Le Magot d'Oz on 3/3/2002 at 02:15
after going through the demo, it seems few stuff may be improve
I'd like to say before that it met my expectation (which were very high) even if this demo 1.0 is still at the first stage of developpement
INTERFACE :
for me it will be freemouse look and NO toggle mode which is too slow and ... useless ! (even if was intended to use this mode at the begging) ; moreover with toggle mode it seems almost impossible to use -quickly- the memorised spell in combat as you must get out of combat mode, right click, then left click on the icon while pressing shift key, then go back in combat mode... if you are still alive !
-> maybe a shortcut for those memorised spell could help...
BTW it's true that you now can memorised 3 spells in order to cast them more quickly further but you could also feel less like a wizard... but it's only optional, so if you want the true experience, you do not memorised spell at all :)
an very accessible interface, is one which you become used to in less than 1 minute, usable by anybody (even my mother...). Actually I thinks it's not...
- get out of a 'sheet' : no way to leave the book other than click on the icon (for a corpse : in double clicking on it or going away) : it's too slow and sometime the corpse/barrel/whatever do not close after quitting the area (a bug IMO)
-> make the double right click quit any 'sheets'
- keys/shortcuts missing : althought it will increase the number of control more than one page, they are necessary :
-> key to turn right an left : it also make deplacement while map open easier whatever the control mode you've chosen
-> key for a toggle crouch mode *sigh*
-> a shorcut for the map directly or even the other 'chapter'
-> permit several controls configuration like in Thief
- the 'book' : it seems more rough than the "old interface" (which can be seen on shots of the official site of the game, holding by Fishtank) but all in all it's clearer ; I just regret the ancient object knowledge icons, which were more explicit
-> get this icon back ;)
it lack in the book a chapter for saving the game : even if it's do not belong to the world of Arx, it permits you access the menu whitout hit esc or any key...
-> create a 5th chapter : menu in the book and try to avoid the troubleshooting with real time mode with the book while saving
-> enlight the new level in red until there's no more point to attribute : helps catching attention of the player who did not see the "+" (moreover it's not to much complicated to perform)
* while level up you couldn't remove a point you've just attributed : if an error occur or you'd like to choose the best improvement at that time, you have to load an older game !
-> permit to remove the point once attributed with the right button until you leave the character screen ; if you leave the screen before attribute all the point, then only the remaining could be accessible : if you let 7 points, you could couldn't get back the other if you've already close the screen ; in this way you could use only a partial amount of the point a one level, that permit you to see whether a skill worth an improvement with more than 16 points in a near future, for instance
- general menu : it's too long to save/load :
-> create a load AND a save submenu rather than a Edit and then save... come on guys, you've enough room for that ! room is the reason to suppress the 'view intro' isn't it ? (which seems an useless option, as the demo runs at each beggining)
-> Quick load/save with TWO slot like in Half Life quick save are usually dangerous : if you quicksave just before a no-way-back, you've just crapped your saved game ; with 2 slots, you recover the ancient one if you only use quicksave : quicksave helps the immersion because you don't have enter a menu
-> Thumbails for saved games aren't that useless
* why changing the bright blue of arkane studios into a black and white logo ?
- General : you couldn't move several object at the same time
-> double left click should allow us to pick the right amount of object we want to move/use
* the help message do not stay enough longer as well as the dialog : the 'sentence' is not yet end that it had already half disapeared, leaving a big unused black band under the screen : you don't have to been distracted by something if you attempt to read (as many people complaining see the technical pb forum)
-> let the help message and the dialog display longer (permit to show more than 2 line of text : 3 or 4 would be enough)
* the exact amount of life/mana point we got is unknow : I don't think it's a miss, 'cause it isn't write anywhere : it's more intuitive (from call of cthulu ;) ?) ; otherwise it would be great to enlight this number when the cursor go in front of the 2 flask
* it's also true that you do not lean enough to make it a usefull movement
* I really like the frog but they only achieve the first step of their jump and then vanished (without a puff of smoke) while they're still in air !
AUDIO :
- foodsteps intensity : it's the same whether the NPC/monsters are far or not and whether the player is in stealth mode or not (actually it's only decrease the rate of the steps)
-> adapt sound intensity regarding the distance from the player (and the mode in which the player is)
* the voice intensity suddendly decreased in the dialog with the chief of the gard while showing 2D art, making the conversation hard to be heard ;
this 2D storytelling is very nice but scroll too fast to be impressive (or do not stop enough longer at the end of the scrolling) : few 'tempo' ajustement would bring really better result (even if it means to cut 1 picture to achieve... but I think it could be fixed without that sacrifice)
TROUBLESHOOTING :
- while changing to magic mode, the cursor jump away (sometimes outside of the screen, don't help much to cast !) : it NEVER stay at the place :sweat: it had before...
* sometime, the area where a spell had been cast become colorfull : if you go through/return in it after the spell it look like you see the life through a rainbow (or more exactly through Arx's spells's colour)
- MANY return to windows (annoying when it's just in attempting to save) (but fortunately, we know we are not playing windows but Arx ;))
- I cannot set on the bump mapping on unless it hang on my Geforce 256 + Win98SE + DirectX 8.1
- menu : some action are sometimes 'impossible' as "button" couldn't be light up (Apply, load : ex force me to save before I could load)
* I not sure but it seems we couldn't load only with a double (left ;)) click on the appropriate slot
* once, after living the menu, the "new quest" & "edit quest" lines remains on the screen (in Times New Roman font...) ; or the letter were remplace by square...
- I almost forgot a funny one : the dog was blocked inside the wall when it left me
- the bad labial synchronisation is ABSOLUTELY NOT A PROBLEM and I assume it's impossible to get it synchronised in the 3 languages (unless changing graphics) at the same time (europeans are used to foreign TV adds !...)
-> A : fix those bugs ! (too easy to say :cheeky:)
QUESTIONS :
- althought it's very easy to kill a rat (with an equilibrate character) (as opposed to what some say), I don't understand what determin the form of your attack (whether you sling, hack'n slash ;) etc) : even the mouse movement...
* the location of the hit seems to be determined by the centre of the screen when you unleashed the right button
- is they're any weight or you're only room limited ?
- pay attention to the packaging too ! no DVD box please ! (with hundreds of pages to print) unless I will buy only one !
cool stuff : fortunately for you it's only a post for suggestion : if I had to write down what I've enjoyed, it would be no doubt twice longer ! :thumb: (no in fact we're limited to 15 000 characters, so it couldn't be twice long)
(my first Arx's bread -hum actually the second one, maybe Raf will understand- but where are those apple Praetorjudis talking about ?!!, climbing a wall to listening conversations, firing all around : fortunately once more that only torch ignite and not all the vegetation : you'd otherwise soon set fire all around with a ceiling which burns... wait... this blazing inferno might be cool after all ! it seems the player could be full even when not fully healed, he could be "drunk" -to bad that nothing change except the red flash during 15 seconds ; where are the cool UW's mushroom effect ? with poisonous mushroom only ?- and so much great experiences... but too short)
If at least half of these problems could be fixed, that would be great :joke: !
xman on 3/3/2002 at 15:55
Hey Samy! You're in the credits, you lucky bastard! ;)
Le Magot d'Oz on 3/3/2002 at 23:33
:eek: :wot: :cool: :angel: :joke: !!!
a conspiracy is unmasked ! to much honour ! very kind (even if I think I've done nothing that worth being there) too cool ! maybe I earn the longest-post-international-contest ? I'd no doubts have miss that unless you told me (right now I'm too busy playing Arx, at last !!!)
few more suggestions :
- the 'book' : why you couldn't turn with character sheet on, while you could in map chapter ?
-> permit to turn while any chapter of the book is open (it seems useless, but 1) why should it work in different manner 2) it helps to check how much xp you get in real time :p ... yes I know, I know...
- general menu :
after entering a new name for save, pressing 'enter' do not saves the game and you have to click on save after (that's all right, but some people could resume the game after pressing enter, presuming the game was saved...)
-> display a line when game is effectively saved
-> make double click on a slot, load the game in the loading menu
- General :
# torch :
when a torch is burning you don't know how much it's already burn out unless taking it back in your inventory
-> make a visual feedback of the viabilty of the torch like a gauge or better a real-time changing torch icon ! (hard to do, but prevent displaying too much 'stat')
too cool :
/ you could ignite the torch on the wall with yours ; but unfortunately it's doesn't affraid a single rat or permit to cook your meal while put on the ground
-> ... :cheeky:
/ the shortcut for the torch is VERY usefull : not to much torch, and light is often no need for stealth ;)
/ this shortcut always use the more worn torch at first !
# character's animation :
sometimes the rat you were fighting is block UNDER a stone ! collision bug : the 3D game's plague !
I love (with rats) :
/ the animated motion (the death jump) when it die
/ the one who don't attack you
/ when close to death, try to flee...
/ any other animation (too cool the spider falling from the ceiling :D, even if it's not -yet- in your back)
objects positionning needs improvement
->
the stealth icon seems display in an erratic way (or I surely misunderstood something)
(return to windows doesn't bother me anyway, as my wallpaper is an Arx shot, so I do not really leave the game :) )
twisty on 4/3/2002 at 03:56
Brilliant game, Raf and Co! However, I also have some suggestions:
<ul><li>Does he really have to eat so much? I find that this would probably get annoying after a while, and is a tad unrealistic.
<li>Give him the ability to sleep, just like the underworld games.
<li>Add more music/ambience. One of the greatest things about the underworld games was the catchy tunes that would run through your head long after you had finished the game.
<li>Add conversation options.
<li>Add more charachter portraits to choose from. The current ones look like weedy frenchmen :p
<li>Fix the bugs :)</ul>
At any rate, I've been looking forward to the release of Arx more than any other game that I can think of. I'm only whinging so that you can make this game as great as it can be.
aranta on 4/3/2002 at 09:15
One thing really annoys me in Arx:
- Why can't I take all the stuff from dead bodies; armor, boots, gloves etc.?
enversi on 4/3/2002 at 10:03
To answer you question about the way to control you attack direction. You will swing you weapon according to how you are moving when you press attack. If you press forward you will do a high swing, backwards and you will do a low thrust, right and you swing across, and left will swing across the opposite way. You only have to tap the direction before you click attack, you don't have to keep moving in the direction you want to swing. A good tactic is to prepare your swing before you are actually in range, so you can get more power out of the hit and control the direction you are swinging.
The only bugs that really annoyed me are the frequent crashes to windows. They usually happen when loading a saved game, and occasionally happen when starting a new game.
Le Magot d'Oz on 4/3/2002 at 18:03
thx ! so it's the movement you made BEFORE you click attack ! it's a little bit unintuitive (as I haven't figured it out yet :p ) : I thought I had to move my arm when I DO prepare the hit ; it's no doubt for gameplay reasons I don't clearly understand (maybe it will be harder when there's no more cursor displayed on screen, and maybe it swing a wrong way if you don't follow straight lines) (and the way you swing also has nothing to do with the mouse gesture : ONLY the direction of your body movement (with keys) has an impact on the kind of swing)
* it's true that the main character is always hungry, but when I replayed as a wizard (every point put in intelligence and magic), he really do not complain that much ! (I even thought it was a bug !) BTW I couldn't manage to cast those 9th and 10th level spells, even with the +10% ring ! (I got above 95 in casting) ;)
* I thought that previously you could sleep, but it was remove as it do not bring something (it was more like a contraint) despite food heal you... (but you could also be heal during a doze, dream and even going through nightmare ! it also make waiting shorter (ie if you wait until someone going back home)
* I think they choose this sound environment to prevent gamers to be bored by the repetitive music after a while (and cut it off) : you can thus provide a sudden spooky music !
* "no conversation option" is an initial gameplay choice, it doesn't mean you say always the same things : it depends a lot of what you've done before ! and choice you have in fact (but no in the usual form) I'll try to explain later the feeling of the developpers (from what I've understood by reading the so many interviews)
* you play a character with it's own past, you couldn't choose everything you want ! initially you only had 1 choice if I remember right (that's also one of the reasons why you cannot play a girl... and the size of the voices is surely an other...) (what does you mean about frenchmen ? ;) )
* hum... well : Fix the bugs :p
to not be able to pick everything up from a dead body also really annoys me, but in Arx as any other games I've played so far, it's probably for a better gameplay (will you open a shop with all those stuff ? or could you immediately wear this mail suit at the beggining of the game ?)
aranta on 4/3/2002 at 19:22
Le Magot d'Oz wrote: Quote:
to not be able to pick everything up from a dead body also annoys me, but in Arx as any other games I've played so far, it's probably for a better gameplay (will you open a shop with all those stuff ? or could you immediately wear this mail suit at the begging of the game ?) In the
Underworlds you can get everything you see, and it's not a problem. You can open a shop if you like. And get a good armor at the beginning, if you are powerful enough to kill an enemy wearing such suit.
I find it
much too unrealistic if you can see boots, helmet, body armor on a dead body, and you can't take them.
Le Magot d'Oz on 5/3/2002 at 12:44
here's quote from Raf :
Quote:
As part of a long reflection, we've removed all dialogue boxes, popups, etc... Actually, back in time when we were in the gamedesign process debating about multichoice dialogues, we came up with the following conclusion: if you let 3 choices (for example) to the players (something like 'Name', 'Job', and 'about the murder'), most players will surely click on each choice to listen to the entire conversation with the NPC, most of all because they wouldn't want to miss a conversation that would trigger a quest or something like this. Therefore, why not doing this automatically for him ? Then you will say: "Ok, but what about the choices like 'yes' or 'no' ?", we always bring a solution to let the player choose what he wants to do by combining objects, or other means. For example, in Arx, a NPC could tell you 'give me 1 coin and I'll give you a drink', in this case, the player combines his money on the NPC, and he will receive his drink. In other games, you could have the NPC telling you 'Do you want a drink for 1 coin ?' and then bring up a yes/no pop up on the screen. well... this is only an example, but it fits in our will to keep the game imersive and accessible.
you can find the full interview on (
http://www.multiplayer.it/rpg/articoli.php3?id=2814) RPGPlayer - Arkane Interview
