We're getting our Arx. How shall we celebrate?

Digital Nightfall on 27/10/2002 at 23:43

Quote:

Originally posted by Sap'em
it sounds like this game was attempting to accomplish too much and failed.

I don't know how many reviews you've read (most are happy reviews), but it seems to me that Arx tries to do alot and has success.

Prince of shadows on 29/10/2002 at 19:11

Seems EB's announced a new releasedate for Arx (the 6th of Nov), and Gameplay has also pushed it back, by a week >_< (how annoying is it to be three days from release when it gets pushed back another week? *sigh*)

-Edit- Softwarefirst still lists it as Nov 1st, hopefully that's because they're "good people", and not because they have a lazy webmaster :P
( (http://www.softwarefirst.com/ComingSoon.asp?MachineCode=IBM) )

What are these guys (the retailers) up to anyway?

Plex, over at the Arkane boards, had this to say:

===================

Hi!

Release Dates are as announced in the FAQ . Those are official but give the shops some time. It can be on shelves one day before or after the announced release date. But this isnt in our hands.

And as i stated before .... UK and US retail versions are shipped.

__________________
'Plex' aka Marc S. Olbertz

===================

So it seems they've been shipped to stores atleast, hope it's just the stores trying to play it safe ...or something :p

Fidcal on 31/10/2002 at 17:45

Quote:

Originally posted by Digital Nightfall
So how are we going to get the word out?

How about a few words describing it and a link to where it can be obtained when available? I'm a newcomer here so was mildly curious by the post in Editor's Guild but I can find almost no info in this thread except that it is a game and technically better than some other games.

Dayrth on 31/10/2002 at 19:45

Well if I can get use to Gothic's interface I can do anything. And I ended up loving Gothic. :)

Skronk on 3/11/2002 at 04:08

Oh fine, mess up my plans. I was going to buy Neocron, I'm even in a clan already, but no, you have to drop this bomb on me. I have money for one single game this month, and Arx is making a big bid for the lucky spot. :grr: :p

RazorBlade79 on 3/11/2002 at 23:02

You got my attention;)

Or lets say I gave the game a second chance; first time I played the demo I gave up after a few minutes-> looked awful, ran at only few FPS and other things ...

I just made it through the actual demo and have to say I was kinda sad when it was suddenly all over. Thought I could run around a bit longer(like i.e. in the demo of Underworld 1-the reason I decided to buy that pearl of a game.)

Though you cannot judge a whole game by its demo, there is nothing else to judge, so my second impressions are like this:

(first the bad, then the good)

o some cutscenes only showed a black screen while the sound and talking was going on-I think this could be because of the nature of a demo, that doesnt have all the areas to be shown in cutscenes, but felt a bit bitter watching half a scene ...

o the interface is (yeah I know, some said so already but) a bit unpolished. WHY has the right mousebutton and the TAB-key the exact same function when I am just running around? It was great the way it was in Deus Ex or SS i.e. Both did differ a bit, but when I got used to it, it was quite intuitive. In short: I wondered why I was not able to take things with RMB. Though-and thats the real wired part about it-I auto-equip things in use mode with the RMB! Why doesnt it simply take things into inventory which cannot be equipped? Change that please, it really feels like noone really thought about it.

o again interface: Why is it items do not auto stack each other? And after I put them all in one slot I see, oh have to move it one square right, else I cannot put in another sword - but I have to move EVERY SINGLE PART OF IT! Sorry, but very annoying... I read in a review(which rated it something about 86%, real high for that mag!) the game has a auto sort function, but I did not try that out(the tutorial didnt intend me to use it also, would be nice, if thats added, in case there is an autosort. Would not make up those problems(for me those are problems) but would help.

o last part interface: everytime I examine something or someone I have to drag&drop all I want, why not change this also to auto put-in-inventory by left or right clicking?

o enough interface, I think you know yourself this isnt the egg of columbus, though few changes would make the difference between a bad and a great interface. One fact that annoyed me a bit was the missing multiple choice system when talking. I say missing because I EXPECTED it. I thought this was going to be a game which tries to be an Underworld successor made by Underworld fans. Perhaps thats not really what disturbs me but the fact I have to play a mercenary who cares sh*t about others(it seems so in the demo at least.)

Ok, thats my more or less real first impressions of the most annoying things, now the points which made me paly through the demo:

o speaking of graphics, not real breathtaking but also not ugly like Morrowind i.e. The textures are real nice, only compareable to Neverwinter. Creatures look quite good and the animation is well done in most cases. Face animation is a real plus for me, games which doesnt use portraits need such details IMO ;)

o Sound & music, nothing special, too, (was there acutally music?! didnt notice ..) but it makes up a real good atmosphere. Thats a good point, athmosphere is the thing in UW and also this arxdemo which can grap me and dont let me get away until my head bangs on my keyboard. So far the demo did it, though it was strange some guys in the tavern said the same things over and over again in short time, though I didnt talk to them. The german synchro is real great, happens not often in cRPGs. Also a real big plus! Speaking of german versions, there is actually red blood, hope this isnt green-coloured in the full game! Hate those strange people who real think a red coloured texture can make Marc go crazy and start kill things senseless. Normally this can happen when using MS Office, but not red colour.

o Though the mag I talked about said something else, the magic system is quite easy to use and real fun! I wish UW had this! :) In Mani Ylem! *zap*

Some questions:
Will there be other faces to choose from? Will I have to change the CD while playing or only one CD? Is there an option for an full install?

Well, I think forget at least half of what I wanted to write, but nonetheless, hope this demo-review didnt hurt too much! ;)

One last thing I wish to know, I could not fidle out, how can I cook food in the campfire, and what kind of food? ;)) I threw everything right in but nothing happened. Im getting old.

Best regards, RB

Charon on 4/11/2002 at 00:25

Regarding the complaints about the interface:
Most of the things you describe can be done, although using different key combos from SS, Deus Ex, or UW. In fact, Arkane was clever in that they gave certain keys different functionality. When going through your inventory, left-clicking will select one object in a stack, whereas shift-left-clicking (AKA left-clicking in stealth mode) will select all in the stack. An object outside the player's inventory can be shift-left-clicked, and it's dropped directly into the inventory. Of course, the lack of stacking was a pain, but I think items stack if you shift-left-click them into your inventory.

To cook things, drag an uncooked item and put it in a fire. It will become non-selectable while it cooks, and then the icon will change to the cooked item. Items that can't be cooked/affected by fire will remain selectable when they're dropped into the fire.

RazorBlade79 on 4/11/2002 at 10:36

Thanks for that info, I wonder why the tutorial does not tell me all this. Also I take back most of my complaints, its just I did not think about trying this when playing, because its not usual to do so.

Scragnoth on 4/11/2002 at 13:25

I was playing the demo for Arx, and while trying to skip the intro when starting a new game to get right to the action, something happened...

I press esc like crazy and some blue particles flittered onscreen (like the ones surrounding your character when he gets "zapped") and I heard Am yell and the "zapping" sound effect...then the camera faded in and it was from Am's head alright...while he was on the ground right after the shock! I couldn't move, so I frantically tapped buttons when at some point Am decided to stand up...then I could explore all of the Goblin settlement! Well, the game crashed when you go to certain areas but you could do tons of stuff not meant for you in the demo!

Granted, certain things were "missing" like dialog between you and a troll in a cave even though it still goes through all the talking animations...but it was still cool.

edwardhuggett on 5/11/2002 at 10:25

Interesting posts about interface ...... however the reason I am going to get the game is for the atmosphere and immersion. I am sure I will get to grips with the interface soon enough .... I think a lot of people expect things to be served to them on a plate nowdays. Remember old Spectrum games where you had to memorise 50 different keys? Now that was hard!
I played Lands of Lore 2 and 3 a lot even though they were quite flawed, simply for the fact they had a very good atmosphere and memorable environments. Yes, SS2 and DX may be more polished but they werent "starting from scratch" like arkane and had a big corporate machine behind them!

Hopefully it will be out this Saturday ..... :(