Big Brother on 6/1/2003 at 09:43
So I got Arx for Christmas, and today was the first day I really got to give it a good play.
My impression? A very good game with some pretty big problems. To elaborate: I dig the graphics, I love the gameplay (lurking about dark caves using night vision is quite a riot), and so far the story is not quite as craptacular as I expected. It's good, and I like it.
But the big problem is that the game is essentially unpolished. The writing, to be frank, is really, really shitty. I hate hate HATE almost everything I've read and heard in the game. This, for me, is a huge mark against a game. When I feel that they would have done well to hire me, a 19 year old first year college student, there's something wrong. Usually I love reading about the game world in books, but this time around I couldn't bring myself to hang out in the library. Oh well.
Another problem is just the feel of the game engine. It's just unpolished. Jumping is really weird. He flies up and down in what seems like a sped-up fashion. Walking around is also interesting. In many places, the character seems to start moving in an extremely accelerated fashion. In some cases I'm walking twice as fast as what I think the running speed should be. It seems to happen in certain places: in the Arx castle in the hallway outside the library, in the tunnels that connect the guard post and the city of Arx, and in a few other places. The whole deal seems to have a real jumpy feel to it. I'm not sure whether this is due to the computer I'm running it on (1.5 GHz processor, but I don't know what kind. P3 I'm pretty sure. GeForce 4 TI 4200, and 128 megs of ram. Those are tentative specs -- I'm not running it on my comp) or actual bugs in the game.
There are other problems too -- I have this sense of not really knowing what I'm supposed to do. I know generally -- invade this secret temple, save this girl, etc., but I have no hints or anything to guide me it seems. It's not hard -- I realized what to do fairly quickly for both of those quests. The one quest that gave me the most trouble in this respect was the Troll Idol quest. I received it and had no clue whatsoever to do. I solved it, but only by blind luck.
So these problems do detract from the game, and will probably mean it will never be one of my favorites among Thief, Planescape: Torment, and King of Dragon Pass, but I will enjoy it thoroughly. It's a good game, but I feel that it could have been oh so much better very easily, which is really too bad. At least this means that the next game from this bunch will be very good, since I feel that this project was very much a learning experience.
Orgone Accumulator on 6/1/2003 at 10:11
This game won me over when i made my first loaf of bread. Yes, i really am impressed by silly things like that. Can you do this sort of thing in the first two Underworld games?
I have to agree with you about the writing in this game. Some of the texts in the Library made me cringe. In this game more than any other i've ever played (save perhaps Resident Evil :p ) i find myself mentally re-wording all the dialogue i come across.
All in all however i'm quite happy with the game. I'll never forget the first time i busted down a door with a two-handed axe, or decapitated two goblins with one stroke of my saber.
:ebil:
Big Brother on 6/1/2003 at 10:28
Ah that reminds me -- I love running around collecting things to make potions. The way the doors break is delightful. Becoming a connosieur (I'm not French, so don't expect me to know how to spell their silly words right) of roasted rat ribs is great (but no spider steaks! Boo, hiss!).
Don't get me wrong, I love this game. It's such a shame that it fell short of how wonderful it could have been. I know Arkane's next effort shall be wonderful, as these guys are clearly very talented.
Zerker on 6/1/2003 at 17:39
Quote:
Originally posted by Orgone Accumulator This game won me over when i made my first loaf of bread. Yes, i really am impressed by silly things like that. Can you do this sort of thing in the first two Underworld games? No, but you can make popcorn! You can bake bread in Ultima 7 though
Edit:
Almost forgot, UW also lets you brew rotworm stew (which is surprisingly good!). And U9 did have a breadmaker, but it's not quite the same :)
Jennie&Tim on 6/1/2003 at 18:51
I remember those, I was so disappointed when Ultimas 8 and 9 wouldn't let you do that. The popcorn was neat, one of the things I loved.
Clark on 10/1/2003 at 13:17
Quote:
Originally posted by Big Brother
Another problem is just the feel of the game engine. It's just unpolished. Jumping is really weird. He flies up and down in what seems like a sped-up fashion. Walking around is also interesting. In many places, the character seems to start moving in an extremely accelerated fashion. In some cases I'm walking twice as fast as what I think the running speed should be. It seems to happen in certain places: in the Arx castle in the hallway outside the library, in the tunnels that connect the guard post and the city of Arx, and in a few other places. The whole deal seems to have a real jumpy feel to it. I'm not sure whether this is due to the computer I'm running it on (1.5 GHz processor, but I don't know what kind. P3 I'm pretty sure. GeForce 4 TI 4200, and 128 megs of ram. Those are tentative specs -- I'm not running it on my comp) or actual bugs in the game.
The game needs quite much RAM to run smoothly. I have 512 mb RAM and everything is smooth (but jumping is still strange), but when the system is low on resources I experience the same kind of "jumpiness". So 128 may be a little low.
/C
Tej on 11/4/2003 at 22:29
*bump* :cheeky:
Well, you know, I don't recall having played a game which runs from first person, yet when you look down, you can actually see your own legs! It's like... hmmm, if all those other games that require of me a lot of platform jumping showed me just where exactly I am standing... it's a really neat thing to have.
That "accelerated" walk is a thing of the engine I think, and I suppose the whole thing speeds up slightly and not just your character. But I haven't checked.
As for the jumping, well, try and make a jump yourself and see how you move ;) Sure, the running jumps can be made more continuous in reality though.
DMouse on 20/5/2003 at 17:05
I wouldn't mind seeing my own legs as much if they weren't uglier than the spiders I meet :P. And the fact that even there, it's apparent that I'm a hunchback with an usualy bad posture for one of my position and scrawny legs... bummer!
Of course, 8 pixels for a face isn't too attractive in Underworld either :rolleyes:
I love the combinding-things aspect of the game, it's brilliant.
Too bad it kills my computer every time I exit... like Hexen 2...
Eater1 on 12/7/2003 at 09:52
Rat ribs are nothing compared to rat-man ribs... I wonder if that is considered cannibalism?
Eater.
