Bruny on 23/12/2001 at 18:34
Frankly, it makes me a little worried about the controls. I got a free version of Underworld not too long ago on a game magazine CD but quit playing after about an hour because of the goofy right mouse thing. Now I see this seems to be the preferred way of playing Arx. It's good to know there's an alternative configuration but the description in the preview wasn't very clear on how that worked.
I think when interacting with objects I would prefer simple frobbing instead of being forced to hit a key to "release" the mouse cursor. I know you can combine items to create new ones and interact with your inventory and the environment in more complex ways, but if you're just picking up an object or pressing a button or searching a corpse or whatever, I prefer to frob as much as possible. I guess System Shock 2 has spoiled me. Its method seems ideal.
The method of casting spells seems fantastic though (I knew about it before reading the preview). I guess they did something like that in Black & White. It really does bring the concept of spell memorization to life. So much better than the lame excuses in other games, like that the magical nature of spells and the runic language is such that spells cannot be held in the mind after being cast or you can't hold more than one spell in your mind, or whatever the excuse is. In Arx it looks like you really *do* memorize spells and it seems surprisingly natural. And according to the preview there appears to be a way to store quick spells, for the memory-challenged I suppose.
It was fun to read something so candid from a beta tester (it's still buggy as hell) and contrary to what many developers might worry about, it did not leave me with the impression or fear that the final product was going to be buggy. And the comment about falling being like gliding really made me pay attention. I remember how much I hated the falling in Daggerfall. It was HORRIBLE, I hated it so much, and it was very much like gliding. I do hope they intend to fix that.
So the review got me excited about combining items, but had me worried about the controls. It made me feel warm and fuzzy for the developers who gave permission for such a candid article to be released. I also got the distinct feeling Mr. Anonymous Beta Tester is someone whose name we probably all know ... <img src="graemlins/idea.gif" border="0" alt="[Idea]" />
[ December 23, 2001: Message edited by: Bruny ]</p>
Vitali Kram on 26/12/2001 at 12:31
No lean? very bad! How can I play ala Thief style without lean?
Anyway... I very glad about this game!
I want know what audio hardware need to feel full immersion?
aardvark on 30/12/2001 at 21:17
It sounds wonderful.
