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OctU
Keeper of the Gates
Joined: 24 Jan 2002
Posts: 114
Location: On an island beyond the realm of the Sea Barons |
Was looking forward to playing this demo, had heard some favorable things about this game. My first impressions upon starting the demo, however, were not so good. I quickly became very frustrated with the controls. Couldn't believe that the F4 help key gave only scant or rudimentary information, and didn't fully copy the important, instructional text that occasionally appeared on the screen. Hey, developers, this is the demo and not the retail version so we don't have the manual to refer to, remember?
After painfully experimenting with key strokes in a trial and error method, I was able to finally figure out how most things work, but it didn't alleviate the suffering much. The melee combat system was crude at best, and the magic system was interesting but awkwardly employed. The mapping system was outright horrible.
Still, I thought the ambiance was expertly captured for an underground world, and it felt appropriately claustrophobic and creepy down there. The graphics were rich and detailed (when I could see), and the sounds were fantastically realistic and haunting. Great immersion effects there, which definitely count very high on my grading scale. I also loved and laughed aloud when I read the goblin's note to his comrade, warning him to be careful of the new human inmate that looks "dangery". Excellent touch.
But the first time I heard my character say "I'm hungry", I thought, "No, I didn't just hear that -- please don't tell me I have to constantly feed this character". After fumbling around a little longer, trying to find my character's way in the dark and trying to figure out how to accomplish a function through the confusing controls, sure enough I hear my character say "I must eat now". "Ok", I thought, "maybe I just need to feed him once a day, and maybe I can handle that". Well, I feed my character, and 2 minutes later I hear him say "I'm hungry", again. Damn. I really wanted to get into this game, but that ended it right there for me. Ever since Darkstone, I have refused to play a game where character feeding time was mandatory and frequent. If developers feel they need to get down to that level of realism, why not just include the character's need to sleep, drink, pee and crap while they're at it.
I proceeded to uninstall the demo, grateful that I didn't purchase the full version. Maybe Arx 2 will solve the hunger problem? I hope so, because Arx had some really great immersion qualities to it, and you just don't see that very often in a game. |
Tue Apr 22, 2003 10:50 pm |
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Cm
Sentinel of Light
Joined: 26 Jan 2003
Posts: 5209
Location: Missouri USA |
If that is all that kept you from Arx, then fear not. the most recent patch has gotten rid of that annoying part of the game. Every once in a great while he will beg for food, but no problem after the patch. Fear not, the game is as good as you felt in the demo. If you want a great walkthrough, download the PDF file on the main screen. It is well worth the paper to print it, and all the controls are in it. Hope to see you in Arx. |
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Wed Apr 23, 2003 3:38 am |
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OctU
Keeper of the Gates
Joined: 24 Jan 2002
Posts: 114
Location: On an island beyond the realm of the Sea Barons |
"Hunger problem solved with patch" was welcome news, went back to playing demo.
I couldn't, however, solve the annoying problem with my view jumping around too quickly when moving the mouse. It's not like the slow, jerky frames that one experiences with hardware that doesn't have enough power to run a game smoothly -- instead of jerky frames trying to catch-up with my view, I instead get views that jump too far ahead when moving my mouse only slightly. When moving the mouse to look to my right, for instance, instead of my view moving only 45 degrees, my view jumps ahead 180 degrees so that I'm looking behind me! Have a Radeon 9700 Pro with latest Catalyst drivers. Is this a problem that is only experienced in the Demo, or could I also expect to see such problems in the full retail (w/ latest patch) version? |
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Fri Apr 25, 2003 9:10 pm |
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Cm
Sentinel of Light
Joined: 26 Jan 2003
Posts: 5209
Location: Missouri USA |
This is mouse sensitivity setting I believe. Arx is not best suited for the Radeon, but in the system setup instructions that come with the game and the readme ect. it tells you how to correct. Very simple adjustments. I did not have the demo so I don't know if you can slow the mouse sensitivity, but that sounds like the problem I had. Then it worked fine.
_________________
=Member of the Nonflamers Guild=
=Member of Worshippers of the Written Word=
A man cannot be comfortable without his own approval.
Mark Twain
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Sat Apr 26, 2003 12:23 am |
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