I am deliberately not watching any more videos of this game, because I don't want to have any prior knowledge of the story/plot when I actually get it! :-p
Right now, I'll just be happy if it doesn't have the now-obligatory quest arrows. :P
all the vids ive seen so far are all pure hacknslash fests.
Ill conceded, that could be folks wanting to try the mechanics.
so there is decent plot/char in this too?
The writing and the story are hands-down the best part of the backer beta in my opinion. Given that the backer beta is only one town that isn't a part of the main plot, I'm confident that this area of the game will not disappoint.
Most people streaming the backer beta will likely not focus on the writing because it's awkward to wait around for the viewers to read all the text, and from what I've seen of Josh streaming the actual beginning of the game, he just quickly skips through a lot of the text and outright cuts some of it to avoid spoilers and keep the stream full of action.
... Can the party members walk? I don't doubt the battles take pause and command to succeed... but everyone jogging around reminds me of Diablo 2.
There is no walk feature planned at the moment as far as I know, although the issue has been raised on the forum and quite a few (myself included) agree that a walk feature would be a very good thing.
There is a "slow mode" and a "fast mode" right now that slows everything down and speeds everything up, respectively.
Actually, the thing that annoyed me most with the jogging (in the videos I have seen) is that everyone one jogs perfectly in time - it is like a party of line dancers. If they would just offset the timing of the animations for each party member at random when you start jogging, it would look better (IMNSHO).
Another patch was promised for this week but we will get it later.
The developers reflected on it: "Too much stuff trying to finalize the PAX demo we are going to be streaming with our panel. Sorry about getting your hopes up.
That said, make sure you check out the panel on Saturday at 12:30. We are going to show off a few areas that you haven't seen before and then do a question and answer session. I think the stream is being shown on the front page of the PAX South site and on the front page of Twitch."
And, by the way, this will probably be the last backer beta that they do.
How does it feel to think that we will get the last beta patch? : )
Actually, the thing that annoyed me most with the jogging (in the videos I have seen) is that everyone one jogs perfectly in time - it is like a party of line dancers. If they would just offset the timing of the animations for each party member at random when you start jogging, it would look better (IMNSHO).
They (Obsidian) talked about doing the offset, but was unsure, if there was time enough...
Actually, the thing that annoyed me most with the jogging (in the videos I have seen) is that everyone one jogs perfectly in time - it is like a party of line dancers. If they would just offset the timing of the animations for each party member at random when you start jogging, it would look better (IMNSHO).
Agreed!! One of the things I really liked about Rome: Total War was this off-setting of animations for individual soldiers, so that it looked like a group of soldiers acting like soldiers. Small, subtle touches like that made them look disciplined, yet not perfect, making them more realistic.
Actually, the thing that annoyed me most with the jogging (in the videos I have seen) is that everyone one jogs perfectly in time - it is like a party of line dancers. If they would just offset the timing of the animations for each party member at random when you start jogging, it would look better (IMNSHO).
Agreed!! One of the things I really liked about Rome: Total War was this off-setting of animations for individual soldiers, so that it looked like a group of soldiers acting like soldiers. Small, subtle touches like that made them look disciplined, yet not perfect, making them more realistic.
On the other hand you did get groups of 240 identical men.
Actually, the thing that annoyed me most with the jogging (in the videos I have seen) is that everyone one jogs perfectly in time - it is like a party of line dancers. If they would just offset the timing of the animations for each party member at random when you start jogging, it would look better (IMNSHO).
Agreed!! One of the things I really liked about Rome: Total War was this off-setting of animations for individual soldiers, so that it looked like a group of soldiers acting like soldiers. Small, subtle touches like that made them look disciplined, yet not perfect, making them more realistic.
On the other hand you did get groups of 240 identical men.
I believe the clone wars happened in another universe
On the other hand you did get groups of 240 identical men.
True, but you don't notice that unless you zoom right in on their faces. Besides, where in the gaming industry do you have thousands of men on a screen, and each one looks distinctly different? ;-pp
The combat can be a little confusing, and it needs to be tweaked a little more. But overall, I actually started to enjoy the combat, after learning the rule-set and different systems... It does not feel like IE though ...
Hey, everyone. A new backer beta build is live on all three platforms. Our major focus over the past few weeks was reducing in-game memory usage and other optimizations. We are still optimizing, but things are coming along nicely. You will also notice that Josh has been doing lots of balancing throughout various systems in the game. For example, traps should be extremely deadly now. If you weren't on the lookout before, you should be. Hope you enjoy the fixes. -Brandon
Fixed Issues:
Players can no longer move around with 0 health.
Capes no longer clip with armor on the character's model.
Hired adventurers no longer spawn inside of one of your characters.
Mods and Enchants that affect accuracy are now showing in the character sheet and inventory calculations.
The stash interface in shop UI was converted to the same page system that the stash uses otherwise.
Transition icons that are hidden to the user no longer become visible and usable after save/load.
If you convince Medreth and his party to leave the Boar Companion will now follow.
The displayed Accuracy value should now properly reflect the bonus granted by wielding a 1-handed weapon with no offhand equipment.
Offhand weapon accuracy no longer overwrites base accuracy.
The Bronze Beneath the Lake - Cladhaliath spear is no longer invisible in-game.
Boar Companion from Medreth's party no longer appears on every map if you save/load in Dyrford Village.
Mods for an attack are no longer duplicated if a character is stopped from completing an attack action.
Combat Music is now playing properly.
Memory usage no longer increases by 300-800MB after 1-2 save/loads or transitions.
Save files no longer become unreadable if PC loses power supply while the game is running.
Item tooltips often appear in front of the inventory and loot UI.
Distortion type FX no longer make UI elements disappear.
Spells and abilities are now changing the cursor state after use or when the user attempts to cancel the action.
Any Mods on acquired items now properly function after save/load
Missing male Godlike heads have returned.
Dexterity affects action speed now.
Visual elements and animated VFX on the action bar and character portraits are now properly hidden when Inventory/Character sheet are opened.
Art for scouting mode now aligns with selection circles.
Now able to open trapped containers after discovering the trap.
Difficulty changes take effect immediately now.
On death load now functions if an entire party is knocked out while one party member is dominated.
Best of weapons are now correctly displaying the damage type that they are using in the combat log.
"Trap Triggered!" barks no longer last a long time.
Crash when running public backer beta on Mac OSX Yosemite has been fixed.
Knock Down no longer becomes stuck in the "already activated" state if the target is gibbed before Knock Down resolves.
Abilities with very long descriptions are easier to read in character creation and level up.
AI will no longer move into standard range if they are commanded to cast at a distant target despite Perception range bonus.
Now able to equip shields in your right hand.
Paladin's description is no longer missing the word "Health" after x5.
The client no longer loads in paused if you save a paused game, close the client, and loading that game via the front end continue button.
Wizard's grimoire no longer appears in character's offhand while some types of weapons are equipped. - NEEDS VERIFICATION
Time stamp text size on saved games is now larger. - NEEDS VERIFICATION
Items held by NPCs in fog can now be perceived correctly. - NEEDS VERIFICATION
Abilities shown in character creation, below the Class banner, no longer display "Right-Click for details" in their tooltip descriptions. - NEEDS VERIFICATION
Double clicking sound effect is no longer present when users press buttons in game menus. - NEEDS VERIFICATION
If the Ranger or their Companion are knocked out near an enemy while the other is far away, they will no longer repeatedly fall unconscious. - NEEDS VERIFICATION
If you hire an adventurer when you have a full party, the adventurer will no longer be made with no items. - NEEDS VERIFICATION
Mip settings have been adjusted to complement our default zoom ranges. - NEEDS VERIFICATION
Knock Down now has the same range as standard melee. - NEEDS VERIFICATION
The "Next Tab" keybinding is no longer hard coded to the Tab key. - NEEDS VERIFICATION
If Knock Down was used to start a fight with a friendly target, they were not knocked prone. - NEEDS VERIFICATION
Hiring a 7th Party member and removing a BB Companion caused transitions to break progression. This should no longer be the case. - NEEDS VERIFICATION
Ranges for Miss/Graze/Hit/Crit were off by one number. - NEEDS VERIFICATION
Known Issues:
Save/Load Menu should be organized by date created, not alphabetical. The Bloody Slaughter talent does not have a description in the Level Up screen. Brilliant Radiance is causing too much damage. Culture Bonuses applied before selection. Character shadows on the East and West sides of Dyrford Village disappear after Save/Load. Hovering over hidden objects (either hidden containers or traps) causes the default cursor to appear. Container UI placement/panning limits allow the interface to appear offscreen in higher resolutions. Passive (White) text in the Combat Log is showing decimal numbers as zero. Stormwall Gorge displays lines on the left and right side of the Area Map that show through the Fog of War. Wizards are not holding their grimoire in character creation. Abilities on the action bar are being duplicated when a hotkey is applied to them. Animals and Critters (such as Deer) should run away from the party. Unable to inspect spells that are greyed out in a Grimoire. When characters are given a movement command they all begin running in unison, perfectly synced. Abilities granted by items are added to character's quick bar permanently after save/load cycle.
I know they haven't released the system requirements yet but can anyone who's played the backer beta shed some light on how powerful a pc is needed?
From the kickstarter:
"Our target is to run on older machines and to support a wide variety of hardware. We will be announcing the system requirements at a later date so stay tuned for an announcement down the road."
That said, I'm on an average pc, and having some freezes and lags, but hey, it's still beta...
Uh, I'm surprised there are some nasty bugs with music not playing, my combat log messing up, and still some other broken combat stuff.
Otherwise lots and lots of improvements, I really like the spell-book. Solid background for the GUI, improved elf models (that I complained about earlier) a few new portraits and even a new Obsidian logo intro ...
Comments
Atmosphere? Yeah...
But really, that's hard to tell what a game is, without having tried it. Just looking at a vid is not the same, as playing it yourself.
I agree it 'looks' a bit arcade, but I assure you, there is plenty of roleplaying and atmosphere : )
Ill conceded, that could be folks wanting to try the mechanics.
so there is decent plot/char in this too?
Right now, I'll just be happy if it doesn't have the now-obligatory quest arrows. :P
Most people streaming the backer beta will likely not focus on the writing because it's awkward to wait around for the viewers to read all the text, and from what I've seen of Josh streaming the actual beginning of the game, he just quickly skips through a lot of the text and outright cuts some of it to avoid spoilers and keep the stream full of action.
There is a "slow mode" and a "fast mode" right now that slows everything down and speeds everything up, respectively.
The developers reflected on it: "Too much stuff trying to finalize the PAX demo we are going to be streaming with our panel. Sorry about getting your hopes up.
That said, make sure you check out the panel on Saturday at 12:30. We are going to show off a few areas that you haven't seen before and then do a question and answer session. I think the stream is being shown on the front page of the PAX South site and on the front page of Twitch."
And, by the way, this will probably be the last backer beta that they do.
How does it feel to think that we will get the last beta patch? : )
https://www.youtube.com/watch?x-yt-cl=84503534&v=ZeNpKLbLBIQ&x-yt-ts=1421914688
Quote from Brandon Adler (lead):
Hey, everyone. A new backer beta build is live on all three platforms.
Our major focus over the past few weeks was reducing in-game memory usage and other optimizations. We are still optimizing, but things are coming along nicely.
You will also notice that Josh has been doing lots of balancing throughout various systems in the game. For example, traps should be extremely deadly now. If you weren't on the lookout before, you should be.
Hope you enjoy the fixes.
-Brandon
Fixed Issues:
- Players can no longer move around with 0 health.
- Capes no longer clip with armor on the character's model.
- Hired adventurers no longer spawn inside of one of your characters.
- Mods and Enchants that affect accuracy are now showing in the character sheet and inventory calculations.
- The stash interface in shop UI was converted to the same page system that the stash uses otherwise.
- Transition icons that are hidden to the user no longer become visible and usable after save/load.
- If you convince Medreth and his party to leave the Boar Companion will now follow.
- The displayed Accuracy value should now properly reflect the bonus granted by wielding a 1-handed weapon with no offhand equipment.
- Offhand weapon accuracy no longer overwrites base accuracy.
- The Bronze Beneath the Lake - Cladhaliath spear is no longer invisible in-game.
- Boar Companion from Medreth's party no longer appears on every map if you save/load in Dyrford Village.
- Mods for an attack are no longer duplicated if a character is stopped from completing an attack action.
- Combat Music is now playing properly.
- Memory usage no longer increases by 300-800MB after 1-2 save/loads or transitions.
- Save files no longer become unreadable if PC loses power supply while the game is running.
- Item tooltips often appear in front of the inventory and loot UI.
- Distortion type FX no longer make UI elements disappear.
- Spells and abilities are now changing the cursor state after use or when the user attempts to cancel the action.
- Any Mods on acquired items now properly function after save/load
- Missing male Godlike heads have returned.
- Dexterity affects action speed now.
- Visual elements and animated VFX on the action bar and character portraits are now properly hidden when Inventory/Character sheet are opened.
- Art for scouting mode now aligns with selection circles.
- Now able to open trapped containers after discovering the trap.
- Difficulty changes take effect immediately now.
- On death load now functions if an entire party is knocked out while one party member is dominated.
- Best of weapons are now correctly displaying the damage type that they are using in the combat log.
- "Trap Triggered!" barks no longer last a long time.
- Crash when running public backer beta on Mac OSX Yosemite has been fixed.
- Knock Down no longer becomes stuck in the "already activated" state if the target is gibbed before Knock Down resolves.
- Abilities with very long descriptions are easier to read in character creation and level up.
- AI will no longer move into standard range if they are commanded to cast at a distant target despite Perception range bonus.
- Now able to equip shields in your right hand.
- Paladin's description is no longer missing the word "Health" after x5.
- The client no longer loads in paused if you save a paused game, close the client, and loading that game via the front end continue button.
- Wizard's grimoire no longer appears in character's offhand while some types of weapons are equipped. - NEEDS VERIFICATION
- Time stamp text size on saved games is now larger. - NEEDS VERIFICATION
- Items held by NPCs in fog can now be perceived correctly. - NEEDS VERIFICATION
- Abilities shown in character creation, below the Class banner, no longer display "Right-Click for details" in their tooltip descriptions. - NEEDS VERIFICATION
- Double clicking sound effect is no longer present when users press buttons in game menus. - NEEDS VERIFICATION
- If the Ranger or their Companion are knocked out near an enemy while the other is far away, they will no longer repeatedly fall unconscious. - NEEDS VERIFICATION
- If you hire an adventurer when you have a full party, the adventurer will no longer be made with no items. - NEEDS VERIFICATION
- Mip settings have been adjusted to complement our default zoom ranges. - NEEDS VERIFICATION
- Knock Down now has the same range as standard melee. - NEEDS VERIFICATION
- The "Next Tab" keybinding is no longer hard coded to the Tab key. - NEEDS VERIFICATION
- If Knock Down was used to start a fight with a friendly target, they were not knocked prone. - NEEDS VERIFICATION
- Hiring a 7th Party member and removing a BB Companion caused transitions to break progression. This should no longer be the case. - NEEDS VERIFICATION
- Ranges for Miss/Graze/Hit/Crit were off by one number. - NEEDS VERIFICATION
Known Issues:
This looks like the last patch before release ...Save/Load Menu should be organized by date created, not alphabetical.
The Bloody Slaughter talent does not have a description in the Level Up screen.
Brilliant Radiance is causing too much damage.
Culture Bonuses applied before selection.
Character shadows on the East and West sides of Dyrford Village disappear after Save/Load.
Hovering over hidden objects (either hidden containers or traps) causes the default cursor to appear.
Container UI placement/panning limits allow the interface to appear offscreen in higher resolutions.
Passive (White) text in the Combat Log is showing decimal numbers as zero.
Stormwall Gorge displays lines on the left and right side of the Area Map that show through the Fog of War.
Wizards are not holding their grimoire in character creation.
Abilities on the action bar are being duplicated when a hotkey is applied to them.
Animals and Critters (such as Deer) should run away from the party.
Unable to inspect spells that are greyed out in a Grimoire.
When characters are given a movement command they all begin running in unison, perfectly synced.
Abilities granted by items are added to character's quick bar permanently after save/load cycle.
That is a big list (like always, though). I just hope that the release build is as smooth as possible.
7 WEEKS to go!
"Our target is to run on older machines and to support a wide variety of hardware. We will be announcing the system requirements at a later date so stay tuned for an announcement down the road."
That said, I'm on an average pc, and having some freezes and lags, but hey, it's still beta...
Otherwise lots and lots of improvements, I really like the spell-book. Solid background for the GUI, improved elf models (that I complained about earlier) a few new portraits and even a new Obsidian logo intro ...