u/Zeetoois

I know there have been tons of posts about The Lore™️ in TaN, but I want to talk about the gameplay/mechanical bits and the changes that have been made.

First off, the text speed options are awesome. The "fast but not instantaneous" option is my optimal speed, and I'm glad that all 3 options exist. It's a little thing, but the quality it adds is massive. No notes here; excellent change!

The changes to the leveling system (at least for the demo) are also great. It's nice to see how leveling up Skills/Passions works, even if it's not exactly how it ends up in the final game version. Also, AK's "double it ot halve it" game dev philosophy was cool to witness in real time. I'm sure the numbers will change again before the final version hits us, but I imagine/hope it's providing helpful data. It's also fun being able to dip Spencer's toes into a bunch of different skills. Smart demo design, imo.

I'm a bit torn on Footnotes. As a returning player, I adore them, and they are simply oozing with lore and flavor, especially the ones from Spencer's Memories. However, it was easy to get bogged down in them the second I stepped into the world, and I spent the first 10 or so minutes of gameplay just reading Footnotes and making choices that I didn't necessarily fully understand. On the flip side, my wife (who is relatively unfamiliar with SH lore) rarely engaged with them so she could "actually play the game." I think this could create a problem for those who want to get the experience from the choices presented in Footnotes but who may be unfamiliar with the setting. They may bog down gameplay and/or overwhelm new-to-setting players rather than clarifying. But maybe it will add to the mystique of the world? I imagine it is a difficult balance to strike.

The updates to the character controls have also been great. Being able to zoom out and pan away from Spencer to select a place to move to is very much appreciated, and it saves me from having to spam-click to get Spencer where I need him to go. However, I still think more options could help. As much as I appreciate the Spencer walking animations, I think being able to toggle running to "always on" would be handy. As is, I struggle to determine what makes Spencer run vs just walk. Sometimes he will start walking from a great distance, and I'll have to double click just so he doesn't spend two minutes slowly ambulating across the map. Other times he sprints across a small room to look at a painting. I can understand walking in small spaces or even in key scenes >!such as the Aubiere dream sequence!<, and I understand the lore/vibe reason behind it (Spencer is a gentleman and would not be sprinting everywhere). But I do think that gameplay could be improved/less bogged down with a toggle-to-run option, even if the "vibes" take a hit.

Overall, it's awesome to see AK and Lottie so involved in the demo process: seeing what works and what doesn't, listening to feedback, and making changes. It's awesome how improved/polished the demo has gotten after just about a month of feedback. I can't wait to see the final product!

Hey guys! Some of you may have hit the point in Firmament where you need 10 >!Sausage About Which No One Complains!<. This is problematic in that these are slow/difficult to obtain without >!Mutersalt!<. PSA: when I woke up this morning, the story now requires 10 >!Parabolan Orange Apples!< instead. Just in case people were grinding for the first item!