[Traveller]

I'm going to jump in and predict this as my game of the year - because I'm going to get it and play it all year. Unless it has some awful gamebreaking flaws, of course.

So far though, it just looks flipping gorgeous. That map. The itinerary screens and item organisation. The minimal, centralised hud. The towns, castles, forests. As an archaeologist this period in history has always been my favourite, and to see such an attempt at accuracy has me really stoked.

Some aspects are almost sim-like, taking a more realistic approach over the usual openworld rpg staples that bug me so much (highlighted targets, minimaps, direction arrows, cluttered huds, auto targeting arrows etc). It's made by a small team of developers, whose blogs and updates I've been following for a while now - it gives the project a more personal feel like minecraft did in the early stages - a lot has been changed over the years as the team responded to feedback from the beta players.

Just got to hope theyve got the balance between gameplay and realism right. I'm hoping there's plenty to do while not following the main story, that for me is where games shine, where the mechanics enable a realistic immersion. Anyway, plenty of gameplay on youtube, I'm not watching quests to avoid spoilers, but check out the gameplay.

New trailer here..

https://youtu.be/w9IrhaJKwBY

This post has been edited by T'rav Elar: 04 February 2018 - 08:57 AM

[Aptorian]

I am excited for this as well. I fear that it won't be optimized for low end PCs but one can hope.

I am worried about how low fantasy it is. Like you say I fear it will be more sim than action and adventure. I suspect that there will be a certain curve in terms of accessibility and difficulty to this game that might mean it's not for everyone.

Definitely curious to see what the reviews say next week.

[Traveller]

I expect there will be people who don't look closely at what the game is trying to do, and subsequently complain about pace, slow clunky combat, lack of handholding - things the game is intentionally attempting to change in order to make into a more real experience. Then they'll be those that have been following the development and embrace it.

I don't think there will be a No Man's Sky backlash, as the team have been very clear on what this game is and what to expect - if people misinterpret that and are disappointed, it will be on them. The only potential for real disappointment is if the game is technically flawed; buggy, broken or too slow.

I'm hoping, optimistically maybe, that the attention to realism will hold enough of a challenge to override the expected, usual gameplay of recent rpgs, and rather than have people complain about what's missing, it will draw in those who have been looking for something a bit different.

This post has been edited by Mysterious Traveller: 04 February 2018 - 09:05 PM

[Mentalist]

I'm a backer of this on Kickstarter, but I haven't really been following the updates, b/c I prefer to just plunge into a completed product.

I'm pretty sure it's best described as a medieval sim RPG, since "magic" is limited to some alchemy, and there's no real fantasic beasties to slay.

As long as these 2 points are communicated clearly to potential consumers (and they are), I don't see how the team could possibly be blamed for misleading the public NMS-style.

[Serenity]

I'm looking forward to it, too, but I'm going to give it a while before purchasing so they can iron out any major problems, if there are any. Shall read/watch the reviews with great interest.

[Aptorian]

I've got to say, the hype has really been building up for me these past days.

I am hoping that the news on the PC optimization comes back positive tomorrow, cause then I think I might have to buy it.

[Traveller]

I really like what they're trying to do here. I can't wait to get into it.

Massive day one patch - but as developer said, they continued to tweak everything during the 6 weeks after it was sent for release, and the patch rewrites a lot of the code. Meh, this is pretty usual as far as I can see. Just means I'll have to wait for a long download before playing, but I'm sure it will be worth it.

Taken from the community...

 IMG_20180212_203631.jpg (25.98K)
Number of downloads: 0

This post has been edited by Traveller: 12 February 2018 - 09:14 PM

[Mentalist]

Just checked my profile. I think my Steam account is already linked on their backer rewards site, so I should just have it added to my library tomorrow-ish.

[Aptorian]

Reviews are in. Doesn't look good. Especially in terms of optimization. I'll give it a pass until it gets some improvements.

https://www.reddit.c..._review_thread/

Next up, Metal Gear Survive!

This post has been edited by Alternative Goose: 13 February 2018 - 10:59 AM

[Serenity]

[Mentalist]

RPS has a Review

Social commentary aside, the gist seems to be: "there's some super-creative systems that are occasionally used very well, but overall story and characters are bland. Also, bugs (like any open-world game).

The comments section is a shitstorm, predictably. Anyhow, I'd like to check it out, but i'll probably wait till summer-ish. I'm expecting bugs to be ironed out by then.

[Morgoth]

Ah, the creator is one of those 'there were no coloured people in medieval europe' kinds of people. That combined with a story that's seemingly fairly lackluster, and a main character entirely devoid of interesting traits, not to mention a number of bugs and an obtuse saving system, and I'm giving this a hard pass.

[Obdigore]

Morgoth, on 13 February 2018 - 01:45 PM, said:

Ah, the creator is one of those 'there were no coloured people in medieval europe' kinds of people. That combined with a story that's seemingly fairly lackluster, and a main character entirely devoid of interesting traits, not to mention a number of bugs and an obtuse saving system, and I'm giving this a hard pass.

On top of that, the combat looks... poor. I mean, you are a relatively untrained peasant, so I understand you aren't Geralt, but I play video games as a means of escapism, not as a 'you get dysentery and die' experience.

[Mentalist]

Morgoth, on 13 February 2018 - 01:45 PM, said:

Ah, the creator is one of those 'there were no coloured people in medieval europe' kinds of people. That combined with a story that's seemingly fairly lackluster, and a main character entirely devoid of interesting traits, not to mention a number of bugs and an obtuse saving system, and I'm giving this a hard pass.

Eh, this was brought up as a huge controversy about TW3 as well. Frankly (being from a similar background), I don't see much merit to this debate. Slavic historical experience has plenty of racism, oppression and inequality- most of it coming from other "white people". So I find it perfectly understandable how devs from Poland or Czech Republic are not as sensible to these issues as the wider Western audience (and especially professional game critics) and don't always provide " acceptable" answers to these criticisms.

None of this makes the points about bugs, or lack of quicksaves, or weak writing any less valid, ofc.

This post has been edited by Mentalist: 13 February 2018 - 03:06 PM

[Serenity]

Glad I didn't pre-order it now.

[Morgoth]

Mentalist, on 13 February 2018 - 02:03 PM, said:

Morgoth, on 13 February 2018 - 01:45 PM, said:

Ah, the creator is one of those 'there were no coloured people in medieval europe' kinds of people. That combined with a story that's seemingly fairly lackluster, and a main character entirely devoid of interesting traits, not to mention a number of bugs and an obtuse saving system, and I'm giving this a hard pass.

Eh, this was brought up as a huge controversy about TW3 as well. Frankly (being from a similar background), I don't see much merit to this debate. Slavic historical experience has plenty of racism, oppression and inequality- most of it coming from other "white people". So I find it perfectly understandable how devs from Poland or Czech Republic are not as sensible to these issues as the wider Western audience (and especially professional game critics) and don't always provide " acceptable" answers to these criticisms.

None of this makes the points about bugs, or lack of quicksaves, or weak writing any less valid, ofc.

There's a huge difference between not being American and thus not quite so steeped in identity politics, and - when confronted with the lack of coloured people in your game- arguing that there were no coloured people in the land at the time. One is entirely understandable, the other is a complete lie and quite clearly divulges what sort of history books you read, if any. Or to say it in another way, if you think there were no coloured people in Bohemia at the time you are a) very ignorant, or b ) spending your time in the sort of circles that likes to pretend Europe used to be perfectly white.

Now, from what I remember the Witcher guys simply said they didn't really consider it, which i think is entirely fair.

[Mentalist]

We are talking about an area that's what? 10 (edit: actually, four) square clicks in rural Bohemia. Emphasis on "rural"-there's no big cosmopolitan cities as far as I recall.

So yeah, I'd say it's entirely possible for a person not to think there'd be any " colored" people living in that area (basically a middle of nowhere). And when they are told this is their "failing", I can imagine a ridiculous response to answer that " accusation". Because majority of people in Eastern Europe wouldn't be thinking in terms of "we have to demonstrate inclusivity in everything we do" .

Anyway, I think we should wait for someone here to play it before criticizing further,

This post has been edited by Mentalist: 13 February 2018 - 06:33 PM

[Tiste Simeon]

My main issue so far, watching that review Serenity posted, is that the combat looks utterly terrible...

[Serenity]

Tiste Simeon, on 13 February 2018 - 06:34 PM, said:

My main issue so far, watching that review Serenity posted, is that the combat looks utterly terrible...

I thought that, too - especially the fist fights. And there's one particular bit at about 12 mins into the review where the horse riding is shown in third person and the way the horse changes direction looks horribly mechanical, which I suppose stood out to me coming off the back of replaying Red Dead Redemption.

[Traveller]

Everything gets shredded these days!

All I'll say is, I've played a good couple of hours so far, and I'm enjoying it. No technical problems (yet) and I'm enjoying the way the quests/errands can be sorted out in different ways.

Like I couldn't beat up the big guy in town that owed money, so I got my mates to distract him while I went and robbed his house. My first fist fight was clumsy - but with the sword training you realise that if you follow the direction of the sword swing and follow it into the next one, you can chain attacks in a more fluid way. So rather than just trying for a different angle, you swing into the opposite side you came from, if that makes sense. You know, like really swinging a sword. There's momentum and weight, you can't just try a vertical chop after a horizontal swing and expect to pull it off.

This game makes you vulnerable. Like, really. You can't just take on three men and not expect to get beaten up. Yet, anyway. I'm looking forward to getting some points into the various skill trees (there's even one for drinking) and growing the character - he really is a naive farm boy, makes a change from being the 'chosen one' yet again.

I'll just add, I think a lot of smaller developers really shoot themselves in the foot with their game pricing. Smaller less experienced studios shouldnt be expecting to release an almost indie title at the same full price as other more polished, solid titles. If KCD had been released at half the price, it would have still grown a loyal fanbase, and wouldn't have attracted the attention of those who expect more from a full price game, who will rip it apart for the small details instead of praising it for what it does accomplish. I remember the days of early Mount and Blade, and Minecraft, where a small community were involved in the production, and the games were initially released at a more humble price. Critics and players are way more lenient and forgiving of early bugs, patches etc when they haven't shelled out for something the same price as a Ubisoft or Rockstar etc.

This post has been edited by Traveller: 14 February 2018 - 09:32 AM