Posted September 13, 2017
Hi
I hope I am not too late with my feedback, since the game will release soon, however, I thought such a great game should get some feedback. (This forum looks quite a bit empty).
I just finished the fire temple, and as the title says I am not really a great gamer, but I play quite a lot.
First the things I like:
The graphic looks good, even though I do not really like pixel art. Especially the start screen is nice.
It looks like you try to make the best out of your (self set) limitations, like the orioginal SNES games, instead of having pixel art just as an art style!
The combat reminds me a bit of secret of mana (although faster and a bit mdoernized (no longer charging for eternety^^) and is quite good. (Although I would like to have a bit more options/attacks).
However, what makes it really interesting is your enemy design. Even the basic enemies have different (abuseable) attack pattern and feel different to fight, thats really rare!
Also the AI of the companion (and "human" enemies) is good (better than me actually^^).
Also the exploring on the map is really fulfilling. A lot of stuff to discover and it often makes you feel clever when you finally find it.
There were also some clever puzzles in the dungeons. I like especially that you really try to use each puzzle element several times and in different combinations. Often puzzle mechanics are used only 1 or 2 times and than thrown away.
NOT DENSE ENOUGH
In general there are a lot of small things, which just take more time than needed. This makes the experience less dense, than it could be. Of course having a longer play time is better for some people, but I think some things are unnecessary and drag the game a bit. The best parts of the game are really great it is just that there is sometimes stuff between them
Here some examples in no particular order (they may look like nitpicking but it sometimes are small things which add up):
1. It would have been nice if there would have been a "shortcut" where the first parkour quest can be found. What i mean with this is (similar to the activatable lifts in the Bergen area) a stone which you could throw down such that you do not have to go all the way around again, if you want to go up.
There it would have been especially needed, since the way is quite long and you have to go up at least 2 times (1 for a chest 1 for the quest), and this would have made it a lot faster.
Such shortcuts are quite fun in general, and you use them in Bergen yourself and other games (like Xanadu Next and Dark Souls) use them quite often as a different kind of reward (not just an item but a faster rout to safe time!)
2. The quests texts show not the whole information needed (often the person giving the quest tells you more). Additional some kind of minimap symbol where to turn in the quest (and in the quest hub where to find the quest givers) could speed some things up quite a bit.
One quest which took me (and others according to the steam forum) more time than needed was the one with the legendary rabbit. I had to search the hexaquest, and I somehow thought while receving the quest that the one in the info was clearly meant, but another one in the inn was the wanted one. If the more precise quest text would have been present it would have safed me some time.
(And of course showing on the map where to turn it in would always safe a bit time).
3. It quite often happens to me that I want to do something, which I can't (or shouldn't) do now.
You often have some forshadowing (or false clues), but you do not really know, that you cant do it.
A.This is the worst offender: When you get the fire elemental, you think you can now finally open these ice chests, but no you can't you need an additional key! This took me at least 10 minutes of needless backtracking...
Why do we need a seperate key? Why can't the fire be the key? It would make a lot more sense and would prevent misunderstandings/ loss of time for people.
B In the Temple Mine U1 in the old shaft 1 on the bottom right there is an item, and there are the bombs and some ice on the floor. You could think that you somehow could reach the item, with what you can do, but you can't. If there would have been some ice before the stones it would have been clear. (Since the ice shows clearly "you can melt it later").
C: In temple mine EQ Temple Chamber 1. On the floor are violet rings, which somehow make you think you need to put stuff on them. (Especially since you have to put one of the pillars on a symbol!)
D: The elite level 15 quest you get on the first day. After having no quests left (befor going to bergen) It was not really clear, that you will get some more quests the next day, so I tried to do this quest quite a bit.
If the guy would have sayd "come back tomorrow" or "come back once you are stronger" on the first day and giving the quest only on the 2nd day (when there are some quests between level 8 and level 15) would have made it a lot clearer what is intended.
E: In the temple in the room where you use the 4 keys: I thought I have to stand on the key platform to shoot the whole circle (all the elements to actrivate the switch). It was almost possible, but not completely.
If the key platform would have been 2 grid elements more to the south (or at a position where it is clear that you cant shoot the whole circle) it would have costed me a lot less time.
(Also the camera movement in that room made me miss several shots...)
F: The "normal" quest find the lazer dinamite etc. in the temple mine is quite hard. I can udnerstand that you have to search good in order to find all chests, thats fine, but having the quest objects for a normal quests also hidden so well is not really needed.
4. The Temple Mine was a bit too long for my taste. I like that you reuse your puzzle lements, but it was just too much, it overstayed its welcome. Especially after having gained the fire.
A: You fight the same enemies again, and except the bomb throwing ones the fights were pretty much the same.
Having 2-3 fights less would have been better.
B. Also the puzzle where you circle (on a platform) around an area with barriers, where you have to move a pillar onto a switch is the first I would cut. It is not really clever and it takes quite a bit of time. Especially when you miss a shot you have to wait again several seconds making it annoying.
C: (After gaining the fire) the 2nd puzzle where you have to move the pillars on the ice: You have to make more or less the same way with all the pillars (as in the puzzle before), so having to move at least 1 pillar less (making the hole on the south smaller such that only 1 pillar fits in instead of 2) would have been better as well.
D: The respawning ice (+ jumping) some ice pillars less would also be enough.
All in all I would prefer if the temple would be more dense (less repetition). The best puzzles are really cool, but having too many (and some not soo great) puzzles drages the whole things.
CONTROLLS / TUTORIALS
There are just some things, which would help me play the game better:
1. Making a tutorial (maybe even a small part on the ship) about perfect blocking, I have read about it in a forum post, but I have no clue how to do it, or what it does.
2. The martial art teacher quest in beginners harbour is quite hard, but it does not give anything special as a reward, thats really a shame. (Also having some possibility to quit the quest could help some people as well. I almost could not finish the 12 targets in 10 seconds.)
3. It is not really clear for me how to do the dash charge attack. The tutorial there could be better, when should I press which button exactly?
Also I find it quite hard to aim with mouse and keyboard. Or better I can only aim in the cardinal 4 directions (WASD).
I can see why you do not use the mouse for the aiming (to be ablke to move in a different direction than you shoot), however, making it at least an option would help.
OR include some "auto aim" (at least for the 1 person damage dash). It just happens soo often that I dash next to a target (since it is not directly in D direction but a bit up), when it is clear, that I want to hit that enemy with the attack...
LANGUAGE
I use the german version of the game. I can understand, that not everything is allready translated, however, It is just inconsistent. Talking with 1 character one message may be translated and the next is english again. This can be quite confusing, especially if some items etc. have different names in german and english.
I would prefer if quests/ conversations are in english unless they are translated as a whole.
I hope I am not too late with my feedback, since the game will release soon, however, I thought such a great game should get some feedback. (This forum looks quite a bit empty).
I just finished the fire temple, and as the title says I am not really a great gamer, but I play quite a lot.
First the things I like:
The graphic looks good, even though I do not really like pixel art. Especially the start screen is nice.
It looks like you try to make the best out of your (self set) limitations, like the orioginal SNES games, instead of having pixel art just as an art style!
The combat reminds me a bit of secret of mana (although faster and a bit mdoernized (no longer charging for eternety^^) and is quite good. (Although I would like to have a bit more options/attacks).
However, what makes it really interesting is your enemy design. Even the basic enemies have different (abuseable) attack pattern and feel different to fight, thats really rare!
Also the AI of the companion (and "human" enemies) is good (better than me actually^^).
Also the exploring on the map is really fulfilling. A lot of stuff to discover and it often makes you feel clever when you finally find it.
There were also some clever puzzles in the dungeons. I like especially that you really try to use each puzzle element several times and in different combinations. Often puzzle mechanics are used only 1 or 2 times and than thrown away.
NOT DENSE ENOUGH
In general there are a lot of small things, which just take more time than needed. This makes the experience less dense, than it could be. Of course having a longer play time is better for some people, but I think some things are unnecessary and drag the game a bit. The best parts of the game are really great it is just that there is sometimes stuff between them
Here some examples in no particular order (they may look like nitpicking but it sometimes are small things which add up):
1. It would have been nice if there would have been a "shortcut" where the first parkour quest can be found. What i mean with this is (similar to the activatable lifts in the Bergen area) a stone which you could throw down such that you do not have to go all the way around again, if you want to go up.
There it would have been especially needed, since the way is quite long and you have to go up at least 2 times (1 for a chest 1 for the quest), and this would have made it a lot faster.
Such shortcuts are quite fun in general, and you use them in Bergen yourself and other games (like Xanadu Next and Dark Souls) use them quite often as a different kind of reward (not just an item but a faster rout to safe time!)
2. The quests texts show not the whole information needed (often the person giving the quest tells you more). Additional some kind of minimap symbol where to turn in the quest (and in the quest hub where to find the quest givers) could speed some things up quite a bit.
One quest which took me (and others according to the steam forum) more time than needed was the one with the legendary rabbit. I had to search the hexaquest, and I somehow thought while receving the quest that the one in the info was clearly meant, but another one in the inn was the wanted one. If the more precise quest text would have been present it would have safed me some time.
(And of course showing on the map where to turn it in would always safe a bit time).
3. It quite often happens to me that I want to do something, which I can't (or shouldn't) do now.
You often have some forshadowing (or false clues), but you do not really know, that you cant do it.
A.This is the worst offender: When you get the fire elemental, you think you can now finally open these ice chests, but no you can't you need an additional key! This took me at least 10 minutes of needless backtracking...
Why do we need a seperate key? Why can't the fire be the key? It would make a lot more sense and would prevent misunderstandings/ loss of time for people.
B In the Temple Mine U1 in the old shaft 1 on the bottom right there is an item, and there are the bombs and some ice on the floor. You could think that you somehow could reach the item, with what you can do, but you can't. If there would have been some ice before the stones it would have been clear. (Since the ice shows clearly "you can melt it later").
C: In temple mine EQ Temple Chamber 1. On the floor are violet rings, which somehow make you think you need to put stuff on them. (Especially since you have to put one of the pillars on a symbol!)
D: The elite level 15 quest you get on the first day. After having no quests left (befor going to bergen) It was not really clear, that you will get some more quests the next day, so I tried to do this quest quite a bit.
If the guy would have sayd "come back tomorrow" or "come back once you are stronger" on the first day and giving the quest only on the 2nd day (when there are some quests between level 8 and level 15) would have made it a lot clearer what is intended.
E: In the temple in the room where you use the 4 keys: I thought I have to stand on the key platform to shoot the whole circle (all the elements to actrivate the switch). It was almost possible, but not completely.
If the key platform would have been 2 grid elements more to the south (or at a position where it is clear that you cant shoot the whole circle) it would have costed me a lot less time.
(Also the camera movement in that room made me miss several shots...)
F: The "normal" quest find the lazer dinamite etc. in the temple mine is quite hard. I can udnerstand that you have to search good in order to find all chests, thats fine, but having the quest objects for a normal quests also hidden so well is not really needed.
4. The Temple Mine was a bit too long for my taste. I like that you reuse your puzzle lements, but it was just too much, it overstayed its welcome. Especially after having gained the fire.
A: You fight the same enemies again, and except the bomb throwing ones the fights were pretty much the same.
Having 2-3 fights less would have been better.
B. Also the puzzle where you circle (on a platform) around an area with barriers, where you have to move a pillar onto a switch is the first I would cut. It is not really clever and it takes quite a bit of time. Especially when you miss a shot you have to wait again several seconds making it annoying.
C: (After gaining the fire) the 2nd puzzle where you have to move the pillars on the ice: You have to make more or less the same way with all the pillars (as in the puzzle before), so having to move at least 1 pillar less (making the hole on the south smaller such that only 1 pillar fits in instead of 2) would have been better as well.
D: The respawning ice (+ jumping) some ice pillars less would also be enough.
All in all I would prefer if the temple would be more dense (less repetition). The best puzzles are really cool, but having too many (and some not soo great) puzzles drages the whole things.
CONTROLLS / TUTORIALS
There are just some things, which would help me play the game better:
1. Making a tutorial (maybe even a small part on the ship) about perfect blocking, I have read about it in a forum post, but I have no clue how to do it, or what it does.
2. The martial art teacher quest in beginners harbour is quite hard, but it does not give anything special as a reward, thats really a shame. (Also having some possibility to quit the quest could help some people as well. I almost could not finish the 12 targets in 10 seconds.)
3. It is not really clear for me how to do the dash charge attack. The tutorial there could be better, when should I press which button exactly?
Also I find it quite hard to aim with mouse and keyboard. Or better I can only aim in the cardinal 4 directions (WASD).
I can see why you do not use the mouse for the aiming (to be ablke to move in a different direction than you shoot), however, making it at least an option would help.
OR include some "auto aim" (at least for the 1 person damage dash). It just happens soo often that I dash next to a target (since it is not directly in D direction but a bit up), when it is clear, that I want to hit that enemy with the attack...
LANGUAGE
I use the german version of the game. I can understand, that not everything is allready translated, however, It is just inconsistent. Talking with 1 character one message may be translated and the next is english again. This can be quite confusing, especially if some items etc. have different names in german and english.
I would prefer if quests/ conversations are in english unless they are translated as a whole.
Post edited September 13, 2017 by TigrisCallidus