My negative opinion on the first 45 minutes

[Tomatotime]

So just to be upfront, I have 45 minutes of gameplay logged via steam and have a pending refund request that has been submitted. But I feel enough effort went into this game to justify some kind of legitimate feedback so here it goes.

My problems with this game appear almost immediately, the movement is a bit stiff and clunky, it is unclear from a distance which doors are interactable and which are not, as well when you get into early fights, your companion will tell you to use a potion when you run low on magic energy, despite the fact that you don't actually have one in your inventory when you start out, and in 45 minutes of gameplay I found only one, and you run out of magic pretty quick in combat.

To my biggest gripes with the game, one of the earliest quests in the game involves you potentially repairing a tavern keeper's broker furniture, in order to do this you need to craft parts, however you cant do that when you don't have a talent point in crafting, and that talent point is most likely taken up by whatever the game told you to spend it on in the character creation screen (science for me I think?), what this means is that your choices from before you even start playing the game have already whiffed your experience from one of the very first quests in the game, I could understand if this was a quest a few hours in, but really, one of the first ones?

And another example of that issue is when you enter the warehouse district in the first area, there are numerous lock boxes that you essentially need to walk away from because you cant lock pick them, and the game doesn't really explain why not, and if it is a skill, again, you picked the wrong level 1 skill so tough luck I guess.

Which brings us to the next problem, leveling, the entire leveling process is not well explained in terms of what you can or cannot do to level, and from the get go it seems you only get experience by killing random people you run into in the town, but from the initial trailer for the game, I was under the impression that you played as a diplomat, I assumed this would mean the game would walk you through more creative alternatives in this regard than just being a scuffed Dragon Age clone.

Lastly, the menus could use some work, the quest journal navigation isn't quite where it needs to be and it seems to have similar issues to the Darksiders III menus which were also clunky.

In any event I would say that I freely admit to the effort that was made to at least make the game look decent, I just don't think thats enough for me to justify putting more time into this, especially not on the day before Gears 5 comes out.

[Viper]

Sounds like a bunch of nitpicks and you wanting the game to hold your hand to me...Come back later if you can complete an area when you first go through it. ...lol

[Hans CakeStealer]

You probably took more time typing this out than actually playing the game, give me a break.

[Anubis]

Lol those are small issues, not even issues to some, also Gears 5 is much different genre.

[Claws]

Some of those issues are actually not issues at all but good RPG mechanics, seems you want to have it all so to speak. A good RPG should lock you out of certain things based on your character build.

[Carpe Noctem]

man the fanboys are sad. they want you to play before you give criticism, then they want you to play more before giving criticism, then when you sink in 10 hours your criticism is invalid. what is it you people want? nobody to criticize a game you find fun? why clog the social board if you just want to sit in an echo chamber of praise?

[Timmy the Dragonborn]

Originally posted by Noctem:

man the fanboys are sad. they want you to play before you give criticism, then they want you to play more before giving criticism, then when you sink in 10 hours your criticism is invalid. what is it you people want? nobody to criticize a game you find fun? why clog the social board if you just want to sit in an echo chamber of praise?

Then go play EA and Bethesda games with tons of micro transactions and loot boxes.

[Carpe Noctem]

Originally posted by Timmy the Dragonborn:

Originally posted by Noctem:

man the fanboys are sad. they want you to play before you give criticism, then they want you to play more before giving criticism, then when you sink in 10 hours your criticism is invalid. what is it you people want? nobody to criticize a game you find fun? why clog the social board if you just want to sit in an echo chamber of praise?

Then go play EA and Bethesda games with tons of micro transactions and loot boxes.

ah, so your logic is "if there's something out there that's worse, it makes it ok for this game to be mediocre"

[D.Cub3d]

Originally posted by Noctem:

man the fanboys are sad. they want you to play before you give criticism, then they want you to play more before giving criticism, then when you sink in 10 hours your criticism is invalid. what is it you people want? nobody to criticize a game you find fun? why clog the social board if you just want to sit in an echo chamber of praise?

The problem is, almost all of the gripes are literal RPG genre staples.

Dont have a lockpicking skill? You miss out on stuff, choosing a skill or talent or whatever should have weight behind it. What's the point in having these kinds of choices if they dont matter and anyone can do any of it?

45 minutes into a game that others have said has taken them 30 or more hours is also an incredibly tiny sample size. Especially for many of these complaints in the OPs post.

I found the first like hour plus of The Witcher 3 to be as cliche and boring as any RPG I've ever played, yet its heralded as one of the greatest RPGs of all time. I'm also not alone in feeling the witcher has clunky and poorly (way over the top, every damn sword attack is a freaking ballet pirouette. Its nauseating tbh, no one fights like that) animated. Yet it's still regarded as one of the best ever.

These complaints are mostly aimed at RPG games in general though, not necessarily Greedfall.

Take Baldurs Gate for example, both are universally regarded as two of the greatest RPG games ever made. Both right away will lock you out of plenty of content because you dont have the right types of characters, this is the same exact thing. No thief in your BG party? No picking locks...

I understand the janky complaints and other mechanical and technical complaints but its ridiculous to think these are poor design choices when they've literally been in any rpg with skill selection being finite pretty much.

It seems these RPG-lite RPGs have watered down the genre into an everyone can do everything at all times desire. Shame.

[Carpe Noctem]

Originally posted by Transflux:

Originally posted by Noctem:

man the fanboys are sad. they want you to play before you give criticism, then they want you to play more before giving criticism, then when you sink in 10 hours your criticism is invalid. what is it you people want? nobody to criticize a game you find fun? why clog the social board if you just want to sit in an echo chamber of praise?

The problem is, almost all of the gripes are literal RPG genre staples.

Dont have a lockpicking skill? You miss out on stuff, choosing a skill or talent or whatever should have weight behind it. What's the point in having these kinds of choices if they dont matter and anyone can do any of it?

45 minutes into a game that others have said has taken them 30 or more hours is also an incredibly tiny sample size. Especially for many of these complaints in the OPs post.

I found the first like hour plus of The Witcher 3 to be as cliche and boring as any RPG I've ever played, yet its heralded as one of the greatest RPGs of all time. I'm also not alone in feeling the witcher has clunky and poorly (way over the top, every damn sword attack is a freaking ballet pirouette. Its nauseating tbh, no one fights like that) animated. Yet it's still regarded as one of the best ever.

These complaints are mostly aimed at RPG games in general though, not necessarily Greedfall.

Take Baldurs Gate for example, both are universally regarded as two of the greatest RPG games ever made. Both right away will lock you out of plenty of content because you dont have the right types of characters, this is the same exact thing. No thief in your BG party? No picking locks...

I understand the janky complaints and other mechanical and technical complaints but its ridiculous to think these are poor design choices when they've literally been in any rpg with skill selection being finite pretty much.

It seems these RPG-lite RPGs have watered down the genre into an everyone can do everything at all times desire. Shame.

the only thing he mentions that is directly influenced by RPG mechanics is the lockpicking, the rest are complaints about lack of explanation of certain mechanics and complaints about crappy UI design and clunky movement. you could play every rpg in the book, doesn't mean that a game shouldn't have a fully working and structured tutorial to explain mechanics in the game because no game is the same.

[GWOP-W×TCH]

Originally posted by Hans CakeStealer:

You probably took more time typing this out than actually playing the game, give me a break.

says the person who doesn't even own the game.

[totalrugby]

To the original comment. You mention these things as roadblocks but they are not really. Those are possible paths to solve things, but hardly the only one. Every single lock pick has a key that can be found with some minor searching. Especially in the starting zone. There are different ways to approach things, some use crafting, some use stealth, and some use diplomacy. This is not to say you can't do any stealth if you don't have points, I did some sneaking with my warrior early on, this is to say tho that certain paths are far easier for those who have points then those who do not. There are at least 3-5 ways to solve nearly all the starting quests at least. I would advise you to try different approaches, and see which you enjoy and don't. If you really want a crafting or a science character, you can always create a new one, the starting area is not very far into the game.

[atomaweapon]

i find the game solid so far. combat is alittle janky and game is not well optimized but had a decent time so far

[D.Cub3d]

Originally posted by Noctem:

Originally posted by Transflux:

The problem is, almost all of the gripes are literal RPG genre staples.

Dont have a lockpicking skill? You miss out on stuff, choosing a skill or talent or whatever should have weight behind it. What's the point in having these kinds of choices if they dont matter and anyone can do any of it?

45 minutes into a game that others have said has taken them 30 or more hours is also an incredibly tiny sample size. Especially for many of these complaints in the OPs post.

I found the first like hour plus of The Witcher 3 to be as cliche and boring as any RPG I've ever played, yet its heralded as one of the greatest RPGs of all time. I'm also not alone in feeling the witcher has clunky and poorly (way over the top, every damn sword attack is a freaking ballet pirouette. Its nauseating tbh, no one fights like that) animated. Yet it's still regarded as one of the best ever.

These complaints are mostly aimed at RPG games in general though, not necessarily Greedfall.

Take Baldurs Gate for example, both are universally regarded as two of the greatest RPG games ever made. Both right away will lock you out of plenty of content because you dont have the right types of characters, this is the same exact thing. No thief in your BG party? No picking locks...

I understand the janky complaints and other mechanical and technical complaints but its ridiculous to think these are poor design choices when they've literally been in any rpg with skill selection being finite pretty much.

It seems these RPG-lite RPGs have watered down the genre into an everyone can do everything at all times desire. Shame.

the only thing he mentions that is directly influenced by RPG mechanics is the lockpicking, the rest are complaints about lack of explanation of certain mechanics and complaints about crappy UI design and clunky movement. you could play every rpg in the book, doesn't mean that a game shouldn't have a fully working and structured tutorial to explain mechanics in the game because no game is the same.

I'm sorry you need to have clear instructions on what to do. I mean again most of this ♥♥♥♥ is basic, and you cited two of his complaints. Let me remind you of his others:

Party Commands in Battle:
In every party based game, and they all have the same issues of repetitive dialogue and over used barks. Nothing new here really, though they could have easily forgot to put a check on the potion barks to check if the player has one, it could also be for; check this it's pretty out there..... to inform the player of his vitals without the need for overlays or looking at the bars themselves. Yeesh what an abstract concept.

Doors not being clearly identifiable as interactive:
You serious with this? Like, for real? How about we give anything that can be interacted with a giant button prompt, or a glowing edge? Lol, no thanks, too distracting and in all honesty pointless. If you don't want to explore then dont....

Couldn't repair furniture "cuz no skillz":
Yes, this is the point. I'm not going to write what I wrote before.

Leveling is unclear:
I can assure you there is more ways to level than combat, especially when they have been harping about choices to get through quests. Also why wouldnt a quest reward so? These things are pretty straight forward. What else are you expecting to help level you up?

Along with the lockpicking "issue", and yes it is tough luck. That's the choice you made. It's also a design decision to show you right away that these kind of choices are not just put point here cuz moar damage.

And then theres rhe clunky movement and UI. Seems fairly minimal compared to the other list of "issues".

By all means, the OP can dislike the game all he wants and that's their decision. But it just seems they have an issue more with the way rpg games are typically designed than greedfall specifically. Which is quite literally exactly what I said last time.

[Drakensson]

Gotta say that some people here seems very......fragile

[Uber]

Review on the first 45 minutes of a game? Wow, that's kind of a dumb thing to do...