Gameplay video: Detailed Response

[teknoman2]

It's the E3 demo, the other races probably hadn't had enough polish work on the models. We still have not seen a single Aumaua, Orlan or non-human Godlike yet.

 

One negative that I've seen pop up on NeoGAF and the RPGCodex is that there's too much hand holding in the demo. I'd agree with that, as the PC is pretty much told exactly what to do every step of the way, you don't really have to figure anything out for yourself. Most of that is fine but Calisca's give away ambient dialogue line about the the Pillars/Beacons is a bit ham-fisted.

it's barely the first 10 minutes of the game and works mostly as a tutorial. i wouldn't worry too much from just this

[Sensuki]

Pretty much.

[Ffordesoon]

Come to think of it the movement cursor and movement indicator might be place holder. The movement cursor is literally ripped directly from the IE games, obvious due to how small it is. I hope they keep that design, just something that scales with resolution (and do the pulsing triangles for the movement indicator).

Yes, I hope to see most of the pulsing icons from the original games. That's like the only bit of the demo that made me do a little frowny face. As clunky and weird as those UIs are in a lot of ways, the cursor icons are more or less unimpeachable.

[Metabot]

"While I'm okay with low attribute points, I feel that this array of points such as this one here is going to be seen as "boring" by many people who want to max an attribute but don't really get any remaining points to have on anything else (even though you can reduce stats to 7 or . I think maybe like two extra attribute points could go a long way here."

 

So the whole system should be changed because dumbass people want to max out an attribute?

[Quetzalcoatl]

I have to second what the first post said about the idle combat animations. Baldur's Gate and Torment had a 'swaying' animation between hits that made combat look very fluid. The IWD games didn't have it, and it looks like PoE won't either. It's a small thing, but it's rather jarring.

 

Other than that, I think the game looks absolutely fantastic.

[Aslinng]

Thing I disliked in the video was the portraits of NPC, not all of them were the same quality has the blond girl, wich was sad.

Please hire more artists.

[Quetzalcoatl]

Thing I disliked in the video was the portraits of NPC, not all of them were the same quality has the blond girl, wich was sad.

Please hire more artists.

They looked fine, it's just that they were portraits of people that weren't all super-attractive.

[Enigmatick]

 

Thing I disliked in the video was the portraits of NPC, not all of them were the same quality has the blond girl, wich was sad.

Please hire more artists.

They looked fine, it's just that they were portraits of people that weren't all super-attractive.

 

 

Quite the mustache Odema has there.

[Hiro Protagonist II]

I always liked the stonework look from BG1. Although I don't mind the wooden look from the IWD games.

[Enigmatick]

What happens if you're a monk on that one scripted interaction, do you throw your caestus at him or something?

Edited July 24, 2014 by Enigmatick

[StrangeCat]

For an Alpha that was really good!  I would like to see way  more inventory detail, better icons for your inventory.

Better Foley Sounds, swords clash, characters yell, make it sound like a battle.

 

Do something about the Characters as a model and there backgrounds, as it is it looks like a cartoony mess.

 

I would like to see some trees move(same tech as the water) and some grass, some leaves falling in a forest etc.

 

add more little details.

 

other then that looks like you as a company are delivering the game you promised people.

[rf5111918]

I am actually completely fine with the party portraits. I don't think it's a big deal and if people really want to change them, there's tons of portrait packs on the web for that.  

But Enigmatick made a great point. I would prefer the NPC portraits to be consistent.

 

Looking at the video, I had some questions and feedback, which may or may not have already been answered. 

 

Is there going to be some sort of animation or trigger that makes the user know that the effect is active or not? For example, "Wild Sprint", am I going to know when that effect triggers or when it becomes inactive?

 

Are there going to be critical hit exclamations or animations? 

 

Is there any chance of a "bloody mess" perk or trait/dismemberment/shower of gibs in this game or in a future expansion?

 

Is there going to be a key or option to highlight searchable items? 

 

Are the low intelligence options still in the game?

 

"So what's a slave doing in the Free Palatinate of Dyrwood? Guessing those marks on your back didn't come from loving caresses."

Was that a reference to a certain forum?? Would be kind of cool if one of the options of "plan in mind for coming this way." was "I want to be a mighty pirate!" Just a thought. 

 

Will there be a in-game bestiary or lore library? It seems like the monsters have a lot of abilities and it would be nice to have something as a reference. 

 

The scripted interactions and environments are outstanding. Gameplay looks very smooth.

Overall, I really liked the video and the team is doing a great job. 

[sorophx]

I hate this compound. a genie AND a demon? really, game? and then there's the fight on the second floor... 

[Sensuki]

So the whole system should be changed because dumbass people want to max out an attribute?

No. Read what I said.

 

One or two extra stat points to spend would alleviate this issue. The numbers are quite low compared to the standard IE games ranges.

 

They looked fine, it's just that they were portraits of people that weren't all super-attractive.

There's some stylistic inconsistency. The Robert Baratheon style portrait would be cool if the character's head wasn't so short in comparison to his Breast plate. It's out fo wack with the others.

 

These portraits also appear to have less detail than Kaz's portraits of Eder and Pallegina which is disappointing.

Edited July 25, 2014 by Sensuki

[drake heath]

 

 

Thing I disliked in the video was the portraits of NPC, not all of them were the same quality has the blond girl, wich was sad.

Please hire more artists.

They looked fine, it's just that they were portraits of people that weren't all super-attractive.

 

 

Quite the mustache Odema has there.

 

He grew it out after that picture was painted.

[Lephys]

He grew it out after that picture was painted.

Either that or his mustache was a Rogue.

[Silent Winter]

While I'm okay with low attribute points, I feel that this array of points such as this one here is going to be seen as "boring" by many people who want to max an attribute but don't really get any remaining points to have on anything else (even though you can reduce stats to 7 or . I think maybe like two extra attribute points could go a long way here.

While I'm fine with it, I agree that balancing it around a couple more points would be better - having a 16 and a couple of 14s just looks like you can create more different builds.  It's largely psychological as the game will be balanced around the points you have and you can also reduce some stats (I believe) to add to others, but that can make a difference for some people.

 

Also regarding feedback on the attributes, the description of attributes tells the player what they do, but not by how much. I think it would be nice to see the raw numbers in the parchment in the character creation so you can see that 10 Might gives you +20% damage and healing, or however much it is per point.

Agreed - this would be very handy at first playthroughs (unless it's all in the manual?)

 

 

One thing that looks a bit jarring to me is that the names of NPCs are all in the same color of brown. The color looks fine, but I personally prefer the Baldur's Gate style where their major clothing color is used for their name in dialogue and it definitely helps during conversations with multiple NPCs and companions interjecting. However I do realize that in the Icewind Dale games, the same color of text was used for all NPCs. I hereby submit a request that the major clothing color be used for characters in dialogue, or at least an option to be able to use it.

Agreed - this is a simple but effective way of making conversations easier to follow and giving the speaker a 'voice-trigger' to mentally tune to.

 

Another thing I'm not super keen on is the selection circles. We've seen varying thicknesses and colors in the selection circles in various screenshots, and it looks like the ToEE style circles have been chosen (for the moment).

I personally prefer the thinner IE style circles, and I'm not massive on the colors used or the style of the movement indicators used either.

 

I really wish the selection circles and movement indicators were in the IE style, rather than the ToEE style, and one of the things I liked about Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition was that you could choose the colors of your selection circles, and even give different party members different colors - such as purple or orange. I think this feature would be a cool thing to have for PE ... but truth be told all I really want are my IE style green selection circles and movement indicators.

 

I agree - though the different colours for different party members isn't something I'd use - a nice simple green for party, blue for NPC and red for hostile makes my brain comfortable.

 

As for the rest - looks great, looks fun to play, can't wait (but will have to)

 

Edit: Still making my way through the video - one thing I noticed just now is that the positioning of the portraits relative to the action makes it harder to keep an eye on health (v. the positioning in BG with portraits on the right).  Tried eye-flicks to the current position v. my preferred position and it definitely seemed longer / less intuitive - maybe I'll get used to it *shrug*

Edited July 25, 2014 by Silent Winter

[Sensuki]

There also aren't enough cloth color choices. the IE games had way more, and even more than that with the 1PP mod.

I understand the hair colors are probably restricted due to ethnicity.

 

It would be nice if you could still choose your own custom color with an RGB interface, maybe have like those colors as presets and then an empty spot down the bottom that you click on which brings up an RGB interface, and you can select the custom cloth color you want.

Edited July 25, 2014 by Sensuki

[Lephys]

Well, it's possible they simply haven't decided on all the finalized color choices yet.

 

Also, Josh mentioned that they aren't doing the raw RGB "wheel" because a large percentage of the colors you can pick from that end up completely de-detailing various types of equipment (plate, chain, etc.). Maybe you like blue, so you click on the sort-of-blue area on the wheel, and boom... your chainmail texture's gone because of that particular blue hue/saturation/value. Maybe there are only a handful of shades of blue that actually don't just make you look like a big smudge.

[Sensuki]

Just add more presets then. There's only 32, whereas the IE games had 36, and a crap tonne more if you edited them via Shadowkeeper.

 

Another concern I have is there aren't very many enemies in the opening level, but I assume that is because of the difficulty setting. Looks like the game will probably need Hard or perhaps even Path of the Damned to have an IE like experience.

Edited July 25, 2014 by Sensuki

[adam77]

Everything was great, the only thing I do not like the 3D models in inventory screen. I think they should be completely removed and leave only illustrated picture

[Silent Winter]

Just add more presets then. There's only 32, whereas the IE games had 36, and a crap tonne more if you edited them via Shadowkeeper.

Yeah - there should be a good variety of presets - including variations of a colour (dark, medium and light - reds, blues, browns, greys, etc).

Must have jet black too, unless they've found a darker colour.

 

I can understand not wanting the RGB wheel for the reasons Lephys mentioned but there should still be enough choice from the pallette.

[Endrosz]

Another concern I have is there aren't very many enemies in the opening level, but I assume that is because of the difficulty setting. Looks like the game will probably need Hard or perhaps even Path of the Damned to have an IE like experience.

 

Yes, the goblins in Targos's docks are very representative of IWD2's combat difficulty. *rolls eyes*

 

Man, we've only seen the first 10-15 minutes of a 40+ hour game. In this sequence the main goal is to inflict the "main quest" on the protagonist, and difficult combat detracts from that.

[curryinahurry]

A quick graphics assesment form most successful to least:

 

Main Menu Screen - Pretty much perfect

Scripted Interactions - A great storytelling device that, once combined with music and a fukll range of sounds, will really set a standard (In my estimation).

Environment and backgrounds - Gorgeous and reminiscent of ToEE with better art 

Fog of War and Dynamic Lighting/ effects - Pretty much spot on, but bloom can be a bit much near flames/ high contrast areas (hopefully we will have a slider for this in graphics)

Inventory, Character, and Trading UI -  Nicely coherent, balanced and graphically consistent, although a bit more contrast in the item slots for the trade screen would help.

Character Creation Screen - Very nice, but the 2d elements look a bit flat next to the 3d character and other elements.  It might be good to emboss or otherwise add some depth to the 2d elements

Animations - Still need some work and movement is a bit glide-y/float-y but generally quit good, with no noticeably bad moments

Attack effects- I need to see these in-game to get a better feel, but they seem a bit over the top at times.  I do like that wild sprint doesn't have some cheesy blur trail.

Cursors/ Icons/ Text - Size is a bit small for some of the cursors, and the movement icons must be temporary as they seem quite odd.  Also, the colors for the selection symbols should be adjustable to the standard IE colors as per Sensuki's several requests to this point.  Seeing  it in-game, I must agree with his position.  Text in general needs greater contrast (as do icons against certain backgrounds).  The fonts look ok

In-Game UI/HUD - Not bad, but pretty much a nice update of the ToEE UI/Hud.  Does not feel like an IE style UI at all, but that isn't as important to me as some others.

Dialog Screen - It is oddly balanced and a bit of a stylistic mish-mash,  Hopefully they will adjust it towards a variation of the much nicer Trading et al interface.

 

 

@ Sensuki or anyone else who knows

 

Are you sure that the flame effect is knockdown?  If so, it is quite odd.  

Edited July 25, 2014 by curryinahurry

[Tuckey]

Things I like

----------------

 

-The transition scenes were nice and I like the storybook moments.

 

-The conversation interface is nicely detailed. Although I would like different npc voices to have different colours also.

 

-The floors have some nice detailing and I like the stonework

 

-character animations looked good to me

 

-I like how characters will comment when they come upon things

 

Some nitpicks

-------------------

 

-The character models looked good except for the closeup in character selection. To be honest I think the main issue is that the skin has no texture at all giving the character a washed out look.

 

-In the environment I would like to see tree's and grass swaying. The water was animated nicely.