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Episode 2 - CONSTRUCTIVE feedback (No fighting, please!)

Started by snabbott, September 20, 2010, 09:39:50 AM

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Cez

Quote from: KQ5Fan on September 23, 2010, 02:39:32 PM
Were we actually just arguing about why something doesn't make logical sense on the ISLE OF WONDER? ^

O_O

heh. you win.


Cesar Bittar
CEO
Phoenix Online
cesar.bittar@postudios.com

zaphod08

Let me say, I've played all seven of the original KQ, as well as the remakes by others. This is absolutely incredible, and I can't tell you how grateful I am. Played through game 2, only got stuck 3 times, and one of them was my own fault. I had thought I had done something. Don't know if this has been brought up, as I skipped several pages of the feedback.
I had talked to the candy merchant, but it didn't seem like I could buy anything from him. I realize now, I was just supposed to pay him, but it might have been nice for the dialogue to hint that he could be paid.
Two, I couldn't get the venom because I had already attempted the same action early on. The cup can't be obtained until the bag is, for obvious reasons. But why can't you get the venom in any order, as soon as you try it? That's my only complaint, such as it is. Thanks again.

KatieHal

Hi zaphod! Thanks and welcome to the forums :)

That seems odd, re: the venom. You should be able to get that at anytime.

Katie Hallahan
~Designer, PR Director~

"Change is the constant, the signal for rebirth, the egg of the phoenix." Christina Baldwin

I have a blog!

wilco64256

Quote from: zaphod08 on September 23, 2010, 04:26:39 PM
Let me say, I've played all seven of the original KQ, as well as the remakes by others. This is absolutely incredible, and I can't tell you how grateful I am. Played through game 2, only got stuck 3 times, and one of them was my own fault. I had thought I had done something. Don't know if this has been brought up, as I skipped several pages of the feedback.
I had talked to the candy merchant, but it didn't seem like I could buy anything from him. I realize now, I was just supposed to pay him, but it might have been nice for the dialogue to hint that he could be paid.
Two, I couldn't get the venom because I had already attempted the same action early on. The cup can't be obtained until the bag is, for obvious reasons. But why can't you get the venom in any order, as soon as you try it? That's my only complaint, such as it is. Thanks again.

Welcome to the forums!  What action specifically did you attempt for obtaining the venom?  Katie's correct - that should be possible at any time during the entire episode.  The only way it doesn't work is if you already have it.
Weldon Hathaway

zaphod08

Quote from: wilco64256 on September 23, 2010, 06:55:14 PM
Quote from: zaphod08 on September 23, 2010, 04:26:39 PM
Let me say, I've played all seven of the original KQ, as well as the remakes by others. This is absolutely incredible, and I can't tell you how grateful I am. Played through game 2, only got stuck 3 times, and one of them was my own fault. I had thought I had done something. Don't know if this has been brought up, as I skipped several pages of the feedback.
I had talked to the candy merchant, but it didn't seem like I could buy anything from him. I realize now, I was just supposed to pay him, but it might have been nice for the dialogue to hint that he could be paid.
Two, I couldn't get the venom because I had already attempted the same action early on. The cup can't be obtained until the bag is, for obvious reasons. But why can't you get the venom in any order, as soon as you try it? That's my only complaint, such as it is. Thanks again.
Tell you what, I'll try the game again from scratch. Glad to see that I should have been able to get it at any time.

Welcome to the forums!  What action specifically did you attempt for obtaining the venom?  Katie's correct - that should be possible at any time during the entire episode.  The only way it doesn't work is if you already have it.


(Posted on: September 23, 2010, 10:34:05 PM)


Well is my face, red. I don't know what happened but I was able to get the venom right off. Don't know if I clicked the wrong spot, my computer glitched or I'm suffering from the duhs. Thanks for the response.

crayauchtin

That's what I forgot to mention! The run!

Okay, it's fluid. Technically, it's great. Visually, it's swell. It even looks realistic.... in that, yes, a person could realistically move like that.

On the other hand, the only people I know who run like that are seriously goofy nerdballs from elementary school who got beat up frequently. Most people either pull their hands into their chest in fists or put their hands at an aerodynamic vertical angle pointed straight ahead. Graham just lets his hands flop around in front of him. I guess it's a choice everyone has to make, but I still feel an urge to make fun of him every time I see him do it.
And as a result, I will never make him run. :P
"If your translation is correct, that was 'May a sleepy hippopotamus lie down on your house keys,' but you're not sure. Unfortunately, your fluency in griffin-speak is too low."

We're roleplaying in the King's Quest world: come join in the fun!

waltzdancing

It looks a lot better now. When we were in testing phase, I started laughing because it looked like Graham was strutting everywhere. Does this visual make the idea of running better?

crayauchtin

No, Waltz. I'm a strutter myself. I only run if panicked. Otherwise, I strut. It's a powerful, quick walk which says "Mess with me, I'll step on your face and keep on going." Floppy hands like King Graham's say... "Heyyyy you guyyyyys waiiiiiiit upppppp!" :P
"If your translation is correct, that was 'May a sleepy hippopotamus lie down on your house keys,' but you're not sure. Unfortunately, your fluency in griffin-speak is too low."

We're roleplaying in the King's Quest world: come join in the fun!

liggy002

At one point, Graham was walking around like he was a thug- East Coast and West Coast style.  I swear the only thing he was missing there was his bling bling money necklace.

juss

Quote from: KatieHal on September 23, 2010, 11:20:03 AM
Haha, I like to imagine they tried, but they each kept making theirs larger than the other one until they both fell over and were destroyed.  ;D LOL, although Weldon's answer is also fun!

In other news, I'm excited for when you guys get to meet the Queens again!

I don't mind peculiar things like the trophy case because that's all part of the bizarre magical world of King's Quest.  The King's Quest games that I've played so far have all been consistently weird in a fairytale, magical kind of way and as long as something feels right, it probably is. (although, I did find giving the fishing boy some candy kind of strange.  I thought maybe buying him some food would have been a better idea!)

It seems that my criticism may have been a little premature as you guys clearly have some payoff planned in further installments.  That newspaper article was certainly pretty long so it did seem kind of strange that that was all there was to it.

sybaritefury

 >:(

I know you guys are proud of the work you've done, but is it really necessary to trap me in the credits until they finish rolling? You can click through the intro logos, why not let me get out of the credits without killing the process?

waltzdancing

I have brought your concern over to constructive feedback, so more team members will see it.  ;)

To answer your question, I think they are looking into fixing this. I know it has been discussed.

atec123

Quote from: waltzdancing on September 25, 2010, 11:35:57 PM
I have brought your concern over to constructive feedback, so more team members will see it.  ;)

To answer your question, I think they are looking into fixing this. I know it has been discussed.
I can exit the credits but then it exists the whole game.

press escape.  the mouse cursor doesn't show up but you can still figure it out pretty easily.

I still hope this gets fixed though.  that is pretty annoying.
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Centaur444

Hey guys, just a quick few comments.

First, can you please remove the two words "select topic" before the dialogue choices.  It is redundant and unnecessary and it intrusively reminds the player's brain that he/she is playing a game.  People don't want to be reminded that they are playing a game when they play games.  It takes them out of the story.  Just listing the choices is all that is necessary.

Secondly, just a minor thing here, but when I exit towards the lighthouse, it just seemed bizarre to me to end up at the same place as if I had exited to the right of the screen instead of the left.  Exiting to the left should be disallowed if the player isn't able to do that at this point.

Thirdly, the narrator.  Please, please, please, try to crank down the annoyance factor on the narrator from a 10 down to a 7 at least.  Turning off the narrator voice is a given, but even after that, the narrator berates the player repeatedly for attempting to do legitimate things.  Good games make the player feel smart or clever.

Lastly, I know the entire game is basically finished already, just some touching up to do on the remaining episodes, but in future games like Corridor 9 or whatever is being developed, the quality control needs to be upped a few notches.   Crisper, less cringe-worthy dialogue.  Smarter, subtle puzzles.  Less random items just seemingly placed in places.

But cheers for reviving King's Quest and I wish you good luck in your future projects!

kindofdoon

Quote from: Centaur444 on September 26, 2010, 09:17:25 PM
First, can you please remove the two words "select topic" before the dialogue choices.  It is redundant and unnecessary and it intrusively reminds the player's brain that he/she is playing a game.  People don't want to be reminded that they are playing a game when they play games.  It takes them out of the story.  Just listing the choices is all that is necessary.

I like this idea.

Daniel Dichter, Production/PR
daniel.dichter@postudios.com

Blitzenburg

When you use the hand icon on the candy in the vendor's cart, the game says "you can't just take it, you must talk to the vendor".
But when you talk to him, there's no dialog option for buying anything.

It took me a while to figure out that I need to use the money bag on the candyman.

Jethro McCrazy

First off, enjoying it so far.

A few comments.

For some reason, when ever the fountain is upon my screen in the market place, my game slows down considerably.

It struck me as strange that both the blacksmith's shop, and the clothing/carpet store were closed, yet completely open. Graham may be a recovering kleptomaniac, but it seems unlikely that a shop owner would just leave his or her place of business completely unattended, trusting people not to steal. I understand that we didn't have business with the blacksmith or the clothing store this chapter, but even just having a merchant present to converse with to rule that area out would have been nice. Having the narrator's description say "talk to the merchant if you are interested in purchasing clothing" and having there be no merchant present was irritating. We will need a flying carpet for the Isle of the Sacred Mountain, obviously, and chapter 2 wasn't focusing on that isle, but it still would have been nice to talk to the shop owner, even if buying a carpet wouldn't be possible until later.

Another thing is that in a game where experimentation is key, being called crazy every time you try to use an object with something, and it isn't the correct result, gets very irritating. I seem to recall in previous games where an action wasn't available, the cursor would just turn into a large red "x." I'd much prefer that. Unless more responses from the narrator can be made, in which case I wish they could be tailored to the situation. Either way, being repeatedly called crazy doesn't sit well, when you are only doing what you are meant to, which is to say, solve puzzles through logic and experimentation. (I maintain it isn't crazy to try and use the hole-in-the-wall to peak into the locked box by the blacksmith's shop.)

If I had to pick a wish for future episodes, rather than bigger puzzles, it would probably be additional agendas. In KQ6, you were out to save the Princess, yet you also found time to explore a catacombs to save a girl in need, break an enchantment upon a beast, and even journey into the land of the dead. KQ5 gave us the desert, the mountains, the sea, and Mordak's castle. While I know that it's still not even half over, I'd like to see TSL give us more places to explore with purpose. Put us in an entirely new sandbox as it were. Trap us somewhere, and force us to achieve an agenda before moving on.  It's a great way to change the pace and keep things interesting. Anyway, that's what I've got. Enjoyed it so far, and looking forward to future chapters.

madhattter

Hi.  2 more things:

1) Unless I missed it, there was no option to download Episode 2 without having Episode 1 bundled with it.  That may make sense now, but I'm wondering how big the download will be by Episode 5.  If it is reasonable to do so, I would recommend making a separate download for each Episode.  (concerns are download time and harddrive space).

2) I often couldn't read the Four Winds news... the pages would render as other textures (trees, leaves, whatever).  This happened whenever I had been playing a bit (visited several locations) and then tried to read the news on the board.  I'm pretty sure that the problem is that the game doesn't have enough texture memory available.  FWIW, I have a reasonable graphics card and if I start the game going directly to board, I can read the news just fine... over time the video memory is probably getting fragmented or being leaked.  Anyways, solutionwise, I would recommend that you don't load all four huge textures at the same time.  One at a time with next/last page buttons would do fine.  I expect that if I am having this problem, others are too.  Thx!

Thanks and I wait eagerly for Episode 3!

Enchantermon

Quote from: madhattter on October 01, 2010, 05:13:09 PM1) Unless I missed it, there was no option to download Episode 2 without having Episode 1 bundled with it.  That may make sense now, but I'm wondering how big the download will be by Episode 5.  If it is reasonable to do so, I would recommend making a separate download for each Episode.  (concerns are download time and harddrive space).
The plan for this Episode was to release it with Episode 1 (due to all of the updates, I believe) and make Episode 2 available on its own at a later date, but I don't believe that is their intention for the whole of the series. I would assume (and hope) that episodes 3-5 will have their own separate downloads.
So what if I am, huh? Anyways, I work better when I'm drunk. It makes me fearless! If I see a bad guy, I'll just point my sword at him and saaaaaaaaaay, "Hey! Bad guy! You're not s'posed to be here! Go home or I'll stick you with my sword 'til you go, 'Ouch! I'm dead!' Ah-ha-ha!" Ha-ha. *hic* See? Ain't no one gonna be messin' wit' ol', Benny!

kindofdoon

I think that will be the case. If they keep releasing one big installer for all the episodes, then by Episode 5, the installer would be more than 1.5GB in size, which could be problematic for many players, as big downloads are often uncooperative with older computers.

Daniel Dichter, Production/PR
daniel.dichter@postudios.com