There are some obvious problems, I suppose pretty easily fixable:
1. The in-game text sticks together.
2. I keep trying to interact things with right-click, while I should have use "E".
It's probably just because I played Minecraft and Terraria, but still, even if it had been documented on the UI, the input method still feels unnecessarily complicated.
3. some sprites flash pixel gaps while camera moving.
And, there's some other problem, which won't be easy, and probably won't be popular opinion...
I might be wrong about the reason and the solution, but the feeling don't lie.
I'm going to just straightly say it. I don't feel this demo is fun.
(To prevent people thinking I will hate this kind of game no matter what: I love A Link to the past.)
As a guy that has a dream to create games with Godot, I would tear apart every aspect of the project just to see how everything work, because from a tech demo perspective, this is phenomenon.
But as a player, I can't even finish the demo in the first run.
I skipped a few dialogue, and after that, I'm stopped from exploring any part of the map expect the town, which really has nothing going on.
I kind of rage quit, but to wrote this comment, I opened the demo again and finish it, just to appropriately write this.
I'll start with the first NPC encounter.
The very annoying thing is, as soon as I take out the skeletons around her, it cuts.
It cuts to she and I stand in pre-determined positions, have a not-so-inspiring dialogue, and FORCES ME TO FOLLOW HER.
Can't it be like, if I don't, I have a relationship drop or something?
The map is already liner, I can only head to the town in the end. Why do I have to be chained onto the NPC I just met?
"Pre-determined" is the keyword here. I can't decide if I want to talk to her, I can't decide if I want to go in town, I can't decide if I want to go on my own, but I still have to follow her with my own hand...cutscene would actually be better I think. The only time these can be fun is LiSA that kind of game, not in an Open-World RPG.
Same thing happens later, again and again. I'm constantly put into situations where I have no choice but to perform what the game tells me to do. And the story...is at least not engaging enough for me to justify all of these.
The only freedom I have is how to approach combats...but I'm not rewarded for playing creative, so I just keep shooting, playing as safe as possible, which isn't very fun.
Sometimes there are interesting looking thing come in sight, but they don't do anything. It might just be worse then having nothing in the first place.
All the game elements doesn't feel cohesive at all.
The inventory system, the combat, the town, the story, the characters, feels like they just stack upon one another, to fulfill between whatever the game is truly about.
I know every feature is hand-coded, but it doesn't feel like it would make much difference if they're glued templates
The point is, the game feels very strict, yet I don't have the slightest idea what it want to say.
You meet NPCs because the game demands you, you build relationship by selecting the first option in the dialogue;
You meet events because someone told you to, and isn't even allow to do otherwise:
And the "Open word", is just bridges between events, no branching path, no hidden roads, generally offers no enjoyment to explore whatsoever.
What's the core experience? Are all these really necessary?
I mean I can enjoy any part of it, but not when they are trying to get themselves screen time, and kind of killing each other.
When everything is important, nothing is.
I know this is just a demo, but a demo is supposed to represent the overall goal of the project. (I mean, this is probably the tutorial, but still.)
If the final product offer the same kind of feedback loop, where I just stump upon pre-determined non-inspiring events one after another, I'll probably quit before any fun really starts to pick up.
I'll buy it regardless, but I'd more appreciate a game that has a clearer theme.