In Depth Alpha Review (Initial thoughts) 23/10/2014

– I will continue to edit and update this post as much as I can and put lines through sections that no longer apply –

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Installation

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OK, so I downloaded the installer from steam which was around 2.4gb which expanded to 4gb when installed - took me barely any time to download at faster than I usually download from steam (1mb/s vs 1.8mbs) - verified the cache and there was no data corruption. Congratulations! Your rollout works!

First - my rig specifications -

Windows 7 Home running at 1080p resolution
GTX 770 2gb ram
8gb ram DDR3
i5-4670 haswell cpu
Asus ROG maximus impact VI motherboard
Surround sound wireless headset
Xbox controller

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Preface

** - The review may come over a little critical however this is not an attempt to discourage or slate the game, my criticisms are purely constructive and I hope that they will help.

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Startup, UI, Settings

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The game loads much faster than I had originally expected - the loading screen is bland unfortunately and has a spinning logo on the bottom which reminded me a little overall of the assassin’s creed loading screens. However- when the game UI loaded up - the sunrise animations - though glorious - meant that the start game/settings etc… UI was dark also and lit up with a harsh gradient.

The game however did not auto-detect my hardware settings (I assume this is because there is not as yet a preset for hardware profiles) and the game launched windowed at 1280 x 800 resolution on medium graphics. I promptly reset this to my default full screen 1080 resolution and ran this at “very high” graphics settings which led to an immediate crash to desktop when I started a new game. Setting the game to “high” fixed this issue.

The UI itself needs some polish - the difference between the red and black text highlighting the selected option didn’t seem to work very well, when using the keys or xbox controller to move from the option, the red disappeared entirely or was so indistinguishable from the black that I had no idea what option I was actually on, meaning I had to count the number of times I had pushed up or down to get to the selected option. Default selection position was also irritating as it seemed to arbitrarily move to either whatever the developers had set it to on the next menu or was put into the closest menu option that was relative to my previous selection. These issues also extend into the dialogue options in NPC interactions which proved highly irritating.

I was astounded however to find that there were no options for controller button remapping. I will discuss this in the next section.

I then hit New Game and found myself suddenly in-game. In the exact spot that was rendered in the background - which felt a little abrupt - like I had been dropped into the map. I also noticed there was no player customisation which I hope has not yet been implemented. The health/progress bar at the bottom seemed fine and the compass (top) worked great - the only thing that seemed missing was a way to tell what time it was.

TL;DNR/Conclusion - red with black is fundamentally user unfriendly, selection icon/arrow would help this, option selection needs to revert to the top of the menu list.

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Controls, Interaction and Other Things

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Controls

To my delight, using my xbox controller meant absolutely no need for me to configure anything in the user settings before it worked. Worked straight out of the box.

After buggering about with the controls I noticed a few things which annoyed me. First of all, the jump button was set to the “X” button on the controller and sprint was set to the “B” button.

<img src="/uploads/default/9115/01ef2e195226e8b4.jpg" width="100 height=“100”>

The main thing to bear in mind when mapping controls is which button is the one that players are going to be using the most often -

Now, on most Nintendo controllers - albeit NES/SNES/N64/DS - it makes sense to have “B” as the jump button because the controller is shaped so that the button is within the average comfortable reach of the thumb extremity, such that the “A” button might also be pressed at the same time within the surface area of the thumb. This lends itself particularly well to games that require sprinting and jumping, such as platformers where the “A” button is the one that you are going to press the most - the B button (furthest way from your hand) is the one you will push the least. The design of the buttons themselves means that they are side by side within reach of the thumb pad and organised by ease of use.

On the XBOX controller, the base of the thumb joint is closest to the “A” and “B” buttons which lends convenience for regular presses. If you set the sprint button to B (scroll up for the xbox image for reference) - the layout of the buttons means that using “X” for jump requires either a VERY large thumb or straining the thumb to allow sprinting and jumping at the same time but also risking pushing the A or Y buttons accidentally. The simply solution would be to remap the sprint key to a button which is easier to press and hold down which does not interfere with other button presses - suggestion - left trigger/shoulder button.

Noting what I have said about buttons being pressed more often and convenience, interaction in dialogue with NPC’s used the A button for interaction - A button for dialogue selection and then B to advance to the next line of dialogue. Why?! A should advance, B should move back/cancel. If you set A to activate things - make it consistently that button - if you use B to cancel things - use that button consistently too!

That being said - movement with the controller is fluid, the sensitivity between walk/run is a little too quick - the lightest touch too much and the player begins running, not walking. And boy do you run fast. I didn’t need to sprint anywhere because when I did I felt like Superman flying round the earth and turning back time to 1403 - oftentimes colliding into the nearest barn wall or tree. Speed however did not seem to affect the physics of momentum so when I jumped, whether running or sprinting, I jumped the same height and the same distance which broke my movement into something a little uncomfortable.

Start opened up the main menu which was what I expected and select opened up the inventory which was great - I felt the use of the left d-pad key also opening the inventory was a little excessive and that that hotkey could be better used mapped to a player favourite/shortcut to an item - or quick switching between items without going into the inventory screen.

Speaking of the inventory screen - the inability to select tabs with the control stick (left) was a little disappointing, relying solely on the use of the shoulder buttons and triggers to move between tabs.

I was disappointed though that there was ONLY 1st person view. The option for third person would be great.

Interaction -

As I set off, I ran down the path set before me to come across my first NPC! I was immensely excited and bound over to talk to the chap only to have him stare at the ground and force his way into me and continue, bumping me off to the side. I was hurt. I felt what it must be like to be a foreigner and try to look friendly to a passer by on the streets of London.

The main reason for this was because the NPC lacks the code for head tracking which should make him stop. I also resent that in a contest of strength between me running at the NPC and the NPC trying to follow his set navmesh path that I as the player should be the one bumped off the side of the road - if that should happen at the same time as a clipping glitch who knows where I might end up - perhaps inside a wall. Anyway, I ran after him spamming the A button to talk to him (distance is sliiightly too far away for comfort) and suddenly found myself (voila!) in third person mode with dialogue options. Options that covered a bloody third of the screen. I was unable to rotate the camera, move in or out or do anything at this point. I don’t know if it is intentional but it felt like a terrible cut scene. The camera angles shifting over the shoulder of the player and the NPC were… different. But broken. I found myself mostly staring at the back of my or the NPC’s head while in conversation and unable to change the view. The NPC didn’t seem to be looking at the player character at all while he spoke - I noticed the lack of animations and speech also - probably not yet implemented - however the main thing I realised was that the NPC and PC textures were quite low resolution - the meshes were simple and undefined and I hope that they don’t stay that way. I also noticed that the women don’t seem to have any eyeballs - either the Cumans seem to find them a local delicacy (as every NPC I spoke to kept telling me that there were Cumans raiding around the place) or it might be a bug.

NPC’s seemed to follow their daily routines just fine - however there were navmesh bugs I noticed where NPCS would sit at benches that weren’t there, some of them slid across the floor like Dracula in a bad vampire B-movie while stirring pots on an invisible stove, or pouring (?) drinks onto the ground.

I also found it weird that opening doors took so long after activation for the animation to load - it didn’t feel like I was opening a door, it felt like it was an automated door with a time delay. At one point I tried to open a door and it refused to open. I realised that an NPC was behind the door - wedged tightly against the wall and neither could move.

Other Stuff -

I noticed that there were some inconsistencies in the collisions of certain things. I found myself perfectly able to run up boulders - even trees to a certain extent - and also walk straight through bushes. Fences however were rigid. I glitched jumping onto the roof of a barn at one point and fell through the whole world into darkness.

I did like - though not sure if intentional - that when running down the bank of the creek the player seems to stagger down (as a person normally would down a steep slope) however going up the slope seemed to trouble. And run speed was also unaffected by terrain, running in tall grass or roads was the same.

I read both on the forums and on the initial loading screen that there was a quest to be done on this tiny little map - but for the life of me I could not work out where to pick it up. Some kind of quest indicator to pick it up would be good simply for testing purposes.

Combat seems to be completely absent including unarmed (no fists - draw weapon). I was unable to test the archery due to the reason above.

Overall I was absolutely blown away by the level of detail in the map for the terrain - the plants, grass, wood, bushes, water, stone, dirt and road all looked photo-realistic and was absolutely breathtaking to see. The building textures seemed a little too low-resolution for my taste as did the clutter and furniture in the buildings, clothing and skin of the NPCs but I think that is what alpha is for.

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Edit: Music

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I loved the music and the depth of the sound that I got through my headphones - the sounds were beautiful and immersive and I have nothing bad to say about it except that I think it was immersion breaking that the music was on a loop at max volume (default)

Please feel free to add your comments to this topic ! Thanks for reading.

5 Likes

Nice a funny review, thanks

I think the aforementioned review is absolutely spot on.

Summarized criticisms for my experience:

  • Odd button mapping on the controller.
  • Navmeshing/Collisions/Floating NPCs
  • Delay in opening door
  • Water appeared blue/pink/purple in places
  • Hard to find the quest that was mentioned. (Perhaps a tiny little nudge in the right direction?)
  • A freeze after setting my graphics to very high, fullscreen, and sprinting. (Can’t confirm if this was an isolated event or not – I’ll try again tomorrow). Also after closing the game post-freeze, my desktop resolution was lower and required me to manually adjust my desktop back to 1080p.

Final Thoughts:
Overall, the game was very fluid (minus the door opening delay). I was pleased to see how well the game looked in very high graphics and how smooth the FPS were. Animations were typically ranging from “good” to “excellent” and the world is full of detail. I’m sure when other mechanics and voice-over (if planned) is added, the experience will be that much better. Although I know Warhorse (to my knowledge) has no plans to add a third person camera, I felt the natural inclination to switch at times. Maybe a future crowd funding goal or something? I look forward to immersing myself in this medieval world even more. Good job Warhorse, this project looks very promising.

General Specs:

  • Windows 8.1 64 Bit running at 1080p resolution
  • ATI Radeon HD 7950
  • 8gb DDR3 Ram
  • AMD FX-8150 Zambezi 8-Core 3.6GHz
  • Xbox One Controller
1 Like

I agree with what everyone here says, the door delay, flooty npc’s and indeed the quest was hard to find at first.
But then again it’s alpha, it’s a technical demo. So I can see past those issue’s.

And I agree with tlmay66 a third person option would be nice, just to see your character. Warhorse can hide the hud and any notifications when you are in third person mode so you won’t want to fight in third person. And I liked the archery part of the demo, even if it’s a bit hard to aim for me personally. But I’ll have to train more with the bow then :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

I’ve been playing around for a while now, and I agree with many of the things stated here.
I’m using keyboard and mouse btw, and for me the button placement is excellent, usually it’s the other way around for cross platform games, so I feel slightly smug xD but I hope the controller issues get fixed soon too =)
I suspect they’ll be adding an input manager ‘soonish’ though.

A few things that weren’t mentioned, that I however noticed:

  • Jumping feels really lame, I’m not an animator, so I can’t point out exact what should be fixed, but it just doesn’t feel right.
  • Focal view seems sort of odd when looking at the ground (or things close by), at a distance everything looks great, but when I look down my self it feels as though the ground is a lot closer than it should be
  • Also when looking down I noticed that my feet are clearly not grounded, I’m guessing that the pelvis is grounded instead and the feet are just sort of loosely placed on the ground. I’m not good at programming animation, but I know that there are techniques to fix this, can’t help you find them though, sorry xD.
  • waiting is so boring. I completed the 2 quests, I have the money, but the bow master refuses to go to work, he just hangs out around what I suspect is the pub. It’s been 2 days now… sigh … a sleep function would be awesome (and I suspect it is also planned)
  • I once saw a woman 10 meters up, hovering above a field, moving her hand around in circles as though she was stirring in a put.
  • People getting stuck in walls. The merchant (at least that’s what I think he is) didn’t come to work one day because he was standing on top of a pile of firewood trying to walk though a wall. xD
  • The walking speed kinda feels like running. I don’t mind the running speed, when actually running, but the walking speed just feels to fast for me.
    (the above should be displayed as a list, but it wasn’t working in the preview window, hopefully it’ll work in the published post)

Many things do work however, and are quite interesting, but I suspect the things that aren’t working are more interesting for you guys.
Ooh, and the graphics are absolutely gorgeous, a few things are a bit too low res, but overall, wow! Like the bow masters armour … I could just stare at it for ever, and the landscapes, and all the little details, like puddles and and whatnot.
The audio is also amazing, the ambient sounds from critters and animals.
Though you probably shouldn’t include sounds to animals that aren’t there, like I’ve been searching forever for the dogs and the cows, haven’t found any yet… xD

Overall, love the tech demo, and I’m really looking forwards to the next version.

Another thing I just remembered.
Animated skyboxes. I suspect it’s planned, but if not it should be. Being able to look up at the sun or the moon and see what time of day it is (kinda like in minecarft)

Not sure why people are reviewing an alpha that is hardly a day old…

@SirWarriant I think we are just reflecting on our experience with the alpha, providing feedback, offering ideas for future iterations, etc. Whether it is a day old or a year old alpha, I’ll hold those same opinions. Does that clear up my intent a little?

2 Likes

Yeah it does (20 characters)

Don’t worry guys, it’s all okay to review and give some details and opinions on the Alpha. Indeed I’m also not happy with the mapping for the game controller, because e.g. jumping and running are way too much apart from each other. Pressing the Left Stick for running would do the trick. I’ve seen it in some other games already using that technique.

you should use a key board and mouse then:)

I wish you could kill people with the bow that would add a lot of fun to the alpha.

1 Like

how to walk ? didn’t find the keybind

I know, but still this game is also going to be published on consoles, therefore I want to try both methods and check whether one controller type is better than the other.

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As for the button mapping, if they’d allow custom button/key binding, it won’t be an issue. It wasn’t the worst experience ever, it just seemed odd and didn’t flow as well as other games I’ve played. Very small issue in the larger context, of course. But I will try out the mouse and key board to see what that is like!

The one thing I would add to well noted issues above is the need to be able to jump over time. Obviously it’s an alpha, and taking in the village during night and day has been fun. However, it gets to the point you want to complete a quest and you wish you could “rest” for 8 hours until the sun comes up. This may be planned for the finished game; I just wanted to add that to the initial thoughts.

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This is one of the best Alphas I have seen of late. Considering how early it is, it is very clean. It performs well. Loads fast. It looks beautiful. I noticed a few minor clipping issues as well. Most of the people ignore you. My biggest complaint is that I can walk faster than a sheep runs. Running speed is WAY TOO FAST. The basic walking speed is about right for running and the walking speed needs to be WAY slower. I am also walking much faster than the NPC’s in the game are walking, and they look about right. I am sure they know this. All in all, I am really impressed by the Alpha. Great job guys! Can’t wait to see what comes next!

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wasd (as in most fps games)

I definitely agree with that thought.