My findings, bugs and suggestions.

[Highelfwarrior]

Just had a 15-30 minute play. Took some pen and paper with me, but I'll just start with my findings/notes/bugs/ideas so far:

As I'm a student game development, I have studied psychology and gameplay strategies regarding game development, so I will add some non-bug suggestions as well. I'll list them seperately for ease.

General ideas on graphics/gameplay

* From the moment you start the game, you kinda get a negative feeling when it comes to the colours of the map. It was early morning for me and the grass just generally looks very dark. Everything does, actually. Even at noon. The light on the map should be intensified a bit -- colour does a lot of subconscious things to the mind of a player.

* In a similar way as the above, in my first battle, the starting skybox (in my case) was a very darkish, cloudy skybox. The battle just gave me an overal negative feeling. It's not particularly a bad thing, but the first 15 minutes of a game (as with a movie) are absolutely crucial. My suggestion here would be to force the first skybox/weather state to be a sunny one. It will generally improve the feeling of the start game. (even only slightly)

* The intro has been said to be quite random/not thought out (you just get thrown into the map). I'm not sure if this is something that will be worked on still, but if anything, I'd let the player start somewhere on the shore (maybe next to a boat) or at the edge of the map, hinting that he did come from somewhere that was not within the map.

Logic errors

* The traveller in taverns will allow you the "I am looking for one of my companions" dialog option, even if you have none. A companion count > 0 condition would do well here.

* Probably just a typo, but the minstril in taverns says "Dinars" at one point in his dialog. It should be denars, no?

* You can enter castles, even if there is no lord or lady present. (Not really logical)

Bugs:

* My music won't go. The volume is turned up. I'm yet to restart the game since changing the settings, so that might fix it. Maybe the multiplayer exe has something to do with it? (the music is turned off on that one)

* When there is fog on the map/ battle map, there is also fog in the castle, tavern etc. Kindof weird.

The rest of the bugs that I encountered have already been posted! I'll update this thread with findings after every play session, in a similar fashion.

Cheers,

Highelf

 

[Highelfwarrior]

A new day, a new piece of paper, a new list of bugs after a new session of testing.

This time I played quite a while longer, and hunted specifically for the big new features. Here goes:

Bugs:

* I tried sending off an emisary after establishing a kingdom -- I had no companions though, so the Minstril guy decided to send off me. I then left my party. A if companions > 0 condition would do good here.

* When I tried to declare war using an emisary, via the Minstril that spawned at my new kingdom's capital, I got into an infinite dialog loop. I guess that dialog jump was typo'd.
Specifically, something to search for in the files: "If you attack without provocation, some of your vassals may consider you too warlike. Is that what you want?" -> "It is. I wish to make war on [kingdom]" -> inf loop

* I got a pop-up menu on the map that said "No relation", I could only continue. Not sure, but this could simply be something in the cheat mode. (Not sure what it does though)

* I got this weird bell sound on the map. No idea what it was, what it did. There was no other message. Maybe just a cheat mode thing also?

* When a companion emisary returns after attempting to start a truce with a kingdom, there are some name-string dialog errors. (in the wrong location etc.)

* When attacked by a drunk, if you go "do you know who I am" "Remove yourself from this tavern..", they die after the last dialog entry. (you don't touch them, they just die.) In this particular case, all the people in the tavern started running like crazy, usually just hugging walls. If this is supposed to mimic fainting or something, it gives a wrong impression. Especially the death sound.

* When I attended a feast, one of the lords spoke of his "no relation [insert name of a lady I forgot]". I knew from before that, that his daughter was named Asayu, which is not what he said. (hence the no relation -- it should've been "daughter Asayu") When I re-entered the scene, it was fixed.

* I gave a lady a compliment and my relation to her deteriorated. Not sure if this is feature or bug (I might just suck at romance ) , but thought I'd mention it anyhow.

* If you attempt to meet with a lady, while there is a feast going on there, it goes to the lord hall/castle and clears the entire feast. Kind of odd. Attempting to meet with a lady menu option should be disabled for as long as the feast mode is true

* I've only attended one feast so far, it was at Tulbuk castle, and all khergit lords and their daughters etc attended it -- there were quite a few entry points short to have them all stand in the scene. I think other castles/cities might lack entry points also.

* If you challenge a competitor in love to a duel, the dialog simply returns the name of the lady. So for example lady X told me of her other romances, I go "I wanna duel them" and her last dialog window simply says "Lady X" Rather weird.

* In relation to the above, hen I went to the lord, and wanted to challenge him, the dialog option said "Relinquish your suit of [PlayerName]" It should say the name of the lady, no?

* No matter where the lord is when you initialise the duel, you end up fighting in an arena. This is quite odd if you come across him somewhere in the wilderniss. Furthermore, the battles are done with full gear, sharp sword and all. Rather weird. Maybe the battle should end if you have hit him X times, or he hits you X times. Or health drops below 75% or something similar. (So one of both simply surrenders the fight, which would come across more realistic.)

* Again in relation to the duel, the quest you get, when you complete it, it says "Talk to [PlayerName] to claim your reward." Again the playername and the lady her name is mixed up here.

* I tried to demand marriage -- so I went to the lord, asked him to force his sister to marry me. He declined saying he wouldn't do that to his "brother" (should be sister, obviously )

Graphical bugs/suggestions:

* Some, if not all of the dresses seem rigged quite oddly. Not extremely bad or anything, but the shoulders are very low (odd) and in some cases the end of the neck model is visible. Generally the neck area seems too long and the shoulders too low.

* To go with the new Tournament sound loop, I'd suggest an animation loop for the low poly dummy crowd. They seem very lifeless if you focus on them. Usually you don't, so mainstream players won't miss anything, but adding the animation loop will add value to the battle since players WILL see the crowd movement in the corner of their eye, making the entire scene feel more alive.

* Sanjar khan had a nasal helmet+mail coif thing. Seems rather misplaced?

 

[Synapsis]

A new day, a new piece of paper, a new list of bugs after a new session of testing.

This time I played quite a while longer, and hunted specifically for the big new features. Here goes:

Bugs:

* I gave a lady a compliment and my relation to her deteriorated. Not sure if this is feature or bug (I might just suck at romance ) , but thought I'd mention it anyhow.

When you compliment a lady you should see the chemistry you too have, if it is low or negative that is what give the negative relation, as far as I can tell.

 

[Highelfwarrior]

Roger that. I must've missed this chemistry int you mention.

 

[nijis]

The compliment lowering the relation is working as designed, but the system maybe should be tweaked. Some ladies are attracted to you, and some are not. Which ladies are, and which ladies aren't, will change each game.

That being said, if it feels like a bug, then I should make things a little more explicit -- maybe by putting the "chemistry" (probably should use a less contemporary term) in a text message.

 

[Highelfwarrior]

I'd personally not put the chemistry thing in a pop up text message as that will only take away realism and pull the player out of immersion. (Love/emotion shouldn't be represented by numbers -- atleast not to the player) I think -- if anything -- the dialog she returns after you give her the compliment should be more clear (about how she took it.)

I don't exactly remember what she said, but I guess since I was confused, her reaction must've been generic/neutral. (Although like I said I don't exactly remember what she said so this could just be me that misread/read too carelessly. )

 

[Sarejo]

IIRC the lady says "Ah... you are too kind".

I like the response, I could tell the interaction wasn't successful, but maybe the dialog should also say something like "But blah blah blah" to make it more clear.

 

[Highelfwarrior]

Agreed, and yes, that is what she said. I guess I didn't really get the mild sarcasm at first.