Re: The Vale Demo
I agree with Iron Cross here, yeah it could be changed, but lets please not turn this whole listen rather than look molehill into a friggin mountain.
This game has legit visuals and controller support, legit binaural audio, and legit sound design, voice acting, and music. That's what really matters.
And I know that it's important to not give people the wrong ideas or reenforce the ones they already have, but this is really minor compared to what it could be, and these guys are trying. You can tell that with some of the things the uncle says, like "You know I never cared that your blind" or "You Alex, were born with many gifts, don't you ever forget that."
Anyway, here is some stuff I really like about the game so far, and a few of the bigger issues I have. I think I'm gonna email my more in depth list of bugs and suggestions, but I hope that someone from Fallingsquirrel is monitoring this thread and reading all the posts, because we had a long radio silence last time thread bout this game was posted, and I've yet to see any responses on this one either.
First, the hard mode is actually challenging, which is fantastic, at least in the raider and knight tutorials. Learning how each enemy works and getting your timing just right reminds me allot of The Blind Swordsman, and that game was an awesome example of a more mainstream game that was still challenging for blind people. In fact it was actually too challenging for sighted people in my opinion,, and that's why it's great that The Vale has easier modes too.
Second, I love that as enemies get injured, you can hear their breathing change, and they get more cautious. You hear them consider and collect them selves before attacking and that's pretty awesome! Like an expanded version of what A Blind Legend did.
Third, the professional visuals and controller support. There isn't much that I can say about this because I can't personally take advantage of either option, but I am incredibly glad they are there. I think this is one of the few games out of countless others trying to appeal to both audiences that may actually achieve it's goal. With actual visuals rather than just an incredibly cut down and simplistic display for assisting sighted users like almost all other audio games with visuals, and support for modern, easily available controllers. Rarely if ever have we gotten both of these things together in the same package.
And fourth, The cinematics. The music is very nice, especially the main menu/intro track. I'm not a musician so I can't describe it very well, but I really enjoy the melody and instruments used, and the change from a slow and soft mood to a faster, more epic tempo with an exciting rhythm.
The sound design is excellent as well, so much so that it's hard to pick just a few favorites. From the plate armor of the knight shifting as he prepares to strike, to the deep thumping whooves of the first guard's horse as he runs to join the fight, to the bear's claws on the cave floor, it's all great.
The voice acting is pretty great too, particularly the actor who plays the uncle and fur seller, who not only really sells his rolls but gives them a level of sincerity that makes you feel a personal connection to the character.
Also impressive is the actor who plays Theo, the warning guard, and the Shepherd. His ability to switch moods from the confident but rattled guard to the injured and skeptical shepheard on that first night is impressive, and his incredibly natural sounding pronunciation of the name Abdul is equally so.
The actress who plays Alex also does a good job at making the characters emotional state come alive which helps put you in the moment. Scenes like that when her uncle leaves to help defend against the oncoming horde and she calls after him, the one where she encounters the wolves and her breath shakes with fear, or when she says no to the fur sellers attempted executioners really bring out her skill.
I also thoguht that the binaural parts and reverb were really well done. Particularly in the training scenes with the uncle and when Shepheard comments on the deer bones while entering the bear's cave.
With all that said though, I think there definitely needs to be a way to skip cutscenes and long character interactions like the quests or village sellers. Not only does it make it incredibly frustrating if you've played through them before, but it also makes the game significantly more time consuming and difficult to beta test properly.
The use of the alt key for going back in menus means that when alt tabbing to another window to quickly do something else without first pausing, you also exit what ever menu you are in, for instance the keyboard layout screen. Replacing this key with backspace or left arrow would make more sense.
Having a longer pause before the navigation hint in menus would be less frustrating for people who know what they are doing already, but just want to take a bit of time to consider their choices. You could also just add a toggle for it in options.
A handful of areas still only give controller instructions, regardless of the settings in game options. These areas include the map, bow tutorial, and heavy melee attack item in keyboard layout.
The inability to turn during cutsenes to explore th eenvironment around you a bit more before the action is somewhat disappointing, but I understand that this could be a resource or code limitation. I just loved doing that in A Blind Legend, and I miss it here.
Along the same lines, it would be more efficient if you did not have to stop walking before turning, and could instead turn at the same time as you move. Having the ability to sidestep (maybe Alt+A/D) would be nice as well.
I know this was a long post, consider it a mini review. I really enjoy what I'm seeing so far, and can't wait for more, even if it's only on Steam. (shutter)
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