Following the new trailer and gameplay footage from Anthem at EA Play, Bioware keeps answering questions and providing updates on various aspects of the game’s mechanics and features. Here’s the latest batch!
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Now, let’s begin with some newly announced general updates and the exosuits – also known as Javelins. These will determine the “class” you play. First of all, it’s important to note that the Ranger suit will be the starter one. The other three will be earned through gameplay via the game’s narrative and story progression. You will be able to choose which of the suits to unlock when by picking the mission that is attached to them.
It has been confirmed that you will not be able to change the look of your Freelancer character (the human wearing the suits). This feature will likely be made available with an update post launch. That is not the case with the Javelins, of course. Each one of the suits will have not just a totally different appearance and feel, but will allow you to attach different things like weapons and attachments and customize it in a number of ways to fir your needs or preferred playstyle.
Your personal base is your private area. Fort Tarsis is not a social hub. Nobody except you will have access to it. This will be the place where you interact with all of the mission givers and progress the story of your own character. The gameplay inside the fort is from first person perspective and cannot be changed. Maybe this is one of the reasons why the developers are not considering the limitation of altering your character’s looks and physics to be so important. You will still see him or her appearance during the cinematic cutscenes, though.
There will be no option to choose a non-human species. You may be fighting all sorts of aliens and weird types of creatures, but all players will be humans. This is probably related to the story and lore of the game. There wont be any companions in the traditional sense of what you would understand when you say this in relation to a Bioware game. The studio wants the role of your companions to be taken by your real-life friends and other people you will be grouping up in the shared world outside your fort.
Your character’s level and the level of your Javelin(s) will be separate. Your own skills and upgrades will affect what you can do or get while piloting a Javelin. The progression of the Javelins is mainly a result of switching and upgrading their weapon systems and armor.
The game will offer, of course, side missions. You will be able to earn extra money (whatever the In-Game currency ends up being called) through them as well as earn additional experience as a pilot.
While out in the open world you will encounter other players as well as NPC characters piloting Javelins. When you are on a mission, however, you are either alone or with your friends, should you choose to bring any. While we have no information on what the EndGame will offer, the presence of dungeons was confirmed with the gameplay demo from EA Play and E3. Later the devs also confirmed the presence of larger scale teams – raids.
The loot in Anthem is strictly personal. You will not have to fight for the awesome new drop from boss X from place Y with your friends. Whatever the game decides to drop for you, it’s only for you. There will be no ability to trade your loot, at least not in launch. The loot drops will be based on the level of the pilot (your Freelancer), not on the Javelin that he or she is wearing during the mission. Items will have, as expected, different tiers – around 5 or 6 have been announced so far. Naming of the tiers is not fully revealed yet, but you can expect it to be (quoting here) Common, Rare, Legendary etc.
There have been mentions of Guilds in the game, but it’s not clear if, when and in what form exactly this feature will be present. Matchmaking is going to be available, though. When grouping up there will be no restrictions on numbers of Javelins from each type. Out in the open world there will also be notifications for group activities starting up near you. Whenever there are cutscenes, only your Javelin will be present, even if you are teamed up with other people. No co-op decisions will be allowed (hint – this is how SWTOR grouping works).
Exploration is a key feature in Anthem and you will be well rewarded for going to new places and learning more about the world around you.
It’s an interesting topic about the flying mode and hovering of the Javelins. It has been confirmed that the flight mode is limited and all pilots will need to go back to the ground and recharge (cooldown). The Storm (mystical “magic wielding” glass cannon class) will have the ability to hover all the time. However, hovering and flying are two different mechanics and even Storms will need to land from time to time. An interesting comparison has been made between the Storm and the Colossus – the tank-type Javelin will take no damage from falling, while the Storm might take some serious damage from doing this. One of the possible ways to reset or speed up the recharge time of your heat meter (it builds up as you fly and hover) are the water sources. And from what we have seen so far from the demos and trailers – water is in abundance in Anthem.
Since we have seen it already in the first trailer from last year (plus it has been said by the devs several times) – flying and running are not the only options you will have – underwater exploration is also a thing in Anthem. Since you are not a fish, though, your time under water will also be limited – a breath-meter will appear, showing you how long you can last before you have to surface again.
Crafting? Of course! In fact, inventory space is limited and you will have to be careful what and how much you take with you when you go out. Crafting will be done in what seems to be a standard procedure – learn new schematics, gather the required crafting materials and create something new for yourself.
If your group happens to get killed during a mission, a resupply will be provided before you jump back into the action. While on the topic, let me also mention that not all weapons and items can be used on all suits.
In the skills and builds department we have an important announcement from the devs – no fully melee builds are being developed by Bioware/ Each Javelin will have at least one melee attack (Ground Slam and Riot Shield have been confirmed for the Colossus), but that’s it.
If you play the game on a PC and your hardware happens to be relatively modern, you will be happy to hear that the PC version will not be locked to 60 FPS. For the console players, things are a bit blurry still. it will likely depend on the type and tier of console you have, but your FPS might be locked to 30 on the “older” Xbox One and PS4, whereas the X and Pro versions will allow you to enjoy Anthem with higher framerate.
The information in this article is gathered from various sources – EA Play 2018, E3 2018, Reddit and Twitter.
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