...no real danger.
I want to say something right away - I am looking forward to this game. I\'m not trying to find reasons not to play it or put it down. If I didn\'t have hopes that the game might become great or the best MMO, I wouldn\'t even care about posting the suggestions and impressions. Any \"complains\" or suggestions I post are not meant to put down PS devs. This is simply honest opinion of a player who tries to picture playing this game for a long time. If you play something for a long time, might as well enjoy it as much as you can. Also, I understand that this is only a tech demo, so I do have hopes that a lot of things that concern me now will be changed. So, now that this is out of the way, let\'s get on with my post.
First, the game feels very claustrophobic. I\'m all for originality and such but not when it hurts the overall atmosphere. The sky, for example, leaves a lot to be desired, whether it\'s daytime or nighttime. Now, I know that we\'re underground, with the only source of light being the crystal but the reminder of it in game is exremely painful and unenjoyable. Not just from a game point of view but from a technical point of view. Never have I been reminded so much of the dreaded \"bounding box\" in the game, as in PlanShift. The result is that suspension of disbelief is ruined. Didn\'t the story say that no one can get too close to the crystal? So, why does it feel like it and the ceiling/walls are practically pressing onto your head? For example, let\'s compare the sky in PS and WoW.
Here\'s the WoW\'s beautiful nightsky:
http://img123.imageshack.us/img123/3155/nightsky23qg.jpghttp://img214.imageshack.us/img214/5797/nightsky1pe.jpgDoesn\'t feel claustrophobic at all.
And here\'s PS\' sky (day or night, they look the same, with night being more dimmed):
http://img160.imageshack.us/img160/8315/shot025xz.jpgWe can already see the \"walls\" or \"ceiling\" pressing so close. It just doesn\'t feel like freedom. It feels like being trapped in a box. This is even further illustrated by this image:
http://img259.imageshack.us/img259/1360/shot033dv.jpgNot only is the texture either really compressed or low resolution, it feels like being inside a can. It feels like I can just raise my arm and be able to touch it.
The next shot is actually kind of neat (taken from a place you sould not normally be able to get to):
http://img259.imageshack.us/img259/3766/shot048ae.jpgI think the game is really limiting itself here. I mean, the crystal is supposed to be magical and really powerful but yet it barely lights up the top of the \"underground\". Just look at it in relation to the towers that are visible. It looks like the whole place is extremely small. There\'s no sense of the unknown that lies far ahead. You already know what lies far ahead - another darn cave wall or \"end of the world\".
Here\'s another claustrophobic shot in relation to a tower:
http://img259.imageshack.us/img259/3310/shot058rx.jpgPerhaps it wouldn\'t be so bad if the sky texture that shows the walls/ceiling wasn\'t so low res or compressed.
Compare it to these WoW screenshots:
http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/1505/water7zl.jpghttp://img241.imageshack.us/img241/6985/water23pv.jpgThese really show a sense of unknown beyond. While in PS, we probably won\'t even see any rivers or lakes that hold a mystery beyond them, except at the bottom level maybe.
Here\'s a really great shot of WoW\'s sky and water:
http://img160.imageshack.us/img160/7592/nightskyandwater4mk.jpgIt really gives a sense of freedom above you and the unknown that lies ahead.
I\'m asking - why limit yourself? Frankly, I wish the game would be based on a normal land/planet with the nightsky, the stars, and the moon, and clouds and sun in the daytime. I understand that this game is trying to be different and original but in this case, being trapped underground seems like its limiting itself. However, I don\'t want to disrespect someone\'s vision of such an interesting world. So, if we\'re going to stick to it, why not explore the fact that the azure crystal is extremely powerful and magical? Why always have a static weakly lit and pixelated sky? It\'s magical after all! Why not create unusual magical energies in the sky? Perhaps it can have a similar effect to falling stars (comets), various energy spikes, interesting patterns formed, some sort of ancient symbols that almost no one can read (but some interesting NPCs possibly can). At a night time, it might form its own magical constellations or just something really out of this world. Who\'s to say the crystal can\'t create its own atmosphere with magical clouds etc? Heck, even the loading screen for PS shows something that looks like clouds. Also, why not lit the whole top, so the walls/ceiling isn\'t even visible? I mean, the crystal is extremely powerful! If the walls are visible, the suspension of disbelief and the feeling that the lands inside are vast and many areas are unknown, is ruined.
Next comes the forest... Why, oh why does it have to look like a labyrynth with trees painted on walls that is so painfully obvious? Let\'s see what PS\' forest looks like:
http://img160.imageshack.us/img160/6161/shot061jp.jpghttp://img226.imageshack.us/img226/264/shot093ha.jpgIt looks more like walls than forest. Now, I understand that it might be necessary to force a certain path sometimes but why do it this way? Here\'s a great example from WoW of a forced forest path that really looks like a forest:
http://img202.imageshack.us/img202/269/forest6nl.jpghttp://img226.imageshack.us/img226/6753/forest25bn.jpgInstead of making it like you\'re walking inside a canyon or a ditch, have the hills and mountains gradually elevated on the sides of a path, with lone trees set here and there. Now, if a person decides to wander off through those trees (if you decide to let them get up the smaller hills on the sides), they will eventually meet steeper and steeper mountains on the sides that they cannot cross. OR you can put these painted trees on the extreme walls. But a person wouldn\'t see them unless they wander off too far left or right from a path.
Another issue I have is the game seems to love extreme drops and elevations in anything from stairs to often-walked paths. Never have I seen such sudden drops or elevations. Sometimes I worry like I might\'ve falled into a pit when I walk in a forest and suddenly the path drops like a mutha. The example is in the first forest screenshot from PS I posted. I wish the drops and raises were much more gradual. Also, some stairs feel too big compared to a character model size. Also, why the area around the Plaza is so steep is also unclear. Why can\'t the city/village be a little more flat with only natural and slight elevations or drops? I guess it might work in a sense that cities in Lord of the Rings movies had such sudden elevations and drops but looked beautiful nontheless. Still, it doesn\'t quite seem the same. Plus, here comes claustrophobia again with everything so tightly bunched up together. Even the tavern seems claustrophobic with you getting stuck on every little chair and table. Games often exaggerate the insides of the building, so people can actually gather and walk there without getting stuck on every object.
Another unattractive thing I found were these blocky elevations on sides of the city entrances:
http://img147.imageshack.us/img147/2167/shot100zk.jpgInstead, this other (left) side of the same entrace is a little more attractive:
http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/7752/shot118bm.jpgBut instead of raising it so much with a painted wall of forest behind it, raise it a little more gradually, with more of this lone trees (actual tree models) getting more and more dense as you walk further through them (if you decide to do so), eventually ending either with steep uncrossable mountains or that painted wall of forest. It\'s a lot more believable that way. Never have I seen such steep mountain raises and dense uncrossable forests so close to the outside of a city in any game. If it\'s a city, with a lot of merchants coming in and out, it\'d at least have a limited open field outside, maybe with some broken carts laying here and there, a few passages in different directions, with lone tree models getting more and more dense until finally reaching a forest.
Finally, once you get outside into a more open area, this feels a lot less claustrophobic, it finally feels like you have much more freedom and possibly something unknown that lies beyond:
http://img160.imageshack.us/img160/9713/shot126op.jpgHowever, here comes another problem... Why is the relief so extreme all over? It almost seems like randomly generated relief like in those old games where you fly a ship that shoots lasers with occasional enemy ship flying at you, and the relief below is all a solid color and very extreme. Where are the occasional flat surfaces, so people can actually see each other running from afar? Right now there are too many sudden drops and the passages are so narrow in them that it yet again manages to feel claustrophobic.
Also, when you try to follow a road/path in that area that leads to various interesting points, at first it seems like it\'s a walked path because of a different texture but occassionally the \"path\" texture will stray off onto a mountain like this:
http://img249.imageshack.us/img249/9016/shot075qe.jpgUnless people have learned to walk on \"walls\", it seems out of place, especially because the path texture ends on the path, like this:
http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/3828/shot082rm.jpgAlso, notice that sudden and exaggerated elevation visible inside the \"tower\" path again.
Last but not least - where\'s the sense of danger in the game? When a new visitor comes to the site, they see a cozy tavern and a dwarf, that\'s it. Every interesting MMO out there has some kind of struggle or conflict or a sense of danger, be it different factions or some new enemy trying to conquer the innocent folk. Is the real conflict between Laanx and Talad? Or is Vodul the real villain here that will show his \"face\" eventually? I can\'t really hate Laanx or see her as evil, since from the story Talad stupidly used crytal powers without knowing how to properly use it first. But yet, he doesn\'t seem especially evil either. The only one that I see as evil is Vodul because he tried to make Laanx give him special umm \"favors\" (you know what I mean). There doesn\'t seem to be any independant conquering race. They all seem to live together fairly happily and the only goal to reach is to become a hero. But how can you become a hero without a serious danger or villain to defeat? Random ungoverned monsters or even small goverened enemies here and there, just for the sake of being in the game, doesn\'t quite pass up as \"glooming danger\" in the bigger picture/story of the game. Of course, this is only a tech demo, perhaps the real danger will come in the full game.
Also, it\'s kind of odd seeing Laanx being referred to as she in the story at first, and then as a he. Did she change into a \"he\" after the transformation? If Laanx is supposed to be evil now because of the transofrmation, it\'s extremely difficult to see her as such because Talad was dumb enough and careless enough to use the crystal with disregard for her.
I don\'t think it would be so unoriginal to have some kind of evil or a villain in this game. Make the evil and villain themselves original and it\'ll all be good.
As of now though, I can\'t help but feel the game is too claustrophobic, so I keep wishing to get out of that dreadful place as soon as possible, hoping that in the future players can finally get out to the surface and explore new lands.
I really hope I didn\'t offend anyone with these comments. It was not my intention to do so. My concerns actually come from wanting to like this game. I see so many resources being dedicated to this game, so many talented people working on it. None of it should be wasted. So, that is the only reason for my post.
Also, if you feel it belongs on a different forum than this, such as \"Wishlist\", feel free to move it there.
Excuse any typos or errors and thanks! :-)
