My main concern is that combat seemed to fast. Mobs died to fast, even after they said they conned red. The wizard was bashing the mobs for almost the same DPS (albeit a bit slower) then the rogue and warrior.
At one time 5 mobs were pulled, then two spawned right after, and 2 more aggroed soon as those were dead. This should have wiped the group unless the mobs were significantly lower level.
The game is very much EQ right now. can't wait to get the PRF stuff in and flushed out!
I loved the demo. Looks like it is comming along good.
My personal thoughts on what I saw...
It looked a bit easy. Pulling 3 Yellow's was handled with ease. Only when there were lots (8+) of mobs did it seem to be challenging. Even at the end it still didn't look that hard until the Boss pull.
DynamiteFizzlebum said:
- Would like more casting slots! =)
I think 10 is more than enough personally.
I hope alot of the people in thr twitch chat will get psyched and then join this Forum.
Loved the hauntiong where the monsters came after you, when you thought you were safe in town when you spawned on death,
I wuld have liked to see the first death respawn run back to the group.
I thought that th texted enviromental chat - " this monster is 2 levels higher than you" is too much, I think general " Can wipe the floor with you", or might be a good match" or easily defeated than level naming"
I liked the emotes so far (Dancing, chearing waving)
the environment is GREAT!, I gained concept of the colored mana, nifty thing that- I will need topractice but like in any GOOD game the concept is easily learned, but tough to master.
I liked the environment aflicting zones, cool cool cool cool cool. is it east to broaden it? Like Hot, or fdont go to that place where the monsters cast shock spells when it storms, or the dread of happily fighting the shock monsters, only to see it begin to rain in the middle of your intetse and long going crawl.
See!, THAT is the kind of thign you can do in a GROUP at 7.
Oh man, /shout Level 1 (?) looking for group to go from City Q to City B to deliver mail- Can Summon Food and water and bandages! PST"
DynamiteFizzlebum said:
- Environments were gorgous and character models were promising though I couldn't get a good idea of facial details due to the video compression.
- Would like more casting slots! =)
- Would have liked to see first-person view (if it exists).
- This game begs for VR goggle support.
- Where is Korflunk and Zarchoomi?!
Yes
No, there are already too many.
They showed it.
Yes.
I thought of butcherblock too.
Great demo. Had to pledge after watching it. I've been following this game for awhile but have been hesitant to pledge. This is the first game I've ever given money to that was still in development. It's clear to me that the team has put a lot of hard work into this game and given a lot of thought to what this niche market is looking for. For me, the demo hit all the right notes and I can say that, without a doubt, this game will bring back that "Evercrack" itch. :) Looking forward to the future.
Will there be crit chains? Anything will be spammy, also looks like melee dps and tanks have an advantage in not running out of endurance as compared to wiz and healing mana. All in all graphics looked good combat and character graphics still in alpha it is coming along great, good job team.
Thanks for tuning in and for the feedback, gang! Having fresh sets of eyes on this really helps give me some perspective on what we've been working on - I get so focused sometimes on the road to come that it's easy to keep pushing forward instead of taking a moment to celebrate what we've achieved so far. Seeing everyone's reactions, both the positive and constructive criticisms, is immensely helpful. I can't wait for us to show you all more and for you to get your first gameplay experiences as we continue to build this big crazy world of Terminus - "Onwards and Upwards" as Joppa would say!
After the KickStarter I decided to back off from following this project to closely, as I felt doing so would keep me constantly jonesing for my MMO fix.
I'm SO happy to see Pantheon like this. I know theres a lot of Unity store assets in use (that Unity Skelly dance is hideous. lol. Consider at least droping in the Mixamo Samba or Gangnam dances =p), and general placeholder stuff. But the foundation is there, and I love it! I can clearly see that the foundation is EverQuest, where every other MMO since has had a foundation of WoW Clone. I'm not sure if many people outside of these forums can see what makes this great. To many its probably going to seem like "some bad, bland mmo", but thats just a step of the process. I can't wait to see how Pantheon is grown and refined from here! =)
Old fart reporting! As a summation, i'd honestly say very good overall! Up to impressive in fact :)
Now some thoughts:
1) Presentation-wise, and no offense meant:
- Mont is not your guy for this,lol.. He moves too much; his camera snappings are way too jerky; he stops to loot each and every mob when you've only got like a few seconds in (and never stops!) changing the field of view to something -other- than the group's focus; he walks away from the party even during a fight;
The last two are petty, yes, but they have their own set of ..connotations.. non-complementary ones at that. This could, overall, be improved.
- Gameplay is good, but the little things are equally important. Even if the implementation is lacking, there could have been a more thorough verbal analysis of skills, codex, inventory and management and/or functions peculiar to Pantheon*. We generally have a big interest in those, they satisfy our inner OCD and let's be honest, they constitute a very large percentage of the time we spend online. Looking, sorting, tweaking, planning, counting. There's an emphasis there lacking :p
* yes, one (relic) was mentioned. But am sure it does more than tweak the wizard's damage skills..why not provide a perilepsis? And after doing so, why not take advantage of the course of the narrative to move on to highlighting the 'broader' concepts behind Pantheon's gameplay and philosophy? A very good opportunity for free advertising right there. Not essential for those of us having some awareness of the game in advance, but for everyone else..? Same with concepts broached later on but not expanded on further.
- For a relatively small portion of the video, sound (ie our third layer) was entirely lacking. Yes, as mentioned, for a relatively small portion, but.. it was in the beginning of the show. That's when you need to 'buid up' the atmosphere, set the vibe; in the first few seconds. Grab your audience. You can always have the streamers commence their talking later on.
- Next time, you could also mention the classes present in the video, preferably with a verbose description of their functions.
2) Actual footage/gameplay-wise:
- Far as quality may be concerned, visuals are already more than good enough (for me)! Well done. The only remark i'd make is in regard to distant LoDs. That popping in/out effect which is, i know, very "characteristic" of Unity. Definitely not a big issue, hopefuly though it can be smoothed out a bit more :)
- Animations are actually better than i expected, serviceable to say the least. Not 'good', but serviceable. Was very happy to hear you saying they will be further improved.
- Musical score (sadly not always 'on') and sound effects were good enough for me, so again well done :)
- Level design deserves mention. If we can expect the same quality/depth in each and every area, you've got yourselves something quite special. Kudos for that
- Would have liked to see more during night time. Along with complimentary commentary obviously. Does anything change, mobs-wise? How important is light as a factor? Are certain classes a 'must have' for adventurinmg in the dark? (i.e. is night just a gimmick phase.. or something more?). Do not misunderstand me, i grasp the 'need' for daylight, you wanted the viewers to look at the world.
- Combat: Overall, made me smile. If every class's skills/spells have the same 'oomph' factor the wizard's do, damn.. So am that happy ^^
..But if i had to nickpick and i will, lol:
i) at times it felt ..disjointed, lacking fluidity. The occasional (reminded me of VGSoH in fact) mob "popping" forward, the occasional syncopation/lack of harmony between animations and their effect, the odd "sudden death" effect.. could be improved. Yes, i know it will, i know. Just putting it out there as an observation.
ii) and this more of a question than an opinion; how unforgiving will the LoS (line of sight) system be? In the first few minutes of the video, you notice the wizard mezzing an Orc right through/behind a tree.
iii) mobs' aggro range may be too short compared to what it should be. Numerous times i'd have sworn you were a split second away from aggroing and yet it never occured. Seemed rather forgiving to me. Especially considering a certain person running around all over the place! ..ahem.. ^^
That's it, but just to recap! As i said in the very beginning, I-M-P-R-E-S-S-I-V-E !!! Personally, first thought that popped in my mind was Vanguard, and that is good, lol.. Keep up the good work :)
I am impressed with how functional the characters are for level seven. I liked seeing all the game features that were the foundation to the original EQ like limited ability slots, skills, weight, etc. Watching the group navigate cautiously through the area and have to stop to regen made me feel like it was 1999 again, which is a good thing. Today's MMOs are too easy and fast paced and do not allow for building relationships with the other players. In wow I was always left feeling like a tool that was used only out of necessity to help someone else get loot.
Job well done VR team!!!
