Some feedback after 2.5 hours

[TheKazz]

Just wanted to give some feedback based on my first impressions of the game.

- I play with ESDF not WASD so being unable to rebind basic movement controls is a huge negative for me.

- Basic movement (meaning normal walking/running without sprinting) feels bad. It feels both sluggish and slippery which is not pleasant. When I try to duck into cover I am often going further and popping up on top of the cover I am trying to hide behind despite it feeling very slow to duck in and out of cover. Just to illustrate the problem here the climb speed is literally faster than default movement speed.

- Speaking of climbing it is way too difficult to start climbing. Like why can I climb up a 110 degree incline but I just slide off a 60-80 degree incline? Please make the climbing start before a full 90 degree incline. Basically as soon as the player starts sliding they should be able to start climbing. Tho with climbing not consuming stamina I am not even sure what the point of having the player slide at all is.

- Additionally it would be great if there was an easy way to transition from the grappling hook straight into a wall climb rather than having to awkwardly jump off the grapple and into the wall. Maybe using right click while touching a wall in grapple to cut the grapple and start climbing?

- The jump has way too much applied forward momentum. I often find myself jumping off ledges because of the forward momentum of the jump even without pressing any movement keys.

- The need to collect sticks and scrap metal despite being able to chop trees and mine/smelt metal is annoying. It would be much better to do what every other survival game does and just make picking up sticks translate into wood and just have a basic wood resource rather than making sticks a bespoke and necessary crafting resource. If I chop down a whole tree I should not need to run around and gather sticks. Same with scrap metal. If I can make Iron ingots I should be able to craft those ingots into iron plate and use that in place of what ever I'd use scrap metal for. Having these as bespoke and necessary crafting components just adds tedium.

- The character creator needs work. The first step should not be to pick an ancestry that means nothing to a new player and arbitrarily locks customization options behind which of those ancestries is selected. If you are going to include an ancestry selection at all at the very least you need to explain why it matters or give a brief lore explanation of what that ancestry's culture is and what it might effect in game. It's also fine to have different presets for those ancestries but I see no reason to lock out cosmetic options between those different selections.

- Comparing the Breath of the Wild style hang glider to the wing suit style glider in Worlds a Drift this seems like a big down grade and is way less enjoyable. I am hoping the glider from Worlds a Drift is still in the game but just comes up later but if not please add that back into the game because it was so much more enjoyable to use.

- Speaking of the glider I've noticed there is significant delay between when you leave the ground and when you can activate it that just feels awkward. Please remove this cool-down/delay before you can open the glider.

- I like the changes made to ship building compared to Worlds Adrift it feels way less Janky being able to make full panels rather than trying to bend square panels around the frame that always ended up looking like 40k Orks built the airship. The new aesthetic is much nicer.

- I am really hoping that we get at least some basic voice overs add to the game even it it is just the Ark Computer.

- The default camera angle while piloting is way to low. I don't want to be looking at the floor. IMO it would be better to not have pitch and roll controls while piloting. Just keep the ship level and let the players freely look around while piloting by default. If you really really want pitch and roll controls then give me the option to either toggle or invert how the free look controls activate in the options menu. I'd much rather press alt to control pitch and roll rather than press alt to free look.

[kankan]

Totaly agree.

And i would also like to be able to modify your ship without having to go to the shipyard. Building a shipyard to add a chest, a staircase or a workbench is a pain.

I would also like to have the possibility to play in first person view (not only for piloting the ship)

[Eudoxical]

Originally posted by kankan:

Totaly agree.

And i would also like to be able to modify your ship without having to go to the shipyard. Building a shipyard to add a chest, a staircase or a workbench is a pain.

I would also like to have the possibility to play in first person view (not only for piloting the ship)

First person view is an absolute must! 3rd person makes a lot of gamers nauseous, including me.

[Tustle]

Originally posted by Eudoxical:

First person view is an absolute must! 3rd person makes a lot of gamers nauseous, including me.

3rd Person may not make me nauseous but 1st Person View would be damn handy for placing objects within the sometimes tight confines of a skyship.

Originally posted by TheKazz:

- I am hoping the glider from Worlds a Drift is still in the game but just comes up later but if not please add that back into the game because it was so much more enjoyable to use.

...oh right and good news, the Worlds Adrift style glider is an upgrade in the Ark Computer that we can get at now in the demo.

[Spahar]

Totally agree with all the points. I haven't played Worlds Adrift and didn't spend more than an hour on the demo, but all these small things (like moving, grapple, jump) gave me the impression of an unpolished game in very basic stuff, that discouraged me from spending more time.

[Ozgamer]

no first person option = no buy

[Seaspite]

I would add to this. The game needs some kind of map. Maybe I just missed it playing with a controller

[Old Rabbit]

ragdoll and manual aiming with the hook.

[bonesbro]

Team ESDF reporting! Really want the ability to rebind movement.

The other thing really annoying me is the limited quickbar. It's particularly annoying because a gathering tool and a bandage takes up half your quickbar permanently. I spent a lot of time going into my inventory and equipping things.

[CTRL]

Originally posted by TheKazz:

Just wanted to give some feedback based on my first impressions of the game.

- I play with ESDF not WASD so being unable to rebind basic movement controls is a huge negative for me.

- Basic movement (meaning normal walking/running without sprinting) feels bad. It feels both sluggish and slippery which is not pleasant. When I try to duck into cover I am often going further and popping up on top of the cover I am trying to hide behind despite it feeling very slow to duck in and out of cover. Just to illustrate the problem here the climb speed is literally faster than default movement speed.

- Speaking of climbing it is way too difficult to start climbing. Like why can I climb up a 110 degree incline but I just slide off a 60-80 degree incline? Please make the climbing start before a full 90 degree incline. Basically as soon as the player starts sliding they should be able to start climbing. Tho with climbing not consuming stamina I am not even sure what the point of having the player slide at all is.

- Additionally it would be great if there was an easy way to transition from the grappling hook straight into a wall climb rather than having to awkwardly jump off the grapple and into the wall. Maybe using right click while touching a wall in grapple to cut the grapple and start climbing?

- The jump has way too much applied forward momentum. I often find myself jumping off ledges because of the forward momentum of the jump even without pressing any movement keys.

- The need to collect sticks and scrap metal despite being able to chop trees and mine/smelt metal is annoying. It would be much better to do what every other survival game does and just make picking up sticks translate into wood and just have a basic wood resource rather than making sticks a bespoke and necessary crafting resource. If I chop down a whole tree I should not need to run around and gather sticks. Same with scrap metal. If I can make Iron ingots I should be able to craft those ingots into iron plate and use that in place of what ever I'd use scrap metal for. Having these as bespoke and necessary crafting components just adds tedium.

- The character creator needs work. The first step should not be to pick an ancestry that means nothing to a new player and arbitrarily locks customization options behind which of those ancestries is selected. If you are going to include an ancestry selection at all at the very least you need to explain why it matters or give a brief lore explanation of what that ancestry's culture is and what it might effect in game. It's also fine to have different presets for those ancestries but I see no reason to lock out cosmetic options between those different selections.

- Comparing the Breath of the Wild style hang glider to the wing suit style glider in Worlds a Drift this seems like a big down grade and is way less enjoyable. I am hoping the glider from Worlds a Drift is still in the game but just comes up later but if not please add that back into the game because it was so much more enjoyable to use.

- Speaking of the glider I've noticed there is significant delay between when you leave the ground and when you can activate it that just feels awkward. Please remove this cool-down/delay before you can open the glider.

- I like the changes made to ship building compared to Worlds Adrift it feels way less Janky being able to make full panels rather than trying to bend square panels around the frame that always ended up looking like 40k Orks built the airship. The new aesthetic is much nicer.

- I am really hoping that we get at least some basic voice overs add to the game even it it is just the Ark Computer.

- The default camera angle while piloting is way to low. I don't want to be looking at the floor. IMO it would be better to not have pitch and roll controls while piloting. Just keep the ship level and let the players freely look around while piloting by default. If you really really want pitch and roll controls then give me the option to either toggle or invert how the free look controls activate in the options menu. I'd much rather press alt to control pitch and roll rather than press alt to free look.

This is excellent feedback. Thanks for taking the time to write it.

[Lusthawk]

Regarding the issue with Scrap Metal. I just tested doing a run across the starting island collecting all I could, then went back into the ark, save & quit, relaunch and lots of scrap metal respawned

[TheKazz]

Originally posted by Lusthawk:

Regarding the issue with Scrap Metal. I just tested doing a run across the starting island collecting all I could, then went back into the ark, save & quit, relaunch and lots of scrap metal respawned

Wasn't really a issue of limited quantity It's a matter of tedium of logical consistency. If I have a stack of new metal why should I have to run around and collect scrap?

[Lusthawk]

Originally posted by TheKazz:

Originally posted by Lusthawk:

Regarding the issue with Scrap Metal. I just tested doing a run across the starting island collecting all I could, then went back into the ark, save & quit, relaunch and lots of scrap metal respawned

Wasn't really a issue of limited quantity It's a matter of tedium of logical consistency. If I have a stack of new metal why should I have to run around and collect scrap?

I agree with you completely. My first thought was about the hundreds of ore/ingots I had, and baffled that I couldn't use it in place of scrap metal. I posted that in case people were struggling to find scrap metal, not as a counterpoint to your argument ;)