Suggestions / Ideas

[FQ_Dom]

Is there any specific feature you'd like to see in New Arc Line or do you simply want to share your thoughts about the game? Post them here!

[Vovan DeSallev]

How do you like this idea of adding Russian as a New Year's gift? It's been a month now.

[templar1138]

Originally posted by NordPaladin:

How do you like this idea of adding Russian as a New Year's gift? It's been a month now.

You REALLY don't want them to try translating into another language when their English is already so sloppy.

[juliejayne]

Originally posted by NordPaladin:

How do you like this idea of adding Russian as a New Year's gift? It's been a month now.

I would rather not.
A. russian would make me feel uncomfortable with the current war ongoing.
B. The Devs still have lots to do, translations typically come later in the Dev cycle so that they don't need to be redone when the game changes.

[Eliy Orcko]

Steam Deck support.

[UrbanHermit]

Originally posted by templar1138:

Originally posted by NordPaladin:

How do you like this idea of adding Russian as a New Year's gift? It's been a month now.

You REALLY don't want them to try translating into another language when their English is already so sloppy.

What are you talking about? For the amount of dialogue, written and voiced, the English in this game is quite good. I consider the voice acting to be excellent. Are you even aware that Dreamate Games, the developer, is a Ukrainian company? You know, the folks who are in the middle of fighting a war with one of the largest armies on the planet.

No, it's not perfect, I could easily make a list of typos and punctuation/spelling errors I've noticed. I imagine these are things that will be addressed at a later stage of development.

[Vovan DeSallev]

Originally posted by juliejayne:

russian would make me feel uncomfortable with the current war ongoing.

Just don't shake

[Rhyss]

Just finished the Early Access content as an elf voodoo shaman who tried to tip the scales in favor of magic wherever I went. It was a lot of fun! It holds a lot of promise, and I look forward to it getting polished up as things progress. Thoughts as follows:


Things I liked

- The meter indicating magic/tech balance. It felt like the environment changed a little when the balance went towards magic (e.g. glowing mushrooms growing under bridges, more greenery), but it was subtle. I also enjoyed the different types of tech and different types of magic available, and how they would scale off the different attributes.

- The random side activities, like feeding the cat and feeding the fish or carnival games. Also enjoyed how they would provide you with their own reward after feeding several times. Personally think the fish should give a reward equivalent to the ring from stray cats instead of a pearl that's later sold, but that’s just me

- The Ship Graveyard and the Orphanage questline. These two were my favorite areas because of the creepy factor. Especially the dimension you go to with the teddy bear and the place you fight Master Nemerys . The voodoo vibes gave it a unique atmosphere.

- The rich environment. I didn't get bored of looking at it. There were some places I just stood to people watch a bit - like the one where it looked like a dwarf was on one knee proposing near the water, or the area in the slums where it looked like a child had spilled some fruit and his mother looked frustrated. Or the people working/slaving away in a factory, getting into fights, etc.

- Characters and plot. They felt unique and enjoyable. I came to rely on Mick quite often being a squishy mage lol. Letta was the AOE DPS I desperately needed, but I got her late and she's pretty stoic, so I didn't get a good feel for her character. Maghda being a groupie for the ?Celestial magic Weaver was hilarious. . I liked how magic and tech intersected and played off each other.


Suggestions for improvement, in order of higher to lower priority/impact

- In-game representation of magic/tech balance on environment and people. It seems like this is important to the story so why not make it more visible? At the beginning of the game at the port and slum, magic/tech was balanced per the scale, but seemed more tech-oriented in design. Perhaps these areas start more tech-oriented on the scale, then the environment changes based on decisions made. You could show the shift in balance in several ways. For example, have magic-oriented NPCs complain in high-tech areas, or tech-oriented NPCs complain in high-magic areas, even if it's just background people and vendors commenting. Maybe technologists get migraines when the balance shifts towards magic. Or maybe your PC passes comments; I could imagine my mage saying "All this steel makes my skin crawl" or something to that effect when entering a tech-heavy area and expressing comfort when in a magic-heavy area. Maybe the enemies change and what quests are available change as well based on whether magic or tech is favored in an area. I imagine it would add replay value as well.

- Spellcasting and spell creation. I do like the idea of getting cards from rifts to make spells vs getting them at level up. It drives home the "mages try to make sense from the whispers of Weavers" worldbuilding detail. However, I did not figure this out until the last half of the slum section of EA, and that was by poking around the menu buttons in the top right-hand corner. I think this should be introduced earlier in the story somehow. Maybe Red Simon has a mage associate that introduces these ideas as a skippable tutorial to a mage PC, or Maghda introduces it to a technologist PC. I think the game would also benefit from a clearer indication of what spells will increase corruption, because I could not tell. Ended up resorting to trial and error, which was a bit of a detractor from the combat experience.

- Inventory. I think others have brought this up but will give my two cents. I don't mind grid inventory when used as a visual representation of carry capacity. My character had a strength of 1, she isn't going to be able to haul around a lot. But it looked like inventory was infinite or close to. If it’s kept as a grid inventory, then adding limits based on character’s strength, or the collective strength of the party (like in Pathfinder WOTR) could help. A sorting feature, as well as shared inventory across PC and companions, would also be nice. It would also be helpful to have a tooltip for comparing stats of what is equipped vs the item the cursor is hovering over.

- Consumables. Simple and easy to use but would benefit from some more variety and a sooner introduction. Maybe Mick introduces tech crafting when you recruit him as a skippable tutorial. I made ample use of grenades during the EA and kitted out Mick with steam tech armor. Not sure what the bullets were for – I could not equip it to anyone, nor did it seem to decrease in quantity after fights after recruiting Letta. If bullets are going to be implemented as a consumable resource, changing it in the crafting menu to a generic cartridge that is spent upon reloading could help with immersion. Would also like to see some consumables mages could craft and use. I could see a voodoo shaman not shying away from using monster organs to create a magical grenade for damage or debuffing (helpful in tech-heavy areas, when more powerful debuffing spells inflict corruption). Maybe Maghda can create healing potions. Also some more variety with what items can be enchanted – as far as I could find it was just the voodoo boots, but I think mage characters being able to further enchant their own equipment would be cool too. Base it on tags like “celestial magic” or “voodoo magic.” Also, could introduce cooking for minor healing and buffs.

- Dialogue Tags/symbols. I sometimes hit the "move conversation forward" option without realizing it was so and missed additional details. I am the type that likes exhausting every conversation option I can before moving forward. You've all spent so much time making the world, would hate to miss out on content. Perhaps you could introduce a series of symbols that stand for the intent of the dialogue option selected. For example, different symbols for information gathering or making observations vs options that move conversation forward to next branch vs making a choice that impacts outcome of quest. Would also be helpful for tags to give warnings that the following option will progress the story and force you to leave the current area you're in.

- Companions. I would like more opportunities to interact with the characters and talk about backstories. Hoping for companion quests and loyalty missions too. Maybe when you enter the “home base” for an area you get the opportunity to do so. Also voiced banter would be nice. I also echo what others have said and introduce “pets” - animals/creatures for mages and small automotons for technologists. Having the option to “upgrade” these pets by caring for them would be cool too – for example, you get a magical creature egg and feed the hatchling or perform maintenance on the small automotons. Once they get to a certain level, they could help you in quests and combat, serving as distractions or retrieving hidden objects.

- Map and navigation. The map would benefit from having additional details added as you explore more of it. I got lost several times during the slum area looking for the crafting station for Mick’s armor, or looking the cockatrice for his armor and orc to give him back the orb. I think adding additional labels to the map as they’re found could help. Maybe a handwritten label appears on an important area every time it’s found (e.g. NPCs of note, quest areas) on a map with landmarks already labeled.

- Character creation Feels pretty robust for EA. I’m guessing more races and classes will become available as time passes. It would be nice to have more options for faces, and to be able to zoom up on the face a bit more – sometimes it was a bit difficult to see some details. For mage characters, it might be cool to introduce the idea of Weavers here and be able to select which one(s) your character is attuned to most.


This is getting long so I’ll stop for now, but looking forward to future updates and seeing how the game evolves. Thanks for making this and sharing it with us 😊

[cj-9er]

I've played for about an hour so far and am really enjoying it. Having everything voice-acted would make the game a lot more immersive. One thing I found distracting was reading dialogue and NPCs walking into my character and then having reactionary animations. Some were funny, but when it happens three or four times, it's like someone talking to you while you read a book. I do think the voice acting so far is done pretty well so far.

[Saint Landwalker]

Just picked up the game today, after a bit of play figured I would give some quick initial thoughts before I keep pressing forward (for context, I just reached Tatterhold Slums, so not a ton of progress yet).

• The game's vibes of "spiritual successor to Arcanum" are everywhere, and I love it. The aesthetics of the city are fantastic and do a great job of conveying the setting.
  
  
• There are a fair number of inconsistencies in characters' dialogue. Most of the examples are noticeable differences between the voiced speech and the subtitle text (which especially jumped out at me during the play, and during the conversation between the police officers just after entering the slums), but there's also at least one case where the text didn't even agree with itself—when one character refers to themselves in the third-person, the name that indicates them as the speaker isn't the same as the name they use in the dialogue itself (Alen vs. Alain).
  
  Obviously, Early Access and all that, but the game is likely to need some extensive proofreading, and some of these discrepancies are pretty jarring.
  
  
• Secondary quests / sidequests don't show up in the journal at all once they're complete, and some of them (like Martin Owlman) don't show up at all.
  
  
• It was mentioned above as well, but NPCs randomly walking into the middle of a dialogue scene, sometimes bumping into another character (or into nothing) and flailing about for a couple of seconds doesn't do wonders for immersion. NPCs really need to just... stay out of the way in those situations.
  
  
• On the subject of kooky animations, often characters in dialogue scenes really look like they need to... settle down. They're constantly swinging back and forth, turning their heads every which way—they look like they're practicing monologues for theater club and trying to remember their lines by aimlessly casting their gaze around. Conversing characters really need to be more "focused" on, you know, their conversation, unless "antsy and looking everywhere" is situationally appropriate (e.g. Mick's policeman buddy).
  
  
• At least two, humorously side-by-side, cases where an NPC was... well I'm not really sure what they were doing, actually, but they each snagged on a (separate) piece of scenery and proceeded to levitate two feet off the ground while repeatedly bumping into it: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3400647452
  
  
• I honestly can't tell if Secondary Points / things like Opportunity Attack and Preemptive Shot just flat out don't work, or if they're so poorly explained that it's nearly impossible to figure out how to get them to work.
  
  
• In combat, it would be nice to have some sort of "safeguard" to prevent characters from moving due to an errant click—this was particularly an issue for me when I was trying to click on icons in the action bar (e.g. I tried clicking on the "Secondary Points" icon to see if maybe that was related to getting the reaction actions to work, but instead my characters moves to whatever location was immediately behind that icon).
  
  
• I understand for gameplay reasons that it's desirous for the first area to be "mechanics-neutral" in terms of the Tech/Magic balance, but the arrival port very much does not feel like a "neutral zone." From the folks complaining about magic's evils to the ubiquitous machinery everywhere, the port doesn't exactly scream "this is a balanced area."
  
  
• I'm sure there are good reasons for it from a "don't screw over the player" standpoint, but the fact that there are no consequences for failing a pickpocket or steal attempt feels kind of silly.
  
  
• Personal preference, but I'd like to be able to angle the camera closer to the ground than ~45° angle that's the lowest currently available. Would also be nice to be able to zoom in a little further. I want to admire my character more. =P
  
  
• Poor Mick, he really should come with a shirt in his inventory or something.
  
  
• I figured it out by trial and error, but it would be nice to have some in-game clarity that technologist characters can't equip or use magic items (and, presumably, vice versa), such as the voodoo staff or magic scrolls.
  
  
• On the note of inventory, the whole screen feels awkward, or maybe it's just glitchy. Sometimes clicking on an item picks it up, sometimes it doesn't; right-clicking brings up the option to give the item to a companion, but if you right-click again while that menu is open, it doesn't switch the menu to the "new" right-clicked item; dropping an item on top of another item doesn't automatically pick up the displaced item; there doesn't seem to be a "quick equip/unequip" option, instead requiring that everything be dragged everywhere; there's no auto-sort; and of course, the inventory itself is enormous, but I'm assuming things like weight limitations are planned to be added later given that items already have weights listed.
  
  
• Would like it if hovering over a particular equipment "slot" brought up a tooltip telling you what that slot was actually for, just for improved clarity.
  
  
• Often, dialogue options don't all fit on the screen at once, which then requires scrolling around to see them all, which is both a pesky minor annoyance but also distracting from the conversation / interaction itself.
  
  
• In the category of "silly little things that will probably be fixed later but are glaring currently," characters game models not matching their portraits. I know this may be tough for the protagonist, but I assure you people are going to get annoyed that their portrait doesn't look like their character, while having NPCs who don't look like their portraits (Mick just can't catch a break) feels especially odd.

Whew, that ended up being more than I thought it would be.

I hope this doesn't come off as too negative, because I really do think the game is incredibly interesting, and it has a great environment and premise. I'm really looking forward to seeing where it goes from here!

[space]

is there a separate volume slider for music now?

[Necrosian]

Originally posted by space:

is there a separate volume slider for music now?

Yes

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3401144946

[space]

thanks

[brokoreus]

Cutscene dialogues are weird and just not good. I'd rather have absolutely no dialogue cutscenes than have characters moving so unnaturally. It seems pretty clear that the reasoning for the odd movements is that the mouths don't sync up to the voice acting, and you're having the characters move around a lot so it helps mask the mouths' movements so people don't notice.

The worst dialogue so far was with Mick and the policeman at the stairs after you just meet him. They both contort their bodies weirdly, and it's very overly done and almost creepy. The second worst, I think, is the dwarf who is drunk and he's supposed to fix the machine to produce your suitcase.

This element of the game has really bugged me right from the start. I haven't even gotten that far. Just now took the boat to the slums after dealing with the theater people. The characters look like Freddy Fazbear and his automaton buddies as opposed to real people, so it makes it very hard to get invested in any of them or view them as even being people whatsoever. The voices don't line up with the images on the screen, and I feel like I'm watching a movie or TV show where the video is lagging and the audio is way ahead of it.

So I suggest syncing up the lips with the voice acting, but first and foremost just stop with the weird movements. If that's not gonna work, just don't even have cutscenes for dialogue. It looks much more natural if the camera is zoomed out the whole time. The scenes where it is zoomed out during dialogue are much less strange.

1. Work on making the character movements more natural looking.
2. Sync up the mouths with the voice acting.
3. If you can't do 1 and 2, then just keep all dialogues zoomed out with no cutscenes.

[brokoreus]

Originally posted by Saint Landwalker:

Just picked up the game today, after a bit of play figured I would give some quick initial thoughts before I keep pressing forward (for context, I just reached Tatterhold Slums, so not a ton of progress yet).

• The game's vibes of "spiritual successor to Arcanum" are everywhere, and I love it. The aesthetics of the city are fantastic and do a great job of conveying the setting.
  
  
• There are a fair number of inconsistencies in characters' dialogue. Most of the examples are noticeable differences between the voiced speech and the subtitle text (which especially jumped out at me during the play, and during the conversation between the police officers just after entering the slums), but there's also at least one case where the text didn't even agree with itself—when one character refers to themselves in the third-person, the name that indicates them as the speaker isn't the same as the name they use in the dialogue itself (Alen vs. Alain).
  
  Obviously, Early Access and all that, but the game is likely to need some extensive proofreading, and some of these discrepancies are pretty jarring.
  
  
• Secondary quests / sidequests don't show up in the journal at all once they're complete, and some of them (like Martin Owlman) don't show up at all.
  
  
• It was mentioned above as well, but NPCs randomly walking into the middle of a dialogue scene, sometimes bumping into another character (or into nothing) and flailing about for a couple of seconds doesn't do wonders for immersion. NPCs really need to just... stay out of the way in those situations.
  
  
• On the subject of kooky animations, often characters in dialogue scenes really look like they need to... settle down. They're constantly swinging back and forth, turning their heads every which way—they look like they're practicing monologues for theater club and trying to remember their lines by aimlessly casting their gaze around. Conversing characters really need to be more "focused" on, you know, their conversation, unless "antsy and looking everywhere" is situationally appropriate (e.g. Mick's policeman buddy).
  
  
• At least two, humorously side-by-side, cases where an NPC was... well I'm not really sure what they were doing, actually, but they each snagged on a (separate) piece of scenery and proceeded to levitate two feet off the ground while repeatedly bumping into it: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3400647452
  
  
• I honestly can't tell if Secondary Points / things like Opportunity Attack and Preemptive Shot just flat out don't work, or if they're so poorly explained that it's nearly impossible to figure out how to get them to work.
  
  
• In combat, it would be nice to have some sort of "safeguard" to prevent characters from moving due to an errant click—this was particularly an issue for me when I was trying to click on icons in the action bar (e.g. I tried clicking on the "Secondary Points" icon to see if maybe that was related to getting the reaction actions to work, but instead my characters moves to whatever location was immediately behind that icon).
  
  
• I understand for gameplay reasons that it's desirous for the first area to be "mechanics-neutral" in terms of the Tech/Magic balance, but the arrival port very much does not feel like a "neutral zone." From the folks complaining about magic's evils to the ubiquitous machinery everywhere, the port doesn't exactly scream "this is a balanced area."
  
  
• I'm sure there are good reasons for it from a "don't screw over the player" standpoint, but the fact that there are no consequences for failing a pickpocket or steal attempt feels kind of silly.
  
  
• Personal preference, but I'd like to be able to angle the camera closer to the ground than ~45° angle that's the lowest currently available. Would also be nice to be able to zoom in a little further. I want to admire my character more. =P
  
  
• Poor Mick, he really should come with a shirt in his inventory or something.
  
  
• I figured it out by trial and error, but it would be nice to have some in-game clarity that technologist characters can't equip or use magic items (and, presumably, vice versa), such as the voodoo staff or magic scrolls.
  
  
• On the note of inventory, the whole screen feels awkward, or maybe it's just glitchy. Sometimes clicking on an item picks it up, sometimes it doesn't; right-clicking brings up the option to give the item to a companion, but if you right-click again while that menu is open, it doesn't switch the menu to the "new" right-clicked item; dropping an item on top of another item doesn't automatically pick up the displaced item; there doesn't seem to be a "quick equip/unequip" option, instead requiring that everything be dragged everywhere; there's no auto-sort; and of course, the inventory itself is enormous, but I'm assuming things like weight limitations are planned to be added later given that items already have weights listed.
  
  
• Would like it if hovering over a particular equipment "slot" brought up a tooltip telling you what that slot was actually for, just for improved clarity.
  
  
• Often, dialogue options don't all fit on the screen at once, which then requires scrolling around to see them all, which is both a pesky minor annoyance but also distracting from the conversation / interaction itself.
  
  
• In the category of "silly little things that will probably be fixed later but are glaring currently," characters game models not matching their portraits. I know this may be tough for the protagonist, but I assure you people are going to get annoyed that their portrait doesn't look like their character, while having NPCs who don't look like their portraits (Mick just can't catch a break) feels especially odd.

Whew, that ended up being more than I thought it would be.

I hope this doesn't come off as too negative, because I really do think the game is incredibly interesting, and it has a great environment and premise. I'm really looking forward to seeing where it goes from here!

Besides my own post, I pretty much agree with every critique in this post as well.

[xenaretos]

At the moment the gear is class-restricted, so, it's not just about technologists being unable to equip or use magic items, but a diesel engineer can't use steam tech items and vice versa.
Hopefully, this will be resolved in the future.