First Impression of HD remake + notable changes
Posted: Sat Jul 15, 2017 7:12 am
Hiya just wanted to make this post to discuss what I personally liked and disliked about the HD remake. The Quest is done with updates so this is just here to discuss what I hope still stay in The Quest 2 and what i hope is changed.
Also as a warning, I am biased towards immersion, complicated mechanics, and high difficulty so that is my priorities lie. Hopefully there isn't a large conflict of interest between what i value and what other people here value.
1. Aesthetics
I heard that the dev team are very involved in the art and it shows. Overall, the artwork is excellent and fits well with the art direction of the original game.
I love the new cyclops, mistress, dwarf, and orc sprites.
I was worried since sometimes HD remake artworks lose their ironically aesthetics because the developers try to make them look as realistic as possible or try to make them look as graphically impressive as possible. The environment looks great as well and the character portraits for basically everyone is stellar and tbh are objectively better than the original. The new effects for spells and whatnot are also great. The old blood effect was laughable along with some of the other spell effects. They look fitting and crisp now.
I especially loved the new item artworks. One problem I had was that some of the items in the original were especially blurry and it made alot of the times look identical to others. The original weapons looked even worse while the character was holding them. I still do have a problem with almost all the weapons still are the same while the character is holding them. Its a huge bummer when swords look drastically different in inventory but exactly the same when equipped except for color. But the hd revamp helped the issue alot since at least the equipped weapons look sharp and nice to wield even if there is very little variety.
There are some things i did not agree with. By far my biggest complain is that the dragon sprite looks so terrible compared to the original which was my favorite. The original looks massive, menacing, and disturbingly humanoid. Their attack animations was also top notch showing them lung forward and open their mouth as if they were really spitting a fireball.
The new ones just look cartoony, disproportionate, and silly. Their attack animation is also terrible. I am assuming the devs ran out of time or something since they look so different and so much worse than the other new sprites which are excellent.
Also I do miss the old fireball animation. The old fireball felt like a concentrated and explosive ball of destruction. It felt devastating and the aoe effect made perfect sense. The incredibly sound effect and explosion animation when it hit something went perfectly with the artwork and made the spell feel catastrophic.
I really wished the new fireball retained some of those qualities since it looks like tissue paper that was lit on fire. It doesn't feel like an explosive area of effect spell. At least the old sound effect is still there. Speaking of which, the sound effects and music are all incredible. I couldn't find a single complaint there whatsoever.
2. Guards blocking monsters
It was always silly that monsters could stroll right into town and would stay there all day and night. I do overall like the guard change altho it is rather abusable since you can gather a bunch of monsters and killed them from a distance inside the town. But i rather have the invisible barrier guards instead of the completly useless guards.
I do really wish that the guards actually attacked and became friendly mobs. They could kill the mobs but you don't get any xp for the kill and they could charge you for the kill since you are bringing monsters to endanger the town. I really hope something like this is in The Quest 2.
3. Resistances
The resistance cap of 80% for magic and 95% for the rest was an amazing change. Knowing that i can't get max magic resistance changed the way I geared and progressed through the game for the better. Before I was focused on getting 100% magic resistance to make magic fights a freebie (including the end game fight). Knowing that isn't possible makes me focus more on the many other stats and makes combat with mages much more interesting.
4. Skill cap increased (to 500 i was told)
I haven't gotten to the point where that matters and i don't think I will since I will stop at Fire and Ice. But knowing that the skill cap is sky high allows me to freely read books and not worry about hoarding books. I really hope that The Quest 2 will also have a very high skill cap hitting the max isn't a problem.
As for other stuff that I would like to say for the remake.
things that are eh
-wands even more op than i remembered it. really hope they are reworked in the sequel
-create food very op too. makes rest spammable
-resting in dungeons shouldn't be a thing or should not heal you fully. a bit silly that resting in dungeons is better than resting outside due to rain
-ranged weapons are quite bad. extremely expensive and damage drops off harshly unless you spend a fortune on good arrows. would be fine if you could recover arrows and could craft arrows but oh well
-more types of stores would be nice. its convenient how much stuff the blacksmith has but it makes me forget the rest of the town.
-unlimited gold for the shopkeepers is also a bit too handy. limited gold supply would be a great incentive for players to travel.
-lack of economics is also more apparent. if sold repeated items, shopkeepers should offer less money for each since they already have it or they could just refuse to buy things.
-restoration makes heal magic obsolete lol.
-mind magic is basically worthless minus a few quests and gimmicks. think powerful spells like recall/mark should go here to nerf environmental magic
-enviro magic is way too polarizing. its invaluable but only because of enchant and mark/recall somewhat. But mostly enchant. Hopefully enviro magic is reworked in Quest II.
-think the mana cost to skill level is a bit too harsh with attack magic. makes a casting attack magic character very difficult and require so many mana pots.
-light armor is a bit underwhelming. low ac and not a substantial increase in enchantment strength especially in late game.
-AC should not be an enchantment in armors. kinda defeats the purpose of having heavy armor when you could have a cloak that gives you that. I personally believe that AC should be a stat exclusive to physical strength of armor and not magic related.
-poison is terribly weak. really is a waste of a mechanic since its so neglible in terms of damage.
-paralysis is too strong on mobs. they can't heal themselves and are completely helpless to paralysis. overall i hope that paralysis is reworked since idk how it can be balanced for mobs without making it obsolete.
-disease is too weak. a few pots and i don't have to worry about it ever again. also not sure how it can be fixed but as of now its a nuisance and nothing more. diseased arrows and weapons are basically worthless.
-resting shouldn't heal full every time regardless of food. food (and environment) should play an impact on the restoration of health and mana.
-gold should have some carry weight and there should be a storage system early on. a bank would do wonders for immersion and npc interaction
-stealth, lockpick, and disarm are all useless because of magic and lack of benefits. stealth/pickpocket falls off so hard, and lock/disarm are useless due to enviro magic. hopefully stealth has more tangible benefits like being able to avoid monsters or reducing monster aggro radius.
-zero benefit to having a low reputation or commiting crimes. its such a hassle to avoid guards and would wish that guilds like the thieves guild only accept players with low reputation or many crimes. or maybe have monsters like thieves and highwaymen less likely to attack players of low reputation. hopefully a crime build or a true thieve build is more feasible in The Quest II.
-wished that persuade had more tangible benefits beyond just finishing a few extra quests. maybe having shop keeper economics tied with persuade somehow
-also hope that the quest 2 will have larger cities and a true metropolis. something similar to daggerfall with mobs like thieves that randomly spawn inside them.
things i really think should be kept
-was opposed to enchant suits and whatnot but i changed my mind. its a very unique mechanic that i don't see in other games and i think it adds more to the game than takes away. although i think its a bit too powerful now, its overall a great and organic aspect of the game.
-repair mechanic and armor/weapon degradation is immersive and makes sense. i hope it remains a major aspect of the sequel
-no regeneration is a must imo. i really hope the sequel does not have regeneration since this mechanic makes fights and preparations for trips so much more important
-jail removing skills is also awesome. makes people actually fear going to jail.
-the general tone and art direction. especially the sound effects. they sound brutish and harsh just like how a medieval rpg should be
-there is probably alot others since i do immensely enjoy this game but can't think of them rn. ill trust the devs that they know what made the original game fun better than i ever will lol
Also as a warning, I am biased towards immersion, complicated mechanics, and high difficulty so that is my priorities lie. Hopefully there isn't a large conflict of interest between what i value and what other people here value.
1. Aesthetics
I heard that the dev team are very involved in the art and it shows. Overall, the artwork is excellent and fits well with the art direction of the original game.
I love the new cyclops, mistress, dwarf, and orc sprites.
I was worried since sometimes HD remake artworks lose their ironically aesthetics because the developers try to make them look as realistic as possible or try to make them look as graphically impressive as possible. The environment looks great as well and the character portraits for basically everyone is stellar and tbh are objectively better than the original. The new effects for spells and whatnot are also great. The old blood effect was laughable along with some of the other spell effects. They look fitting and crisp now.
I especially loved the new item artworks. One problem I had was that some of the items in the original were especially blurry and it made alot of the times look identical to others. The original weapons looked even worse while the character was holding them. I still do have a problem with almost all the weapons still are the same while the character is holding them. Its a huge bummer when swords look drastically different in inventory but exactly the same when equipped except for color. But the hd revamp helped the issue alot since at least the equipped weapons look sharp and nice to wield even if there is very little variety.
There are some things i did not agree with. By far my biggest complain is that the dragon sprite looks so terrible compared to the original which was my favorite. The original looks massive, menacing, and disturbingly humanoid. Their attack animations was also top notch showing them lung forward and open their mouth as if they were really spitting a fireball.
The new ones just look cartoony, disproportionate, and silly. Their attack animation is also terrible. I am assuming the devs ran out of time or something since they look so different and so much worse than the other new sprites which are excellent.
Also I do miss the old fireball animation. The old fireball felt like a concentrated and explosive ball of destruction. It felt devastating and the aoe effect made perfect sense. The incredibly sound effect and explosion animation when it hit something went perfectly with the artwork and made the spell feel catastrophic.
I really wished the new fireball retained some of those qualities since it looks like tissue paper that was lit on fire. It doesn't feel like an explosive area of effect spell. At least the old sound effect is still there. Speaking of which, the sound effects and music are all incredible. I couldn't find a single complaint there whatsoever.
2. Guards blocking monsters
It was always silly that monsters could stroll right into town and would stay there all day and night. I do overall like the guard change altho it is rather abusable since you can gather a bunch of monsters and killed them from a distance inside the town. But i rather have the invisible barrier guards instead of the completly useless guards.
I do really wish that the guards actually attacked and became friendly mobs. They could kill the mobs but you don't get any xp for the kill and they could charge you for the kill since you are bringing monsters to endanger the town. I really hope something like this is in The Quest 2.
3. Resistances
The resistance cap of 80% for magic and 95% for the rest was an amazing change. Knowing that i can't get max magic resistance changed the way I geared and progressed through the game for the better. Before I was focused on getting 100% magic resistance to make magic fights a freebie (including the end game fight). Knowing that isn't possible makes me focus more on the many other stats and makes combat with mages much more interesting.
4. Skill cap increased (to 500 i was told)
I haven't gotten to the point where that matters and i don't think I will since I will stop at Fire and Ice. But knowing that the skill cap is sky high allows me to freely read books and not worry about hoarding books. I really hope that The Quest 2 will also have a very high skill cap hitting the max isn't a problem.
As for other stuff that I would like to say for the remake.
things that are eh
-wands even more op than i remembered it. really hope they are reworked in the sequel
-create food very op too. makes rest spammable
-resting in dungeons shouldn't be a thing or should not heal you fully. a bit silly that resting in dungeons is better than resting outside due to rain
-ranged weapons are quite bad. extremely expensive and damage drops off harshly unless you spend a fortune on good arrows. would be fine if you could recover arrows and could craft arrows but oh well
-more types of stores would be nice. its convenient how much stuff the blacksmith has but it makes me forget the rest of the town.
-unlimited gold for the shopkeepers is also a bit too handy. limited gold supply would be a great incentive for players to travel.
-lack of economics is also more apparent. if sold repeated items, shopkeepers should offer less money for each since they already have it or they could just refuse to buy things.
-restoration makes heal magic obsolete lol.
-mind magic is basically worthless minus a few quests and gimmicks. think powerful spells like recall/mark should go here to nerf environmental magic
-enviro magic is way too polarizing. its invaluable but only because of enchant and mark/recall somewhat. But mostly enchant. Hopefully enviro magic is reworked in Quest II.
-think the mana cost to skill level is a bit too harsh with attack magic. makes a casting attack magic character very difficult and require so many mana pots.
-light armor is a bit underwhelming. low ac and not a substantial increase in enchantment strength especially in late game.
-AC should not be an enchantment in armors. kinda defeats the purpose of having heavy armor when you could have a cloak that gives you that. I personally believe that AC should be a stat exclusive to physical strength of armor and not magic related.
-poison is terribly weak. really is a waste of a mechanic since its so neglible in terms of damage.
-paralysis is too strong on mobs. they can't heal themselves and are completely helpless to paralysis. overall i hope that paralysis is reworked since idk how it can be balanced for mobs without making it obsolete.
-disease is too weak. a few pots and i don't have to worry about it ever again. also not sure how it can be fixed but as of now its a nuisance and nothing more. diseased arrows and weapons are basically worthless.
-resting shouldn't heal full every time regardless of food. food (and environment) should play an impact on the restoration of health and mana.
-gold should have some carry weight and there should be a storage system early on. a bank would do wonders for immersion and npc interaction
-stealth, lockpick, and disarm are all useless because of magic and lack of benefits. stealth/pickpocket falls off so hard, and lock/disarm are useless due to enviro magic. hopefully stealth has more tangible benefits like being able to avoid monsters or reducing monster aggro radius.
-zero benefit to having a low reputation or commiting crimes. its such a hassle to avoid guards and would wish that guilds like the thieves guild only accept players with low reputation or many crimes. or maybe have monsters like thieves and highwaymen less likely to attack players of low reputation. hopefully a crime build or a true thieve build is more feasible in The Quest II.
-wished that persuade had more tangible benefits beyond just finishing a few extra quests. maybe having shop keeper economics tied with persuade somehow
-also hope that the quest 2 will have larger cities and a true metropolis. something similar to daggerfall with mobs like thieves that randomly spawn inside them.
things i really think should be kept
-was opposed to enchant suits and whatnot but i changed my mind. its a very unique mechanic that i don't see in other games and i think it adds more to the game than takes away. although i think its a bit too powerful now, its overall a great and organic aspect of the game.
-repair mechanic and armor/weapon degradation is immersive and makes sense. i hope it remains a major aspect of the sequel
-no regeneration is a must imo. i really hope the sequel does not have regeneration since this mechanic makes fights and preparations for trips so much more important
-jail removing skills is also awesome. makes people actually fear going to jail.
-the general tone and art direction. especially the sound effects. they sound brutish and harsh just like how a medieval rpg should be
-there is probably alot others since i do immensely enjoy this game but can't think of them rn. ill trust the devs that they know what made the original game fun better than i ever will lol