Dark Messiah Demo

[squill]

it's the first source engine powered game which forced me to lower the texture quality to medium..but it still looks great.

 

i hope it does have a good singleplayer story and some graphics optimizations. Only thing i didn't like that much was the voice of that guy you hear in the tutorial. His manner of speaking sounds a bit forced and unnatural to me.

 

but it's great having these type of games just like project offset. I just hope they add some depth to these games.

[gleeful]

Very underwhelming.

[Norsu]

If you want to get full experience out of the demo then check out this link: http://forums.ubi.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/8...43/m/7691028074

 

My demo thoughts:

 

-Waaaayy to short for its size. If I didn't know more about Dark Messiah this demo would have given an impression of basic hack'n slash "RPG" (something like 3d Diablo)

-All good/bad things of Source engine included (physics, good HDR etc, long loading times for small levels etc.)

-Good close combat, although enemies in demo were ridiculously easy to defeat (suicidical AI)

-Somewhat clumsy movement like said in previous posts (good thing that head bobbing can be disabled). IMO this so called "body awareness" never works in FPS games unless they are mainly concentrated on open terrains like Operation Flashpoint. Movement precision always suffers heavily from this feature and then like Komag said, small ledges and beams become very annoying .

-Object manipulation is not very precise, you can throw and drop items but putting a jar on a shelv isn't as easy as in Half-Life 2 or Thief games.

-Some nice and fresh ideas like kicking enemies to spikes

[Arumakani]

http://www.gametrailers.com/player.php?id=12602&type=wmv

[Komag]

The game came out today, and now that I got a little part time job at Gamestop for some extra holiday cash, I have "check-out" privileges, so I checked it out for 4 days.

 

Unfortunately I'm at my other job right now so I have to wait until late tonight to install and play on my home PC. We'll see if they improved any of my complaints from the demo two months ago.

[Komag]

Here is my experience with Dark Messiah:

 

I open the box, look at manual - first inside page - my eyes catch the word "Steam". I'm about to just pack it back up, but I read further and it says installing Steam is just required for auto-updates and multiplayer. So I think "screw the updates, screw the multiplayer, fine". I put in the disc and start to install, immediately setting my firewall alert that just popped up to "Block", and then unchecking the multiplayer install option to proceed.

 

First things first, I go to change the retarded default install directory (all games/software do it, some long path with three company names deep within Program Files) to just H:\Games\DarkMessiah. But as soon as I try to click "Next" it changes it to "H:\Games\DarkMessiah\Dark Messiah of Might and Magic". I'm like "What the freak?". So I just highlight it and take off the long part on the end, but it puts it back again, so now I'm pissed off, but I figure "Fine, be that way, I'll set it to 'H:\Games\Dark Messiah of Might and Magic' just to make you happy". But then it changes it to "H:\Games\Dark Messiah of Might and Magic\Dark Messiah of Might and Magic". Now I'm about to run over to Ubisoft and rip someone's nuts off! But I lower myself into the depths of humility and finally submit my will to the higher wisdom of the game, setting the directory to "H:\Games", then click next so that it will condescendingly change it to "H:\Games\Dark Messiah of Might and Magic", and I'm on my way.

 

The install then proceeds quite slowly, finially finishing about 5 or 10 minutes later. It never asked me if I wanted to install Steam, so maybe that only comes up when you install the Multiplayer. Then I click to play the single player game, and after the intro movies I get another firewall alert that I set to "Block", then the main menu starts. I set all my favourite keybindings and start the game.

 

The first level is the same as the demo, the training tombs. After just a minute of running and stepping around, I see that the movement is still just as slidey and muddy as the demo, very disappointing. I still can't tell what the aiming reticle is doing, but I think that it lights up in segments the more HIDDEN you are, the opposite of the way it should be.

 

Being on the Half-Life 2 engine, of course the lighting sucks. Body awareness is cool to me, but looking down and seeing myself all lit up because half of me is in the light (while the mostly half of me in the shadow is practically glowing by the contrast), then inching over slightly to the shadow and seeing all of me fade to black (while the mostly half of me still in the lighted area is now a black silhouette) is quite jarring. I guess TDS and Doom 3 spoiled me!

 

After playing a couple levels, I'm getting a better feel for what this game is all about. It's basicaly an action game on rails (mostly), no RPG at all really. I'm more used to the muddy jerky movement, and sometimes it works really well to make the action feel more wild and visceral. I'm not sure if I like or don't like the game yet, but it sort of strikes me as a medieval Far Cry, which is a good thing so long as you know what you're getting into.

 

I'll play it some more over the next few days to see if my impressions change...

[SplaTtzZ]

Have you seen any good locations yet?

 

And are there any NPC's who are neutral or allies?

[d3mot]

Steam is only required for the multilayer part.

 

The slippery movements you mentioned are abit awkward, but can be lessend by turning off head bobbing.

 

Long install is due to the game is about 10gib in size.

 

I thought the lighting was great in this game, especially with HDR on. There some nice stained glass windows with transparency and refraction in the game that look cool and maybe TDM could take inspiration from?

Also theres some nice volumetric lighting effects that cast coloured light rays through the windows close to the end of the game that look awesome, even if its is fake volumetric lighting.

 

The body awareness is great for adding extra emotions and communications throughout the game, even if you cant control it.

Edited October 27, 2006 by d3mot

[SneaksieDave]

Heh, I guess they didn't fix that installer bug, or not properly at least.

 

It sounds like it let you launch and play SP without steam... that's interesting. Either way, I'm still not happy with the steam infection, and that will likely force me to pass on this one. I wasn't terribly ecstatic over the demo anyway (it was cool, but didn't grab and hold me); it felt like almost too many choices of action - that's good of course, but when there are so many, I can be numbed out of it, left thinking, "what well should I do? save arrows and use physics instead? set a trap? charge in? use a spell? take the easy way out and push him off the side?" Ugh. There comes a point where, in a game, too many choices is not a good thing (for me) and instead just hits my indecisiveness and halts my gameplay, as I'm trapped in micro-thinking everything.

 

I'll be there for Arx2 though , provided they get the steam out.

 

Any chance you're reading this, monsieur Colantonio?

[Crispy]

There comes a point where, in a game, too many choices is not a good thing (for me) and instead just hits my indecisiveness and halts my gameplay, as I'm trapped in micro-thinking everything.

I believe they call it "analysis paralysis", though it's unusual to come across it in an FPS. The genre tends to be pretty straightforward - point and click, with some extra trimmings.

[SneaksieDave]

OMG, it has a name. I've lived with this disorder for decades! It affects too many things I do, but I'm not going to drone on about that. With regard to games though, couple it with my hoarding tendencies, and I'm lucky I can even enjoy any game at all!

 

I've even sat there in simple-ass Doom3, thinking to myself, "okay, should I use the shotgun in there with those guys, or some of this machinegun ammo I never use? Then again, I DO have 97 shells left, so I've got plenty. Yeah but what if there's another hellknight in there? Well so what, I can take them down with 4-5 shots. Never end up using even half of it. Plus the shotgun is fun - live a little! Oh, but hey. I don't know a boss fight isn't coming, right? Maybe if I toss a grenade in... no, I've only got a full supply of those. What about the plasma thingy? But what if I need it?? Oh wait I know..."

 

*cry*

[Komag]

So did you always have pretty much all of your gear left over after every Thief mission? You gotta just spend it man, let it go!

[SneaksieDave]

Nail on the head. I generally finish missions with about 98% of... well, everything, left over. Heh, I even see a big, broad expanse of marble which I have to cross several times, and instead of using one of my three moss arrows, I inch-creep across it. Doh.

 

You gotta just spend it man, let it go!

You're right, I know. It's just... tough.

 

Hi, my name's Dave, and I have Analysis Paralysis and Squirreling Syndrome.

[sparhawk]

So did you always have pretty much all of your gear left over after every Thief mission? You gotta just spend it man, let it go!

 

I have the same problem. Often I think that later on there will be some really hard challenge, and when I don't have the gear available I can restart. So in the end I have a lot of my gear left, because I didn't really need it.

[Crispy]

Yeah, I'm an equipment hoarder in Thief too.

 

I've even sat there in simple-ass Doom3, thinking to myself [...]"

...but I really can't see myself doing that!

 

Admittedly I would always reload in Half-Life if I accidentally fired my gun at a wall or something (ammo! preciiiious! ), but choice of weapons I usually find straightforward. Pick a "best" weapon and stick with it until it runs out of ammo, then pull out your next-best weapon, and so on. For example, in Half-Life I'd always use up the machinegun first, then fall back on the shotgun, then the crossbow, then (if things got really bad) the pistol.

[Mr Mike]

Lol! I'm exactly like SneaksieDave when it comes to games and it's hard to find a game with the right balance of ammo/equipment. System Shock 2 was great at this though, at least the beginning. On hard it really did feel like a survival horror, juggling the 3 armour piercing bullets, the 4 anti personel and the 2 broken weapons you were carrying around, one of which was probably broken! Later on in the game it did turn into the "Walking around like Rambo" experience of most other games though...

[sophisticatedZombie]

Hi,

 

My name is SophisticatedZombie, and I'm a Potion Hoarder. By the time I get out of the cave/dungeon/necropolis/castle/fast food restaurant/cyborg headquarters, I'm always carrying at least 200 health potions. I know its ridiculous, but I can't stop myself! I've tried to start drinking my potions, but I just can't get the liquid past my lips. Anyway.. the other day I was in a cave looking for a missing gold ring with an insignia on it, and my legs completely buckled out from under me. My pack was so heavy I just couldn't carry it any more. As I lay there in the dark, dying of thirst, I realized I had hit rock bottom. I know that every day I'm going to have to make an effor to use my potions, and its not going to be easy, but this is the first day of the rest of my life.