Dont know were to begin

I normally shy away from topics like this as well since they are highly subjective and passions can run high. But, while many good points are being brought up we need to keep a few things in mind.

First of all, the game is far from done. Most of the pieces should be considered a proof of concept and not how the final version will work.

Second, we have a LONG way to go before this game will be considered complete. I fully expect another year of development. Might be less, but it's not like there is a launch date of December 2014 and this is the final state of the game.

If you've been part of the dev cycle, you know a product changes radically over time. Think of it like building a house. You have a bunch of big equipment getting the ground prepared and then all sorts of people come and make one hell of a mess and then all of a sudden you have wood framing. You don't say the house looks terrible and is unlivable because you know you're not anywhere near done. Sometimes you can see how the completed house will look, sometimes is look a disheveled mess with wires, piping and trash lying everywhere.

Additionally, this game isn't Ultima and it isn't Ultima Online. I'm not a fan of MMOs and have no want to play them. I know people love WoW and my friends try to explain it to me and get me interested but it's just not my thing. I prefer solo player games because I can't commit to when I can play, so I play when time permits. That doesn't lend itself to an MMO world. So I'm glad SotA isn't on the same level in that respect.

I feel like if you're a purist on either side of the Ultima fence, this game could disappoint. It's not a pure solo player adventure, nor is a grand endless sandbox that allows you to go everywhere and see everything. And I admit, there are parts of the game I really don't like - Combat and Music come to mind. But, I like the online interaction this game is offering. It's there if I want it, but not a must have. I can join a Guild or massive party and storm across the land. Or I can try the epic quests on my own and know it might not happen. Or, as I have experienced plenty of times already, I stumble across one or two other players who are on the same quest and we partner up and give it a go. If we're successful, we wish other well and continue on the path. Those 3 elements are pretty exciting to me.

The overland map of travel and then jumping into a city harkens back to the old Ultima way or touring around and I'm fine with that. It's may not be the best mode of travel, but it certainly works and it's better than what we had a couple of months ago.

The point is, this is PRE-Alpha. Playable demo. Concepts on display. Some of their ideas will work, some won't. It's far too early to judge the game on graphics and music alone. Although I disagree the game looks like something you play in a browser.

Am I happy with each Release? No. In fact a couple were rather skipable. But, R10, R11 and now R12 have me going back for an hour or two each day to play and explore. I fully expect this will have the quests of Ultima (once their all completely written and hooked up) and it will have some MMO elements, but not an endless open world. There are plenty of other games out there that can fit this. I like where the game is headed and think it will be really good when it's done. Will Forsaken Virtues hit it out of the park? It's hard to say. What sort of game do you want? I don't want to play WoW. I don't want to play Diablo either. But I feel we're getting some really good elements out of some really good games and when the walls go up, the roof gets put in place, the walls are painted and all the furniture is in place, we're going to have a nice space to play in.

Not everything is great now, so we need to point those things out, but throwing in the towel on what I will once again call a playable demo is a bit premature. I certainly understand the frustration and share it, but the road from Alpha to Early Access to Release Candidate to Launch is a long, slow and uphill struggle. We're making good progress though!

 

Continue to give feedback to shape the game in the direction that you think it should go, friends. Positive or negative.

The dev's need to show that they have the strength to take negative feedback with the positive. If they get negative feedback, they should ask themselves why? And investigate... and perhaps find a solution. Not all negative criticism will be useful. But not all positive feedback is either.

Yes, the game is still in development. But when is the time to give feedback for change?
a) when the game is in development
or
b) when the game has shipped?


As far as giving up on SotA. Some of us know enough now to make that decision. It doesn't mean we have extraordinary intelligence and insight. Nor does it mean SotA is a bad game, it just means we had different expectations and interests.


Regards,

 

I have seen a lot of interesting thoughts and points, but I'm going to weigh in with my subjective opinion

I've been heavily involved in betas/kickstarters and such lately:
Neverwinter, Pathfinder Online, RSI, Forced, Elite: Dangerous, ESO

So I think I know my way around a beta/alpha when I see one. So far, the *only* game out of all of these that is actually playable and working well pre-release is Shroud of the Avatar. Neverwinter was a train wreck up until the last weeks, Pathfinder Online looks like it's Everquest era, RSI is amazing but slow to progress, etc. ESO beta was so rough, I couldn't even *play* without running into massive crashes to desktop.

Shroud, for me, is heading in all the right directions. It's got music I like (for the most part), some interesting mechanics and ideas, an actually playable state (in pre-alpha, FFS!!!), working multi-player, and a dev team that is clearly paying attention to those of us who plunked down the hard-earned money to get super early access.

I'm not a fan of the tutorials in R12, but that is just temporary. The rest of the stuff on this game is remarkably solid for a pre-alpha.
My only regret is that I didn't have more money to channel into it.

 

This... Dont Expect the game "shaped" before Episode 3