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First/Last Impressions
BadSpock
Member UncommonPosts: 7,979
*warning - kind of free flowing ramblings as I have them*
*TLDR scroll to end*
Signed up for, downloaded, installed, and patched the 3-day free trial of The Secret World.
I've put in maybe 3-4 hours and I just can't go on, I'm sorry.
Character customization felt extremely lacking - I could not make a character I really liked and had to settle for one I could tolerate.
The voice acting is phenominal, the characters and camera/animations during the cutscenes is the best I've seen in an MMO - period.
(P.S. is Boon at the beginning of Kingsmouth Steve Blum? I think it is!)
The graphics are very crisp and clean, with my rig I was able to run with everything at the "High" preset without any framerate issues, could have probably pushed gfx higher but meh, was more focused on game play.
Kingsmouth itself had a fair bit of atmosphere, but it looked TOO clean and TOO crisp. The visuals lacked any kind of soul - nothing I saw really gave me that "Oh wow..." effect.
Animations were not as bad as people made them out to be on forums, but they were a bit repetitive.
The combat itself... I really couldn't see any difference between standing still during combat and moving unless I was using some kind of cripple, in which case kiting was elementary. The dodge seemed useless as I had ample time to avoid the big ground-targeted moves larger monsters would make.
I primarily used an Elemental skill set as none of the weapon sets really wowed me very much - when I see guns in a game I expect them to work like guns would work in a FPS game, I HATE RPG implementation of guns.
Like, really? I can't pull the trigger on this Glock with a 11 round magazine more than twice without waiting a few seconds? Really?
In that way I think the modern setting really hurt TSW, but anyways.
Some nice touches in the setting, cell phones, kind of a HUD like UI, reference to pop culture stuff (Oprah, classic hip hop etc.)
Everything was just... so.. slow....
I felt like I watched about an HOUR of cutscenes and got to walk around NY for 2 minutes... then my little out of body experience to showcase combat was slightly more interesting, but totally a single player experience.
I had no clue who these people I was with were and why there was a star/space scene outside the subway? Then I passed out again?
Is this a Secret? Do you have to read a blog to understand the story? Not very immersive...
OK finally in training, using different weapons, nothing I really liked - settle on Elemental magic.
Leave training room, game crashes. Have to reboot PC. Really? A month after launch? Everything on my computer is up to date and flawless - I work in IT so I kind of know a little about keeping my baby running smoothly.
Whatever fine - finally got to Kingsmouth to see the "real" game - these great stories / quests people are talking about.
Where are they?
Besides the absolutely phenominal voice acting, nothing at all original or interesting. Setting / mood was OK but not nearly atmospheric enough.
Found a computer in some Dr's office, had to use in-game browser to Google who the composer of the song was to crack a password - I suppose that is cool in a way, but generally I thought games wanted to keep you IN the game for immersion not on websites looking up cheats and walk throughs?
I suppose for TSW this is immersive as my character would have a smartphone and access to Google, but come on this is a game and is obviously fantasy (magic, demons, etc.) it was a total immersion breaker for me.
Slow/tedius combat, lack of real immersion.
Ability wheel thing is cool, not very intuitive lay out though - figured out how to select a prebuilt deck for some guidance, quickly went off the reservation.
I never ever figured out how to equip a second weapon?
I've been MMO gaming for 12+ years and gaming for 20+ and I can say that this game is pretty unintuitive - not a good thing.
So to sum up, nice graphics with no style, uninteresting character creation (I was a Gordon Freeman looking dude in a wife beater, jeans, and converse... yay?) same old game play from 2004 I have seen a half dozen other games, totally unintuitive, and I feel the setting - what should have been TSW's strongest point - actually hinders the game in terms of immersion and takes away a lot of the fun factor that comes from the unrealistic nature of over-the-top fantasy/sci-fi that makes escapism and gaming FUN.
To each their own I guess, TSW is NOT for me. Only MMO I think I have ever spent less time in before uninstalling was Darkfall. Yikes.
Comments
A little clue
You have to put some skill points into a weapon skill to be able to use it.
I wasnt overly impressed with the game when I first started playing, but it kind of grows on you (like good music)
"Be water my friend" - Bruce Lee
Was opposite for me. I really enjoyed the game in beta but longer in got more and more dull... my main issue is the zones.. they did so much with the atmosphere but how the zones are populated is so static and dull.. same complaint i had with swtor.. I like my zones to feel alive and feel like things are actually going on inside them even without me.. Aside from that I just couldn't get into the PVP I tried many many times and just did not enjoy it much at all. Skill wheel is a great idea and loved the atmosphere but just to many other issues holding it back.. i dunno ill check back in a few months perhaps.
I angered the clerk in a clothing shop today. She asked me what size I was and I said actual, because I am not to scale. I like vending machines 'cause snacks are better when they fall. If I buy a candy bar at a store, oftentimes, I will drop it... so that it achieves its maximum flavor potential. --Mitch Hedberg
I've been trying TSW out as well, and I have to agree on most points, BadSpock. The graphics are very detailed, but the actual models look like something from a bad Resident Evil direct to DVD CGI movie. Funcom is one of those companies that thinks throwing polygons at the graphics design portion of a game will make it more beautiful. I actually preferred Tera's graphics to TSW, and I can't stand Tera.
I'm not going to sugar coat it, I could never stay very involved with a game that has such sluggish, awkward combat. People who can tolerate it might find the game is to their liking and the story is actually very good from what I played, but I play for more than story, especially in an MMO.
I know where your coming from but your basically describing every mmo to date. We are all dreaming of an mmo with a Skyrim quality world, but the way things are looking... we are going to be waiting into the next decade for that.
There are also a lot of things in TSW to like.
"Be water my friend" - Bruce Lee
BOOYAKA!
actually got one that fullfills that feeling for me in about a week:) .. i agree there is a lot to like in TSW.. but for me not enough to warrant the sub price right now
I angered the clerk in a clothing shop today. She asked me what size I was and I said actual, because I am not to scale. I like vending machines 'cause snacks are better when they fall. If I buy a candy bar at a store, oftentimes, I will drop it... so that it achieves its maximum flavor potential. --Mitch Hedberg
You can wait a decade, I'll just wait a week. ;P
To Badspock, I agree with all of your points, although I was able to take myself up to the final zone, since I'm an explorer at heart, I had to at least see the whole game world. And boy oh boy is it small. Yeah, that first battle tutorial..was wierd and I wasn't immersed because I had no context with which to understand why I was in this subway suddenly and seeing space in it. Half the time, the cutscenes while filled with great voice acting and interesting vocabulary, I still never quite followed what they were talking about or why they were talking about certain things. That might have to do with my character being silent though.
I too, will give it a second look in a year or so, but I'm not holding my breath on that one.
i gave the game including closed beta well over 200 hours of chance.. and while I like many aspects came to basically same conclusion.. so even if he did put in more time would of probably would of came ot the same conclusion
I angered the clerk in a clothing shop today. She asked me what size I was and I said actual, because I am not to scale. I like vending machines 'cause snacks are better when they fall. If I buy a candy bar at a store, oftentimes, I will drop it... so that it achieves its maximum flavor potential. --Mitch Hedberg
To each thier own. This game has some longevity issues, but I really dig it. Even though cc is lacking, I love the clothing system and my character is completely unique. By the way the end of the month patch is bring some more options. It's so nice to express your character through clothes and weapon choices than to have the same armor everyone else has with the only difference being colors. Cc doesn't matter much if we all dress the same IMO.
The setting and look of this game is the best of any mmo I have ever played. It's beautiful. I have zero idea what you mean when you say there is no atmosphere. While I would like it to be a little thicker, it's still far and away more visually engaging than the cartoony look of games like gw2. I think they nailed it mostly.
I would go on about the hand crafted quests and the fun dungeons, but I've done that in other posts. The main problem it has is so-so pvp and the content chase.
Anyway, I don't think you gave it much of a chance with three or four hours, you haven't even begun to scratch the surface, but that's your call to make.
Im looking forward to gw2, but I'm keeping tsw as well.
A sure sign that you are in an old, dying paradigm/mindset, is when you are scared of new ideas and new technology. Don't feel bad. The world is moving on without you, and you are welcome to yell "Get Off My Lawn!" all you want while it happens. You cannot, however, stop an idea whose time has come.
Well, it just goes to show people have different tastes. I realize I'm in the minority, but (admitting I played WoW for 2 years) Darkfall and TSW are my two favorite games since I started playing MMOs in 2007. I realize all of these games have flaws. I played DF for a year. Still playing TSW but keeping my eye on whether they emphasize raiding with the new content releases.
I don't want a gear-grinding endgame. I hope this is not how TSW develops. I hope that raids won't become the main "endgame." (I use the quotation marks, because that word has suddenly become controversial here.)
First off I love the game. I can see why BadSpock didn't see the point of movement in combat so early on, it doesn't exist. Later on standing still(Even the Draug have an in the ground ability requiring you to move out of its effect which can be had early on) requires the movement.
But to say the combat is basically bland, is absolutely correct. The combat is a joke. Having done everyhing up to starting NMs( did Gatekeeper) the combat is just a bland sense of Tank and spank on nearly every boss with a downtime here and there. Is it fun, was until NMs require purges/cleanse that aren't available to every weapon class. Instead I'm forced to continue on using something I don't enjoy. The gatekeeper battle was about as annoying as a buzzing bee. It wasn't fun, it was boring to tears. My spec didn't have a purge in it for DPS, so I just relied on a 10% ctc on hit, so it took me a few more tries to get that to go off the two or three times I needed to in a row. I imagine NMs from cabal mates telling me are basically the same. If that the case I'll just continue on with the story as I won't need some superb gear to play that.
Game is a like or hate game, you either like it or hate it. Many things right with the game and many things wrong.
You love the game...and then you didn't rave about how it was the best and everyone that disliked it was stupid?!!? What is this?!?
Thanks for your insight! It's great when someone can enjoy something and still look at it objectively and point out its flaws so that others (like myself) might better make an informed decision regarding our own choice to play. It's definitely appreciated!
edit: phrasing.
200 hours is already quite alot by today's standards. At least you have some experience with the game and you gave it a fair try so your opinion has some value, unlike the OPs.
Then again it is a first impressions review so he can write what he wants I guess. I just get annoyed at how impatient people are these days and unwilling to even try to adapt to games that do things a little differently.
Sherman's Gaming
Youtube Content creator for The Elder Scrolls Online
Channel:http://https//www.youtube.com/channel/UCrgYNgpFTRAl4XWz31o2emw
It takes all kinds, good sir. Just look at Kulin's opinion of the game. He loves it, but agrees (with me anyway) that the combat is bland and pretty awful. Fortunately, it does not take 200 hours to determine this.
There is a character voiced by Tim Russ as well later on in Kingsmouth.
I just want to say first few times I played in Beta i was underwhelmed as well, but since I had nothing else to play I kept going on., then it hit me like a train, I was enjoying this game more then any I have played i a while, and that was because it was slower I think. I did not feel the need to focus on the next level, to get to the next instance so I could get that next set of gear, and all so I could just hurry up and get to max level.
Character custimization is really about what you do in the game. You clothing options are extremely varied in game. Yes they have a micro-store that you can buy nifty outfits, but there are tons and tons of options in the in0game currency stores, as well as special items you get for completeing quests/objectives. I like this approach somewhat.
I just enjoyed the game, the lore, the atmopshere, and even though combat started as painfully slow, it picked up once I noticed little nuances to how different skills work, how some monsters had certain effects that either nullified or made my skills not as effective.
The use of in-game browser is fantastic in this setting and not at all an immersion breaker, even more so since there are a few websites you can go to that are actually "fake' websites with information you use in the game. For example "SPOIL ALERT" a website for a company that you have to use to get someones employee information from to compelte an investigation quest.
To me, this whole using the internet really put a Dale Brownesque feel to the game.
Its not for everyone for sure, but it is certiantly not the same game people have been playing since 2004. For anyone that thinks it is, is playing it wrong, which reinforces the fact its not for everyone.
Sorry you could not find a place in it. Maybe give it some time to mature and try again.
Thank you for the (mostly) constructive and positive contributions in this thread.
For me it's kind of the whole, can you really dig a game in the first couple of hours versus shouldn't the game grab you right away?
I just felt no pull towards TSW to keep playing. None.
I'm glad some are enjoying it, it's just not for me.
As for my comments on atmosphere... it just seemed so... dead!
I know that is funny/ironic considering Kingsmouth is full of zombies - but what I saw was an empty town with NOTHING on the streets.
Except for the occasional group of zombies huddled around a non-existant corpse... the streets are like, empty!
Where are all the bodies? The cars don't even look broken most of the time, no piles of trash...
I mean I'm expecting like The Walking Dead / 28 Days Later... but it was just so sparse!
Like all the gfx real estate went to the polygons on the characters and zero on the environmental details.
as I said earlier this is a huge issue to me as well.. the zone atmosphere and design is setup in a way that adding some "life" to the zones would do wonders.. right now if feels very static and like you say "dead"... again most MMOs are like this where nothing actually feels like its going on in the world around you and over the years this has been more and more apparant and annoying with every game that passes. Hopefully games of the future see this and put more of that living breathing world into their games but guess it's not something everyone cares for...
I angered the clerk in a clothing shop today. She asked me what size I was and I said actual, because I am not to scale. I like vending machines 'cause snacks are better when they fall. If I buy a candy bar at a store, oftentimes, I will drop it... so that it achieves its maximum flavor potential. --Mitch Hedberg