R42 Feedback: Quests, weird animations, footsteps, skills and performance

Hi everybody.

I'm back in testing SotA after a one year "pause". I was not happy with the development a year ago so I let some time to see the evolution.

I created a new character, and am now in Solace Bridge Outskirts.

Here are my "impressions":

Regarding quests and "immersion":

For now, quests mechanism and the AI system is disappoiting:

For instance I had not the opportunity to ask Liliana's parents about the relationship between their daughter and the thug's chief. I was also able to steal the painting right in front of the thug's chief and he let me go without any word... I also killed 99% of his men just in front of him and he had no bitterness about it.

The chat options/answers are also disturbing, since almost every NPC has the same answer. (for instance: I asked the alchemist some informations about the graveyard, which is situated 15 feets in front his house, and he only told me "the Graveyard is on the south, across the river", like every other NPC on this scene.

Well that's really disappointing since it is immersion breaking and kinda remind the "what's a paladin ?" thing.

Weird animations:

Characters animations seems to have not improved at all in a year. I have the feeling it is somewhat "robotic" and not "natural" animation.

Footsteps:

It is just a detail but footsteps are not hearable if all the SFX are at 100%.

Skills:

I would really enjoy the possibility to choose all the skills by my own at the creation of the character, instead of being forced into a branch or another while chatting with the oracle.

Performance:

The game is more stable than in june 2016, but the counterpart is that loading times are very long and the game feels less "fluid" than before. Even since I upgraded to a SSD, I have not noticed any progress. Memory usage seems also very bad...

 

I have to agree
From a story/quest point of view, SotA is very disappointing. We never have the sense of changing the world, being able to achieve something or have an impact on people or the world. As you say, it is disappointing to get so few information regarding the Liliana quest. It plays out so uninspired. Why was there a shrine for Liliana near the home of the thug? Why did he steal the painting? Why aren't we able to talk to him and maybe convince him to bring back the painting? Maybe Lilianas parents would accept his comfort when he tells them that he loved her... It is just a "go there, kill him, get the item" quest. So simple when it could be so deep... And this is the case with so many quests in SotA... Storytelling is just not good in SotA and this is one of the reasons why the offline part is so lacking and right now can't compete with other offline RPGs.

 

This should be 2x-4x improved in R43, FYI.