Feedback on new World Map (Overland Map)

[Fluffle]

So,

 

I thought it may be nice to have a feedback thread dedicated to the world map.

 

Since "Neverwinter Nights - Storm of Zehir" I have loved this kind of world map. It's the feature I loved most

about "Storm of Zehir" and the devs actually brought it back to "Deadfire".

 

I am excited! And yet... I would like to encourage the developers to expand on it and enhance it.

 

Even the world map in "Storm of Zehir" looked more fleshed out.

 

I haven't played through all of the beta yet, but are there random encounters for example on the world map?

 

And it does need graphical enhancement. More atmosphere.

And maybe instead of having a walking portrait of our main char, could we see a tiny model of our main char instead?

Just like in "Storm of Zehir"?

 

For comparison: The following video contains some scenes of overland map travel in "Storm of Zehir".

 

 

What do you think? Do you like this kind of world map? Did you like it in "Storm of Zehir"?

Should the overland map in "Deadfire" be enhanced?

Edited November 19, 2017 by Fluffle

[CENIC]

And maybe instead of having a walking portrait of our main char, could we see a tiny model of our main char instead?

Just like in "Storm of Zehir"?

 

This.

 

When I saw the little wooden ship figurine I was disappointed our party isn't represented by a little adventurer figurine.

 

It might be difficult to make it match our character (but that would be nice!) but even just a generic humanoid figurine would be better than the portrait icon we have now.

[morhilane]

I haven't played through all of the beta yet, but are there random encounters for example on the world map?

Not yet, but these are mentioned in the "welcome to Deafire beta" post as a feature for the final game.

[Starwars]

I am loving the fact that they are including an overland map, and with random encounters included, I think it will do wonders for the game and its exploration.

 

I don't know that I'm all that crazy about the pre-plopped little loot boxes here and there on the map though. I guess it's another thing to fill it up a bit but I just think it feels a bit weird to have them there and have the character "vacuum" the loot up. I liked in SoZ that loot popped up dynamically and based on what skills you had on your overland map leader. 

Now, that type of thing is probably out of scope for Deadfire, which is fine, but I do hope they can make it all feel a bit more dynamic for the final game.

 

But yeah, the exploration system is one of the things that I'm the most hyped about for the full game.

[Lamppost in Winter]

I am loving the fact that they are including an overland map, and with random encounters included, I think it will do wonders for the game and its exploration.

 

I don't know that I'm all that crazy about the pre-plopped little loot boxes here and there on the map though. I guess it's another thing to fill it up a bit but I just think it feels a bit weird to have them there and have the character "vacuum" the loot up. I liked in SoZ that loot popped up dynamically and based on what skills you had on your overland map leader. 

Now, that type of thing is probably out of scope for Deadfire, which is fine, but I do hope they can make it all feel a bit more dynamic for the final game.

 

But yeah, the exploration system is one of the things that I'm the most hyped about for the full game.

 

 I agree about the little pickups on the world map; unless it's something cool that's guarded by a tough encounter, like the Bounding Boots which you have to defeat the Stalking Terror to get. The random stuff like food scattered around is sort of boring.

[Akong]

I think the art style of the world map was much nicer in the E3 demo. I like the drawn style more. I feel like a drawn cartography style map goes well with the exploration themes. For the same reason, I would prefer the character and ship to be represented by a generic explorer and ship figurine, perhaps with a base on it, so it looks like a real map with figurines standing on it. I am thinking in the style a strategical map you would see in war rooms. You know, the ones where they push there little army men across them to illustrate army movements. Having the ship be represented by a non-rotating figurine would also solve the problem I have with the ship movement feeling kind of wonky. A ship just shouldn't turn like that and I would prefer if it didn't turn at all.

 

I also don't particularly like the little pickups. It feels weird that my party would go for a detour lasting several days, to pick up a bunch of mushrooms. If there are unique items, i think they should be presented in a vignette, where you must pass some challenge to get the item. This would make it feel like a worthwhile adventure, but be significantly easier to make than designing an entire area. It could, for example, be an abandoned temple filled with traps with a cool little item at the end, if you can pass the skill checks. These can be more or less involved depending on the item.

 

I do like the idea of a world map, though. Makes the world feel a lot larger and will be fun to explore.

[Katarack21]

 

I am loving the fact that they are including an overland map, and with random encounters included, I think it will do wonders for the game and its exploration.

 

I don't know that I'm all that crazy about the pre-plopped little loot boxes here and there on the map though. I guess it's another thing to fill it up a bit but I just think it feels a bit weird to have them there and have the character "vacuum" the loot up. I liked in SoZ that loot popped up dynamically and based on what skills you had on your overland map leader. 

Now, that type of thing is probably out of scope for Deadfire, which is fine, but I do hope they can make it all feel a bit more dynamic for the final game.

 

But yeah, the exploration system is one of the things that I'm the most hyped about for the full game.

 

 I agree about the little pickups on the world map; unless it's something cool that's guarded by a tough encounter, like the Bounding Boots which you have to defeat the Stalking Terror to get. The random stuff like food scattered around is sort of boring.

 

Concur. You need *some* of that stuff--there are after all abandoned camps, etc. where you can find stuff left behind--but there's to much of it. Hopefully that's a beta artifact.

[Lamppost in Winter]

It might be cool if you instead got those smaller pickups like crafting materials and food automatically based on your Survival score, upon disembarking from the overworld map to a standard map/scripted interatction. It would probably need some sort of limitation to avoid players just spamming exploration to hoover up all the goodies, though.

[Katarack21]

It might be cool if you instead got those smaller pickups like crafting materials and food automatically based on your Survival score, upon disembarking from the overworld map to a standard map/scripted interatction. It would probably need some sort of limitation to avoid players just spamming exploration to hoover up all the goodies, though.

I'd do it a bit differently. Have your survival, lore, or perception--depending on the event--dictate the likelihood of those items appearing on the overmap, but still require you physically go and get them.

[Fluffle]

Taken from another thread:

 

Ability to access character/party inventory while sailing or traveling overland on the world map.
-We often find things to be added to the inventory, most go straight into the party stash. Some, however, are items that would benefit individual characters. I then have to remember that I found such an item the next time I'm at a "local" location. This might be some long time later depending on how much map exploration I'm doing.

[Wormerine]

Josh also mentioned “weather” system they are working on. I can’t remember, but I am pretty sure it was cosmetic (just like weather on land). We know there is this whole crew management thing, which is not in the beta yet. + encounters, ship to ship combat and boarding. Not much to do one the map right now, beyond getting from one point to the next and clicking on crates.

 

Also, there was a request to have “hold LMB to move” (like in diablo) and it was confirmed that it was implimented, it broke, and it is fixed for the next beta release.

[Dr. Hieronymous Alloy]

In one of the earlier streams, pre-beta, the overland map ship was very clearly a miniature, with a base, not an actual ship sailing around. I get why they changed that but I kinda preferred it.

 

I'd like to see an animation of your isometric-view character marching through the wilderness but there may be engine limitations, dunno.

[Wormerine]

In one of the earlier streams, pre-beta, the overland map ship was very clearly a miniature, with a base, not an actual ship sailing around. I get why they changed that but I kinda preferred it.

 

I'd like to see an animation of your isometric-view character marching through the wilderness but there may be engine limitations, dunno.

In the E3 demo showed back in summer the map had a, well, actual map quality to it, with physical figures as a representation of your ship&party. I liked that style, tough I don't mind the new one. Seems more consistant with the overall feel of the game. It need some work. Josh had that to say on that matter:

 

"JS: The world map has changed quite a lot. We heard a lot of feedback from folks that really didn't like the art style that we initially went with, and to be honest, it didn't really turn out the way that we expected it to, either. So we had Kaz Aruga, who's our lead artist, devote a lot of time and attention to improving the art in the world map and we're much, much happier with where it is now.

There are still a lot of other elements we want to add to the world map to make it feel more dynamic, but the base art is a big improvement. We're also adding things like more unique icons on the maps and things like that. It's coming along."

[Nic-V]

One thing I'd really like is the ability to click on the fog of war. Right now it requires a lot of clicking to fully explore the new areas, which could be somewhat avoided if we could click the fog of war. That and adding some random encounters and I think there's a pretty good system here.

[Wormerine]

One thing I'd really like is the ability to click on the fog of war. Right now it requires a lot of clicking to fully explore the new areas, which could be somewhat avoided if we could click the fog of war. That and adding some random encounters and I think there's a pretty good system here.

Hold LMB to move will make things much better once it is fixed. Clicking on fog of war might be useful but I also see plenty of problems with it, once random encounters and supplies are implimented - you encounter island on your way, what does a ship do? Stop? (Probably the best option), try to find way around (possible going a wrong way), knowing ahead of you how to most efficiently go around the island?

[Heijoushin]

I like the world map, but I wish we could land anywhere (or at least in more places) with our ship. You have these huge islands but for some reason, only a single spot on each island (which is completely indistinguishable from the rest of the coast) is usable as a landing place.

[Wormerine]

I like the world map, but I wish we could land anywhere (or at least in more places) with our ship. You have these huge islands but for some reason, only a single spot on each island (which is completely indistinguishable from the rest of the coast) is usable as a landing place.

Hopefully, final map will be more interactable but I dont mind limited landing spots. Not very “realistic” but it allows devs to “structure” islands locking certain areas behind scripted interactions, etc. Could be still achieved with more open landing system, but seems to be easier to do that way.

[Dr. Hieronymous Alloy]

I hope someone mods in wind speed and direction into the world map some day, so you have to tack and so forth.

 

I mean, it would be too prohibitive and awkward in the base game, and Obsidian shouldn't waste time on it. But I'd love it as a challenge mode. 

[Fluffle]

There's one more thing I noticed and I'd like to bring to attention, have a look at the screenshot:

 

 

 

 

The ship and the graphic for the village kind of mismatch, do you see what I mean? The ship appears to be 3D. The village however looks somewhat "flat". Like maybe it was 3D once, then some giant stomped on it and it went flat, 2D. Do you see the difference in how the ship appears and how the graphic for the village appears?

[Fluffle]

And I would still like a moving tiny avatar of my character on the island, NOT a portrait! Just reiterating! It kills the atmosphere, really. You could add so much more atmosphere by replacing the floating portrait on islands with a tiny character avatar like in Storm of Zehir.

Edited February 5, 2018 by Fluffle

[Sedrefilos]

Sometimes feels like devs completely erease from memory their former games

[CottonWolf]

I love the "handdrawn" Tikawara map they've added in this update. Like the Neketaka one they've shown in previous footage. I hope all the villages get one of those, really adds a bit of polish.

[IndiraLightfoot]

I love it too, and I even love the slight hassle with leaving and entering the town. It makes those passages more RPG-y and important, rather than a super-fast transition from my party of six walking around to a miniature boat on the overland map.

[Wormerine]

World map does seem to have “style” problem, like lots of different versions of wold map clashing with each other. I personally like the map look they had going on early on, but apparently it didn’t work out too well. I don’t mind the world map, but it does stick out compared to wonderful town views and scripted interactions.

 

I still think it looks better than “Storm of Zehir” ). I wouldn’t mind a better character pointer, but a walking miniature of our character isn’t what I am looking for. I find those more abstract and fake than a pointer with your portrait on it.

[daven]

How about a top hat? Or maybe an iron...