Time has come to share my first impressions :
- Of the motherfucking Arts.
What ITS gave the colonists access to is a solid build. Instantly we can see how its still made with love and passion.
The music first. It's simple, first time I launched this combat demo, I stayed on the Main Screen and listen too a strong Main Theme. I would say better than AoD ones, even its own Intro too made by Lind Erebros. I listened to it for about 10min. It fits exactly like it should be : the particularly claustrophobic spatial atmosphere of a colony ship. The Exploration soundtrack fits well the game. Welcome on board Colonists.
The graphics are there too. Forget the old Torque and welcome the new Engine... Assets are great and yet still WIP. With the graphics come the ITS' slide style. I'm feeling at home with this combat demo. More DRish than AoDish, full screen, Mazin's artwork on the right. The death screen is just so fucking brillant. A very good choice of picture. For now, just one text to come with the death since it's not the priority here. The portraits? No reason to change! Still neat and top notch. I once meet a missing portrait bug during a dialog, but a reload fixed that.
The UI : I like it. Good choice of colors IMHO. New design, so got to use to it, although it's almost the same column system as in DR character sheet. Those who are more used to the AoD one may feel confused for a time. I also like a lot the new fonts. I assume less scaling issues with this new engine this time, texts should be readable for any hardware, even the ultramodern resolutions, right?
Remember how some texts could be not properly displayed for lowest resolutions users in AoD sheets? As a WIP, all QoL shortcuts are not yet implemented.
The animations. I'm no longer worried. Big up to the new animator and more Ises to Ivan too. Can't say who did what. The finish moves are still missing sadly, but then I don't expect them to be as spectacular as those of AoD when it's mostly about gunfights. Who know, maybe some bloody explosion? Also love how the energy shield is animated and how the 3D models are animated. 3D models are more detailled, better textures. Add a stronger zoom-dezoom so you can even admire your fancy gun in hand or the overall environnement when in need of a tactical point of view.
Considering how everything is still some WIP, your colonist can only be pleased. Can't wait to see the final work.
- Of the Mechanics.
Fun, lots of fun, more lots of fun. Ranged combat is solid, reminds me some DR situations when you have to keep your distance with some ennemies. IMHO, the best improvement is the armor system. It works as AoD/DR should work : for each aimed attack fits a piece of armor, now including legs and arms. In AOD & DR, the Damage Resistance was only calculed from the same armor, weither the arms, the body or the legs are aimed. So now, the DR range is more accurate depending which part of the body the shooter attacks and what piece of armor the defenser wears. And it works in both direction. Well done! That's also why I'm also confident here, the damage range seems respected if you're used to the AoD/DR one. Definitly feels at home.
'Wait' option is no longer available. Replaced by a reaction bonus based on the APs the character still has when he ends his turn, so that it can allow him to shoot an approaching enemy (provided your weapon isn't empty), the new "Interrupt" ability I would say.
Concerning the balance, I didn't go too far, only tried a pistolero build, so I can't speak yet about that point.
No weight system now, so no overloaded malus too. Hope it's planned for later.
That's all for now. Globally, it's a well polished combat demo, very enjoyable. ITS already conquered a niche with AoD. In a near futur, they might conquer a world with their Colony Ship RPG