First Impressions 2.0

[Adorna]

Hi, thank you very much for inviting me to the beta!

I'll just follow the suggested questions for the moment..

• General impressions: I like the game a lot. I definitely would have continued playing and will do so, once I sorted through the preorder options ;D It has a very ligt and open oldschool feeling. I look forward to trying multiplayer and arcade mode, I just followed the single player campain for the moment.
• What you liked the most: I liked a lot of things .. I'll try to single out some... I really like the world and dialogue.. it feels new without being confusing and the dialogue and story flows nicely. I like the collection lists being so ingrained into the story. I found the combat fun - especially using 2handed weapons, which I usually don't use in game because they seem slow and unresponsive but that doesn't feel like its the case here. I very much love the treasure maps. (I almost feel compelled to add the treasure maps a second time .. I really loved that even though I only found some of the easier treasures..) I also really like the menu and the card collecting .
• What you liked the least: Crafting, sadly. I love to craft and in a game about collecting stuff its such an easy fit but for me it feels rather like uying stuff for twigs instead of coins.. maybe because it uses the same interface and NPCs.. Also, a lot of the stuff I gather from early on does nothing at all ... Also some of the story threads seem to go nowhere .. I'm not sure if this is because its beta or because it is intended.. like the scarecrow telling you about the flower headband .. but crafting that and talking to him does nothing. You can visit the friend in your hometown who begs you about stories but the dialogue doesn't go beyond that .. since there are so many secrets to be found, some feedback if there is something to come would be nice i guess..
• Confusing elements: Most confusing element is trying to figure you if you're over or underlevelled .. the bosses are so much of a change in difficulty that I found it really hard to guess if I was ready or not. I actually enjoyed trying them a few times to get them done, but the first bridge battle left me confused and really concerned if I judged the difficulty all wrong or not. I find the keybindings a it confusing too, but that is probably just me not being used to memorizing so many action keys..
• Optional content: hehe -- everything I could find. Fishing is fun and well done, I love the treasure maps, I tried the arena too and its nice, just not quite my cup of tea.

One thing I noticed is that the respawn rate is a bit strange in places. the very first mountain screen where you fight the green slimes is set really high.. if your just learnung your controls its easy to feel overwhelmed, while some other screens respawn a lot slower .. at least it felt like that to me. The quest for the potion vendor seemed overly hard.... maybe a difficulty rating for side quests would ne nice so you know what you're getting into?

 

[Unprdctbl]

Sorry I spent so long getting back to you guys! I've had a lot of school work and such to finish, I didn't even get to fully finish the Demo/Beta until now!

• General impressions: This game is AWESOME! I really enjoyed how this game works, It's fun and addictive and has great replay-ability. I can' wait play more of the story! (And also play with friends)
• What you liked the most: Over-all the most enjoyable thing about the game was the Temple/Dungeon. That really gave me a fantastic impression of what this game is capable of while providing a fun challenge.
• What you liked the least: Something that bothered me a little, is how two handed weapons work. I know they're supposed to be slower and more powerful, but they felt a little TOO slow. Also something else I found a little bothersome was the enemy's spawning habits. Once you're out of their line of sight, enemies re spawn and it leave me in this constant state of danger, which can be annoying when setting new skills and equips.
  
• Confusing elements: This game was Crystal clear. I everything was explained extremely well.
• Optional content: I'm still going through the side content, but from what I've played, I've enjoyed quite a bit of it!
• Summary/Suggestions: This game really exceeded my expectations. It's a fun experience with a fantastically fluid pixel artsyle that I can definitely see myself returning to over and over again when it's completed. Great job on this game, guys! A few suggestions I have by the way: *The ability to change the pixelation on character portaits, and not just hats, but new clothing for your character. Again guys, thank you so much for this awesome game. ^ ^

 

[edwinmedwin]

What you liked the most:
the retro feeling is very enjoyable. i really felt thrown back to SoM. and i love rpgs - rpgs need to be made in a lovely, cute way and i'm probably gonna like them very much.
also the controls are very good. it's really easy to get into the game and the battle system just feels great.
arcade mode is also pretty nice, although i'm stuck at the quest with the elite monsters and the no level ups. that's somehow too hard for me
What you liked the least:
that i keep messing up my blocks lol. it would be much easier if you could somehow stand still and change the direction of the block... but yeah, that would just make it easier and that would probably be not that great. in fact, controls would get more complicated and that's not ideal.
other than that i am only afraid that the story mode will be somewhat short. but i hope you're building in many sidequests
Confusing elements:
i didn't see the west exit of evergrind until that collectormaster told me. maybe make the evergrind exits more outstanding, but that's just me i guess.
the menu was a bit confusing for me at first, but some hours into the game and everything's fine.
another thing is that it took me 5 hours to find out that you can use a hat and some other hat as appearance. but again, i guess that's just me.
Optional content:
i did all the sidequests. (i guess so, don't know how many there are) those were nice. i wouldn't even mind some more sidequests and some plots in them. (like what has happened between the old man and that woman?)
so you can have some sidestories, which is pretty interesting in my opinion. i didn't do the archery game too often, that one frustrated me too much. catching the pumpkin pet was also pretty tough, as it depends on how hard the input sequence is. i'm guessing that future pets will even be harder to catch, so i'm curious what will happen there.

so far i'm glad that i bought this. well done guys
oh and i haven't even tackled coop. THAT is probably going to be too awesome...

 

[Rajunah]

Loving the game so far...it was a very impressive discovery for myself. I see a great potential in here.

My thoughts:

1 - History for story mode is very important....right its not bad but i have the feeling that this could became a new pokemon style, and i wouldn't like that.

2 - are you guys thinking on add ranged weapons with skills? could be good if balanced

3 - more weapons variety: daggers / maces / axes/ etc.....i am a huge fan of daggers thats why i am asking for this.

4 - A LOT more skills.....i think you guys will implement this with time...I would like to see a huge skill tree with a lot of possibilities.

5 - Thanks for the great game! Anxious to see this game become even better.

PS: sorry for my poor ENG, not my main language.

 

[Hopscotch]

General impressions: Overall the game is one of the best things I've played in a while, the few criticisms I have are based on key things that I'm sure will get fixed pretty quickly

What you liked the most: I enjoy killing monsters mindlessly and generally just wandering around and the combat feels organic and balanced, just the right amount of skill and ease

What you liked the least: Multiplayer, the difficulty that it scales to with 3 or 4 players is absurd at the moment. Arcade mode especially falls to this, specifically in the first two floors. If I get the bee/slime/rabbit boss room then it's more or less a loss 80% of the time. At first I thought it was just from me being new to the game, but I tried it on single player and had virtually no issue beating it. I understand that fights need to be harder to account for more people, but the things that make it harder are so artificial and frustrating. There's something inherently wrong when it feels like a hindrance to play with friends

Confusing elements: Again a multiplayer issue really, it's incredibly hard to keep track of allies in pretty much any situation. Being able to toggle on some sort of player indicator or nameplates or anything would help for any battle when things are getting chaotic. And having some sort of directional location for them when they're offscreen would be even better. The second one is of course solved by simple communication, but they're both more just major quality of life changes that would make things a lot easier to deal with in the long run
The only other confusing things would be the lack of tracking on achievements or the amount of upgrade that each level into a skill is giving. It's hard to feel like what I'm putting points into is rewarding when I'm not immediately noticing a difference unless it's from bronze to silver


Optional content: I'd really like to see arcade mode have healing globes spawn after completing a room, mostly because the only reliable way to get past the first two or three floors is to do a complete ranged build and avoid engaging anything (or to be some kind of reaction time god/using whirlslash and cloud for melee). On single player this might push it a little over the top, but multiplayer more or less cant function properly without some form of consistent reward healing for actually playing well. On the same note, the nurse costs waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too much. These are probably just problems that stem from only having a few skills that are any good though so I'm still reserving that complaint for when more of them come around

 

[Dulled]

I've played the demo for at least 3 hours and just recently bought the game, that's what I thought:

General Impressions: I really enjoy games with any kind of pixel art, but this game excels in it! It's beautiful to watch the colorful "sprites" and the smooth animations. I have only played the Arena mode, and I can say that it is completely enjoyable! The game mechanics in themselves are fluid and playing is, overall, extremely fun.
What you liked the most: The graphics, that are well-designed and beautiful and the combat itself: that is fun as it should be.
What you liked the least: The lack of procedural generation variety for the Arena. After many trips through the first floors, they all seem to be the same. It gets somewhat repetitive. It is important to note that this is a minor, completely personal opinion and doesn't have much impact on my enjoyment of the game.
Confusing Elements: The menus are overwhelming when first accessed and it got me a minute to figure everything out. The skill usage is fine, but I still didn't get to use it fully though.

That's it for my first impression!

 

[Devano]

• General impressions: Blown away! The unbelievably smooth gameplay and combat is a fresh breath of air in contrast to the every other early access I have purchased into. My only disappointment was when I found out there was nothing left of the story after I defeated Gund4m.
• What you liked the most: The Pixel art and animations. Who sold their soul to the devil for pixel art?! The enemies and many of the character animations are practically pornography in my eyes, I love it!
• What you liked the least: The characters. For so much work put into the enemies it feels as if the playable characters were just done quickly and without the same attention to detail that enemies like the jumpkin or helloweed have.
• Optional content: More character customization for the body.

 

[Ümit]

Hi there everyone. Gonna share a list for you. Hope you care
First COMMON:
1)Different enemies tab for bosses. //so you can easy check bosses
2)Walking Speed stat //More customization for items
3)Magic resist //Realy
4)is it a bird? is it a nice boat good but same for need different thinks for different items. //More lore
5)item quality(So you have to create or farm a item until you find what you want) // So we can have fun for more playing
6)Special item tab(For items like :small cactus)
7)audience factor on arena(They like you more if you show a good show) //More hit and skill combos, dodge or block attacks
8)Quick quit from area(challenges) // Like when you try to "S" on damage and get hit
9)Healer on Memry Room // Realy need
10)Customize memory room boos options(Like increase hp, damage or different rules like dont get hit or time limit) //More hardcore and more fun
11)Different loot option and card for different colour of guardian(So you need to kill guardian at right moment to get what you want) //Can be good idea
12)Shield effectifnes stat //So you can use a high hp but lower perfect block effect or just the opposite
13)Durability to items // So you dont get boring
14)Buying home and crafting tools
15)Crafting need recipes // You can buy them, find them, or reward
16)2 different recipes type 1)Full ingredients need 100% succes 2)Lower ingredients need with failure change //Risk is good
17)Make rare monster to immune to interrupt. //They are rare so dont make them die easy
18)Attacking left right up dawn good but what about diagonal // Realy need
19)Drop Rate stat //More customization
20)Smashlight[item] Special Effect: After using titan throw set blaze droped area
21)Perk system : Gain perks when doing thinks [ex:Kill 100 rabbit, talk 100 npc etc] //Hunting spirit upon us
22)Archery: Archer skills, bow crafting, arrow crafting, quiver crafting
23)Damage and resist types:Blunt, slash, piercing, elemental etc... // Need that
24)Minimap
25)Carrot Sword[item] Special Effect:Lure rabbits // Funny idea
26)Show cards on monster drop info list //Realy need
27)Cooking //Good idea to creat different food for pets so we can try to find different recipes for different effects
38)Different ingredients on feed pet for different animals. //Make sense
39)Onlie mode(Like mmorpg, irrelevant with main game story and maps, so you can grind, farm, fight, siege, trade, etc) // Love you
40)Item crafting into mini games so more you good more good item you get.
41)Hit and accuracy stats //Please ^^
42)Critical damage stat //Please ^^
43)Make Shield Moving to a Shield Skill
44)Day/Night(Everythink change day and night)
45)Camping System(like for cooking, hp regen)
And there is little bit more
1)Need more weapon catagory:
1-1)Dual wield:High speed, low accuracy(need hit&accuracy) cant use shield so high risk
1-2)Polearm:Lowest Speed, High attack range, High damage
1-3)Two handed:Speed:Better than polearm, higher attack range than one handed, high damage
1-4)Bow:Slow attack speed, high crit damage(not change, damage),
1-5)Unarmed:Lowest attack range, High attack speed, cant stun(interrup)enemy
1-6)Staff:Between polearm and two handed
1-7)One-Handed:Good for everythink but not best
2)Shield Skills
3)When skill reach milestones give bonus effects depent on choice(ex:When fireball reach level 5 give two bonus option for chooice one)for more customization
3.2)Or when using skills give skill exp to that skill when when level up enouf give perk choice // More custimization

 

[Yuuki]

• General impressions: It was very enjoyable, and quite a nostalgic trip so far, thank you!
  
  
• What you liked the most: Graphic and Music! Its was just beautifull.
  
  
• What you liked the least: the rather short play time as of now (story only) but this isnt major since it isnt complete yet.
  
  
• Confusing elements: None.
  
  
• Optional content: Gender regonizing would be cool and would add to the replay value. Maybe also some choices in the dialog that vary small things in the overall story.

 

[Poring]

General impressions:
LOVE THE GAME !!! since 2012 by the 1st time I watch the trailer, even love it more when now I actually played it. Finished the story mode. For now just follow the forum every day for new patch !

What you liked the most:
The game itself !!! what else >.< ???!!! the graphic, pixel art (like everything with pixel >.<), smooth even for low pc (like mine ), easy and simple control, and alot of other that I don't know what to mension XD ...

What you liked the least:
Hmm ... this I have to think i guess ... game not done i guess XD !!!

Confusing elements:
Hmm ... no ... Puzzle is kinda easy: the boar hit the rock; should arrow at the statue; all the puzzle blocks (and mirrors). The game need more mistery !!! and maybe some easter egg

Optional content:
All are fun, very enjoyable, love it all

 

[Guy]

First impressions, huh?

Well, I'll start from the beginning. I was googling for "Zelda roguelites" when I first found an article about SoG (coming to desura) a few months ago. It sounded pretty awesome and, being that I'm a ferret owner, I immediately liked the developer's name. So, I watched it off and on until yesterday when I found the new pre-order beta with steam key. So as of now, I've finished the current available story quests and all but maybe a couple of side quests. I've tooled around a smidgeon in the arcade mode.

So, upon loading up SoG, the music was immediately pleasing. "This is promising," I thought. I selected solo adventure and began editing a character. Easy stuff, but not something that catches my focus. Clothing variety would be nice, but whatever. I was easily able to create a character whose appearance was pleasing. Custom colors might go a long way here.

Then the game begins. No crazy tutorial section. A light and fast intro to set the plot and I'm playing the game. VERY NICE. I found the game had a sense of humor often applied by being self-aware (example: the guy at the well who will be forever doomed to crank that well as part of the scenery - maybe he'll lead to a quest/item later on?) The characters have a little personality, but leave a bit to the imagination. There's a sick kid who I initially thought must have hurt himself playing with the sword and there's an old couple who have a rather ambiguously bad history. I can enjoy the mystery, chalk it up to unfinished beta, or call it an oversight on the devs' part. I actually lean towards number 1 (it's a mystery) since it doesn't hurt the game play and leads you to wonder about the lives of the NPCs.

Okay, so I get my sword and shield. I should mention that I'm really liking the graphics, music, and play control at this point. The option of a shorter and faster sword or a larger slower weapon is great. But I found that the larger slower weapon is still fast enough with a large enough reach that I wouldn't bother with the shorter weapon. If the larger weapon took up my shield slot, however, its value vs shorter faster sword PLUS shield may come into question.

Speaking of the shield. I like the mechanics of the shield, but blocking with it seems a bit dodgy at times. Diagonal shots/attacks can be hard to decide which direction to block from. I'll suggest here that the shield be given a wider blocking angle to help prevent this confusion.

And speaking of controls. I'm using xbox 360 wireless controller to play the game. There are times that the controller response doesn't seem to point me in the right direction in time for my block or attack. I guess it seems as if the directional response is delayed slightly enough to the block/attack responses such that trying to do a 180 followed by an attack may not carry out the turning around portion of the maneuver and you're left swinging at the scenery while the Killer Rabbit of Caerbannog detaches your head from your shoulders from behind.

Back to character personalities. I actually want to see more of the characters I've met so far. There was a couple of characters in the arena that I immediately liked. I hope they come back later in the game to help in the main quest or at least give side quests. What happened to the kid who was afraid of getting dumped if he didn't win? What about that guy that really seemed to be rooting for me? I enjoy that the annoying rich guy (Von Grinden kid?) was annoying. I feel he should have had a bit more to say at the end of the arena - at least find some way to cause trouble and still be annoying.

The bosses. From the mini-bosses to the larger bosses, the fights were all enjoyable. I lost a few times to some of them before getting my rhythm down. Although I discovered that rhythm often amounted to almost standing still to avoid hits. Phaseman and Gun D4m I found to be easily thwarted by standing in certain spots. Other than that, all the bosses were especially fun to fight. The general area mobs, too. A single go with most enemies properly teaches you the tells of their attacks. And most of those tells you should already notice if you've ever played a video game before.

Fishing and treasure maps. There's fishing and it's challenging and fun. I'd suggest making the tracking box just a little wider, but maybe I'm just not good enough yet. I haven't sought any treasure from treasure maps yet, but I did take a look at one of the maps and it looks like a perfect way of giving hints. I was a bit relieved to see that I didn't have to follow some poorly contrived hand-drawn map, but the clue isn't a dead give-away, either. It will make you have to hunt for it, but you won't be doing guess-work about whether or not it's the right spot.

Magic. I was pleased and slightly disheartened at the same time to discover I could immediately put skill points to magic. On one hand, awesome! I don't have to get halfway through the game to do cool stuff! One the other hand, well, if I get magic already, what kind of rewards does questing hope to offer? Well, after going through the temple, I have to say that questing offers proper Zelda-like gadgety rewards. So, my reservations are alleviated somewhat. But can SoG keep it up for every major questing area?

Well, to answer that question, I'll go to my next point. I noticed there's things around the game that you know must mean something or do something, but what? Progress in the story and you'll find out. That means there must be more special abilities to get by story progression. That also means revisiting areas to hit up all those special secret areas you couldn't get to before.

The puzzles aren't very challenging yet, but a couple did make me think for a minute. The phase ability plus mirrors one was probably the best yet, but it was also almost obvious. Still, it's not entirely child's play and shows promise for what's to come.

And the plot. Mysterious and dark. There's something very interesting going on here. It borders between Secret of Mana, Final Fantasy, and any good anime. I feel like there's two pertinent stories going on here. The dark past and the blissfully ignorant present.

And throughout all of this, I've forgotten to mention Bag. Let's just say bag is great. A sarcastic sentient bag of holding. What's not to love?

Overall I'm loving this game. The bronze/silver points I don't yet understand nor have I looked into crafting. I made it through the playable story without upgrading anything except trading in my big stick for the claymore at the arena and putting on whatever hat/clothing I found. I'm very excited to see more content and hope the devs make lots of money so they can make lots of game.

 

[Sifl]

My impression of the game is well... Let me put it this way.
I'm not nearly as big of a gamer as I used to be, and I have an extremely hard time getting into new games lately.
In the cases that I do pick up a new game, I typically play them for 15 minutes, and never touch them again.
My friend (Garglius) gifted me the game on steam out of nowhere, so I decided to at least give it a try.
I hit play, and the next thing I knew i had completed what is currently available in the game 3 times, once with having collected every card and trophy and etc in the game. (I had even completed the game on hardmode with the ability to level up hacked out, aka beating the game at level 1)

What's so great about the game for me, is how well every design choice works together.
As a fellow game designer (having been working on my own game for 4 years) I understand how hard it is make an experience work the way you want it to. Everything in SoG works very well with the type of game it's trying to be.

In terms of what I disliked about the game... Nothing?
As a designer, naturally I played the game and analyzed the experience all the way through. However, nothing ever really made me say "this should be like this", asides from some minor balancing issues.

The only comment about the game I can really think about, is the drop rates of cards.
With the current amount of content available, the current drop rate is just right.
However, I worry about when the game is much further along, as the current drop rate would make collecting every card basically impossible. Though with the quality of the game so far, I expect you know what you're doing. : P

 

[Jeroenimoo0]

• General impressions: So far i really enjoyed the game and i can't wait for the story line to continue. I'm already 12 hours in the story mode and still have to collect some drops and quite a few cards. And that was just for the story mode, arcade mode is a lot of fun and can already be played for hours. This game is already very good and i can't wait for new content to be added which will most likely make it even more awesome.

• What you liked the most: The quests are what i like the most so far. Gathering items, training pets and fishing are all very fun to do but to gather items for an quest seems more fun to me than to do the same to craft an item. The quests are very unique and that is what makes them great.

• What you liked the least: Gathering cards, not to say that i hate this but it just seems to take a long time in some cases. Some cards dropped very fast for me while other took a very long time. I'd rather have this less random and make the chance higher of a card dropping higher but have it so that cards only drop after you have killed x amount of this enemy.

• Confusing elements: Some obvious paths which you can not take yet. For instance the small plants in the pillar mountains. These lead to a new area but when playing i wasn't sure if missed anything or if this was something which would come later. Some kind of indication that these things were yet out of my league would be nice.

• Optional content: Side activities are very great in the game. This fishing being unique for every type of area is very cool and i can't wait to catch the upcoming area their fish. As i already said side quests are very fun in this game and can be enjoyed almost just as good as the main quest line. The area is very fun but i'm worried that after completing all challenges it won't be much fun anymore. What would be great is to have some kind of arcade mode inside the story mode which could also be played infinitely but still be part of the story mode and be connected to the story mode unlike arcade mode being a completely separate thing.

I really like the game and can't wait for new content!

 

[Endasil]

General impressions and What you liked the most
Wow, This game is super charming, so many details that i love, it reminds me a lot of secret of mana and Zelda. First we have the ability to walk into peoples houses and smash pots, immediately zelda association and lots of happy memories that came to mind. I am really impressed by all the uber cute animations. I was really charmed when i first saw Mumriks animation, but i also love the way the slimes move, the way the signs bounce. If i open the menu to upgrade the spells the animation of the arrows indicating that it is possible to scroll down is another detail that i really like.

Combat is fun! Instead of beeing an annoyance you have to deal with in order to progress, fighting them is really enjoyable. I can walk around just fighting them on the same screen for fun. This is really well done.

What you liked the least:
The bees, i really hate them and would prefer them to not exist. They have a completely different pacing than the other enemies. I have to stop and wait with my shield turned in their direction. I really prefer combat to be something active instead of waiting. No fun.

Confusing elements
Nothing really

 

[Sparkle]

General impressions - The base of the game feels really good. Weather I was questing, or just killing stuff, I never really got bored. I'll probably sink dozens more hours in to the game despite there not being much here currently.

What I liked most - The re-spawn rate on enemies is really good. Whenever I actually sat down to do some farming, there was never really a point where I was going "Where the enemies at?". They flood in so quickly that I was able to satisfactorily smash things in every direction sending loot exploding all over my screen~

What I like the least - There's a bunch of little nit-picks I have.

- It irks me a little that when blocking you can't change the direction you're facing while your shield is up. I don't really want to be moving around if I'm defending, rather, I want an emphasis on that defense and be able to change my focus quickly, say, if there's multiple bees on either side of me, I would like to be able to stand between them and just time hitting left and right to bounce them all away. Instead, I rarely ever block bees. It's easier to just bait them in to diving, run up or down and smash them on their low arc.

- Slime is immensely annoying. I don't feel it should last as long as it does, or have as powerful of slowing. Slime is the primary reason I more or less refuse to play Multi-player. It feels poorly designed and abruptly makes me just not want to play.

- Environmental objects in the foreground blocking vision. It's a smaller complaint, if you're paying attention you'll just stay away from blind spots that slime or enemies could be lurking in, but it would be nice to have a fade on objects that are in the way of the players vision. i.e : The shrub walls blocking doors in the forest Arcade.

- Enemies attacking you in the door of Arcade the moment you spawn in. (I'm looking at you. Halloweeds.)

- Enemies shouldn't get a speed boost in multiplayer Arcade. It's plenty difficulty enough without being obnoxious about it.

- Some of the skills kind of feel either under powered, or outright useless. Dodging strike for example, doesn't really dodge anything. Even stylish dodging can still get you hit by certain attacks. The support spells don't last long enough to bother with. Having to re-cast them every few seconds is annoying, and they don't really give that much benefit. Frosty Friend dies too easily, and it's a pain to get back up when he does die. Meteor does really underwhelming damage, contrary to its description. There's a lot of other skills that out damage it by hundreds. I kind of feel like Ice Nova should do more damage, since it requires you to be closer to enemies than Ice Spikes.

- The default par time for certain Arcade trials feels too low, primarily chickens. Many of them feel like they're impossible without the Time Warp perk.

- The Nurse in Arcades prices scale too quickly. It's kind of absurd how much health costs. I know Arcade is supposed to be hard and all, but she's already a random spawn, don't make her cost an arm and a leg too.

- The archery mini game in Story mode spawns too many green slime targets. It felt entirely luck based when I managed to get the 10K points for the quiver. There's too many of them constantly sliding by and blocking shots. Even moving back and forth along the counter to try and get around them often didn't work.

Confusing elements - More detailed skill information would be nice. Damage numbers, what cast type they are (Short range, medium range with or without a target marker etc.).

Optional Content - Side quests are a nice distraction. I love arenas. Being able to re-fight bosses is pretty cool. Fishing is amusing, I think you guys picked a good style for that. I like the DDR type thing for taming pets. More or less, generally all the optional content so far has been amusing, and relatively well designed.

I'm looking forward to seeing what happens in this games future. Keep up the good work.

 

[Quote]

Been watching this game for about 4 years now, just coming by on the blog to see the most up to date post, and I have to say I'm glad its come this far. This is an amazing game, straight up. Been playing this game for about 12+ hours now in story mode, just collecting everything. Could I have beat it much sooner? Of course, but that's not the point in this game. You are a collecter and I love to collect stuff in video games.

• General impressions: Overall the game has a great art style, and the animations are very fluid. In a game I like to know if I'm going to like what I'm looking at, and it's not very hard to impress me but it does take a lot to keep me talking about it. This is definitely one of those games you can't get me to shut up about. It's fun, it's expansive, there's a lot of different play styles and there's flippin' summons and pets. I couldn't be more sold to a video game.

• What you liked the most: There's a lot to pick from, personality and slick jokes to character customization, but all in all it's the combat that drags me in. It's mindless, but fun. It's reckless, but punishing. This game feels a bit like monster hunter in that right. You got to watch yourself, be patient, but not too patient. You need to know when to get in and when to get out. The animation is fluid and easy on the eyes and overall the games spritework is done very well. I'm not too fond of the portrait pictures, but that's just my personal taste and doesn't really matter. Overall knowing that there's more passives and support spells and passives to come (which I do love me some support spells and passives) really makes me hope for the best. Even if everything that does come out doesn't impress me I'm still happy with what I have. Also, another thing I wished to point out I completely LOVED was both the teleport system and the little death ghost. Seriously, I couldn't stay mad at getting killed because of my little white flag of mercy. That thing was amazing.

• What you liked the least: Eugh...this game certainly did come with its flaws, but two really stuck out to me. The Card system and the Magic. First, the cards: they are an amazing addition to the game and I have no problem with them personally, but out of all the items in the game I feel like this should really be given to the whole party when you're playing with friends. Rare item drops would suit better from a Need or Greed system, and I'm sure you guys are adding more ways to distribute loot. Regardless, I feel like the cards should be given to the team, as they are excruciatingly rare and are passive stat bonus's that you can't stack. Maybe if they were also 'Need or Greed' it'd be better but my point still stands. My second problem is the magic system as it seems...underwhelming to say the least. Anything it could do sword can do better. The only spells I thought had any value were the Cloud summon and the support spells. The ice summon dies too quickly, Ice nova slows while greatsword spin kills, chain lightning doesn't bring much to the eye, and every other spell I tried just didn't really leave any impact of impression. I don't have enough points to go into a hybrid heavy build, and even if I did I always tried to spec myself into using spells for utility or damage burst from a distance and I always ended up figuring out sword did it better. (Both swords I mean) Why flamethrower when i can shadow clone, why fireball when I can throw my great sword, why do anything when I can just spin myself around/summon a hateful soul and kill everything. Maybe it's just me and I'm not using it right, but I've tried magic builds in both story and arcade and I always end up either using only Cloud and/or Haste & Shield when it comes to magic. I think there needs to be more wands that lower your attack severely but greatly increase speed so you can cast faster and knock enemies away faster. Plus, maybe if more high level staves decreased the cost of spells (or if that's too over powered, air staves would reduce air spells and such) in order to allow a player to not kite and maybe shoot a spell once a while.

• Confusing elements: Everything seemed fluid here. Nothing really confused me at all. The only thing that kind of threw me off was where to get the pets in the first place, but that's only because I was dumb and didn't walk into the barn so that's on me 100%.

• Optional content: The side quests didn't feel tedious or out of the way, especially with that PERFECT TELEPORTATION system you guys created. (Seriously, it's f'in beautiful. You guys nailed that.) and the arena was a great challenge. Collecting and grinding come hand in hand, and because I love the combat so much I ended up collecting every item in the game thus far. Everything about this game makes me happy and I can't wait to see more of it.

 

[Hatchetman4651]

General impressions: This game was not what I expected, it was better. I saw that this game had a demo and figured I would try that before I possibly wasted $15 on a game I could have hated. I fell in love... with yet another game. I could play this game over and over again and again, because it is just that epic. If it was longer.. don't even get me started on the amount of enjoyment I would have on it.

What you liked the most: After thinking about this for maybe 2 or 3 minutes I have decided I like the combat the most. The combat is just amazing, it has a classic video game look and feel, with a small but satisfying modern feel to it as well. The combat is almost never the same thing unless you want it to be. You could just use one weapon, spell, or tactic the whole time, but why would you? There is a lot of variety so why not use some of it? There is so many types of skills, enemies, weapons, and tactics! You can even send out a "side-kick " if you want to change it up even more! The combat has near endless options to it so it really never gets old. I also like the fact that you can change the difficulty and, thanks to the current spawning system, you can challenge yourself or watch yourself over-power anyone or anything in your way. Just one last side note, I really like the menus, they are specific enough to find things very easily, but not so organised that you have to click on 2 or 3 tabs to find an item.

What you liked the least: There are few things I don't like about this game. The only two things I can think of is some things about the side-quest and the lack of some items or features that should be there. The side-quest, there are not enough from what I have played so far. (Which is not very much.) For example, (Spoiler Alert) in the beginning when you are doing your first main quest, after getting your sword and shield, you go by a broken wagon and it's owner, I think you should be able to help him fix it. Another example, (Spoiler Alert) is the side-quest in the woods (can't remember name) when your on your way to place the teleportation plate at the temple. You need to gather a very high amount of items for someone in those woods. I think this is to high for how early in the game this is. (I know there is a suggestion category on the forums but I didn't want to exclude that information.) And the items or features. (These are completely suggestions so I will put them somewhere else on the forums.)

Confusing elements: I think there was little to none confusing elements, the menus were confusing at first but fairly easy to learn and then use accurately and fluently. However there is one very notable thing that confuses me, this is the puzzles, not the puzzles themselves but after you solve them. They reset after you complete them so I find it easy to go back to one you already did and waste your time doing it again, only to realize you already looted the area and then walk away a little bit upset you didn't get more items. What I suggest: I suggest you just leave the puzzle solved or the door/ whatever it triggered opened, whichever is easiest for you guys! (Once again I didn't want to exclude this information so I just left this small suggestion on here, sorry in advance.)

Side Notes:
1. I made this twice because I accidentally clicked off this page when I was about 1/2 way done with the original one.
2. I proof read this entire thing but still probably screwed up somewhere.
3. This is the final side note. (Thanks for reading this far!)

 

[Akira]

Guess I'm giving some feedback as well. I'll just post my thoughts without answering a particular question - they will get answered anyway:

When I first heard of SoG I was totally amazed by the screenshots and youtube trailer. Since I grew up with games like Secret of Mana, Lufia, Terranigma and so on the graphics and gameplay totally caught me. Let me check... this was on 02.09.2012, so I'm following this projects for over 1.5 years.

About two weeks ago I downloaded the Demo then and even though I found it pretty nice I was missing something. I don't know what, but I was missing something. Call me weird, but IMO games like SoM, SoE, etc. have something "magical", a special atmosphere which SoG doesn't have.

BUT! I continued playing the demo and liked it more and more the longer I played. The gameplay is far better than the ones of the "old school" RPG that all lack in one or more points (SoM's IMBA magic and weird attack evasions, Terranigma's wasted magic system, Lufia's just hold the R button (or was it L?) and the fight will soon be over, etc.). Seriously, you guys from Pixel Ferrets had a lot of awesome thoughts on the game mechanics some other, bigger game designers should take as an example. Also from my side I find the arcade mode awesome, something I'm usually not a big fan from.

Anyway, this again made me want to play so much. As you can see I registered here just yesterday. Problems with my PayPal account force me to wait another 2-3 days before I can finally start playing, but I'm really looking forward to it!

Something I don't know yet and find a bit confusing is that there are really many skills you can upgrade from level-ups. Not complaining about the many skills, that's great, but no idea which ones are the best to upgrade and which ones might be wasted. I don't see it as a problem though, it's just common sense that many skills mean many possibilities and a headache about how to use them.

Feel free to ask you don't understand something or want more details

 

[Greenvort]

• General impressions: This game has become an instant favourite. I've been looking for something just like this for years now and I finally have it.
• What you liked the most: The combat system is addictive. Grinding is so rewarding and just fun in general. The way the shield and magic are utilized is awesome, especially when playing with the 360 controller.
• What you liked the least: There wasn't really anything I didn't like, however, I really hope there are PLENTY more side quests to take on further down the road. I know the game is unfinished but I just hope there is a lot to do.
• Confusing elements: Everything was relatively straightforward and easy to manage.
• Optional content: The "mini games" and side quests are extremely satisfying. Fishing is fun and enjoyable. A bug catching game might be really fun too.
• Additional suggestions: 3DS version! I know it would be insanely expensive but I want this game for 3DS so damn bad. Also, more character customization. I really wouldn't mind playing as one of those lumberjack dudes. There's plenty of NPC's that would make for neat player options. And lastly, visible numeric representation of EXP gains. Adding floating text when you defeat an enemy or having an addition animation beside the EXP bar whenever you defeat an enemy would be really helpful as well as having current EXP/Next level EXP in the EXP bar would be really nice to have.

 

[Deci]

I really enjoyed the game. Up until I got to gundam and the other "bullet-hell" boss shortly before it. The Sentry was intense and fun, but these two fights are not the type of gameplay I was hoping for at all. I would not have purchased the game if the demo had made me aware that this was one of those games. Oh well.