Played the Demo - It was Disappointing to be honest

[Cyber Akuma]

This is a shame, as I was interested in this game since it was first shown long ago. Was worried it had been cancelled or something when I hadn't heard a word about it since then. Hearing about this demo made me jump to the Indie expo to try it.

So it hurts to say that.... this is pretty flawed.

I get that this demo is apparently from a much earlier build, but if that's the case, I really have no way of knowing where the game has gone since then, and can only really judge from what I had played.

First thing that struck me... no options? No way to configure any of the settings whatsoever? One-size-fits-all hardly works when it comes to PC games. ESPECIALLY with how excessive the bloom was, I really wish I could have turned that down. The bloom was the first thing I noticed... and it honestly hurt my eyes.

The menu seemed like it was a placeholder and not finished, especially at least, the Xbox360 controller dialog menu. The font, design, and coloring didn't feel like it fit with the game.

But those are small compared to the issues I ran into with the actual gameplay:

First of all, one big thing that got annoying was the language. I mean ok, I get it, lots of fantasy games have made up languages. Thing is, usually the characters are speaking/literate in that language, so we the player generally have no problem understanding what characters say or are reading because it's implied they are speaking/reading their language, but for the sake of gameplay it's translated for the player. Usually when you can't understand what is written or being said that's some intentional segment (rarely the whole game) where the character encounters another language they are not familiar with, and in many cases it's part of some questline or so to be able to translate it. Not only was it annoying, it was also overused and even used in the wrong places. Normally this is used in writing or when someone is talking, but I had actual dialog options also be written in that language. That doesn't even make sense, dialog options and actions would be thoughts or system messages that aren't even part of the game world, they aren't being "spoken" in any specific language and shouldn't be part of the made-up language of the game. And to top it all off, it's not even consistent! The names of areas that appear as you enter a new area were half this language and half English.... possibly the LEAST important part to actually translate, yet all the far more important parts were not translated at all. No translation of item names, system messages, system dialogs, even gameplay mechanics..... but let's translate area names that are superfluous! I didn't even know what some of the items do because of this silliness. I found some pig-looking item, and figured it was likely some kind of fairy-like or "takes a hit for you" item since it was somewhat hidden and resembled a stuffed animal. I was in trouble when fighting the boss and tried to use it and... it dropped money (and it was at this point that I even realized that stuff I was collecting was money, since the game doesn't explain ANYTHING, I assumed it was EXP since there is there is a ring around the counter which in games usually indicates how much until something “levels up”). I don't get why this item even exists. Why an item that you have to use to get money out of it? Why not just have the chest it was in drop the money directly like other chests did?

Second was that there were almost no instructions or tutorial whatsoever. Other than telling me to press RB... and then the game expecting you to figure it out from there, "LT" appearing above an enemy, and seeing the letters "RT" when I got the shield pretty much nothing else is told to you at all. Not that you have a roll button, or that holding it lets you run, or how combat combos work, or any of the other buttons, what the items do, that blocking with your shield uses stamina (the fact that a smaller copy of the stamina meter appears under your shield made me think it was a DURABILITY meter at first), and other mechanics that I likely even missed. There is a manual-like tutorial message..... that's some ways in AFTER you have already started playing..... but as the ultimate frustration, even THAT is written in the gibberish language.

The character also feels like he's moving quite slow for the size of the game world. I am glad I discovered a run (even if it's buggy and tends to make me roll if I touch against a wall and thus use up a big chunk of my stamina when he does so) feature so it would not be as annoying to get anywhere, especially if you need to backtrack to a heal or something else. Coincidently... I noticed that running doesn't appear to deplete your stamina, but you can't run if your stamina is out.... a bug? If it is a bug, I hope it stays because not being able to run considering the fox's normal walk speed would be painful.

Combat isn't much better either. In almost every case I didn't have to really dodge, block, or even think. I could just rush the enemy and mash attack, and with the speed my character attacks as well as the hit-stun that enemies get when hit, that killed off almost all of them. This could even work in groups of weaker enemies.

Breaking pots also seemed to actually put you at a disadvantage. On top of it being pointless as they didn't do or contain anything, this would cause debris that had collision detection... but you couldn't really interact with them further. This is made very obvious near the end where a chest containing a healing item is blocked by 6 pots. Breaking them makes you unable to get to the chest, because their debris utterly block you and you can't push or hit them out of the way. You have to break the pots, leave the area so their debris despawns, and THEN be able to get the chest. The debris should either just get pushed/flung out of your way with no effort as soon as you walk against it.... or just not have collision detection at all. (Or at least just despawn quickly).

And then there is the boss. Know how I said it felt like your character was too fast for the enemies and basically can kill them just by wailing at them? Well, the boss felt like it was this to ME. It suddenly just lunged at me without warning, causing an instant game over as soon as I saw him. (Really? No checkpoint/lives system in the demo? There isn't even a gameover or death screen, it just insta-cuts to the logo) but then when I tried to fight him again I noticed he was able to just rush me the same way I could rush enemies. Didn't seem like I had any real recourse if the boss hits me either, if he gets me in the first or second hit of his three-hit combo, the others will connect and do damage too, as your character seems to get stunned and is too slow to get out of the way or react in any manner. The combat system needs some heavy re-balancing, your character has far too much of an advantage over smaller enemies, but is far too handicapped against bosses.

Likewise, the boss fight also made me realize that the usage of items is very picky and finicky (not pleasant when the boss can do so much damage so quickly). Many times my character would do nothing or just swing their sword (which was a completely different button) when I am desperately trying to heal. Died several times on the boss because he just would not drink the damn potion.

And when I finally beat the boss... I almost thought the game crashed for a second. You don't even really see the boss die, just sudden insta-cut to the logo again. I get that it's a show floor demo, but having the game just "cut" out like that is jarring, at least show the boss die and have it fade into the logo instead of a jump-cut the second the last hit connects.

Overall, I am pretty sad that this demo was rather poor, as this was a game I was looking forward to since it was revealed so long ago... and then had not heard any other news from since. I just plain did not have a fun time playing it, it was just a series of frustration and confusion. I really hope the game gets a lot of rework before release.

[Sparrowhawk]

I enjoyed the demo, but I do agree on some points. Options would have been a welcome addition because I really dislike ambient occlusion and bloom and all that. Maybe in the final game there will be an item that translates the game's language into English and whatever other languages are supported. I think that it's highly plausible that there will be an item that allows you to run or dash like the Pegasus Boots in some of the 2D Zelda games. I highly agree with your statement about the pots/vases breaking, though - the shards of pottery should disappear or lose collision after a few seconds and it was highly annoying getting the chest that you mentioned.

As far as gameplay and combat go, I thought it was fine. Nothing amazing, but it's far from the worst game I played. All you really get to play around with are the sword and shield, so hopefully there are some cool items in the full game that let you mix it up a bit. I agree that item usage was a bit strange - I almost died in the boss fight trying to heal while I figured out his pattern. While I'm on that topic, I wish the game would at least go into slow motion while you're selecting an item since it was literally a life or death situation for me. I don't mind games not pausing when you're in menus, but a slowdown effect would be cool. I didn't die in the boss fight, but it sucks that it sent you so far back. I died in combat with the spider enemy and it sent me to a statue I interacted with, so maybe those are the checkpoints?

Finally, I guess the devs are taking the Dark Souls route when it comes to tutorials in the game. They just throw you into the world and let you figure it out on your own, which I'm fine with. It seems like there's an actual instruction booklet hidden in the game, but it doesn't do much good since it's in the game's fantasy language. I guess it's just a cute collectible that'll be tied to an achievement, or you'll get something for finding all of them in the final game.

Hopefully they'll tighten things up and the final game will fix some of the things that disappointed you in the demo if you decide to buy it. I'm definitely going to get it day one because I'm a sucker for these kinds of games. My only real concern at this point is the game's length - I don't want it to be one of those games you can casually beat in one sitting. I've been looking forward to the game for as long as you have, so hopefully it turns out good and the full game impresses you more than the demo.

[freaky plural gf]

Oprindeligt skrevet af Sparrowhawk:

I didn't die in the boss fight, but it sucks that it sent you so far back. I died in combat with the spider enemy and it sent me to a statue I interacted with, so maybe those are the checkpoints?.

Surprisingly enough, I interacted with literally every statue I came across on my first run, then died to the boss and was sent straight back to the main menu. So I'm guessing it was something specific to the boss ?

The demo was pretty good otherwise, though the combat definitely feels very slow to me, much more of a subjective thing however.

[Sparrowhawk]

Yeah, I just went back to test it and it seems that dying to the boss just sends you back to the title screen.

[corbo]

It's a blurry maze with no map but with respawning mobs. That bad. Bottom of the barrel of game design.

20 minutes in, I had a shield, but couldn't strike mobs despite the game insisting that I should press LT. I restarted a new game, and this time found a weapon near the beginning. And it still wouldn't strike. Until I figured out that I had to manually assign it to a key.

Found a picture with a gamepad on it. I take it it's some form of tutorial, but it's all written in gibberish. And I really need to procure a facepalm emote.

What a disaster! Ignorelisted. Twice.

[Cyber Akuma]

Oprindeligt skrevet af corbo:

It's a blurry maze with no map but with respawning mobs. That bad. Bottom of the barrel of game design.

I noticed that the mobs respawn if you use one of those healing statues

[blossom]

I can't say any of the complaints in this thread surprise me too much. Any game shrouded in THIS much pre-release secrecy has me doubting its quality. I suspect the dev is hoping the charming art style will be enough to throw off buyers that it's not as good as we'd hope.