Hello!
I received a free Steam code to try out Quest for the Gauntlet today. Here is my feedback as I'm playing the game. I'm mostly writing this as I'm playing so it's mostly just random observations..
Some more info about myself: I am old enough to have played the original Gauntlet and ever since I heard your game resembles it in a way I have been intrigued. I own a medium gaming PC, have a 700+ game account on steam and have written for several Dutch gaming website as an editor.
First impressions/menu & customization:
Decent customization options. No problem getting to fullscreen. Always nice. Also, my PS3 controller (hooked up through MotionInJoy) seems to work. The music is nice and makes me think back to the C64/Amiga days in a good way. Overall presentation looks better than I'd expected from the screenshots. I like the dwarf portraits and the 'cutscene' pictures. Great artwork! The introduction text got a bit cut off at the sides of my screen though..
Also, I noticed quite a few spelling errors in the story ("Gatherd", "Adoptet", "A honarary", "(Here) Heritage", "next to here", "assasin", "experiance", "their minds WHERE set", "imense", "seach", "seach for the it", "there hands". It honestly could do with some punctuation as well.
Ingame:
So the game begins! First of all, I love the map adopting to line of sight. Too few games offer something like that! It makes it exciting and interesting to explore without knowing what's around the corner or where the monsters are. I like having no minimap!
Too bad. My PS3 gamepad only works by using the D-pad. Sticks are not working. I don't like using the D-pad, especially not with games like these.
Graphics look great. Especially battle animations and monsters. Having arrows stay in place once fired is a very nice detail. I'd wish you could smash barrels and maybe found some gold pieces or minor treasure.
Battles are okay. I played the smallest dwarf so I had one melee attack and bow and arrow. When choosing my character I didn't understand the difference between these characters. More information while selecting would be appreciated!
I like the exclamation marks when enemies notice me.
My range attack was quite powerful. Monsters couldn't get close to me.
Some monsters were stuck on furniture (tables).
I love the sound & popup when collecting loot (treasure, potions). Very satisfying and old school!!!!!
Character interface looks good, except the hearts look a bit funny/out of place compared to the rest of it.
I go out and explore. I kill monsters. I'm now five minutes in and have not been hit once. I'm having fun.
When I get to the exit (it's not really instantly recognizable as one) I wish I could go back and explore more. Maybe give the option of going back?
On the second level my character somehow ends up behind the character interface. I wish it didn't and that I'd spawned in the center of the room. I enter the next room and theres guys shooting at me! This makes it more interesting! Because I can only use the d-pad its quite hard to fight back diagonally.
The monsters are not very smart. They usually stay in place while I pepper them with my arrows. Sometimes they're not doing anything. Not even moving.. Still, I'm having fun! Sometimes it's just enough to stay still in one place and keep firing arrows. When hit, monsters don't react at times..
I'm pulling back monsters and they move with me in a single 'column' of monsters. That somehow doesn't feel right. I'd wish they scramble.
I level up! Great! Although I wish there'd be some cool effect, popup or voice announcing my level up! ("Barbarian needs food, badly!" ). Stilll killing loads of monsters and having fun.
Sometimes, pit look open, the next moment they are closed by the wooden lid again. (popup? monster spawner? It's not clear). Also, no loot on level 2. Loot rewards players, I'd wish there was more stuff to pick up and interact with!
Level 3: By now (I'm 10 minutes in) I have found out that standing next to a wall, door or furniture while there are monsters will usually mean victory. I just stand there, shooting arrows, they die without reacting. Also, monsters cluttering up all in one place makes it feel less immersive and more like a videogame.
The music is great, but it's been the same song for these last few levels. Some variation would be great!
Level 4: I die!
Conclusion to my first round of playing:
I like it. I'm not sure if I'd pay full price for it as it is. I think I'd wait for the sales.. Of course, the game hasn't been finished! It's something I'd want to play with friends but I'm not sure if they'd enjoy it..
I like combat but the whole experience feels a little bit 'detached' and too 'gamey': they monsters just move singlemindedly or not at all..
What I'm mostly missing is more interaction and more random stuff to make it interesting. What made Gauntlet such a cool game was that every level was different and that there were rare/funny events happening (for instance, death, the thief etc). It had a sense of mystery and adventure.. I also feel the levels are a bit empty and could contain more loot or stuff to collect.
I'd also enjoy more feedback from the game itself (like the announcer in gauntlet, or even an on screen prompt). Finally, although I like the map showing only what you're seeing so far, the game felt a bit too dark at times. Some color variations would be great (although I only managed to reach level 4 of course).
Im not sure I I like the RPG element.. Theres no choice, no really power up Ive seen so far (except more HP) and no announcement.. so I stopped noticing it and paying attention..
I'm sure there'll be more monsters later on but after four levels of fighting these melee and ranged ratmen (?) I wish there were some other monsters to fight..
Also, I havent played multiplayer yet but what makes multiplayer fun for me is teamwork but also chaos and surprises.. All the best laid plans get torn to shreds while some unknown factor comes up and ruins everything.
I'd like to see some traps, maybe some funny curses, more interaction (teleportation traps? maybe even single use and one way so the party gets seperated!), maybe some annoying monsters that steal stuff or rush the party and explode? Also, I know this is a stretch but something to break up the drudgery of 'just' fighting monsters: maybe every few levels there'd be a mini quest or something totally different to break up the pace? Also maybe like some rare, random stuff like magic potions, bombs, or whatever.. anything to throw some stuff into the mix..
Overall, I think Quest for the Gauntlet is a nice enough game and I'll try it again later with another character..
If you have any questions or comments, please let me know!
Thanks for the code and best of luck!!!!
Mike
I received a free Steam code to try out Quest for the Gauntlet today. Here is my feedback as I'm playing the game. I'm mostly writing this as I'm playing so it's mostly just random observations..
Some more info about myself: I am old enough to have played the original Gauntlet and ever since I heard your game resembles it in a way I have been intrigued. I own a medium gaming PC, have a 700+ game account on steam and have written for several Dutch gaming website as an editor.
First impressions/menu & customization:
Decent customization options. No problem getting to fullscreen. Always nice. Also, my PS3 controller (hooked up through MotionInJoy) seems to work. The music is nice and makes me think back to the C64/Amiga days in a good way. Overall presentation looks better than I'd expected from the screenshots. I like the dwarf portraits and the 'cutscene' pictures. Great artwork! The introduction text got a bit cut off at the sides of my screen though..
Also, I noticed quite a few spelling errors in the story ("Gatherd", "Adoptet", "A honarary", "(Here) Heritage", "next to here", "assasin", "experiance", "their minds WHERE set", "imense", "seach", "seach for the it", "there hands". It honestly could do with some punctuation as well.
Ingame:
So the game begins! First of all, I love the map adopting to line of sight. Too few games offer something like that! It makes it exciting and interesting to explore without knowing what's around the corner or where the monsters are. I like having no minimap!
Too bad. My PS3 gamepad only works by using the D-pad. Sticks are not working. I don't like using the D-pad, especially not with games like these.
Graphics look great. Especially battle animations and monsters. Having arrows stay in place once fired is a very nice detail. I'd wish you could smash barrels and maybe found some gold pieces or minor treasure.
Battles are okay. I played the smallest dwarf so I had one melee attack and bow and arrow. When choosing my character I didn't understand the difference between these characters. More information while selecting would be appreciated!
I like the exclamation marks when enemies notice me. My range attack was quite powerful. Monsters couldn't get close to me.
Some monsters were stuck on furniture (tables).
I love the sound & popup when collecting loot (treasure, potions). Very satisfying and old school!!!!!
Character interface looks good, except the hearts look a bit funny/out of place compared to the rest of it.
I go out and explore. I kill monsters. I'm now five minutes in and have not been hit once. I'm having fun.
When I get to the exit (it's not really instantly recognizable as one) I wish I could go back and explore more. Maybe give the option of going back?
On the second level my character somehow ends up behind the character interface. I wish it didn't and that I'd spawned in the center of the room. I enter the next room and theres guys shooting at me! This makes it more interesting!
Because I can only use the d-pad its quite hard to fight back diagonally. The monsters are not very smart. They usually stay in place while I pepper them with my arrows. Sometimes they're not doing anything. Not even moving.. Still, I'm having fun!
Sometimes it's just enough to stay still in one place and keep firing arrows. When hit, monsters don't react at times..I'm pulling back monsters and they move with me in a single 'column' of monsters. That somehow doesn't feel right. I'd wish they scramble.
I level up! Great! Although I wish there'd be some cool effect, popup or voice announcing my level up! ("Barbarian needs food, badly!"
). Stilll killing loads of monsters and having fun. Sometimes, pit look open, the next moment they are closed by the wooden lid again. (popup? monster spawner? It's not clear). Also, no loot on level 2. Loot rewards players, I'd wish there was more stuff to pick up and interact with!
Level 3: By now (I'm 10 minutes in) I have found out that standing next to a wall, door or furniture while there are monsters will usually mean victory. I just stand there, shooting arrows, they die without reacting. Also, monsters cluttering up all in one place makes it feel less immersive and more like a videogame.
The music is great, but it's been the same song for these last few levels. Some variation would be great!
Level 4: I die!
Conclusion to my first round of playing:
I like it. I'm not sure if I'd pay full price for it as it is. I think I'd wait for the sales.. Of course, the game hasn't been finished!
It's something I'd want to play with friends but I'm not sure if they'd enjoy it.. I like combat but the whole experience feels a little bit 'detached' and too 'gamey': they monsters just move singlemindedly or not at all..
What I'm mostly missing is more interaction and more random stuff to make it interesting. What made Gauntlet such a cool game was that every level was different and that there were rare/funny events happening (for instance, death, the thief etc). It had a sense of mystery and adventure.. I also feel the levels are a bit empty and could contain more loot or stuff to collect.
I'd also enjoy more feedback from the game itself (like the announcer in gauntlet, or even an on screen prompt). Finally, although I like the map showing only what you're seeing so far, the game felt a bit too dark at times. Some color variations would be great (although I only managed to reach level 4 of course).
Im not sure I I like the RPG element.. Theres no choice, no really power up Ive seen so far (except more HP) and no announcement.. so I stopped noticing it and paying attention..
I'm sure there'll be more monsters later on but after four levels of fighting these melee and ranged ratmen (?) I wish there were some other monsters to fight..
Also, I havent played multiplayer yet but what makes multiplayer fun for me is teamwork but also chaos and surprises.. All the best laid plans get torn to shreds while some unknown factor comes up and ruins everything.
I'd like to see some traps, maybe some funny curses, more interaction (teleportation traps? maybe even single use and one way so the party gets seperated!), maybe some annoying monsters that steal stuff or rush the party and explode? Also, I know this is a stretch but something to break up the drudgery of 'just' fighting monsters: maybe every few levels there'd be a mini quest or something totally different to break up the pace? Also maybe like some rare, random stuff like magic potions, bombs, or whatever.. anything to throw some stuff into the mix..
Overall, I think Quest for the Gauntlet is a nice enough game and I'll try it again later with another character..
If you have any questions or comments, please let me know!
Thanks for the code and best of luck!!!!
Mike