PC Demo - Post your impressions.

[MonkeyLungs]

As far as feedback goes the controller support for rumbling for feedback is very weak and poorly implemented. Using the rumble effect of a controller properly can really enhance a game. Failure to do so in an action focussed game of any kind is a misstep.

[brandysnap]

As far as feedback goes the controller support for rumbling for feedback is very weak and poorly implemented. Using the rumble effect of a controller properly can really enhance a game. Failure to do so in an action focussed game of any kind is a misstep.

 

large rumble + optional screen shake effect on critical is almost a given these days. even in pc games you get the screen shake, or a body literally exploding with the force of the crit. thats why i feel, maybe like yourself, that combat feedback in this game just feels weak.

[jessak]

Being a big fan of DS on PC, I am very disappointing by the bad PC port of DS3. I tried the demo on Steam. Why do I have to hold the right button mouse to move around? And what's the deal with the in-game menus, why not only one screen to show all my equipment?

 

More stuff:

-Why pressing Tab causes the mini-map to disappear instead of showing a full screen map?

-No key to loot everything on the ground like it was on DS2?

-No HP/Info bar when hovering an enemy?

-Are there any potions or only orbs for health/mana?

-No clear indication on the map for the quests

-Why can't I just click on an item to loot it instead of pressing the E key? (More mouse controls please)

 

Anyway, unless they release a patch for at least the controls, I'm gonna play Diablo3.

[MonkeyLungs]

Why no continuous input for attack? Why make us click/button smash to attack each time? Maybe would be better to allow for just holding down the attack button? Clicking/button smashing over and over and over not so fun.

Edited June 13, 2011 by MonkeyLungs

[pmp10]

Why no continuous input for attack? Why make us click/button smash to attack each time? Maybe would be better to allow for just holding down the attack button? Clicking/button smashing over and over and over not so fun.

Because the game uses combo system.

Your third and fourth attack is not the same as your first and second.

[LadyCrimson]

Just give me my WSAD for movement and mouse for camera control and I'm happy.

 

I can't think of any recent ARPG on PC that doesn't do this, but Dungeon Siege 3. I really don't get it... even Daggerdale, another console port, has this.

You can use the W key to run forward, but there's no side stepping to adjust direction from that, since the AD is used for camera movement. I used the W key in combo with occasional mouse-used direction adjustment to run the paths a lot tho, because it's less finger-tiring than constantly mashing the r-mouse button.

 

I have yet to block in the game. Well, I tried it once in non-combat to check the controls, but haven't needed it since. Not a problem w/the game...I just have difficulty trying to attack, run, and block etc. all within mircoseconds of fast action, so I always just power through or do the hit-run method instead. Playstyle.

[MonkeyLungs]

Why no continuous input for attack? Why make us click/button smash to attack each time? Maybe would be better to allow for just holding down the attack button? Clicking/button smashing over and over and over not so fun.

Because the game uses combo system.

Your third and fourth attack is not the same as your first and second.

 

That isn't an insurmountable design task.

 

Holding the button for specified time activates next attack in combo. Either button smash or hold down button to continue all attacks in the chain. Keeping track of the time continuity of the button press/mouse press is no harder than keeping track of which number button smash or click you are on. Holding down input contiuously should attack at maximum available attack speed so determining necessary button press mouse click time is easy.

[pmp10]

Except then you can run into the problem of unwillingly triggering next uncancelable attack in the chain.

A lot of controls could be improved but I fail to see how the game could be improved by enabling auto-attack.

It's not like it has a deep tactical layer to compensate for the lost interactivity in combo building.

[MonkeyLungs]

I don't really like button mashing ... is kind of my reasoning. Maybe other people don't feel the same but I would much rather have continuous input. Continuous input is not auto attack. You can accidentally press the button 3 times when you meant to press twice also and make the same 'problem' you described happen as well.

[pmp10]

Actually no, you can't bank input ad infinitum.

Inputting 2 clicks when one attack is already underway won't transition into 2 further attacks due to improper timing.

 

And really - what else is there for a player to do?

Dodging and attacking are two main actions that define interactivity of this game.

You can't just automate one of those without offering the player something else.

[Lord Elvewyn]

There are still people without gamepads out there? You learn something new everyday.

 

It's less than

[Kirii]

Pure mouse and keyboard rule the rest of the genres.

 

What about racing? I have never even tried playing Dirt or Grid with a k&m.

 

PC Games I currently use my logitech for include; Two Worlds 1,2, Oblivion, Risen, The Witcher, The Witcher 2, Sacred 2, Dirt 1,2,3, Grid, Metro 2033, Mass Effect, and a few more but I can`t recall them.

 

While these are not all perfect with a controller I have played through most of these to the end sitting on my couch.

Edited June 14, 2011 by Kirii

[Pidesco]

Gamepads are better for fighting games and brawlers. There aren't many of these on PC but there are a few. Guilty Gear, Street Fighter, Arkham Asylum or DMC4 are examples. A gamepad is also better for a few other games, including Last Remnant and most sports games.

[MonkeyLungs]

Actually no, you can't bank input ad infinitum.

Inputting 2 clicks when one attack is already underway won't transition into 2 further attacks due to improper timing.

 

And really - what else is there for a player to do?

Dodging and attacking are two main actions that define interactivity of this game.

You can't just automate one of those without offering the player something else.

 

I wasn't talking about banking input. I was talking about attacking twice, then attacking a thrid time when maybe you might have wanted to dodgoe or soemthing and now you have to wait for that attack to finish. Its no different than holding the button down for slightly too long andf initiating the third attack in the combo. Either way its a mistake and either way you have to wait for the attack to finish to do your next move.

 

My character can be doing the fighting while I hold down the button instead of button smash. I stillhave to dodge, block, use special etc. If there is a deeper gameplay system to the button pressing like Ninja Gaiden then it can be fun. If it's just an ARPG with weak fighting animations and very simplistic fighting gameplay then pressing buttons over and over is really not needed.

 

Further continuous input and button smashing could co-exist and people who like button smashing can smash up them buttons and people who don't could use contiuous input.

[MacMichael]

I picked up a gamepad originally for GTA: San Andres. It was playable with mouse and keyboard, but the controls never felt quite right, unlike with the gamepad. I don't use it for much, but it was certainly worth picking it up. As far as DS3, I've played through with both gamepad and m&kb, and I'm actually leaning very slightly towards preferring the m&kb, how they are, over the gamepad, but I have a week to change my mind. I'll probably end up swapping back and forth depending on my mood.

[MonkeyLungs]

I would take full blown auto attack as a third option as well.

 

Preferably:

Option 1: The way we have now.

Option 2: Continuous input.

Option 3: Auto attack.

[gotzmadskillz]

Terrible controls/camera, I was facing the wrong direction half the time!

 

No potions... Game's less complicated and involved (dumbed down) for the consoles.

 

Limited skills.

 

I'm not buying a stupid gamepad for my PC, I have two expensive controllers as it is (read: Kb/ms) and they allow me to do more than one...

 

Whats with the no helmet thing on the warrior guys?! Guy should be a tank!

 

Gorgeous looking though but the 2 lame camera positions are terrible since you can't take it all in. My PC isn't hindered by the limited hardware in a console. Clearly Obsidian didn't take the time to showcase it right for the PC. I only use my PS3 for the blu ray, my PC is for gaming!

 

At least the Steam version came with the first two games... Needs some tweaking for us PC gamers Obsidian, u know the guys who kept u in business up till now. This game can still be a contender!

Edited June 15, 2011 by gotzmadskillz

[NeedlessLegend]

I went through the demo as Anjali. Combat was lackluster, but I can't say I was expecting anything else; I buy Obsidian games for the characters/story.

[Tale]

Gave it another shake last night. Played as Anjali. The witch boss was much easier this time. But I don't know if I'm stumbling over the controls or if I'm just not used to them enough yet. I keep trying to do some fast switching with the character only to accidentally block or use an ability in the wrong form. I like to start in caster, summon, drop the fire ability, switch to melee and pound enemies that are close, then switch back to caster. But I'd end up blocking when I meant to change. And when I wanted to heal, I'd accidentally change forms instead. I guess the control isn't intuitive to me yet. I hope that it changes with more time spent.

[brandysnap]

No potions... Game's less complicated and involved (dumbed down) for the consoles.

 

so you are trying to blame the lack of potions in this game because its also on console?? lololololol

 

go play some other arpgs on console like sacred 2, then come back and apologise for your obvious console hate.

[Cromethus]

I want to make perfectly clear that everyone understands this:

 

Do not buy this game if you don't have a gamepad. The mouse/keyboard controls are absolute ****e. Let me give some detail.

 

Unlike every other modern pc game on the entire planet, you *cannot* strafe in DS3, which is extremely, extremely counter-intuitive. To get items, you actually have to be lined up with the camera and go forward/back over it. This makes getting health drops (which disappear after a short amount of time) *extremely* frustrating, as you have to move the entire camera to fact it if your a little off.

 

Furthermore, the ways that you control the forward/back motion of your character are *insane*. In general, there are 4 ways to control the movement/camera. Some sound pretty good, but in the end, NONE MAKE ANY BLOODY SENSE.

 

1) You can control your motion by right clicking the mouse. Sounds great, except the direction your running doesn't really update as you move the mouse, or at least the *cursor* doesn't update. Once you've clicked, that's it, that's the direction you're going. Now you can move the CAMERA to change directions, but moving the mouse around to change directions is just AWKWARD as the cursor and the direction of the character and the motion of the camera are all at odds with each other. It only gets WORSE in combat when your mouse should be busy pointing and clicking little peons to their doom.

 

2) You can use the WSAD layout to move the camera/character. However, unlike every other game on the planet where you look with the MOUSE and you move with the KEYS, this game is exactly the OPPOSITE. You look with the KEYS and you move with the MOUSE. It's just bloody weird. However, should you decide to move with the keys (because WS moves you forward/backwards) you will quickly become frustrated with something that boggles my mind: you cannot strafe. Period. Instead of AD being left/right strafe, it moves the bloody camera. Worse, every time you go to MOVE the camera, it bobs in an odd direction as if saying 'no you idiot look that way' before acquiescing, meaning that even in the middle of combat it feels like your camera is trying to bludgeon you in the eyeballs, as if motion sickness is how they decided to add challenge to the game.

 

3) You can use WS to move forward and backwards and use the mouse on the edges of the screen to move the camera. Kind of cool. Very, very bad in combat as you generally want to be CLICKING on things. See, your character has this notion that he only wants to attack in one direction. If you are say, swinging forward and you want to swing at a guy behind you, your best chance is to CLICK on him, mainly because holding the back button and hitting attack again will simply keep you swinging in the same direction while the guy behind you debates how best to sterilize his sharp pointy instrument before sticking it wholesale up your rectum.

 

4) By far the most comforting option for playing the game is to hold the alt button down, which binds the mouse into mouselook view, which allows you to control the camera with the mouse. AWESOME! Except who wants to hold the alt button for the entire f***ing game?! On top of that, you can't do that because of the aforementioned combat problem - you have to click on things! However, if you get into the habit of holding alt to control the camera, as soon as you ENTER combat and start using your mouse to dish out high levels of pain, you quickly realize that you've lost ALL OF YOUR CONTROL OVER THE CAMERA, leaving you as helpless as a baby kitten in that flashy outfit. So any time you enter combat you have to rely on one of the OTHER methods for controlling the camera, all of which SUCK.

 

The greatest problem with this game on the PC, however, is that you cannot, in any way shape or form, customize the controls except to set sensitivity settings and invert the mouse (which I don't even know why they included since you can't LOOK up or down). However, throughout the entire game, your camera will get stuck on things and then randomly try to 'catch up' once it is unstuck, meaning that one second your trying to turn your blood character to the right (because you can't strafe remember?) but the camera is stuck, so you back up a little only to have the camera spin wildly out of control once you DO come unstuck.

 

All in all, while I would LOVE to play this game, I wasn't able to stomach more than about an hour of this, which was just long enough to realize that I wasn't going to be able to get use to the camera/movement configuration. It is quite simply comical.

 

Cromethus

[Purkake]

For what it's worth, the Cruncheons also took a giant dump on the game(and Obsidian).

[Tigranes]

Moved to the appropriate thread.

[boxterduke]

Did not enjoy it all that much.

I played the first DS but not the second, however this one is nothing like the first.

Now that is not a deal breaker for me, I can take variety in a game. But if I buy it will be the PS3 version.

I reached a conclusion that I like my FPSs on the PC and everything else on the PS3.

[Stone]

love the game so far. nice detailed graphics. great story. encountered no bugs

 

BUT the pc version suffers heavily from consolitis. why are the developers so lazy in converting the interface from console versions to pc these days? there are not enough hotbuttons for every skill (just annoying combinations). no mouse interaction with objects in the world (would be very much more convenient to use the mouse on the pc version to use objects, like opening doors, activating levers or picking up items. a highlight button that show items on the ground would be nice too).

 

otherwise it looks like a great game.

Edited June 16, 2011 by Stone