Game Impressions Thread

[txa1265]

OK, as we get the game, instead of everyone posting a 'Here's what I think' thread, let's centralize.

A benefit of this is that everyone has a centralized place to go, including the developers - who can easily pull suggestions and bugs from the thread.

Mike

[flyingelvis]

Ok, just received the game and installed it. The game comes with 3 CDs in sleeves, a separate disc box with a CD key on it, a 19x13 map of the world, a 48 page manual and a registration card.

The manual is not Fallout quality, but it appears adequate. Though the font is a little small.

The game installed without a hitch. It does not use Starforce, in fact, I started the game without any CD in the drive. Although I have not gotten past the options screen, so maybe it will ask for the CD yet. The autorun on CD1 booted up installshield with the game installed. So maybe it doesn't need the disc in the drive? Weird.

Choosing an alternate res from 800x600 presents a "window" rather than stretching to fit the monitor. Something wonky there.

Thats as far as I have gotten. More impressions to follow....

EDIT: well the resolution issue appears to be a problem only with the opening screen/main menu. Once I went into character generation and into the game, all appeared fine playing at 1024x768.

There is no map, at least not at the start of the game. Perhaps you need to find it? There is a map toggle option in the options menu. But pressing the key, "M" does nothing.

[LordAlex1207]

Well, it is nice to hear the Starforce issue is resolved.... and it is also nice to hear support for multiple resolutions. However, I'm a little distressed to hear there's no automap. If I remember Gothic didn't provide you an automap until you purchased that option in a store, so perhaps they are going that route with this one... Otherwise, those of us who are directionally-challenged might be in for some trouble. Personally, I only use a map when I'm lost and prefer the immersion of trying to find my way around on my own.

Picking up my two copies in a few hours (called and reserved them a few minutes ago). I'll post some comments later.

[col_firefly]

I thought mapping was tied to a skill?

[Super Smurf]

First Impression:

Dispite the previously identified bugs with character creation I have to say the combat is now what I thought it should have been when playing the demo. It also looks like the monter spawning issues have been improved as well, though I will have to play more untill I pass final judgement on that. One bug that I have encountered that I have not seen mentioned yet though is my screen "blinks" occasionaly in the game, and almost constantly in the main menu. Anyone else have this problem?

On a side note, I was checking out the class list and noticed the Paladin gets discounts on Rune magic. Wouldn't Celestial magic be more appropriate for a Paladin? :confused: That's just my opinion as a long time Paladin buff.

[flyingelvis]

First Impression:

One bug that I have encountered that I have not seen mentioned yet though is my screen "blinks" occasionaly in the game, and almost constantly in the main menu. Anyone else have this problem?
Only on the main menu. In-game is fine.

[Super Smurf]

One thing I forgot to mention. In the manual it say the junk tab in your inventory is for duplicate items. However, when ever I pick up a duplicate item it just gets discarded and nothing shows up in the junk section. This will really put a cramp on your earning potential when you go to sell items.

[animemonster]

This is what I have so far.

I'm experiencing several problems the other people are having. I have my resolution up a notch, and the main title screen is windowed rather then stretched. When I go to the load screen, there are no pictures in the boxes for pictures, and when I load my game, the screen flashes until it goes into the game. There may be a load screen that could fix that.

Appearances cannot be changed.

The ESC menu doesn't have Options, so you have to quit out, reset options, and go back in.

All musics and voices are very low, even on 100%. Background music doesn't happen very often, and it's hard to tell when it's music or ambient sounds.

Gameplay runs smoothly, at least for my card. Lockpicks seem to be a moot point, though I only just got to the first town, whenever it says 'locked', you cannot attempt to pick the lock. However, other times, it just unlocks it when you attempt to open the door. Maybe that has something to do with skills, but it has no indicator to say as such.

The mechanism bar is smaller in the higher res settings, making it harder to see where you are trying to hit the mechinism. The bar should get a bit larger with the higher res, so it doesn't strain the eyes.

In the first town, where you are locked in, I'm not sure if I'm just missing something, but I cannot find any way to get out. I tried backtracking through the sewers to get out, but you can't since you fell in. I talked to every one, tried every door, killed a few people, even the chained troll. I know I'm probably missing something - or the way out is glitched. I've already done the Seer Augustus portion as well, and tried the fortune teller, which only got me the dispel scroll. Thought I'd mention it just in case.

I also get the thing where if items do not stack, they are automatically discarded, rather then put into the junk tab. This, as said before, hinders profit, especially since everyone drops similar items.

I believe that's everything thus far. I hope a patch comes out soon...

[adw123]

Just got retail. My impressions so far.

Pros:
-AI seems to be decent. Mobs change from ranged to melee combat and back again depending on where you are. They seem to work together, when in groups, placing some melee in front and some ranged in back. Makes the combat challenging.
-Each mob type seems to be different and have a different trick to killing.
-Boss fights are fun and challenging.
-Seems to be decent level layout from the few zones I have been in.
-Nice particle effects on spells
-Skill system seems to have potential.

Cons:
-Game locks up for a split second every time an encounter is spawned
-Sound is messed up. Footsteps can be heard for a few steps then silent the next few. Seems to be no music in the game whatsoever. Very little ambient sound (birds chirping, wind, etc). Very few voiceovers. Some npcs seem to be partially voiced over then they just didn't finish. Voiceovers are too quiet compared to rest of game audio.
-Bad performance even on very high systems especially for a game with only half-decent graphics.
-More information is needed for certain skills and attributes (Sneak, Honor, +Speed, etc)
-Quest journal is very basic, could be expanded some.
-Main quest path needs to be more obvious...I ran around city for several hours trying to figure out where I was supposed to go. Improved journal could help with this. ^
-Map is not in game as far as I can tell, about 10 hrs of playing thus far.
-Can't change appearance.
-Some of the animation is very ugly and awkword (jumping...) Characters continue to run in place for a second or so after stopping.
-Minor pathing problems is a few spots, esp with doorways.
-Menus are unfinished, higher resolutions then 800/600 don't change menu size. < and > buttons on options panel don't work. Have to drag slider. Can't access options from game.
-Overall very unfinished. The game has potential but they need to seriously change a bunch of things.

[Thalavon]

Weird, with you guys mentioning the sound/music problems maybe I can help to some degree, or at least narrow down what is happening. I'm using a soundblaster audigy (gamers) with 5.1 speakers and I hear voices and music perfectly clear all the time. I have eax enabled and it sounds quite awesome =).

I think it may have to do with some kind of weird internal thing, because I noticed when I was talking to the dwarf in the mage shop that when he talked DIRECTLY to me about the mage guild initiation quest his voice raised dramatically compared to the norm, so that might have something to do with why it's usually low for most of you guys.

Ambient sounds great, I put it up to about mid way (50?) and I can hear all kinds of stuff, so definitely some kind of EAX/5.1 vs. non-eax/5.1 that is causing the low sound/voices/ambient/etc.

The music is very cool actually.

[adw123]

Using an Soundblaster Live X-Gamer (old pos card)

Sure it has a lot to do with the problems I'm encountering but the game is definitely partially at fault

[zunno]

Does the game 5.1 sound enabled by default? We should make a poll to see how the game sounds on a 5.1 speaker system and a regular 2 speaker system.

If peeps on 5.1 speaker systems dont have problems and peeps with 2 speaker systems are missing out on sounds in the game this might be it. You can't hear 6 channels on a 2 channel speaker set.

[adw123]

I'm using 5.1 speakers and getting the messed up sound. I believe its a sound card / game issue.

[txa1265]

I played a couple hours last night, both as a fighter and a mage.

In general nothing new to add, but:
- I don't seem to be seeing additional spells showing up, not sure if I have to camp for that.
- I did a couple of 'revives' ... didn't check the impact, though - heard it was bad.

I have heard there are patches in progress that should address most things.

Mike

[animemonster]

I have an audigy 2 with 5.1 speakers. I have ambient sounds, just not music, unless the places I've been don't have music..

[Cheezy]

Not being able to change my appreance at all is a big let down.
Only Elf and Human have female options.
The windows key is still not fixed.
computer locked when I asked about the way of the dragon.
No map is a huge let down.
The paper map has East and West flipped. Not a big deal but still.
Load times seem to long.
Descriptions in te log for quests way to short and they do not remind you where you need to go to finish the quest.
Always discarding same type of item is bad idea
glitches on selling scrolls. I can sell 6 undead scrolls and it only takes 1 away and then you can continue to sell with out losing any more scrolls. This seems to be on all scrolls of more than a quantitiy of 1.

I am very disappointed in the release of this game. It would not be so bad if we had all not mentioned a lot of these issues on the demo and been led to believe that most of these had been fixed. I will continue to play but I will not recomend this to anybody untill the issues are fixed.

[PRiME]

Ouch, I'm disappointed to hear they didn't repair the animations for the charactors nor did they add customable charactor options (faces/shape/facial etc)

I guess the dev team were just forced to release it. Its a extremely common thing these days so lets hope they can make some decent patches.

Also is 1920x1200 resolution supported?

[RitingFool]

My impressions:

Graphics - Good, not great. I get the flickering while loading a game, and the "windowed" effect if my resolution is above the default (800X480?).
Sound - Ambient and combat sound is very good. I'm not getting any music though. I've tried going into my sound preferences (Audigy Gamer) and turning HW acceleration both on and off - no music. There is no option in-game to configure your sound setup. Also voices seem muffled a good deal of the time. May be related to music issue.
Menus - Appearance configuration isn't huge with me, but it's a bit disappointing that it's not there. Not being able to LOAD a game within the game is HUGE.
Combat - Okay, like Gothic 2, which isn't necessarily a bad thing.
Automap - There IS none! Huge error in my opinion. If it's skill related, all classes should have access to it. If it's the infamous "Scout" skill, then are only Rogues supposed to be able to map the countryside?
Inventory - Duplicate items are discarded. Aren't they supposed to go in the Junk section?

This game has great potential. Just fix the missing stuff and the bugs, and it'll be great!

Regards,
Michael

[3days]

I love the game. Lots of unfinished business but I have been waiting since last september for a taste so I will take it. Totally unfinished and if they come up with a solid multi this game will be huge. (think of all the D2 LOD fans that had years of free internet play). Great game and if Heuristic and DC stay with it this game will be one of the best. TIA HP and DC. Keep the patches flowing and get a closed multi server up PLEASE.
BTW Thanks to CHUK for keeping us all going while the news was sparse.
Zacho

[Thalavon]

Well I just finished the Elven trial and just let me say this, WOW talk about grueling! I haven't had such a grueling dungeon crawl experience like this since games like Daggerfall/Morrowind and pretty much ALL the Might and Magic series, which for me is exactly what I love.

I mean these days you got games like Jade Empire which was a very very good game, perfectly done but I mean it was pathetically easy and very short, expected from a console game but it goes for most other games (KotOR wasn't that long, and also pretty easy.) VtM:Bloodlines was also kind of short too, though I love the game.

You literally get your behind handed to you if you're not careful once you get into the game, the Elven trials sure proved that ;). Not to mention Daggerfall/Morrowind and usually the Might and Magics also had their share of bugs, but for a big, grueling, tough gaming run I am more than pleased so far and seeing all the things other classes can get and use makes me want to play it over in a heartbeat (samurai armor is pretty sweet.)

Little bit of advice for those newcomers, if you're not an adept with celestial healing (though I'm not sure how efficient it is since I'm a arcane/nether mage atm, have the spell just only lv1 celestial), then you better stack up on one thing....POTIONS POTIONS POTIONS and yes MORE POTIONS!! =) Luckily they are not that expensive and heal for a sizable amount even for the small ones (as a mage they completely refill me still with the little ones.)

Anyhow, having a lot of fun and for once I'm stopping once in a while to take a breather, rather than extend the life of the game because I'm worried it'll end soon like most rpgs these days (not to mention most replayability on rpgs these days sucks, this game has tons of replayability.)

[Elvisman2001]

I played for about 2 hours. It is clearly unfinished like everyone here has been saying. BUT... man... this is the funnest buggy game I have played! If they can fix the issues, this game could be great. But, like a poster abov stated, I could only recommend this to truly die hard RPG fans that will take what they can get and wont mind waiting for a patch.

The graphics are good but not spectacular. The chracter creation seems like it would be pretty deep... were it finished. I've noticed a few minor glitches here and there with animations... like the toon running a few seconds when you stop which looks wierd. The slimes in the sewers were really cool. Liked the choking effect from their gas.

All in all, I can see ooodles upon ooodles of potential and fun in this game, but they HAVE to fix it. If they fix it, its a classic.

[hacknslash]

I agree, behind the frustration the game is loads of fun and I cant wait for a couple patches to fix up some of the bigger complaints. If they can patch the game right I think this one will be a classic in no time at all.

[Hickmanj]

Ok, here is a link:

http://support.typhoongames.com/board/forum_posts.asp?TID=1511&PN=1

I am not trying to start a flame war.... I realize the person in question rants.

However, he says some things I'd like to hear back from those of you who have continued to play:

- he mentions that the taverns/stores etc. are just empty shells? is this true?

- he mentions that in large towns there are only guards and 3 or so npcs walking around?

- he states that women npcs have male voices?

There are other comments.... I am interested in hearing more from y'all.

I liked Thalavon, Elvisman's posts... it sounds like they are enjoying it so far and providing details.... could you guys address some of these ?

Thx,

J

[elkston]

- he mentions that the taverns/stores etc. are just empty shells? is this true?



Based on what I have seen in Fargrove, this is true. A big empty room with a single counter that has the merchant behind it. They also use the same generic "bookcase" graphic no matter what kind of shop it is. So the apothecary (potion seller) has loads of books in the background instead of potions or other apparatuses.

In general, I have found the town interiors to be quite sparse. This is turning out to be not quite the "explorers" game I was expecting it to be.


- he mentions that in large towns there are only guards and 3 or so npcs walking around?


True for Fargrove, though there is sort of a plot explanation for it. Haven't been to any of the other towns yet.


- he states that women npcs have male voices?


Not on the whole. He is refering to one bug where sometimes a generic female townsperson will get a male voice set. So far the major "named" female NPCs are voiced appropriately.

My general impressions are that the game was definitely not complete when it shipped. However, the combat (which IS the focus) is generally fun and you do want to keep playing to see how your character grows and what items you can find.

I have stopped playing for now and will wait until the update next week to continue.