6-Month Demo!

All i can say is that the game you pvp players loved so much would not exist if Richard and his team would not moved on against the "No screamers".
I can't believe some are not even willing to try the new battlesystem out. They already stated that if we all play it a long time and still all scream they will have a plan B! for more traditional system.

But the alternative of not trying out something new is the old boring "QWER" system like we had the last 20 years.

And thinking of that makes me throw up.

 

I've seen far too many complaints and not enough compliments in this thread!

Portalarium you guys are doing amazing! I can't believe how much progress has been made in such short time and I can't wait for the alpha!

For everyone complaining let them make their game and I'm sure you'll enjoy the end result saying you don't like things is like complaining to a cook before his dish has all the ingredients and seasonings in it.

We still know very little about the combat system but I know it's not going to be random it's going to give you what you need when you need it and hide things when you can't use them.

As for people on IGN I was honestly shocked by the comments but I feel like most those people aren't the audience SotA is looking to attract anyways. Shroud of the Avatar isn't about fancy graphics it's about an amazing story in a world you can do anything and having a life inside of it. Going on adventures than taking it back to your home to save parts of those stories for later.

Anyways keep in mind this have comes out in a year! So there is plenty of time for things to change and judging by the progress made in only 6 months I'd say another 12 is going to be plenty of time to have an awesome game!

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 4

 

That is not the message we should be sending. We should be sending the message, these are pre-alpha demo graphics. SHUT UP AND WAIT.

IGN isn't the only place out there foaming at the mouth when it comes to messages like that either. I'm looking at you MMORPG.

 

This is also true but honestly the graphics really aren't bad at all and if people are expecting the best graphics the world on the final product they will be disappointed. However I'm sure I'm the year that's left before the release the graphics will improve quite a bit.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 4

 

I think this game is coming along wonderfully. I can't wait to play.

It's the combat that is the biggest complaint. I'm not a big pvp-er.. dabbled in it a bit. But from what i'm seeing.. i have as much chance as anyone else to dominate. That's not cool.

I like the idea of random elements. Maybe a random tarot card you can call upon (tip of the hat to Ultima IV).. maybe the tarot cards will give you a bonus or combo.. maybe they will give you a minus attack of some kind or make you fall. I could live with that kind of randomness. But to have basic skills randomized like a slot machine? NO.. i don't see how this will work.

 

I noticed that as well.

Another thing that caught my eye was the combination of iron and leather straps to create a plate chest piece. The iron, of course, is a given. The leather straps needed...that shocked me a bit. The fact that a typical Blacksmith/Miner character may need items other than ore just to make "basic" items is intriguing.

 

This video has made me so glad I backed this game, thanks OP for bringing this to my attention I'll be watching this a couple of times.

 

Most plate mails have more fabric in thickness than metal. It doesent much protect you if theres no padding. Also consider wearing full helmet on sunny day...it really burns you, with out padding. With padding its merely unbearably hot

And you need the armor to move with out (to strech abit) for that you need softer materials or youll be riggid as a pole or the armor leaves big gaps to allow movement.

I woud go as far as needing fabric (padding), leather straps (for keeping it together/metal pieces to gether/in place) and metal for the actual protective plate

 

It works this way in Skyrim as well. You need iron AND leather strips to make a breastplate. If I recall correctly (didn't concentrate too much on smithing) leather strips are fairly ubiquitous.

 

@smack : I too was curious about the lighting; there didn't seem to be any dynamic lighting coming in through the windows of the houses. The underground looked blown out and as a result, when the player was walking around in 'The Clink,' his light source did very little.

Additionally, some of the fire particles in the homes seemed off. The flames themselves were really high and looked like they would catch the wall tapestry on fire, the shadows they cast were static.



All that stuff, including the animation, is likely going to be tweaked up until the 'polish' stage which will be after beta. So I wouldn't worry too much about it. This video seemed to just be there to show off all the different housing types, and give a sneak peek into the story and some conversation bits.

Oh, and to anyone who doesn't like jumping: I will cut you.

 

Oh yeah, I do think they're still working on polishing everything up and for the most part liking the progress they've made so far. But as we have no guidelines for review, I'm just inspecting every aspect of it for comparison later on and calling out some obvious stuff that catches my eye. So not really a concern or complaint, just thinking out loud as I watch the video a bunch of times. Would love to hear from the Devs on their thoughts of their current progress on various game systems.

 

The one thing that really stood out for me was the waterfront lots in the video, from what I gather it looks like if you go down this path you would be stuck only with waterfront property limiting your choice of land based buildings.
I could imagine something like the Lighthouse having a basement as the base of the building would still be connected to land but I wonder what the deal would be with something like a house boat, would these still retain the basement option if they are located on water.

I haven't read through all 13 pages so not sure if this has been answered, eitherway looking forward to seeing how the first water based homes are presented.

 

Constructive ideas, toughts and hopes: @DarkStarr & team!

- Lighting improvements as adressed, in house, dungeons, light sources. Like Flames dont flicker, light in cast by flames is static. - These are probably allready in the works, but still. Noted
- Where is scabbard? I want to WEAR that sword / weapon with out it being in my hand! Also immersion point. People dont run around town streets with weapons in their hands, if there is no siege / apparent enemy / they are up to no good (guards! )
- Scale of items in crafting table. Scale the mold in the table to believable size, immersion effect also. Im fine with all the tools in the table, since that allows recepies that use multiple tools and I think this is the point why they are placed all to the table.
- Edelmann home really seemed small to me too, mayby add ½ loft or something.
- There were fields clearly seen outside Kingsport & Owl. Make them rentable & thus player run! (this would fit on RG ideology of 'If its in the world its interactable!'
- In some places bit more irragularity to player plots would be good and make it look like more of living town. (Im fine with bit different lot sizes, odd shaped ones - if thats possible. PLAYERS keep in mind that this might kill your idea of having that knight house on your village lot, if its odd shaped).
- Mayby add SOME limitations what can be build on where. Like druid tree house in middle of Owls middle castle... it kinda doesent fit in...
- And that brings next point. Every house inside Owls fortified walls seemed to be player plots... Mayby put 'seat of goverment' there too, like NCP townhall & library/museum buildings? To bit brake the feeling of all player row on end thingy. mayby add small park in middle to give 'Lords' someplace to mingle in shade of apple tree, mayby a low hedge maze. Enjoyable scenery. Statues? Leave bit space for later innovation, like statue/memorial of long siege or other event, where you could bring flowers etc.
- Mayby make some NCP house rentable by player (no customization) -> town centre visually would not change and would be consistent.
- More prominent markets/market squares, where players would have rentable stalls to sell goods.
- Balcony on wizard tower was pretty much just walk path, mayby make it bit larger so one could place chair in there with out it being in completely blocked the path. Also the small tower rooms were, uh really small. Someone mentioned closets. I know, wizards deny lot of things and therefore live in figurative closet.. uhm lets not go there, its dark place...
- Tower homes (village/town) seem to have upper balcony that you cant get in to and in general seem to have alot of structure for show, that you cant get in.
- Housing in general was in good shape. Mayby we could get option to 'tint' our houses to even more customize em, like bit more darker or bit more whiter on those stone ones?
- If house has no windows or low on windows. Make. It. Dark. Specially basements. Player responsibility to lit the place up. Plus it adds to mood. Add different color lanters (paper ones?)
- What are the chests in crafting area. They dont seem to be for trash?
- Aggro. Remember to do it right. If I attack someones buddy, why would the next guy/wolf just stand in line and wait. Call for help? Yes I am sure it will be addressed, just pointing it out at this stage.
- About untested combat. Animations. Dont like spin. It gets you killed in real fight, well atleast it gets holes to your back. Atleast you die looking cool. Also consider reach weapons and keeping the target out of reach with it as spears and alike is intented. To note, spear would be good in tight corridor, good luck trying to dodge a stab. Ofcourse shield and power close. Still. Mayby make movement count on broad scale, no twitching it. Make weapon choice matter, body takes same amount of damage from 30cm of dagger than 30cm of spear. Difference is reach and handling. Situational. Tactic.
- Unless the dragon is friends with the goblins, should it not hum like burn and eat them too, mayby? Cant wait to Corp Por those wings out of the sky! hmmm leather...dragon leather... BAG, scabbard, belt and shoes!

Overall exellent work for 6 months, I am truely enjoying this. Im really wired up to get my hands on this!

Side mentions (plus!)
+ Doors. I think they were not confirmed before this (on inside player houses)?
+ Druid house. Goooood.
+ Lords house. Altought it will rain inside (straicase to upper balcony, way open to sky)
+ Crest in the avatar cloak, 1st real look in to 'what heraldry looks like ingame'
+ The non epic plate mail weared by male avatar, sweet.
+ Amount of house deco items allready in. Like say large hung iron candelabra and piece of paper pinned up with dagger in the support beam, both seen at 9:30.
+ Speech system & bubles
+ Craft stations start to look real nice.
+ Arrow vine, map, spellbook and skillbook? in inventory/backbag. Add reagent bag?
+ Forest

ps. O M G that LotM house, geez. Good job.

 

What I remember somewhere was that its really a choice. There is no room in water fronts to build normal house. House possibilities are totally different for waterfronts. And what comes to basements, no idea. Tho I feel that anything that has solid base would get basement. That would shaft houseboats royally when you are looking for storage possibilites (for not having basement).

And that would make houseboats even more perstine, kinda. You can "afford to have boat".

BUT besides that, I was also hoping to get small patch of land to have small hovel or small house + small pier/dock with stuff in it. Oh well.

 

I was origionally looking forward to a plot with water on it so I could place house & have a cabana on stilts, till I found out that was all there was....water, now I hope I'm not stuck with one

 

And you have every right to go and develop your own game with the ideas you think will win the day. If you're so sure of them, go create something to do just that... I'd love to comment on YOUR 6-month demo.

Reality is that as a personal choice, some want to be creative and constructive and not critics. But there are always 10,000x more of the latter. Some people enjoy criticizing, some people just want to waste their time, "cursing the darkness". Either way it just doesn't move anything forward.

 

In the Navy we use to say, "a complaining sailor is a happy sailor" didn't use the word complaining but I don't want this to get "moderated"

Anyway to me criticism is criticism, neither constructive or negative. And it's basically just someones opinion and how well they express it.

I truly detest the card system they have setup and I don't think it's the best they could do. Now, how would you like me to put that constructively?

 

I just watched the 6 month demo. I felt privileged. The world is starting to feel 'alive', and everything looks great and aesthetically pleasing. I wanted to go exploring in that world.

I absolutely love how the conversation system is turning out. I can't wait to use it. It is my favorite aspect.

However. I know its a demo but I think that the card/random combat system needs to be... well... not a card/random system sorry.

 

Well, rather than say "This sucks! OMG so horribly broken! I can't believe how stupid you are! How can you call yourselves developers?"

You could say "The cards flip too fast for me to follow, maybe slow them down a bit? (problem, solution) The cards are too far from the action. Can I move the UI to someplace that suits me? (problem, solution). Using this system, the UI becomes obtrusive, is it possible to have the runes appear near or on my target? Like there's a flash or something on the kobolds knee, giving me a chance to do a leg sweep? (problem, solution)."

It's not what you say. It's how you say it.

 

I reckon the best idea for them at this time is to:

A) Explain the card system they have in mind, with a caveeat that things aren't final.
B) Put up a poll on the site to see if people would enjoy such a system in theory.

As someone previously mentioned in this thread, it seems for every 1 person that likes the system, 9 do not. However, without a poll option that cannot be proven. Since they have a general concept of what they want to do in their heads already, it shouldn't be too hard explaining what the AIM of it is, and how it makes combat more fun. If reasonable, great arguments are set forth from the devs as to WHY this system is awesome, people might come around.

Edit.

It should be remembered though, that for many combat will take up much of their time in this game, I include the pvpers in this ofcourse, but also the pve'ers. If the devs presented a crafting system where it was totally random what sort of item was created, and you had to utilize "twitch" behaviour to get that crafting item you WANT to create, wouldn't the crafters be in an absolute uproar as well?