First Impressions of a brand new player

Well met, Lords and Ladies.
I'm an old fan of RPGs and the Ultima games of old.
So, I finally dove in to the SotA pool and took a swim
I thought it might be useful for gamers and developers alike to see the impressions of a brand new player.
Without further rambling, I bring you "A Newb in Novia" or "How to fail at Games"

Big thank you to Portalarium for the work and generosity.

 

You lost me at "How to fail at games"

 

Welcome!
Very fair feedback, a little long, but very fair and hopefully helpful to the devs.

 

Clearly, this game is NOT for you. No hand holding was was a by design concept.

 

Great to see this type of feedback. Too bad the graphics are set so poorly in the OP. I gotta say, the video looked like black and white to me. However the more feed back/review we get like this the better. Thanks for the post.

 

Sorry if I lost anyone in the post. My brand of humor doesn't come across in text very well
I appreciate all the comments. I do truly hope this can be helpful.
I like the comment about how the game settings looked black and white to Aldo. Yes, I do like the saturation set quite low.
But, it's just another good aspect. A player can not only play the game they want but also play it how they like it... once you get there
As for sake888s comment, I must disagree. As I said in the video, I don't think hand holding is the answer but something in the middle. And, the more I play the more I think this game is Absolutely a game for me.
High Five everyone.

 

Yeah they do intend on doing quite a bit of polish and reworking on the starting scenes from what Ive heard, if you want to know what theyre thinking and direction they plan going with things check out the Hangouts on youtube,
was the lastone.

 

LOVE it! So glad you posted here and SO glad that you came out of single player mode. I really had a lot of fun hanging out last night!

 

Make another video with full blown saturation. Take some paper while doing that.

 

Just finished watching your vid, Personaly I like the quest system and journal etc, just the presentation of the conversation needs to be better, and they have plans for that
Agree 100%, we need an F key (interact loot etc) and a close last would work, although walking away works too.

If you speak to an npc and say name / job / help then youll find if theres anything they want and theyll be identified by name so you know youve spoken to them before.

If youd played a couple of releases ago it was Tab targeting and the combat system was much more intuitive and so the combat was more obvious, but heres what you need -
Numpad * is autoattack on and off, that will allow you to click swing your sword or charge it up (useful when engaging or chasing down archers).

Theres a whole load of game options that should Imo be default so its more intuitive, Ill do a post about how I have i setup atm tomorrow

A few options that Im currently using though is I have the system permanently in mouse mode, then I can shift-Left click on targets to select them or hit G, also
with the new system you can have a secondary healing target selected by shift left clicking yourself / pet /party member (theres an option in Game settings to allow you to click yourself)

Also you might want to check this out, explains some of the deck system, misses a few point as I recall but most is covered

@Quantum Joe

 

One of the reasons I said what I said comes in around the 25:00 mark. You seemed to be expecting a highlighted path to take you exactly to the "nearby location". It's actually so nearby, you naturally drifted right into the weapons rack after stating how lost you felt.

You also don't seem to care much for reading words from your own admission. That was the main basis for me saying this game isn't for you.

 

Good video! Valuable feedback!

 

A lot of the things I think he's describing isn't really complication, it's more like just plain confusing and not easy to grasp the reasoning for it, and not being fun for new players. Systems have to be easy to pick up on and fun to use in mmorpg's. Combat being the biggest and most important because that's what a lot of people do in the beginning hour of play. I'm not saying it has to be oversimplified, but it has to be clear to the new player how to use the systems without making them feel so lost, confused, and cumbersome. Systems that within that first hour of gameplay it hooks a player, else you lose a lot of folks from frustration.

 

I don't think that's fair to say that Sota wouldn't be liked by people that will just click the underlined words of a quest. I do it all the time and I enjoy the game. I'm just not big on story, if I want to read a story, I read a book. I'd rather click through and get on with other parts of the game I enjoy more. We all play games for different reasons and we may all differ in the parts we find most fun.

 

This is valuable feedback. I understand that many of those who are here for a long time and are invested in the game wear rose-tinted glasses and defend nearly every game aspect of SotA. It is like living in an old house. You get accustomed to its peculiarities and don't notice them anymore. And then someone enters the house and is shocked by many things and you don't understand why...

Many of the things the OP said simply are true. Walls of text in an ugly IRC chat window - how can this be an atmospheric and motivating way to present the dialogues and story? Sometimes it is so frustrating talking to NPCs because you can't find the correct keyword... Then this robot-like behaviour of the NPCs who repeat most of their text again and again.
Then the way the game rips one out of actively being in the world by having this passive done-to-death-hotbar-tab-targeting-combat-system. Suddenly I am not in direct control of the character anymore but instead watch him carry out orders. All of those ugly lists and windows everywhere - even when crafting... This feels like the game is being put together with parts of different games that somehow don't fit together. Sometimes I am the hero and control the character actively then suddenly I am watching him and the next time I am in some lists and windows...
There is no clear line here, now flow to the game. I want to continue the story but can't because I am not good enough to survive the next story-area and have to grind. So again the game rips me out of my experience and forces me to do things I don't want to do... It's a constant "being ripped out of the experience" while playing the game. On top of that everything is so confusing, Walking through a city, finding the right NPC to talk to, getting lost everywhere... sometimes it feels like hard work following the story when it should be fun instead. Then all of those standard quests that are so shallow... The half-heartedly implemented offline mode... Yes, SotA does have LOTS of problems. I hope that those things are on the list of Richard Garriott to make the game great...

 

~Our Wonderwall of Instructions~
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Z-svq1OvcZwViqGxFCKdjH3NCn2LTfLuGny5qaAqjTM/pub
Mountains are made of such... yet it's a mountain of a game...
Our Storyline is the next mountain to climb... which is even larger...
For some, bigger is better, and for others it's not, yet our game is like any other in it's jealousy to be your only game...
Personally I like more simplicity, until I get bored and want more complexity... I'm a very double standard game player...
~Time Lord~

 

Nor do I, and that's not at all what I referenced.

The OP states in the video that he has eye problems, doesn't like to read, has difficulty retaining what he does read and that the tool tip boxes that pop up & give insight on how to actually play the game are "just gobbely gook" to him.

Did you watch the video?

 

Straw Man Fallacy

 

Hello, @Quantum Joe , and welcome to SotA.

Your video is a condensed look at many things that we either have to teach ourselves while playing or come up with suggestions to improve for the next set of new players coming to this game.
You have arrived early enough to still influence what you think would be a specific improvement. Each Release has a new Feedback section for reactions and suggestions to particular matters.

For myself, a person with no Ultima background or nostalgia, I do not mind when things change in the game, because part of why I am playing is to keep my brain and fingers supple - and I get that in spades from SotA.
Keep at it, Joe! Meeting this challenge and seeing where this development takes us all is a trip you should not miss.