Welcome! Let the Beta Backer Demo Feedback Begin!

After sinking a fair number of hours into the demo, I was honestly having trouble finding anything that really stood out to me that I feel the need to bring up that could use some improvement because I was probably distracted by how fun the game was to play. The gameplay felt exactly as I was hoping for from a traditional igavania game. I was ecstatic when I fumbled into jump canceling my attacks and backdash canceling my, well, backdashes. It made me remember all of the great times I had playing the DS castlevanias. The music was top notch and very much reminded me of symphony of the night's soundtrack in a lot of ways. The voice acting was really good, and as someone who normally dislikes most english dubbing, I was very impressed and made me look forward to the next story segments instead of getting a laugh out of them (I can't help but giggle when I hear the voice work in original SotN cutscenes). The attention to detail is even still there, which was something I was concerned might be lost with the 2.5D approach when I originally backed the kickstarter (I got super excited when I saw Zangetsu riding in his little boat in the background while on the deck of the ship).


I guess I should at least point out somethings that could be improved upon so not to make this entirely me gushing about this game.

-Lindsay's character model is really ugly. Her hands look super weird, and her face is even oddly proportioned compared to everyone else. It legitimately looks like she's from a different game with a different (worse) art style. This had to be the biggest thing that pulled me from my immersion. Anna's model also looks a little odd, but 'perpetually traumatized' may just be how she's supposed to look. I'd probably be traumatized too if everyone around me died.

-The lip flaps looks kinda bad on some characters too. Namely Miriam and kinda Dominique, but not so much on Johannes though. That was a pretty common complaint though, so I can't see that not being adjusted some degree.

-If we're going to go with the 3D models during cutscenes, they could probably due with being a little more expressive in their body language. Miriam is shown in a fair number of emotional states in the demo, but her body language does not show that.

-The moon belt backdash felt quite good, and I really like that backdash cancelling made a return for this game, but I kinda wish that the normal backdash was just what the backdash was with the moon belt, and that the moon belt just made the cooldown on the backdash shorter so I wouldn't necessarily have to actively try to cancel it to get that "fast repeated backdash" result.

-Shorter cooldown of the whip attacks I guess? It felt fine if I was jump canceling it, but just attacking with it repeatedly without any effort on my part to shorten that cooldown didn't feel great.

-More shards that aren't just "Summon the thing you got this from" would be appreciated.

-More special moves in general for the various weapon types would be cool, and DEFINITELY more of the special moves that you could chain together, like the quarter-circle forward attacks on the katanas and boots. I thought that was really cool when I accidentally did that because I don't recall any of the other igvania titles having that combo element to their special attacks.

-I kinda hope the crazy horizontal katana special jumps remain in the game to some degree. I understand that its probably definitely not intended, but it feels REALLY cool to do, so long as I don't get stuck in a wall. Maybe as something a single particular katana can do with on of its specials or something. It reminded me a lot of using Jonathan in Harmony of Despair and using Sonic Strike to launch myself off of ledges to get around stupid fast.


Thats... about it really. I'm sure there are other things I could point out if I looked hard enough, but I'm just so happy with how this game is turning out. I was really apprehensive at first since this was my first kickstarter project I backed and things like Mighty #9 got me really nervous about kickstarted games in general, but this demo really dispelled almost any concerns I had left. This is exactly what I was wanting out of a return to the original igavania style games.

My biggest complaint after playing the demo was the animated models during dialogue.

I feel like the game would look much better with simple 2D artwork portraits with different artwork portraits for each of the emotions the characters would need to convey much like a visual novel.

I also felt like the time it takes to make repeated strikes with the whip, katana, and spear could be shortened a bit.

The jumping, and attacking while jumping are much better than the previous backer demo, but not perfect in my opinion. I also feel like the visuals could be better, and the animation needs a lot of work; especially during dialogue and cut scenes.

Otherwise, I am continuing to enjoy the demo very much. The game seems to be shaping up into something truly special.

Love the poison effect and the stone effect but the stone effect kinda disappears in a very abrupt and awkward way. Also I noticed a severe lack of sound effects for things in it. Like you'd think a crumbling stone sound would happen but it doesn't....you'd think special weapons or at least weapons that look unique would have a unique sound effect but they don't. Some specials like the katana slash thing you'd expect would have a cool sound when she does that move but it doesn't have anything other than a normal slash type sound. I hope more sound variation gets added to the game.

joejoe90

interesting how we have the exact opposite opinion on the visuals. I thought the boat looked really nice ( outside the over the top water effects ) and i felt the castle looked uber bland. There was an atmosphere to the boat but the castle entrance looks so washed out with very little lighting effects and far too little color.

Okey, I play in Demo. It's good. But not Perfect.

What I like:
1) Gameplay feel. THIS is why can not be second" better than nothing "game. It's feels perfect, like all the best Igavania games. Control is perfect, animations is very good.
2) Music. OH GOD it's wonderful. I can listen "Luxurious Overture" all day. I am very happy that the music was recorded with the orchestra. It give more gothic atmosphere to game.
3) Amosphere. Well, in general, it feels like a spiritual successor of SotN. That's all. This is what we want!

BUT:
1) Battle system:
     a) Move-list. You can make this "en de troix" with battle-shoes and katana-things. What about other weapon categories ?!
     b) I think, need to make items or other things with the command list for this special moves. Like hint-items to find a monsters in Dawn of Sorrow (News paper).
     c) Whip is slow. It must be more fast. Like one-handed sword. And hit detection of whip is not good. To hit a candle on a statue, you need a be VERY accurate.
     d) Heavy swords is fast. You can make second attack when the animation is not complette. It's feels strange.
     e) Pistols. It's a good idea, but if you need an attack, you need an open eqipment menu and switch weapon. It's frustrating. You can make a shot-button on CIRCLE (on dualshock).
     f) Fast switch melee weapon. And you have not active L2 button. Make it a switch-button. Equip a two melee weapons (for example, Whip and Heavy Sword) and change weapons in battle.
     g) Shards. All summon-beasts look like enemy. Make for this another color or something. And I do not get, why frog in purple cathegory, bat in red cathegory. It's strange, but not critical.

2) Shops:
     a) Okey, every time I try to buy something, game show me a dialog. It's frustrating. I just tap skip button to shoping. It's just 3-5 seconds, but C'MON. Make this like in SotN - Just voices "What can i do for you", "Heh heh, thank you!", "Farewell for now". Thats all, what need. And when Dominique or Johannes will try to tell me something about a story or something, i dont skip this because "C'MON JUST GIVE ME POTION"
     (b) Bullets. ONE bullet for $ 50 ?! C'mon, give 5 or 10 bullets for this cost.

3) Quests:
You need to make a pop-up window about complete quest. Just like in Portrait of Ruin. In Demo i need open menu and all this things. It's not good. I do not know how many of this dogs are killed. make a indicator or something in the quest menu.

4) Castle enterance:
This statue just fall on the floor and music begin. IT'S A RAUNCH! C'mon, It's FIRST room of beautiful castle! And you just fall statue! ARGH, do something exciting! Like lots of bats, who fly over screen and fire on statues are turns on. Or something. Not this! It must feels like "YES, I come to this castle to kick demons ass!". Now it feels like "what da hell are you try to say me?"

5) Village music:
WHY IT IS SO QUIET?! It's not good. You can use this track -
It gives to the village a more tragic atmosphere. Silence sucks.

6) Dialogs:
OOOOH it's the worst thing in demo. This 3D models ... This lips animations ... Just make artworks in dialogs.
I try photoshoped this. Just look - i.imgur.com/xClcxN1.jpg
I think, this look better.
Anne 3D model in dialogs look horrible - i.imgur.com/a0nyCC2.jpg

7) GRAPHIC (oh guys, i do not understand, what you doing):
     a) Green Miriam silhouette. I do not like it. It spoils the whole impression of things in the foreground. If you need to highlight a character model, make a glow around it after 5-10 seconds. I make, how it can look - i.imgur.com/H7G6boQ.jpg
     b) Save room. It's look good, but stone-room on galeon - it's strange. Just make a sofa and this bug-statue in ship-room. And you can make a different animation for Miriam to sit on left / right side of sofa. Now this sofa look very long for "just sit on center".
     c) This moon is not circular - i.imgur.com/Zx8WOad.jpg
     d) Graphic bright. With this bright, game look like a gray mess. It's ALL GRAY. Just look, this guy make a correction of gamma - imgur.com/a/MCirFHj
And game look better! It's more colorful, more darker and atmospheric with this gamma-thing.
     e) Graphic downgrade and lighting effects. Guys, in 2017-videos game look better. A MORE BETTER.
- In village houses look more rubish. Now it looks like just houses with a hole in the roof. And where is this cool lighting effects? i.imgur.com/CxZj7j5.jpg i.imgur.com/Ho4fch6.jpg i.imgur.com/wPKH8b3.jpg i.imgur.com/SHuwgmC .jpg i.imgur.com/HQY4zq6.jpg
- In the castle are not all gray! Floors are not just gray tile, pillars are not just gold. In 2017-videos it's more detailed! And again - lighting effects give more color to backgrounds. And look at this fog in Zangetsu battle! i.imgur.com/P57TAgg.jpg i.imgur.com/9AlFhoB.jpg i.imgur.com/JGiLERd.jpg i.imgur.com/ULT8C99.jpg i.imgur.com/pWaeJUZ.jpg
- Garden. Look at these plants. They are everywhere. Now it's a little plant on the arch. i.imgur.com/U1yDdmX.jpg
This demo look like low budget game. Not good

Okey, it's all. I say again - play in this game is fun. It good and atmospheric spirital sucsesor of SotN. But i want to this game will be not "another good metroidvania". I want to this game will be a new great frinchise, a new best game of IGA. I want to ArtPlay will be a great company. Not just like "some guys from kickstarter". And I believe in you, guys!

Pretty happy and looking forward to the final experience.

I'm hoping for as much progress from the first demo to the second to happen between the second demo and the final release.

The 2.5d is great but I feel a softer 'hand painted' look on the shaders would help reduce the sometimes jarring difference between character models and backgrounds. SOTNs models blended perfectly with backgrounds and the immersion this created is why it still feels great. I think a softer feel would really help animations look more fluid.

Take some stress of yourselves and don't worry so much about the constant push for 'cutting edge graphics'. Everyone here is happy with pixle item drop images and I think that's proof enough highly defined sharp model lines isn't a big concern.

Also, I hope the chest outfits change like the hats and scarfs.

I think a little more variation between upgrades would be great, for instance the poison epee and the stone swords effects were refreshing.

Just finished playing today. So far this is definitely living up to my expectations! I am very excited to get my hands on the final game. The feedback I have echoes a lot of what others are saying, but I feel repeating feedback may help support those points. Please review my feedback below!

Overall
- The atmosphere is fantastic! Each area has its own distinct feel, with many detailed layers to add to the experience. Excellent work.
- The music! The music is awesome!
- Gameplay feels great. Fighting enemies is fluid and some enemies really keep me on my toes and make me think.
- The bosses are fun to fight! Zangetsu was especially dynamic and interesting.

Gameplay Feedback
- I would like whips to have a faster attack cooldown. Right now I don't attack with them unless I'm mid-air.
- Miriam runs too slow. The Speed Belt gives her the speed I feel should be the default.
- A way to change ammo types during gameplay would help a lot. Right now I don't want to waste my good ammo on weak enemies or candles. Switching back to infinite ammo takes too long.

Art Feedback
- Water effect on boat's top deck is too glossy and distracting. I would town it down a bit, but not too much either.
- The Castle Save Room on the Boat takes me out of the immersion. Perhaps have a save bench in a Boat themed room?
- I feel the character models for in game cutscenes could be improved. Both in polygon count and textures.
- I noticed a lot of the lighting has gotten worse since the last demo. Why? Lighting in my opinion is the most important aspect in setting the tone and atmosphere! Please improve the lighting to at least how it was.

Animation Feedback
- Miriam's pose while talking seems strange. She'd look better with a more relaxed pose.
- Miriam's lip-sync looks very odd and doesn't always match up with what she says.
- Some weapon animations still appear too stiff. EX: The Dull Blade Sword Swing

UI Feedback
- I agree with feedback that the dialogue might look better using character artwork rather than 3D models. That said, why not an option for both? A toggle for this in the menu would be great.
- Love the option to customize the map box!
- I want an option to make the corner map box even smaller and to zoom out more. Playing in 2k even the smallest option was a little large for me.
- Maybe use LB and RB to swap between the Equipment and Shard menu. EX: Equipment *RB* > Shard *LB* > Equipment
- I would love an option to automatically progress to the next line of dialogue when the voice clip for that line finishes. So you can just watch it like a cutscene, and the voices all connect together seamlessly.
- When I get a Game Over, I'd like an option to "Continue at Save Point" or "Return to Title Screen". Forcing me to the Title Screen is not fun.

Audio Feedback
- Miriam's attack and hurt voice are WAY too loud compared to the dialogue. I played on Voice 3/10 as a result. With this I could not hear the dialogue. Maybe separate these toggles? "Combat Voice" and "Dialogue" perhaps?
- My game got stuck on Japanese Audio only. I found out that RT + RB + LT + LB switches languages and I must have pressed it on accident. Please just make this a toggle in the audio options.
- On a side note, I liked the Japanese combat voice for Miriam more. Her sounds for swinging and being hit are far less obnoxious. Maybe let me use Japanese Combat Voice and English Dialogue Voice separate.
- The Village is oddly quiet. It could really use music.
- A Game Over music theme would be nice as well.

Keep up the good work! Thanks for creating the game and letting us give feedback before the release!