Some points for the local gentlemen as Ive been playing the free alpha for a couple of days here and there. In terms of owlcat gaming, however one may define it, this combination is incline. The current state is in remarkably good shape in comparison to the wrathfinder alpha. These are template developers, when you go back and read the modules, they basically did literal translations of the source material. When I actually read the wrath module, I was physically disgusted by how gay it was. Faithfully, they translated it and the game was on the same level.
In this case, the souce material, while arguable, is still near unassailable in its depth, breadth, and lack of overt faggotry. Therefore, while fully expected to be snuck in somewhere in the final game, at this point there has been nothing to really speak of, which is shocking. There seems to be more writing in this game versus the others, and by their formulaic template are sticking very close to the source material, which makes it actually good. I haven't winced, cringed, or sneered which I mentally noted, as reading many parts of kingmaker and wrath were painful on my eyes and brain. It reads like 40k, and so by that measure, the writing is pretty successful at this point which is even more shocking to me.
Mechanically, its very close as well. The ship combats are pretty good because its basically a one to one translation right now, which does need to be tightened up quite a bit for the real time nature of it and hopefully expanded but it is enjoyable right now as a tabletop simulator. It is compelling. Parts of it are clearly based on their shit management system but it seems sufficiently differentiated that Im not becoming angry playing it.
Combat is quite different from the pathfinder rules and working really well actually. Its alot faster and more lethal. There is a fairly suitable amount of gibs. Skills and such are fairly confusing at this stage as the encyclopedia is there but largely incomplete. Itemization is fairly weak at this point, in comparison to everything else with very minor differences basically one or two points of damage on an upgraded weapon for instance. Its probably approximately around 30-40% of a game currently. Its crazy that companies can release things like this for money but it is what it is. There is a lot of work ahead on this and it could go either way but for whats there at this stage, it has a better than even chance of being good.
Agree with luj1 on artstyle and brightness. The deck of your ship is like the surface of the sun however, it is their best work overall to date in fairness. Work on lighting could easily take that edge off leaving the soft modeling to deal with but I have to say its the weakest part of the game. It does detract from the gameplay especially with any familiarity with it but its not gamebreaking in my regard. Im able to be annoyed and ignore it for the moment but I'll be looking to see what they do in this area for an actual release.
In short, I am cautiously optimistic which is strange. It seems to stick to the rulebooks and not fluff around. If they continue on this path and give attention to the areas that need it and tighten everything up appropriately, and not insert any bizarre degenerate sexual bullshit I might actually pay for this one. This is likely to be their best game and it goes back to their strict reliance on the source material. 40k is still cool where d&d has become faggy and unenjoyable.
