Shroud of the Avatar - Narrated Demo by Richard Garriot

The graphics seem sub-par. Combat - meh. I guess we'll see if the quests are clichéd 80-90s fare or rise above. I do not have high hopes for this game, but maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised.
 
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I appreciate the drag-drop inventory being reminiscent of the latter Ultima games, but it's also incredibly cumbersome if you have to move many stacks of items around. I remember that organizing large inventories (particular in houses and across numerous containers) could be incredibly tiresome in Ultima Online. Also was really not a fan of tiny but vital items - which inevitably turned out to be the one thing you were looking for - easily being hidden behind piles of other items in your own inventory.

Obviously they will likely implement stacking, but anyone who had played UO and got deep into the crafting knows that you still get clutter with stacks. There's room for improvement and I'm sure that some will be made, I just hope they don't imagine the Ultima Online inventory system to be a good enough end goal there.

The NPC conversation system also strongly reminds me of UO - a keyword system. That can quickly end up being both frustrating if it is too picky about keywords and if most conversations with npcs are formulaic enough for the keywords to be intuitive it devolves into players just shouting "buy" and "sell" and "*insert object name*".

Not really sure how this is going to turn out, but it's definitely feeling a lot like UO in some ways that aren't necessarily all good. I guess a lot of how I end up viewing this game is going to come down to how well companions are done, how well done or gimicky the conversation system ends up being, and how well they leverage their writing team in terms of fleshing all that out and developing a some quality SP content. I get the feeling that the devs as a group understand those things are important to many of the backers and intend to give them due attention, but that RG seems to feel that the correct way to play will be with our friends as our companions and is much less interested in that.
 
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The graphics seem sub-par. Combat - meh. I guess we'll see if the quests are clichéd 80-90s fare or rise above. I do not have high hopes for this game, but maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised.

Well, it's only three months into full development. I doubt they have any system that is close to being finished.
 
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Hmm, mixed feelings about this. I know the game is in an early state but the whole thing looks amateurish. Not trying to sound high-handed but it just seems underwhelming considering RG's caliber.

I have the same impressions that other have expressed. Graphics is mediocre. Inventory system looks clunky. Conversation looks fun but I can see it being a frustration very soon. Combat is just awful.

But it's very early! So things might get a lot better over time. Just gotta wait and see, I suppose.
 
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I thought that the graphics and world map look very good for a pre-alpha. The UI interface need refinement as it looks consoley. I liked the freedom and world interaction.

I look forward to seeing more details on quests, companions, and other single player aspects and how this would fit with the 'selective multiplayer' feature.
 
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I get a little nostalgia from the Ultima 7 like containers, but that needs more modern features as other have mentioned. I don't like that when chopping the tree and obtaining each log leads to the loot interface popping up, needing to drag the log to your bag, then click again to close it all - each time. Why not have the logs automatically fill your inventory? Anyways I actually like the graphics.
 
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I get a little nostalgia from the Ultima 7 like containers, but that needs more modern features as other have mentioned. I don't like that when chopping the tree and obtaining each log leads to the loot interface popping up, needing to drag the log to your bag, then click again to close it all - each time. Why not have the logs automatically fill your inventory? Anyways I actually like the graphics.

I feel the same way. I do like the idea of deep micro-managing of objects that can be interacted to create new objects that are meaningful. But after years of replaying U7 I have to agree that micro managing inventory and UI windows in general is not something I'd like to revisit - I'd prefer that kind of stuff be streamlined and designed in such a way where all things UI are efficient and quick.

Though this issue is altogether far less worrisome than the appearance that SotA is shaping up to be yet another MMO. Hope I'm wrong but the single player idea seems to be drowning in a sea of everything MMO with each new update about the game.
 
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I thought this was going to be top down for some reason. Looks like ultima 9 except streamlined and mmoized.
 
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The game will also have a grid based inventory in addition to the freeform U7/U8/UO-ish one. I wouldn't be surprised if they allows a click based interface for items rather than drag and drop as well when using the grid based aspect, since there are aspects of this already (you'll notice that taking an item in the gameworld - such as that shield in the tomb - only requires a clic and not to drag the item to the inventory).

And since they'll allows two type of inventory, I can see them offering two type of item interaction with both an old school drag and drop, and a moderne single click interface.

-Sergorn
 
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The game will also have a grid based inventory in addition to the freeform U7/U8/UO-ish one. I wouldn't be surprised if they allows a click based interface for items rather than drag and drop as well when using the grid based aspect, since there are aspects of this already (you'll notice that taking an item in the gameworld - such as that shield in the tomb - only requires a clic and not to drag the item to the inventory).

And since they'll allows two type of inventory, I can see them offering two type of item interaction with both an old school drag and drop, and a moderne single click interface.

-Sergorn

That's good to hear.
 
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The graphics seem sub-par. Combat - meh. I guess we'll see if the quests are clichéd 80-90s fare or rise above. I do not have high hopes for this game, but maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised.

I'm curious if you actually watched and listened to the video...not to far in they mention combat is simplified right now since it is not finished.

I think it actually looks much better then I expected at this stage.
 
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