Ipols

Decayed
Havoc And Malice
Players Playing Bloodbath Demo
Old World
Harbinger
Feb 4, 2021
13
15
28
Things I like:
-The introduction videos were quite satisfying to watch and were paced properly. In the "core features" video, Denis refers to users "larping" through twitch, which is technically incorrect since the verb implies physical presence of the person larping.

-Extremely happy with a DM mode being mentioned even if it's not in front of the pipeline.

-Art direction is the perfect amount of gothic and bloody for my taste

-Armor system and limb damage up the quality ceiling of this game beyond any other arpg that I know of

-The dash is very responsive (No delay/animations)

Things I dislike:

-I'm worried about the game eventually going to mobile. It may be that my doubts are based on ignorance of mobile gaming, nontheless I fear that the game will be held back in its developement if it has to stay mobile compatible. This isn't exactly feedback on the demo but it has entered my thoughts when watching the introduction videos

-The animations for the armor breaking aren't very convincing.

-The target lock system wasn't working very well. I have to constantly look around to avoid beeing surrounded and kite enemies with the dash, locking on an enemy only hindered my chances and got in the way of what I actually wanted to do

-The dash also being used to go into mist form was weird, I'd expect to dash as soon as I press the button and end up in mist form at the end of the dash if I kept the button down during that time

Something I would like added:
- Abilities that interact with corpses (Exsanguinate would be a candidate for the demo, or following the same logic it could only work on injured foes)
- Reasons to care in which way an enemy is finished off (Scoring the kill with exsanguinate restores more HP, scoring a kill with the mace does something else cool, scoring a kill with dance macabre fills up more blood lust)

How does it play so far?
If I was forced to use only one word, clunky.
I'm barely in control of my vampire

-Input should be quequed. Currently if I press my left mouse button to make the vampire start an attack and the keep the right mouse button pressed down, the command to use the mace is never read. A very basic combo would be a couple of mace attacks followed by the sword to decapitate, but currently I have to wait for the animation of the maceto have ended completely or my character won't accept the dance macabre command input

-It's already been said but the character stopping in place to attack doesn't let me express the nimbleness of a vampire
Even without the lock-on feature beeing used, I can't re-orientate my attacks while an animation is happening (Like holding down left mouse button)
Using abilities should fire in the direction of my camera, not in the direction in which the vampire is facing.

Do you feel like a vampire when you play?
Yes.
-The abilities are all in line with the theme, altough I'd expect a vampire to do wider swings and to alternate them with claw attacks if the theme is more on the beastly/savage kind of vampire. (but this is a very minor point)

-I felt very good about going in and out of the fight thanks to the very low cooldown and fast animation on the dash.

-A jump button and grabbing onto walls would be the last.. nail in the coffin for the vampire theme

Trinany System
-It's my understanding that the trinary system is still missing pieces so I won't comment on this much. Having to go through 3 different HP bars to actually die made it feel more of a war of attrition on the humans side. If the vampire can only be killed if there are enemies suitable to attack it in all 3 forms, does that mean that such a formation of enemies will always be present? But this is for the designers to figure out

Blood Lust
-
Charging bloodlust to become faster and stronger felt very good. Beeing hit was a big deal because I'd have to exsanguinate and lose my bloodlust, which means almost a guranteed loss after wave 15 if one refuses to cheese the fight with dash kiting.
-The chanting started to get annoying when I managed to keep my precious bloodlust going for a few minutes, it's possible it's solved by just fixing the volume or adding more incentives to spend the bar

Tarot System
-
Not yet implemented if I didn't miss a key somewhere, already commented on the skills in previous paragraphs.
 
Updates for 0.1.6

-It's already been said but the character stopping in place to attack doesn't let me express the nimbleness of a vampire
Even without the lock-on feature beeing used, I can't re-orientate my attacks while an animation is happening (Like holding down left mouse button)

Fixed, now controller gameplay feels as nimble as ever. I can constantly sping and switch target jumping from foe to foe

Using abilities should fire in the direction of my camera, not in the direction in which the vampire is facing.
Clarification: Mouse & Keyboard-only issue
 
  • Useful
Reactions: Denis Dyack
-A jump button and grabbing onto walls would be the last.. nail in the coffin for the vampire theme
As I started playing those two thoughts jumped into my mind as well. I wonder if that would be a balancing issue. Would make vampires pretty annoying to deal with!
 
  • Like
Reactions: Ipols
All I have to say is Ninja Gaiden. The ability to wall run and climb gave the combat more variety and allowed for tactical movement. vertically has been mentioned in this game and this would be a good way to do it. The ability to wall run to a dash attack, backstab or stealth kill would be a great addition for the vampire. I could also see the ghoul using this to great effect. This would definitely add to the feel of being a predator. The living are not our equals they are prey.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Skorcher
All I have to say is Ninja Gaiden. The ability to wall run and climb gave the combat more variety and allowed for tactical movement. vertically has been mentioned in this game and this would be a good way to do it. The ability to wall run to a dash attack, backstab or stealth kill would be a great addition for the vampire. I could also see the ghoul using this to great effect. This would definitely add to the feel of being a predator. The living are not our equals they are prey.
If my previous suggestion of quequeing inputs is accepted, imagine attacking while you leave the dash animation to do a longer lunge.

yes just touching the same ground of this cannon fodder is somewhat disgusting for the vampire
 
Yeah if timed correctly you could decapitate multiple weak enemies in a row.

They also said morale or fear would play a role in gameplay. You could stalk a group of patrolling troops then swoop in grab one and take them to a wall to feed. The others would hear the screams, breaking of armour, tearing of flesh and crushing of bone before you drop the corpse from the shadows. This could work like in the batman Arkham games. This could cause them to break rank or hurdle together for easy kills.
 
Yeah if timed correctly you could decapitate multiple weak enemies in a row.

They also said morale or fear would play a role in gameplay. You could stalk a group of patrolling troops then swoop in grab one and take them to a wall to feed. The others would hear the screams, breaking of armour, tearing of flesh and crushing of bone before you drop the corpse from the shadows. This could work like in the batman Arkham games. This could cause them to break rank or hurdle together for easy kills.
Batman was noted at the time for making the player FEEL like batman. Stealth elements are awesome, adds a cerebral element to the mix. I do recall feeling like a hunter while playing razeliem in Nosgoth (due to flying evasive ability and low HP but high DPS). But not sure how welcome that discussion would be bc its slightly an abomination to the LOK universe, no story and includes a Raziel inspired race which was a crystal dynamics creation which itself was recycled from an aborted franchise called "shifter".
 
Trinany System
-It's my understanding that the trinary system is still missing pieces so I won't comment on this much. Having to go through 3 different HP bars to actually die made it feel more of a war of attrition on the humans side. If the vampire can only be killed if there are enemies suitable to attack it in all 3 forms, does that mean that such a formation of enemies will always be present? But this is for the designers to figure out
Great observation. One would think that the humans have figured this out and would adjust their battle tactics accordingly when fighting the undead. While I like the idea as a player of not necessarily dying as soon as my Health bar runs out, there still needs to be an imminent sense of danger that your character could die, and having to constantly play a balancing act on the 3 different forms as you're being attacked on all fronts sounds unique and exciting.
 
  • Agree
Reactions: Temuldjin