Does not feel good to play

[spityyy]

Yeah it does not feel great to play. its missing any sort of feedback on the hits that connect. No recoil on enemies when you hit them is kinda off as well. Magic feels wonky as well (Aiming for ice and range on throw). Dodging and blocking feels delayed and hefty. The 2D cut scene characters look so bad compared to the in game ones., like missing detail. You guys have a good game here in terms of world building, characters and in game art style but needs alot of work still IMO. Cant see this being fun in time for release which is right around the corner.

[yellowbrickgames_devs]

Hey there! Thanks so much for leaving your detailed feedback. This helps us figure out where to focus our efforts in the future to continue improving the game post-launch! 😊

We know that the game won't resonate with everyone perfectly, so we really appreciate you leaving your honest thoughts here. The specific details also help us better understand what is and isn't clicking for you!

Thank you in any case for giving it a try and hopefully in the future we can win you over as we continue to make improvements to the game! 💛

[Novawulf]

Gotta agree, even little things like why do boxes take multiple charged attacks to break open? Every game i've played in the last 20 years, you swing at a box or vase or barrel, it breaks, you get your hp potion or ore or coins etc. It's simple and quick, for a minor part of the gameplay.

This game you gotta take multiple fully charged hits, and then due to physics throwing items, run after the box for the next hit, or pick it up and throw it somewhere and chase after it...just an awful decision when those boxes show up every 5 meters and we need the resources...

The aiming for magic is super wonky, you try to teach us to use ice magic to make a path in the intro, but if you aim ice in front of you and flick the mouse away from you to make a path...it just all builds up on the first piece of ice and makes a blob in front of you...so you have to aim at the end of where you want the path and pull back...but even that doesn't work great.

It feels like you went so heavy on the "magical physics" you forgot that video games are meant to be about fun and immersion and that play-ability > realism. It's just annoying having to redo mechanics to get them to work, or just ignore them and run through the fire and hp pot the other side instead cause its not worth bothering with.

Theres some weirdness with movement too, if you aim the camera to the side whilst running forward then try to turn, its like your character becomes a bus with no turning circle...instead of just darting in the new direction they take this wide slow curve to it.

I was super into buying this as it looked like a cross between Hogwarts legacy and AC Odyssey, 2 amazing games I enjoy, after playing the demo and experiencing the floaty combat, bad physics magic and questionable gameplay ideas, sadly I have removed it from my wish list. I would normally just ignore a game I didnt enjoy and not write about it, but I think you COULD make this game good, the graphics and world look really nice, and the story has some interesting ideas, but you need to go back and work out some of the kinks for a few months honestly. Or this will just be the next Immortals Fenyx Rising, aka a game that could have been great and spawned seqeals, but just no one cared about it.

(Also why are the only fps options 60 and unlimited...just let us set a framerate...this isn't a console game lol)

(Also Also, why is there a carry limit on resources, forcing you to go back to base and deposit them... in a game that has teleporters to get around the world faster...just seems like a **** you to the players time for literally no reason and super destroys the exploration fun, enjoyment and immersion...its single player, just make the inventory unlimited...

It feels like lots of these minor issues would of been spotted and brought up instantly by any amount of game testing with players, so I am not sure why they exist or what reasons you had for doing things like limiting inventory in a SP product... and that really doesnt fill me with confidence that later parts of the game are going to be fun, when the very first hour of gameplay has glaringly obvious issues that 99.9999% of gamers would of brought up in testing.)

[ste cheese]

Yeah it's holding me back from buying it now that I've played it. It's quite amateur-ish, though that feels a bit harsh. Reminds of how alot of the janky survival games play. I think the lock on camera gives it away, doesn't feel like a deliberate design decision, more like the combat is so janky it's necessary to stop it being completely unplayable.

[Fiach]

Thanks for the views on the game, no demo for PS 5 users unfortunately so this is a huge help.

[racun]

agreed 100% feel the same way. I guess that's what happens when you make a botw-like game

[LeJon]

Gotta say I agree, immediately loading into cartoon dialogue scenes and then the way fighting is handled I'm not entirely sure how to explain it but I felt like I was playing an indie game.

It's a shame too cause the trailers on youtube made gameplay look so much more dynamic or maybe those are all just late game areas? Idk. The devs seem to be very receptive to feedback so hopefully improvements are introduced down the line though I haven't played enough to properly word how I'd go about providing more constructive feedback.

[yellowbrickgames_devs]

Hey folks! Appreciate the detailed and honest thoughts here. 😊 This helps us immensely as developers to figure out how to improve our game.

Regarding the game feeling "indie" - that's because it basically is! We're an independent studio that's self-publishing this game, so our resources are definitely nowhere near on par with a huge AAA studio. This means that we need to make tough choices at times when it comes to what we can include in the game in terms of features, etc., but ultimately we've tried to make the best bang for your buck at $39.99USD with 25-35 hours of main story gameplay (and more for 100%!).

That said, we're always eager to improve and with more feedback from you folks, we can continue to bring QoL changes that will help the game feel better! Please feel free to keep leaving your feedback for us to read, and we'll promise to keep doing our best to continue to improve the game. 😊

[Spynosaurus]

Something that I just noticed. Why do we have to run all the way back to town just to store our resources? That's a weird choice.

[stickydude]

Originally posted by yellowbrickgames_devs:

Hey there! Thanks so much for leaving your detailed feedback. This helps us figure out where to focus our efforts in the future to continue improving the game post-launch! 😊

We know that the game won't resonate with everyone perfectly, so we really appreciate you leaving your honest thoughts here. The specific details also help us better understand what is and isn't clicking for you!

Thank you in any case for giving it a try and hopefully in the future we can win you over as we continue to make improvements to the game! 💛

Guys, this is something you should have figured out before the launch, not after the game is forgotten by everyone.
I also think the demo was a great idea, because I never heard of this game before, but after trying it I was positive at first, because I like janky games like this, but then it got progressively worse, I'm not sure if that helps you in any way.

- The tutorial location is absolutely boring and uninteresting.
- I love the idea of playing with fire and ice, but the way you introduce it is isn't engaging enough
- The first enemy I encountered was derpy and jumping around aimlessly lol, actually made me feel bad for it. The flying enemy wasn't much better.
- The combat is pretty basic, but overall OK, so I don't mind, but even Elex was more entertaining to me
- I watched the first two cutscenes, then skipped the rest, they didn't grab me.
- The second location is broken and suddenly everything seems to be running at 720p for no reason

One moment I ABSOLUTELY LOVED was freezing the dragon's head to the ground and seeing it struggle being stuck while hacking it. Really freaking awesome system, but I found it by accident and I feel like you don't focus on it enough considering everything else just isn't terribly exciting.

Good luck with your game guys, I know how much work it takes to finish a project and get it out there.

[eboyarama]

yeah I was hyped for this but the lack of any sort of feedback on my actions just makes the whole game feel like a wet blanket with no personality. bummer.

just so this post isn't without any substance, I gathered some (I think) rather objective feedback, too:

- Autoplay for dialogue cutscenes
- Skip for dialogue cutscenes
- Ultrawide support for cutscenes (have it be opt-in if it could break anything)
- HDR support
- The weapon wheel and the magic wheel should be able to switch between the last 2 used weapons/spells by tapping it
- kinetic magic feels awful (wouldn't make it feel better but a trajectory for the item I am about to throw would help.)
- weapons feel very weak, might be an early game thing though
- climbing feels unpredictable
- the light coming off of the fire lingers way too long and is way too red
- critical / weak point hits could use a different color or at least an exclamation mark
- mouse sensitivity should be able to go lower than 50
- the icon's for Weaver's Grasp and Ensearing Blast look too similar
- Ensnearing Blast is not immediately/obviously useful
- what determines the color of my outfit?
- just to say something nice the SotC inspired bossfight was dope as hell. hoping for more of those.

this game needs to be delayed, hard. keep playing TOTK. I think you'll get there eventually, I think the bones are there.

edit: just saw you gyus want to release in a week. do not do this under any circumstances. if so: start sending out resumees yesterday.

[yellowbrickgames_devs]

Originally posted by Spynosaurs:

Something that I just noticed. Why do we have to run all the way back to town just to store our resources? That's a weird choice.

Hey there! So the intention behind this was on multiple fronts:
- As a whole, we want players to feel like "scouting" as the Point is risky.
- We want players to experience the change in day/night cycles, as well as weather and Epic rotations.
- And finally, we want players to talk to the companions a little bit on a regular basis to get new quests, information, etc.

For these reasons, we felt that cashing in your resources at basecamp was an important design choice, though we know that not everything will resonate perfectly with everyone! To us, this seemed to strike the right balance of risk vs reward. Happy to hear more of your thoughts on this, though! 😊

[yellowbrickgames_devs]

Originally posted by stickydude:

Guys, this is something you should have figured out before the launch, not after the game is forgotten by everyone.
I also think the demo was a great idea, because I never heard of this game before, but after trying it I was positive at first, because I like janky games like this, but then it got progressively worse, I'm not sure if that helps you in any way.

- The tutorial location is absolutely boring and uninteresting.
- I love the idea of playing with fire and ice, but the way you introduce it is isn't engaging enough
- The first enemy I encountered was derpy and jumping around aimlessly lol, actually made me feel bad for it. The flying enemy wasn't much better.
- The combat is pretty basic, but overall OK, so I don't mind, but even Elex was more entertaining to me
- I watched the first two cutscenes, then skipped the rest, they didn't grab me.
- The second location is broken and suddenly everything seems to be running at 720p for no reason

One moment I ABSOLUTELY LOVED was freezing the dragon's head to the ground and seeing it struggle being stuck while hacking it. Really freaking awesome system, but I found it by accident and I feel like you don't focus on it enough considering everything else just isn't terribly exciting.

Good luck with your game guys, I know how much work it takes to finish a project and get it out there.

Really appreciate the detailed feedback here! We know that the game won't grab absolutely everyone, but it seems like a lot of the prologue/tutorial didn't click with you. We'd be really curious to hear if this continues to be the case with the rest of the game, or if it really was just the tutorial section for you!

Regarding the second location being "broken" - could you please give more context? Is it just a graphics / visual issue you're experiencing? More details will help us better understand what you mean!

In any case, thank you so much for taking all this time to share your thoughts with us. We really appreciate the honest feedback, and we'd love to hear if your opinions change over time as you keep playing the game or not. 💛

[yellowbrickgames_devs]

Originally posted by eboyarama:

yeah I was hyped for this but the lack of any sort of feedback on my actions just makes the whole game feel like a wet blanket with no personality. bummer.

just so this post isn't without any substance, I gathered some (I think) rather objective feedback, too:

- Autoplay for dialogue cutscenes
- Skip for dialogue cutscenes
- Ultrawide support for cutscenes (have it be opt-in if it could break anything)
- HDR support
- The weapon wheel and the magic wheel should be able to switch between the last 2 used weapons/spells by tapping it
- kinetic magic feels awful (wouldn't make it feel better but a trajectory for the item I am about to throw would help.)
- weapons feel very weak, might be an early game thing though
- climbing feels unpredictable
- the light coming off of the fire lingers way too long and is way too red
- critical / weak point hits could use a different color or at least an exclamation mark
- mouse sensitivity should be able to go lower than 50
- the icon's for Weaver's Grasp and Ensearing Blast look too similar
- Ensnearing Blast is not immediately/obviously useful
- what determines the color of my outfit?
- just to say something nice the SotC inspired bossfight was dope as hell. hoping for more of those.

this game needs to be delayed, hard. keep playing TOTK. I think you'll get there eventually, I think the bones are there.

edit: just saw you gyus want to release in a week. do not do this under any circumstances. if so: start sending out resumees yesterday.

Hey there! Thanks for leaving us your honest thoughts! Giving you some answers and asking some additional questions below:
- Autoplay for dialogue cutscenes -> This does exist in both settings and as a toggle (triangle / Y on controller)

- Skip for dialogue cutscenes -> Do you mean an entire scene skip? You are able to skip through dialogue by clicking through, but let us know!

- The weapon wheel and the magic wheel should be able to switch between the last 2 used weapons/spells by tapping it -> Are you playing on controller or KB&M? There are hotkeys for KB&M if that's what you're playing on, but well noted for controller!

- weapons feel very weak, might be an early game thing though -> Yes, the intention is to keep upgrading / crafting new weapons. Let us know if this is still feeling too "weak" though, as the intention is to swap between magic casting and weapons continuously in combat!

- climbing feels unpredictable -> Could you please provide more context on this? Is it in environments or on Epics specifically?

- critical / weak point hits could use a different color or at least an exclamation mark -> The "skin" that takes damage is a different color, but do you mean that it's not distinct enough?

- Ensnearing Blast is not immediately/obviously useful -> This is fair, but if you keep experimenting, you may find some deadly combos!

- what determines the color of my outfit? -> The loot you're using has different colors associated with it, which in turn changes how the armor looks! We are looking into a dyeing system for post-launch. 😊

As for the rest, thank you SO much for taking the time to give us all of this feedback! We will continue to improve on the game even in post-launch, but the nature of self-publishing means that we often need to make hard choices in development. No game is perfect (ours certainly isn't!), but with feedback like this, we'll be able to keep making positive changes that we hope will resonate well with you all. 💛

[stickydude]

Originally posted by yellowbrickgames_devs:

Originally posted by stickydude:

Guys, this is something you should have figured out before the launch, not after the game is forgotten by everyone.
I also think the demo was a great idea, because I never heard of this game before, but after trying it I was positive at first, because I like janky games like this, but then it got progressively worse, I'm not sure if that helps you in any way.

- The tutorial location is absolutely boring and uninteresting.
- I love the idea of playing with fire and ice, but the way you introduce it is isn't engaging enough
- The first enemy I encountered was derpy and jumping around aimlessly lol, actually made me feel bad for it. The flying enemy wasn't much better.
- The combat is pretty basic, but overall OK, so I don't mind, but even Elex was more entertaining to me
- I watched the first two cutscenes, then skipped the rest, they didn't grab me.
- The second location is broken and suddenly everything seems to be running at 720p for no reason

One moment I ABSOLUTELY LOVED was freezing the dragon's head to the ground and seeing it struggle being stuck while hacking it. Really freaking awesome system, but I found it by accident and I feel like you don't focus on it enough considering everything else just isn't terribly exciting.

Good luck with your game guys, I know how much work it takes to finish a project and get it out there.

Really appreciate the detailed feedback here! We know that the game won't grab absolutely everyone, but it seems like a lot of the prologue/tutorial didn't click with you. We'd be really curious to hear if this continues to be the case with the rest of the game, or if it really was just the tutorial section for you!

Regarding the second location being "broken" - could you please give more context? Is it just a graphics / visual issue you're experiencing? More details will help us better understand what you mean!

In any case, thank you so much for taking all this time to share your thoughts with us. We really appreciate the honest feedback, and we'd love to hear if your opinions change over time as you keep playing the game or not. 💛

Thank you for being so kind despite the criticisms, I may have to buy it just to support you now lol

I was actually looking forward to seeing more after the dragon fight to see if the game expands with different elements (since that's my favorite part), but then the second location (the town), while beautiful, looks very low resolution compared to the tutorial area.
It's like setting the resolution to 720p on my 1440p display, it just looks blurry and uncomfortable, but definitely not the way it should (like everything before).

I'm not sure if it's some kind of filter or a bug on my end, I've tried switching between fullscreen and borderless, disabling DLSS and restarting the game and it's always pretty much the same. Sucks because it's otherwise beautiful.

[Concrete]

I am 2.5 hours into the demo and I do not share all the complaints. I do feel like the parry window is weird against the dog like creatures but doing it against archers is much easier.

I also found it easy to skip the current dialogue and the next one by accident. I am glad I found out I could use Y to make it proceed automatically to minimize this. I think a delay or something for the dialogue skip would be good. Could just require me to lift off the button fully before it works again.