Recent reviews by Soul Scribbler Kupo

I had high expectations for this and after just a few minutes in I'm already blown away. Highly recommended for ANYONE who is looking to make maps.

And I don't just mean Game Masters! This is the best tool I've seen for writers, as well. You can actually see your book come to life (if it's fantasy, that is. really hoping to see more genres in the future!)

I downloaded this not expecting anything special, but what I got was one of the best, yet simple VR experiences I've ever had.

This will be my go-to experience to show off VR to friends and family, and also if I want to just relax and fly around for a bit.

A word of warning, if you experience motion sickness this is going to cause your stomach to turn, or worse. I don't think this is the fault of the way the game is created, but instead your brain and VR thinking that you're actually flying in 360 degrees. It's a similar feeling I got when playing other flight games where you could turn on a dime, such as Elite Dangerous, but because you're close to the ground/buildings/other vehicles, this is more intense.

If you couldn't tell, I HIGHLY recommend this for anyone.

***This is just a preliminary review and tips of the first few hours***

I wanted to get my initial review out there because I already know this will be a thumbs up for me. I'll be updating the review as I go to help others understand and decide if they want to purchase the game. This will be a pretty in depth review when it's done and also "starter tips and tricks". Comments on my review are definitely welcome.

First thing first, this is very much in early access, but it's one of the best (if not the best) EA game I've ever played. While it does feel somewhat empty right now, everything that's currently in the game works, and works well. I know there were some issues when it first dropped, but as of starting now (5/13/2020), I have not experienced any game breaking issues. The game has a long way to go before it feels "complete", but that's what buying EA is.

Starting out, the game holds your hand through the tutorial, which is much needed. You'll learn to manually collect materials, craft basic things, and get your first walker. After that, the tutorial continues for some time, but is more open ended (in a good way).

Follow the tutorial until it tells you to go far out into the desert and then you have two options.

If you are teaming up with friends who are NOT in the same oasis as you, head out and meet up with them right away. This is done in a way that isn't ideal, but won't set you back that far. You'll have to die, lose all of your items, and all spawn on a new "medium" difficulty oasis (you can find info on this on google/youtube). In my case, I didn't do this, as I had already spent time making my Dingy, so my friends did and joined my oasis. When doing this, look for an oasis with a decent population, but low or no hostility. We started on a oasis with 0/17 (which I believe means 0 recent PvP deaths and 17 people currently online).

If you're going at it solo, or expecting to meet up with your friends at a later date, stay in the starting oasis (known as the cradle)! Stay here and learn how to traverse the terrain with your walker, how to use the grapple, get to know the combat system, farm as many fragments and unlock your tech tree as much as you can. You can get to level 20 in the cradle, but you can continue to unlock new tech even after that, so there's quite a bit to do. If you know you're not going to have to do the die and lose everything trick to meet up with friends, you can also farm and fill your walker and inventory with Wood, Rocks, Fibers, and whatever else.

Once you've found a medium oasis to establish yourself (whether solo or in a group), do NOT build the dingy right away! Establish a "base" area (literally just a place where you meet with friends or feel safe solo with good amounts of resources nearby) and then start farming. Depending on how many of you there are, you may find that you want to wait on the dingy or build multiple, it's up to you.

Honestly, despite the quest line saying to do the dingy right away, I would wait on the dingy and craft/upgrade some of your other things first (such as weapons, armor, backpack, and your Firefly walker). The Spider Walker is another early game walker you should definitely consider. Get the one with ballista if you're a duo or more. Always continuously farm Rupu huts/villages! Never pass one by. You'll get fragments, tons of materials, and maybe most importantly, experience in hand to hand combat!

This is about where I've gotten to at this point, so still very early game. I am absolutely loving this game and know I will continue to do so. I will add more as I progress!

Just put a few hours into this game and highly recommend it for anyone who loves SRPG's! Decent story so far, really deep customization, and fun abilities.

**Note** I've only put about 30 minutes into the game, but really wanted to get my review live in hopes it will help boost the game. I'll update my review once I've been through the entire game.

It's hard to be disappointed by any real attempt at making a VR Fantasy RPG since there is very little in the way of choice, but even if that wasn't the case, Chiaro would have been on my "must buy list".

The visuals are stunning, the dialog is excellent, and the gameplay is above average.

There is a lot missing from this game that would make it a AAA title (and I"ll list those below), but I am absolutely loving it so far.

If you're a fan of Fantasy and a steampunk vibe, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND this one! I'd love to know if the devs have any future plans with this game as DLC or other titles! I am hopeful.

Pros:
- Set in a beautiful fantasy land
- Exploration feels good.
- Characters don't seem flat and dialog is high quality
- The controls work well.
- Interacting with the world feels genuine. Locking/unlocking a firebox, pouring water, carrying tea, this is what makes this game stand out.

Cons.
- From what I read, it's a bit short (3-5 hours). I wouldn't expect a 60+ hour game, but I'd hope for at least 10 hours
- While what you can interact with feels great, some of the things you can't interact with really pulls you out of the world.
- The world boundaries (which are invisible) also take away from the immersion. An easy fix for this is to let the player go a little further out, then put a hill, cliff, fence, river, or anything else. It doesn't have to be large, just enough for the player to think "ah, I reached the edge of the area and I can't go that way" instead of "whoa that area looks cool! But...I can't go there..." It's the same idea, but a visual one instead of an invisible one.
- The movement system is still a bit buggy. Teleport sometimes doesn't let you go where you know you can go and locomotion freezes up. This is in no way unplayable, and the devs are working on this, but definitely need to mention it. This could also have something to do with my vive tracking, though it's the only game I've had an issue in.

Bottom line:
Visuals: 4.5/5
Gameplay: 3.5/5
Characters/dialog: 4.5/5
Music/SE: 4/5
Controls: 3/5 (this could be issues with my vive tracking, however)
Immersive: 4/5

TL:DR: Best way I have personally found to watch 360/180 YT video, hands down. Controls and interface need some work, but still a great experience

Long Review:

I've been looking for an easy way to watch 360 YT videos and my search led me to this app. After reading the reviews I whole heartedly expected to download it, be disappointed, and uninstall it, but my experience was anything but this.

The interface is very familiar as it matches the Android TV app that I use constantly. The controls when selecting videos is a bit confusing at first, and even after using it for awhile they are not very intuitive, but they DO work. I wish it utilized the "point and click" feature to scroll around, at least as an option.

When I played the first video, it looked great and I felt like everything just worked. The video itself played flawlessly, even though I forgot to turn down my supersampling (I was running 1.8 on a GTX 1060) and it looks really nice. This was the experience throughout my whole experience.

The in-video interface is...functional? But, that's about all I can say. I couldn't figure out how to scroll through recommended videos or find the channel button. Instead, it just kept playing the next video, even though I hit down or up. I'm assuming this is due to the afformentioned not so intuitive controls.

It also plays standard videos rather well, though the experience compared to other apps, such as BigScreen, is a let down. I would love to see the ability to increase/descrease the size of the screen, even if it's on a simple scale, while watching regular videos.

I kinda already touched on these, but I want to reply to some of the issues others were having:
- "Bad FPS/Slideshow like quality": I didn't experience this at all, and again I was running my SS too high for my card, so I'm not sure if this was fixed in a patch or maybe video card specific, but you shouldn't have this issue with most VR supported cards.
- "The point and click is outdated": It's VR, I love that I can Physically point and click, but this is just a preference.
- "The interface is too small" or "video is too close": Didn't experience this at all. Everything was clear and crisp, even more than in BigScreen. The interface was close enough that it made sense, but not too close.


What I'd like to see:
- Move away from the Android TV like interface and make something much more VR. It's a good place to start, but build upon it rather than rely on it
- Get rid of the in-app controller, it takes away from the 360 experience. Replace it with a hand or something really subtle that doesn't stand out.
- Speaking of the controller, get rid of that annoying dot while playing videos. It's perfectly fine while selecting, but if the menu is closed, it should be too.
- Ability to change the size of the screen for regular video, and maybe "push" out the 360 videos, if that's even possible.
- Of course this is a "way down the line" type feature, but I'd love to see a way to join a friend in the virtual world where you can both watch the same video at the same time.
- A better "recommended VR" section that actually displays the best of the best. I found more videos that were of better quality from a google search than I did in the app.

Thank you for this, Google/YouTube! Looking forward to what comes next with this!

Absolutely amazing! An essential app for anyone with VR. I love playing my PC games and watching YT like i'm in a huge, IMAX theatre!

The only thing that could make it better in my opinion is the ability to capture windows for your monitor instead of the whole monitor, so that we can have 1 monitor with 2 windows.

anyway, great work, love it!

I am in love with this game. It has such amazing potential, it's really hard for me to understand the negative reviews!

Quick disclaimer about my review: My thoughts are based on the game being Early Access. If the game was fully out right now, I'd give it a 5 or 6 out of 10 at the very most, but seeing how it's only been out LESS than a week and has already had 5 patches, I feel like it truly deserves a high review.

So what makes this game so good?

Well, a few things. I have never played Ark before, but I'm told this is very similar to ark. But I have also heard it's leaps and bounds better than Ark was when it first came out! And, for those saying it is TOO much like Ark, they have already stated that they're just using it as a basis and will be changing/updating things as they go, which they already have with the first major patch. New sound effects, icons, music, etc.

This is the first game where I truly felt like I am in charge of what is going on around me. My first few nights were scary! I didn't know what would attack me, or worse, my tamed pets! I'm on a private server with friends and many of them were having problems with wraiths and jaguars, but I luckily picked a place that seems to be pretty empty of them. I have had 1 skelleton and 1 wraith attack, but both were provoked for one reason or another. I've built up my house to be pretty defensable. Of course, that is when I'm online. I just hope my tamed pets can defend themselves!

Anyway, as is right now, being that the game is in early access and has only been out for a few days, I give it a SOLID 8.5/10. There is TONS of content, TONS to do, and they say it's only about 30% complete! I cannot wait to see where this game goes!