From Dust

salty mud

salty mud

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In From Dust, players assume a god-like first-person perspective from which they manipulate an archipelago environment in an effort to save, and enlighten, a nomadic tribe.[11] With a spherical cursor, the user controls certain types of matter - namely soil, lava and water - in real time. Lava cools to form solid rock, vegetation propagates in soil and spreads naturally once a village is built, and moving water quickly erodes terrain. Physical changes to the world occur extremely rapidly, allowing players to restructure islands within minutes.
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It's been out on XBLA for a while now, but it will release on Steam on the 17th of August. Looking at some of the pictures, it seems quite revolutionary but its status as an unknown 'indie' game worries me.

FromDustTsunami.png

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Gamescom-2010-From-Dust-First-Look-Preview.jpg


I'll probably be pre-ordering this within the next few days. Reviewers say it's a fun, innovative puzzle game but the novelty wears off within a few hours. Personally, I think it will remain entertaining for a little longer than that.
 
I was also quite interested in this game. But the reviews are indeed a bit worrying. I'm pretty sure they are right if they came to the conclusion that it wears off quickly. Somehow this is something I trust them on. So it might be something I'll wait to buy when an inevitable price drop happens. But I *will* buy it.

There is also Bastion coming out on the 14th I think. This one also seems amazing and I didn't read anything bad about it yet. Just really curious to have a narrator narrating me what I'm doing hehe. Plus the art is gorgeous, and action RPG sorta gameplay? I like.

Both games are probably too short in time and content. I played Capsized recently, which is another amazing indie game available on Steam. Amazing, but like 3 hours long. Good thing I bought it for 3$.
 
I've played the demo of From Dust on Xbox, and it does look pretty and have an innovative premise, but the actual gameplay was a bit limited at first. You're stuck doing very simple things like clicking totem so your peeps will build a village, or picking up dirt and dropping it to make a landbridge so they can cross water. I'm sure the full game will open up a lot more options, but I could how the gameplay would get repetitive or lack a feeling of engagement if you're limited to doing simple things like that for too long.

(I also played Bastion a bit and wasn't terribly fascinated by that, either, but I think that's mostly due to the fact that it seems very linear and predictable.)
 
The further you progress into the game, the more powers the player gains, such as the ability to jellify water. (I have no idea why that might be useful.)
 
I think some of the complaints about the console version were about the controls which I think is more reflective of the console controls than the game itself.

I think the game will be fun and will be worth $15. Especially if it comes with a sandbox mode where you can screw around playing sandcastle.

Personally, I'd like to encourage this game because it could potentially lead to something far bigger in the future. I think Indie companies should be rewarded for thinking outside the box. :)

The only thing that concerns me is if Ubisoft will impose their draconian DRM (always online) for the game. Then it might be a no go for me.
 
I heard about the game 'bout two weeks ago when I saw it available for pre-purchase on Steam. Immediately interested but I'm going to wait until the first PC reviews. Like Simon, I'll probably get it when it goes on sale but I will certainly get it.

Also hoping it has a sandbox mode.
 
Sorry to disappoint, but no sandbox. It's on the cards to be added in at a later date though, hopefully not paying DLC.
 
Thormodr said:
I think some of the complaints about the console version were about the controls which I think is more reflective of the console controls than the game itself.
Click to expand...

No, the controls wouldn't be an issue, as far as I can tell. There's simply not much to control in the first place, that was my problem. Looks very pretty and it's a neat concept, but the demo wasn't very engaging for me.
 
I just preordered. I don't know if it's worth £12 but for such an innovative and fresh new game, I thought it's at least worth a punt.
 
SuperJay said:
No, the controls wouldn't be an issue, as far as I can tell. There's simply not much to control in the first place, that was my problem. Looks very pretty and it's a neat concept, but the demo wasn't very engaging for me.
Click to expand...

Fair enough. I guess we'll see.

I'll wait until the PC version is released and a few reviews come in. The reviews should be fairly honest since the developers are not a AAA company.
 
salty mud said:
Sorry to disappoint, but no sandbox. It's on the cards to be added in at a later date though, hopefully not paying DLC.
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The last level of the game is a sandbox, where you get to screw around and do whatever you want.

My friend started a volcano, and left his Xbox going for about 2 hours, and then came back to find it had taken up half the map, and not even a tsunami was able to cross it :lol:

I wish I had the money for this game, but 15 dollars is too much atm :(
 
Joecoolyo said:
The last level of the game is a sandbox, where you get to screw around and do whatever you want.

My friend started a volcano, and left his Xbox going for about 2 hours, and then came back to find it had taken up half the map, and not even a tsunami was able to cross it :lol:

I wish I had the money for this game, but 15 dollars is too much atm :(
Click to expand...

There might be a sale for it in September.
 
Yeah, that's what I'm hoping for.
 
Since I'm a tool with some free time and extra cash (I laugh at other high school students who complain about parents over stupid things), I'm going to go ahead and snag this game today and post first impression for it since it seems really interesting and if it turns out to be "Spore-lite" in terms of hype, I'll let y'all know.
 
What a badly optimised game this is. I have a fair system that meets the basic requirements and it runs like total ass. And the thing is it will always run like total ass... Because there's NO WAY TO ALTER GRAPHICAL SETTINGS. I can't even lower them to make the game run better, I have to put up with horrendous lag.

I expect a patch, and quick. I hope Sonereal's experiance is better than mine.
 
Actually, that was my was my second reaction. My first reaction was "what the hell?" when the Ubisoft Uplay start coming up (annoying). I get to the main screen and my mouse is moving slow so I'm thinking lag.

It was not lag. Mouse sensitivity is set really low. I didn't know why at first until I first starting playing. See, the game runs fine for me (no lag actually, for which I'm blessed) but the control scheme took a bit to get use to. I'm use to using the cursor to move the screen like every other PC game ever but in this game, even with the low mouse sensistivity, doing this feels like a lesson in maschocism. So, I started using the WSAD to move the screen and mouse to move the Breath (in-game cursor that allows you to do god stuff).

Next thing that'll get you as you find your first village is that you have icons in the top left of your screen. These seem to be powers but don't bother trying to activate them, they double as markers to let you know that you have built a village. Until you see things like "Jellify Water", the towers don't do anything except open up for the next level.
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Once I got past all of that, I played for three hours straight. In all honesty, I actually do like this game a lot. The world feels alive and every single godly action feels like it has some weight. Fast moving streams of water will quickly tear down that meager sand/earthen dam you built and if it doesn't, the water won't just pool. It will redirect somewhere else. Water pools in this game and I THINK it leaves from the sides of the screen. Otherwise, it will pool up on you if you try to block a waterfall.

There's a side game during every mission in which you're trying to spread vegetation to a certain amount of land. Vegetation will grow around villages and other existing vegetation over earth (NOT rock). This unlocks "memories" and challenge maps (haven't played any yet).

And then there's the first lava map. My God, the lava map is fun to screw around in. Too bad I accidentally destroyed one of my villages. That's another thing, fires spread over vegetation so you have to drop some water on that quickly or else you've messed up.
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Now, the gameplay itself is fun. The background stuff like saving and Uplay isn't. I don't think you can have multiple saves which is a major faux pass for me because I was going to go back and destroy my villages in creative ways. I can't even recall if there's a level reselect. Because of this, I'm going to have to drop my personal score of the game to a meager 7/10. If there is level select, I haven't found it. However, it's a pretty solid game in my opinion. I didn't notice any bugs. It's like the game and the gameplay exists on an island in a sea of problems such as Uplay, not being able to set graphics (not a problem for me but I know it will be for many here), and lack of level select (AFAIK, I will easily bump this game to 8/10 if there is one and 9/10 if they ever throw in a map editor).
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Summary

-Solid Gameplay
-Uplay
-Can't set graphics
-Mouse strangeness (IMO)
-No level select (AFAIK)
-Would be great with a map editor (but this is just a little point).
-One save at a time (?)

If this game isn't patched though to fix the graphic setting problems and lack of level selection, I would wait until a 25% off sale. Otherwise, I feel like I paid a pretty good price for it
 
Thanks much for the review, Sonereal. I kind of wondered why it was so cheap if it was a good thing, but I see it needs some further development.
 
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