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Chaotic physics-based action RPG Eternal Strands just unveiled its roadmap, detailing plans for updates, adjustments and various free DLC packages all the way through to summer. But as noted by RPS, developer Yellow Brick Games also took the opportunity to address various complaints players have with the game. Some of these it is either fixing or has promised to fix, but in others its response has been a touch more defensive.
This is especially the case regarding character movement. “We heard your feedback about the sometimes ‘slippery’ feeling of Brynn’s movements in the game,” writes Yellow Brick. “Some of you have described that her walking/running felt a little bit too much like ‘skating’ and that the lack of precision could be frustrating at times.”
Which doesn’t sound ideal, to be honest, but Yellow Brick explains this is a consequence of Brynn’s movement being heavily physics based, much like the other systems in the game. “Much of how it feels is intended and attributable to how a 100% physics-based sandbox game like Eternal Strands is designed to work,” the studio says. “Being an object that reacts to the physics surrounding her, just like any other object in the world, means that her weight and inertia have an impact on her movement.” Consequently, Brynn “can take some time” to accelerate or decelerate, and her movement “can’t be as snappy or reactive as it is in games that rely on animation”.
The obvious unanswered question here is: why is Brynn’s movement physics based in the first instance? Sure, Yellow Brick mentions the whole game is heavily physics-based, but what advantage does that bring with regard to player movement. Or more specifically, what advantage does it bring that’s worth the tradeoff of it feeling less precise than conventional animations?
In any case, this question is rendered somewhat moot by Yellow Brick’s next point, where it says it has taken another pass at the movement anyway. “Based on your feedback, we did take a closer look at what we could change that might have an impact on movement precision”, Yellow Brick writes, adding that it “did indeed identify and make a few subtle but noticeable tweaks”. These include enhancing Brynn’s minimum acceleration and making direction changes “snappier”.
This isn’t the only change that the game’s incoming update will make. Combat has likewise been adjusted to be more responsive. Enemy reactions have been improved to add more “oomph”, while some abilities now cause even bigger reactions that “interrupt enemy attacks”. VFX for player strikes have similarly been “tweaked to be made more prominent”.
Outside of combat, Yellow Brick has also “removed the penalty for falling deaths” to stop players being punished by deadly plummets that are “entirely out of [their] control. Again though, Yellow Brick is a little bit defensive on this point. “When you add traversal magic to a physics-based game set in a high verticality world with giant enemies, lots of chaos ensues”, the studio writes, adding “that is definitely intended design.”
All these changes will be formally applied sometime in March. Looking further ahead, Eternal Strands has two free DLC packs coming over the next few months. Spring will bring new armour and weapon skins design in collaboration with Final Fantasy 14/16 concept artist Yusuke Mogi, alongside a new map and new magic power. After that, a summer patch will give players new “original content” developed in collaboration with Grasshopper Manufacture.
Despite the grumbling over its movement, Eternal Strands seems to have gone down well with players at large. The game currently rests at a “Very Positive” rating on Steam. PCG’s reviewer Kerry Brunskill was likewise impressed by Yellow Bricks’ action RPG. Indeed, her only real complaint was that she could have played a whole lot more of it: “Open-ended adventure games often leave me resenting their endless hamster wheels, smothering me with busywork for busywork’s sake. But the tight focus here, always offering specific tasks in well-defined locations that naturally led from one plot point to the next, meant I honestly didn’t want the game to end.”
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Kurt Indovina
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