Dorag
Member
Well hello 
I've been following the game since the Kickstarter and *ALWAYS* had it at the back of my mind, just waiting for the day it comes out.
I thought it was time to try the prelude and I did, it is everything I expected, but you should still read on if you're interested in my feedback (Especially you developers).
So lets begin, first a bit about me, I'm an avid Mount and Blade: Warband player, that might not tell you much, but the Mount and Blade fighting mechanics are heavily based on skill, I am one of the highest skilled players in the game, and in multiplayer I can single handedly kill tens to hundreds of real players and take on multiple opponents at once, be it cavalry, archers, or of course my beloved melee.
What that means is that I have very good reflexes, response times, the ability to keep an eye out for multiple opponents, to watch my guard and my openings, and to be able to keep calm, think on my feet rationally and quickly through all of my options mid-battle without fear nor stress.
And so when I opened up Exanima for the first time and went into the arena to test out how well I fare in combat, lo and behold, all of the above led to my first ever arena run (Novice) in Exanima to be completed on the first attempt.
And I couldn't have been happier - I was quivering with excitement and whimpering of joy when I found out that my beloved skill based game delivered what it had promised, to be literally based on skill.
I haven't watched any tutorials before entering the game, but I have watched people fight (and mostly fail miserably) and understood that the general idea was, face the direction your opponent is hitting to parry by moving the cursor, hold to hit, move mouse to add momentum and force, w a s d for strafing right left forward and backwards to also add force.
So after this little bit of gloating about myself, I have got to tell you, the entire team of Bare mettle, and you Madoc, you have made a truly spectacular game, after completing the arena several times on novice and expert, reading through all armor stats, weapon stats, and using various weapons, I went into the campaign.
Before my bit about the campaign, my philosophy for playing this game is the exact philosophy you had for developing this game, which is why I followed you in the first place, Madoc you do a damn fine job wording the views and overall agenda that is tied to SG and Exanima, respectively, and I believe that we need more games like this, realistic or not - physics based games refers to our most basic instincts of real life, that combined with skill, makes the game all the more exciting since you truly bring YOURSELF into it, and that is what I, personally, achieved here.
And so - I went into the main game, exploring EVERY corner of EVERY single room in the game, clicking EVERY bottle, container, zombie, skeleton desk or drawer so that I might possibly find a hidden Easter egg or potion (I bet alot of other people did this too).
Enemies were the last of my concerns, I've found that it is so easy for me to kill them, I would rather take on a single enemy of course, but there were times where I had to face 2, 3, and 4 enemies aswell, and I've taken them all out since I know my pacing and timing well, I truly felt like I am putting myself into the game, and ALL of my accumulated Mount and Blade Warband skill over the last couple of years truly shines in this game, I cannot wait for the time where you release more close-combat mechanics, so that I could face fiercer opponents of greater skill, and gloat with pride when I crush them all into the ground like little whelps (if needed).
Now for the suggestions part of the feedback.
No save was really exciting, but I didn't really take notice because on my first playthrough I never went below 80% health off permanent damage, I've played the first level for 3 hours alone, I had full health, the best gear you can possibly get in the level, and I was doing the puzzle part of it to finish off exploring the entire level.
But then when I had to build the bridge over the pit, I came close to the edge since I could not place the plank from afar, I've decided to take one more step forward, one step too much, I fell and died.
And so went my first playthrough and 3 hours of hard work.
I believe in not giving up, I've never given up on something I wanted, since that would render me weak and I will never be the better one of the bunch, so I haven't given up and restarted the game for my second playthrough, but that one moment, after braving through 30 or so enemies without flinching, exploring every nook and cranny, acquiring the best gear of level one and still surviving happy on my feet, then falling into a pit for a puzzle I was trying to solve, have made a little spot in my heart go numb.
I'm aware that the game is not supposed to hand-hold you, and that death is final, eternal, and imminent, yet when it took me back to the main menu, and I found out my save was deleted, I couldn't help myself but to feel that I should have saved before the puzzle part, if only I could.
So, I won't be telling you what to do with that part of the game, because that is up to you, but I will suggest that these pits, they're too deep, I would be happy if you come up with a creative solution to make them less of a "Permanent death" pit, like a checkpoint at the beginning of the puzzle in the form of an orb, or by making the bottom of the pit connect to a flight of stairs that lead to back up (Provided, people couldn't build that pit without walking there themselves) and of course to take heavy damage from the fall.
That was my first suggestion, now lets move on with the second playthrough, I started up the game again, this time disregarding armor, exploration, or enemies (I just killed them with the torch until I got a decent weapon and continued on my way), the second playthrough.. Felt somewhat heartbreaking, this character wasn't mine anymore, it was only the ghost of a man doing what someone before him did, and I tried to brave through as fast as I could to the part with the pits again.
That second playthrough I managed to finish the entire level again, including the pits, and including the heartbreak that was the death of my first and real character.
But during both of my playthroughs I kept passing next to this.. Huge Iron door.
And in my wake I thought I'm supposed to pull some levers to open it, I kept ignoring it until I was absolutely sure I've been through everywhere on the first level twice, and then it dawned upon me when I double-clicked it.
And so, the game is realistic, that is correct, and you, MADE the game, so It's obvious to you that double-clicking the door would be something that is done without thought! , but for me that did not happen for quite a while, sadly, and it took a bunch of back-and-forth until I accidentally double clicked it.
Well, atleast now I will never be so foolish again and I will definitely double and triple-click everything that I find peculiar, but for future reference , I think it would be better to add an indicator that suggests that you can interact with this door, as in leave a bit of an opening on the door itself so that the player would not assume that it is locked, or another interactive asset that would naturally explain this to the player.
And then the journey continued, off to the second level, off to the third level, full HP and no permanent damage, I prevailed and finished the game having explored everything fully and thoroughly on my second playthrough.
I have enjoyed the game so much, I cannot tell you how satisfied I am with myself and with the game when I quickly slash and dash in between enemies as I simultaneously manage the cursor's positioning and my players', this game delivered a skill-based experience as intended, I've walked into the game as an entry-level master and I cannot wait for the game to throw multiple, more difficult, and more diverse opponents upon me.
This game is a tool, it is a tool that you are using (developers), I assume you feel so satisfied when you develop features, you've created a wonderful base upon which you can work and create all these mechanics that will breed play styles unique to every AI and player alike, I cannot wait to see what you dish out, thaumatology with this physics based engine will be one of the more exciting things within this game, physical interaction with objects pleases me greatly, we know that there is space for improvement, and I am sure you can do it with our help, so here are all of my suggestions summed up in a list
1) If possible, do something about the pits so that they would not be perma death, rather heavy amounts of damage.
2) Add a natural, preferably visual feature to the big Iron doors that will indicate that you can interact with them to prevent player from assuming it is locked (Either a tooltip, or a visual change to the door itself).
3) (This one is not urgent and I am sure you will do your best with it) To hopefully fix when you walk around corners and the player simply doesn't want to walk because he gets stuck on a corner, or when you walk into doors and a hand gets left behind and stretches (Sometimes the door closes on your hand and then you can't walk away from it)
4) This one is about objects and object manipulation.
First, when you were designing the puzzle where there were two levers, and both had to be held up at the same time, how did you expect the player to solve that? it feels a bit ghetto the way I did it, I had to place a ladder next to the lever, pull the lever up, then walk into the ladder and hopefully manipulate the ladder in a way that the lever won't come down, if that is the way it was designed then it is very inefficient and should be changed, if realism is where we're heading, the player would simply hold the lever up in one hand, the ladder in the other, then gently lower it under the lever, if I did it the wrong way then I apologize and please tell me how Its done.
4.1) I suggest the ability to hold the lever up in place while you're standing near it with one click, and then as long as you don't walk away, it will stay up and your mouse will be free to manipulate the ladder under it, that would be both realistic and plausible.
4.2) So here is another suggestion, it would be great if you can choose between either "interact with objects real time" like you do with the AI bodies, or "pick up and drop" modes, I find that with ladders for example, I would much rather pick up and drop them gently on the wall, and then drag them left and right rather than pick up and re position.
4.3) With heavier objects, such as barrels, or sacks, I would assume that pick up and drop would be too much, but there definitely needs to be dragging in real time (Like bodies), on the first level where there's a man dead on the floor with a key under the table, there's a door blocked by a drawer, two barrels and a table, I can easily pick up and drop the table, but I cannot drag the barrels, I took out my two handed axe and hit the barrels a bit until they fell, running into barrels also make them tip and fall over, so obviously they are light weight enough so that they could be dragged.
Another example is where there was a door blocked by a few wooden boxes and a couple of sacks.
I hit that door with my Bardiche and the sacks moved until I could peek into the room, and when I came from the other side I couldn't drag the sacks onto me, so adding a feature to drag objects which are otherwise difficult to pick up would be good.
5) Some form of a system, to change from torch to a weapon more easily (I'm fairly sure that this is an Exanima only thing, and that in SG items will have a physical place you put them in)
6) Maybe this doesn't fit Exanima that much, but It's something you can put in SG, I would like to see it and It's plausible so I'll take a shot in the dark and suggest it anyways.
When I was hitting that wooden door with my Bardiche, the one that was blocked by the sacks, I was sitting there for about 15 minutes just smashing and bashing the door with both my axe and my Bardiche.. And the door never broke.
I mean I know wood is strong, but an axe does what an axe should do, chip and chop wood, and so even if the door is strong, after all the ferocious bashing I gave it I'd expect it to be a remnant of what it used to be, 15 minutes prior, so the ability to break wooden doors would be something I'd like to see in Exanima or SG.
That concludes the suggestions list.
It is all I can think of from the top of my mind, tip top pork chop game you have here folks, I cannot tell you how pleased I am at my ability to utilize my own skills, and It's all thanks to the capacity of the game to have such a wonderful system in place made by YOU.
So rejoice! that was my input thank you for an amazing time and I will be waiting on the outer side of the Iron door for the next update so I can get to see and experience more realistic medieval combat which I am so enthusiastic about, you are true visionaries, especially you Madoc, and thanks the community for being so supportive along these years, you guys deserve a clap and a pat on the butt. *Clap clap*
I've been following the game since the Kickstarter and *ALWAYS* had it at the back of my mind, just waiting for the day it comes out.
I thought it was time to try the prelude and I did, it is everything I expected, but you should still read on if you're interested in my feedback (Especially you developers).
So lets begin, first a bit about me, I'm an avid Mount and Blade: Warband player, that might not tell you much, but the Mount and Blade fighting mechanics are heavily based on skill, I am one of the highest skilled players in the game, and in multiplayer I can single handedly kill tens to hundreds of real players and take on multiple opponents at once, be it cavalry, archers, or of course my beloved melee.
What that means is that I have very good reflexes, response times, the ability to keep an eye out for multiple opponents, to watch my guard and my openings, and to be able to keep calm, think on my feet rationally and quickly through all of my options mid-battle without fear nor stress.
And so when I opened up Exanima for the first time and went into the arena to test out how well I fare in combat, lo and behold, all of the above led to my first ever arena run (Novice) in Exanima to be completed on the first attempt.
And I couldn't have been happier - I was quivering with excitement and whimpering of joy when I found out that my beloved skill based game delivered what it had promised, to be literally based on skill.
I haven't watched any tutorials before entering the game, but I have watched people fight (and mostly fail miserably) and understood that the general idea was, face the direction your opponent is hitting to parry by moving the cursor, hold to hit, move mouse to add momentum and force, w a s d for strafing right left forward and backwards to also add force.
So after this little bit of gloating about myself, I have got to tell you, the entire team of Bare mettle, and you Madoc, you have made a truly spectacular game, after completing the arena several times on novice and expert, reading through all armor stats, weapon stats, and using various weapons, I went into the campaign.
Before my bit about the campaign, my philosophy for playing this game is the exact philosophy you had for developing this game, which is why I followed you in the first place, Madoc you do a damn fine job wording the views and overall agenda that is tied to SG and Exanima, respectively, and I believe that we need more games like this, realistic or not - physics based games refers to our most basic instincts of real life, that combined with skill, makes the game all the more exciting since you truly bring YOURSELF into it, and that is what I, personally, achieved here.
And so - I went into the main game, exploring EVERY corner of EVERY single room in the game, clicking EVERY bottle, container, zombie, skeleton desk or drawer so that I might possibly find a hidden Easter egg or potion (I bet alot of other people did this too
).Enemies were the last of my concerns, I've found that it is so easy for me to kill them, I would rather take on a single enemy of course, but there were times where I had to face 2, 3, and 4 enemies aswell, and I've taken them all out since I know my pacing and timing well, I truly felt like I am putting myself into the game, and ALL of my accumulated Mount and Blade Warband skill over the last couple of years truly shines in this game, I cannot wait for the time where you release more close-combat mechanics, so that I could face fiercer opponents of greater skill, and gloat with pride when I crush them all into the ground like little whelps (if needed
).Now for the suggestions part of the feedback.
No save was really exciting, but I didn't really take notice because on my first playthrough I never went below 80% health off permanent damage, I've played the first level for 3 hours alone, I had full health, the best gear you can possibly get in the level, and I was doing the puzzle part of it to finish off exploring the entire level.
But then when I had to build the bridge over the pit, I came close to the edge since I could not place the plank from afar, I've decided to take one more step forward, one step too much, I fell and died.
And so went my first playthrough and 3 hours of hard work.
I believe in not giving up, I've never given up on something I wanted, since that would render me weak and I will never be the better one of the bunch, so I haven't given up and restarted the game for my second playthrough, but that one moment, after braving through 30 or so enemies without flinching, exploring every nook and cranny, acquiring the best gear of level one and still surviving happy on my feet, then falling into a pit for a puzzle I was trying to solve, have made a little spot in my heart go numb.
I'm aware that the game is not supposed to hand-hold you, and that death is final, eternal, and imminent, yet when it took me back to the main menu, and I found out my save was deleted, I couldn't help myself but to feel that I should have saved before the puzzle part, if only I could.
So, I won't be telling you what to do with that part of the game, because that is up to you, but I will suggest that these pits, they're too deep, I would be happy if you come up with a creative solution to make them less of a "Permanent death" pit, like a checkpoint at the beginning of the puzzle in the form of an orb, or by making the bottom of the pit connect to a flight of stairs that lead to back up (Provided, people couldn't build that pit without walking there themselves) and of course to take heavy damage from the fall.
That was my first suggestion, now lets move on with the second playthrough, I started up the game again, this time disregarding armor, exploration, or enemies (I just killed them with the torch until I got a decent weapon and continued on my way), the second playthrough.. Felt somewhat heartbreaking, this character wasn't mine anymore, it was only the ghost of a man doing what someone before him did, and I tried to brave through as fast as I could to the part with the pits again.
That second playthrough I managed to finish the entire level again, including the pits, and including the heartbreak that was the death of my first and real character.
But during both of my playthroughs I kept passing next to this.. Huge Iron door.
And in my wake I thought I'm supposed to pull some levers to open it, I kept ignoring it until I was absolutely sure I've been through everywhere on the first level twice, and then it dawned upon me when I double-clicked it.
And so, the game is realistic, that is correct, and you, MADE the game, so It's obvious to you that double-clicking the door would be something that is done without thought! , but for me that did not happen for quite a while, sadly, and it took a bunch of back-and-forth until I accidentally double clicked it.
Well, atleast now I will never be so foolish again and I will definitely double and triple-click everything that I find peculiar, but for future reference , I think it would be better to add an indicator that suggests that you can interact with this door, as in leave a bit of an opening on the door itself so that the player would not assume that it is locked, or another interactive asset that would naturally explain this to the player.
And then the journey continued, off to the second level, off to the third level, full HP and no permanent damage, I prevailed and finished the game having explored everything fully and thoroughly on my second playthrough.
I have enjoyed the game so much, I cannot tell you how satisfied I am with myself and with the game when I quickly slash and dash in between enemies as I simultaneously manage the cursor's positioning and my players', this game delivered a skill-based experience as intended, I've walked into the game as an entry-level master and I cannot wait for the game to throw multiple, more difficult, and more diverse opponents upon me.
This game is a tool, it is a tool that you are using (developers), I assume you feel so satisfied when you develop features, you've created a wonderful base upon which you can work and create all these mechanics that will breed play styles unique to every AI and player alike, I cannot wait to see what you dish out, thaumatology with this physics based engine will be one of the more exciting things within this game, physical interaction with objects pleases me greatly, we know that there is space for improvement, and I am sure you can do it with our help, so here are all of my suggestions summed up in a list
1) If possible, do something about the pits so that they would not be perma death, rather heavy amounts of damage.
2) Add a natural, preferably visual feature to the big Iron doors that will indicate that you can interact with them to prevent player from assuming it is locked (Either a tooltip, or a visual change to the door itself).
3) (This one is not urgent and I am sure you will do your best with it) To hopefully fix when you walk around corners and the player simply doesn't want to walk because he gets stuck on a corner, or when you walk into doors and a hand gets left behind and stretches
(Sometimes the door closes on your hand and then you can't walk away from it)4) This one is about objects and object manipulation.
First, when you were designing the puzzle where there were two levers, and both had to be held up at the same time, how did you expect the player to solve that? it feels a bit ghetto the way I did it, I had to place a ladder next to the lever, pull the lever up, then walk into the ladder and hopefully manipulate the ladder in a way that the lever won't come down, if that is the way it was designed then it is very inefficient and should be changed, if realism is where we're heading, the player would simply hold the lever up in one hand, the ladder in the other, then gently lower it under the lever, if I did it the wrong way then I apologize and please tell me how Its done.
4.1) I suggest the ability to hold the lever up in place while you're standing near it with one click, and then as long as you don't walk away, it will stay up and your mouse will be free to manipulate the ladder under it, that would be both realistic and plausible.
4.2) So here is another suggestion, it would be great if you can choose between either "interact with objects real time" like you do with the AI bodies, or "pick up and drop" modes, I find that with ladders for example, I would much rather pick up and drop them gently on the wall, and then drag them left and right rather than pick up and re position.
4.3) With heavier objects, such as barrels, or sacks, I would assume that pick up and drop would be too much, but there definitely needs to be dragging in real time (Like bodies), on the first level where there's a man dead on the floor with a key under the table, there's a door blocked by a drawer, two barrels and a table, I can easily pick up and drop the table, but I cannot drag the barrels, I took out my two handed axe and hit the barrels a bit until they fell, running into barrels also make them tip and fall over, so obviously they are light weight enough so that they could be dragged.
Another example is where there was a door blocked by a few wooden boxes and a couple of sacks.
I hit that door with my Bardiche and the sacks moved until I could peek into the room, and when I came from the other side I couldn't drag the sacks onto me, so adding a feature to drag objects which are otherwise difficult to pick up would be good.
5) Some form of a system, to change from torch to a weapon more easily (I'm fairly sure that this is an Exanima only thing, and that in SG items will have a physical place you put them in)
6) Maybe this doesn't fit Exanima that much, but It's something you can put in SG, I would like to see it and It's plausible so I'll take a shot in the dark and suggest it anyways.
When I was hitting that wooden door with my Bardiche, the one that was blocked by the sacks, I was sitting there for about 15 minutes just smashing and bashing the door with both my axe and my Bardiche.. And the door never broke.
I mean I know wood is strong, but an axe does what an axe should do, chip and chop wood, and so even if the door is strong, after all the ferocious bashing I gave it I'd expect it to be a remnant of what it used to be, 15 minutes prior, so the ability to break wooden doors would be something I'd like to see in Exanima or SG.
That concludes the suggestions list.
It is all I can think of from the top of my mind, tip top pork chop game you have here folks, I cannot tell you how pleased I am at my ability to utilize my own skills, and It's all thanks to the capacity of the game to have such a wonderful system in place made by YOU.
So rejoice! that was my input
thank you for an amazing time and I will be waiting on the outer side of the Iron door for the next update so I can get to see and experience more realistic medieval combat which I am so enthusiastic about, you are true visionaries, especially you Madoc, and thanks the community for being so supportive along these years, you guys deserve a clap and a pat on the butt. *Clap clap* 
