrah says. “You see these opportunities on the map, blended in with your own experience. [Source]
• Alternately, you can start your own mission, and that will show up on their maps as an available activity to join. You can also invite people specifically, or rely on the in-game notification system to alert your friends that you’ve started a task. [Source]
• You can tweak the settings to dictate whether your game is public or private – and if it’s public, you can rest assured that plenty of missions are clear and intuitive enough that you can complete them without voice chat. [Source]
• Because Anthem has a shared world and private hub, the structure of the game naturally splits groups apart. “I jump in and I’m able to do a mission with somebody, and that’s an experience that lasts maybe 20 minutes,” Warner says. “And then the system breaks us apart; I don’t have to say ‘I don’t want to play with you anymore.’ It just does. It breaks us apart and we each go back to our own Fort Tarsis.” Of course, if you and your friends just want to stick together and play for hours on end, you can do that without constantly disbanding and reforming the group. [Source]
• Regardless of power level, any players can team up and start fighting. “It’ll feel like it’s the same amount of damage,” Irving says. “The difference will be, if I have a greater variety of gear at my disposal, I’m going to be more efficient because I have more things to use than you. But the idea is that it will feel good – it will feel like we’re both contributing.” Even if high-level players are doing a mission that takes place late in the critical path, low-level players still have the option to join – if they confirm that they don’t mind spoilers. [Source]
• The Alliance System: “Being with your friends, playing with your friends. We want to reward you for doing those things in lots of different ways.” [Source]
• There will be no Couch Co-Op play. [Source]
• There will be no PvP at launch. It allows BW to go broader on gear and weapons with less worries about balance. [Source]
• There will be dedicated servers for Anthem. [Source]
• On a mission, you'll focus on the action as opposed to conversational branching. That said, your actions and the missions you do MAY affect things. [Source]
• If you join a friends instance at the same place in the story, you will get full credit. [Source]
• If you do a mission you have already done to help out a friend, we will have special rewards for mentoring. [Source]
• In Co-Op, you will not have to replay all the missions if they have the same amount of progress. Progress is shared. [Source]
• In Co-Op there are no choices in cutscenes. So if a cutscene fires, everyone sees it and it lasts the same length of time for everyone. So no waiting. [Source]
• In-Game Chat: Our plans here aren’t locked. That said, we want missions to be doable by groups who are coordinating only through in game means. I.e. you shouldn’t need chat for most things you do. [Source]
• No AI Teammates: The nature of traversal and the verticality of the levels puts this out of our abilities ATM. [Source]
• There will be Idle-Detection in the game. [Source]
• There will be challenging endgame mechanics. We aren’t talking about those yet. Some of those may require chat. [Source]
• There will be hidden loot, etc. rewarding exploration. [Source]

Solo Mechanics

• “For the critical path … if you do want to play by yourself, you can,” Gamble says. “We’re not limiting that artificially. But the game itself is built for you and a bunch of friends – because your friends are your companions in this case. That’s the whole point.” [Source]
• Solo combat combos are possible. If you’ve frozen something, and then you detonate that with a missile or a melee strike, you’re going to get some cool combo bonuses.” [Source]

The Protagonist (Freelancer)

• You will have Character Customization for your Freelancer. However, they put most of their effort into Javelin personalization. [Source].
• You can choose your gender. [Source]
• Your Freelancer will have voiced dialogue. But you will not have a selection of VAs to choose from. [Source]
• There should be nothing preventing you creating multiple profiles, if you wanted to. [Source]
• Your Freelancer (pilot) has a Level that gives you perks that apply to all Javelins. Additionally, you will get better gear for each Javelin. [Source]

Characters

• Haluk is the mechanic who keeps your Strider operational, but he also has a long history with the player character. [Source]
• Owen is a Cypher – a term for someone who provides information and support to Freelancers in the field. He’s happy to help in this role, but Owen also wants to get in his own javelin and help out. [Source]
• Faye, who has a personal connection to one of the main threads from the critical path – but that’s all BioWare is saying about her for now. [Source]
• Romances: “There are no romances. There are friendships. Some of the stuff we did with Mass Effect – the Citadel DLC specifically – there was a lot of friendship moments. You and Garrus sitting up, shooting – that kind of stuff, we want to lean into that. The romantic stuff, we’re moving away from that for Anthem.” [Source]
• Future Romances: The door is not closed for after launch. [Source]
• NPCs will not accompany you on missions. They are more like Advisors from DA:I. [Source] [Source]
• While you will occasionally see and interact with NPC Javelins in the world, this is not what typically happens. However, your Cypher and other NPCs will talk to you throughout missions. So yes to banter, no to NPCs with you. [Source]

Combat Exosuit (Javelin)

• You start with a Ranger, which is a type of javelin with solid all-around capabilities. [Source]
• During the course of the critical path, you earn three more javelins: the heavily armored Colossus, the elementally powered Storm, and the Interceptor (think Rogue)... [Source] [Source]
• Storm Javelin: Almost like a Magic User, using the Anthem of Creation is the energy in the world. [Source]
• Interceptor Javelin: Very fast and agile. [Source]
• You can own only one of each Javelin. You can reconfigure them at will in a hub. [Source]
• In addition to their locked-in melee attacks, defensive maneuvers, and ultimate attacks, each suit can equip two weapons, along with two pieces of gear – a category that includes a wide variety of tools like explosives, energy blasts, and more. [Source]
• However, you can’t just mix-and-match, since the javelins have access to different arsenals that accentuate their natural abilities. [Source]
• Beyond a javelin’s combat capabilities, you also personalize its appearance through paintjobs and other cosmetic additions that can change your javelin’s silhouette. BioWare likens it to customizing a car, interacting and tweaking at different layers to ensure that your javelins look cool. [Source]
• You can freely switch between your exosuits while in Fort Tarsis or your mobile base – a giant mechanical walker called a Strider. [Source]
• Improving your javelins isn’t the only way you get stronger. Your pilot also gains skills that apply universally to any javelin you use. For instance, the booster jets on your javelins overheat with continued use, but by investing in a certain pilot skill, you can increase the amount of time you’re able to stay airborne in all of your suits. [Source]
• There will likely be more Javelins introduced in the future. [Source]
• Your Jetpacks generate heat and you will need to either land or find another way to cool them off (eg. flying through waterfalls, underwater, etc.). [Source]
• There will be Ammo Drops in the world. [Source]
• There is a Breath Meter when underwater. [Source]
• Pure Melee Builds? Not at launch. [Source]
• Skins and color schemes are multiple use. [Source]

Game Hub (Fort Tarsis)

• Fort Tarsis is a major human settlement on the planet, and your primary base of operations – where you customize your javelin, equip gear, talk to the inhabitants, and sort through loot. [Source]
• Fort Tarsis is not a social hub. In fact, it’s the opposite. It’s a private refuge. [Source]
• The consequences of the player's choices, both small and large, will be most felt here. [Source]

• In that sense, the tale that unfolds in Fort Tarsis is almost like a traditional single-player narrative, but with cooperative gameplay bridging the gaps. [Source]
• From your support crew to quest-giving agents to other denizens, this area is populated by an array of characters for you to interact with, and you build those connections at your own pace in relative safety. [Source]
• “We have NPC quest-givers in Tarsis,” Gamble says. “They’re called Agents, and those agents give you missions. The type of mission an agent will give you is based on a certain type of context. Some will give you context on the Scars, some will give you context on the Sentinels. [Source]
• You will be in First-Person mode while in the hubs, and cannot change to Third-Person. [Source]
• The reason for FP mode in hubs: [Source]1. We want Fort Tarsis to feel tight and human sized. 3rd person requires wider halls.2. When you walk near a Javelin and look up, we want to to feel the size.3. In a Javelin, you have enhanced senses.

Mobile Hub (Strider)

• You can change your Javelin in the Strider (your forward base). [Source]

Game Economy

• The game does not have lootboxes (by any name) and no pay-to-win purchases. Strictly cosmetic/vanity items. 'Forever'. You can earn cosmetics through gameplay as well. [Source] [Source]
• A future payment for new additional content at some point is not ruled out but is not yet detailed (but it won't be via lootboxes or pay-to-win). [Source]
  
• Additional payment is unlikely for additional story content. [Source]
• Anthem will not have a monthly subscription. [Source]
• But additional content like a new Javelin might require purchase or might not, too early to say. [Source]
• You cannot earn the Legion of Dawn items. [Source]
• Whether you will have access to the Legion of Dawn items at the very start of the game is still being determined. But very likely at the same time they are unlocked. [Source]
• There is an earned in-game currency. [Source]
• Trading: No trading. At least for now. We needed to ensure we could control balance. [Source]

[IceMarbles]

There's no PvP at launch. Bioware/EA is ALREADY preparing to give you an unfinished game, FOR $60 OR MORE. They are a AAA studio and publisher, and these abysmal business practices keep getting propped up because people see this as worth the preorder over "ooohh shiny" bullshit! If its something that's planned for the game, it should be in the gold version. This is absurd.

https://www.polygon.com/e3/2018/6/9/...a-play-e3-2018

[Avalira]

so it was hyped a lot as a competitor to destiny/the division, but its looking more and more like scifi monster hunter world. which isnt a bad thing, just not what i was expecting.

[Von Reinthaler]