This Day and Age

In this day and age I expect to see really great combat animations, fully voiced NPCs, and far more Player Character customization.

Where is it..?

 

Are you aware that this game is in pre-alpha development?

Therefore you are seeing and testing (note I said testing) a very early version of the game, that said it is unlikely you will see fully voiced NPC's, as at present I do not believe this is going to be part of the devs ongoing development activity. Player char customization is a work in progress and is developing with each new pre-alpha release. The combat system is also a work in progress. Although, if you mean by your comment that you expect animations such as those seen in a game like WoW then that will not happen. At present the devs would simply not have enough cash to create that kind of game/animation.

 

So we are looking at a Lord of the Rings...type game with horrible combat, and limited Player customization, which they have not improved on, I may say since ...............2007.!!!! . I guess I want it all but do realize that money talks.
Just thought if your going to bring a new MMORPG out you might as well go for it, not settle for something that looks dated already. But if Mr British can make up for it in content and gameplay...then hooorahhhh.

 

In this day and age I expect to see seasoned MMO veterans more concerned with content and scope than fluff, bells and whistles XD

 

Thermo, Ressurrected, I wouldn't spend too much time trying to educate joe. It's pretty obvious he doesn't read well as he keeps on seeing the message about it being a construction zone and doesn't seem to understand what that means. It's also pretty obvious that he's new here and has no idea how much improvement the devs manage to achieve between releases.

My only hope is that he's able to hang around and actually engage with the rest of the community in a constructive manner. I think he'd be surprised at the opportunities he'll have to interact directly with Richard or Darkstarr and actually how seriously Portalarium takes the input from the community.

Steam has been a blessing and curse to the game thus far, I don't mean to disrespect anyone who found out about the game through steam and hope those who have, find those of us who've been around awhile to show them around and infect them with the hopes and faith we have in the game and Portalarium. The fact of the matter is there is going to be an element of the steam guys who only give games one chance in the first week after they buy it and after that they move on and are gone for good.

I've run into some of those guys in-game and it's tough to get them to see potential as opposed to what is directly in front of them. I know I don't have the energy to try and convert those who aren't able to meet me half way. I really don't want to lose any of those in the community that I've come to appreciate because the infection went the wrong way and the cynicism of "if it's not great right this instant then it can't ever be great" has burnt them out.

As always YMMV
Batoche

 

Batochet,

Always worth an attempt at educating imo or at least explaining but the OP's response was a little childish (but I guess he/she may be one) so I'll not be following it up.

I agree with you regards Steam and said as much in another thread. Steam is the proverbial double edged sword.

 

I fell in love with the community we have here. Not alot of WoW kiddies.

 

if you have $10 mio for them they can make you at least a AA game with flashy graphic and animation + great story and content. If not we will stay with great story and content.

 

First: i am not trolling you.
To the point then. Did it ever came to your mind that you might be here for the wrong reasons?
This is a assumption now but i guess most of us are here and put cash into this project BECAUSE it is rather oldschool and reminds us of a good old Game we all loved.
Mind you that oldschool isnt bad. UO was and still is more innovative than most mmos "this day and Age".

 

Im 66 years old and have been playing RPGs, MMORPGS and other assorted games for longer than I care to mention.. ....

Have to keep Devs on their toes you know...

Nothing I like more than to immerse myself into a good RPG.........but it helps if the bells and whistles are there..... I will play Shroud with glee.....no doubt....but I can still hope for...." more"....Sir....

 

Well, dear Sir, if you put it that way you won't hear any complaints from me ;-)

 

Fully voiced NPCs just simply won't happen in a game with this budget and the number of NPCs you will see in the game.

Ardoris alone has probably a good 100 NPCs.

Player customization gets better with each new release. Animations keep improving.

 

I think it got thrown in the 50+ million dollar jar, with the companies that don't show you anything until their done.

 

Don't voice the NPCs. That's just a waste of resources, and it adds a ton of development time any time you want to expand the game.

 

Good voice acting really adds to a game (Uncharted, Metal Gear Solid, etc) but bad voice acting really takes away from a game. When you have hundreds of NPCs, you're just not going to get that many good voice actors. Why spend millions on something that ultimately hurts the game?

 

All good then hopefully. Welcome.

 

This game is also on a 5 million dollar budget and not a 50 million dollar budget. We have a very good development team loaded with stars and they are capable of doing 2x to 3x more than a bureaucratic development concern. Therefore, IMHO things will happen but they will take time. As for voice acting... I don't think that will happen but time will tell.

 

joe, first off glad to see you're still here participating, too often threads like this get started by a guy that makes one or two responses and then we never hear from him again.

I'm glad to see an other old timer here as well. I'm 50 and can remember the days of gaming on a 4k ram TRS80 with cassette tape storage. When you bought games in zip lock baggies as a sheaf of tractor feed printouts of code and had to type it all in to be able to play the game. Here are some hints on keeping the Devs on their toes: Bug reports, full and complete bug reports; Feature Requests, one feature at a time without any accusations or rancor, this helps keep them from being dismissed out of hand by the devs.

As I mentioned earlier I think you'll find the devs open to constructive criticism and far more accessible than I've seen in any other studio with Portalarium's street cred. In every release I've participated in I've had contact with at least one of the devs if not two or three. Guys like Richard, Starr, Chris and Lum, and all of them were approachable and willing to answer questions and discuss where the game is going.

An open invite to joe and anyone else, if you see Batoche Letendre in game send me a whisper and I'll show you around or lend a hand if you need.

As always these are just one old Grognard's thoughts and opinions, YMMV

Batoche

 

Ok for sure Batoche will look out for you in game..... perhaps we can raise a cup or two toasting the old times....when you waited with crossed fingers hoping the colored lines and funny noise from the 48k would work this time....

 

Welcome joeDarko. Well you are not alone, many oldtimers here, not me of course I do hear you about the voices etc that you mentioned. I was an early plugger for this originally also since I've been here over a year now. I don't think it will kill the game to not have it due to so many other unique and special ideas being implemented in the game. I play star wars old republic sometimes and I love the voices and sounds in that game, but that of course is a different type of game with a huge budget.