By the time this post goes live, I’d expect the actual value to change – but Anthem is sitting in the low 60s right now.
Some blogs have their thoughts as well.
I did play the beta. I found it interesting mechanically and wondering if there was an actual game present. It was not a demo, regardless of how it was sold. Demos are smooth. What those two weekends presented was a game with significant bugs. The day 1 (how is it day 1 when it’s been out for 7 days?) patch addresses a ton of those issues, but somehow managed to create others.
I have a noted dislike for early access games. It is a very rare game that actually delivers on that promise (Slay the Spire, Grim Dawn come to mind), while others stay in garbage mode for years. I really dislike that when we’re talking about global publishers with massive pockets.
The short of it is that Anthem just isn’t finished. It’s an idea that’s still being incubated, and EA wants your money to help fund that effort. How you feel about that is entirely up to you. It’s a market trend, entirely supported by revenue. BlackOps4 is an example of simple greed, selling a full box price, then gradually selling every possible F2P MTX possible. I wouldn’t so much put Anthem in the MTX spot… but man does this look fishy.
Is the game fun? When it worked for me it certainly was. Despite it’s best efforts to put in loading screens everywhere, to slow down the fun parts with a non-interactive movie, to have more technical issues than I could possibly list. All of that still doesn’t change the fact that combat is simply fun.
And I think that’s where things get interesting. Destiny 1 was a really bad launch, Destiny 2 had a rough go as well. Division 1 was garbage until nearly a year after launch. Warframe today looks nothing like when it launched. In the “shared world shooters at launch”, Anthem is well above the pack. The problem is that Anthem is not competing against those games from back then – it’s competing against their current versions. Just like every themepark MMORPG fought against the current version of WoW.
While I’d certainly recommend that people not buy the game at this time, if you really need to, then the $20 monthly fee (at least for PC) is probably your best bet. Following other games that release in this state, with this score… we’re going to see a sale within the month. Getting this for $30, yeah, that could work. Getting this at $60, better off waiting a couple months for the game to find its footing. There’s a pile of potential here, here’s hoping BioWare can deliver on it before EA starts cutting away.
Leo's Life 
I got an early access to Wildstar. The negative experience I had shaped my opinion on not buying it. Years later when it was F2P I gave it a second try, it just didn’t grab me, but I wonder if part of it was memory of how it was when I first tried.
LikeLike
Right. First impressions stick with us for years. I remember reloading Division after the major patch and still being frustrated, while objectively the game was miles better.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Have either of you had the experience of bouncing off a game, sometimes a true hard bounce, only to come back at a later time only for it to suddenly ‘click’ with you?
I’m wondering how that fits in with the first impressions thing. I’ve had it any number of times, but perhaps the two biggest were EVE, where I’d bounced off it no less than 4-5 times before getting into it in a big way, and Crusader Kings II where I’d bounced off it at least once, maybe twice, before at some point giving it another go and having it enter my favourite games of all time list. 🙂
LikeLike
Sure, plenty of times. The XCOM reboot was one. Mass Effect 1. KH2.
Then again, none were hard bounces. Something like Witcher3 was a hard bounce. It is hard to put into words how much I dislike that game – completely irrational now.
I think that happens to a lot of people. The thing is, you need a reason to try it again. Either it’s boredom and the only thing there, or its friends who are playing, or some quirk that piques your interest.
With the sheer amount of games out there, the odds of pulling back eyes at a later date are just not that good. Sea of Thieves is a really good recent example. Huge spike the last 2 months, falls to piddly once Apex comes out. Super curious how BW manages the next few weeks/months.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Witcher 3, wow. Although funny timing, as I have another friend trying to pick it up now and experiencing a similar initial dislike. 🙂
EVE for me was a hard bounce the first times, I just found it sooooo. Boooring. I didn’t appreciate the depth to the combat and builds, or the Universe at large.
I don’t really recall what caused me to keep trying with this one. I suspect it was just the whole, ‘This is a game that on paper is everything I want, why don’t I get it?’ — a similar experience for me and the Total War series, but in that case I never really came around and have it click with me.
LikeLike
I’ll put in 100 hours before it is “fixed”, but yeah, I also paid $150 for Landmark Eearly access (and played the hell out of that too).
As long as you are having fun, it’s a good investment. But those who hate early access titles should stay away. There is much to be improved, but still a ton of fun to be had.
(just got back form my trip and have been playing all morning…. kicked out for a patch!)
LikeLike
You may not be a whale but you’re certainly the target demo for this sort of stuff. My next post will be about financial and social ethical choices. It’s a big topic now in Canada…and is for sure applies to Anthem.
LikeLike
I’ve put over 100 hours into BFV and it’s improved every couple of weeks. There is not a single game released today that couldn’t benefit from “another 6 months” development. Key point to find is that point where people feel like they get good value for what they paid. The challenge is that is different for everyone
LikeLike
If your scope is multiplayer I would agree. There are dozens of other games that were great at launch. Just look at any game of the year contender. Frostpunk, celeste, God of war, rdr2… plenty of solid games at release. And that’s just this past year.
I can see the value for early access. We wouldn’t have slay the spire, grim dawn, battle brothers and a bunch of other indie games. They have no other way. Quite hard to convince me that model applies to EA, Activision, or ubisoft. What other market on the planet see the major market player selling a quarter product for full price and that’s acceptable?
LikeLike
Question is, when is a product ready for release vs a “quarter product”?
Already spent triple the time and having WAY more fun (and a better story too!) Then MHW, which is a darling of the internet. And MHW has more repetitive gameplay, crappy menu systems, etc.
Anthem had problems for sure. But if you spend 40 hours getting through the main sorry missions and side quests, isn’t that a lot of content?
(I’m not fanboying here either there are many facepalm design decisions, which I’ll cover later on…)
GaaS is the new world and a good way for everyone to iterate their games – whether you spend 100k developing or 100M. Esp, as you say, in a multiplayer game that you can learn what people like and dislike ad they play.
As long as there is enough game three to begin with at the beginning.
LikeLiked by 1 person