When did delay become a desirable game feature?

In this release:

1) slow walking on the overland map
2) forced entry into random encounters (and yet another scene to load into, and load out of)
3) long resurrect times
4) requirement to see skill trainer to adjust skills

The pace of play in this release due to the above issues has really detracted from the gaming experience, especially #2.

I feel like I'm being punished. And I didn't even do anything wrong. As far as you know.

 

I have to disagree.

1. I like that the speeds vary depending on region. This may need to be tweaked but the concept is right on.
2. This will not be such a big issue once loading times are addressed and the scene changing speeds up. The frequency of these events will also need to be tweaked but the encounters should exist.
3. My guess is that this will likely change, be patient while testing takes place.
4. This will only add to the game and make leveling a better and more realistic endeavour. Story lines, quests and other content can be added in because of this.

Being an RPG type environment I tend to like the 'RP' part of it, at least to some extent, so my opinion may be slightly skewed.

 

These are all part of a rpg...granted we have been used to non of that being in game....it should never be so easy to do everything that there is no challenge.

 

That is quite a blanket statement. In my experience, every RPG is different. And in my experience, these features suck.

I'm not anti-challenge. I'm anti-pointless delay.

 

It's not desireable to be attacked....not sure what to tell you.

 

well the resurrect time lets me do some posting while i wait - or take a potty break

 

Well, loading times are faster this release for me but other than that I agree.

Delays are too much and not fun. I can live with random encounters, but being ghost and not being able to do anything, not even to talk properly with people is really frustrating. And there is no indication when you respawn. No goal what to do as ghost. There is only penalty when you respawn, with drawn weapon so your health does not regenerate.

Terrible thing in PvP as people can effectivly camp spawn points and one hit kil lyou every time you respawn...

 

I like floating around as a ghost, my only problem is that time doesn't seem to apply to the death-sickness time. So, you spend some time as a ghost, then you recover, then you have to wait 2 more minutes for death-sickness to go away so you'll be at full strength and can go fighting again. Maybe if there were a Life spell and potions that could remove death-sickness...

One thing to note, leaving an area and returning instantly cures death sickness *and* ghostliness.

 

Keep in mind delays are part of all gaming experiences, its just a matter of whether it makes sense and is worth it. So, having to obtain plate armor sucks, because I want to go against that dragon from the moment I enter the game. But its good that it takes me time to go against the dragon. Having to obtain a magic wand sucks, because I want to be able to zap things from a distance from the get go, but its good you have to obtain it.

1. I think the reason for terrain impediments will become more apparent as the game is more fully developed. You can also tell from the map which areas will be slower than others and can avoid them : plains will be faster than forests, and roads will be faster than plains. If you don't want to be slowed down, don't walk through a forest! I think some of this needs to be tweaked, especially since, in some cases, it appears as if you're walking over plains and but it gives you the speed of walking through a forest, I guess because the hexes are marked that way. Also, this gives horses a reason to be in the game! Otherwise they're just pets with no purposes. But with horses, you'll be able to travel faster. Plus, it creates a reason for lunar rifts.

2. I agree with you there, at least, in that I think most map encounters should be roving encounters and avoidable, and hidden encounters should be saved for ambushes. (As mentioned in the other thread, it makes sense for encounters to also be less visible in dense forests and at night, which will be natural as roving encounters are obscured).

3. Its probably there to give your party members time to cast Resurrect on you. :/ Personally, I think when you die, unless resurrected with a spell, I think you should resurrect at a nearby town, not at the entrance to the scene. If it were done that way, you could choose to wait for a party member to resurrect you, or simply "let go" and appear back at the town. If not, and they let you instantly resurrect at the beginning of a scene, then that's kind of dumb. You then wait for your death penalty to expire, no big deal. And sure, if you're with party members you don't get separated from them, but you have to wait to fight anyway. Waiting might as well have meaning.

4. In the future, you'll have to find trainers for the right skills and even complete quests for the trainer in order to get them to help you. It won't just be one trainer you have to keep on going back to. This will make the game less grindy, because it'll be less about pushing your XP until you hit a magic mark.

 

I think the ghost thing is just a begining to test it out. We will probably have to go to special places to res. Or get a res from a player.

 

WTF?!?

Trying to simply walk from swamp area to Owl's Head. I've now had SEVEN EIGHT totally UNWANTED encounters. 3 in the swamp, where I'm shown the exact same scene. Another where I'm immediately surrounded by 5-6 skeletons. Etc. And I'm not even halfway to Owl's Head yet. I feel paralyzed. Like if I take another step I'll hit another landmine. This is ridiculous. It is horrible. It is ruining my experience, and making it impossible to play the parts of the game I actually enjoy.

And while editing this post I'm ganked by mobs in about 10 seconds and now have to wait, what, 2 hours to resurrect? AWESOME.

 

Well, it is an alpha and it's onviously not balanced yet. Wouldn't it make more sense to say that they are to numerous?

 

I said it the way it needed to be said, thanks Rune.

 

sounds like you aggro'd the attention of the RE gods.
since last night, I've had only 1 random....

Personally, I like having randoms. Makes things interesting.

 

Everything mentioned in the OP is music to my ears. I'm here to play for the long haul, not grind away and burn through content in a weekend.

Sacrifice, risk vs. reward. That's what I want in a game, and R12 is hopefully the first of many steps towards a very robust system. More not less, is what I want.

 

I've found that if you stay on the roads you don't have those problems. I will agree that the random encounters are a bit much. They should probably be limited to 1 per 3 hexes.

 

I would make a bug report saying that encounters are to frequent, but that's just me.

I don't think you will EVER see no encounters.

 

I'm hoping that eventually the random encounters will be visible, just like they were in the Ultima 4/5 overland map, along with variable visibility, effects, etc, that make the overland map feel alive. Then you can avoid those encounters if you want, but they would still be present.

As far as travel speed, from what I've seen it is pretty decent for walking/hiking. There will be things that increase your movement speed, including skills and eventually mounts. So assuming those could potentially give you +50% of the current speed, they should be about right.

If you just don't want to have to deal with the overland map at all, well sorry but that was part of the game since Kickstarter. Travel is a part of the game.

 

I have just got quite frustrated as I had at least half a dozen randoms whilst going south from Owls Head to Bramaer.....Frustrating to say the least.

 

I was rather frustrated at the Tower, as I was camped by spider (I did not know I can leave a scene as ghost). Still it is rather annoying when you respawn just to die in two seconds after respawn. Andd even if you manage to run, you do not regenerate health because you spawn with drawn weapon and you are attacked anyway. And as you respawn with limited health you are killed easily.

There are simply too many death penalties, each of them is fine, but combined together they make respawning at some locations problematic.