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The ANTHEM Thread Of Sadness


J.T.

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Guest The Magnificent 7

I got this on PS4. Combat is dope, but they need to sort these effing servers out. I get dropped constantly. 

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12 hours ago, The Magnificent 7 said:

I got this on PS4. Combat is dope, but they need to sort these effing servers out. I get dropped constantly. 

Most of what I hear from friends is that this is a good game waiting to be fixed, so I will wait.

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I've been struck by how much of the reporting on Anthem boils down to "a guy on Reddit said this".  The story of the brick thing seems to be that, as do the reports of people receiving refunds from Sony.

I don't know, those things may very well be happening.  I just find the nature of people's sources interesting.

Regardless, the game seems like a damn disaster.

 

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The follow-up I saw on the Brick story was it wasn't actually bricking them but it was fucking them until you had to reboot in a specific way and that would solve the problem.

Let me see if I can find it.

(Either way it wasn't good)

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Here we go

https://kotaku.com/anthem-players-say-the-game-is-shutting-down-and-even-s-1833039161

It was an update to the story

Quote

[Update - 10:51 a.m. 3/5/19]: A workaround for the PS4s that no longer turn on after shutting down while running Anthem has been shared on Reddit, which was able to help one person who reached out to us to get their console working again.

The method requires booting the console in safe mode by holding down the power button for several seconds until you hear two beeps. From there players need to select the option labeled “Rebuild Database.” When that process is complete, the PS4 should be working again.

We have updated the headline for this article to reflect that it no longer appears that Anthem is bricking some consoles, but rather causing software issues that can still be fixed by operating them in safe mode.

So yes - to Robert's report - a lot of reporting is via bitching on Reddit

That being said - the shutting down was definitely a real thing as EA posted about a hour ago that they discovered the root of the problem

 

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The PS4's stability is a bit dodgy from what I've seen.  I've had a few games crash out of no where.  Last crash I had while playing was from Shadow of the Tomb Raider.  So games crashing out to the XMB are somewhat more normal.  The odd thing I've also seen is where I keep my PS4 in rest mode (mostly because I play it on remote play most of the time), and I've had times when starting it up, it didn't reboot properly after installing an update.  Not just the PS4's software, but any game's update occasionally gives the "You didn't shut down properly" screen when starting it back up.  

 

Keep in mind, I've already had to rip my PS4 apart less than a year in because I had a defective CMOS battery and it was cheaper for me to do the work myself than send it in under warranty.

 

EDIT: There's that too.  There's a bunch of stuff that can cause you to restart in Safe Mode and Rebuild the database.  Sony seemed to use a suspect architecture on this system.

Edited by Raziel
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The first place I heard about the shut down issues was on the Giant Bombcast. Two of the people of the podcast were talking about how the game wouldn't just crash to the Playstation menu, but it would crash and then shut down the system. They're playing the game on their home systems too, so it's not like they were using the shit in Gamespot's offices. In both cases, pushing the power button on the system or the Playstation button on the controlled didn't turn the system back on. They had to hold the power button and then it did the thing where it makes it look like you lost power and it has to check the hard drive for failures. For one of them, I think they wound up needing to rebuild their hard drive completely by downloading the system files from the internet, doing a clean install of everything, and re-downloading all of the save files from PSN. The additional problem there was they discovered not all saves synced to the cloud storage and so some of their progress in other games was just fucked.

This was all just after release and before people started talking about the system bricking stuff on Reddit. I've had games crash plenty of times on the PS4, but never anything like the issues Anthem was causing people. It's always the biggest open world games too that wind up crashing for me.

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  • 2 weeks later...

It's basically "OH FOR THE LOVE OF GOD PLEASE KEEP PLAYING! WE PROMISE WE WILL FIX IT! WE SWEAR!!!

He also throws out one little like that mentions "upcoming games" which I found cute

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A whole twenty two people are talking about that.   How many out of that small number are saying positive things?

Upcoming games, my ass.

Edited by J.T.
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  • 2 weeks later...

Much like how Jason Schreier was the one to break the news on Andromeda's failure - here he is with a hit piece on Anthem

https://kotaku.com/how-biowares-anthem-went-wrong-1833731964#cxu7e8q6qtd93vxumeeg30yi6.2pd1zf4t9aeae

Quote

This account of Anthem’s development, based on interviews with 19 people who either worked on the game or adjacent to it (all of whom were granted anonymity because they were not authorized to talk about Anthem’s development), is a story of indecision and mismanagement. It’s a story of technical failings, as EA’s Frostbite engine continued to make life miserable for many of BioWare’s developers, and understaffed departments struggled to serve their team’s needs. It’s a story of two studios, one in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada and another in Austin, Texas, that grew resentful toward one another thanks to a tense, lopsided relationship. It’s a story of a video game that was in development for nearly seven years but didn’t enter production until the final 18 months, thanks to big narrative reboots, major design overhauls, and a leadership team said to be unable to provide a consistent vision and unwilling to listen to feedback.

Perhaps most alarming, it’s a story about a studio in crisis. Dozens of developers, many of them decade-long veterans, have left BioWare over the past two years. Some who have worked at BioWare’s longest-running office in Edmonton talk about depression and anxiety. Many say they or their co-workers had to take “stress leave”—a doctor-mandated period of weeks or even months worth of vacation for their mental health. One former BioWare developer told me they would frequently find a private room in the office, shut the door, and just cry. “People were so angry and sad all the time,” they said. Said another: “Depression and anxiety are an epidemic within Bioware.”

 

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Well that was a fucking depressing read. Somehow Anthem's development was even worse than Andromeda's. EA is definitely a problem with the Frostbite focus and stealing developers to work on FIFA, but it sounds like Bioware's general leadership is just shitty with zero understanding of the difficulties the people actually making the games have. Also sounds like Edmonton were kind of arrogant assholes about the game because they were the original studio and the ones who started Anthem. I get that it was their baby, but it probably would have been a good idea to take advice from a studio who actually worked on an online game before. Also kind of hilarious and sad that the mere mention of Destiny was taboo.

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1 hour ago, RIPPA said:

I enjoy that Bioware's response was basically "Stop writing mean stories. It makes everyone sad"

Gonna be a hell of a thing to put on Bioware's tombstone at some point in the next 12 months.

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4 hours ago, RIPPA said:

Much like how Jason Schreier was the one to break the news on Andromeda's failure - here he is with a hit piece on Anthem

https://kotaku.com/how-biowares-anthem-went-wrong-1833731964#cxu7e8q6qtd93vxumeeg30yi6.2pd1zf4t9aeae

 

RIP Bioware. You will be missed.

Main notes from me on that article is fuck the ever loving hell out of the Frostbite engine, and it’s incredibly frustrating that Bioware seemingly ate itself more then EA did. Also, they took the main mind behind Dragon Age and effectively took him off the project and he left the company. After the last two games being so rough and that, I have zero faith in DA4.

 

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Guest The Magnificent 7

I read the piece and since I am still playing it heavily it resonated with me. There are some things so fucking simple to fix that anyone with half a brain woukd see that it brings to mind Dorothy’s quote, “Wellwhat would you do with a brain if you had one?”

It’s an absolute shame as the mechanics are there for a grand old time.  

I should buy The Division 2 as I really liked the first one, but I will stick with this for a while and hope it turns around. 

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I feel so bad for those that worked on this.  EA's Frostbite engine sounds like a super pain to work with and the Bioware management didn't seem to have their best interests at heart.  In the past when they worked that "Bioware magic" (which sounds like hot garbage) they had an engine they were used to that worked.  But this is different and no magic will help the shit they had to deal with.  Definitely don't blame those that left but that's a huge blow for Bioware.

As for the game it's not my type of game otherwise I'd give it a shot at some point.  But as long as they're working on it I'm sure down the line it will be a pretty good/great game.

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9 hours ago, NikoBaltimore said:

I feel so bad for those that worked on this.  EA's Frostbite engine sounds like a super pain to work with and the Bioware management didn't seem to have their best interests at heart.  In the past when they worked that "Bioware magic" (which sounds like hot garbage) they had an engine they were used to that worked.  But this is different and no magic will help the shit they had to deal with.  Definitely don't blame those that left but that's a huge blow for Bioware.

As for the game it's not my type of game otherwise I'd give it a shot at some point.  But as long as they're working on it I'm sure down the line it will be a pretty good/great game.

This is what happens when talented people are lead by incompetent management.  "Bioware Magic" is code for, "I have no idea how to lead this project, but I'm the boss.  Just do whatever it is you do."  It's one of those things that happens far more often than you'd expect.  It can work when the idea isn't something as vague as, "make something different," and you have more input than, "This feels very DragonAge."  This game was doomed because they didn't even have an idea for it.  They just wanted them to make a huge game, with an engine that doesn't work, and it is different than what they've done in the past.  

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Yep, and it's sad because it seems like the people that were trying to come up with the game's details had some stuff that could have made it stand out.  But due to the lack of real management and competing branches this is what we get.  I'm still hoping this ends up being a No Man's Sky situation where later on it gets really good.  It should serve as a good reason for fans to be patient and see where it goes.

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So after getting shit on for their response to the Kotaku article - Bioware is now all WE WILL LEARN FROM OUR MISTAKES! THE PROBLEMS ARE REAL!!!

https://kotaku.com/bioware-boss-addresses-studio-issues-vows-to-continue-1833802608

Article includes a message from Casey Hudson to employees addressing the issues

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Companion piece:

Dragon Age 4 has already been a disaster thanks to Anthem

https://kotaku.com/the-past-and-present-of-dragon-age-4-1833913351

Quote

Perhaps the saddest thing about Dragon Age 4’s cancellation in 2017 for members of the Dragon Age team was that this time, they thought they were getting it right. This time, they had a set of established tools. They had a feasible scope. They had ideas that excited the whole team. And they had leaders who said they were committed to avoiding the mistakes they’d made on Dragon Age: Inquisition.

But Anthem was on fire, and BioWare needed everyone to grab a hose.

Avert your eyes @JLSigman

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So basically DA4 was doing all the right changes needed to avoid being a behind the scenes disaster only for Anthem to fuck it up and over, swell. It at least sounds like things haven't gone to shit yet with the reboot. Still that is pretty damn disappointing since the direction before sounded awesome.

Edited by Eivion
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