Venetica

I picked up my 360 version of Venetica and have played about 5 hours. I like it, although it took me a while to adjust to the graphics and technical limitations. I had just finished Fable 3, so the transition from a highly polished, big-budget game to a small, modest game like this was jarring. For the first few hours, the herky-jerky movement and graphical oddities really stood out -- the awkwardness of combat movements, the characters speaking off-screen during a cutscene, the swords suspended in mid-air, the cartoony last-gen faces, the misdirected raven, the ability to walk through cows...

But I'm settling in, adjusting to it, and now I'm starting to enjoy the game. The environments are purdy. The characters, while one-dimensional, are distinct. The story, while melodramatic, at least tries. The lead character is nice to look at and listen to (backless leather armor ftw). I'm getting a feel for combat. I'm levelling up and getting some better gear, and I was able to return and kick ass in an area where I had earlier gotten slaughtered (no level scaling, yay). I like the "fog of war" map, where (at least in caves) areas aren't revealed until you visit them; keeps that sense of discovery alive.

I'm going to play some more this weekend. The two reviews I've seen for the 360 version recently have been 5 and 6, with the reviewers complaining about a wide variety of things that I won't bother enumerating. I know a couple of people who picked the game up on the 360, but I wouldn't expect that it'll sell much. But personally, I'm having a good time with it so far.

Anderson said:

I picked up my 360 version of Venetica and have played about 5 hours. I like it, although it took me a while to adjust to the graphics and technical limitations. I had just finished Fable 3, so the transition from a highly polished, big-budget game to a small, modest game like this was jarring. For the first few hours, the herky-jerky movement and graphical oddities really stood out — the awkwardness of combat movements, the characters speaking off-screen during a cutscene, the swords suspended in mid-air, the cartoony last-gen faces, the misdirected raven, the ability to walk through cows…

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Don't remember much of this from my PC version.
Texture flickering in the long shots (the big bridge to Venice, for example) and visible texture borders. (slight) Graphics errors only in one place (Venice dockyard), in which whatever is responsible for drawing the graphics seems to be simply overloaded because the place has too many floors.

Alrik Fassbauer said:

The only real drawback seems to be that they use a ressource-intensive engine.

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This complaint is so 2009.

Well, if one still has a machine from 2009 ...

Gorath said:

Don't remember much of this from my PC version.

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Sure, rub it in.

We got the port from Wizarbox, who also gave us the glorious Risen port. They must've been running a "buy one, get one free" special on crappy ports.

I'm kidding, though. It's not that bad. Some of the graphic oddities are funny rather than annoying. It's convenient to be able to walk through cows sometimes, you know. And the sword suspended permanently in mid-air at the site of my first battle, I consider that a commemoration.

Anderson said:

Sure, rub it in.

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Let me know if you need more.

No, I was really a bit surprised. So far I had heard that the port was quite solid, as in "way better than the Risen port".

Enjoy the game. It gets even better when you've arrived in Venice.

It is better than the Risen port, that's true. And I don't want to give the wrong impression — despite the glitches and the bumpity animations, I find it a visually appealing game, overall. Much better than Risen — but then, I think that has a lot to do with the superior art style here, not just the porting.

Anyhow, I just made it to Venice. I had some trouble with that first boss, the one someone else (I forget who) commented on getting stuck at. I used a lot of health supplies getting through the first battle, and then it took me a while to figure out how to deal with her in that tentacle monster form. Once, I got the monster down to one tentacle, and then I fell in a hole! Dur. So I had to start over. But eventually I did beat her.

I'm going to take a little break, then head into Venice later, poke around, load up on supplies, spend some money, chat up the locals... I hope this game doesn't have too many of those boss fights. I'm pooped.

Just entered the Arsenal district at lvl 20 - and is it just me, or did the game just take a step up in difficulty? It was getting pretty easy in the Inner City, but those African guards deals out a massive amount of damage...

Still - great game! One of those nice little unknown gaming pearls you find now and again

KasperFauerby said:

Just entered the Arsenal district at lvl 20 - and is it just me, or did the game just take a step up in difficulty? It was getting pretty easy in the Inner City, but those African guards deals out a massive amount of damage…

Still - great game! One of those nice little unknown gaming pearls you find now and again

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Not your imagination. I had to start spending my skill points once I got into that area. I also found the area a lot harder to navigate. Thank goodness for the gondoliers.

I had to shelve the game for the time being. It was getting on my nerves too much. I played about 20 hrs total. I was in the Arsenal district when I stopped. The last straw was a broken quest with a principle character who disappeared and a map that kept pointing me back to areas I'd already finished.

Much of this is probably restricted to the console version, but here's a list of my annoyances:

- Sluggish framerate.
- Too many load screens (every time you enter or exit a door, which is a lot, since pretty much the whole game takes place in a city).
- Only 4 quick slots available (minus 1 for health, forget mana). With so many better options out there, this is ridiculous.
- The map is a mess. Open it up, and half the time it will be pointed at the upper left quadrant, where there is nothing. Individual locations are sometimes selectable, but good luck getting the map to cooperate with that.
- Camera is often another opponent during combat.
- Pop-through (is that the right term?) — for instance, when Scarlett opens a door and steps in, she merges with the door.
- You face the wrong way when entering an area. Minor quibble, but this sometimes sent me back to the loading screen again (and then again).
- Citizens say the same things, wander obliviously through battle scenes, and will say the same line over and over again ("ooh, that looks nice" or "I don't know" being recycled endlessly, in the same voices), including during important dialogs.
- Combat control is not exactly fluid. I found it a bit iffy, and at times frustrating.
- Silly AI oversights like enemies who sheath and unsheath their weapons, over and over, as you pass by — one floor above, one floor below, or across a narrow waterway (so they cannot get at you). Walking around, I hear them sheathing and unsheathing their weapons on the floor below.
- The story is typical fantasy tripe, too convoluted, and not worth bothering to untangle.
- Broken quests. This happened twice for me. Both times the map pointed me back to locations I'd already finished (i.e., I had completed the objective there), and there was no way to continue.

It wasn't all bad, though. I did enjoy large portions of the game. It's a unique setting. I liked the main character. The game doesn't hold your hand. It has some puzzle elements you don't often find in RPGs. I can't recommend it, though, at least not on console.

Anderson said:

Much of this is probably restricted to the console version, but here's a list of my annoyances:
. . . . . . . . . .

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Wow, great list. I pretty much agree with all the things you picked out. For me however, I really liked what this game was trying to do and just went with it regardless of my having the exact same annoyances. I'm hoping these guys get a chance to do another RPG.

Dajjer said:

Wow, great list. I pretty much agree with all the things you picked out. For me however, I really liked what this game was trying to do and just went with it regardless of my having the exact same annoyances. I'm hoping these guys get a chance to do another RPG.

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I don't have the full point of view as I'm only close to finish first part but I'd say I disagree with many points of Anderson and agree with you, from what I have play I like a lot this game.

Some of the points I disagree with:

• Framerate: On my 5 years old PC medium settings, it's quite fine with medium graphic quality for a quality a bit higher than I usually target with more recent games. I couldn't use the low level graphic quality that cause flickering of shadows but medium setup is fine.
• 4 Quick slots: On PC there's 10.
• The map: Used it quite many times during this first part, outdoor and undeground or houses, and first time was perhaps wrong but all other time I got a nice map.
• Camera: Design tend use non large spaces, non large corridors, and so on. So yes I had to maneuvering more the cam but made it fine for exploring and during fights never feel it a problem to dodge and hit and follow what happen in the fight.
• Merge with door, I don't notice that often in the first part, perhaps once.
• When you emerge from a house the cam always take a point of view from outside so you see your character from the front not the back, well it's so systematic that it's easy to learn it. Backward to move forward and/or a cam turn, really a detail that didn't bother me.
• The sheath and unsheath story is for one place in the game… For enemies blocked, well in first part I haven't notice, seen it a lot more often in DKS or FNV.
• For the fights, I think they could be a bit slower, for now I haven't see much of them. But I do notice the design struggle well against frenetic clicking, a point which is a key to design good close range fighting. It's done first because enemy parry will break an aimlessly click feast, second through enemy counter attack, third moving is quite efficient against enemies attacks. But ok I have only see a little bit of fights yet.
• The story, nothing amazing but pleasant and I like the mood. I like the little bits like around the house in the woods. For first part, I felt the story events cool even if for some points you could argue about the realism.
• The broken quest story is about quest cursor, but for now I haven't seen the utility to use them. You can activate or not the quest cursors for each quest, I advise not activate them for any quest until totally blocked. And read the quest to know its state.

But yes this point of view is only after to have play only a small part of the game, the first part.

Now 9h of play, probably more 10h because of some reload, it's just great fun. If it's all along as good, it will be one of my top favorite. At least it got by storm FNV that I put back for later because I couldn't stop with Venetica.

I have only scratch a bit of Venice but I feel it will be the biggest town I ever seen in a modern RPG. Anyway it is great to explore even if for quests or at least some it makes difficult to follow and I will probably have to activate the pointer for some quests.

For me the fights are very fun I really like the dancing with opponents and regret the game let you too often to isolate some instead of forcing you fighting small groups. But at the point I am, I feel not far to master the technical and will probably need that the game makes one more step forward, perhaps through opponents or some more important skills.

The quality of exploration and little mid secrets of first area seems have been forgotten a bit in areas between first and Venice. But the place design is rather great, it's a constant pleasure and often amazement.

I also like follow the story and enjoy the less common approach of living world/non living or etheral world, including some special skills that seems adventure dedicated. I have no idea of the real consequences of choices the game seem offer but it's cool.

All in all, very special RPG, great gaming.