New User Experience (NUX) - Spoon's QA Feedback - Path of Love

Why is the Chat>Pin not set by default?
I got that tip and by the time I was in position and started reading it - the whole chat faded away.
...and a new user wouldn't know how to get it back.
So it would be much better if the default was "Pinned".

 

OK so a couple of things happening here. Lets do a bullet list.

1. This is the first time you mention TAB, yet you are not telling them that they can TAB back to reticle mode.
   So I'd advice having something to pick up before this so that you can tell them seperately about TAB>Interact>TAB>Reticle.
2. You are introducing two ways of interacting with the book. But if the user does what you tell them and drags it to the avatar - then you have still not told them about Inventory. So they wouldn't know where to find it 'later'.
3. There is some really cool skull lantern there. Yet you do not mention that the user can interact with it - some will find that by accident but not all.
   Proposal: Have a table with a few things on it which the user can interact with before this altar.
4. It is a bit unfortunate that the really cool blue flaming 'cauldrons' here - is reused art - which the user next time will see used as 'potties'.
   Please change this gfx and use something else for the blue flames to sit on. You have the big standing torches with this blue light which we used to be able to buy from merchants.
   Also
   would be cool if one could interact with the blue lights as well.
   
5. At this point I had to break for a while - when I returned I "spawned" at the mirror, yet when I returned to the book altar the only hint I got was "you will find may books and letters in your travels..." etc.
   Would have been so nice to get a Hint/Tip collection like one gets in Civilization so that one can go back and forward among the hints one have received.
6. When should you teach new users about the E key? Since here you encourage one behavior which is doubleclick to interact. Shouldn't that be the E key nowadays?
7. Why do we explicitly learn about TAB here when in Reticle mode I can simply look at the book and doubleclick or E?

 

Exploring

Area: Isle of Storms (IsleOfStorms) Loc: (-34.2, 12.5, -46.0)
The invisible wall is a bit early here, should be closer down along the slope.

 

So I've reached the Oracle Confirmatory which gets marked on my compass.
This is a golden opportunity to reinforce the compass UI - with that glowing fade in fade out 10 sec thingie.

Also
we were told by Arabella to go here. This was reinforced when we walked along the path etc. It seems very strange that the hint just outside the Oracle acts as if we don't know what is in there - especially given that it says Oracle Confirmatory right there.

Also
again the doubleclick instead of the interact E key.

 

Area: Isle of Storms (IsleOfStorms) Loc: (-46.7, 15.5, -10.0)

That is the only door which can't be interacted with to close it - instead it auto-closes.
This gives a false impression on how doors in SotA works, where almost every other door won't function like this.

Also
wouldn't it be much cooler if the door is closed by the Oracle when you start interacting with her?

Also
"The Dirae Prophecy"
I've bug reported that over 4 times over the years, and it is still spelled like that?

Also
if it should be Dirae and not Dire then you need to rename the other book on the altar since that one is ...study of the dire prophecies...

Also
the other book you told me to take, but not this one. Isn't this a good opportunity to get some virtue feedback from the oracle? Now that I've nicked both books before talking to her.

Also
you still haven't mentioned Inventory.

 

So we enter the building. And since I've done this before I doubleclicked without thinking.
But then I thought again. New Users doesn't necessarily know how to start a conversation with a eerily spooky machine like that.
So I checked in chat to see if I'd received a clue on how to start a conversation with her, but no.
So might want to add something about that.

Also
in every one of these it would be nice if you used the exact same verbatim every time for starting interaction so you reinforce that to the user.
"To interact point the pointer to it when it changes color then double click or use the Interact key (E)."
or something like that.

 

So IF you are keeping the daily confession=gold drop (where I really hope you come up with a different solution), but IF you intend to keep that going forward.
Then here is the golden opportunity to introcude that concept.

 

The only virtue that the Oracle specifically mentions as Forsaken is Love.
Since the subtitle of this title is Forsaken Virtues I'd think that it would be neater if all three entries had that Forsaken bit.

Also
the Vertas is a region, Norgard is a region but why talk about "The land of Ardoris is..."??? Ardoris is a city in the Region of the Perennial Coast.
Should change to the region for conistency.

 

So for those who are afflicted with nostalgia for Ultima this moment is key in capturing their attention and point them towards what can and will be.
I like the added ghostly tapestries since they added much more 'feels' to the experience. However I still find these choices to have some issues.

"I will simply assist you in how you feel is best."
Please make this clearer. As it is it is too simplistic in grammar to make sense. Maybe something more like:
"I will simply assist you in following the choices that you feel is the best for the path you chose."

Also
since there are 4 underlined words it gives the false impression that you have four different choices. I'm sure there are a few who will struggle with chosing between 'Lovingly' and 'Beggar' even though those two are the same choice.

Also
the beggar choice - for those who are so conditioned from earlier ultimas they all say that they would give of their own coin to the beggar, or reinburse the purse from their own coin once making the delivery. So you need to add a line about such not being possible. "Owning no coin but your lord's..." would set the tone nicely.

Also
the beggar choice - you are adding an emotional loophole in that "knowing it shall not be missed" part. So you have weighted the question too much away from Truth and into Love and I'd guess that you can see that if you track the choices.
Would be much more of a choice if one could get caught, or even better yet if one is certain of getting caught. Then you have a dilemma which doesn't exist in the choice now.

Also
the word 'vagrant' have different connotation in English depending on where you are from. The US and the UK differ for instance. The use of that specific word will also weight the choice towards love. Go around the office and ask who'd people rather give a coin, a bum, a vagrant, a fugitive or a vagabond.

Also
the duel to the death question makes very little sense in a Love vs Courage dilemma. If he is at my mercy then he cannot fight, so it cannot be courage to simply slay him. This is clearly evident in several old movies so reinforced into our subconscious - it is killing in cold blood to slay someone who has yielded. But if he is capable of continue the fight then he is not at my mercy and then sparing him is not our choice to make since he is still fighting.
So this one needs to drastically change. Otherwise you are again tilting the scale towards Love since 'everyone' knows it doesn't take courage to kill him.
Maybe add something instead of his pleading wife and children, or, about some other effect of killing him which would indeed take courage to face.

Also
the battle post. The last part "so you may truthfully state" makes it seem iffy and tilts it away from truth. It doesn't matter what you can 'state' if you seek to follow truth. Instead your promise should be solid regardless. "so that you truthfully can keep your oath" is much stronger.

Also
the battle post. It doesn't seem like a choice betwen Courage and Truth, it seems like a choice between Love and Truth. Since your love for your friends make you break your oath.
Would be much better to have a "witness" situation. Maybe something along the lines of:
"During a siege where you are all starving you witnessed a comrade in arms steal and eat a loaf of bread belonging to the Captain and then slip out of the rom. When the captain returns he confronts you thinking you were the one who took it. Knowing that your comrade is weaker and could die from the flogging do you Courageously lie and take the punishent or do you state the Truth and tell the Captain who really took it."

Also
the last question is also weighted in that it should have 6 underlined words but only has 5. Also the whole sentence underlined is weighted more than the single words.
But this one is a real dilemma, although I'm certain almost no one would pick Truth there given your emotional tilt.


Also
just a thought here but really effective dilemmas are when you don't want to pick any of the choices. Where each choice has bad consequencies for you or someone else.

 

Funny.
While writing that long post above, I apperently timed out in the dialog with no clue to the user.
So the oracle reverted to ordinary input instead of the choices I was faced with - so now the user is locked out of that without being able to exit.
That could have been a toilet break or whatever.

So now I had to redo all of the questions.

 

Exploring



So now off and explore the whole scene...

Area: Isle of Storms (IsleOfStorms) Loc: (-32.2, 31.6, 6.9)
I'm standing on top of a cliff here and want to jump to the next one.
However there is an invisible barrier somewhere slightly to my right - so when jumping forward here I'm pushed off the cliff and will fall and take some damage - had I not hugged the side I would have died through no fault of my own.

 

Area: Isle of Storms (IsleOfStorms) Loc: (-41.5, 28.6, 39.5)
Isn't the invisible wall a little bit too early to be already there up here? Shouldn't it be further down? There is even grass beyond the invisible barrier.

 

...and here it was the opposite
Area: Isle of Storms (IsleOfStorms) Loc: (-22.5, 9.2, 61.0)

Also
calling that "a brief" period is not wholy accurate depending on ones definition of brief...



So here was the location
Area: Isle of Storms (IsleOfStorms) Loc: (-16.3, 27.7, 60.3)
I wanted to get that nice cool shot of the planet below right at the edge, you can go to the ledge there. But if I go forward I will slide and then fall all the way down and die.

 

Exploring again

So now I'm up where I'm not supposed to be which Explorers love.
However across the valley here is a cliff-top which I can't get to from the other side.

But there is clearly something going from one end to the next, that vine there.
Guess what an explorer will do next? Yupp that is right - die horribly - since that vine doesn't have any collision map.
You can even get to it from the other end.

Clearly this is the Vine of my dreams - or rather nightmares if I try it. That still doesn't have any collision map.

 

More exploring

Area: Isle of Storms (IsleOfStorms) Loc: (46.4, 20.3, -2.2)
so here I am at that other cliff trying to get up - here in the pic the rockface clearly looks like I should be able to make progress - but it is futile since the collision map here is just a tad too high slope and not like the visuals.

 

More exploring
Area: Isle of Storms (IsleOfStorms) Loc: (-17.7, 7.2, 67.0)
So here I slid off the rock...

 

Area: Isle of Storms (IsleOfStorms) Loc: (27.9, 13.1, 54.9)
here I'm blocked to go forward even though the visuals clearly show I can go there.

I can even go to that place and look up.

So why was I blocked from sliding down that hillside?

 

So if I've followed Richard on twitter then he states "four easter eggs in every scene" yet the 'reward' for all of my Exploring is lacking.
It doesn't have to be much you know, just a little something like a note with "don't jump off this cliff" on it and a "told you so" below or really anything.

But so far all of that exploring including two full laps around the whole perimiter was for

• finding rabbits, I can kill but not skin
• finding out how death works from falling
• nicking the Dirae and the Dire prophecy multiple times
• not getting to any specially cool spots I couldn't see from safe places anyway
• and every time I run past Arabella she beckons to me saying she must speak to me and she can explain what happened to me - well I fell, died and ressurected, that is what happened but none of those things she wants to talk to me about

Now I might have missed something??? Are there easter eggs in this scene???
Could a really tall guy get where an average female can't?

Oh, and blocked again by invisible stuff when trying to get up although the visual suggests otherwise:
Area: Isle of Storms (IsleOfStorms) Loc: (48.5, 16.7, -53.3)

 

Now instead imagine this as easter eggs.


A small ring at the shore of the lake, just a tiny one with a single minimal bonus, nothing fancy.


That vine actually having a collision map, being able to carefully tightrope-walk-it-over and on the other cliff which can't be reached by any other means find just a small something. Even if it is just a "small bag". Or a note with "Made it here and all I got was this lousy note". The Explorers would love you for it.


Or if there was a rock closer floating up and down - so that I could jump over to it and float with it for a while with that awesome image behind me.

 

...and if I can make it here, just have a small "Roof of the Confirmatory" marked on my compass...