Hello everyone ! Here is what I think of Nehrim so far. It's intended as a great " Thank You " for SureAI. And what I say is from my personal point of view.
THE WORLD
I'm only level 15 and have played for 36 hours now. But I'm completely blown away. I mostly explored the two first zones ( 1 - 7 and 7 - 14 ) but it's already so perfect. Many different places with each a different feel to them.
I always thought that the TES IV world was really bland, and I found in those two zones more things to see and do than in the whole Oblivion game. I don't consider doing 350 times the same dungeon a very exciting thing to do. Sometimes when I wanted some Diablo-like gameplay yes, I would do it, but I think it's a shame to have to feel that way to be compelled to explore Oblivion dungeons.
I never got bored while dungeon crawling in Nehrim. And in addition to that, when I think I wandered to far in the mountains and will find nothing of interest here, a small camp with a couple bandits appears, without a map marker. And everything comes to life again, even more than before. If you pay close attention, you might find a dead animal near it, because the bandits spoted it and killed it. How immersive is that ?
These kind of things contribute to always keep me on edge. We're so far away from Oblivion that we don't see it anymore.
Talking about wildlife, I can't believe how many animal there is ! Spiders, deers, wolves, rabbits, boars, foxes, cougars ... Hey ! I just remarked that I never tried to kill the birds circling in the sky ! If I can it will just be the cherry on top of the cake !
And all these animals come in many variations. And I've only seen more or less two zones ...
Now regarding outposts, villages and cities. Again I will have to point out to Oblivion.
Why does the Tirin Abbey is a thousand time more beautiful than the Weynon Priory since it's basically the same place ? Bethesda needs a designer. I thought it as soon as I launched Oblivion. The fact that everything is open really make it feel real, and most of all useful. When I was pursued by monsters too strong for me and arrived at the gate of a city or village and the guards saved me, I had the feeling that I wasn't alone, that I could rely on other people. I felt like I really had an adventure, something that was unique and personal. Guards DO guard their city.
All of those I've seen were stuningly well blended into the landscape and visiting them is each time a treat. Why would I ever want to visit the Imperial City anymore? Even without comparisons, I thought it was really poor for a capital. A lot more people live in my little street.
Now talk about Erothin
Every item seems to fit perfectly into it's place. The first tavern i went into was better than any of those in Oblivion.
The world you have created is simply amazing. Thank you infinitly for that.
THE GAMEPLAY
I was a little affraid before downloading the game that all I loved about Oblivion skill system would be gone. Fortunatly, it's not. And fortunatly, it's perfect all the way.
The first game I played where monsters level up as you do was Final Fantasy VIII and god it sucked for that. On the good side you could focus on the story.
Well as we all know, it's the same in Oblivion, and it really sucked. Although the skill system was excellent, allowing you to become exactly what your game style reflected. Jump a lot, you'll jump farther and so on. The leveling system sucked and soon transformed the game in a carnival of green claded bandits. And in fact ruining almost everything that was randomly generated, which is to say everything.
But what Nehrim did turn the table completely.
How happy was I to find that none of what I loved was gone, and that everything that sucked was replaced !
The skill system is still here, and there is an excellent twist with the instructors and the learning points.
So now I can become better at what I do and to a certain extent increase my other skills via the learning points. This is an excellent system that certainly is slower, and in a game that emphasis freedom and exploration like Oblivion, the slower the better in my opinion.
Now onto the leveling system.
It's just brilliant, and brilliantly balanced.
You get an incredible incentive to play and to progress, because it hinder the exploration process. Well I certainly don't mean that in a bad way. Because it's all up to you in fact. Nothing holds me back really. I can go to a high level zone and try to do some leveling at my own risk, trying to take cleverly a superior enemy. I can also use buffs and sneaking to go explore the world avoiding encounters. It simply gives you reasons to play cleverly, using all the possibilities the gameplay can offer. There again, you could sneak your way to a town or village in a high level zone and stay in its vacinity, and fighting local wildlife with the help of the guards. Of course you won't get as much exp, and that's another good thing.
It's funny, I feel that all the gameplay mechanics of Oblivion were in fact meant to be used with such a system, as if Bethesda totally screw their own creation ...
It also add another layer to the credibility of the world. Real people are waiting for me in dungeon or villages or into the wild. With their equipment, not just some random armor matching my level.
Thank you for doing this.
VOICES, SFX AND BGM
What have we here ? 56 voice actors ? Well that's at least 50 more than Oblivion, isn't it ?
They are really excellent. I'm French and I don't understand a word of german but it add some kind of mysticism to the dialogs. I'm in a foreign world, with a foreign langage, that's it !
Again it's incredible that Bethesda ruined their game with so few different voices. And most of them annoying !
Regarding the music, I won't criticize TES IV ones, because they're totally excellent.
And Nehrim ones are equally great, though really different. I love them and even begin to hum them from time to time. Although I havn't heard them all of course.
And the myriad of environmental effects you added are all excellent.
Immersive is the word, once again.
QUESTS
Again I'm not so far in the game, so I can only talk about what I've seen so far.
Regarding the main quest, I was surprised by the grandeur and it's professionalism. And of course it's cleverness.
It's a good thing that you often have NPCs alongside with you, once more, it's very immersive. The Kim rescue and the investigation into the Sanctum outpost were quests I will remember. And the escape from the capital too. And the little boat trip just before that too ...
To put it simply, I never finished the main quest of Oblivion or any guild.
But I'm completely into the Nerhim main quest. It probably comes from a few different factors. The people you encounter in Nehrim are actual normal looking ones. in Oblivion well ... It's not a pretty sight.
It's also full of surprise, and cleverly scripted.
And most of all, it's set in such a credible and beautiful world.
I wonder how it will end ... I'll update as soon as I finished it.
Sidequests I've done are also very clever, although I've done only a handful of them.
And bounty missions ! How cool is that ? I've only done one, but it's a terrific idea.
I also noticed scripted events while exploring and it's really a nice touch, again, making the world believable. And also confuse the player in a good way. Sometimes I was wondering if I should do something, or just watch. And that's what a RPG is for right ?
PROFESSIONALISM
What impresses me the most is the professionalism of it all. I won't comment again about Oblivion. I'll take another exemple : Two Worlds.
There are not many RPGs that put the emphasis on freedom. Dragon Age or Drakensang are modern adaptations of the old models like Baldur's Gate. Unfortunately for me I don't see any interest in these games and prefer largely the old ones.
So we're pretty much left with Gothic and Two Worlds.
Two Worlds cost me 50 € and was unbelievably lame when it was first released. A later patch of 1.6 Go corrected some of the flaws. But the game remained completely unbalanced, I hadn't explored half the world that I was already overly powerful and possessed the last armor set.
The world was great I thought, but the rest wasn't following.
In Nehrim everything seems to be well balanced.
I heard people saying that it was too hard, or too easy, depending on how advanced they were in the game. It took me a few hours to realize that it was hard only because I ventured too far.
And I must also point out that you can alter the difficulty setting whenever you like.
Saying it's too hard or too easy when you can alter the setting anytime is like saying that the music is too loud. Go to the settings and adjust to your taste ! I played the first ten hours at 45 on the difficulty setting and now switched back to 50.
The balance seems quite right and I feel like I've got a thousand things to do. I have trouble gathering money, but as I said, in games like this, the slower the better as far as I'm concerned.
As I said I played for 36 hours and I only explored the first two areas. Of course I had to travel a little for the main quest ( I am to go to the Northrealm to continue now ) but I merely followed the roads. I have not finished exploring them, and I have tons of things that remains to do, such as buying all the spells available to me, spend some days hunting ( to know the area better ), solve the remaining quests and of course, exploring the dungeons. This is huge ! When I look at the rest of the map I cannot help to smile stupidly, my heart filled with sheer happiness.
8 passionate people. That's all it takes.
Maybe some " professional " developers might question their work before trying to squeeze 50 € out of us.
Thank you so much for doing this. Really.
SUGGESTIONS
What I say here isn't only meant for SureAI but also for the modders out here. Because I'm sure a lot of mods will be develloped for Nehrim, taking it even farther.
First off all, I suggest that you promote the game more actively. You should post it on TES Nexus for exemple. And another good exemple is the trailer. Why do a trailer of 2 minutes when you can do a trailer of 10 minutes ? There is so much to show ! Give the players the opportunity to discover the game mechanics, a good look at the landscapes and so on ! You should do like Rockstars did for Red Dead. Series of videos, each focusing on different aspects of the game.
If the trailers convey a true sense of professionalism people will try the game more easily ! I say this because the trailer looks a lot more amateur than the rest of the game, wich looks just perfect
To continue with small things, I was surprised to see that the Nehrim logo ( the N ) was stretched on the main screen of the game. It's a detail, but it doesn't feel right. As well as some loading screen, streched. The quality of the introduction video and the title screen should be less compressed too. Nehrim deserves better !
Well well ! I will stop here for now and update when I have played more !
THE WORLD
I'm only level 15 and have played for 36 hours now. But I'm completely blown away. I mostly explored the two first zones ( 1 - 7 and 7 - 14 ) but it's already so perfect. Many different places with each a different feel to them.
I always thought that the TES IV world was really bland, and I found in those two zones more things to see and do than in the whole Oblivion game. I don't consider doing 350 times the same dungeon a very exciting thing to do. Sometimes when I wanted some Diablo-like gameplay yes, I would do it, but I think it's a shame to have to feel that way to be compelled to explore Oblivion dungeons.
I never got bored while dungeon crawling in Nehrim. And in addition to that, when I think I wandered to far in the mountains and will find nothing of interest here, a small camp with a couple bandits appears, without a map marker. And everything comes to life again, even more than before. If you pay close attention, you might find a dead animal near it, because the bandits spoted it and killed it. How immersive is that ?
These kind of things contribute to always keep me on edge. We're so far away from Oblivion that we don't see it anymore.
Talking about wildlife, I can't believe how many animal there is ! Spiders, deers, wolves, rabbits, boars, foxes, cougars ... Hey ! I just remarked that I never tried to kill the birds circling in the sky ! If I can it will just be the cherry on top of the cake !
And all these animals come in many variations. And I've only seen more or less two zones ...
Now regarding outposts, villages and cities. Again I will have to point out to Oblivion.
Why does the Tirin Abbey is a thousand time more beautiful than the Weynon Priory since it's basically the same place ? Bethesda needs a designer. I thought it as soon as I launched Oblivion. The fact that everything is open really make it feel real, and most of all useful. When I was pursued by monsters too strong for me and arrived at the gate of a city or village and the guards saved me, I had the feeling that I wasn't alone, that I could rely on other people. I felt like I really had an adventure, something that was unique and personal. Guards DO guard their city.
All of those I've seen were stuningly well blended into the landscape and visiting them is each time a treat. Why would I ever want to visit the Imperial City anymore? Even without comparisons, I thought it was really poor for a capital. A lot more people live in my little street.
Now talk about Erothin
Every item seems to fit perfectly into it's place. The first tavern i went into was better than any of those in Oblivion.
The world you have created is simply amazing. Thank you infinitly for that.
THE GAMEPLAY
I was a little affraid before downloading the game that all I loved about Oblivion skill system would be gone. Fortunatly, it's not. And fortunatly, it's perfect all the way.
The first game I played where monsters level up as you do was Final Fantasy VIII and god it sucked for that. On the good side you could focus on the story.
Well as we all know, it's the same in Oblivion, and it really sucked. Although the skill system was excellent, allowing you to become exactly what your game style reflected. Jump a lot, you'll jump farther and so on. The leveling system sucked and soon transformed the game in a carnival of green claded bandits. And in fact ruining almost everything that was randomly generated, which is to say everything.
But what Nehrim did turn the table completely.
How happy was I to find that none of what I loved was gone, and that everything that sucked was replaced !
The skill system is still here, and there is an excellent twist with the instructors and the learning points.
So now I can become better at what I do and to a certain extent increase my other skills via the learning points. This is an excellent system that certainly is slower, and in a game that emphasis freedom and exploration like Oblivion, the slower the better in my opinion.
Now onto the leveling system.
It's just brilliant, and brilliantly balanced.
You get an incredible incentive to play and to progress, because it hinder the exploration process. Well I certainly don't mean that in a bad way. Because it's all up to you in fact. Nothing holds me back really. I can go to a high level zone and try to do some leveling at my own risk, trying to take cleverly a superior enemy. I can also use buffs and sneaking to go explore the world avoiding encounters. It simply gives you reasons to play cleverly, using all the possibilities the gameplay can offer. There again, you could sneak your way to a town or village in a high level zone and stay in its vacinity, and fighting local wildlife with the help of the guards. Of course you won't get as much exp, and that's another good thing.
It's funny, I feel that all the gameplay mechanics of Oblivion were in fact meant to be used with such a system, as if Bethesda totally screw their own creation ...
It also add another layer to the credibility of the world. Real people are waiting for me in dungeon or villages or into the wild. With their equipment, not just some random armor matching my level.
Thank you for doing this.
VOICES, SFX AND BGM
What have we here ? 56 voice actors ? Well that's at least 50 more than Oblivion, isn't it ?
They are really excellent. I'm French and I don't understand a word of german but it add some kind of mysticism to the dialogs. I'm in a foreign world, with a foreign langage, that's it !
Again it's incredible that Bethesda ruined their game with so few different voices. And most of them annoying !
Regarding the music, I won't criticize TES IV ones, because they're totally excellent.
And Nehrim ones are equally great, though really different. I love them and even begin to hum them from time to time. Although I havn't heard them all of course.
And the myriad of environmental effects you added are all excellent.
Immersive is the word, once again.
QUESTS
Again I'm not so far in the game, so I can only talk about what I've seen so far.
Regarding the main quest, I was surprised by the grandeur and it's professionalism. And of course it's cleverness.
It's a good thing that you often have NPCs alongside with you, once more, it's very immersive. The Kim rescue and the investigation into the Sanctum outpost were quests I will remember. And the escape from the capital too. And the little boat trip just before that too ...
To put it simply, I never finished the main quest of Oblivion or any guild.
But I'm completely into the Nerhim main quest. It probably comes from a few different factors. The people you encounter in Nehrim are actual normal looking ones. in Oblivion well ... It's not a pretty sight.
It's also full of surprise, and cleverly scripted.
And most of all, it's set in such a credible and beautiful world.
I wonder how it will end ... I'll update as soon as I finished it.
Sidequests I've done are also very clever, although I've done only a handful of them.
And bounty missions ! How cool is that ? I've only done one, but it's a terrific idea.
I also noticed scripted events while exploring and it's really a nice touch, again, making the world believable. And also confuse the player in a good way. Sometimes I was wondering if I should do something, or just watch. And that's what a RPG is for right ?
PROFESSIONALISM
What impresses me the most is the professionalism of it all. I won't comment again about Oblivion. I'll take another exemple : Two Worlds.
There are not many RPGs that put the emphasis on freedom. Dragon Age or Drakensang are modern adaptations of the old models like Baldur's Gate. Unfortunately for me I don't see any interest in these games and prefer largely the old ones.
So we're pretty much left with Gothic and Two Worlds.
Two Worlds cost me 50 € and was unbelievably lame when it was first released. A later patch of 1.6 Go corrected some of the flaws. But the game remained completely unbalanced, I hadn't explored half the world that I was already overly powerful and possessed the last armor set.
The world was great I thought, but the rest wasn't following.
In Nehrim everything seems to be well balanced.
I heard people saying that it was too hard, or too easy, depending on how advanced they were in the game. It took me a few hours to realize that it was hard only because I ventured too far.
And I must also point out that you can alter the difficulty setting whenever you like.
Saying it's too hard or too easy when you can alter the setting anytime is like saying that the music is too loud. Go to the settings and adjust to your taste ! I played the first ten hours at 45 on the difficulty setting and now switched back to 50.
The balance seems quite right and I feel like I've got a thousand things to do. I have trouble gathering money, but as I said, in games like this, the slower the better as far as I'm concerned.
As I said I played for 36 hours and I only explored the first two areas. Of course I had to travel a little for the main quest ( I am to go to the Northrealm to continue now ) but I merely followed the roads. I have not finished exploring them, and I have tons of things that remains to do, such as buying all the spells available to me, spend some days hunting ( to know the area better ), solve the remaining quests and of course, exploring the dungeons. This is huge ! When I look at the rest of the map I cannot help to smile stupidly, my heart filled with sheer happiness.
8 passionate people. That's all it takes.
Maybe some " professional " developers might question their work before trying to squeeze 50 € out of us.
Thank you so much for doing this. Really.
SUGGESTIONS
What I say here isn't only meant for SureAI but also for the modders out here. Because I'm sure a lot of mods will be develloped for Nehrim, taking it even farther.
First off all, I suggest that you promote the game more actively. You should post it on TES Nexus for exemple. And another good exemple is the trailer. Why do a trailer of 2 minutes when you can do a trailer of 10 minutes ? There is so much to show ! Give the players the opportunity to discover the game mechanics, a good look at the landscapes and so on ! You should do like Rockstars did for Red Dead. Series of videos, each focusing on different aspects of the game.
If the trailers convey a true sense of professionalism people will try the game more easily ! I say this because the trailer looks a lot more amateur than the rest of the game, wich looks just perfect
To continue with small things, I was surprised to see that the Nehrim logo ( the N ) was stretched on the main screen of the game. It's a detail, but it doesn't feel right. As well as some loading screen, streched. The quality of the introduction video and the title screen should be less compressed too. Nehrim deserves better !
Well well ! I will stop here for now and update when I have played more !
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