First impressions

[Dibfoondle]

Hi everyone

I tried the game and played a bit around for a total of about 20 hours or so. I haven't read much on the wiki, and tried to figure things out myself, so obviously my experience was probably needlessly slow and cumbersome. As a reference, I have now built my first Homested, as well as 3 Baskets and collected about 4 abandoned containers and tools. I learned about 10 Skills adn have a shovel, an axe and a fishing rod.

First impressions, or technical hardships

I was unable to get the game to work. This probably stems from Java not being installed on my machine, I guess a small hint about why that could become a problem anywhere on the download site would be nice. I used Java from the portable apps site, to avoid it being available to my browsers, and got the game to run that way. Ignoring all the security popups was frightening, so they worked as intended. If this game is supposed to be sold, it needs to streamline the installation process of Java, either by shipping with a runtime, or by running a windows installer.

Startup, and first forays into a new world

The game is ugly. That is of course just my opinion. But I think the weird mix of comic characters with unhealthy skin tones and weirdly flat textures makes this the ugliest game I've played for more then one sitting since at least a year. Dwarf fortress in comparison doesn't pretend to be nice to look at, while comparable games like Minecraft or Indy-RPG's either chose much more abstract representation or hyper realism to avoid looking bland or weird. In the visuals I also observed the first lack of focus. Some things look as if they're geared towards high detailed reality, while other objects and especially humanoid characters look like a Tex Avery cartoon. I don't mind simple graphics, or even jaggies and low polygon count. But there seems to be a colossal lack of graphical vision in the representation, which bothered me a bit.

This game needs a wiki, and I'm not agreeable that that's a good thing. As is, the game could be made in a way that does not need outside hints and guides, just by clearing up the GUI and maybe some of the ways it deviates from the real world (Killer bunnies, leaves as a scarce resource, making fire is weird).

Setting and the expectation schism

There is no way to describe my loss of enthusiasm about how the game plays, compared to what I expected. It's of course my fault for expecting the wrong things, so I'll try to explain. This starts with the title and setting. Salem. Salem is about the settling of a new world. Or so I expected. Instead, it's about being a trapper. On first glance this might seem to be the same thing. But actually, They're almost antagonistic. Settling as I expected it to be, is foremost about cooperation. No field can be tilted in a wild wood, and without machines it's impossible to create a clearing.

Therefore a game about settlers ought to be about creating a field, farming, killing everything that moves onto your newly acquired crops by using superiour firepower, and most importantly: Working with others. Creating such an environment would create a game decidedly different from any other MMO game that ever existed. Incidentally, only such an environment could lead to the second part that a name like Salem implies for me: The total collapse of society due to excessive rumourmongers, negative-socialising and fear of the unknown and weird, also known as "the witch hunt". So much for my false expectations, So how does the game actually play?

This game is 08/15 fare. It plays like Eve Online, Ultima Online, or other decidedly sameish other games that have none or weak built in countermeasures against PvP gameplay. It's a game about going into the wild, lots of roaming and buildup of your decidedly concluded and hidden personal house/ship/backyard. A game that is dominated by grinding and micropayments. A game that makes me as the player want to play alone, despite being a game type that should entice cooperation. It also reminds me of the bad parts of how "A tale in the desert" used to be, where crafting stuff and collecting random stuff is not there to entice creativity, but instead to entice crafting even more stuff.

Using the game, the perils of GUI and documentation

This game is uninviting. The controls are weird, moving is slow, and the Tutorial does not cover the necessary basics. One thing that is weird is the plethora of different tasks that are similar but need right clicking or left clicking. For example, Stumps are opened by left clicking them, while baskets need right clicking. Some of the buttons on the task pannel are toggles, but others are multiple choice, while most open a dialogue, and there's no way to know which is which. The top four types of energy are all un-numberted, while the research bars are foremost about exact integers. Incidentally the research bars are buttons, a highly unusual choice, even more aggravating is the fact that the numbers and names in front of the bars are not clickable. Finally, the build popups reset the task panel, making searching for that one food type I can craft with my current inventory an unnecessary chore. I wish the GUI would work the other way around: a button on the inventory would reveal currently creatable items. of course titled and sorted by type, and including currently open containers.

Positive points

I like the way crafting works on basic, non-replenishable goods. I wish non-replenishable goods would exclude tree leaves, grasshoppers and bushels of grass, but that's probably some insider joke that I don't get. I like the way one has to learn stuff, and that learning a skill takes several steps by building up core proficiencies like "fire". The GUI could be more self explanatory for learning skills. I like that learning one skill depletes all of them, and how the crafting directly leads to a kind of knowledge game, where I need to guess which crafted toy increases which bar the most. I like the idea of old fashioned phlegms, maybe more if they'd be less gross, and more meaningful. As is, it seems as if a single bar would have worked just as well as four or eight of them. I like the different walk modes, if they'd have a bigger impact, because at my low experience level, they're way too costly, especially foraging. I think running is fine, if it'd be in a more emergent-accessible spot (annoying to wade trough all those sub-menus when you're trying to escape from a rattlesnake). I like the deadliness of the surrounding, heck, I'd even like the surroundings to be much more deadly with poisonous foods and indians etc. In a similar vein, I wish that harmless insects and cute bunnies could be exchanged for actual dangerous animals, to make the experience less silly. I also liked that the worlds river and vegetation cover changed considerably between logins, altho I'm not sure if that was a one-time server change thing, or a regular feature of the world. I like that I barely met anyone, considering that this is a game about trappers.

Not made for me

This game doesn't like me, and I don't like it. A large part of that is my expectation of a new sort of game, and my expectations of a very realistic approach to settling a new world. Meanwhile, the game wants to be like other games, just with dark coats and hats. In addition, the GUI is too obnoxious for my taste, but of course that is only important if I would actually want to play the game. Visual shortcomings are theoretically unimportant to me; But to sell a game, it needs to have a single visual style.

Conclusion
I Would not recommend Salem to genre agnostics, maybe it's worth a short trip for MMORPG roughnecks and people who want to try every game out.

[Kaol]

You arnt really in a position to make a detailed review of the game after only brushing the surface.

[MagicManICT]

When you mention the other PvP games, that's kind of the point. The only "countermeasures" against PvP play is to not play. Other than that, you should be prepared at all times to be engaged. EVE and a few others have gone the route of having a distinctly divided universe, and that has worked for them. The games are designed so that there can be "low risk" (as there is rarely a zero risk place, though there's usually a few small pockets in each game) and "high risk" (though some of those high risk areas are safer than the "low risk" areas). Others have chosen to be completely open. I think this reflects on the size of the player base, too, as the completely open games have much smaller numbers than those that have "low risk" areas.

I'm of the opinion that open PvP games encourages cooperation, and creates stronger bonds, even more than non-PvP games. Only by cooperation can you create the safety needed to create a community and explore the furthest reaches of the game. (I realize the other side of that is that non-PvP games don't have that threat lingering over you, so a small group is free to do whatever and whenever they please. That's a different game style, though. People also don't commit to a group as strongly, so inner-community drama is much higher.) It's not for everyone, though (which can clearly be seen by population numbers...).

Nobody can change your presumptions about things other than you. I believe the information about the basis of Salem is out there. I think Paradox is aware that this will be a niche game and doesn't expect it to be a large game.

+1 for making a great review on this. I, at least, appreciate a well-written review, even if I don't agree with it.

[Sevenless]

I'm going to pop this into City on a Hill. It'll get more reading there, and since there's no targeted discussion of what could be done to improve these problems it doesn't particularly belong in this subforum.

Feel free to synthesize your ideas into suggestions and post them here though.

[littlealex]

You honestly could not have missed any harder with your assessment of the game. I don't even know why I'm writing this as this will probably fall upon deaf ears but hopefully it will clarify things for other people.

Therefore a game about settlers ought to be about creating a field, farming, killing everything that moves onto your newly acquired crops by using superiour firepower, and most importantly: Working with others. Creating such an environment would create a game decidedly different from any other MMO game that ever existed. Incidentally, only such an environment could lead to the second part that a name like Salem implies for me: The total collapse of society due to excessive rumourmongers, negative-socialising and fear of the unknown and weird, also known as "the witch hunt".

That is, at the most basic idea, exactly how it plays...find people you trust and work together. Meeting strangers can be the equivalent of a "witch hunt" since you don't know if someone walking outside you're town is friendly or aggressive.

It plays like Eve Online

Seriously? Other than free choice of "profession/specialization" and non linear gameplay, I see NO similarities between both games.

A game that is dominated by grinding and micropayments.

Can't really argue against the grinding since there is quite a bit of it but the micropayments are trivial and not necessary unless you want a fast start. Other than the comestic stuff that comes out, the cash shop is essentially useless to an advanced player.

The controls are weird, moving is slow

I don't even know what to say here. Please explain how clicking to move/interact with objects is "weird"? Also, I don't see how the movement is "slow" unless you expect your character to zoom across the map in a matter of seconds. There are multiple movement modes that increase your speed tremendously.

For example, Stumps are opened by left clicking them, while baskets need right clicking.

This is just outright wrong. All objects are interacted with by right clicking

Meanwhile, the game wants to be like other games, just with dark coats and hats.

Again this could be farther from the truth. By today's standards it is quite unique.

I'm guessing you didn't play with one of the modified clients that make the game much more playable. It is unfortunate but the vanilla client is very bare and makes anyone that uses it think the game is borderline unplayable. I know your intent was not to bash the game at all but you're statements contain many fallacies.

[snapoh]

First time i played Salem i hated it so much, but after i spent 2 hours just to find my first inspirational, i guess i was hooked. Salem being different from other games is what i like most. But i agree that clickable proficiency bars and reset on recipe should be changed, to make UI friendlier.

[Dibfoondle]

Hi again

It seems people here on the forum are extremely defensive about the PvP parts of the gameplay. I didn't think that'd be the most commented part of my rant. All I can say that in theory PvP is fine, and this game uses it correctly as far as I'm concerned. My comment was mostly about my expectation of this particular game being more cooperation focused, and my general frustration about all MMORPGs being less cooperative then possible.

This is just outright wrong. All objects are interacted with by right clicking

Hmm it must have been a bug then, stumps seem to only accept right clicks now, whereas they'd work with both left and right clicking before.

I'm guessing you didn't play with one of the modified clients that make the game much more playable.

I don't know of any other clients. But generally in all games, I think the only important client is the vanilla client. If a game can't carry itself, no one would want to hunt down alternative clients or mods just to play (ignoring exceptions like Day Z or DotA type mods which are games that use other games as Operating System).

The controls are weird, moving is slow

I don't even know what to say here.

I explained the GUI shortcommings in more details in other parts. With slow I meant that the avatar moves slowly, which lengthens game play artificially.