Anthem - Interview with Casey Hudson

VentureBeat interviewed Casey Hudson about Anthem.

…

GamesBeat: I don’t know if they were joking, but some people seem to want more romance in the game.

Hudson: I think the expectations from a BioWare game—Mass Effect and Dragon Age, they’re quite mature-rated storylines, things like that. That was one framework for what romances were in a BioWare game. So then the question is, are there going to be romances in Anthem? We’ve been saying no, but—the nuance is, of course we do want relationships. It’s just more in an action genre of storytelling.

Of course, like with other games, we just want to see how people respond to that, and then we can build more. You might remember, with Mass Effect, Garrus was an alien that, as we developed the story—he was a kind of birdlike concept art that we eventually pulled together and shipped that game. But we didn’t know what he would really be like and what the reaction would be. It turned out that people loved Garrus so much that they wanted romances with him, so we built that into Mass Effect 2 and people loved it. That same opportunity exists here. If people really like a character and they want to spend more time with them, want a relationship with them, that’s definitely in the cards for the future.

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Aha, I knew it.

Where is that damn smiley again … ah. There it is.

Originally Posted by Cacheperl
Where is that damn smiley again … ah. There it is.

Its funny because its all they've got.

"3 awkward cutscenes = a relationship." - Hudson

I never understood why people are so attached to BioWare's romances above all other gameplay features. I never found them particularity that great, nor an important part of the games. The way I see it, they aren't even worth mentioning.

Yet, going by some of the reactions I've seen, some people buy games just because they have romances (now they are going to buy the next Assassin's Creed) but they don't want to touch Dating Sims…

People were attached because only Bioware was making alien dating sim. The quality didn't matter, aliens did.
And horny/horned creatures later that made DA:I banned in countries where cows are considered sacred.

I'm confused about buying next Assassin Creed (Greece) only because of romances. Ancient Ezio trilogy already had a few, later games too, so it's nothing new for this series really.

Classic dating sims tend to be play one of them and you saw them all. Rarely some original work emerges (a pidgeon as boyfriend, romance a weapon, etc), but otherwise it's all clones of clones.

Hey, it's always good to see someone front their game as a lump of crap before it's even released. I could almost thank them for the PSA warning!

Originally Posted by azarhal
I never understood why people are so attached to BioWare's romances above all other gameplay features. I never found them particularity that great, nor an important part of the games. The way I see it, they aren't even worth mentioning.

Yet, going by some of the reactions I've seen, some people buy games just because they have romances (now they are going to buy the next Assassin's Creed) but they don't want to touch Dating Sims…

I tried once, whilst drunk, hitting on chicks using exclusively Bioware romance flirt options…load of fun, but it didn't go well.

Dating Sims are kind of self admittance.

Once again these comments need to be quoted & shared from the PCGamer article.

Link - https://www.pcgamer.com/bioware-answ…-about-anthem/

Doesn't even know the proper name of DOS:2 but proceeds to opine about how it is "really awkward" to play in co-op. Bioware, you aren't worthy to be a towel boy for Larian with respect to making seamless drop-in/drop-out co-op inside of a rich, story driven RPG.

"If you try to play a story, if you play BG multiplayer or you play… Divinity: Original Sin 3?"Oh honey, you don't have to pretend to be in the RPG business anymore. EA has had its way with you, it happens to the best of us.
I'll remember you for the studio you were, not the shell you've become.

People attached to romances in Bioware games kinda predates the whole alien thing, I think - BG2 romances have been kind of a popular feature, however awkward the execution was, were even shoehorned into NWN a bit. I would attribute the perceived popularity to the more powerful graphics of ME/DA, giving you the option to romance a detailed 3D character model. Also, the general targeting of the more casual crowd. As opposed to the dating sim genre, most of which - at least until recently - is japanese developed, is less of a game and more visual novel, and features anime looking static pictures of teen girls pretending to be of legal age. Also, dating sims tend to be pornographic in nature.

So there's a bit of a stigma associated with dating sims in general. And also, I guess people kinda want a bit of romance in their action games, and a 3D sex scene or two, and not a wall of non-voiced text accompanied with an anime picture here in there.

And it's also not Bio and Bio-like games that do it - for example, the Fire Emblem series has seen new popularity riding on it's dating features (among other things targeting a more casual crowd) to the point it's been turned into a waifu simulator.

On another note, I find it extremely funny that Anthem is being lauded as if it's a proper RPG, only because it's from what's still called Bioware, and Fallout 76 is being made fun of not being one and a microtransaction riddled mess to boot.

Originally Posted by Polyester
People attached to romances in Bioware games kinda predates the whole alien thing, I think - BG2 romances have been kind of a popular feature, however awkward the execution was, were even shoehorned into NWN a bit.

I really enjoyed romance in BG2 because it contributed to character development (yes, I liked Anomen romance). I think some people became "fan" of Bioware romance because they were the only ones including romance in a game since BG2.

I actually like romance being included if it's done well but hate what Bioware "romance" have become (as Wisdom said, it's just a bunch of awkward sex cut scenes).

Please no more soft-core cartoon porn!

I like the Bioware romances, but the more-recent sex scenes are really cringeworthy. Hell, 90% of Hollywood sex scenes are cringeworthy. Cut, fade to black, sum up the encounter with some text… anything, but please no more cartoon sex.

Ran across this YouTube interview from a couple days ago with Jonathan Warner, Game Director for Anthem: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PU2udm-iXW8

60 seconds in:
Interviewer: "What's the overarching goal in Anthem?"
Jonathan Warner: "Right, so the overarching goal, uh, is really to, uh, to, power up your, uh, your javelins to the degree where you feel like you're pretty legendary…"

That response just about sums up this crapfest.

Originally Posted by Stingray
Ran across this YouTube interview from a couple days ago with Jonathan Warner, Game Director for Anthem: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PU2udm-iXW8

60 seconds in:
Interviewer: "What's the overarching goal in Anthem?"
Jonathan Warner: "Right, so the overarching goal, uh, is really to, uh, to, power up your, uh, your javelins to the degree where you feel like you're pretty legendary…"

That response just about sums up this crapfest.

Oh my (facepalm)…

Good news is that Hudson was brought back to reboot Mass Effect.

*pushes 'pause' on BioWare until about 2023*

Originally Posted by Stingray
Ran across this YouTube interview from a couple days ago with Jonathan Warner, Game Director for Anthem: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PU2udm-iXW8

60 seconds in:
Interviewer: "What's the overarching goal in Anthem?"
Jonathan Warner: "Right, so the overarching goal, uh, is really to, uh, to, power up your, uh, your javelins to the degree where you feel like you're pretty legendary…"

That response just about sums up this crapfest.

Well isn't that kind of the point of loot grinders? You kill to get better loot to kill to get better loot.
This is why so many misunderstood brilliance of No Man's Sky. Grind drives us, it shapes us, it is the Ultimate meaning of our existence.

@BoboTheMighty I don't know if you are joking or not but I love good loot grinders! They are even better if you do it with other people. Older MMO are really loot grinders at their core before they introduced all this crap about quest and stuff! Its really about improving your charterer via getting loot. Some of my best MMO memories are in EQ2 camping a mobs for 3 to 5 hours straight! We will stay in one location killing bunch of mobs hoping for the named to pop! This is very boring activity if you do it alone but throw in 6 people together (ideally with alcohol!) and its the foundation for fun evening

Watched half that Youtube interview, but had to stop, as I was developing a strong impulse to set fire to my computer desk.

Honestly, television and theatre productions throw enough romance stuff at me, plus novels as well, that I simply don't need it on any computer products.

Who the hell cares for this game and what is the link between that kind of game and rpgwatch apart the fact than those guys did RPG 15 years ago?