MassivelyOP Choose My Adventure: Finding my way in Shroud of the Avatar

http://massivelyop.com/2017/08/17/choose-my-adventure-finding-my-way-in-shroud-of-the-avatar/

 

Thats an interesting and I would say fair initial report. Hopefully he will carry on in the same vein.

 

Sadly they are letting voting guide their choices, which I get it the whole purpose of "choose my adventure" but the current state of the Truth and Courage paths are not very exciting and need a lot of polish and side quests. In the end this will probably not end up very favorable.. I tried to steer them to going Path of Love since it has had the most polish but I don't think that is going to fly with the voters.

I understand they are being truthful in the synopsis, but really we all know the truth and we KNOW it needs polish. What we could use is some good vibe coming from the most polished path. That is why the Devs locked the trial to path of love choice.

They really should have done research, chose the path that was most finished and THEN started choosing the adventure once they were on track to at least some success.

Anyway, hope it works out for them

 

I really like what is written. For this game My greatest hope before release is that we can alleviate the disconnected confusing feeling and also add in missing visual elements and get more animation cues.

Having task lists and achievements with notifications will also help the game so much.

 

nice read. it's nice to read such honest impressions.

 

I thought this was a good article full of great feedback. It will be interesting to see what happens on this adventure.

I don't think it should be up to the player to have to research what the most complete part of the game is. We're early access still, that's true, the article states that though. Since all the main quests are supposed to be completed, I feel like they're fair game to provide feedback. I don't think they're fair game to provide a finished review yet, but for a point in time reporting I think it's all in play.

 

For anyone who wants to follow along there was a previous article in this series. My understanding is each game gets played for a month so I expect two further articles on Shroud after this. I voted for 'Just wander/embrace uncertainty', keep an eye out for an avatar called Ceila wandering around looking a bit lost

 

I lol'd.
It's a nice, open minded feedback from someone that isn't hyped nor a hater.

 

So true...

 

Truth is the easiest path to finish for a new character compared to Courage or Love.

 

A very good read, thank you for sharing your thoughts and feelings in such a nice way !

One of the comments to your review, got my special attention, because it could be written down by myself:

".....but I can say the best and most memorable games I have played are the ones that makes
you doubt and question what you do, that has moments of despair and confusion in one end of the scale and feeling
of accomplishment and joy in the other as you master and learn things. That is what triggers my curiosity to continue
to explore a game, while on rails story mode with handouts and over-designed player experience (usually) does the opposite...."

 

not sure i agree with this. After all, they have publicly stated that they are Story Complete.

 

Exactly. Also the path of love is not really better than the path of truth. Especially the outskirts of truth are a much better better and exciting experience.

 

Has Eliot Lefebvre posted his avatar name so we can friend him in game and show him a good time?

 

I've been a fan of MassivelyOP, and their prior incarnation, for a long time. But I'm disappointed with the quality of their work here.

 

Why? It was an honest and straightforward article.

 

Like I said, I'm a huge fan of MassivelyOP. I've appreciated them as one of the better gaming new sites for some time.

However....

1. Right up front the writer should have acknowledged SOTA being in a pre-release state. That would have set a tone of professional fairness. I think this is a courtesy that any professional (i.e., generates money from supporters) gaming news site ought to do. As is, the article almost literally hand waves off 'early access' at the end as if it doesn't matter. They know it does.

2. The writer essentially provides only a 'taste test' of SOTA, saying what is liked or not liked. That's fine, nothing wrong with that. But its also fairly elementary input that one would expect to see on forums. I read Massively (who has a wealth of game knowledge) for more insight that compares their likes/dislikes to other games to offers ideas for improvement. Not just 'tastes.'

3. When an experienced MMO writer asks if a wolf is an intended part of the design I take that as akin to Everquest rat complaints that have continued since time immemorial. Sure SOTA has entry level wolves. Just like some games have rats. Just like nearly every MMO in the known universe has entry level critters for newbs to whack on. If SOTA wolves feel like same old same old, that's fair. But then the writer should say that its similar to other games and described how it could be better. As is, the article almost makes it sound as if this is an SOTA-specific oddity. Its not.

4. Its a non sequitur then for the writer to go from being concerned for that lowly wolf at their throat to saying that the game has a bad premise of setting one up as a self-aggrandized hero. Self aggrandized hero, huh? The fact is that wolf was there at the writer's trachea doing its job showing that self-aggrandized hero that in fact he is but a humble starting avatar like the rest of us.

I could go on, but that's enough to give a flavor for my thoughts. Again, nothing wrong with a 'taste test'. I just think that the writers at Massively have so much game knowledge, and have a reputation for stronger reporting, that they can do better than that by offering stronger insights and comparisons to other games that help support their suppositions. Said another way, there is nothing wrong with a dislike, but give us some benchmark against which you are measuring so we know why you don't like something. If they did that, the article would be far better. Why support a professional news site like MassivelyOP if they post the same level of stuff we post here? I think we need to expect top gaming news sites (that earn revenue) to be just a little better, that's all.

I don't debate that its not honest. The article presents fair perspective for Portalarium consideration. Its just that honest and straight forward doesn't necessarily mean great writing / reporting. Otherwise many in the community here would be rock star game reporters by now.

Cheers!

 

Spoiler: Spoiler

No! It won't ;-)

 

Next episode is up.

 

Again a pretty fair report I would say even if sime of the negative comments are the usual vitriol.