crpgnut
Augur
I had a two day layoff from Prelude and attempted to get back into it last night. I'm at
the entrance to the Barrier and I just can't seem to get motivated enough to finish the game. I think I know the reason why and I'll try to explain. In the beginning of the game
you really don't know what all the skills are about. It's exciting to see what nature does exactly, the difference between a 10 barter skill and a 20 barter skill, etc. By the time you reach the Barrier you're fully aware of what the skills do, no reason to continue
based on that. In the beginning you really don't know how many creatures there are or the best way to fight them. By now though, I'm aware that the game is basically 500 combats with bandits with the occasional lupin, cave dweller, river dragon thrown in.
There may be some more interesting combats with tougher creatures but I've fought
all of the basic types for the most part. There really is only a handful of monster types in the whole game. No reason to continue based on that. In the beginning of the game, the plot is surrounded in mystery and you don't have a clue what's going on. But now I pretty much know and it's just a matter of following a very linear path to reach the end of the game. The magic system in games is very important to me. The magic system in
Prelude is very simplistic. You get three extremely similar spells every so often as the game progresses as a flame mage. In the goddess realm you get both slow and root, which do almost exactly the same thing. Root is slow, but better. Thaumaturges get
spells that enchant things for a very short duration. Been there, done that.
The only real reason to keep playing is for the quests. They have been uniformly interesting til now. I'm sure that the remaining quests are just as interesting. I have
a feeling that there might be a real dungeon in the game before the end too. Unfortunately, I'm not going to have the staying power to reach it. I thought that the
Citadel sewers was going to be a dungeon, but it was just a few minimal combats
and almost no treasure. You didn't learn any grand plot designs. I think I miss exploring the most in the game. There's nothing to explore outside of the cities. The landscape is
empty except for dungeons that are mentioned in one of the towns. Again these are extremely small affairs too. Maybe 2-3 rooms at the most.
I got my money's worth out of this game, easily. It has some interesting ideas and
some great quests. My suggestions for the next game would be to move things
out of the cities a lot more. It seems like 90% of the game is played within the confines
of the towns and cities. Make the nature skill be like the description. Make finding herbs and making potions a viable way to earn money. Give our characters a reason to wander the wilderness. There should be bandit hideouts galore, with gold and treasure to be found. Beef up the spell system. I have a character that at the beginning of the game can do 5-7 points of damage with the flame snake spell. I played him up to level 53 in the skill and it still only does about 11-13 damage. I need more progress than that.
I'd rather see bigger combats where my mage gets a chance to take out several foes with one spell. On a similar note, give the bandits some healers and mages too. In 1.41 the bandits were given more bows, now balance them the rest of the way. A high level slow spell should effect an area instead of one foe. What about mass healing? If I could heal one guy at level 10 in a skill shouldn't I be able to heal 4 at level 40? These are just a few ideas. Improve barter, music and stealth so that they have more meaning. Music has got to be the most useless skill in the game. Add magical instruments that slow foes, bless party members or do damage. Music will be viable then. Barter need to go up much faster and there should be high level potions and armors to buy. How about 5000 gold piece Ornate Plate of the Goddess. Make Thaumaturgy enchantments permanent at the
cost of an attribute point. That'd be cool.
Don't take this as a negative post. I loved the game for quite a while. I will still try to encourage people to play it. It has some good foundations. I am looking forward to
Prelude 2 and I may go back and finish this some day. It just lost its appeal in the long run to me. SP, Maced, Vault Dweller and others have fun. I hope you finish the game.
the entrance to the Barrier and I just can't seem to get motivated enough to finish the game. I think I know the reason why and I'll try to explain. In the beginning of the game
you really don't know what all the skills are about. It's exciting to see what nature does exactly, the difference between a 10 barter skill and a 20 barter skill, etc. By the time you reach the Barrier you're fully aware of what the skills do, no reason to continue
based on that. In the beginning you really don't know how many creatures there are or the best way to fight them. By now though, I'm aware that the game is basically 500 combats with bandits with the occasional lupin, cave dweller, river dragon thrown in.
There may be some more interesting combats with tougher creatures but I've fought
all of the basic types for the most part. There really is only a handful of monster types in the whole game. No reason to continue based on that. In the beginning of the game, the plot is surrounded in mystery and you don't have a clue what's going on. But now I pretty much know and it's just a matter of following a very linear path to reach the end of the game. The magic system in games is very important to me. The magic system in
Prelude is very simplistic. You get three extremely similar spells every so often as the game progresses as a flame mage. In the goddess realm you get both slow and root, which do almost exactly the same thing. Root is slow, but better. Thaumaturges get
spells that enchant things for a very short duration. Been there, done that.
The only real reason to keep playing is for the quests. They have been uniformly interesting til now. I'm sure that the remaining quests are just as interesting. I have
a feeling that there might be a real dungeon in the game before the end too. Unfortunately, I'm not going to have the staying power to reach it. I thought that the
Citadel sewers was going to be a dungeon, but it was just a few minimal combats
and almost no treasure. You didn't learn any grand plot designs. I think I miss exploring the most in the game. There's nothing to explore outside of the cities. The landscape is
empty except for dungeons that are mentioned in one of the towns. Again these are extremely small affairs too. Maybe 2-3 rooms at the most.
I got my money's worth out of this game, easily. It has some interesting ideas and
some great quests. My suggestions for the next game would be to move things
out of the cities a lot more. It seems like 90% of the game is played within the confines
of the towns and cities. Make the nature skill be like the description. Make finding herbs and making potions a viable way to earn money. Give our characters a reason to wander the wilderness. There should be bandit hideouts galore, with gold and treasure to be found. Beef up the spell system. I have a character that at the beginning of the game can do 5-7 points of damage with the flame snake spell. I played him up to level 53 in the skill and it still only does about 11-13 damage. I need more progress than that.
I'd rather see bigger combats where my mage gets a chance to take out several foes with one spell. On a similar note, give the bandits some healers and mages too. In 1.41 the bandits were given more bows, now balance them the rest of the way. A high level slow spell should effect an area instead of one foe. What about mass healing? If I could heal one guy at level 10 in a skill shouldn't I be able to heal 4 at level 40? These are just a few ideas. Improve barter, music and stealth so that they have more meaning. Music has got to be the most useless skill in the game. Add magical instruments that slow foes, bless party members or do damage. Music will be viable then. Barter need to go up much faster and there should be high level potions and armors to buy. How about 5000 gold piece Ornate Plate of the Goddess. Make Thaumaturgy enchantments permanent at the
cost of an attribute point. That'd be cool.
Don't take this as a negative post. I loved the game for quite a while. I will still try to encourage people to play it. It has some good foundations. I am looking forward to
Prelude 2 and I may go back and finish this some day. It just lost its appeal in the long run to me. SP, Maced, Vault Dweller and others have fun. I hope you finish the game.