E3 Demo Feedback for the developer's team

I finally got a chance to play through the demo recently and wanted add my feedback.


Before I begin, I want to personally thank the dev team for all of their time and hard work to make this special demo happen. It's really amazing that we get to try the game out in this very early stage, and I sincerely appreciate the opportunity to share my thoughts and feedback!


First I wanted to list all of the things I really liked:

1. Miriam’s jump/attack animation cancel ability – Using this still speeds up your attack rate. Was very happy to see it still in place.

2. Thought it was a cool touch to be able to aim your magic abilities with the right analog stick

3. Jumping height and arc felt excellent and on point

4. Movement speed – It felt good, but I wouldn’t mind if it was sped up just a little

5. In terms of Miriam’s design, I really liked her scarf “cape” and thought it added a lot to her movement flow

6. Thought it was a cool detail that certain equipment visually changed Miriam – Hope to see more variety!

7. Loved the depth layers to the background, specifically how enemies could jump from the foreground/background, etc.

8. Was elated to see the return of breakable walls and their addition to exploration

9. Thought that the homage to classic Igavania enemies was tastefully done and happy to see several return (stacking tower enemies!)

10. Menu layout, fonts, and presentation looked great and was easy to use


And for the things I didn’t care for:


1. In terms of Miriam’s design, model, and animation, I had the following feelings:

            a. I didn’t care for Miriam’s initial idle animation, and thought her hip sway was a little much. I definitely preferred her more stationary idle stance

            b. With regards to her outfit, I would prefer something slightly more practical for fighting demons, and less maid-themed.

            c. When Miriam crouches, it would be nice if her scarf “cape” draped into a pile behind her, and did not clip through the ground.

            d. Seems strange that Miriam doesn’t cast a shadow (or is this intentional?! *wink*)

            e. When Miriam transitions from a “kicking” stance to a stationary “hand on hip” stance, there is a very awkward transition in the animation


2. In terms of the boss encounter, I very much didn’t care for the design, particularly the swaying chest “breasts”. I thought that they were gratuitous and didn’t follow the theme of the rest of the character designs or level. I also didn’t care for how they were emphasized in their size, camera location, or for the fact that they were a weak point to attack.


Also, I wanted to list a few hopes:


1. I thought it would be cool for a specific weapon “type” that you could aim using the right analog stick as well (maybe javelin or crossbow?)

2. Thought it would be neat if there were obtainable items in the background and foreground that required you to interact with the environment or kill a certain enemy to receive.


Something that made me laugh: That the ghosts were named “Amy” 

Thanks again, and wish the dev team all the best for the rest of development!

Cheers,

Sir Nicko

It's less "so many people" (by any eyeball count I can make not that many people in absolute or relative terms any problem with them) but rather, as is human nature, those who do have an issue are more likely to speak up and be loud then those who prefer things the way they are or don't care (I'm not saying that's an issue, just that's the way things are). That's the tricky thing with interpreting aesthetic feedback since it tends to be more subjective than other types of feedback. Are people expressing opinion X a loud minority, a silent majority or just a regular majority? Would there be blowback or even more hard feelings from changing something than not changing something? Should feedback be interpreted entirely democratically or is the feedback that has a "better argument" behind it the feedback that should be given more priority? Do you, as the artist, even agree with the feedback or think its misplaced/overblown/erroneous? There's not always an easy answer.

As an aside, I've more than once heard Miriam called "a maid" and that never made sense to me given the context of this game or the Castlevania series in general (how would you describe Shanoa or Maria in many of their incarnations?). I understand, respect and appreciate the concepts/concerns of practicality and realism but so often I feel they are used as code words for "I don't like thing" rather than a "reasonable" critique and I think that rings especially true regardless if the target is Miriam or Vepar (thinking about it I'm having a hard time discerning why she's a problem for a few and say a Succubus wouldn't be or would people not like those too?). That being said, I think the confirmation of alternate outfits means there should be a way to please everybody and not edit base outfits if the concern is "practicality" so I think that's cool

After giving this some thought I think that Miriam's current stance don't make sense if she have a sword equipped.  She should have her hand near the wrist ready to draw the sword because the current fighting pose is more suited when using shoe weapons.

Yeah, it is not. And they said it at kickstarter that the game wasn't going to be like that. 

You can see that at the kickstarter page here:


And here:


And here:

Exactly! I hope Mana sees this so they might change Miriams stance atleast when she has a melee weapon equipped.

May I guess that the "combo system" is your big(gest) point of contention?

It comes up all over the place, and I'm not sure why. For new players seeing this, combo-oriented combat is pretty standard, but it just doesn't fit pre-LoS style 'Vania games. I mean, why have an intricate combo system if 90% of the enemies die in 1-3 hits? 

In order for a combo system to work, enemies would have to be significantly more powerful. Mirror of Fate made it work because you almost never fought more than 2-3 enemies at a time, but IGAvania games can frequently swarm you. 5+ enemies would just be a real problem if they were all beefy as well, in my opinion.

I can't help but be worried that upon release, the game will end up getting flak in reviews for its *dated* combat, even though its what the bulk of the fanbase expects. 

Yeah, I DON'T agree with him on Vepar at all. But i already said that.

The only problem i see on Vepar is that it's too easy, even for a first boss. The creature is huge and menacing and you beat it too easily. O hope it returns for you to fight it again later. But i like Vepar's looks, appearance and colors and see absolutely no problem with those things.

But...that's me