R5 Game Interaction & Playability Feedback

An observation : UO fans are unhappier in general than single player fans

 

We spoke about that many times: World full of terrible designs, or just empty lots, or just atmosphere breaker, or just dumb, or futuristic, or just...

 

You all miss his point by pointing out the "its only a test alpha"...

We can see where the game is going. And I had high hopes because I'm a fan boy... until I played today. It all came crashing down on me. I want something different than where this is going so far. Its EQ/Ultima.... Its not an open world. Its a bunch of confined zones and a travel map.

 

I was single player first. Then in UO when I tried to talk to people about the single player games I got a lot of virtual blank stares. I love the whole series and since going MMO nothing has compared to UO for me. This seems no different. At least WoW makes you feel like you're in one consistent world and you only zone into combat arenas and dungeons. Star Wars Galaxies was awesome how on each planet you had to manually travel around on foot or on a speeder...

Disappoint. Why regress for good graphics? Its about the gameplay...

 

All the single player games had an open world to explore by foot. No zoning into staged and very small feeling areas. Only towns and dungeons should be zoned into if you really have to have zones (like Skyrim or like Ultima 4)

But many many games have proven you can have a world that feels big and open, not a bunch of stages. UO being one of them. U6 and U7 as well... SWG did it with the modern graphics. But I don't even need the modern graphics. Why make it zoned and confined? Why?

 

It is an alpha, it isn't release 5. If it's borring at this point don't play it because really it isn't a game.

You forgot to say you work in customer feedback center as I saw in a very familiar other post.

 

Well, I kinda agree with you, but what do you expect from a _pre-alpha_?

 

guys we are still in pre-alpha.... if the game was in a beta state i would say that you had reason to panic.... in my (limited) exp in testing games this (pre) alpha is quite "good"

if the game isnt turning out to your liking i guess you can only do 2 things wait/participate in discussion in the hopes of improving it or sell your pledge.

 

I see... so apparently the appropriate time to evaluate the game and push the panic button is in pre-alpha?

It's an interesting POV, I'll give you that, but not one that I think people will get behind. Have you ever seen a pre-alpha before?

 

I am wondering, were housing areas in UO also this devoid of players? I am seeing all the houses, every lot is taken but no players. This is what worries me: most villages will have like 60 residents, and the chance that they are in their town together seems small(either not logged in, or playing in one of the scenes). Having a house in one of the larger hubs will probably be a lot more exiting.

I also worry about the unique flavor of cities and towns: they all look very samish. Hopefully this will change in the future.

Lastly, not sure if I will ever dig the "scene setup". I think they will work well for those that love the Story and long Quest-lines, but for the random explorer they seem pretty pointless.

Combat off course is clunky and barely implemented: I can only guess how this will work out in the end. I do like pure skill systems better, like UO and SWG had. Not a fan of allocating a limited amount of points to skill-trees.

Overall atmosphere and Iolo's lute music still a 10 off course!

Gameplay however, to be determined.

 

same thought here, but i guess the size of towns will change before release

 

This is no longer UO or the single player series. Because its instanced zones with a fast travel map. So no use going over the past or comparing it in any way. This is the future, for better or worse. Cut all ties and don't think it'll bring back anything. I guess its a new era of gaming and the Ultima series.... so I'll try like everyone else to keep an open mind and wait.

 

Updated thread title to be a bit more descriptive.

 

I'd agree with that. Every time I see a new member join and within their first sentence or two is, "It's great to see a new version of UO..." I think, uh oh, this is another potential disappointment ahead.

Which is why I've taken to pointing out to every new member who says something along those lines, that UO is maybe only about 30-35% the inspiration at hand here.

 

Towns and cities will have even more housing plots, with potentially the largest cities to have upwards of 120-200 player houses. This is the dilemma with housing and MMOs. Everyone wants one, but they're generally vacant. The danger is owning one and then treating it as a storage box, which a lot of people end up doing due to time constraints. It's also exactly the reason why from a design point that housing is limited -- ignoring the funding aspect for a moment. Richard has said before that endless neighborhoods create boring worlds, from this post.

Indeed. We've only see a few villages and towns, and only on the Vale. I think over time we will start to see some identity and uniqueness to them. Additional housing types / variations will also enable that.

Agreed. Unfortunately, this is part of its dual scale design both as a feature (dynamic scene swapping) and a limitation (budget). I too would love an open world, but they'd need to create 8000+ scenes just for Episode 1 and ensure each one is consistent with its neighboring hex in terms of entry/exit points.

 

Have to wonder if it should have been called SotA. I too keep saying, oh its not finished as yet . After to days look around in R5, I find myself ever more disappointed then last time .Though the map did get what they call polish, it still looks like something my grand daughter might have drawn.

The Avatra's, hell i'm not even going to go into that.But at this point i don't see even the most basic low end game ability . Like left click right click . The list of basics could also go on and on, as it was put the other way around on what isn't ready yet.

That being said, I for one will give this maybe 2 more months, If i don't see 'some' content, I will stop poring money down a rabbits hole , and expecting a lion to come out.

Richard, aka Lord British Has a great concept idea ,But. ,,, I can play a dozen games that have a lot better housing, crafting, and character . With out the poor loading , in a fish bowl world.

All i can say is , nothing will bring as much support to what you know is poor in conception , as having a Vested Interest . This isn't a troll, its my Opinion. Richard has his good name riding on this game ,and its backer. Its also my opinion, he would be way better received in the gaming world to say, I'm pulling the plug on a game poorly funded, rather then back a inferior game.

 

So, haven't reached even close to beta and we are already in full blown panic?

 

Can you imagine they playing in the R1?

 

Also two other things of note. First, remember the economy will be player based with Player Vendors residing at homes. So a house with several well stocked vendors may attract not just residents of a "hex" but also other players looking to buy. Second, if you are PvP enabled and you know where your enemy lives...you might just have to pay them a visit. So certain communities may become a hot bed of activity....especially violent activity.

 

That is a good post. This is a game being made on 4 million dollars, 1/2oth the budget of Single Player Skyrim, which didn't even have multiplayer aspect at all.
I think it's good to be reasonable about what you can expect.

Is your grand daughter an adult ? If so she's a talented artist If still a child, time to call the art academy, we've got a new one

Again, and this seems to be a problem every release, instead of focusing on feedback about the release, people are treating it as if it's a finished game.
The critiques sound like reviews on game websites of finished games to me.
I've seen massive improvements every month. Another 6 months and this game will be totally different. The jury is still out as to whether it will be fun, sure,
but it's getting really tiresome to see people with no vision complain about the same things every single release.

It doesn't make any sense to quit on the game while it's in pre-alpha and before it's in beta or "release" at the end of the year and we have persistent housing and are playing the game.
Let's get real. Also, most of us have already funded the game, we're not worried about money at this point, it's done.

There are quite a few folks around here that have threatened to quit and even had a "last post" hoo-haa where they stirred up trouble.

Those people are still around and posting every release. interesting...

Like what ? If that's all that matters why did you back at all ?