Alphonse arrives through the moongate - a new player experiment

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by Alphonse alFahn, Jan 11, 2020.

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  1. Alphonse alFahn

    Alphonse alFahn Avatar

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    Hello everyone!

    This is Tachys al'Fahn, and I am using another of my characters, brother Alphonse from player-run servers past to play through the current iteration of Shroud as a brand new player.

    I am approaching this as a player who knows nothing about the game, not even where it comes from, so I am not making assumptions about things you would normally do in an Ultima game, like talking to EVERYONE.

    I am playing through under the following parameters:

    I will be treating it as a modern game that has no physical documentation, so I will be:
    1. Expecting standard movement controls, either WASD or arrow keys
    2. Looking for cues in the UI about other controls, like using function, number or other letter keys for activating things like abilities
    3. Referring to the settings section for control key information for functions I expect but don't see a key for
    4. Looking for other documentation on the game, that would be logically located in the settings area somewhere.
    5. Expecting it, as a modern MMO, to have a global chat function (a test I know is going to fail)
    6. As a veteran RPG player, I will, of course, be picking up everything I can lay my hands on because of an unhealthy desire to overload my inventory as a result of a deeply ingrained hoarder instinct
    7. Also due to veteran RPG training, I will be exploring every nook and cranny of the areas I encounter
    8. Playing with the following system specs (I know, not anywhere near top of the line, but serviceable):
      1. User Specs:
        OS: Windows 10 (10.0.0) 64bit
        CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-6820HQ CPU @ 2.70GHz (8) System RAM: 16275
        GPU: NVIDIA Quadro M2000M GPU RAM: 4053
        SotA.Win.64.1101.Date.01.09.20
    Purpose:

    I am doing this to conduct a review on several points:
    1. NUE review: I haven't gone through the game from the beginning in a long time, and things have changed since then, so I want to see the NUE from the beginning again.
    2. Quests: I have claimed for quite some time that the quest system is still broken, and after noting the delinquency above, I want to see if I have been wrong.
    3. PTW: It has been said over and over that it is hard for new players to get established because they start so far behind with zero advantages. I have found this hard to believe since I played through most of the story long before ever using the "benefits of station" that came with my pledge rewards and never had problems. Instead of still benefiting from those rewards even obliquely by just creating another character, I am starting this run off as a brand new FTP account.
    4. Difficulty: It has been said that this game is too difficult to learn for new players because they can never "catch up". I am checking how long it takes to get established as a new player. I am considering the following "established":
      1. Reaching total GM status (all skills GM'd but specialization) in two combat branches and specialization to 80
      2. Reaching GM status in Alchemy and Enchanting skill, and 80 in Alchemy mastery and Weapon Enchanting (cause RP reasons).
      3. Acquire all recipes for Alchemy.
      4. Having a property that I can use for storage and a storefront, and if possible, a commission free vendor.

    So, without further ado... *jumps into the moongate*

    ______________________________________

    Logging in for the first time:

    Character creation (at the very outset! FINALLY!): This is a huge step forward from the previous iteration. Despite the somewhat creative approach of the Isle of Storms, this is really how it should have been at the outset. However....:
    1. Body: While being able to choose height, a couple of options on build would be nice. A 6' 5" tall man who is lanky does not look the same as one who is a body builder, and neither look the same as one who is just really physically fit. See these three individuals, for instance, all of whom are roughly 6'5":[​IMG] [​IMG]
    2. Hairstyle: While I see some additions in hairstyle, the line-up could really use some modifications and updating, as the graphics style is still very Max Headroom-ish in the main.[​IMG]
    3. Face: The changes to the face when moving sliders seemed to lag a bit on my system, leaving me to wonder if I had actually made a change at all. Otherwise, there are a lot of options that can still generate a wide variety of faces.
    4. Age options: These might be a possible addition that could be used by both devs and players.
    Still enjoy the character creation and muddled through the above to create my persona.

    On to the game!

    The aftermath of a battle...

    Critiques:

    1: The welcome sign... perhaps something more would be good here? It is obvious that the sign only says "Welcome", yet when you mouse over it, you get the whole "Welcome to Solace Bridge" tool-tip, so maybe something more than a planting stake would be better?

    a: I almost walked right past the new player handbook. Less careful players would miss this immediately. Also, since you already have a precedent of broadcasting notices on things around the starting player, nothing that I noticed was said about the book, and given its importance, this is a grave error.​

    2: You gave us a reason to jump, but the info broadcast needs to be just a touch sooner, and just like the "This area is not safe..." broadcast, maybe reword it to say something more like "This fallen tree bars the way, try jumping (press Space) over it."

    3: The dead bodies certainly lend something to the initial atmosphere, but the blood looks like red wax that has been slopped on the ground by the bucketful. Blood, especially on dirt, is NOT that bright a red.

    a: The blood on the dead horse has weird empty spots in the splatter pattern. See below:​
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    Nice touch with the buzzing insects!

    b. First body also has an issue with the blood splatter:
    [​IMG]

    4. All the arrows in the path after the first two are untextured. (will bug report this)
    [​IMG]

    5. Combat mode: First of all, nothing told me how to deal with hostiles, how to equip myself, or anything else. As a veteran of Ultima and other earlier-than-2005 games, I am quite familiar with having a separate combat and peace mode. As a brand new player, however, where most games allow you to shift to combat immediately without "arming yourself" first, this would be an alien concept. For instance, looking at it with intentionally fresh eyes, I just glazed over the fact that my UI changed as soon as I double clicked the zombie, that the sword on my UI was pulsing red, and was quite astonished to see I was already armed with a bow and arrows.

    6. The river is really well done, only needing some minor tweaks along the banks and around the bridge to complete the visual effect, Still, all in all, well done!

    7. Interacting with items: I would add telling the player they have the option of using "E" to interact to the broadcasts telling them to double click so players know they can do either.

    8. Taking to Charlotte: Following precedent set in broadcasts, I double clicked on her... this is the result:
    [​IMG]
    The view leaves something to be desired.

    9. First broken task: Speak with the child: As you can see below, I have already spoken to Charlotte, and yet...
    [​IMG]
    As she is following me, I have obviously already spoken to her, thus the task should be gone.

    10. The automaton: While I applaud the intro to the skills window, I have questions... the first being, wasn't this area JUST hit by an undead army? Would they not have destroyed this thing???? Maybe something in its dialog could indicate it was intentionally placed there by Edvard or someone else?

    11. The bridge out: Why are the combat cues HERE? I have already had to deal with almost a dozen enemies at this point... it would have been great to know this all BEFORE I HAD TO FIGHT THEM!

    12. The tomb: I love the design and coloring! As a first time player, however, the placement of such a POI seems heavy handed, as the look of it indicates it is of some import, but nothing in there except the Dirae Prophecies seems to indicate why it is there. The single book placed directly on the ground in front of the headstone also seems to contradict the whole thing...

    13. Edvard: The first thing I notice is that Charlotte disappears and MOST of the quests related to her disappear. "Speak with Frightened Child" is still present, however. Nothing in the conversation with Edvard indicates (like it did in previous iterations) that he is going to help get Charlotte to her mother. Thanks for the experience points, but so far (unless I actually look at the player handbook (good on you for making Edvard give it to you) ) nothing showed me what to do with them.

    Overview:

    This scene, whether you like it or not, is your tutorial, and while I like that it feels much more purposeful in its design, there are a few things this could address better (as noted above) during the player's stay here. The visuals are mostly spot on, the atmosphere is much better than previous attempts and there is enough combat to get the player's appetite aroused, I still don't think it feels as "unsafe" as the initial broadcasts claim... it feels more like a walk in the park, albeit a park that is in shambles and on fire.

    Another item: After adding skills to the combat bar to complete the Automaton quest, I noted that the skills I added increased quickly as I used them... but as a brand new player, I still hadn't any idea what was going on because nothing had introduced me to the xp and skill gain system. In the middle of a scene where things are on fire and enemies are supposed to be dangerously near doesn't quite seem to be the time to learn this. Perhaps something exists soon that will help in this regard? I have an idea what might help if one does not exist, but I will hold on to that until I finish some more of the introductory areas.

    Next up: the Outskirts!
     
    Last edited: Jan 11, 2020
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  2. Lazlo

    Lazlo Avatar

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    Whoa. David Hasselhoff is taller than the rock?
     
  3. Lord Tachys al`Fahn

    Lord Tachys al`Fahn Avatar

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    I think he only seems that way because he is standing a little uphill from Johnson. Of the three, Hasselhoff, Johnson and Vaughn, Hasselhoff is the shorter at 6’4” (looked it up before I posted the pics lol )
     
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  4. FrostII

    FrostII Bug Hunter

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    Great start on the new player experience, well done @Alphonse alFahn !
    Look forward to more of this kind of input.......
     
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  5. Numa

    Numa Avatar

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    very valuable feedback, enjoy the beginning journey and keep letting us know how it's going :)
     
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  6. Alphonse alFahn

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    Thanks guys, definitely more to come!

    Some things that I left off of the original post (that I will add in to it after this!):

    Purpose:

    I am doing this to conduct a review on several points:
    1. NUE review: I haven't gone through the game from the beginning in a long time, and things have changed since then, so I want to see the NUE from the beginning again.
    2. Quests: I have claimed for quite some time that the quest system is still broken, and after noting the delinquency above, I want to see if I have been wrong.
    3. PTW: It has been said over and over that it is hard for new players to get established because they start so far behind with zero advantages. I have found this hard to believe since I played through most of the story long before ever using the "benefits of station" that came with my pledge rewards and never had problems. Instead of still benefiting from those rewards even obliquely by just creating another character, I am starting this run off as a brand new FTP account.
    4. Difficulty: It has been said that this game is too difficult to learn for new players because they can never "catch up". I am checking how long it takes to get established as a new player. I am considering the following "established":
      1. Reaching total GM status (all skills GM'd but specialization) in two combat branches and specialization to 80
      2. Reaching GM status in Alchemy and Enchanting skill, and 80 in Alchemy mastery and Weapon Enchanting (cause RP reasons).
      3. Acquire all recipes for Alchemy.
      4. Having a property that I can use for storage and a storefront, and if possible, a commission free vendor.
    Upon reflection, down in the overview, I wanted to also add the following:

    After adding skills to the combat bar to complete the Automaton quest, I noted that the skills I added increased quickly as I used them... but as a brand new player, I still hadn't any idea what was going on because nothing had introduced me to the xp and skill gain system. In the middle of a scene where things are on fire and enemies are supposed to be dangerously near doesn't quite seem to be the time to learn this. Perhaps something exists soon that will help in this regard? I have an idea what might help if one does not exist, but I will hold on to that until I finish some more of the introductory areas.
     
  7. Anpu

    Anpu Avatar

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    This is actually interesting to read. Please continue....

    I do however need some clarification on your statement "the quest system is still broken". What specifics of quests are you stating are "broken"? Are you saying quests cannot be completed (they can be completed, ALL of them) or something else? Obviously the task you stated above, should have completed. I'm going to go check that right now.

    Also, when you are speaking to NPC’s and you are finished speaking to them, are you clicking the Goodbye keyword, or pressing the escape key to end a conversation with them?

    Do please continue.

    Of note (this will however be new to you, since your last visit) all tasks in this scene will clear, once leaving this area. However, as you stated above, that one task should have cleared (Speak to the Frightened Child), we already did that task....

    EDIT: I was unable to replicate this stuck task in the task screen, when creating a new character on an existing account:

    [​IMG]

    I will however create a new account and also verify this information as reported by you, as you continue to post more.
     
    Last edited: Jan 12, 2020
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  8. Toular

    Toular Avatar

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    The last time I created a new character, I interpreted the "Rescue Charlotte!" to mean "get her to her mom," not just rescue her from the burning building. I just created a character on a new account and don't have the "Speak with frightened child" task; did you "fully" speak with her?

    My main complaint about the Battle of Solace Bridge zone is that you are railroaded into learning ranged combat. I found a sword and started using it, but I can't learn any sword skills - despite having gotten my bladed combat up to 35 by the time I got to the automaton.

    Speaking of the automaton ... He's undamaged because the undead hate the living; as an automaton, the undead he is simply of no interest to them.


    The last time I did this - create a new account to test the "New Player Experience" - I ended up keeping that account and character and subscribing ...
     
  9. Alphonse alFahn

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    By broken, I am referring to the previous state of the quest system, and in some cases, I guess the conversation system as well, since my recent playthrough of Solace bridge highlights a small problem that still exists with each.

    I am ending the conversation with goodbye, but in all honesty, it shouldn't matter which way I exit a conversation.

    Charlotte: As the screenshots indicate, I fully spoke with her, because she is following me. There aren't many options when you talk to her.

    Automaton: I could agree with this, but the reason for it being there feels contrived in the extreme, and the story of it doesn't play out well. There are better ways to write it.
     
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  10. Alphonse alFahn

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    Note: I re-created the character, and played through again, to verify some things.

    On the second playthrough of SB, I encountered Edvard before Charlotte caught up to me, and he rebuked me for not having her with me.

    First thing to note: If Edvard was not able to make it IN to SB because of the undead, since he is Edvard the WANDERER, not Edvard the WARRIOR, how does he know about Charlotte specifically, and why would he expect you to be escorting her?

    When I talked to him with Charlotte by my side, the whole Charlotte quest line collapsed as before, and scrolling back in the conversation, I noticed that there is text referring to it being completed. This was immediately buried by several items of information that I could not possibly know, because Edvard tells me AFTER I get the yellow text telling me I know it and am making journal notes on it, as well as the text where he DOES tell me about it. This is part of that "broken" quest system, where information isn't parsed out correctly, and as a result, it gets lost and leaves players confused.
     
  11. Anpu

    Anpu Avatar

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    Did the task Speak to the frightened child this time clear correctly with this second attempt after speaking to her and allowing her to follow you?
     
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  12. Paladin Michael

    Paladin Michael Bug Hunter

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    The whole kind of "confusion" is a long story:

    Lum started to create a more easy User experience for new players with some instructions.
    For example: "take a bow".

    I wrote miles of text to convience him just to say: "take a weapon" (because they are lying around!)

    The following happened:
    New players (and whoever - I don't know) complained about not knowing exactly what to do after starting.

    A "new user experience" with Anais was created by List (Isle of storms, BEFORE we entered the first path - this part could be skipped).
    So the begin of the story was "polished" from the former -simple and easy- given instructions like "Take a sword", "take the key ..."

    Unfortunately after this happened, it was assumed that the cancellation by new players was due to the intro scene(!)
    I am sure, it wasn't about the starter scene on Isle of storms, but because of the intro with Anais with so much text to read!!!
    We had to many load scenes: game start on Isle of Storms, Character creation (enter the mirror).
    If the character creation hadn't load times, I assume, this wasn't a problem ...
    Furthermore
    --> I think, it was enough text we had to read with the Oracle (about chosing our path).
    --> I recommended to keep it short(er), focus only on chosing the path (answering questions) and let our answers be our path, how it was intended from beginning!

    Instead it was possible to say: Oh, now, I want to be a mage! Or a Fighter, or maybe a ranger?
    --> and so the whole intro was all for nothing!

    Remember? The choice for changing the path was done in EARLY ACCESS to make it possible to start different scenes for testing(!)
    But this wasn't removed later :(


    In the end, because alot player canceled playing at the Isle of storms, the decision was made to get rid of the whole Intro with Arabella!
    (How we arrive, receiving our body and - important!- meeting the Oracle for the first time, which asked questions for chosing our path).



    So Sannio had to "re"insert the New User Information into the first scene (another decision was every player now will start on the path of love in Solace Bridge - no information anymore about a choice and the paths was given).

    --> I tested this scene countless times and provided (mostly unheard) feedback ...


    What happened next:
    Because of the behavior of Edvard (we had to follow him over the bridge - this was really a nice task!), he sometimes ran back to the gate(!) and made it hard to reach the boat with him and Charlotte, this part of the story (and text!) was deleted.
    Edvard no longer runs with us to the boat.

    As I played the latest version, it also happened to me: Charlotte vanished and I didn't know what happened ... ran back to the house, but she wasn't there ...

    Well, we have to understand how the story was intended the first time to understand why it (and text phrases) seems "broken".
    --> After leaving Solace Bridge we had to visit Soltown immediately to visit Abigail and tell her about her daughter and that she's fine.
    BUT

    Solace Bridge Outskirts came in and so this quest task changed.

    I didn't understand, why we shouldn't take Charlotte home to her mother.
    Now that the Solace Bridge Outskirts is in, it makes - unintentional - sense, of course!

    Unfortunately:
    1. Visiting Abigail should tell us: "Oh, thank you, you are that Avatar who saved my daughter. Edvard the wanderer brought her and told me about!"
    --> asking her we get information, Charlotte was sent to Ardoris. How wonderful would it be to meet young Charlotte later in Ardoris again :)

    2. The Visuals of Abigail changed later to a black woman, which won't fit any longer to the visuals of young Charlotte and the dead body of John, we found ...
    --> Yes, that is a kind of broken story, unintentional, of course ;)

    So, what we have now is a more than once changed storypart from different persons. That's why it seems to be broken and - of course - illogically in some moments.

    And from the latest "Vision 2020" post, I can't imagine, anybody will change something.
    The last thing what changed were yellow signs in Soltown ...

    And the "Hammer" for the former quest with Raymond still never was replaced to Solace Bridge and therefor, it is just a rumor ... from elder Outlander ;)
     
    Last edited: Jan 12, 2020
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  13. Alphonse alFahn

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    Thanks @Paladin Michael , I've actually been around through the entire creation of the game (read the first post ;) ), so I am aware of all you have said but the last... WHY REMOVE A BEGINNER SIDEQUEST??? FFS... it is hard enough to get people to stay when they think they are never going to "catch up", and you remove (by accident) a quest that gives you some of that hard-to-come-by xp? *sigh*

    I have since re-created Alphonse a couple of times in an effort to re-create the stuck quest issue, with no success... so I don't know where to go with that one. BUT... if this can happen to a veteran, it sure as hell can happen to a newbie, and would be ten times as off-putting.


    Ok... Wrap up for Battle of Solace Bridge:

    Pros:
    • The environment: It gives the feel of a recent battle, and has some other POI and effect items that have been done fairly well (Tomb, River), and with some minor tweaking could help make this entry into the game slightly more visually enjoyable.
    • Starter quests: Nice to have a couple right off the bat, and some things (the letters on the body and the floor in the two buildings) that indicate more to come.
    • Character creation: Great idea to have it straight at the beginning. I liked the Isle of Storms, but as Paladin Michael indicated, too many loading screens in your FIRST LEVEL is one too many.
    • Player Handbook: The Handbook itself isn't the Pro... the fact that it opens immediately upon pick up is a good thing. As is Edvard handing it to you when you go to exit the screen, so those who missed it will still have it when they leave.
    Cons:
    • Atmosphere: You start the level off with a broadcast note stating "This place is not safe", but nothing ever gives it that urgency. Action-wise, this is a snooze-fest, as NOTHING about this level is threatening.
    • Rookie texturing mistakes: Not many, unfortunately they are all within the first ten seconds of actually playing the game... I'm looking at you, untextured arrows nearly everywhere. Of the few dozen arrows littering the landscape, I think I saw three that had textures. (Again, will bug report these...).
    • Player Handbook: I may have enjoyed the old school game manuals and hint books from the 80's and 90's, but...
      • NO ONE IN THIS DAY AND AGE WANTS TO READ 30+ PAGES of TEXT ON THEIR SCREEN TO LEARN HOW TO PLAY A GAME.
      • NO ONE IN THIS DAY AND AGE WANTS TO READ 30+ PAGES of TEXT ON THEIR SCREEN TO LEARN HOW TO PLAY A GAME.
      • NO ONE IN THIS DAY AND AGE WANTS TO READ 30+ PAGES of TEXT ON THEIR SCREEN TO LEARN HOW TO PLAY A GAME.
      • NO ONE IN THIS DAY AND AGE WANTS TO READ 30+ PAGES of TEXT ON THEIR SCREEN TO LEARN HOW TO PLAY A GAME.
      • NO ONE IN THIS DAY AND AGE WANTS TO READ 30+ PAGES of TEXT ON THEIR SCREEN TO LEARN HOW TO PLAY A GAME.
      • ...They want to learn how to play by PLAYING.
      • Having this around as a REFERENCE is great, but it is lazy development to expect this manual to be the player's tutorial, especially when it doesn't tutor them on some of the most important aspects (Pooled Experience...? J/S...)
    • Combat: You waited until after the player has already encountered nearly a dozen enemies to give them a tutorial on combat. BAD.
    • Inventory and equipment: Movement tutorials, camera tutorials, looting tutorials, starter quests... all cool. But nothing (other than the Book of Walls of Text) to teach a new player how to check what is in their pack, and how to see what they are carrying? I know it is easy enough, but c'mon man! If I were a clueless player, I wouldn't have even known arrows were a consumable item until I saw the warning about "Running low on ammo"!
      • Perhaps instead of simply saying "This place isn't safe, look for a way out", say:
        • "This place isn't safe, make sure you are equipped to defend yourself"
        • "Press "C" to check your Character Sheet, and Press "I" to see your inventory"
        • "You have basic weapons, in the form of a Staff, Sword and Bow. Choose one and drag it to the Main Hand slot on your Character Sheet."
    • The Automaton: Another player attempted to give this a reason for being here... but nothing about it feels right. A spotlessly new training automaton, smack dab in the middle of a military outpost on fire. It could let the rampaging undead army through, but it feels it is too risky to let YOU, in your unskilled state, pass through to face the same undead you faced GETTING to it. Hmmm..... nope.
    • Edvard's Word Vomit: I missed too much information from the notes on things I didn't know yet, because the things that informed me of what I didn't know forced it up past the top of the text window. This whole conversation needs to be better paced.

    Some of these things, the fix is easy... a few graphical tweaks here, moving a trigger or two there... easy stuff. Some of them, like trying to figure out what would give a new player a sense of danger and urgency, and possibly writing an actual tutorial level that takes ALL of the new player experience into account and wraps it up in one to three scenes... these aren't so easy, and I really can't provide a concrete way or even suggestion on how to fix it other than to give you my account of my experience and say it needs fixing. So, take it for what it's worth, and hopefully you can smooth this stuff out and create a more story-driven way for players to learn how to live, strive and survive in your world.
     
    Last edited: Jan 13, 2020
  14. Alphonse alFahn

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    Solace Bridge Outskirts:

    Day one:

    Private Garridon: This is fine, with the exception of more SotA NPC Word Vomit(R) where I learned things (in yellow) before I actually learned them. Also, I "Learned" Kinsey's name twice, once as Captain Kinsey, and once as Kinsey.

    Children: Spooky little bastards... I would be looking forward to more from them... but alas, I know better.
    • Bloody Bones book: On the last page, I believe the idea was to have it say

    Sergeant Sedgewick: All is good here, and love the starter crafting quests! One minor critique: When he asks for the wood, he tells you to look in the forests, but unlike with ore and feathers, he doesn't direct you to anything more specific. I would add something to his response that tells you to "...look in the surrounding forests for dying trees, which can be harvested."

    Hartley/Langston: I like the dilemma built into the story between these two. Very nice!
    • Couple of typos to note in Hartley's dialogue, however (bug reporting):
      • Liliana falling in love with him: He says "I thank the stars every night that she fall in love with a criminal like me." "fall" should be "fell".
      • Returning her last gift to him: He says "...Since she died, they'll never be another...". "they'll" should be "there'll".
    Quentin:
    • When interacting with his body, my guess is his corpse is set as a chest, so trying to loot... erm *cough* investigate... it tells me I cannot interact with the container (Chest) while in combat.

    The Farm:
    • The starter quests here are a fantastic idea! I had time enough to complete them just before I became over-encumbered from looting and harvesting, and night was falling, so I headed back to camp to turn in quest stuff and unburden my shoulders!
    Day Two:

    Picked up some skills from the trainer, to better complement the skills I had, and start growing the Alphonse's base stats as well. Also grabbed some arrows to complement those given to me by the good Sergeant and headed out!

    The Alchemist: Another relatively simple starter side quest. Took longer to read the responses than to actually perform the task though. Still, a slight distraction, some gold and xp... all good ;)

    The Village: As if the creepy kids weren't enough... massive blood clots (Minions) running around hiding in attics? And a new enemy with an unknown purpose... the Ebon Dawn. Somewhere in the several rituals I interrupted, I managed to acquire the book the kids wanted, found a scout, and spoke to some ghosts as well. Couldn't sort that one out before I was once again at the gates of twilight out of arrows and with a bursting backpack... back to the camp I go!

    Day Three:

    Grabbed a LOT of arrows... not running out today! Informed Kinsey of the various things along the way, and gave the kids their dance book, who were inordinately happy about it.

    They said they would remember me... never have three children made shivers run down my spine, real or virtual!

    Headed over to the village, and sorted out the ghost problem. After loading up on loot and skill from taking out the Ebon Dawn soldiers and undead, I struck out towards the camp again to wrap things up in the Outskirts.

    ___________________________________________________________________

    Overview:

    Total Playtime: A very relaxed 3 hours

    Skill Gains:
    • Ranged:
      • Ranged: 71, Aimed Shot: 54, Disabling Shot: 46, Ammo Scavenger: 34
    • Tactics:
      • Healthy: 33, Armor preservation: 21, Reckless Stance: 6, Train Strength: 21
    • Subterfuge:
      • Distract: 15, Train Dexterity: 12
    • Focus:
      • Heightened Awareness: 32
    XP Pool: (That I am still playing as if I don't know what to do with it)
    • Adventurer: 96k
    • Producer: 213k

    Net Gold gained: (sold all loot and harvested items, as I am not at a point where I can store items)
    • 6500 gp
    Scene difficulty: None to Very Low
    • Adventurer: This scene takes almost no skill to play through. It is a fairly calm experience that posed nearly zero threat. Despite all NPC's being yellow to me, I was able to get about 4-5 shots off on everything, all but killing things early on and leaving everything later on at about 75% health, with the difficulty slowly ramping up as you made a clockwise circuit around the map.
    • Harvesting: Zero. All nodes were 99-100% success rate.
    • Each scene should be somewhat challenging. This one is not at all, and could stand some tweaking to achieve a better balance in both the harvesting and adventuring arenas to ensure that players are not quitting here from simple boredom. Care must be exercised in this to ensure it isn't made too difficult and causes frustration instead of boredom.
    Review:

    Game play: I have always enjoyed the outskirts scenes, and this hasn't changed. There is some small amount of tweaking that has been done from what I remember, but nothing that undoes the particular flavor this scene had. This scene, and it's partners in the other two tracks, has what I feel all the scenes in Shroud should have:
    • Purpose: The scene needs a reason to exist:
      • Reasons for existing:
        • Link between battle scene and rest of the game world
        • Introduction to one of the Principles (Love)
    • Story: The scene should have its own stories to explore.
      • Stories:
        • The Camp
        • The Farm
        • The Noble and the Criminal
        • The Village
    • Integration: The scene should have some relevance to the greater story around it.
      • Links to the story:
        • Undead investigation
        • Following the Principle of Love
        • Reporting up the chain
    These are just a few things off the top of my head. I am not going to do this for the other outskirts scenes, or really any of the others, but I just wanted the criteria I am looking for when I am looking at these scenes along the way. This scene and its brother scenes go a long way towards telling the main story as well as their own and it makes the whole thing much more enjoyable to me, something that a lot of the scenes in the game fail to do.

    One HUGE negative: This game is not really free to play.

    How, you might ask? Was I not able to start playing the game without spending a dime? Certainly!

    Then how is it not free to play?

    I'll tell you.

    I was in a starter area, with other players who were doing the exact same thing I was. I had been all the way around the map three times and not seen anyone there that was obviously not a NEW player. I ran into a skill roadblock, and asked a question locally... how do I use skill x? (x in this case, was Distract, a skill I have never had cause to use in the last several years)... no one knew. So, I had to resort to the Universal chat, for which I needed to buy a Universal chat orb. (You know I had one already, or else I wouldn't be able to post here... I was playing as if I hadn't known about or purchased one already, however.)

    Yeah, I know... two dollars. The amount isn't critical, the principle is. I wasn't even out of the starter areas, and needed to make a purchase to get a question answered in-game.

    Minor point, but something that can quickly spiral into a PTW argument (as it has ad nauseum) as soon as the new player looks for the orb, and sees the pricetags on everything else available...
    So, to wrap up....

    Pros:
    • Story: Great all around in both quantity and quality!
    • Room to grow: The many and varied not-so-side quests (because in order to progress in the story, you actually have to complete them, despite their sided-questy feel) provide a much needed gold and xp infusion into new character development.
    • Quest completion: So far, so good! No quests hanging after leaving a scene!
    Cons:
    • Scene difficulty: Still way too easy. NPC's in this scene are basically skill execution dumps that players can use to build skills with nearly zero risk or difficulty.
    • Skill proliferation: I haven't started to experience it too much yet, but I am starting to have that terrible conflux of too many skills set to train, too little xp in the pool and (feigned) zero knowledge of how the xp pool system works... that point where all new players start to complain about not getting any skill gain, because too many mouths are nibbling at the too-little xp gained at these levels.

    Off to Soltown!
     
    Last edited: Jan 13, 2020
  15. Alphonse alFahn

    Alphonse alFahn Avatar

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    Something catches your attention along the way....

    Solace Bridge!

    Stopped off here on the way, and I will say the following:

    • Talked to Kiakis, and glad there is something more than just a tomb hanging out. I know Kiakis was int he older version, but the tomb he was visiting was much less noteworthy, so I am glad these two elements have come together.
    • Talked to Edvard, and though I am glad to know Charlotte has been delivered to her mother, I would have preferred knowing that was happening before! That he passed on the information about the husband is mildly upsetting... that might mean one less quest to do!
    • The gate we enter the area through: This thing was burning before... I like that there are the charred remains of the gate itself, but I would think the walls that held it up would have suffered some as well. This is a minor nitpick, though.
    • The town: Glad to see that it is more accurately portrayed in this iteration! Not that I want to see Solace Bridge a burnt out husk of a village, but it is a definite bold stroke in the right direction story-wise.
    • Moongate: LOVE IT! as always... And love that the Isle of Storms is still a "thing"! However, as a result of this, I am on my own self-induced "Jumper" episode...
    That all being said... I didn't spend much time here, only doing a quick run-through, so I didn't take the time to go over it in more detail, but this initial quick pass SEEMS to confirm my fear: that once it's purpose has been "served", it is left to mediocrity and fades from the story. I will reserve that judgement for Soltown, however.

    I went through the Moongate quite by accident, and tried to use it like any other uninitiated new-to-Ultima player might... I tried to go right back, without paying any attention to the "Mysterious Location" tag sitting next to my mouse. As I have noted before, I LOVE the Isle of Storms, and meeting the Oracle for the first time was cool, despite it being quite by accident.

    Notes as a "new" player:
    • Grand Tour Automaton: Actually gives a good introductory reason for it being in strange and perhaps dangerous places. Perhaps bringing some of his dialog into the Battle for Solace Bridge automaton's (as well as "roughing him up" a bit) might help newer players understand more of the how and why he (BfSB Automaton) is there? Also still nice to have something else to do that is not directly linked to the main quest line.
    • Oracle: Cool... and nice to get the small boost to xp and gold from the test, but after talking to her, she feels kind of ... truncated? Like there was something (I know what) there, but now it isn't? Maybe a short look at her reason for being on this moon(?) rock is in order?
    • Player handbook pedestal: Still a nice visual... but kind of superfluous now that a starting player has at least one, if not two?
    • Buildings in the distance: I wanna see!!!!
    • Lack of character creation mirror and Arabella: Their absence is now keenly felt if you remember what was there before.
    Perhaps a look at this location to see what can be done to salvage it and make it more useful and applicable to the story again? Please? :D
     
    Cordelayne, Astirian, Rentier and 2 others like this.
  16. SmokerKGB

    SmokerKGB Avatar

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    OMG, another critique... Not quite sure "Why" you're doing this...

    -I have a very old geForce 760 GT 4gb video card and I'm getting much better views with it, compared to your screenshots (or maybe I'm just not as picky as you), I'm set to 1080p Fantastic with full shaddows and get great performance with my i7 4790K 4.0 GHz 32gb system RAM Win7 x64...
    -As an experienced Ultima player, getting established was no problem at all for me, but I'm not on a "Fast Track" to the top (been playing from the beginning, only have 4 GMs, playing casually)...
    -I suggest you buy a membership, you'll get many perks including Cotos which you can sell to many players vendors who deal in those or sell on your own vendor (I do both)....
    -Work on 7 skills until your happy, then turn them off and work on another 7, your progression will go faster...
    -Do all the quests: Truth, Love, Courage... You'll get lots of experience points for skill gaining, keep in mind if your pool goes dry, your gains will go dry too...
    -Crafting skill pool is seperate from Adventure pool, so buy some gathering tools (indestructables are in the coto store) and gather everything you come across... Upper right on your screen, the player manual is there too (so you really don't need the "Book" in the beginning)... It was pretty obvious to me when I walked by it, and Yes I picked it up... sotawiki is also a good place for info details...
     
  17. Alphonse alFahn

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    While I appreciate your input and assistance, please read the first post carefully. I stated why there, and am already familiar with all you said.
     
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