Alpha Reactions.

[Enginseer-42]

So, I said part of this in anothers thread, Build 10 Feedback. But I figure that post was rather... unhelpful.

So, first of all this looks great! Judging by what's already done and what's planned, and was apparently in the Alpha in the past, this looks like it's gonna be an awesome game.

So far, I've noticed you've said there's 10 spells in presently, but I've only seen five? Unless you're counting the rare and not-rare versions of the same spells as different? Or is there something more to the magic of it all.

As for useful things, I'm curious to know if you made artificial scarcity intentional? As in, you buy out a town of a thing and suddenly it will go from a seller to a very very high buyer.

And secondly, are nobles supposed to be the easiest person in the world to seduce? Right now the obscene influence you get from completing quests for them makes sweeping the noblewomen off their feet way too easy.

And thirdly, are nobles meant to keep their same quest, including the time limit when you say no? Because you come back and ask for a quest and they give you one that was due three years ago.

Thirdly, is there ever going to be a 'character creation' portion?

[LordYabo]

Sorry didn't catch this till now.

Originally posted by Enginseer-42:

So far, I've noticed you've said there's 10 spells in presently, but I've only seen five? Unless you're counting the rare and not-rare versions of the same spells as different? Or is there something more to the magic of it all.

For a mage simulator there is, ironically, very little magic right now. :-) Current spells in the pre-alpha are:
Arcane Bolt
Magic Missile
Fireball
Fly
Feather Fall
Force Push
Arcane Shield
Arcane Insight
Light
Invisibility - not 100% sure, we may have deactivated it due to 0 impact

Originally posted by Enginseer-42:

As for useful things, I'm curious to know if you made artificial scarcity intentional? As in, you buy out a town of a thing and suddenly it will go from a seller to a very very high buyer.

Hmmm, sort of but that sounds like a bug. The economy is messed up because I was in the midst of rewriting it when we pushed out that build.

Originally posted by Enginseer-42:

And secondly, are nobles supposed to be the easiest person in the world to seduce? Right now the obscene influence you get from completing quests for them makes sweeping the noblewomen off their feet way too easy.

Yes, intentionally easy so people could get to the magetower quickly. The game is not balanced for real consistent play yet. It is tuned to allow people to see and do several things and get a feel for it within about 30 mins.

Originally posted by Enginseer-42:

And thirdly, are nobles meant to keep their same quest, including the time limit when you say no? Because you come back and ask for a quest and they give you one that was due three years ago.

Maybe he really wants it done?! :-) Ya that is a bug. The quest system is being rewritten right now. The way it actually supposed to work is the quest/need sits around for a while and if the player doesn't do it, an AI adventurer picks it up and completes it OR the ramifications of the undone quest happen. Right now the rammifications aren't in and the AI adventurers aren't in, so that is why it just sits around forever. The due date being in the past is an unexpected bug. :-)

Originally posted by Enginseer-42:

Thirdly, is there ever going to be a 'character creation' portion?

Absolutely. You will role play your childhood and that will result in your start being different. I published somewhere there are like 120+ different starting conditions to the game. It is my intention to save character creation until the release date. Not because it is hard to do, but when people finally get to download version 1.0 I want them to be greeted by all new content they've never played. I don't like EA games that you have to play the same beginning and middle just to get to the new content at the end.