The game feels claustrophobic, suspension of disbelief is lacking, no

[Wired_Crawler]

Originally posted by Moogie
Sorta, but only half. The roofs are sloped in order for light to reach the lower Levels, otherwise they\'d be in darkness.

http://www.albinomoogie.net/images/yliakummoogie.jpg

Aaaahhh...
/me slaps his forehead.
That image in player guide is so small and dark... I haven\'t noticed, that it is longitudinal section... Now I had a good look at it.

To Bnm85: I\'m sure, that You will feel better on 4th level, especially at the inner edge :]

To Moogie: Could You add a simple section of Hydlaa and large tower to your picture (if You are right person to do it of course) ? This would help to judge, if the \"sky\" is high enough.

---
Forgive me being off-topic...

Originally posted by Demarthl
from what i remember the slops going up towards the windowless tower is north, laanx statue faces south south west or someting similar to that :\\

Yes, You can find out about it while speaking to NPCs, although some informations are confusing. However, in my opinion, it is not good way to name directions in this circular world. I would rather like to know, if statue \"looks\" in the direction of central axis or opposite, if the road to Oja goes clockwise or counter-clockwise or along radius etc.

[John_Thazer]

Just to mention, there is an outside world...so maybe some day we\'ll see the stars, etc...

And welcome!

EDIT: Typos has been removed...

[Bnm85]

Originally posted by Robinmagus
\"MMORPG\" actually. forgeting the rp in PS is equivelant to first degree murder

Heh, don\'t worry, I didn\'t forget. It\'s just a shortened term for MMORPG.

===

Also, thanks everyone for your compliments so far. And I want to stress it again that I do appreciate the devs\' work, so this was not meant to put anyone down. It\'s great to see/hear the comments and explanations so far.

One of the things that makes a game interesting for me is a sense of something unknown happening or lurking around. That something may not be right or is worth being cautious about. For example, you\'re walking down an abandoned path with your party, and finaly come to an old church of some sort. It has an old cemetery outside as well. An eerie music plays on the background. And everything about the place just feels off, so you start investigating... My oh my, that would keep me glued to my computer all night.

I want to feel that there\'s a lot more than meets the eye. For example, the history says:

\"They were unaware of a huge maze of tunnels present in the crust of the world, later called the Stone Labyrinths, where other creatures were already lurking in the dark. \"

So, those creatures could be anything or anyone. They could be hiding something shocking or be part of something unexpected, evil or not. Where did they come from? Do they have a leader or a home to go to? I love a good mystery!

And yes, I truely hope that we will be able to go to the surface and explore a whole new world there.  From history:

\"Guided by an ancient and powerful god, named Vod?l, god of the future events, they discovered one quiet planet with a crystal column full of energy and mystery.\"

So, we know that a magical crystal column is visible on the surface and is full of mystery.

Also, all the talk about each race\'s origins gives me hope that we eventually get to visit their homes. Such as Diaboli\'s homeland:

\"A popular tradition tells that their homeland was a burning land that continuously erupted black smoke (this may suggest the presence of a volcano), a dark and perpetually cloudy sky and sulphuric rivers of flowing blood. Some sages believe they originated in a distant, unexplored universe, but opinions are contradictory.\"

That would be interesting to see.

Unfortunately, some other race\'s homeland mentions that it\'s even deeper underground... Personally, I want more open space. I need space and freedom. Let me ooooouuuuuuuuut!!

[Gentar]

I have to admit the underground setting of the game, may limit the games skies in some aspects but theres still room for improvement. theeres room for all kinds of magical light coming from the azure sun which i know you cant see at the moment. perhaps that would be a cool addition would be a visual of the crystal that radiates different types of light throughout the day.

Also i think its ludacris to even compare this game to World of Warcraft. Remeber that Blizzard is raking in 15 dollars a month from all of the hundreds of thousands of people that play it. And i dont want to dissrespect the PS Devs but i have a feeling that the experience of the blizzard team is beyond that of the PS team by a good deal. You also have to remember that this game uses crystal space, a FREE engine, and created by volunteers and not sponsored by companies like sony. So i think if youre expecting that planeshift is going to become WOW caliber anytime soon then youre dreaming.

[rosmerelmer]

the things you told about the sky are totally true, but since ps world is in a cave there is no other option. still i think that you shouldnt see the ceiling, because of the crystal and  because of the gigantity of the cave. it\'s a world, it has rivers, lakes and a sea at the bottom, we are only walking on 1 level! at the levels 123456 you shouldnt see the ceiling, just because its miles high. rain cannot form in a cave, but water can drip grough the ground and the ceiling, that equals rain....
nothing more to say here, i have bad english.

[Bnm85]

Originally posted by Gentar
I have to admit the underground setting of the game, may limit the games skies in some aspects but theres still room for improvement. theeres room for all kinds of magical light coming from the azure sun which i know you cant see at the moment. perhaps that would be a cool addition would be a visual of the crystal that radiates different types of light throughout the day.

Also i think its ludacris to even compare this game to World of Warcraft. Remeber that Blizzard is raking in 15 dollars a month from all of the hundreds of thousands of people that play it. And i dont want to dissrespect the PS Devs but i have a feeling that the experience of the blizzard team is beyond that of the PS team by a good deal. You also have to remember that this game uses crystal space, a FREE engine, and created by volunteers and not sponsored by companies like sony. So i think if youre expecting that planeshift is going to become WOW caliber anytime soon then youre dreaming.

If you read additional posts after my first long post, you\'d find that I\'ve already addressed the \"WoW\" comparison. I was never comparing WoW to PS as a whole, WoW just happened to be an example I used for the sky and the forests. I never touched on depth, quests, characters, gear, stability, fun etc. Also, there\'s no reason why PS devs can\'t archieve the same quality (if we\'re going to go there), it would just take a LOT longer.

[Aldaron]

Interesting post!

About the day Sky, based in the ocurrence of rain, we can asume the fact that clouds did exist, and with the brillant cristal\'s glow in the pseudo-day, the sky maybe can be at least similar with our\'s hearth sky (ofcourse, the real sky get the current blue coloration because the huge wather mass reflected by the atmosphere, so the sky maybe can show other color in PS).
In the other hand, the pseudo-night sky can have fake stars, and even fake constelations, an ilusion created for miriads of cristal formations  protruding in the giant cave\'s ceiling and walls, so wen the cristal barely irradiate light (in the pseudo-nigth period) this formations glow like stars in the sky.

My 2 cents.

Sorry my bad english.

Salu2.

[Cyl]

Originally posted by Aldaron
In the other hand, the pseudo-night sky can have fake stars, and even fake constelations, an ilusion created for miriads of cristal formations  protruding in the giant cave\'s ceiling and walls, so wen the cristal barely irradiate light (in the pseudo-nigth period) this formations glow like stars in the sky.

That\'s an interessting idea, I never thought about that...

[rosmerelmer]

hmm moogie, i though the levels were like this
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i though hydlaa was at the bottom of the 7th level, and that the whole stalactite was miles underneath the surface.

[jorrit]

Originally posted by Bnm85

Originally posted by Zan

Originally posted by Zan
Of course the quality of the sky\'s graphics aren\'t extremely well yet and neither is the lighting but that will improve after more important issues are behind us.

In which direction will they improve? Even when I feel certain modifications will make the sky look much better, I fear it may still project that feeling of claustrophobia. It almost seems like the whole game was designed to be claustrophobic, starting from being underground, in a limited space. Besides, I\'m commenting on how it is now and nowhere was it specifically said by the devs that the sky will look vastly different. But I do hope for the best

Well don\'t forget that we ARE in a cave. We don\'t want to ruin the experience of being in the cave. Except that the graphics can be better I like the feeling just fine right now.

Greetings,

[Bnm85]

Originally posted by jorrit
Well don\'t forget that we ARE in a cave. We don\'t want to ruin the experience of being in the cave. Except that the graphics can be better I like the feeling just fine right now.

Trust me, with the current reminders, it\'s impossible to \"forget\".

[lethe]

in a way with all the plants processing photosynthesis it is not always possible to imagine a cave around.

[jorrit]

Originally posted by lethe
in a way with all the plants processing photosynthesis it is not always possible to imagine a cave around.

The crystal lets through the needed energies to allow this to happen. It\'s magical remember?

Greetings,

[rosmerelmer]

o no, my post messed up.

One of the things that makes a game interesting for me is a sense of something unknown happening or lurking around. That something may not be right or is worth being cautious about. For example, you\'re walking down an abandoned path with your party, and finaly come to an old church of some sort. It has an old cemetery outside as well. An eerie music plays on the background. And everything about the place just feels off, so you start investigating... My oh my, that would keep me glued to my computer all night.

thats exactly whats missing in this game! but i think thats only possible with a huge world with monsters that drop things, or else people will just stick to their rats....

now for the messed post, i thought the stalactite was miles underneat the surface, what was also been said in the players guide.


i thought the levels were like cubic, not overlapping eachother.

[Bnm85]

Things that do give me a sense of mystery a little are questions like:

- What is Black Flame, really? Is it truely a part of Laanx or not? What abilities or bonuses will it give in the future if you pick it for your \"religion\"?

- What creatures exactly are Diaboli already familiar with in the Stone Labyrinths and why?

- Will the lost homelands of various races ever be found again?

- Will we get to visit every race\'s homeland, whether it\'s lost or not?

- What\'s Laanx\' current agenda? Has she finally settled down after attemps at controlling as many races as s/he can?

- What\'s happening to the surface? Does it support life?

- Of course, Stone Labyrinths are supposedly still holding a lot of mystery, so let\'s hope there\'s something interesting in them.

One thing I do hope is that despite the word \"labyrinths\", it won\'t feel like a maze. I absolutely despise mazes in any game. It\'s annoying and frustrating, it doesn\'t add any enjoyment to a game at all, it\'s a cop-out to increase a game\'s length instead of using creativity and enhancing a story, IMO. Whatever labyrinths will be there, I hope there\'ll be enough of markers or some sort to be able to easily identify where you are. Just IMO.