I just don't get it!

I've been updating and logging in for around a year. Each time with the same result: I just don't get it.

What am I supposed to do? Where am I? Where do I go next?

I do notice some performance increase from update to update which is nice. But the UI is ... my god man... from another millenia! You can't really expect players in 2015-16 to navigate this way. Am I missing something? I don't see a UI scale, I am being told to type commands like I was back playing Infocom's Adventure, I do not have a map of the starting town? WHAT?!

I just don't get it. I am really, really trying here. Can anyone enlighten me? How is the first 20 mins or hour supposed to go down?

 

UI polish is one of the last elements the devs intend to focus on, as it requires that gameplay itself be implemented first. They are iterating on it slowly (we can move the combat bar now, woot!), but I would not expect it anywhere near release-worthy for many months.

Conversation via typing : That is indeed a nostalgia thing. Personally I don't mind it at all, but I'm of that age.

The lack of a map for Soltown is probably an oversight. Currently Soltown is a carbon copy of Braemar, so it is possible the devs intend to replace the scene with something more distinct in the future, and setting up a hand-map for it would be a wasted effort.

The devs did relent to pressure prior to the Steam Early Access release and put some effort into a "new user tutorial" focused around Solace Bridge.

However one does not normally create tutorials this early into development, as any radical changes to the underlying game-system means one needs to rewrite the tutorial again.

I expect a more robust New User Experience by the time the game is officially released though.

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As to what to do in the first hour ? Head out and cull the local creature population, gain some experience, and try out the various skills. If you are looking for easier scenes, read this thread : https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/f...ut-zones-you-can-go-from-level-6-to-10.25090/

There are also plenty of quests in place (initiated by talking to the locals) that award experience if you want to go that route.

 

I think new players should be dropped off at the nearest inn with a dagger,a candle,a book, a small bag of reagents, and left to fend for themselves. (Just kidding... kind of)

TheMadHermit has a great new player guide on his YouTube channel. In fact, many of his videos are very valuable to a new player.

 

Agreed. I'm not a big fan of starter islands or handheld tutorials, but I see their purpose. What FastOne (and others) is experiencing is exactly the state of the non-game that SotA is currently. It's a disparate set of incomplete features that lacks the cohesion of a completed game, or at least more polished Beta experience. Without a bit more due diligence (i.e. reading the official 40-page Player Guide, watching YouTube videos, etc.), new players may be in this situation until that New user Experience is implemented and more polished.

As far as the UI, yeah, that's likely going to be one of the last things they polish and fix up. It's a shame though, as the NPC conversation is so tightly coupled to the crippled chat UI currently. They really need to decouple those systems.

Sounds like my kind of game