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[POLL] What is your *overall* rating for this Pre-Alpha Release 8? (UNOFFICIAL)

Discussion in 'Release 8 Feedback' started by smack, Jul 26, 2014.

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What is your *overall* rating for this Pre-Alpha Release 8? (1=bad, 5=great)

  1. 1

    5 vote(s)
    3.9%
  2. 2

    5 vote(s)
    3.9%
  3. 3

    28 vote(s)
    21.9%
  4. 4

    40 vote(s)
    31.3%
  5. 5

    50 vote(s)
    39.1%
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  1. smack

    smack Avatar

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    Ok everyone, for those of you who've had a chance to playtest this Pre-Alpha Release 8, what is your *overall* rating?

    Here were the areas highlighted in the release notes for R8:
    - Open PvP Areas (7 Open PvP Zones, PvP Balance (NOT) )
    - Combat Systems (Positioning, Cover / Line of Sight, Interrupts / Casting Bar, Jumping, Fizzle, Misguided Missiles)
    - Damage Types & Resistances (Fire Resistance)
    - Combat Skills (Innate Skills, 23 New Skills, Focus Skills)
    - Glyph Combat and Deck Building (Multiple Decks, Gear Links, Locked Spells, Slugs, Fully Locked Option)
    - Status Indicators (Buffs, Debuffs, Low Ammo, Broken Gear)
    - Scenes (Ferig's Battle Camp)
    - New Creatures (Fire Elemental)
    - Item Tooltips
    - NPC Collision
    - Target Highlight on Interactive Objects

    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. It's not designed to rate it as a final game, but merely as a snapshot of the community's opinion at that point in the development cycle. Previous polls here: R1, R2, R3, R4, R5, R6, R7.

    Thanks for voting and looking forward to your overall feedback!
     
  2. Ravicus Domdred

    Ravicus Domdred Avatar

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    I gave it a 5. I expected less and got more, it really feels like the world is starting to come alive. Sure things are not perfect, but what do you expect from a pre alpha release! I am having a blast!
     
  3. Ravenclaw [BEAR]

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    I gave it a 4. Would have given it a 5 except for the log in and dropping problems people were having. It's to be expected though when all kinds of new things are put into a game, sometimes the old ones break.
     
  4. Ravicus Domdred

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    So Ravenclaw, me vs you tomorrow eh? I would say good luck but you prob wont need it hehe!
     
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  5. Ravenclaw [BEAR]

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    Don't sell yourself short. You know as much as I do about the new system, maybe more.
     
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  6. Ravicus Domdred

    Ravicus Domdred Avatar

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    I went to the castle basement arena tonight. I absolutely love it! it is way more than I ever thought it would be. Its so big and beautiful! Like the women I like!
     
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  7. NRaas

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    First release to achieve a Five in my opinion.

    The combat system lived up to my expectations, and though it requires a lot of work, appears to be something I can totally dig.

    *Except* for that darn "Fizzle". Personally, I think that should be replaced with higher focus costs, or something else. It is simply too darn restricting, I had to go either "No Spells At All", or "All Cloth Armor" to be at all viable in my play-style.

    Love the Fire Elemental, great first step on the road to companions. Will love to see more of them in the future, perhaps even some you don't magically summon (say hired mercenaries to act as tanks for mages) *hint hint*.

    Am eagerly anticipating the next release. :D
     
  8. Aegis159

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    Eh, for me PvP holds no interest for the most part, other than having to deal with other hostile players (hopefully on a not so regular basis).
    Still not sold on the deck system.... either I was constantly glitching or the system is bugged. I target a creature, I would expect the cards that come up that I have enough focus for to be able to be used, especially if I'm standing still. The large majority of the attacks either fired off improperly or not on time (not counting failures of course, which seemed to be rather often). Let alone that ANY of the ranged attacks should work so long as your target is inside of the max range for said attack.

    And please explain to me why I need to target myself for a heal spell that specifically says and is intended as a self-heal spell?? Isn't that already implied by the spell itself??

    I understand that we can now target an item to cast the Light spell on, but if I don't have anything specifically targeted then it should automatically target myself.

    As mentioned in previous releases, if I have the correct tool in my toolbar I should be able to double click on a gatherable material to use the tool on that object. The mouse cursor already changes to the tool needed, so why not have that option please?
     
  9. NRaas

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    That one caught me off guard the first time as well. However the team did actually reword the description for the spell, so it is consistent with how it works now. :)
     
  10. Aegis159

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    I see that now... I prefer defaults rather than having to hold an extra key for something as simple as a self-heal, thanks. The point that they had to change how the spell works actually seems like they had to change it because they couldn't make it work as it did previously with this new system in place.
    Or perhaps they see potions filling that role? If that's the case then they will really need to get item weights correct. I don't fancy having to carry around a ton of healing potions everywhere I go since the self-heal spell is now not a self-heal.

    I do like the attempt at a new style of combat, but it feels like I'm watching my bar far more than the actual thing I'm fighting with the bar......

    I'll give it another shake when I'm not as grumpy and tired ;) but right now it feels more like a "swing and a miss" to me.....
     
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  11. MoriensSeeker

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    While what they actually completed (enabling PvP and starting to flesh out the combat) turned out well for this release, too many things were pushed back and stability was pretty poor at first so I can't rate this release higher than a 3. Once again Ardoris has been delayed... and playtesting the same areas in the Hidden Vale is starting to get a little stale. Pushing NPC schedules and behaviors back to focus on PvP seems like it might hurt the simulation of the world or delay the final release as they will have to go back to old areas to incorporate changes to NPC behaviors. The 64-bit client has been much less stable than R7, crashing during crafting and shopping in the early builds (whereas in R7 is was very stable if it didn't crash while loading after the initial log in). They have been slowly working through the issues with stability, but it has taken the entire release to get to a fairly stable state.

    The combat has certainly improved, but still suffers from a lack of diversity. Since it is still a work-in-progress I am withholding any judgment until R9/R10.
     
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  12. Lord_Darkmoon

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    I voted a 3 as I did have some stability issues this time (64-bit client) and I saw a step back from R7

    - Open PvP Areas (7 Open PvP Zones, PvP Balance (NOT) ) - Didn't play PvP as I am not interested in it at all

    - Combat Systems (Positioning, Cover / Line of Sight, Interrupts / Casting Bar, Jumping, Fizzle, Misguided Missiles) - Combat felt better than in R7 and before and I had quite some fun.

    - Damage Types & Resistances (Fire Resistance) - Was ok.

    - Combat Skills (Innate Skills, 23 New Skills, Focus Skills) - Maybe it is just me but somehow I think less would be more. I don't know if I want to play around with so much different skills per category.

    - Glyph Combat and Deck Building (Multiple Decks, Gear Links, Locked Spells, Slugs, Fully Locked Option) - I think the card combat system needs to be a combination between locked skills and card based effects. The problem right now is that you cannot use a skill on purpose. So despite you being a trained fighter you act like you never know when to use a skill. Thus skills should be locked so that you can use them on purpose but the effect this skill has could be determined by a random draw of the cards you have in your deck.

    - Status Indicators (Buffs, Debuffs, Low Ammo, Broken Gear) - I hate the indicators on the overland map as they show me that this is a map and not a part of the world. Also I think that status indicators should be more "natural". For example the player could cry out "I'm out of ammo" when he is out of ammo.

    - Scenes (Ferig's Battle Camp) - Still every scenes needs to be much more detailed but the layout of the scenes is good.

    - New Creatures (Fire Elemental) - Looking good.

    - Item Tooltips - Ok.

    - NPC Collision - Don't like it. Being constantly slowed down while walking in a crowd gets annoying.

    - Target Highlight on Interactive Objects - Hate it. It should definity be optional otherwise we are ripped out of the illusion of being in a world and instead are being shown that this is nothing but a game.

    In some terms, R8 seems to be a step back for me. The object highlighting as well as the indicators on the map rub it under my nose that SotA is nothing more than a game and also it drifts more and more in the direction of a standard MMORPG whereas I thought that this was not the way they wanted to go with this game. We get more and more UI elements whereas I thought the game was meant to have as few such elements as possible.
    Also the progress in terms of single player seems to shift more and more towards the game focusing on becoming an MMORPG. When I backed for the game during the Kickstarter campaign I got the impression that if I wanted to play SotA in single player mode it would be a single player RPG. But right now I don't see much of this - I even get the impression that more and more elements are brought into the game that are focusing on the MMO-players. Right now playing in single player doesn't feel like playing a single player game. It feels like playing an empty MMORPG. This is not how I thought it would work. And no, single player is not about the having a story in game only...
     
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  13. MoriensSeeker

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    That reminds me -- I noticed every soldier at the camp (even the unique quartermaster and commander) shared the exact same dialog except for their name.

    I actually liked this feature... until I summoned my first fire elemental, then we were colliding with each other all the time, slowing each other down. When it comes to your own party, pets and summons, I do suggest either exempting them from this feature or toning it down.

    Now, if NPCs were completely impenetrable, I might have reacted more negatively (flashbacks to Ultimas II and III -- "Get out of the way, jester! We're starving here! Move it! Aaargh! Alright, that's it!" Attack-North).
     
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  14. Lord_Darkmoon

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    I like it how you push NPCs away in Assassin's Creed. I would like this for SotA, too.
     
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  15. Caradin

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    Gave a 5. One thing I didnt like was the highlighting, especially doors etc doesnt need to highlight.
     
  16. Aegis159

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    LOL and here I actually preferred the highlighting compared to what they had previously!!
     
  17. Alexander

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    I haven't spent much time in this release because I've quite literally struggled through the combat system. The Mad Hermits videos helped a little, but it seems that I am spending a great deal of time trying to figure out what combinations will at least deal with low level creatures. As I have no interest in PVP and am not a hardcore PVEer, and my primary interest is in moving through the story in the game from start to finish in single player mode, combat is something that I would prefer to be simple and straight forward. I haven't even looked at any other aspects of the game in this release because of my determination to make this card system work for me. I will probably just put this release aside and wait for the next release. Hopefully, I will fair better at it. I won't rate this release at this time as I haven't put enough time into it.
    I do have a couple of recommendations however:1. An in-game tutorial that walks one through the combat system rather then having a player new to this having to sift through videos and forum posts to figure it out.
    2. Possibly a preset card deck for beginners that can be readily equipped. They then have the option to experiment with it later but it at least gets them started.

    I have tried the 'Dallas' system as explained in the Mad Hermits video, but I find that it isn't as effectual as the random card system, hence the need to experiment until I found something that at least semi worked.
    I hope that my recommendations will be taken to heart and not just dismissed as I know that there are others that have also struggled with this.
    I'm glad that some of the others have managed to make this work for them and have had a great time playing this release.
     
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  18. Owain

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    I have only checked out the PvP in this release, and so far, I am impressed. In many ways, for the kind of small element combined arms tactics favored by the KGB goes, SotA PvP is better in pre alpha release than many games we've participated in after a year or more of official release.

    Resurrections take place too quickly, and the /zone command is just a form of Recall, but at this stage of development, it is impressive.
     
  19. Doppelganger [MGT]

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    Release 8 - very good! It was clear that a lot of work went into this release and there were more fun to do in game than ever. Combat was very much improved and although not perfect, is moving in the right direction. The card based system was surprisingly good and allowed for a lot of variety. Imagine how good it will be when all of the skills are available and they balance things a bit better! Unlike any other, this release has gotten me more pumped for the game. That being said, here are a few things that I feel would greatly improve combat going forward:

    1) Improved hitbox detection - Right now someone can swing a weapon and hit you while you're 1/3 of the screen away. I've ran away from an enemy and still been hit, very far out of range.
    2) More sound effects - Different types of weapons (bludgeoning, slashing, ranged) making different sounds on impact. The current "thunk" could be a good sound for bludgeoning...
    3) Added effects for realism - this could be a bit of blood, temporarily dented armor, bruised skin etc etc. Some minor graphical effects could go a long way for realism here!
    4) Better balance in penalties - Some fine tuning of armor penalties in spell casting and focus penalties on locked decks could be improved. For example, I wore one chest plate and it seemed like half of my spells would fizzle! That might have been a bit extreme.

    ^ It is definitely more important to fine tune all of the core elements of the game first though. All things considered and since 4.5 wasn't an option, I gave this one a 4. Not perfect, but damn good and moving along nicely. Job well done and keep up the good work devs! I can't wait for subsequent releases now.
     
  20. Dermott

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    Let's see. I'm not much on PvP in general, so that's one area I'm not really "testing" so here goes.

    - Open PvP Areas (7 Open PvP Zones, PvP Balance (NOT) ): Again, PvP is not a big interest for me so this one is N/A

    - Combat Systems (Positioning, Cover / Line of Sight, Interrupts / Casting Bar, Jumping, Fizzle, Misguided Missiles): This one I give a 4. It's nice to see combat flowing a bit more smoothly than previous releases and there are specific levels of challenge between the various monsters in different places. New skills and spells also help flesh out the system as well. However, without an advancement system, "fizzle" is just a pure annoyance more than it is a challenge. It's completely and pointlessly random.

    - Damage Types & Resistances (Fire Resistance): 5 here because again it's beginning to flesh out combat into something more than previous releases have given us.

    - Combat Skills (Innate Skills, 23 New Skills, Focus Skills): 4. I like them, but without advancement to help create a better template, they are still limited.

    - Glyph Combat and Deck Building (Multiple Decks, Gear Links, Locked Spells, Slugs, Fully Locked Option): There is promise here, but "slugs" are simply annoying... especially in a fight where you can't seem to do any damage outside of special moves and all you roll for combat actions are "slugs". 3

    - Status Indicators (Buffs, Debuffs, Low Ammo, Broken Gear): 5. Looks and works well from what I have seen.

    - Scenes (Ferig's Battle Camp): The Battle Camp seemed awfully small and limited unless I missed something, so N/A for that one. Hopefully what we will see in scenes in the future are the existence of treasure chests (locked and need to be picked or with a key on a "commander" type creature) in camps. For example, the hidden elf camp in the SPider Pass area would be a good place for a locked chest with some goodies.

    - New Creatures (Fire Elemental): Didn;t really play with one N/A

    - Item Tooltips: Glad to see these being worked on. 4 for now.

    - NPC Collision: 5. I like the hybrid solution. Makes NPCs and mobs feel like they are part of the world and adds that little bit of slowdown when shuffling past them.

    - Target Highlight on Interactive Objects: 5. Needed and well done.

    Overall, I give the Release a nice solid 4. I don't specifically HATE the card combat system, but I'm not yet sold on it either. With no real way to advance and improve, many of the "challenge" aspects are just frustration for now. I know they want to get PvP up and running, but it means little to me really.

    I'm finding it interesting that the chests sprinkled through the world are becoming LESS desirable overall and that the resource chest went away prodding us into resource gathering. I think the ore nodes need a good bit of work due to how they are producing this release (a bit TOO generous IMO), but by the same token, more need to be generated in an appropriate scene.

    I'm happy with what I have been able to play with so far, and can really see it pushing into becoming more of a complete game.

    Edit: When building for, and swapping to the Locked Cards feature (i.e. dumping points in Focus to lower skill costs), I found my combat ability shot WAY up compared to the random dealing and getting stuck with "slugs" all the time. Again, without the ability to advance as a character, card combat falls short of the tried and true combat hotbar IMO.
     
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