My opinion/review after several hours of play

[necromerlin]

Hello all,

Let me preface this by stating that:
a) I'm not trying to beat a dead horse here with any point I bring up, I have read the forums and I want to add my opinions in a consolidated view.
b) I understand this is in beta and I am very aware that this is a time consuming process
c) This will all be legitimate constructive criticism, i.e. no OMFG WTF!!!! Graphix Sux0rz

First off, I am completely in love with game. Right now it is raw and uncut but when this gem gets polished, oh boy is this gonna be one of the best games on the Market. I could type a novel on things that I love about this game, but that doesn't help make the game get better. So out of no disrespect....

I like many of us have been gaming for several decades now, I remember playing Shadowrun on my Genesis, so when something is difficult for me or I have a hard time grasping a mechanic, I assume that it is a hundred times more difficult for the casual player who might drop a flyer on the free version and never get to enjoy/appreciate the game/become a customer because they leave out of frustration.

First off is the different classes, they aren't that different yet lol. I have started both a Sniper and a CyberEx and they play exactly the same. I understand there is a lot that is not implemented in the game and I don't hold any faults there but maybe the starting equipment needs to vary.

I will use Shadowrun as the obvious comparison but it is the same in any rpg, (Mage starts with a staff and robe, Warrior starts with Sword and Shield).

A shaman started with a totem and a decker started with a cyberlink. This was most frustrating for me when I started my sniper. I had an idea how I wanted this character to play out and it involved having a sniper rifle. Well after finding a sniper rifle it was Y2400 and Y750 for ammo. That is a huge investment for a character who is a 'sniper.' So I had to drudge along with the dilemma, do I buy a better sidearm to survive and set me back further to getting my rifle or do I run from every encounter while doing fetch quests to get my rifle? It's very counter-intuitive.

From the gate a hacker should be able to plug into the data terminal and raise hell, the sniper should be able to snipe, etc etc

This brings me to my next point finding the sniper rifle. Wow it took some dedication to search every store to find that rifle. I understand how in NBZ this makes sense to have to search for the connections and the gear you want. For a casual player this becomes an exercise in futility. I'm not saying we need a giant flashing arrow with "best loot here" in the game, but maybe a forum sticky should be made of those gear spreadsheets I saw buried on pg 5 of the forums. That's helpful to new players and rewards them for seeking out help here on the forums.

Perhaps adding some sort of random stock that changes every 3 game days? So this dealer will always sell PistolX PistolY GloveA and Random.

Now for my biggest pet peeve. The streets faction. WHY IN MY STATUS SCREEN MUST I BE A [-16] Legendary Coward. I know why, because in trying to make yen to get my sniper rifle I was doing countless 2-bit jobs for Los Val. So why isn't my rep Member (10) on my status screen. No matter what zone I am in it always shows my Streets rep.

Do you know why this bothers me? Not because I'm -16 but because if I put myself in the shoes if my CK it makes no sense. If I started running jobs, it should be in the Streets I want to build up my rep in where the law is lawless. After I have rep I should have these other gangs and corps solicit me for jobs. Instead I start the game in Los Val territory with a Los Val fixer V-chip and need Y3000 to start sniping... and now the streets hate me and everywhere I go I'm branded as a legendary coward... not good for my earning potential as a CK. Now I'm not asking for everyone to love me (not when I'm stealing gigs of propriety weapons data for Mars and selling it to Az-Tek) but come on I don't want to be hated in the streets.

I hope you appreciate my feedback and it is helpful in some way. I am completely enamored with this game and look forward to being part of the CK community here from this day forward and providing any help or insight I can. Keep up the great work guys.

Necro

[Cory Trese]

We are working on the starting equipment stack for the character classes. There is a thread about it --I will find it and post the link in a bit. That thread can be used to register your suggestions for starting equipment loads. That includes the light rifle (not available yet, another issue) for the Sniper and the DataPort for the Hacker.

At this time character classes do not show the "special abilities" screen and everyone shoots like a gunslinger (aim vs. burst vs. supression) and everyone fights like a cybersword (position button.) We're working to get special abilities online as quickly as possible.

The display of Streets on Status is simply an oversight from a design revision we made during the first week of the release. Streets Reputation was functioning as "knight rep" but we promoted Streets to a full fledge faction. I just forgot to remove the display on the main status page.

I really appreciate the feedback and posts like this (full of suggestions and logic) are very useful.

[k0rd]

HI! Welcome to the forums

I just wanted to respond to your post. I have good news for you. Starting gear is pretty frequently talked about, and Cory is very aware that there really is no difference right now. I can promise you that it won't stay the way it is now; and that the starting equipment and skills will be assigned with balance in mind.
You'll find that the developers are very open to suggestions. andrew and cory, like us, actually enjoy games. Both old and new.

Now, what I *really* wanted to reply to was your comment regarding streets. I think that rep should certainly work a little different, but that might be because my understanding of streets is flawed. I think of them as the small, unaligned factions all piled up under one name. because of this, one unaligned citizen might feel *TOTALLY* different than another.
I think that it might be necessary to *have* a rep level assigned in that area - for base heat and such. Maybe something like hiding streets rep from the player would be sufficient to give them more of an appearance of unaligned people. Also, i think that a job from *any* faction might have a chance to change streets rep, for better or worse, depending on the morality of the job, not necessarily a faction. for instance, if people on the street don't like a killer - assassin jobs from any faction might piss streets off. if streets is anti-corp, making profit for the corps will piss them off. they shouldn't just be anti los-val, although i understand the need for faction balance. streets shouldn't work like everyone else though.

sorry, i think i'm ranting.

edit: sorry, i wrote this before i saw that cory had replied already.

[Cory Trese]

k0rd -- great post that brings up some interesting points. At this time the "Streets" faction is portrayed as a group of organize anti-corp / anti-establishment people who have "taken back" the zones they control.

In an effort to expand my design thinking about Faction Reputations we are treating "Streets" differently than "Independents" and augmenting the engine with several additional scales that will represent the "independent street people" and the reputation of the character.

In my Shadowrun GM days we tracked a number of different factors. Heat is the first and we're working to build the rest of the values into CK. Moving Streets out to a Faction was hopefully clearing the way for these additional metrics.