Review from 01.02.2015
I played just for a short time and did not get to the real questing and don’t know if I’m able to make an analysis of this part in the next weeks. I’m sure that enough people will explore this part and talk about it
From what I’ve seen it’s a wonderful game and therefore I want to give my best to give you feedback you can work with. Be warned, it’ll be long. ^^
I play on an Nvidia GeForce GTX 770 with an Intel i7-4790K 4.00GHz CPU and 16 GM RAM, DirectX 11, if that information is of any importance.
My first time doing something like this, so be forgiving
Let’s start!
MENU
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Red color in the menu (especially resolution) is difficult to read. The color itself fits well in the design so perhaps make the black more transparent?
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Choosing the resolution is kind of an adventure ^^, I missed mine a few times and had to start from the beginning.
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The scrolling cursor in the Advanced Graphics Menu jumps around.
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The sound bars lag, when dragged around, so it’s difficult to choose the volume.
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(You probably know, that) 1920 in full screen freezes and gives the „DXGI_ERROR_DEVICE_HUNG“-error. Playing in 1600something window mode worked.
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Alt-Tab out of the game lets the mouse move only in a certain frame, where my game window was before. A bit tedious to get it out of it (opening a window as a „bridge“ between frame and desktop)
Also, the game continues running; I’d like to see it pause or an option for it.
GRAPHICS
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The tree shading seems plain and soft, a bit like plastic. Would improve this, if there’s time to.
Grass itself is awesome, shading could be improved, if time. -
If you look down it looks a bit like the character is floating. Don’t know if this can be fixed easily.
I also think the default running (not the sprinting) could be a bit slower because often everything gets too blurry which causes headache. Not to mention the sudden falls from cliffs in the woods -
Would add two more vertices on the player’s hood mesh, so it looks not that angled
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The night could be a bit darker. Doesn’t have to be much, only enough that you still see silhouettes and can move around, but have the feeling that it’s actually night and you need a light source to see everything. Otherwise the poor torch will feel useless and sad
http://i.imgur.com/NUEkCSm.jpg
(left original, right photoshopped darker - you can still see stuff and navigate) -
The dark-light difference when you step in houses or out is sometimes still very … abrupt. You get scared to death from people appearing in front of your nose ^^
step outside: http://i.imgur.com/5HbLqSY.jpg
step inside: http://i.imgur.com/Cb7vwzu.jpg (holy sh …) -
The first campfire you see on the left when entering the village glows, but doesn’t light the surroundings: http://i.imgur.com/Ca3nzus.jpg
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Would dim the torchbugs a bit so that they look more realistic and you can better discern them from other light sources like distant lanterns.
(Now with all these light things – It could of course be that my screen, although turned down in brightness is still too bright, but since daylight seems okay, I’m not sure.)
- Water in barrels can be a tiny bit more greenish and less transparent. Looks artificial at the moment.
INTERFACE
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For me important: The dot in the middle is rather disturbing. When picking flowers the flag would be enough and the dot could appear dynamically when the weapon is sheated or if it’s otherwise really needed.
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The flag: I would scale it down a bit, it looks still a bit clumsy, but the main problem is, that its shadow is flat. That makes it look like it’s on screen and catapults the player out of immersion. I’d make the shadow more blurry and transparent (or, if you’re awesome, let its shadow fall on the environment).
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I need an option to scale the User Interface. Additionally a hotkey to hide and show the whole Interface would be great.
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Moving in the Dialogue Window with the mouse is in the making, I guess? Also, ending the dialogue with esc and move forward to the next line of text with enter would be intuitive for me.
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IMPORTANT! The camera changing angles in Dialogues.
I know it’s still not fluid and buggy and this will be fixed, But the fact alone that the camera is moving around is very irritating. Sometimes it even breaks the 180 degree of dialogue.
You also take away (or misuse) the effect of a close-up and make some horrible dramaturgical mistakes.
Therefore I’d highly suggest changing the camera angle ONCE, so that you can see both parties well and only do a close up to either face when there’s a certain kind of emotion or importancy.
If you did not think about this matter enough, do it. People rate a game for their emotional (and sometimes intellectual) experience, so this is of greatest importance.
If the camera movement is only a technical experiment and the dramaturgical overhaul is already planned, I did not say a thing. ^-^
NETTLES and Bugs you probably already know of
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Radius of Nettle picking may be a bit big (I searched at first for a Nettle nearby that was already picked up) but since I guess changing it would be tedious, it’s ok.
BUT I can also pick up Nettles through house walls when I don’t even see them … -
I’d change the nettle picking camera angle not that far around the character. It would fit better in gameplay and prevent clipping graphics issues.
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All hanging laundry is clipping a lot.
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I can’t go in this stable. Intended? http://i.imgur.com/TGtMvcC.jpg
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The male forehead scratching animation (not the big head scratch animation) clips through the farmer hat, if one is worn.
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In the Alchemy book the Capital letter S clips into the text. http://i.imgur.com/VtEZkob.jpg
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In the Inventory the texts stop in the middle and I have to scroll. http://i.imgur.com/6JdWYi0.jpg
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The Quest with the bow:
I got the bow, stepped through the posts accidently, my bow was gone and I didn’t have a possibilty to ask the bow again from the guy; he was unresponsive.
Second time he was standing, but when I talked to him he sat down on an invisible chair.
This time I stayed between the posts and it worked, but the bow shooting was not very pleasant for the following reasons:
I think it moves too much to the left and right. When you shoot bow in real life it moves indeed, but in the exact second when you let go of the arrow. I know it’s difficult to simulate with mouse and keyboard, but like it is now, it’s … nah ^^
Also, it shoots the arrow when I don’t want to. I should have the control (mouse button pressed: aim, mouse button released: shoot.) If you don’t have the problem it may be my own mouse’s fault.
Another thing is that you usually pull the string up to your mouth (or further, depends on bow) and aim along the shaft. Right now the pulling hand is, like, 20 cm away from the face.
Since I shoot bow in real life I feel that these changes have to be made. Since many are hoping for realistic hunting, it will help a lot to actually get the „perfect shot“ to take down a deer. The importance should be to hit the right spot and to fire at the perfect time before the prey moves.
Of course there should be a learning curve in handling the bow, but I feel like it should be determined by the player and not by stones laid in the way by the game.
GAMEPLAY
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Sitting on benches not yet implemented?
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Why do the people sleep on benches? If they don’t have simple beds or straw (why don’t they?) they would sleep on the floor because it’s more comfortable.
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Where are the children? Always something is missing without them, especially in a time like this where children died young and therefore many of them were running around … before they died …
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For the sake of realism I’d recolor the hoods of most people so that they have one single natural color. Only the noble should have a two-coloured one.
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I’d like to see more opportunities to end a dialouge (Like „sorry, I really don’t have time for that“) and I’d like them to remember that they already said something, so that they don’t say the exact same thing again.
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For the future: Skyrim used the same sentences with different voice actors. When you already have different actors talking, it’s no big deal to change the text a little bit. I don’t know why Bethesda did this, but please don’t make the same mistake. ^-^
AWESOME, BUT NOT NECESSARY would be
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A light pain sound, like breathing in, when picking up nettles without gloves (these are burning nettles, one can see that ^^)
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Sit down anywhere, for a nice little break watching the sunrise.
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More unsteady wind. It still looks a bit synthetic on the grass, maybe the animation is too quick.
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More concealed texture edges between grass and roads
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An Add-On: Play as a woman. No fight, just the things a woman would be allowed to do in medieval times.
As a woman myself I’d love to have a figure to identify with and it’d be a great experience to see how this life with all its restricitons would be. Perhaps a little quest, regarding rights and court or the typical witch hunt would be awesome.
Just keep it in mind if the game becomes a success and you need more ideas for add-ons
BIGGEST DISTURBANCES ON FIRST SIGHT
The biggest disturbances on first sight were the Dialogue Camera (as stated above) and the Collecting Flag.
CONCLUSION
If the biggest desturbances are removed, and even if many other things I noted wouldn’t be implemented, this game will be wonderful!
I like the big idea, the graphics, the lighting, the textures, the atmosphere, the details, the nature, the gameplay and quest ideas very much so far and would love to see Kingdom Come rise to glory.
Please, please, please don’t let yourself be pushed with time.
Art needs time and a few things falling victim to time pressure can destroy people’s experience and lead to downfall, no matter if game or movie. And mostly the reason is that the market expects fast and cheap deliverance of consumables that is thrown away after a few years.
I don’t want this to be thrown away after a few years. I and as it seems a lot of other people waited so long for a game like this. So please take the time it needs to create and finish a wonderful piece of art.
If I should change something about the review or split it up and put in in different threads, just tell me. I’ll gladly follow your instructions.