Second impressions thread! [Build 278 version]

[archangel979]

That just means you cannot stream it in 720p but you could in 480p. I think your bigger problem is that you have monthly GB limit?!

[Sensuki]

Mine is 300GB, so it's fine.

[archangel979]

Then go stream :D I streamed BG1 on 360p on half your upload a few years back. 

[Silverbarr]

On normal, one word accounts for my experience: Frustration.

 

The improvements are great, but combat has some major issues. Many recounted before in this thread and numerous others: Beetle speed, recovery times, number of enemies in certain encounters, etc.

 

Was really impressed to see the patch and the number of fixes, but playing on any difficulty other than easy appears to be un-fun and incredibly frustrating.

Edited September 4, 2014 by Silverbarr

[Sensuki]

I've got a 10 minute recording of me playing the Beetles on hard coming up

[remiel005]

Still some bugs to work through that hamper gameplay and feedback more than I would like.  However, this is an overall more satisfying experience.  I am actually able to consistently receive experience which is nice to see how classes progress.

 

I played on normal for a complete run through.  I had a barbarian and a chanter adventurer among the BB core group.  The 2nd level heal over time of the priest combined with the negative effects suppressor was able to hold off multiple stacks of poison on my characters.  I encountered two problems which made combat worse, but still manageable - DT seems to grow on enemies.  During multiple encounters with humanoid targets people would only take 1 damage or a fraction of damage from every attack with the exception of some spells.  Multiple enemies teleported across the screen on me - the spiders were really bad about this.  Certain damage over time effects such as deep wounds would continue damaging health after a character was knocked out - I would be ok with this if healing spells would continue to work on characters when they are knocked out.

 

Still plenty of progress to be made, but I'm beginning to feel a level of the IE experience.

[IndiraLightfoot]

My impressions after over three hours of mostly combat and exploring in Dyrford Crossing and then down in the Ruins below, which I almost cleared.

I played on Easy, and really tried to use all the characters various abilities. I picked a cipher for my main.

 

Thumbs up for:

-More visible character models/critter models. They don't look like ghosts no more, but I still think they can be a bit clearer yet.

-All the art, all the new icons. Fantastic.

-Most of the sounds and the music, still top notch (except some spell effects and those whining arrows/bolts).

-I managed to complete quests for the first time and level up once. Yay! But that sound when levelling. Help! Also, the screen blinks after levelling.

-No more overlapping marker circles, and no more dog-piling, thank god.

-The cipher. I had loads of fun with it. Great class!

 

Thumbs down for:

-Combat sometimes take far too long, with too much swish-swooshing. Some enemies, seemingly normal down in the ruins, took a beating for 20 minutes, and they still stood up fighting. Similarly, my party took their beating on them for that long. Utterly bizarre, It's like the game has 1,000 hp on critters, and each hit lands 1 in damage. I swapped all kinds of weapons, slashing, crushing, used all spells. It barely made a difference. One fight, I just had to leave out of sheer boredom.

-The marker circles have turned rigid, and they don't shuffle, so exploring in crammed dungeons and in interiors are hell right now.

-The loot. Some of it is random, but still nearly nothing was useful for my party after several hours of combat, that's really bad.

-Deep wounds (too fast, and hard to counter intuitively), obviously not as deadly as before, but if you get locked in some tight corner, it will be. It caused my first death, at least, which was fun.

-Fighters are still boring compared to all the rest. The priest and the wizard, even the rogue, are like oodles of fun in comparison.

-Something is still wonky with locks, using Mechanics and lockpicks. It's not at all reliable.

-The inventory UI and the shaky picking up of items are making less and less of an impression. I'd love to see such stuff improved.

-Some of the lighting and eye vision is weird. I had an Amauan walk in a dark pool of water with beetles in a cave. I have no problem with it being dark there, but shouldn't that character be able to see it? Is such a vision system even in yet? Hmm.

Edited September 4, 2014 by IndiraLightfoot

[Sensuki]

-The inventory UI and the shaky picking up of items are making less and less of an impression. I'd love to see such stuff improved.

Yeah even though all the items can be seen on the same screen, it still takes the same amount of clicks to move items around on different characters. The IE games inventory was way better.

[Karkarov]

 

-The inventory UI and the shaky picking up of items are making less and less of an impression. I'd love to see such stuff improved.

Yeah even though all the items can be seen on the same screen, it still takes the same amount of clicks to move items around on different characters. The IE games inventory was way better.

I don't know that I agree with that.  I do agree the inventory needs serious help though.  The number of slots on each character is WAYYY too little.  You basically have to move everything to the stash that isn't a consumable and it is just a pain in the ass.  The only reason it is even limited is to prevent the party from hoarding consumables, but it fails at this because the way it is now you are basically going to put everything in the stash that isn't a consumable so you get the same end result.

Edited September 4, 2014 by Karkarov

[Tartantyco]

I don't know that I agree with that.  I do agree the inventory needs serious help though.  The number of slots on each character is WAYYY too little.  You basically have to move everything to the stash that isn't a consumable and it is just a pain in the ass.  The only reason it is even limited is to prevent the party from hoarding consumables, but it fails at this because the way it is now you are basically going to put everything in the stash that isn't a consumable so you get the same end result.

 

No, it's not to prevent the party from hoarding consumables. The 8 slot inventory is for tactical items used in combat, such as potions, scrolls, and backup weapons. Anything you put in the stash is inaccessible unless you rest, go to an inn, etc. Hell, I'd say 8 slots per character is too much.

 

What is needed is simply the ability to move stuff from the tactical inventory to the stash more easily, and moving loot directly to the stash.

Edited September 4, 2014 by Tartantyco

[Marceror]

I haven't found a situation where I can move something out of the stash, unless I'm selling it to a vendor. I get the message that I have to be at a "rest area" but I have the same problem in the first floor of the Dracogen Inn or in other areas where the rest button works.

 

Seems buggy to me, or at least, poorly implemented in the current iteration.

[Karkarov]

No, it's not to prevent the party from hoarding consumables. The 8 slot inventory is for tactical items used in combat, such as potions, scrolls, and backup weapons. Anything you put in the stash is inaccessible unless you rest, go to an inn, etc. Hell, I'd say 8 slots per character is too much.

 

What is needed is simply the ability to move stuff from the tactical inventory to the stash more easily, and moving loot directly to the stash.

Uh no.  The 6 slot quick items section is for that.  I am pretty sure you can't even use items from your inventory right now during combat.  Either way this is easily fixed by the suggestion I made in the past.  Infinite stash becomes "the inventory" and if you don't slot an item in the quick slots you can't use it in combat.  Yes people could still mass haul consumables... but they can already do that with their regular inventory and quick slots.

 

The inventory as it stands now is just too clunky and monotonous to navigate and use.

[Sensuki]

No, it's not to prevent the party from hoarding consumables. The 8 slot inventory is for tactical items used in combat, such as potions, scrolls, and backup weapons. Anything you put in the stash is inaccessible unless you rest, go to an inn, etc. Hell, I'd say 8 slots per character is too much.

 

What is needed is simply the ability to move stuff from the tactical inventory to the stash more easily, and moving loot directly to the stash.

I know what it's supposed to be for, but I simply disagree with the design. You can hoard consumables anyway because you have literally 6 quick slots for consumables that are stackable AFAIK. The amount of slots is pitiful and the inventory design is at odds with the Crafting Design (whereby you can craft items anywhere, instead of being restricted to location/rest-based crafting).

[Forlorn Hope]

Second impressions: created my character, leveled him up, went straight to the inn and bought a level one barbarian and then tried to go upstairs "You must gather your party before venturing forth", then tried to go out from the inn "You must gather your party before venturing forth" and then hit alt+F4. I'll try to duplicate the bug later and then report it.

[Sensuki]

I've also been getting some weird you must gather your party calls as well, even when all of my characters are there.

[Justinian]

It's good to see some of the major game killing bugs fixed.

 

That said, during my first playthrough on this new build I still ran into multiple cascades of bugs which rendered the game unplayable. Gonna wait for the next couple patches before seriously delving into this again.

[Tartantyco]

The teleporting spiders are making those encounters pretty unplayable.

[Ink Blot]

I've also been getting some weird you must gather your party calls as well, even when all of my characters are there.

Yep, got that as well when I tried to exit the Ogre cave. Thought maybe I was missing someone and did a quick count. Nope, all of them there, all bunched together.

[The Loyal Nub]

The patch was uploaded too late for me to play it last night but everything seems really positive about it. I look forward to taking it for a spin when I get off work today!

[Ink Blot]

The patch was uploaded too late for me to play it last night but everything seems really positive about it. I look forward to taking it for a spin when I get off work today!

'Ware the poison.

[reavor]

Somewhat smoother experience thus far, feels a bit more stable. Still a few small things I would look into:

 

Clicking on the magnifying glass icon for inspecting things; would be nice if one simply gets the information without ones party members rushing to the inspection-icon.

 

Clicking on NPCs passing by; would be nice if they stop so ones characters don't have to run after them.

 

Combat feels kind of easy even on hard difficulty, but it's too early to tell.

[TheNationer]

Put this in a random old thread by accident, so apologies if you've seen my wishes prior:

 

'I wouldn't mind having some facial improvements on the part of the Aumaua and Dwarves, even if they aren't overly detailed in-game, in the character creation screen/inventory they can look mightily off-putting. On the actual backer update, however, fantastic job imo.'

[Silverbarr]

Combat feels kind of easy even on hard difficulty, but it's too early to tell.

 

Wish I knew how you came to that, as I'm having a hell of a time on just normal =/

[Zinnwaldite]

Gameplay feels better overall, good patch, keep it up!! <3

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

Rolled a Cipher. Game runs smooth and combat is easier to manage. Have some problems with the Cipher, but those are purely mechanical.

 

(note zero drama)

I think you're in the wrong place then.