Blob of thoughts on Release 5

After playing a decent chunk of release 5, I figured I'd throw in my 2 gold about how the release went. Instead of scattering my thoughts throughout the forums, I decided just to lump them all here for the sake of efficiency (read: laziness). Thus I present, for the first time, a bunch of opinions on the game as it stands now. Note that I only played in single-player online mode.

• The starting interface is bland but usable, although I wish you could save your password so you don't have to enter it in each time.
• Character creation is quite minimal this time, but there is room to customize a bit more, starting with nose size. I also like how you can change the overall size of your character so that it's not one of those games where everybody is the same height (e.g. The Sims 3, which is otherwise my usual example of a good character creation system).
• Apparently your starting equipment is random, and I was lucky with what I got on my second attempt (first failed due to a bug). Hopefully in the future you can pick what you start with (perhaps in "starter packages" or even the old fashioned "here's a bunch of gold now buy from this list" method).
• Not fond of Owl's Head, as it's too big to navigate without wasting time. I know that a certain degree of relaxation is nice, but I'm primarily here to play a game, not stare at my backside for 3 minutes moving from one side of the town to the other. Would be nice to have a "back entrance" you can select to avoid this. Also would be nice to have a town map so you didn't have to wander in confusion when entering a new town (Dragon Quest VIII is a good example of this). Maybe it's just me, though, as I'm somewhat directionaly challenged and lack patience.
• Crating is set up well with what they offer so far. Had fun making a metal shield for myself, which involved a lot of steps to figure out (I don't have patience for walking, but I do have patience for this). Not very historically accurate to carry such a huge metal shield like this, but then again, it's fantasy.
• Crafting weapons and armor is not listed in the recipe book, and I can't find a weapons or armor at the market. Not sure where to get such things, so I can only try out a sword and light armor for now.
• Skills are decently set up. Not very balanced yet, and the skill trees are filled with holes, but a good start.
• Talked to some NPC's for quest bait. Decent conversations from some of the townsfolk, but others are obviously "I am Error" placeholders. Tend to say "where do you want it" when I ask where something is, which is annoying. Like how they ask if I'm frustrated when I sigh in frustration.
• Fought some giant spiders. Tried out some spells. Lack of sound effects makes combat unsatisfying. Like that the wildlife usually only chases you out of their territory.
• Can't find the bandit hideout. Get lost. Each mountain area looks just like the others.
• Go south to another cave to fight kobolds. I guess they like to collect eggs. Decent, but ultimately pointless dungeon (unless I missed something).
• Went further south to defeat the lich that I know resides there (from earlier videos I saw). Decent dungeon, but I accidentally went out at one point, only to come back to see all the skeletons re-spawn. Decided to run through, which got me overwhelmed and "killed". A minute later, I got better.
• The lich was tough to fight by myself. Had to play with the skills to find some that were powerful enough to barely defeat him if I got lucky. Took about five tries, but I did it, taking the famous "throne of bone" with me.
• Apparently the bartender I spoke to earlier is oblivious to my shouts of triumph as I brag that I have defeated the lich and took his throne. Still gives the same story.
• I like that you don't have to "trigger" quest and can instead stumble upon them naturally. In other RPG's I'd probably have to heal the guy who was here earlier before being able to enter the dungeon.
• Buying a house and decorating it is fun, as expected. Bit of a housing crisis, though. Had to wander though a lot of "subdivisions" to find an empty lot. It was at the backside of the area, of course, and as usual I can't just walk through the back entrance.
• I think the town criers don't speak English, as they don't understand a word I'm saying.
• Finally found the bandit cave. Went in declaring that the first guy I meet should surrender or die. Unfortunately, he is an invincible shopkeeper, and so cannot be brought to justice. Find some others to offer a chance to surrender, but they seem to not have this word in their vocabulary (literally). Apparently they are also oblivious to someone going through and slaughtering them all, as they stand still and let me tear through the place without alarm. Rescue a hostage, and defeat their leader.
• Once again, the locals at Owl's Head are oblivious to my triumph. Even the person that put the bounty on their heads doesn't respond when I say their leader was killed. Gave me the money for their sashes, at least.
• Went down south to pick up some herbs. Nice port town. Like the bridge over the water, even if it doesn't go anywhere (why'd they built this thing if not to facilitate travel?). Also like the lighthouse. Unfortunately there was no satisfying "splash" when I jumped off of it into the water.
• Picked up some free herbs when the shopkeeper read my mind (I assume). Too bad I can't use these on myself. Also too bad I can't just use a healing spell. Whatever. Fetch quest.
• Healed the wounded guy, but couldn't inform him that I avenged his comrades' deaths and defeated the source of evil, as he went to sleep. As usual, the other guy didn't respond to my bragging either.
• Note to self: need to work on humility.

Bottom line: the game has a long way to go, and there are numerous parts that need to be fixed (especially the NPC conversations), but it's heading in the right direction and I'm having fun play-testing this.

 

I absolutely know what you mean about the quest-givers not listening to your bragging! I redid all the quests I could find a couple of times in case I hadn't checked some flag, and they still don't know what I was talking about.

Me: "I saved the prisoner!"
Quest-giver: "huh?"
Me: "I defeated the necromancer!"
Quest-giver: "Yes there's rumours of a necromancer, you should go check that out"
Me: "I killed stacks of bandits, your road out of town is now safe!"
Quest-giver: "Here's some gold. Now go kill those bandits, they're a hazard"
...
*sigh*