Contiguous open world means one f**king map Dart. It is the expression that had to be created since so many games have been claiming to be open world game when they had multiple large maps linked via loading screen that didn't even touch each other (see The Witcher 3). Destiny is not contiguous.
I've never heard of that term in relation to open world games, and that's not what the word means. The word contiguous simply means "connected" or "close together".
Maybe if you said contiguous AND seamless - you might get closer to what you're really talking about. For instance, Kingdoms of Amalur is clearly contiguous - using your definition - but it's not seamless.
All the cursing in the world isn't going to help you there, I'm afraid.
The common term used in this context is seamless open world - which I already pointed out. Witcher 3 is NOT seamless - because, as you pointed out, there are loading screens.
There are very few 100% seamless open world games out there.
Even so, it has no bearing on the core experience.
That said, Division is very nearly seamless - and only has short loading for certain activities. Destiny planets are also seamless. I don't see any meaningful difference between those and Anthem - except that it's going to be more convenient not to have to load. The experience will be much the same, beyond that - so I don't get your point here.
The difference would be in HOW they use the world - not in how many loading screens there are. If they incorporate tons of interaction and meaningful exploration - then that would be cool. But it would have to be MORE meaningful than Destiny and Division to set it apart - because both of those games have a lot of stuff you can find if you go exploring - it's just "light" compared to real RPGs.
As for the rest, sure you spend most of your time doing small group content, looting stuff and killing stuff in Destiny, but I do the same shit in GW2, ESO, SWTOR and all the other MMORPGS I've been playing and in every single player RPG I ever played, except that the "small group" content is tuned for soloing it or have NPC companions and I stop playing the game once I finished the story because the game force me to (most of the time).
No, you don't do the same thing - because GW2, ESO and SWtOR are not action-driven shooters - and they're full of traditional MMO content, including story-driven interaction-based quests, evolved crafting, housing and so on.
Destiny and Division - and in all probability Anthem are going to be "light" in all those ways.
It doesn't mean they can't share features - it means the emphasis is on action and shooting more than anything.
Essentially, they're just Diablo with shooting and a different perspective.
Hellgate and Borderlands came before Destiny and Division. The first is an MMO and the second is not - but they both play EXACTLY the same.
The Javelin isn't exactly your character class, the same character can own more than one Javelin. As for the 3 choices: Mage, Warrior and Rogue…whoopido Destiny copied Dragon Age class setup (technically BioWare started to use that in KoTOR with the Consular, Guardian and Sentinel).
It's the exact same thing for the purposes of gameplay, and you know it. Switching Javelin is respeccing on the fly.
Oh, so now these robot suits are Mages, Warriors and Rogues?
In any event - neither Bioware nor Bungie invented those classes.
But no one forced Bioware to use them in the same way that Bungie uses them. Since they're so insistent on setting themselves apart, a little imagination might have been in order here, no?
But it's nice to see you recognise that the games have more in common than guns.
If you can't see the difference between the CO-OP and MMORPGs genre, I don't know what to say. I doubt anyone would call Ghost Recon Wildlands a MMO. Also, I never claimed that Anthem was going to have an amazing story…in fact, I kinda suspect it is somewhat procedurally generated.
Your mistake is getting hung up on genres - instead of looking at how games play. There's nothing about an MMO that must function in this or that way - it simply means a lot of players exist in the same world, in one form or another.
I remember the same ignorant nonsense when Hellgate was released - which was technically an MMO - but played EXACTLY like Diablo in reality. It just had hub areas for meeting people - and that was all.
Literally the only MMO part was the social hub area - where Diablo 2 used Battle.net channels for the same purpose. Yet, people couldn't let that go.
But some people can't think outside of the box when it comes to genres, I guess.
I'm not saying Anthem is going to be an MMO - I'm saying it's going to play very, very much like Destiny and Division.
At least, I will say that until I see some evidence to contrary. No, I'm not talking about marketing or developers trying to hype their game using buzzwords.
The trailer showed me what they've been working on the past 5 years - and it SCREAMED Destiny.
Seriously, if they really wanted it to appear different - then why do I - and the gaming media - refer to it as a Destiny clone or in the same genre?
They failed pretty big-time on that trailer, then.
Yes, it was very pretty - and sure, it might be one large seamless open world - but that tells us absolutely nothing that sets it apart from Destiny in a meaningful way.
The only thing that sets it apart, so far, is the LACK of stuff - including PvP and raids. But I'm not convinced we won't be seeing those.
Once again, it's an RPG-light cooperative shooter lootfest. Nothing more, nothing less.
If you can come up with something other then hype and marketing to support that it's going to be a cooperative "Skyrim" - as in footage or some indication of deeper exploration and interaction with NPCs - then I'll be very happy to be wrong.
I'd love for something new to come along.
But this is a big title with an obviously VERY big budget. There's no way they're going to experiment much at all with this genre.
This is EA, remember? They don't pour hundreds of millions of dollars into something bold and new.
