Ara: History Untold
- Thread starter Vandlys
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fjaoaoaoao
Chieftain
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my reaction, not too much new but I am a little distracted today and want to comment as I watched:
- both hosts played the demo
- one of the hosts opened, talking so much about potentially "losing his life" playing this game for too many hours
- I didn't know Debra Wilson is a narrator
- they talked a lot about how newcomers might approach the game
- i'm curious to see the # of different items/amenities you can craft. Gabriela discussed how a player really wanted to create a very french-centric experience and was able to do that in large part through the crafting
- one of the hosts in the demo had 3 countries declare war on them in 30 minutes and lost
- some leaders are better at early game
- Gabriela always talks about how the prestige system is so unique in this game but it's not really
but i do enjoy that she is stanning it as a dev.- i've also found they do this for a lot of things across interviews like simultaneous turns and living world lol
- they all are a big fan of the narrative events. my suggestion: it would be nice if there was a diary of narrative events. 4x games often have these narrative events but in many of them, it feels they don't really matter since they are so haphazard about random things and just result in some random gameplay numerical effects.
- Brian said something like "you can get super deep into the simulation of the game... but you don't have to" (not exactly sure what this means)
- single player is supposed to be the same as multiplayer experience, just with friends
- UI design was considered so that you can make your turns quickly with a turn timer while still getting a lot of information, such as in narrative events
- I also heard about this elsewhere but the AI take over if someone drops out in multiplayer is cool. more games should do this.
- Gabriela talked about anthropological and sociological patterns, in adjacency to history. For me, that really comes through a lot of these games even if its not explicitly said by a lot of these games.
- Brian (as a Microsoft exec) talked about how super excited they are to support the game. They've been working with Insiders/community and only expect it to continue. More leaders, and Brian is specifically excited for this because they really like that leaders introduce new playstyles. Mod support soon.
- Re-iterated that they've worked with historians, some of who've worked on games previously.
- Gabriela was really happy with the collaboration with Microsoft/Xbox.
- They are trying to be as broadly available to gamers across the planet, Microsoft a global company! Also so many languages localized!
- As a new IP -> took inspo from so many different sources! "Unique stories to tell" while also "building on the most loved parts of the genre".
PMF
Chieftain
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I've heard word from the discord (Frogboy) that they already have updates in progress for a global crafting UI (to reduce micromanaging every single workshop, for example) and for AI improvements. They had to lock the updates down a month early for translating into 26(!) languages and didn't want to put out a last-minute update that causes obscure crashes or things like that. such is game development....
KayAU
Emperor
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That's awesome, the crafting micro was my main "worry" about the game, and I think a global UI was a feature I asked for (along with many others, I'm sure).
Don't get me wrong, the micromanagement did not prevent me from enjoying the game, it's just something I could see getting tedious in the long run.
kaspergm
Deity
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I'm curious about this game, but I can't quite decide if it's for me or not. I'm not completely sold on the art in second half of the game, specifically how it looks like the entire map get's covered in what is more or less one continuous city or settlement. Can anybody tell me, am I doing the game injustice here? I'm talking about pictures like this:
Even mid-game, I get the feeling the entire map is getting covered in settlements:
Spoiler :
Even mid-game, I get the feeling the entire map is getting covered in settlements:
Spoiler :
PMF
Chieftain
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- Mar 25, 2012
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If it helps, there was a video someone released this morning of a full playthrough, and I tried to scan around for timestamps that might help show what the situation is in-game for you.
- A view of a city or two of the player's and how the city sprawl looks in the final act:
- A big view of the map in the final act (re: concern of the whole map being fully covered in settlements/cities)
I can't say for sure if it's what you'd like to see, but I hope it's helpful!
KayAU
Emperor
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I've only played the first act (several times), but in my games, I felt there was a pleasing amount of space in between cities. Some were closer together, some where further apart, which is natural. I'm not a fan of extreme urban sprawl myself, and I think Humankind is a good example of what I don't like to see.
I do think you will be able to customize Ara to your liking. It has a "city cap", which goes up as you unlock more advanced governments and such. It's not a hard cap, but it means there is a pacing mechanism to encourage picking good city spots, rather than just filling in every blank space with cities. You can also choose map size and number of players, which, combined with the city cap, means you have a decent amount of control over city density. As for the cities themselves, I think the maximum radius is about 3 regions. This is not small, but it's also not like the merged continent-spanning cities of Humankind.
You may be basing your judgement too much off of how cities work in Civ. The "settlements" in your screenshots are only one city each, cities are just a lot larger than in Civ, and you have fewer of them. There should still be plenty of rural land or wilderness, and since the game supports up to 32 empires on one map, you can simply turn down the number of opponents if you want a less crowded world.
KayAU
Emperor
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Small correction: it's 36.
I was going around saying 34 myself, but it apparently is 36. It's pretty crazy.
FishFishFish
Warlord
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It is a small thing, but Harun al-Rashid gets 3 different outfit colors but none of them are black. 
Black was the official color of the Abbasids. Black clothes were the sign of their revolution against the Umayyads and wearing black was a sign of allegiance towards the Abbasids. al-Mansur even created a tradition where administrators and high officials wore black robes for ceremonial affairs and events. I am a little sad we don't get the Abbasid Caliph in black.
Black was the official color of the Abbasids. Black clothes were the sign of their revolution against the Umayyads and wearing black was a sign of allegiance towards the Abbasids. al-Mansur even created a tradition where administrators and high officials wore black robes for ceremonial affairs and events. I am a little sad we don't get the Abbasid Caliph in black.
Looks like no Earth map with TSL in original game mode
might have to wait until mods are enabled and our talented friends can help
Apparently they are aware and working on it or making it easier to create.
Based on the gameplay and reviews, this game seems more of a city-builder than a 4x game. The focus seems to be on managing resource chains and making your cities good while interaction with other empires is secondary. It's not necessarily good or bad, but it gameplay reminds me more of anno than civ.
It has elements of Civ, Anno, Victoria and several other games. Since I love all those games, this is right up my alley.
I am sure that diplomacy will improve over time as people echo what you have said in their feedback.
ggmoyang
Emperor
Screenshot of every leader traits: https://www.si.com/videogames/guides/ara-history-untold-all-civilizations-and-leaders
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When looking at some of the last ARA videos it seems, the game is mostly played by using the "cold" excel-like lists in a zoomed out average-graphics world with the loss of most of those lovely graphical details instead by using those phantastic and wonderful super-detailed zoomed-in graphics - what in my eyes is a very big pity.
KayAU
Emperor
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I feel it is the case to some extent with most 4X games, that promo material is usually zoomed in with little or no text and numbers obstructing the view, while actual gameplay is more in a strategic, far out view. That said, when I was playing Ara, I found myself zooming in and out as needed, and often took time to just admire the scenery and look around. The zooming is very seamless, and unlike for example Humankind, the game still looks pretty at medium and long range. I didn't really get a "spreadsheet" feeling at any point, as I was moving between different cities and units each turn, using the map to navigate, as usual in Civilization style games.
