R5 Impressions

I have to say that my first impressions for Release 5 arent that great.

Negatives:
So far the game is glitchy and doesnt appear to handle very well when there are other players around.

Theres no way to tell when you will zoom out to overview mode and it seems that the overview mode is going to take away community interaction and focus more on a solo style of playing as there wont be any use of roads if you dont need to use them.

When you die, nothing happens and you have to exit the game and enter it again to respawn.

Level based game? A real shame it isnt following the traditional UO feel where its a skill based game without all the leveling and silly skill trees.

Combat is glitchy and seems like its very turn based. Not sure if its supposed to be turn based or not.

Monsters in dungeons are only activated when you walk within their detection area. If you run away and get them to chase you, they will return to their positions and bug out so you can attack them without them attacking you back.

Some animals like Bears and Deer animations dont work very well and appears as though they are moving as blocks.


Positives:
Map is starting to come together and looks great but still very small

Housing looks great! But it would be good to see what the basements are like

Some stunning visuals




I suppose there is still lots of work that needs to be done, it is only Release 5, hopefully there will still be some good features that will go into the game, such as Items dropping on the ground, placing houses in other areas, or being able to loot peoples bodies after a kill.

 

When you die, you should just have to wait a minute or two and you'll be up and alive.

 

I quite like the skill trees and combat has promise once they refine it.

Very buggy this release though. Got stuck alot. Hung along on Synchronising 50%.

 

I have to agree on the "clunkiness" when there are a lot of people in instances ...

The AI needs to improve - I'm being patient but it would be nice that for the next release we start to see - some movement towards some scary AI

The "leveling" is to be "flat" and it's there to activate skill points - more than "Avatar Power" - It has a lot to do with the "flexibility / customization" with how your character attacks

The actual combat system is still not in place / I'm also optimistic / and crossing my fingers that the new combat system is a rewarding experience

 

I also think an exit button on the main play screen wouldn't go amiss instead of having to end task. Also not sure why Quit is in the options menu on the login page but seems a bit counter intuitive.

 

I hoping that a lot of the user interface gets a little more love - the chat seems a little slow - I'm not sure what tech work is involved or "when" these things are handled in game development ... but I'm sure if / when they focus on it we will see remarkable improvement - so far that has been the experience with the devs - but as gamers we will always demand more

 

Yeah, I enjoyed R5 last night for what it was. Combat still sucks, but I didn't expect it to work right yet, so I'm not disappointed. I like the skill trees a lot so far though.

I'm sure the UI will slowly improve. I sure hope they get it to where I don't have to double click an item 4 or 5 times before it recognizes my action.

 

Yes! Clinking! - At this point some aspects of this game game could be called the "clickening" ... which is more pronounce when you have to get a new mouse because the right button is not as responsive as it used to

 

Was doing quite a bit of crafting last night. I really enjoyed being able to use known recipes from the recipe book to slap all the materials on the table. Which means I only had to do it the slow, excruciating, manual way once. And I say that because thus far, the game isn't very click friendly. It sometimes takes multiple clicks and drags to get something to go where you want it to go. And then things get kind of 'stuck' on the edges of the bags/backpack/chests. Then when you got to craft the item clicking the recipe sometimes works, and sometimes takes several clicks. I'm also not sure whether I'm supposed to click the name of the item, the icon of the item, or just the general area. Mayhap that can be made a big more clear. Ditto with the actual crafting button on the table. Whilst I know I need to click the button, it also suffers from the 'might work, might not' thing as well. What seems to work the vast majority of the time though is the 'take all' |> button on the upper right of the crafting table, which I really, really appreciate. Definitely saves some pain on the ol' wrists for some us broken down middle aged gamers.

 

I couldn't agree more, if the game was more click friendly I think the overall game experience would drastically improve.

 

Can you sheath your sword? It looks a bit dumb to run around with it drawn all the time...

 

Can't sheath yet but more importantly, you can kill things with it.
What I would like to see improvement on is that statement in the top left, can we get that PreAlpha removed & just be done

 

Ok, thus far I'm liking the vast majority of what I see in R5. But I gotta say...

MAKE IT STOPS, PRECIOUS!



*runs away from the portal and hides under the bed*

 

Basements still aren't available yet ? Are you sure ?

 

Combat is glitchy and seems like its very turn based. --> The UO is the king of the turn based not turn based combats.

 

I'd like to see some kind of combat stance hotkey to toggle from walking around to being ready for combat.

If you're in combat stance you should auto target closest enemy.

After you kill something, if something is attacking you, the target should immediately move to that new creature.

Currently, you have to click on moving targets over and over again just to select who to fight, which is kind of cumbersome and slow.

 

I needed /zone name and /stuck a lot more this time then any other time>just got stuck a lot.Loved the magic system.double strike was a little over powering but found when i was in trouble (3 vs 1) I did not die .

 

So it soundsas if these combat skills and things are good...cannot wait to see them get the deck system in place. I have a feeling it will surprise a lot of people.

 

Esc pops up the options menu when in game, and Alt-F4 works just fine as well (Cmd-Q on Apple)

 

Look around for hatches on the floor in buildings... In Kingsport the Arms Dealer and Duke's Castle have basements for example... In Owl's head the 'church' has one with a nasty surprise in the lowest level, etc....