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Thoughts on the new Pre-alpha footage?

HjerimHjerim Member, Leader of Men, Alpha One
edited May 2020 in General Discussion
Hey everyone,

First and foremost - What a lovely display!
I think you really have nailed down a lot of the communities desires and wishes already.

The gameplay itself already looks engaging and the sense of exploration is real.

Link to the video, in case you missed it
Pre-Alpha 4K GM Gameplay

Visuals:

The improvement in quality is starting to get ahead of some of the big MMO's that are out there right now, and that is nice to see. In the beginning of the video it was clear to see intricate details and how the light bounced of the different materials - I was immediately impressed!
The characters themself still look like something out of ESO in my opinion, but I know this has not been one of your priorities to work on until recently, so that is understandable (also with that in mind that you are in pre-alpha/alpha 1?)

Combat:
The combat is in my opinion one of the strong points at the moment. The abilities already looks interesting and impactful (especially that AoE heal and the Black Hole ability). I know you talked about scaling down on the visuals of these abilities, but I hope you leave some of the "bigger" abilities as they are - they look great.

Wishes for the near future:
  • I miss the music when you are playing. I would really love hear what you guys have been able to do with Bear McCreary unless you haven't gotten the opportunity yet.
  • Night and day cycles would also be something that I would love to see an early iteration of soon so we can get a feeling of how dark the nights actually become (Here is hoping for pitch black so that lanterns or something similar is required)
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Comments

  • NagashNagash Member, Leader of Men, Kickstarter, Alpha One
    It is nice to see proof of concept which has been lacking since apoc in my opinion, but it still needs work.


    The world and all the art assets look fantastic and are some of the best I've seen in ages. The main problem I have is with the characters themselves. I'm not sure how to describe it, but they look off, its almost like they don't fit in the world around them. The movement also looks very floaty. I'm sure this will be fixed but its just something I thought.


    nJ0vUSm.gif

    The dead do not squabble as this land’s rulers do. The dead have no desires, petty jealousies or ambitions. A world of the dead is a world at peace
  • MakinojiMakinoji Member, Warrior of Old, Kickstarter
    Not sure about anyone else but I am definitely more optimistic than I was a year ago.

    A bit more testing and asset polish and this world will be better than most games out right now.
  • HjerimHjerim Member, Leader of Men, Alpha One
    @Nagash Yeah i get that vibe too about the characters.
    I think it might be because the characters lack life and personality right now. They don't feel like they interact with the world.
    It will maybe also help once we get introduced to the other races so they help filling in the context void.
  • SSgt SweatSSgt Sweat Member, Leader of Men, Kickstarter, Alpha One
    I also think the characters look a bit off, especially the dwarves. Additionally, I would have loved to hear the music in the background a bit more and to see more action combat. Otherwise, it looks fantastic and I can't wait!
  • unknownsystemerrorunknownsystemerror Member, Phoenix Initiative, Royalty, Kickstarter, Alpha One
    Have you all forgotten poor Butterface the Mage? Go back and look then adjust your expectations for how characters will look once done. They keep making progress with every iteration. It may not be as fast as you like, but it is moving along.
    south-park-rabble-rabble-rabbl-53b58d315aa49.jpg
  • HjerimHjerim Member, Leader of Men, Alpha One
    @unknownsystemerror A face not easily forgotten!
  • NagashNagash Member, Leader of Men, Kickstarter, Alpha One
    I know it will be fixed but its just something I find off
    nJ0vUSm.gif

    The dead do not squabble as this land’s rulers do. The dead have no desires, petty jealousies or ambitions. A world of the dead is a world at peace
  • HjerimHjerim Member, Leader of Men, Alpha One
    One thing came to mind about the creature design - the Brood Queen looks so cool!
    And the battle itself looked really interesting!

    Hope something similar will make it to the final game!
  • AtamaAtama Member, Braver of Worlds, Kickstarter, Alpha One
    I think it looks very pretty and it looks like a world I want to adventure in.

    It clearly has bugs, and they weren't shy about pointing them out, but this early on that's to be expected.

    I have to say, it's the most encouraging footage I've seen of the game in some time.
     
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  • Balrog21Balrog21 Member, Alpha One, Adventurer
    I absolutely loved the preview. The world looks amazing. I wish someone could post a screen shot of the mountains in the background or a shot just of them. Most companies fail at this but by what briefly they were shown before the camera moved they look great by what I can tell.
    It seems combat is coming together nicely, not enough lightning spells though...but the love for fire based spells is evidently crystal clear. :)
    Let me start off by saying the new build for toons are 110% better than the last time I saw them, but
    I will agree about the toons. Some look stellar while some seem just a bit off...especially the ones with predominantly white in their make up. It's too clean to me and bright. It's like they just donned their outfit that came straight from the dry cleaners. Some with the gold are like this too, and yes, I know these will be improved upon as time goes on. Just putting it out there. Maybe tone down some of the brightness and dirty them up a bit?
    The only real quirk I find is the dragon's wings...they just don't fit for me personally. But do let me say thank you for not going the angry chicken two legged route...THANK YOU!
    The node buildings being built are awesome was hoping to see the apothecary building as well but no biggie.
    The open world dungeons look the best I've seen in ages. So vast and intriguing keep doing what you're doing with those!
    This was a A++ for me. Especially showing the bugs that are present.
    Keep on doing the great stuff all the team is doing. It's always awesome to see progress!
  • Combat effects could be toned down a little in my opinion and i thought characters seemed a little off too. But these are just polish complaints that i'm confident will be fixed in due time
    Where there is light, there is shadow. I am the shadow without the light. The shadow of nothingness. The VoidShadow
  • VarkunVarkun Member, Braver of Worlds, Kickstarter, Alpha One
    Just excited to see the game come together after backing in KS and following development for 3+ years now.

    Sitting watching the game play from last week I found myself with a smile on my face just happy to see the MMO world of Verra begin to come to life.
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    Close your eyes spread your arms and always trust your cape.
  • Frosty CoffeeFrosty Coffee Member, Alpha One, Adventurer
    I have to say, this game is truly looking to be very beautiful. Please do not take away the visual effects of the battles, they look amazing. The only thing that I think could be toned down is the massive Black Hole effect Steven used in the dungeon for example. Everything else keep the same and go beyond! I agree with a lot of others here about the characters though. It looks like the character design is lacking something, it is a step in the right direction but I can't put my finger on it. It could be the facial design of some races. The body tones seem okay but I would have to say character design is what I was more on the I'm not sure if I am on board with it feel.
  • George_BlackGeorge_Black Member, Intrepid Pack
    Mmorpgs are back with AoC, that is for certain.
    I felt bored with all the forced daily gameplay and the isolated sterilized repetitive instanced gameplay that current mmorpgs provide.
    This game will have real social aspects, as well as guild gameplay, rather than LFG random(or 'guild) BG(or dungeon) runs, port in from Bank.

    I cant wait for my A1 access to start, but I am mostly interested in whichever period will get into the class, weapons and combat systems in depth.
  • HjerimHjerim Member, Leader of Men, Alpha One
    @Balrog21 I can tell you as a dragon aficionado myself, that there will also be space for the "Standard" high fantasy dragons.

    A picture of the Elder Dragon (we still need to see it animated)

    vlcsnap-2019-11-24-10h03m43s448.png
  • Wandering MistWandering Mist Moderator, Member, Founder, Kickstarter, Alpha One
    Hjerim wrote: »
    @Balrog21 I can tell you as a dragon aficionado myself, that there will also be space for the "Standard" high fantasy dragons.

    A picture of the Elder Dragon (we still need to see it animated)

    vlcsnap-2019-11-24-10h03m43s448.png

    Personally I would love to see Chinese-style dragons used more in games.
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  • NagashNagash Member, Leader of Men, Kickstarter, Alpha One
    Hjerim wrote: »
    @Balrog21 I can tell you as a dragon aficionado myself, that there will also be space for the "Standard" high fantasy dragons.

    A picture of the Elder Dragon (we still need to see it animated)

    vlcsnap-2019-11-24-10h03m43s448.png

    As a guy whos flag is a red dragon I have to say that the elder dragon is stunning
    nJ0vUSm.gif

    The dead do not squabble as this land’s rulers do. The dead have no desires, petty jealousies or ambitions. A world of the dead is a world at peace
  • darthadendarthaden Member, Braver of Worlds, Kickstarter, Alpha One
    voidshadow wrote: »
    Combat effects could be toned down a little in my opinion and i thought characters seemed a little off too. But these are just polish complaints that i'm confident will be fixed in due time

    They could just go the route BDO took and allow players to turn off other players spell effects so you don't get overwhelmed when there's a bunch of people on the screen.
  • HjerimHjerim Member, Leader of Men, Alpha One
    edited June 2020
    @darthaden They will actually implement that! citation needed.

    Same for glowing weapons and armor - you will be able to turn that off in case you don't want to see others light shows. (Correct me if i am wrong, but I remember it from a livestream long ago)
  • unknownsystemerrorunknownsystemerror Member, Phoenix Initiative, Royalty, Kickstarter, Alpha One
    edited June 2020
    I would like to see the citation on that. The only mention of changing how the game will look concerning spell effects or avatars is about siege instances. Changing how spell effects are seen by you from other players is not planned. The whole point of some of them is to blind, or provide cover. (black hole for one). This has been proposed by players before looking to gain some workaround to cosmetics or spells. The handy trick of playing on low graphics to remove terrain clutter to see people more easily also doesn't work (Tey tried this in first test, it just makes the stuff more blurry, doesn't remove). I will admit that there may be a quote out there that I might have missed in the hundreds of hours of livestreams we have now, so if you have a citation, then link it.
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  • HjerimHjerim Member, Leader of Men, Alpha One
    @unknownsystemerror was pretty certain they said this around when they played the siege trailer with real people back in march 2019. I have looked through a couple of hours of tape and I give up now...

    Thanks for pointing it out - I think you might be right.
  • darthaden wrote: »
    voidshadow wrote: »
    Combat effects could be toned down a little in my opinion and i thought characters seemed a little off too. But these are just polish complaints that i'm confident will be fixed in due time

    They could just go the route BDO took and allow players to turn off other players spell effects so you don't get overwhelmed when there's a bunch of people on the screen.

    FF14 also had such a system where you could choose to either see all effects, only the effects of your group or only your effects.
    And it was necessary. Some of the spells (especialy the lvl 50 Whitemage spell) were outrigth blinding.

    That said, I would find it extremly negative and a sign of bad effect design if something like that were necessary (as long as the number of players in a certain area is under a certain limit).
    I want to see what happens in the world and not seeing anything anymore just because one character of a certain class is present would be rather disapointing.
    Does anyone know how hard it is to change the intesity of effects?Because that sounds (for me) like the better option. So instead of just choosing to see or not to see you could choose to see all but the brightness/flashiness is turned down to a degree were (50%, 20%,..) you are able to see.
  • VentharienVentharien Member, Alpha One, Adventurer
    Really loved what they showed, and glad to see the new iterations. I hope they change up the cast animations though. The floating high jump pirouette every time you throw a fire ball definitely put me off.
  • sirstonsirston Member, Settler, Kickstarter
    feeling better about the game, was a little worried for a bit
  • MosephMoseph Member
    Were those Starship Troopers references from Steven?
  • NagashNagash Member, Leader of Men, Kickstarter, Alpha One
    Tsukasa wrote: »
    Tab target is brainless and garbage. Stop copying Archeage! Remove this garbage. In BDO you can win 1v3 with pure skill. :)

    lucky its a combination of tab and action combat ^^
    nJ0vUSm.gif

    The dead do not squabble as this land’s rulers do. The dead have no desires, petty jealousies or ambitions. A world of the dead is a world at peace
  • NoaaniNoaani Member, Intrepid Pack
    Tsukasa wrote: »
    And what's the point? One guaranteed CC tab target skill, makes action focused builds for DDs completely useless. Action is all about "Don't get CC'd, or you die. Never stop moving, time your iframes and super armor with the right counter-skills to stay standing" "Hit without getting hit".

    Sounds like Street Fighter to me.

    I'd rather a game that is about using the right ability at the right time, but where there are dozens of factors to take in to account to know which ability is the right one to use.

    Basically, I'm going to pit my brain up against your twitch ability.
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