Reply With QuoteIt definitely appears to be a step in the right direction but I'm going to sit it out for a little while as well. Plenty of other games to keep me busy in the meantime.
So another big update has just been released. Could this be what makes the game somewhat playable at last? I still haven't recovered from the release day disappointment, so I think I'll wait for a bit longer before I jump in, but obviously it's great to see that they're still at least trying to fix this thing.
Some interesting (in my opinion) pickings from the update notes:
- The world is now a series of interconnected levels, accessible through The Grand Staircase. Updated quest flow now focuses on important narrative quests that highlight both new and refined story and content, while allowing the player to freely explore the environment and optional side-quests.
- Updated enemy patrol paths and lighting pass in all levels to enhance tactical stealth gameplay, and enemy population overhaul/refinements on all main quests.
- New and streamlined story elements along main critical path, with supplemental story elements moved to explorable space.
- Players can now use F5 to quick save and F9 to quick load said quick save.
- Updated enemy patrol paths and AI behavior models to improve their reaction to player actions
- Standard trunks are now smaller to reflect that they don’t hold treasure on the level of the mighty Typhon chests.
- Additional refinements to combat feel and responsiveness
- Creatures may be knocked down during combat and get back up to continue the fight.
- Further refinement of player movement
- New challenges and rewards to discover in all levels!
- General performance improvements to improve load times, increase FPS and reduce hitching.
The rather long list of changes can be read in full here: https://steamcommunity.com/games/692...14627288546134
It definitely appears to be a step in the right direction but I'm going to sit it out for a little while as well. Plenty of other games to keep me busy in the meantime.
I was skeptical we'd see improvements of this scope so soon given the disastrous launch.
I'm sure it's still a couple of updates away from being anything like it could have been, but now I have hope it might just get there.
Man, it is a damn shame they didn't release this as an Early Access project.
Whoa, just got put on sale 75% off on Steam. I think they're trying to push this version? Definitely seems like some mix of confidence and desperation.
EDIT: They even put "Update 2 Live" prominently around the basic store image. I think they're really trying to convince people that this is the time to jump in.
So far I am enjoying it more than I did at launch, but I'm someone who is willing to put out with a lot of jank for the sake of emergent gameplay, so don't take this as a sign that the game is worth buying at full price, because even so, I only bought it because it's on sale for $7.50.
Y'know what, I've been watching (with morbid curiosity) from the sidelines long enough. With this update and discount it's finally time to take the plunge.
Ok, I've played it for 7 hours and reached the 3rd depth now. Thoughts!
Technical
Performance has been fine on my GTX1070, except it did get quite sluggish on the 3rd depth in a huge water-filled room. I like the way the game looks. Had one crash to desktop which cost me half an hour of progress. At one point I died from merely climbing a ledge. I've also had clothing items straight up disappear when I try to apply them to my character.
Gameplay
The combat is pretty barebones but decent. The stealth is hampered by enemies having slightly irregular patterns for when they stop or when they keep patrolling, makes it hard to plan ahead. Also it doesn't seem like stealthy takedowns are possible at all? I even have the "Backstab" skill, but it never does enough damage for a takedown, and it always turns into a duel. I like the exploration, tho movement feels a tad too floaty. The game occasionally reminds me of Dark Souls, but not in any good way, rather in the way of having a lot of obscure systems that you need Google to help you understand. The one gameplay element I can unequivocally say I love is the way fire works. Setting fire to doors, floors and roofs to make progress is very satisfying.
Overall, it's a clunky mess that don't quite work right. I also kinda like it.
Questions:
-Where can I get a bigger backpack? The cramped inventory space is getting annoying.
-Can I see the DOOM COUNTER (or whatever) somewhere? I've put 2 mana cores in the big thingy but I'm not sure if that actually did anything.
-What are those big statues with 2 characters on either side and some kinda round port similar to the one where you put mana cores?
Just did a quest where I have to destroy an Animus and get an Aether Core. Destoyed the thing but didn't get a core. Am I gonna have to abandon the quest and try it again? Because if so, I give up.
Thanks for volunteering to try this, henke
You make UA sound somewhat playable at least and not like a total mess, so I'll push it a little higher on my to-play-list. I think it's a terrible shame that even here on TTLG the general consensus is kinda "meh" towards the game.
Especially here at TTLG, since we know more than most fan communities what kind of game this was supposed to be.
At the same time though, I feel like it would be hard to get fair objective opinions on it because of how biased many here are. I'm not saying that's a bad thing, there are a lot of things that I'm biased on one way or the other and as such, I am not the person that the average Joe should go to for an opinion. In the case of UA, I'm somewhat biased toward it because I love immersive sim type games so much that I'm willing to put up with a lot of things that many, really majority, of players aren't, including other fans of immersive sims. So, yeah I'm not sure if we are the best source for majority of the gaming community, unless they specifically want to know how it stacks as an IS.Originally Posted by ZylonBane
Don't get me wrong though, there are things that you can give objective opinions on, like the AI issues and complete lack of proper save feature at launch.
One of my rules of thumb is that henke is overall far more forgiving than I am...
So yeah, nobody said we were.
I'm probably more forgiving then because I didn't know what kinda game it was supposed to be, having never played the earlier Ultimas.
Yeah I mean a certain level of jank is definitely par for the course with immersive sims. Especially immsims made on indie-budgets often turn out pretty rough. Just look at Boiling Point, E.Y.E. or the original release of Stalker:SOC. Stalker was of course redeemed by patches and user-made mods, and hopefully UA can go that route too.
I know, it just feels a bit odd that people seem to have forgotten the game already. Can't blame them obviously, the original release was quite a disaster, and almost killed my interest too.
When the latest Thief game was released a few years ago, it was a hot topic for months and months in here. There was a lot of passion in here, some folks even turned into proper zealots. Now, there's nothing. Therefore, "meh".
Well, it's not like there has been a lot of interest here in the first place. I've seen the tumbleweeds roll by in this subforum throughout the development. Over the last 4+ years, it has been barely enough for half a page worth of topics. You'd think the prospect of having LGS be reborn would generate more excitement, but I guess most of the LGS fans have moved on by now.
I hear thee, Brother Starker. Luckily we, the Eternal Guardians of the Legacy of LGS are still here to keep the Sacred Fire of Classic cRPGs lit! Let the mainstream sheeple with their false prophets and other ungodly abominations burn!!!!
Here's some footage from my recent travels in depths 1-3.
I love setting fire to things, but as you can see in the last clip it can be quite taxing on the hardware. Makes me wonder how this is ever supposed to run on the Nintendo Switch.
Hey, you actually make it look quite fun at times! And quite easy, too... Is stealth really no viable option in the game, or is your playing style just more straightforward and combat-orientated?
Is there anything in your opinion that makes UA stand out from a generic dungeon crawler RPG? Apart from setting things on fire, you crazy pyromaniac.
Stealth is viable in my playthrough, but it's not quite to the level of Thief. You can totally sneak past a lot of enemies, and you can stealth kill them, but I don't know if it's possible to ghost an entire playthrough, unless maybe there is a newgame+ option and you have every stealth skill unlocked.Hey, you actually make it look quite fun at times! And quite easy, too... Is stealth really no viable option in the game, or is your playing style just more straightforward and combat-orientated?
Is there anything in your opinion that makes UA stand out from a generic dungeon crawler RPG? Apart from setting things on fire, you crazy pyromaniac.
I do stealth most of the time, it just didn't end up in the footage.
About stealth takedowns, I only recently started to be able to do this, after I unlocked a third stealth skill that gives bonus damage to unaware enemies, and also I found a cursed sword (Elegy's Blade) which deals massive damage but also punishes the player with a small bit of damage for each hit. For the first 8 hours or so any time I tried to backstab enemies they'd just spin around and start attacking me, but now I usually can take them down in 1-4 hits.
So 75% of the time... they still spin around and start attacking you.
There's probably a lot of people like me who have lurked the UA threads since the beginning but haven't had anything to say worth posting.
I was pretty excited when I first heard that Paul Neurath was opening a new studio and trying to put the old gang back together. But I wasn't as thrilled with their decision to make another Ultima Underworld game. I'm kind of tired of traditional fantasy settings in games (or any medium actually) and would have preferred something new. The other thing that put me off a little bit was the Kickstarter. I totally understand why Nightdive needed to crowd fund the SS1 remaster: they are newcomers, SS1 has a niche fan base, and it's a remake/remaster not a new game. But Otherside are industry vets who have made great games in the past and have a fan base. If they have to resort to Kickstarter because they can't get their game funded and a solid publisher behind them, that's a big caution sign to me.
I've been more interested in what's going on with SS3, but there hasn't been much information flowing out of Austin.
It was the same with Brian Fargo and InXile who had to resort to Kickstarter as well. Apparently, making some of the best RPGs in history counts for very little with solid publishers.
Aren't a lot of kickstarters basically demanded by publishers to prove there's an audience first?
Posting Permissions