[POLL] What is your *overall* rating for this Pre-Alpha Release 3?

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by smack, Feb 21, 2014.

?

What is your *overall* rating for this Pre-Alpha Release 3? (1=bad, 5=great)

  1. 1

    5.9%
  2. 2

    11.1%
  3. 3

    19.0%
  4. 4

    39.9%
  5. 5

    24.2%
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. smack

    smack Avatar

    Messages:
    7,077
    Likes Received:
    15,288
    Trophy Points:
    153
    Ok everyone, similarly to my previous polls for R1 and R2: for those of you who've had a chance to playtest this Pre-Alpha Release 3, what is your *overall* rating?

    Here were the focus areas for R3 (full detailed list here, along with what not to expect):

    Multiplayer (OPO)
    Chat
    Emotes
    Town 3 (Braemar)
    Shopping
    Configurable Controls
    Crafting Improvements
    Walking
    Friends & Anti-Friends (Blocking)
    Player Housing (SPO)
    Player Made Music
    Ladders

    Feel free to break out your ratings to those categories above or any others and elaborate in the comments below, or link to a thread you may have started already.

    Note: This poll is designed to show trends of overall sentiment with each subsequent Release. Thanks for voting and looking forward to your overall feedback for this Release!
     
    Maka, Lord Albert and Jivalax Azon like this.
  2. Bohica

    Bohica Avatar

    Messages:
    1,359
    Likes Received:
    2,866
    Trophy Points:
    125
    another poll thread :rolleyes:
     
    NRaas likes this.
  3. HoustonDragon

    HoustonDragon Avatar

    Messages:
    1,526
    Likes Received:
    4,399
    Trophy Points:
    125
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Atlanta, GA
    Pfft, I was just thrilled to see the login button work properly :D

    (I am really excited to see the new combat system stuff though ;)
     
    Maka, Jivalax Azon and smack like this.
  4. Jivalax Azon

    Jivalax Azon Avatar

    Messages:
    421
    Likes Received:
    1,446
    Trophy Points:
    55
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Just visiting Earth
    I feel I need to qualify my answer. While I am very pleased at how much progress has been made and am really happy with changes to crafting, I must rate everything on the overall (as per thread). The chat needs lots of work. (Though we knew it would and I don't think it should be included. It was introduced, not finalized.) The emotes are still limited and the multi-player needs tweaks. (But again, we knew it would. It is just being introduced.)

    Realistically, the progress has been great. I am amazed. This is not a finished game (heck not even a finished alpha version). My "overall" rating as a game would be a 1. My "overall" rating as a pre-alpha stage 3 would be a 6! I am loving SotA so far.
     
    Time Lord, Annavas Azon and smack like this.
  5. E n v y

    E n v y Avatar

    Messages:
    4,641
    Likes Received:
    12,961
    Trophy Points:
    165
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    England
    Only issue I have with this release is the lag. I really hope there is a vast improvement for the main launch (I'm sure there will be).
     
    smack and O`Sullivan like this.
  6. NirAntae

    NirAntae Avatar

    Messages:
    1,367
    Likes Received:
    2,686
    Trophy Points:
    125
    Gender:
    Female
    Location:
    Mississippi
    This release really sparkles (when taken in context of the stated goals)! Amazing, Dev team! First time I have felt confident giving it a solid five! You have hit your stride... keep up the good work!


    (In context of 'finalized game' it's like a 2... but, this is a pre-alpha release, that's to be expected.)
     
  7. NRaas

    NRaas Avatar

    Messages:
    3,984
    Likes Received:
    5,841
    Trophy Points:
    165
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Glenraas
    I'd give a Five, except I thought the "Ladder" animation was a little, well, cheesy.

    So, a Four it gets. :)
     
  8. PrimeRib

    PrimeRib Avatar

    Messages:
    3,017
    Likes Received:
    3,576
    Trophy Points:
    165
    Gender:
    Male
    I don't know. Multiplayer just highlighted how truly awkward conversation is.
    Crafting also just needs lots and lots of help. Hold my hand. Walk me threw it.
     
    3devious, Joviex and smack like this.
  9. Caliya

    Caliya Avatar

    Messages:
    1,378
    Likes Received:
    2,320
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Gender:
    Female
    Location:
    US Midwest
    I couldn't stay connected in single player online longer than 15 minutes. In multi-player online, it ranged to a couple of seconds to 7 minutes. The lag was horrific. Choppiness made me feel seasick, and eyestrain, from following jumping graphics, was not pleasant. Even if I sat in one place for minutes to try to even out the lag, it was never smooth and always choppy.

    In the 2 previous versions, I had dropping issues then also, but this is the worst ever. I'm able to play other highly developed MMOs without these issues, so it is not my machine or graphics card. I followed every suggestion in settings.

    I barely got a chance to see any changes, other than I could actually buy and sell things. I was afraid to open too many chests, or click on too many things, because I usually got dropped when I did.

    Overall, the quality of graphics is slightly better than EQ2, and we all know EQ2 is 8 or so years old.

    I liked the layout of the new town (Brae something....), and the old growth forest. The emotes were fun, for those that worked. Usually, an equipped item was put away when doing the emotes, but the clap emote looked like the koan, "what do you hear when clapping with one hand?" ;)

    It was nice that you could actually hear singing in the tavern, but it sounded like a marble hallway with echoes, rather than the sound of a small wooden building. I'm not thrilled about any of the music (especially that hillbilly banjo song in Kingsport!).

    The Founders cloth tunic literally looked like a black potato sack tied at the waist.

    The women's wear (dresses) all looks like oversized drapery hanging on women's bodies.

    When an NPC told me that the alchemist was south in the market, I had no way of knowing what direction I was ever facing. I had to run around. I never did find the herbalist in Kingsport.

    I tried doing all these things for a minute or little more at a time, but overall my game "play" (if you could call loading screens play) was a few hours. The majority of that time was looking at loading screens rather than connected in the game. I still struggled on to try to get a better glimpse of this release.

    I never was able to find a place to swim.

    I know it's huge work to create a game, and I can't imagine being a developer. I have great appreciation for the dev team but I have to be honest with my impressions.
     
  10. Alexander

    Alexander Avatar

    Messages:
    1,835
    Likes Received:
    5,523
    Trophy Points:
    125
    I had to give this one a four. The crafting station lockups in single player mode drove me crazy. Many people seemed to experience a great deal of lag. It wasn't too bad for me only because I have a pretty fast machine running this game. Yet still, occasionally, it gets a bit 'jerky' when running. I liked the village of Braemar and honestly, I wish some of the player homes would look like those buildings in that village. It really worked well for a medieval setting. I liked the emotes and look forward to seeing some new ones. It was also nice to meet the dev team along with Firelotus, Darkstarr and Lord British. Anyways, I hope that the dev team can work out these issues before R4.
     
    smack and Jivalax Azon like this.
  11. Margard

    Margard Avatar

    Messages:
    1,595
    Likes Received:
    1,822
    Trophy Points:
    125
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    The isthmus of Podo and Kodo
    On music - there was one song that had a mix of strings and percussion - it had good unfff to it; a good balance to the other soft melodious tunes

    Chat 1A - seems to need work - not sure if the design is going for a minimalist approach but visual appeal seems lacking: probably nobody cares, and I won't either if things don't change, but I see this as an opportunity - if time and money permit improvement

    Chat 2A - (1920 x 1200 resolution) - crispier text? -

    Chat 3A - Chat radius seemed to encompass the entire town, did not seem to be restricted to "within hearing distance"

    Chat 4A - got stuck in chat - and could not move; could not close it - it was unresponsive

    Configurable controls - saw it - didn't test it, but I like it

    --

    - Loading screen took a while - but no lag in game -

    - I like the transition screen - when the screen closes in on you in a circle as you leave the town

    BUT it transported me to a "gate" and then back to the start of the game

    --

    Graphics look better - but I'm not liking the new armor for the guards (I rather have an unrealistic guard that looks cool than a realistic one ... lol :p)

    3/5 (transitions and multi-player chat)

    I still like what I'm seeing and like the direction; keep up the good work!
     
    smack likes this.
  12. Tarsilion

    Tarsilion Avatar

    Messages:
    559
    Likes Received:
    742
    Trophy Points:
    93
    Gender:
    Male
    I will refrain on commenting on details as my game crashed back to the starting screen so frequently that I could not really "play". This started sometime during R2 for me (not at the beginning but with a patch during R2) and is still the case.

    I guess looking at the progress from R1 to R2 to R3 I have to say that a release in October seems entirely unrealistic to me, and I will be amazed if they pull it off. Apart from housing which seems pretty stable, there is still a ton of work to do in all sub-systems presented so far, not to mention that pvm combat, ressource gathering magic and PvP have not been shown at all.
     
  13. Asclepius

    Asclepius Avatar

    Messages:
    1,650
    Likes Received:
    6,029
    Trophy Points:
    125
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Perth West Australia
    OK these are my thoughts.
    I had a good time running around and chatting with many people. It was great to see many of the devs there - I just had the opportunity to ask violation a few questions, as he was doing a Q & A in Owlshead.
    So, in summary:
    • This is far from the finished product. We are being given the chance to test and try out "features" as they are being rolled out. It ain't even a proper alpha.
    • Chat shows promise, it will be further refined I'm sure.
    • Crafting has been much improved; I like the trading mechanism (signature is a nice touch)
    • Walking - YAY!! Running is definitely the way to go most of the time, but inside it's nice to be able to slow down
    • Like the new town, Braemar - looks lovely!
    • The Lord's houseboat in Kingsport is also pretty cool
    • The movement system - I'm even getting used to that!
    • Lagging - it wasn't the fastest for me, but very playable. As explained, there is so much optimization still to be done, so I'm not stressing about that.

    A personal note - it's a new game. Much of the interface will/may be strange, and at first bewildering. Once you ASK, and some nice person TELLS YOU, it's not hard at all. In fact it makes a lot of sense.

    For where they are I think the progress is amazing, and I am happy to give it a solid 5.
     
    Ned888, Lord Regis, Sunsanvil and 4 others like this.
  14. Mevagissey

    Mevagissey Avatar

    Messages:
    23
    Likes Received:
    9
    Trophy Points:
    3
    Yeah love it! Apparently the wifey is divorcing me in October ;)

    The inventory system is beautiful except the clutter! I know it can be changed to 'list' but then I lose the beautiful looks of the crafting benches and inventory.......I have about 50 items in my backpack and it's impossible to use unless in list mode

    Is there view to expanding the on screen bag size? or having bags in bags?

    I hope I don't get stuck playing in list mode

    Regards,
    Mevagissy Longsword
     
    smack likes this.
  15. NRaas

    NRaas Avatar

    Messages:
    3,984
    Likes Received:
    5,841
    Trophy Points:
    165
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Glenraas
    You can have bags-in-bags under the current system, though you will need to craft them yourself (haven't found a merchant who sells them).
     
    Mevagissy likes this.
  16. Lord_Darkmoon

    Lord_Darkmoon Avatar

    Messages:
    4,350
    Likes Received:
    14,680
    Trophy Points:
    153
    Maybe it's just me but somehow I lost the feeling for the game.
    When it was announced I thought that it would be some game that tried to become Ultima 7 and UO. If you wanted to play solo you could experience a single player game like Ultima 7 with a great story, a world that feels alive, NPCs like in U7, each with their own personalities, quests, fears, hopes, and memorable companions...
    I thought that you could experience this game with friends, too and if you wanted to go "massively" you would then have an experience similar to UO, sandbox style MMO.
    After playing all Pre-Alphas I somehow get the feeling that SotA cannot achieve this. I know that it is Pre-Alpha and that many things will change until release but the Pre-Alpha seems to show that too many trade-offs have to be made to satisfy both tastes. I highly doubt that the world will feel alive as in Ultima 7, as the world is too big for a single player game. The towns are way too big for every NPC to become a person like in U7. The dialogue-system combined with the chat is a catastrophe. Due to the fact that SotA will be multiplayer it will be next to impossible to have companions like in U7.

    On the other hand people are complaining about no Open PvP, a disappointing crafting system and a chaotic chat in Multiplayer...

    So I somehow don't know what this game is anymore...
     
    Valice_Belgraham, Sunsanvil and smack like this.
  17. Carlin the Druid Archer

    Carlin the Druid Archer Avatar

    Messages:
    833
    Likes Received:
    2,847
    Trophy Points:
    93
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    New Britannia
    It ran very smoothly for me. Not much lag and I'm in South Africa so slow pings to texas. Well done so far. .. very good progress for an early alpha.
     
  18. SoulWeaver

    SoulWeaver Avatar

    Messages:
    8
    Likes Received:
    6
    Trophy Points:
    3
    It looks a bit similar to eq2. But I have high hopes, we are in alpha after all. I just don't know about this single player multi player aspect. They should just make it all online...
     
    smack likes this.
  19. licemeat

    licemeat Avatar

    Messages:
    897
    Likes Received:
    2,825
    Trophy Points:
    105
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Cincinnati Oh
    Multiplayer (OPO) -- needs smoother/fluid animations. 64 max out still lets the world feel full. 4/5
    Chat -- Local chat needs to be a different color or world chat needs to be turned off. 1/5
    Emotes -- *shakes fist* getting there. 4/5
    Town 3 (Braemar) -- Like the idea of a growing village. 5/5
    Shopping -- Didn't shop, can't rate
    Configurable Controls -- I wish they allowed WoW like control setting. 3/5
    Crafting Improvements -- Didn't craft anything, can't rate
    Walking -- Walking needs to be faster. It's either run full speed or walk like a gimp. 1/5
    Friends & Anti-Friends (Blocking) Everyone is my friend. Except you. 4/5
    Player Housing (SPO) Cream of the crop. I didn't decorate or anything but exploring them is fun. 4/5
    Player Made Music Turned my music off. I know everyone loves the songs but I don't. GWAR! , Didn't listen, can't rate.
    Ladders -- Magical. 1/5

    As a finished product this is terrible. But...it's pre alpha and for pre alpha I had a pretty fun time. I'd rate this 3.5/5 but I'm giving it 5/5 because there was a PARTY BOAT full of party.
     
  20. Alexander

    Alexander Avatar

    Messages:
    1,835
    Likes Received:
    5,523
    Trophy Points:
    125
    I would be perfectly OK with them pushing the release date back to perhaps spring 2015.
     
    smack, Grayhawk and licemeat like this.
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.