Just played the demo... impressive

[Scoob]

Hey all,

Just played through the free demo and found it really enjoyable. Some feedback if I may...

I picked an archer character at the start, mainly because I didn't have a clue about anything. Stealth archer seemed it might be a good choice sneaking through the dark environments. However, I did not find a bow until MUCH later in the game, and only eight arrows total lol. So, I reverted to the club and magic.

I picked up a Shield at one point, saw the tip about parry (surely that should be BLOCK with a shield, parry is more traditionally for a weapon) but, I evidently never timed it right even once, even though I *seemed* to be hitting block at just the right moment. Might practise that vs. easier foes next time...

Terrain. I had quite a few issues getting stuck on terrain, not perma stuck as in I cannot move at all - I assume that's what the "Unstuck" option is - but rather I'd be entirely blocked by minor things on the terrain. It also seems that, during certain encounters, the terrain suddenly becomes harder or impossible to pass. I.e. an area I'd easily run up before, suddenly becomes totally impassible when a certain boss-type enemy appeared.

Collision. I had a number of issues with ranged foes being able to damage me despite my being well behind cover. There appears to be an AoE effect for some attacks that pass through cover. I.e. I'm tight behind a rock / pillar / wall when something impacts the other side and I take damage. I take a step back from the wall and no damage. Both times I'm not hit, but only one I take damage. Also, sometimes cover isn't as wide as the visual representation, with projectiles passing through parts of the cover. Once I learnt these quirks, I could use cover well enough.

Bonfire. This one was a pain and I was sure something was broken. Mid-dungeon I levelled up after killing a certain spiky mini-boss. Got the message to sit near the campfire. There was a fire *right there* in the room, so I initially though it meant that. Nope. I then read about pressing "Q" and selecting the campfire icon - nope, greyed out. I of course later discovered that this ability ONLY unlocked after I'd gotten to the beach and had a dialogue. So, the game constantly telling me to build a campfire to level up was wrong, as it's not possible at this stage. Not in the demo at least. It's a shame the demo didn't let me experience the extra power / abilities of a level up at least once.

Regarding my first point, while selecting a class is GOOD if you know what you're doing. For a first play through it's a bit of a hindrance potentially. I'd like a more neutral "see how things go" type start, where I get to review what skills I've used and perhaps specialise (aka get the bonuses) after I've escaped. Just as an option of course. Regardless, to not be locked-in to a choice made with ZERO game experience at that point. For subsequent play throughs, it's fine.

I do plan to go through the Demo again, actually picking an appropriate starting "class". I might make some previously near impossible enemies a bit easier.

All in all though, this demo was fantastic fun, I'll eagerly await the release of the full game.

[Horrorscope CC97]

All good points, it needs that last quality pass for sure to get this all ironed out.

[Chaosolous]

TBH, I thought the demo was terrible. The second I thought it was gonna show me something interesting it ended. Not in a "Oh I want to see more." way either, in a "Wait, that's it?", unimpressive way.

You get to see what a beginner sword, bow or spell looks like and works, how to pick a lock, how to heal and that's it.

It would have been better if they gave you just a vertical slice of the game or something where you'd pick a class and get some points and equipment that's like, level 5 or 10 or something (IDK, whatever the middle level of EA is), and let you play a tutorial dungeon. Instead of it being just the intro tutorial.

[Horrorscope CC97]

^Imagination. You can get a feel for the game, from there you can ask ok I think this is going to be good or not for me.

[Scoob]

I do largely agree @Chaosolus, I would personally have liked to get a feel for the open world element of the game. As of this moment - and bare in mind I've not read up much on the game - I don't even know if it has a fully open world like Skyrim, or whether it's more a do stuff here (aka the starting area), then boat ride (aka loading screen) to a new area. Can we travel back to the starting island, or is it done with one we leave?

However, that said, I can see how making what is effectively the prologue (escape the island, reveal the overarching story) is a far easier option for the developers. I'm just grateful for a free demo, it's done its job as I really want to see what the full game brings at this point. I do hope I can spend time doing my own thing and I'm not pushed along the main quest line. I love the free-roam nature of Skyrim. Indeed, I'll play for ages (dozens of game hours, likely weeks in real time) deliberately NOT following the main quest line, and doing side-quests, house building and general exploring.

One thing the demo has not done, is get me to buy now, as I'm still not quite sure what I'll be getting. However, my interest is certainly piqued, so I will be looking closer and checking out future updates, road maps, dev posts etc.