The Broken Seal - VR Gameplay HTC Vive
27Is The Broken Seal a hidden gem or should we go ahead and seal it back up?
Personally, I was really surprised by The broken seal. You look at the Steam trailer and it looks like it's going to be a small half finished indie title but it was actually pretty well done. There are obvious deficits but we'll get to those later.
The Broken Seal felt like I stepped into the weird, low res baby that resulted from the illicit indulgences of Diablo, WoW, Darkfall and a Vive. And there's absolutely nothing wrong with that!
Combat felt good. There was no waggle to win. No enemies impaled themselves on my sword. None of the BS I usually expect out of an indie title like this. They took care when developing the combat system. Which makes sense since that's where we'll be spending most of our in game time! Not only that but weapons had collision with each other, meaning that you're not bound to a shield if you're not the sword and board type. You can absolutely parry blows if you're fast enough!
I want to say again. The combat feels good. The AI might be a bit derpy but I didn't make it out of the starting zone. Hopefully enemies get craftier on later maps but for what I played. The combat really did feel good.
Casting spells was satisfying. The voice recognition worked more than I expected it to. Most of the failures I think were my fault for clipping the beginning or the end of my spell off by not holding the trigger long enough or not giving it enough time after I pulled the trigger. Like pressing the Google button on your phone and trying to talk before it's actually listening and you end up with a mangled sentence. Other than that, my spells felt powerful. I didn't feel like I couldn't play a pure mage but at the same time I also couldn't waste my mana. It seemed like a decent balance but I'd need to play further to really comment on that accurately.
Ultimately though, the game was just fun. I enjoyed myself while I ran around and explored a new world. I reveled in that same feeling I had exploring my first MMO. It was both nostalgic and new and exciting.
Teleporters can rejoice. There is teleportation and you can pick it without moving an inch.
Trackpad locomoters can rejoice. Trackpad locomotion is the default for the game
TBS claims to provide up to 40 hours of gameplay as well as offering multiplayer capabilities which I imagine would stretch out that 40 hours even more as long as there is the population to support it. If that's accurate then I think you're likely to get your $24.99s worth.
So far this month we've seen two updates from the devs and close to a dozen more when the game was still in EA. I hope the devs continue to support the title because there are a few things that need work.
Which is a good segue into the not so good...
The sound effects need some work. Some sounds are just too loud or frequent. They don't seem to have been balanced correctly. The giant thing I fought had loud booming footsteps that were just too loud and booming to the point of feeling out of place. The sword swings felt as though the velocity to produce them was far too low. Any movement while walking triggered the sound. Likewise the goblin chatter seemed a bit too chatty and a little on the annoying side.
Graphically the game isn't going to win any awards. That being said, neither will Minecraft and people still play the hell out of that. Graphics don't equal quality gameplay however I think the current graphical state of the game is going to be a barrier to sales.
Some of the UI elements could use a bit more explanation at the start. They make sense once you figure them out, you just need something there to show you where/what they are. IE: shops, your inventory, swapping gear, etc... This is something I'm told that they're working on for the next patch.
The English translation is a bit rough. Most of the quests I saw were short one liners so it's not too big of an issue but it might bug some. I personally like some story with my slaughter but I didn't mind the directness of the quests. Still more dialog with a better translation would be nice.
The bow mechanics are the not so great arrow hand doesn't impact aim mechanics. This is another thing I'm told is being improved in the next patch. For me, this makes the bows useless atm. I hate this bow mechanic. It's horrible.
One thing I didn't mention in my video. I didn't see a way to have your left hand be your main hand so lefties, sorry, you got play as a righty if you want to sword and board or use a staff.
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