[POLL] How was the Pre-Alpha Release 1?

I have to say I totally agree with this one point. Hearing Iolo sing the song seems a bit odd. I liked the instrumental version better.

 

Well I haven't had much time to play on it with my work / class schedules but heres what I can rate it thus far.

Install / Patching System
Took no time at all. Loved it. 5
Login / Registration
Quick, easy, and gave me a feel of the old uo days. Nice touch. 5
Character Creation
Quick cut and easy as well. Content was bleh but functionality and ease was spot on. Give it a 4 just for lack of options 4
Single Player Online
Makes me think of Oblivion with a UO feel to it. Cant wait to test multiplayer. 5
First Town (Owl's Head)
Holy crap huge. Massive town, much detail and places to go. Got lost a few times. Good location and atmosphere. 5
Conversation
Ehhh this one was touch. Some conversations, when their good their great. Others I got blanks or "Ehh? Wot?" just by asking a question or saying good day. Needs some work, but thus far, it works. 3
Bag Inventory
HELL YEAH! 5
Equipment
Couldn't find any so cant rate
House Claiming
Pretty flippen easy. At least I think I claimed. I jsut swapped em on the menu. Is that claiming? 5
House Decoration
Easy and nice. Works well for me and everything looked nice. 5
Metrics
Could use some work. I saw some nice things and then the occasional goat jumping into a wall and being devoured over and over again by said wall, and the occasional horse having a seizure. 4

For being a pre-alpha, thus far it has met my expectations drastically. Its also been more enjoyable and over all a better experience then some games I've seen released for months now and are still far more glitchy then this one. This game is certainly approved of thus far. Has exceeded my expectations thus far. Ordo Malleus approved.

 

I'm going with 4. I found the poor avatar controls to hinder the experience as a whole. Otherwise it is on par with what I was expecting/hoping for at this stage (and would have given a 5). Not going to go into great detail, because I think they delivered on what they set out to do, and they know what still needs work. But.... control is the #1 thing I want to see improved in R2. The enjoyment of the entire game rests on being able to maneuver the character well.

 

I couldn't agree with this more! There are a lot of positive things to say about the release, but I hope the devs have noticed the community is concerned with the overall character control. To me, it feels a bit stiff and unnatural with a lack of fluidity. The lack of a jump or dash/dodge type feature is also something to be strongly considered.

 

Based on my understanding of what this pre-alpha test was for and what they wanted us to test I say a big fat 5!

Lo and behold some things didn't quite feel right so feedback has been given. Even though some things like bad character movement and not being able to jump was present I'm still going with a 5 because this is a test build. My score will likely decrease if issues that are present in this build are still present in the next build. Until then they get a big thumbs up for allowing us to have such an early look at the development of the game.

 

Overall I'm happy with the work done so far. Well done team! But... I'm quite concerned about the animations. They seem very mechanical and not flowing. I hope some effort is put into improving this.

 

Patrick here. I've been a full time freelancer with Disney -a conceptual game artist, comic artist and writer for 25 years. I've played an incredible variety of games throughout my life- Dungeons & Dragons with Gygax himself, Beta Ultima Online and onward for six years, and a great many games since. My tastes are pretty wide- from Neverwinter Nights to Hearts of Iron to DayZ. Working in the industry probably gives me a different perspective than some players.

I spent a long while in game yesterday- walked through most of the buildings, looted all the chests of furniture and stuff, spoke to everyone I could, tried out all the houses, and furnished the Benefactor Knight house out proper. I also entirely circumnavigated the town outside the walls looking for goodies, getting stuck on the other side when I couldn't cross the river. Hah!

My thoughts.

1. Right now the game's most finished "playable" aspect is the house furnishing ability. I love the freedom to truly customize as I see fit, and really the last game that offered this fantastic ability was UO. Modern games consider this feature an extra that is attended to late in the process. I love how our homes are integrated into the game, rather than unrealistically set in their own shoddy, uninteresting outside area like is found in LOTRO and similar MMOs.

This is hugely important to me, and kudos to you guys for dong it right. I liked everything about the system, my only caveat being I couldn't figure out how to "turn" furniture different ways intuitively.

2. Inventory System. You can't furnish houses unless you can pick up stuff and put it in your pack. This system is remarkably similar to the way it functioned in UO. You find lots of little sacks, line 'em up neatly in your pack, and stow all your crap in whatever crazy organizational fashion you want. Works for me- it's very simply, and I personally hate auto-sorting contrivances.

The only changes I would like to see are as follows:

A. Add a weight/encumbrance limitation for big stuff.
B. Have a special carrying artifice for big stuff like chests/beds/etc- some sort of abstracted wheelbarrow or two wheeled dolly device, or a drag rope/harness, to add a semblance of it being possible to carry all that crap around, and have it slow the character down some.
C. Make the "main backpack" different looking when opened than the rest of the containers.
D. Have the "main backpack" save when it is closed, so that if you die, you don't have to rearrange everything each time for we overly organized types pick up our stuff.

3. Housing. It seems it will be similar to UO in that it will be a wild west gold rush to prime property. That's cool in that it make's properties desirable- it was one of the reasons we kept coming back so long in UO. Home felt really important. You felt lucky as hell to have a castle keep.

The houses themselves vary greatly in design quality, I think. A couple of the small ones are extremely cute. The big ones are very impressive. I'm not a fan of the cartoony-ness of the mage tower sitting beside the more realistic homes, but that's just me. Like many, I dislike the clumsy looking Founder Knight design, which is unfortunate, since that is what I pledged for. The design simply has weak exterior lines, it feels tumble down and asymetrical with it's various sized odd battlements. It would look better if it were a few meters taller as well. The other Knight house is much "Knightier", I think.

4. Install/patching/logging in/character creation and game stability.

I had no problems at all with any of this. I would like to be able to easily access my character's stats when I want, which, I assume is coming. I like the barebones interface when not in combat.

5. First Town.

I enjoyed the atmosphere well enough. There is a lot of texture details, little things like blowing leaves and mist and things add to the charm. SotA will never really be about state of the art graphics in the way that some modern games have- and that's okay, because that isn't the game's point. I miss the interactivity of RG's style of game, where you can handle and use most anything, and where crafting is more like actually doing something than in any other game. I'm perfectly willing to give up a bit of sparkle to let that deeper, more meaningful play happen. Town is what it should be.

5. Conversations.

I couldn't get much response from the townsfolk, but it's early yet. I love the idea of typing to the guys- I imagine it's a load of man and woman hours getting enough responses in there to make it a viable and lively world, and I can't wait to see how that develops. Certainly, it's an ideal approach for a game like this where players like to chatter.

6. Character animations and models.

This could really use work, in my opinion, more than anything else. The women especially are a bit too short legged. While trying for realistic proportions is cool, you need just a bit of stretching of those gams to make them appealing to look at- at least the "heroic" or "pretty" ones.

The player character animations need work more than the characters themselves. Games have come a long way from the days of UO, and while I don't think a game of this sort needs motion capture, there needs to be some basic walking/running animations that are grounded in anatomy, with weight behind them. Our guys movement, I think, seems too puppetlike and hinky at the moment. You can get away with it more with animals and monsters, but everyone looks at human beings every day, and we are much more aware of how real people move and act.

These flaws are maybe not game breakers, but they are probably relatively worse flaws than the state of character animation/models comparatively back in the day when UO was released. There are a lot of people who are pretty demanding about the way their characters walk/run/sit/jump.

It seems like there is currently no "jumping" method, or, at least I could not discover it- no doubt just not implemented yet.

7. Metrics.

Some issues with animals and players houses- especially if you swap a house out. It seems like the animals then think it's their personal stable! There are some funny issues with furnishing, if you try and take a larger furniture item out of your backpack while on a higher floor of a Knight Tower....you often get knocked through the floor down to the first floor by the item.

Lighting seems nicely thought out.

8. Music.

I rather enjoy the "throwback" sort of simple themes. It reminds me of UO, and gives me warm memories. I suspect it is an area where the designers could keep things fairly simple and succeed.

So- Love the furniture/possession system for housing. Hoping to see some nice deep npc conversation possibilities. I think the biggest area needing work are the basic player character animations. The inventory system is fine for me, and no real game technical problems/issues occurred. I'm really excited to see the "systems" come into place, so that we can craft/fight and chatter with our comrades in game. Keep up the good work!

 

@Otha Livinded: I like your idea of the main backpack being unique. It would make sorting easier

 

4

I'm thrilled to see the slotless inventory and containers, very happy with the current WADS+mouse movement controls, impressed with how good the engine visuals look (especially the shadows, wow), and most of all I am utterly thrilled that items and objects exist physically within the gameworld and can be picked up and put into your inventory (I REALLY hope that eventually you'll also be able to drop any item on the ground anywhere, not just within your own house, just like in UO). And it goes without saying that the housing system in this game is going to be absolutely amazing and totally unprecedented as far as MMOs go. Well done Portalarium, well done...

I'm actually not super worried about the nut and bolt specifics of the economy or crafting or combat, but what I'm still very worried about: PVP/PK.
Really hoping this game goes the EVE Online route of keeping new players and non-combatants safe-and-sound in mega guard zones (through RP-appropriate mechanisms) where the low level quests and cheapo farming can be done, and putting the more profitable resources and quests in increasingly dangerous areas. Also hoping that enough valuables like gold, jewels, reagents (but perhaps not all armor or weapons) are lootable, as to sufficiently motivate meaningful PVP and PKing.

 

Otha Livinded Very well said, and very similar to my own thoughts/impressions. Nearly identical, really.

 

I can't think of where else to post this, so I will just put it here.

My biggest pet peeve so far, like several have mentioned, is the Avatars themselves. The more-plastic-than-Barbie hair has been mentioned many times. But even worse than that, personally, is the posture/lines of the female avatar. Awful!

She looks like her biceps are tied together by a rope that isn't long enough behind her back, leading to a bizarre chest-stuck-out posture. There's even a sizable gap between her back and her elbows. I mentioned elsewhere, that what it reminds me of more than anything else, is someone wearing a badly fit bodice with steel or actual whalebone boning, and trying to avoid getting poked in sensitive areas like the groin, under the breasts, and under the arms. While it is certainly a 'realistic' pose (in fact I think I found the exact picture it's modeled after), it is much too stiff/formal for 'normal standing'.


And then there's the head/neck.

Currently, there is a straight line from the shoulders up, and the head bulges forward from this line, like this: P It looks like she's 'turtle necking' to minimize a double chin or something XD
Whereas in a normal human, the head curves out on both sides of the neck, more like: Y From the shoulders up, it should be a soft S type curve, with about a third of the head curving back behind the line of the neck.

Pics/screenshots:

Spoiler

This is a much more relaxed pose... torso is straighter, chest is not so artificially high/forward, arms/elbows at her side, not bowed out behind her. Also, look at the difference this makes in the relative position breasts-to-elbows....

X

 

As an answer to the bonus question:
Make "double-doors" open both doors instead of just one.
Or let us be able to set an option in the settings so we can choose what should happen.
It's a pain entering the tower home for example

 

I love to know what a game will present itself as. I have considered myself a follower of Garriot, and his friend Starr way back in the pre Ultima days. I was always in line for the latest release of one of his games. Through the ups and downs of Origin Systems.... before and after Electronic Arts.... through the Struggles and Accomplishments of Ultima Online ( I was a Seer for that game, and enjoyed helping players in events, but alas, it was shut down for 99% of its helpers). So I honestly think I can give accurate analysis of the premise here. I want to stay away from the Ultima name, as this should be an entirely new IP, however, one cannot dismiss its similarities, so for arguments sake, I will use Ultima as a background.

I have seen people argue about the inventory, which to be faithful to the Ultima series, its as if we are time warped back to the "Ultima 7" years. This principle was included even in Ultima Online, so I understand why the system is there as it is. I am sure there will be some minor tweaks, such as items floating out of the pack dimensions, better Identification... stacking, but to be honest, I would not want it changed too much, that is, if the goal here is to stay with the legacy of how Ultima inventory worked .

The chat system. I read above how people could not understand it, or why some words struck in bold, etc. Again, for players of the earlier Ultima's ( IV comes to mind as here, the system really shined), this also has been a legacy trademark for communication. I suspect, the reason keywords are bold, is due to the fact, that this generation of gamers, have not had to work their way through the likes of the older Ultima's, in a detective like manner. The principle of Job, name, health, location, NPC, etc. It may be hard to grasp for players unfamiliar with this type of deductive reasoning to solve quests or to garner information. I am sure there could be a toggle to turn off the bold on key terms, but if you know the history of how npc conversations work, this is very moot. I would asssume its there to help new players who are unattested to this form of communication, instead of every conversation ending with the solution.

As for the rest of this Release, so far, I would say it is a great Proof of Concept footage so far. I have seen the video of the build where crafting and rudimentary combat was enabled, so we were kind of given more-so a Proof of Concept, how the chat system worked, how inventory worked, how housing will generally work. A very good start.

I applaud how this is being handled as a kickstarter release. These scheduled game Release play tests give people the feeling there is progress being made on a game. Unlike some other games, where they have generated $37 million, but the only thing we see is "stretch goals" of adding another pretty ship, and absolutely no proof of concept game footage. I am sure that game will come out great also, but it is the point I am making. Once a game goes kickstarter or a pay for early access, it is good to see a company give quarterly reports to their "stockholders" in a form they can see progress with their own eyes. Just my 2 cents.
Great Start. / Candice W.

 

+1

 

Its a good first test... but needs alot of work for release.

First, I bought a brand new MSI GT70 laptop to be able to play on. Well I get the "can't connect to server message please try again " and have not seen a single response from a developer on a fix for it or acknowledgment of it...I'm not the only one with that problem. I had to load up my 6.5yo asus gamers republic laptop to be able to log in and test it. Not thrilled...didn't spend $1300 (caught it on sale) to get stuck playing on the old one.

I HATE the bags. I played in UO 3d to get away from the old school bags. They are a pita. Plain and simple. Organize easier in a gridwork, no overlapping of items etc. I understand we all love UO, but for some things, times have changed and improved.

Auto looting, or dble click an item and it goes into your bag... much easier, less time consuming. At least give us the option to toggle between dbl click loot or drag and drop loot.

Move with the mouse controls, auto run makes life easier when we don't always have 2 hands to move our character around.

I haven't been able to figure out how to get the map up to see over head.

Jumping....very important, helps get around the world better. Hopping over a fence (or got forbid getting stuck in game) All the games for the last near decade have jump... please plan on adding it in.

Swimming. I ran around the town and got stuck unable to cross the stream outside the town...really ? EQ had it... this game needs it. Another way to get around the world. Lets keep it fun for all. And with eventual in later expansions ships..underwater adventures would be awesome. Imagine taking your rideable sea horse down to the lost sunken temple of " " and be able to explore it.

The scenery is beautifal, the exploded moon, the blue tesla ball is awesome! Lots of potential... but a beautifal world that is awkward to move around in..."oh can't jump over that sapling laying across the path so lets run around the whole town for 10 minutes to get around it." Yeah its a big deal and Im sure Im not the only person that would get tired of it quickly.

I do look forward to the later tests for crafting and fighting and magic! I like what I see... but need to see some response back from the developers about logging in problems ... been online for about 47 hours now...They released one patch but haven't heard anything about the unable to connect to server message yet.

 

Install / Patching System

• Flawless, 5/5. Worked like a charm by Dec 12th for me... UPnP was working as well... exceptional patch response time to handle a few issues from the Dev+ to the official release.

Login / Registration

• Flawless, 5/5. I never had an issue so nothing to comment on here.

Character Creation

• Flawless, 5/5. I was able to create multiple characters (delete, recreates) without any issue. I was able to customize them and they all went in-game looking how I expected.

Single Player Online

• N/A. As this is the only mode I don't feel I can offer a rating right now... I would need to see persistant world effects (which aren't here in this release) to know if it's working right... this is a Single Player mode... not offline... not online... they already set this expectation so no rating is fair.

First Town (Owl's Head)

• Flawless, 5/5. Wow, not one time did I find a wall I could walk through! Excellent! Easy to navigate and the people were as expected.

Conversation

• Great, 4/5. I had issues with the chat (reported as a bug) losing format if I joined questions like I would in normal conversation. I really like the system and hope you keep it!

Bag Inventory

• Flawless, 5/5. I missed this style of inventory and I'm glad to have it back!

Equipment

• Great, 4/5. Flawless, 5/5... why two ratings? Because you patched the equipment texture issue during the pre-alpha!!! WOW! Amazing response time... good job!

House Claiming

• Flawless, 5/5. I randomly changed houses and dropped things to see how it worked and it was simple and I didn't crash. Not much more could be said.

House Decoration

• Good, 3/5. I had issues with things not placing where they appeared they should place. I had the item limit bug and it was WAY to early... I couldn't do a thing in five rooms and as you can see by my decoration comp post a lot of my stuff is very basic! -1 point for ghost issues with placement, -1 point for limited decoration capabilities below expectations. (I have absolutely no issue with this but I think it needs to be worked on which is why I rate it this way... this is ABOVE what I expected and I'm EXTREMELY pleased with the state of the game... I rated a 5 on the poll )

Metrics

• N/A... I'm not cool enough to know if they're even working!

BONUS QUESTION: If there is *one* feature that you'd like to see improved more for Pre-Alpha Release 2, what would it be?

• log-in where you log-out... /spawn to go back to the start.

Thanks for this smack... great way we can all give feedback in a single spot for them to read... way ahead of the game though as it's still going

 

Install / Patching System: I had some problems with installation (put in the bug forum, and I think the reason for it was figured out, so not a big concern). Smooth other than that.

Login / Registration: I had some problems logging in at peak times, but that's to be expected.

Character Creation: Seemed much more limited than I had expected. I'm assuming we'll get many more hairstyles later on

First Town (Owl's Head): It seemed pretty empty, since most lots were player housing.

Conversation: Very limited so far, the most common response I got was "Wot?". For new players, it might be worth having someone mention that you should ask people about their jobs or ask their name, since if you don't use those keywords you can't really get any info out of the NPCs.

No comments on anything else.

 

Maybe I missed something but everyone answered metrics like it was mechanics... metrics aren't mechanics last I checked... did I miss something?

• Metrics: All the while you are playing, we will be stress testing our metrics system. This system is critical to maintaining a balanced economy, tracking exploits, and gathering data to improve the experience.

It's an invisible behind the scene thing I think...

 

Some additional comments:
Movement was slow and the camera was extremely awkward in enclosed spaces (pretty much all of the houses).

 

I want what you're on, or the different version of the game you played. Flawless means without flaws. Is that a word you can really use based on the bug reports?