[Firefoot]

A new trailer of Legacy: Dark Shadows has been released as a new year gift. I'm still downloading it (15,1Mb), so can't tell you anything yet!

[edit] It doesn't quite work for me... the video stops working after a few secs...

[Mattsius]

Originally Posted by Firefoot

[edit] It doesn't quite work for me... the video stops working after a few secs...

That's weird, it worked perfectly fine for me.

The game looks very dark and pretty static IMO and it's pretty amusing to see Ren Silver (the female protagonist) walk around in the game world. It looks stiff and one could say that she walks like a duck.
But they still have some time to fix that I guess, so I'll stop criticizing the game right here and wait to get my hands on it before passing more judgment.

[Firefoot]

A little (quite spoiler less) prologue has been released here... It also contains some new screenshots...

[Firefoot]

New screens (and news) are released of the game!

[jjacob]

Am I on crack or is there a playable alpha version of the game available on their website? Has anyone tried it? I'm downloading it now.

[VoodooFX]

That alpha is old, and voices used there are not by professionals. I think they're promising way too much, and i doubt they'll be able to deliver half of that. Game does look good on pictures, but as was already said... walking is stiff, turning as i recall it, was also silly, world around you is too static, but then again, most of today's adventures suffer from the same problem.

On thing that bothered me, more than usual anyway, is how Ren doesn't blend well with pre-rendered backgrounds. Anyone else agrees with me?

[jjacob]

Originally Posted by VoodooFX

That alpha is old, and voices used there are not by professionals. I think they're promising way too much, and i doubt they'll be able to deliver half of that. Game does look good on pictures, but as was already said... walking is stiff, turning as i recall it, was also silly, world around you is too static, but then again, most of today's adventures suffer from the same problem.

On thing that bothered me, more than usual anyway, is how Ren doesn't blend well with pre-rendered backgrounds. Anyone else agrees with me?

Oh yeah sorry forgot to check the date on the alpha2 demo. But I think this game does look very promising. I mean, sh*t, for an alpha it looks good! If you ignore the voices it's actually playable. The fact that it's static merely implies they haven't done much pre-rendered and 3d animation yet. It would be unfair to judge the (character/background) animation based on a tiny alpha or a teaser.

[VoodooFX]

Originally Posted by jjacob

If you ignore the voices it's actually playable. The fact that it's static merely implies they haven't done much pre-rendered and 3d animation yet. It would be unfair to judge the (character/background) animation based on a tiny alpha or a teaser.

Well regarding voices, i just wanted to inform you, they won't be THAT bad, as they are just for the test of alpha build. I wasn't implying that this is what we'll hear in the final game

Regarding anything else i've said... when i played alpha long ago, i was optimistic, 'coz they where promising pleanty... but this last trailer was done using much more finished game, showing more locations, characters, etc, but you can still see her walking stiffly & turning funny. Like the whole walk cycle is made of one single step and then looped to look as she is walking.
Plus i don't think they plan to implement much needed "run" feature.

If they manage to fix all that by the time this game hits the shelves, then hat down to the authors and i'll take back everything i've said. And don't get me wrong, all i'm saying is that this games has some serious technical flaws, but that doesn't mean it will be bad adventure game.

[jjacob]

Heh don't know of a game developer that hasn't promised plenty
I merely meant that I WOULD BE worried, were this a beta version, but alpha version is so early in dev that it doesn't give a good indication at all, what the final game will look like. Trust me I've handled enough alpha and beta versions of AGs as well as shooters and strategy games to know the difference between the different stages of development. About the voices; ofcourse they won't be like that in the final version but if they were, It'd be the first game I'd buy for hilariously bad voice acting.

[VoodooFX]

Well i had nothing against that alpha, because as i've said it myself, it looked promising for an alpha, but seeing that trailer at the end of 2003, and seeing how nothing has changed worries me little.
Trailer was not from an alpha version anymore, yet all the problems remain(except for voice acting, which we don't get to hear in trailer )
I just hope that during this delay from december 03 to Q1 2004, time is being wisely spent on polishing this baby.

[jjacob]

Well, hearing your story makes me more cautious indeed.
Especially since this is Razbor's first game, well, not if you account for the kidgame they designed though

[Firefoot]

If I may meddle in this conversation... As you said the download is an alpha version and very buggy and not everything implemented... Now the game has more features (like the running option you mentioned, but more off coures). I agree with you that Ren is still a bit stiff. From what I've seen from the game it needs some details to get fixed but then it will IMHO a great game. The mood of the game is great, store will be great too (I only know it partly though), some screens have rain (with drops in the puddles), moving elevators, etc. IMO Ren blends much better in the backgrounds nowadays too.
As for the voices, I think I haven't heared the final voices yet...


ps. meaning that it is the first (adventure) game doesn't mean that it is a bad game...

[VoodooFX]

Originally Posted by Firefoot

If I may meddle in this conversation...

yes you may

Well everything i've said, is based on what's been shown to us until now. Obviously you've seen some stuff that rest of us haven't, so i guess we have no other choice than to trust your judgment. I'm glad there will be run feature, and especially, that walk cycle improved since last alpha. i could live with "not so good" character blending with background.

[Firefoot]

Glad you 'trust' me... but be warned that they're just my conclusions and that they might not be the same as yours!

A little part of a screenshot attached why I think Ren blends in quite well! I hope they don't mind!


ps. yes, I think I've seen more of the recent developments than you!
pps. wow, a whole lot of compression required to get it under 40Kb...

[edit] ppps. I think the recently released screens also makes my point of the attached image clear...

[James]

this one could go either way - great potential versus untested team; still twill be interesting to keep watch.