10 changes to BABYLON’S FALL based on your feedback
How has player feedback from the Closed Beta Tests affected the development of Square Enix and PlatinumGames’ new action RPG? Find out here.First thing first - thank you so much to everyone who took part in Phase 1 and Phase 2 of the BABYLON’S FALL Closed Beta Tests. We received a wealth of feedback, which was greatly appreciated.
The development and operations team have looked over all the feedback we received and held in-depth discussions about the areas that need further improvement. Development of the game has progressed, and we’ve implemented many fixes and improvements in time for Phase 3 of the Closed Beta Tests!
Today, we’d like to talk about a small selection of those. (Please note that as the game is still under development, the elements discussed here are subject to further change).
1. The graphics have been improved
One of the biggest complaints we heard from those who took part in the Phase 2 of the Closed Beta Test was that the game’s overall visibility wasn’t good enough. We’ve taken that feedback on board and altered the visuals to make the game more readable.
Objects that are closer to the player character are now rendered more sharply, while things in the background retain the game’s distinctive oil painting-inspired art style.
This makes the action a lot easier to follow, increases the usability of the game and make it easier to play - all while keeping BABYLON’S FALL’S distinctive visual identity intact.
2. The action has been tweaked
Some players reported that some movements and response times felt a little sluggish. Naturally, this is one of them most important elements of an action game to get right, so we’ve put a lot of effort into improving it.
We’ve made numerous tweaks to ensure that combat has an exciting eb and flow at high speed.
In addition, the team has added unique actions for each of the weapon types - sword, rod, bow, hammer, and shield. The Dev. Team will reveal more about these on YouTube in an upcoming broadcast, so keep an eye out! In the meantime, here is a video of the updated sword account:
3. The difficulty level has been adjusted based on the number of players
From the beginning, BABYLON’S FALL was based around the concept of four players forming a party to adventure together online. Even so, we received a lot of feedback from people who want to play with a smaller group of friends or on their own.
To accommodate these play styles, we’ve now introduced a mechanic that automatically adjusts the difficulty of a quest depending on the number of players taking part.
BABYLON’S FALL aims to offer unlimited variety by allowing players to create their own personal character loadouts (by combining different equipment and effects) and then match online with three other players randomly. For that reason, we believe that playing together as a party of four is still the best way to enjoy the game.
However, the new adjustments mean that players with parties of fewer than 4 can still have a great time playing the game.
4. Equipment effects have been revised and renamed
In BABYLON’S FALL, equipment includes additional effects that give you additional perks and abilities in combat. However, many of you told us that the naming of some of these was confusing, so we’ve carried out revisions and re-named many of them to make them more intuitive.
It’s also worth noting that during the Closed Beta Tests, only a small selection of the additional effects are available. There will be a much greater variety to try out when the full game is released!
5. Game terminology has been revised
According to players, some of the terminology used in the game was difficult to understand. We’ve reviewed more than 60 individual terms, including a number that are not featured in the Closed Beta Tests, and changed them so they’re easier to follow but still retain the atmosphere of the setting.
For example, the attack modes have changed from Vulcan mode to Standard mode, Mars mode to Strong mode and Diana mode to Technical mode.
In addition, the value used to express overall strength has changed from VAL to POW and the status the relates to overall HP has changed from Durability to Vitality.
6. We’re adding the ability to view other players’ loadouts
Perhaps because the game is set up to match players automatically, we saw a number of people asking for a way to check the equipment being used by other players.
We’ve made it possible to view the details of other player characters you match with at basecamp locations or in quests, so you can look at their loadouts and get inspiration for your own.
If you see a player using something interesting, go ahead and compare your character builds!
7. More options available
Based on player feedback, we’ve altered the game’s default settings to make it more comfortable to play. We’ve made some changes to the options menu to give players more information and control.
For example, the key configuration screen now shows controls during quests, when at base camp locations and when performing special actions. Sound and graphics settings can also be tweaked even more than before.
8. Travel between different base camps has been made easier to understand
A lot of players expressed a desire to be able to travel to the same base camp as their friends. Actually, this was possible from the very first phase of the beta tests, but it seems the place where you had to go to do it was difficult to find.
Now things are much easier - you can travel between camps directly from the system menu.
9. Base camp facilities are easier to find
On a similar subject, feedback tells us that a number of facilities at base camps were not easy to find intuitively. To solve this, we’ve added outlines to things like the quest board and gift item box, to emphasise that they can be interacted with.
10. Tips are now shown on the loading screen
Many who have taken part in the Closed Beta Tests so far have reported that there aren’t enough explanations of the game’s features. As a result, they didn’t understand some of them.
One thing we’ve done to rectify this is to show tips that explain the game’s features on loading screens.
We continue to develop many more improvements to the game and will keep reading and considering all feedback that we receive - so please share your opinions after Phase 3 of the beta tests finishes too!
More elements are under development for the official release
As well as the 10 areas above, we’d like to introduce some of the other new features that were requested in the feedback. These are being worked on for the official release:
- Private base camps
- The ability to hide headgear
- Support for keyboard and mouse controls (Steam version)
- Improvements to functionality, such as the ability to select multiple items to dismantle or sell all at once
- More tutorials and help features
There are many more features we’re working on beyond the ones mentioned above. Of course, the feedback we receive contains opposing opinions in many areas, so we’ll never be able to implement every change requested. But rest assured, we are looking into many different ideas to make the game even more enjoyable to as many players as possible.
How do I participate in the beta tests?
The Phase 3 Closed Beta Test is scheduled for November 15 - 17, 2021. It will add the PlayStation 5 platform and cross-platform multiplayer.
The deadline to apply is Wednesday, October 27, 2021 at 19:59 (PDT). We await your entry!
Thanks again for everyone who’s participated in the betas for BABYLON’S FALL and shared their feedback.
If you want to stay up to date with the latest news and information about the game, make sure you follow the team on social media.