Falkon Swiftblade

Upon thinking on this issue more, I think a lot of the issues come down to poor use of value in the art work. What I mean by this is colors have an inherent range where red looks red and yellow looks yellow for example. Red has several levels in between where its still red. Yellow on the other hand only has a very few. Currently either because of the way team has their post fx working or some filter being used, the values are very shallow causing muddying up the colors. There's still time for the artist's to go back and adjust those levels, but I don't think they're probably going to pull the team off the expansion to fix it. But that's a big reason why Kaz's work just pops so much more than his peers. There's a few great blog's out there giving tips on this, as well as you can use "ctrl y" in photoshop to quickly switch modes to get a better read if your not checking channels for contrast. Just something to think about. If I wasn't typing this on my phone I'd link some examples.

The main issue of contrast is for the same reason TV and movie stars don't usually wear green on stage because the greenscreen causes them to fade out or blend in like camouflage. Compound that by the fact that there is a lot of green environments and earth colors used for this setting and that makes it pretty hard to understand what's happening. So in effect the NPC's monsters just don't pop enough. In my day job I'm a multimedia designer and I see these types of issues frequently for my start up businesses trying to shoot commercials and photo's they try to use that end up needing a lot of post production to fix. The good news is this is still very salvageable without the need of a ton of work. Without knowing their specific pipeline I don't know the best technique to fix it, but I'll give a few suggestions that they can implement with nominal work. Some of my suggestions may have already been said elsewhere on the forums, so I apologize if I'm repeating any ideas. 1) Contrast is the main issue, so one method of creating contrast in the environments is have a darker shadow under the player. You don't even have to have a realistic shadow, just keep the light source slightly over exposed in engine. Having a darker shadow near the feet helps the players feel more grounded. You may have to reverse your alpha masks so the head is lighter than the feet. Part of the confusion is so much tall grass and props in the game and the camera's perspective is a bit too shallow, so things appear foreshortened which distorts the silhouettes. 2) The color pallet for armor's need brighter values. The more richer in color the better since that's are main focus. In addition, the artists could render the character textures out in 24 bit color which would allow them to pop more too. This seems to have helped in the new EE BG games. 3) The The colors of the rings around the players are also too similar to the environments. One method they could try implementing is fading the colors of the rings to red the closer to death you or your party become. Similar to the portraits having the red overlay on them, although I'm not a fan of that technique on the portrait. I would prefer the portraits be more richly saturated, and as they take damage desaturate to black and white as they lose stamina. 4) The combat is a cluster mess also because the timing of the attacks feel like everything is the same speed, and there's not nearly enough feedback of who's hitting who, what kind of damage is being caused, not to mention the animations are too fast across the board. They need to speed up and slow down. Have some pregnant pauses in there, and not just the awaiting for the spell to come. I was watching a few wizards play and they just seem to randomly shoot magic. There's some winding up and follow through missing across the board. 5) UI changes, someone was wise enough to realize most of the western world reads Top to Bottom, left to right in a Z pattern. Their UI is all over the map, literally... and while I quite like it aesthetically speaking, it's not super functional at the moment. Part of the issue is the icons are too small/font's too small, and the icons are not really easy to identify what they do. (I would love to create them for the team if they want someone to take that project on. Just send me a text doc explaining the function of each on. I love ui design anyways,) There should be nominal amount of clicks needed away from your player and the enemy. I see some of the changes they've brought over from the old games and even a little bit of ToEE too. Honestly, My preferred play style with a game like this would to be hover over my enemy, right click on the target, have the contextual spells I can cast on them appear, then click on the spell which activates it. Similarly on my characters, if I hover over them right click let me apply contextual spells that are appropriate to them. I feel like there's too much micro management on the portrait, on the mob, on the player's avatar, etc and really over complicates things. Not even to mention the Inventory and things folks have mentioned there or the lack of even needing that center HUD. It's so seldom used, it should only appear when you need it. At any rate, there's still plenty of time to fix these issues, so I'm pretty hopeful

I lol'd at when Fergus said, "and the animations are super smooth!" for me it looks like like they fell out of the ugly tree and hit every branch on the way down. Hoping they get lots better, but maybe my standards are too high. Really they're not horrible, they're just missing some pizzaz.

Double post, sorry

Well even the version they showed at gamescom was 2.55, so they managed to make quick changes before beta release. Many game companys will ittetate new daily builds, so it's possible the changes will be quite noticible. I'm curious though if the bb will only be the same content for the coming months, or if they're gonna introduce new content as time goes on?

I've linked a few times in my posts several options they could very quickly and easily use to improve their animations quite a lot, but I doubt thing's change much between now and when this ships. I'm hopeful though. At the very least, I'm hoping they give access to the files so we can mod them later. I'm honestly pretty underwhelmed by the lack of strong poses, lack of anticipation or follow through in combat. There just doesn't seem to be a sense of urgency in most of the attacks. Other than the animation is super fast. I think it frustrates me most especially when it's clear how much the assets share the same rigs and animations. I wonder what those guys have been doing for the past yr, and what's holding them back? I've watched folks do much better animations in minutes using the same tools than what they've certainly spent many hours on. If they haven't spent much time on it, it seems like most the standard animations look like the stock ones on the unity store that are either free or ship with the engine. I'm sorry if I sound like I'm flaming or trolling. That's not my intent, I was just disapointed for many of the same reasons you posted about, and when combat is such a big part of the game. I hope things really turn around!

From the little bit I've heard I like the main theme, the ambient sounds (birds) and music are not mixed very well & loop too much as well as being too loud however. I think maybe fading in and out of the tracks would help. I don't know the limitations of the program and triggers, but the music seems kind of awkward when it play's. As in the context seems missing. The inn music was pretty good too though. Not sure how to link it from here on my mobile, but Grant Kirkhope has several tracks from kingdoms of amalur on his soundcloud page that were pretty good too. I enjoyed "heightened stress" as battle music. I think the soundtrack is coming along though. One suggestion though, maybe have your voice over people give you about 3-5 more lines. Not a fan of repeating dialog with the exact enunciation and infliction every time. Hearing "going" about 57 times is no fun. Mix it up please. )

Thanks for a thread about monks! I've not seen nor heard anything about them from the beta and I've been hoping to hear about them. They're also my fav class I usually like playing too. I also agree there should be way more automatic functionality with them, especially with the gaggle of npc's and enemies on screen. That's going to just be a cluster mess in the end trying to micromanage. I am open minded about their idea of what makes a fun monk, however based upon what I'm reading about the wounds and having to spend those wounds doesn't sound so fun to me. If they were going to do a similar mechanic, I actually prefer it to be similar to how the rogue played in WoW. Granted, I haven't played WoW since vanilla, so things might have changed. Basically, I like the idea of earning points based upon finishing off enemies, or by earning combo points that allow for either bigger hits, or longer duration on my stuns. I'm also not fond of having to use weapons. If anything, I'd rather they had their own weapon types, like gauntlets they wield or shoes with knives in the toes or something. Have ya seen those video's of Bruce Lee doing his one inch or six inch punch that knock people across the room? He's taking on like 17 guys at once and never getting hit, & when he hits, he's opening a can of whoopass! Have ya ever seen Shaolin monks train? They can literally punch bricks to rubble from inches away, and take a blade to their neck without bleeding. They're also very evasive. I guess what I'm saying is instead of monks needing to get hit, they have much resolve and discipline that indicates they probably do much better the less they get hit. I feel like a much better game mechanic is you dodge a lot, you earn combo points or whatever you call them, and open the whammy! Fighter's can still take the damage and hold the line, and monk's can be decent damage dealers or cc support class.

I actually like how ToEE did their ui, so it branched out from the selected character instead of the portrait. In this way, you could be like 2-3 inches from your target and you click your party member, his ui popped up very close to him, you select, then click the target which is inches away. Then the ui disappeared and you were right back into the action. I feel like the current method would be great for party based selections. in that way, lets say there's a spell that blesses the whole party, then you click the appropriate icon on the bar and the whole party is blessed. Hopefully, you can pick and choose what goes in those slots to assist in that type of play style.

I friggen love monks, I'm not in beta, but I hope these guys rock!

I saw recently on a youtube video an option to increase the font size in the game. I think it's on the same screen that you adjust game difficulty, so you should have about 3-5 steps to make it bigger or smaller.

Can you guys who're streaming take a few extra seconds to list your party make up, or what you plan on playing as on here? I'm curious to see chanter's, monks, and ranger's over watching barbarians, paladin's and a few others. Josh said the beta's only 3-5 hours of content, so I imagine you'll have the opportunity to try a lot of stuff out.

I feel like leveling up is much like a perspective shift, and as knowledge is gained, then you should immediately reap the benefits of it. If I'm trying to learn to ride a bike, I may fall off my bike a dozen times, but I shouldn't have to go home and sleep on it to learn how to do it. However, sometimes I do feel like certain tasks require an incubation time from the time you learn it and when you can activate that knowledge. Someone who has to meet a tight deadline, and it doesn't matter how it get's done, it must get done. So your brain somehow get's creative, and then you suddenly get the idea for how to solve the problem. In those types of instances, I think it's cool to "level up" when you're using a group to work together to accomplish a task. A coup de grace is an example of how it could be utilized in this game. Maybe in certain situations, the group learns a new tactic that's more effective for felling a giant beast for example.

The animation's budget is very small in relation to their overall budget. However, I see people post incredible animation's that take like 10 minutes to do using unity or their kinect and pc recording their movements and the results are about 500% better and probably way faster than whatever they're doing now. I know sometimes it can take a few weeks to rig depending on several things. Although unity's animation system really speeds thing's up. I've previously shared with one of their staff a tool for the animator's that does most of the work for them. Here's an example of one of the tool's that would be an easy solution to improve the animation. www.ikinema.com or www.truebones.com not to mention, just utilizing the 12 basic principles of animation like anticipation and having good strong key poses, which feel absent. I'm playing a free mobile game on my phone called honorbound, and their attack animation's are fantastic. Attack's speed up and pause, then follow through smoothly which make's the attack feel much more powerful, unlike the whack a mole style currently pressent in their beta. There's still plenty of time to easily fix these though. I don't know many creature's and npc's are in the game though. Here's hoping for some animation love

no offense to Adam, but I watched him play something several months ago, I think it was Icewind Dale, and he wasn't very good at that either. I said it above, but your party has been waylaid and you must defend yourself! Positive things I liked from the quick video: Totally captured the look and feel of the old games, and made it a little shinier and new. Very nice portraits! I liked the text and layout of the text boxes and ui. I dig having the icon's in close proximity to each other without having to click and move a bunch of screen space, though I would rather it pop's up about 40% faster. Really a fan of the resting at the inn giving bonuses for extended stay and curious to see how that works or how it impacts you if you don't use it. Also liked the encyclopedia monster's compendium thingy so you kill stuff and learn more about them, or your lore score helps tell you info about the creature to help you prepare for an encounter with them. The inn felt spacious and unlike many of the previous screenshots of interior's didn't feel crammed. I loved that the characters can have a mixture of taller or shorter characters. (I think the Godlike characters were almost a foot taller than the rest.) I liked the UI icon's of the players heads showing in the corner of the screen indicating who was off screen. I really appreciate the ability to zoom in or out on screen, I wonder how this will look on larger screens? I like that the game will actually be challenging. I like having running water! At first listen, I kind of like the battle music, though I feel like it's a bit too repetitive. Stuff I think was not as great that could use some polish before release, but doesn't suck: The voice sets need a lot more variety. The second playthrough the male's voice already got on my nerves in like 7 seconds because he keeps saying the same thing every time you click. (It's like a kid standing by you saying mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, etc.) There should be a min of 3 different responses, or at the very least have like 3 variations of the same phrase. The avatar's head's are not in scale to their body's, so it looks wonky. I'd rather they just make the character model like 10% bigger and call it a day. Animations of thing's like the deer needs tweaked. They ran around like a mouse on crack and stopped on a dime. (Just a personal preference on sound design, it sounds professional- just some of the sounds don't feel like they fit in the atmosphere or environment. There's a disconnect. You know like in the BG game's when you click on an armor it makes like a sound of metal or thud when you drop it. Stuff like that felt absent from this demo.) There's some immersion breaking with the NPC's in the Inn, when you're on the outside is beautiful and sunny, yet there's people huddled around the hearth warming their hands inside the inn. Everything looks beautiful and it's a nice touch, but really awkward in the context of what's going on around it. Use that model elsewhere in the game where it makes sense. ...Not a huge deal, but I wish there was one more line of the battle text - or a little more padding on the edges to have contrast to assist in reading. Similarly, the white text on the light wood background could use more contrast to assist in reading in certain screen's. Monster's and player NPC's do not seem to have any hit reactions. I would hope if we took a whacking to the knee or head our character wouldn't take it in the chin like a champ and then suddenly he's on his back. the animator's should include at least a couple of reaction type of your hit type of animations other than you're laying on your back. Another issue of the animation, many times it seems like everyone moves at the same time, or even attacks at the same time with the same animation. Highlighting a spell over an enemy should target creatures, or hovering your mouse over an enemy should highlight them. It seems like they could maybe highlight the targeted monster's more. There's still some graphical issues like the shadow appears on top of the tree's as you pass by instead of being hidden, and they appear to be missing on some of the model's. Overall, looking to be very good!

let's hope they get the full 20 min, that magika was like 7 min long instead of the 20 posted.

no heart attacks here! but it's funny when I read that, I heard a voice inside of me saying, "you've been waylaid by enemies and must defend yourself!"

I've been up for like 30 hours now, less than 30 minutes. I'm gonna be like if it's the same demo we just saw a few weeks ago. I really hope to see some magic missiles and monk fighting!

This is actually my biggest pet peeve with FPS games. I understand the game mechanic, but I believe it's the wrong way to reward someone. Just because it's been done for so long doesn't mean it's the best way to do something. Plus, that adds to replayability, or for new game + stuff you can do and not feel bored killing the same thing over and over.

I don't know if it's the best option, but I wonder what's from keeping them from rendering out the shadows in 3d with the characters using alpha channels and transparency and turning them into an image sequence similar to how you would in after fx? The files are pretty small, and it would looks tons better. One of my pet peeves in the demo is the shadow is always facing the same way in the dungeon, no matter where in the room they walk even though it's clear the light source is not the same in each room or environment. Plus the shadow is darker at the top of the head area in the demo, when in fact, the shadow would be darker at the object its coming from. Basically, the feet area would be the darkest part and then fade lighter the further it is from the source. Just try putting your hand against a wall to see what I mean. I know some cheat ways to fake it in photoshop and using alpha channels, but I don't know how it would work in real time with 3d models and their pipeline. Here's the method I use in after effects, and I've used it for 3d models in 3ds max and after effects. This is not me in the video, but the method is the same I use.

Personally, I'd prefer a mixture of both. I'd prefer a static portrait on the toolbar, but then an animated 3d head of our character that expressed their facial expressions depending on our conversations on the dialog bar. I would love something like the Sony Emote feature found in Everquest 2. https://www.soe.com/soemote/guide/index.vm https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_njzXElnlSw

I think the reason this kind of thing happens is because during the process of making the game, often times there's a ton of content being tested, but then there are a lot of loose ends being created for content sake which doesn't end up into the game until the last minute. So the first 3rd of the game might be tested thoroughly and they get that balanced well. Then, the final weeks of the project all the content is entered into the database that 30 people had been working on. However, now there's like 20X the amount of quests implemented in that hadn't been scrubbed against an internal list so items or rewards are put in the world to fill space. This is tough to do though, because unless you create a linear game you can't control which quests are done, nor do you know if the player will do X quest and not Y quest. I've done beta testing for a few games in the past, and often times you only test certain parts over and over. Or sometimes an item that wasn't meant to be sellable is somehow exploited and slipped through the cracks. A game I was very impressed with that handled this issue almost perfectly throughout the game was Blackguards. Finding money was a challenge, and you often did have to pick and choose what you were going to spend money on. Also, there wasn't a way to grind until near the end of the game. Even then there was a finite amount of equipment you could have and you never got enough xp to level everything to max. Also having a finite amount of enemy's helped limit the ability to earn $ too fast.

Overall I'm pretty impressed it's exactly what was promised from a IE styled game with some modern conventions tossed in. I think I'm most impressed with the ability to have meaningful interactions with party members and how the scripted events work. I was least impressed with how crammed things feel in spaces. There seems to be a very linear path in each map with a lot of pretty stuff distracting you that you can't really explore. I feel like fights may start getting very claustrophobic once you start getting a full party of 6 on screen. I understand too that this a demo, but the "dungeon" or "ruins" seemed to only be a few rooms long and I'm sure the real game will be bigger, I just feel for some reason the maps were much smaller than I anticipated. Even in IWD 2 I recently was watching a lets play, and there seemed to be several ways across the map, and there was a lot more encounters between transitions. Still overall I'm pretty excited to see where this ends up. I also hope they get more dialog options. If I have to hear the NPC say OK or You got it every time I click something I'm gonna go bonkers. Especially with a full party.

Will this be what was shown at E3? In the podcast that was shared it sounded like they've been showing the game off a lot lately including character creation which wasn't available during E3. They went on to say that the game will be playable at gamescom, and the backers will get a lot of hands on right after that.

GhoulishVisage, you had the best spoiler, that's the scariest thing I've seen in years, way better than hollywood! Cool update, I like the sound of "extended version" of the documentary. I hope that means like really extended, and not like 4 more minutes extended. Do you guys have a goal in mind for length of content? I'm really interested in your company and it won't hurt my feelings if you guys go a lil nuts like the LOTR extended features. Blights and the critters look pretty cool, but how would I melee a blight without losing an arm or a foot? Will they stop in their tracks if we yell and holler back at them?