KickStarter Underworld Ascendant is a disaster

[Thal]

This isn't the whole game, is it? I mean in terms of environments and locations. Aren't there lots of environments missing like giant caves with different fauna & flora or so? (I'm not talking of the usual repetitive corridors and small rooms). Or is that really it?

The streamer glitches the game somehow at 13:20 mark, allowing him to bypass a large part of the game.

 

[V_K]

This isn't the whole game, is it?

He clearly uses a glitch to fall through scenery to the final level.
That said, given the lack of diversity in enemies I somehow doubt there's much of it in temrs of environments.

 

[Fedora Master]

I thought it was 21 HOURS. "That's not exactly a speed run is it?"
Oh, it's 21 minutes.

 

[theSavant]

Ah yes, I remember that glitch. But if you can skip huge parts of the game like that... does that mean the final section is in the same world space? That would probably explain the abysmal performance... when everything is in the same level. Unity is not optimized for that.

 

[BEvers]

No, it's all portals. They just put a rock in front of the portal to the endgame, and he glitched through it.

 

[Curratum]

Ah yes, I remember that glitch. But if you can skip huge parts of the game like that... does that mean the final section is in the same world space? That would probably explain the abysmal performance... when everything is in the same level. Unity is not optimized for that.

There is a long static loading screen, I dunno if everything exists within the same global space, and if it did, they would have made it interconnected, which they said they couldn't do due to performance issues.

 

[Nyast]

I'm trying hard not to spoil myself with the look of the final boss, because I think one thing they've done well is his scary voice taunting you all the time, Guardian-style.

But considering the look of the Saurians, I am scared. I truely am.

 

[Curratum]

I did not see a final boss in this speedrun. Might have been that he didn't trigger the spawn through glitches, but I'm fairly certain Typhon as shown in the concept artwork is not modelled as an ingame enemy.

 

[Child of Malkav]

Well the voice of Typhon is good. It scared me at first but that might have also been because the volume was maxed.

 

[Max Heap]

I'm starting to think this games is a big practical joke.

Holy fucking hell, i thought the first two levels were bad but Titans Reach? That's a whole other dimension!
The environmental design and exploration can be interesting at some points, but you know what? That won't do a damn thing if your framerate drops to literally 3 fps. Which is constantly the case in Titans Reach as soon as something goes up in flames, cause the whole damn level is filled with wood.
Then again it also drops to lower fps if I cautiously avoid setting anything on fire. Maybe the enemies do it by accident? I don't know. All I know is that fps are completely fucked in that level and since apparently the Devs weren't clever enough to put their main control logic into the fixed update method of their unity scripts (the one that's ALWAYS executed no matter what the frames are) half the character controls start breaking.

Also a bunch of X-crossed wooden planks can't be destroyed and if you crawl under them you die. Which is kind of a problem in Titans Reach cause you gotta pass some of those planks to get to the Arcaneum. You can slide under them somehow, but that only works if the fps play along, which most of the time isn't the case.

I somehow managed to do it and fucking finally I'm in the arcaneum. I jump into the water and..... nothing. A bright grayish screen. I could still access my inventory but nothing else worked anymore, so I had to reload and of course that sets back the silver sappling and now I have to go to the Arcaneum again. Then again, I don't even know if I gotta go there. Cause the mission I'm doing revolves around retrieving a SINGLE OBJECT FROM THIS VAST LEVEL.

Now technically that wouldn't be a problem, but the game gives you NOTHING. And I'm not asking for questmarkers or anything, but for example in Morrwoind, when you're asked to get the Dwemer puzzle box, they at least tell you which dungeon it is in! You are not sent out into the world with no indication where to look. UA tells you NOTHING about the items you should find. And you know why? Probably because the spawn of that fucking item (the mace of disruption by the way) is randomized! So it could be anywhere! Which is a LOT of places at 3 fps!

This game. I'm telling you, goddamn.....

 

[Curratum]

I watched a guy stream that level yesterday. He spent 15 minutes trying to set fire to the X-shaped wooden beams, then somehow glitched under them. Game is just...

Why would your fire engine work on 95% of all wood, but not on this particular fucking X-shape?

 

[Bocian]

Jesus christ, you can see the sheer despair in their eyes and hear the sadness in their voices.

I don't see any sadness or despair here - only smugness. "Yeah, guys, keep the feedback coming, surely we're going to do something about it, totally, for real. :^)".

He's setting himself up for a fall, because every stream I've watched turns into a glitch-ridden laugh-along fest some 40 minutes in.

Admirable, I get sick of this "man" after less than 5 minutes.

 

[Tito Anic]

God, i hate modern cartoonish graphics. All Unity games have same sterile, soulless look; be it Pathfinder or Underworld. Same ...fucking ...pallete.

 

[Max Heap]

Alright....

So I searched the Arcaneum at 3 fps average and I ended up in the underwater section, which was interesting, cause I could walk in it just fine. I went up some stairs and suddenly I was swimming. I pressed myself "underwater" again by swimming against the slope of the staircases ceiling.
So then I was walking again and searching the area. I took a leap of faith down a hole with pipes, just to land in an unfinished area I couldn't get out of. My assumption is that you can lower the water level below the staircase but not below the pipes.
So there i was stuck with no way of killing myself/respawning.

At least I believe so. Maybe I could have cast poison on myself (whyever that is a feature - but it helped A LOT so far to get out of glitched areas), but you know what?

FUCK IT!
Fuck that mace.
And fuck the expedition!
And fuck this god damn game!

After 150 (!!!!!) minutes I aborted that mission like a disease ridden fetus.
Cause that's what this game is. It's not even in its infancy!

Even the mission description "Retreive the mace of disruption" has a typo in it!

This game is an absolute disaster. And now it went from funny, to annoying, to outright enraging.
Maybe I can finish this absolute mess without glitching into the last area and at the same time never visit Titan's Reach again.
Though I doubt it.

 

[DJOGamer PT]

Isn't it great when every single object in the world is physics based??

It is.

Spoiler

You can them use the updrafts of the fire with the glider to ''fly''.

The trick is, that the developers need to be wary of that element when designing the game and the physics need to be well optimized.

 

[Nyast]

I did not see a final boss in this speedrun. Might have been that he didn't trigger the spawn through glitches, but I'm fairly certain Typhon as shown in the concept artwork is not modelled as an ingame enemy.

Wait what lol ? That can't be ? Well I hope that's just this speedrun, and they've made something for the final vilain. Otherwise... what's the point ?

 

[Nyast]

I'm starting to think this games is a big practical joke.

Holy fucking hell, i thought the first two levels were bad but Titans Reach? That's a whole other dimension!
The environmental design and exploration can be interesting at some points, but you know what? That won't do a damn thing if your framerate drops to literally 3 fps. Which is constantly the case in Titans Reach as soon as something goes up in flames, cause the whole damn level is filled with wood.
Then again it also drops to lower fps if I cautiously avoid setting anything on fire. Maybe the enemies do it by accident? I don't know. All I know is that fps are completely fucked in that level and since apparently the Devs weren't clever enough to put their main control logic into the fixed update method of their unity scripts (the one that's ALWAYS executed no matter what the frames are) half the character controls start breaking.

Also a bunch of X-crossed wooden planks can't be destroyed and if you crawl under them you die. Which is kind of a problem in Titans Reach cause you gotta pass some of those planks to get to the Arcaneum. You can slide under them somehow, but that only works if the fps play along, which most of the time isn't the case.

I somehow managed to do it and fucking finally I'm in the arcaneum. I jump into the water and..... nothing. A bright grayish screen. I could still access my inventory but nothing else worked anymore, so I had to reload and of course that sets back the silver sappling and now I have to go to the Arcaneum again. Then again, I don't even know if I gotta go there. Cause the mission I'm doing revolves around retrieving a SINGLE OBJECT FROM THIS VAST LEVEL.

Now technically that wouldn't be a problem, but the game gives you NOTHING. And I'm not asking for questmarkers or anything, but for example in Morrwoind, when you're asked to get the Dwemer puzzle box, they at least tell you which dungeon it is in! You are not sent out into the world with no indication where to look. UA tells you NOTHING about the items you should find. And you know why? Probably because the spawn of that fucking item (the mace of disruption by the way) is randomized! So it could be anywhere! Which is a LOT of places at 3 fps!

This game. I'm telling you, goddamn.....

You've made it as far as I did. And I have the same problems.

I'm on a mission to retrieve a Thor Hammer from this vast level, with no indication where it can be. The amount of multiple floors and verticality is impressive, but you don't even get a hint on the sub-area where it could be.

That wouldn't be an issue if the game was technically sound, but at low fps, with glitched AI, and especially the water level that seems to do stuff randomly ( a part of the level seems flooded, but clearly you're supposed to be able to go there, you can see stairs and stuff underneath, I suspect the item could be there, but you can't swim/dive so wtf ), I'm completely at a loss on how to progress further.

 

[BEvers]

Somebody is claiming that Steam granted him a refund with 8 hours played

https://steamcommunity.com/app/692840/discussions/0/3020122487778165959/?ctp=2#c3020122487780245073

I bet the Kickstarter backers wish they could get one too

 

[Curratum]

Another version of the speedrun is up. I still maintain that this game does not have an ingame entity for its big bad.

 

[BEvers]

The big bad seems to be located at the bottom of a chasm, and the game doesn't let you see all the way to the bottom.

 

[Max Heap]

I'm starting to think this games is a big practical joke.

Holy fucking hell, i thought the first two levels were bad but Titans Reach? That's a whole other dimension!
The environmental design and exploration can be interesting at some points, but you know what? That won't do a damn thing if your framerate drops to literally 3 fps. Which is constantly the case in Titans Reach as soon as something goes up in flames, cause the whole damn level is filled with wood.
Then again it also drops to lower fps if I cautiously avoid setting anything on fire. Maybe the enemies do it by accident? I don't know. All I know is that fps are completely fucked in that level and since apparently the Devs weren't clever enough to put their main control logic into the fixed update method of their unity scripts (the one that's ALWAYS executed no matter what the frames are) half the character controls start breaking.

Also a bunch of X-crossed wooden planks can't be destroyed and if you crawl under them you die. Which is kind of a problem in Titans Reach cause you gotta pass some of those planks to get to the Arcaneum. You can slide under them somehow, but that only works if the fps play along, which most of the time isn't the case.

I somehow managed to do it and fucking finally I'm in the arcaneum. I jump into the water and..... nothing. A bright grayish screen. I could still access my inventory but nothing else worked anymore, so I had to reload and of course that sets back the silver sappling and now I have to go to the Arcaneum again. Then again, I don't even know if I gotta go there. Cause the mission I'm doing revolves around retrieving a SINGLE OBJECT FROM THIS VAST LEVEL.

Now technically that wouldn't be a problem, but the game gives you NOTHING. And I'm not asking for questmarkers or anything, but for example in Morrwoind, when you're asked to get the Dwemer puzzle box, they at least tell you which dungeon it is in! You are not sent out into the world with no indication where to look. UA tells you NOTHING about the items you should find. And you know why? Probably because the spawn of that fucking item (the mace of disruption by the way) is randomized! So it could be anywhere! Which is a LOT of places at 3 fps!

This game. I'm telling you, goddamn.....

You've made it as far as I did. And I have the same problems.

I'm on a mission to retrieve a Thor Hammer from this vast level, with no indication where it can be. The amount of multiple floors and verticality is impressive, but you don't even get a hint on the sub-area where it could be.

That wouldn't be an issue if the game was technically sound, but at low fps, with glitched AI, and especially the water level that seems to do stuff randomly ( a part of the level seems flooded, but clearly you're supposed to be able to go there, you can see stairs and stuff underneath, I suspect the item could be there, but you can't swim/dive so wtf ), I'm completely at a loss on how to progress further.

I aborted this mess of a mission just to be greeted by another three "retrieve object X from this level" missions on the mission board. Now I'm in Tyball's Folly and it's the same shit again. Except that the map performs slightly better so far. I still have no idea where the item could be.

 

[BEvers]

I aborted this mess of a mission just to be greeted by another three "retrieve object X from this level" missions on the mission board. Now I'm in Tyball's Folly and it's the same shit again. Except that the map performs slightly better so far. I still have no idea where the item could be.

I saw a streamer who found his quest item in a random-looking container next to the level entrance. I suspect those side quest items might be randomly placed.

It might be worth checking if you can just go to the first chest you find in the level, and save/load until it contains the quest item.

 

[Max Heap]

I just aborted the mission again.
Fuck those missions.

I went for the Key retrieval mission in upper erebus. At least that one tells you where to look.

 

[Gord]

I think if you haven't discovered the area of the mission item yet, it will be highlighted on the map. Only the general area, though. You still need to search around there.

 

[razvedchiki]

so is the game good?