Alright, I didn't know this game existed until last friday when I picked it up immediately. This is essentialy the game i dreamed of as a child, and I'm glad it finally exists. I like that you can explore the Island of sodor, drive the characters around or just see them going about their daily business in timetable mode. The Island is full of landmarks and little details and nods to the series.I really like that each engine drives in their own unique way, true to their character. I hope they keep this up for future ones. Now here's a little feedback from playing over the weekend: CHARACTERS -Percy's timetable has some AI only services in it, it's really a shame because he would probably have the most varied and interesting timetable otherwise. (I saw an other thread about this so I won't expand here) -The engines don't feel like they're really alive and there. They just change expressions randomly and look in random directions. I feel like this could be improved by a lot if they reacted to objects or context, such as: Engines could look at passengers, other engines, animals in pastures, rolling stock, signals etc. This would go a long way to make them feel grounded in the world they're driving through Engines could change expressions based on context, for instance say between 22:00 and 06:00 when they're in their shed or parking spot they would have their eyes closed, sleeping. Percy for instance would make the tired face more at the end of his shifts instead of randomly throughout the day AI engines should whistle when departing. I think it's a small thing that would add a lot of life to the characters Engines already react when you whistle next to them, which is nice, but I feel like the range at which this happens is too short. I think it should be increased slightly to allow saying hi to another engine 2-3 tracks over. -Small nitpick but chuff sounds don't make sense based on the speed of the pistons. I think this is more intentional to keep it true to the series tho SCENERY -Animals in pastures are outside in the field in any weather, including in the dead of winter UI -The speed limit and next signal aspect marker block the view ahead, sometimes i struggle to see the signals or even a station! It would be nice to have the option to have these in the top right corner like on TSW. The map team has done such a beautiful job, it's a shame to have to stare at a UI element straight ahead of you most of the time. CONTROLS -I wanted to switch to realistic controls to avoid having to hold down W for 30 mins at a time, but i found that while it allows you to release the W key, it's really hard to control braking and find neutral. Maybe if there was a "neutral brake and power" key it would help, like X in elite dangerous for instance ACHIEVEMENTS -I don't know if anyone else has had the issue, but challenges seem to be somewhat buggy. For instance i have Emily at 2/4 achievements and blocked there at tier 1. I have completed 3 services with her now on the timetable, driven to Vicarstown and back, but it doesn't seem to affect it. Restarting the game helped with diesel in a similar situation, but not with Emily. Weird. That's about it for the short time I've been playing this game. I've really enjoyed my time on Sodor so far, really takes me down memory lane. This game has a lot of potential to be enjoyed by young -and maybe not so young- players, I hope DTG and Mattel make something great with it! EDIT: Alright, regarding the "ACHIEVEMENTS" section of this post: I played around a littlebit with the timetable to see what counts or doesn't. It seems that if you finish a timetable service and choose "free roam" instead of going back to menu and wait for the next service, that service doesn't count toward your character achievements but is counted by the game as done (green tick in service selection). So If you're going for character achievements just go back to menu at the end of each one so they count.
A quick addition is that in challenges and collectables some structures are meant to appear in the whispering woods fairgrounds if you unlock them. I have unlocked most of these, but so far only Percy's has appeared, eventhough the game has been relaunched a fair few times over the weekend. EDIT: Nevermind! You have to go to challenges and collectables > Tiles > and then select the tiles you want to activate. Not very obvious but it works now.
There is this option for some or all of the markers to be in the top right HUD instead of blocking the view but it currently doesn’t work. You can turn off the elements that block the view but you can’t turn on the ones in the HUD yet. Hopefully it is fixed in the first patch.
I found that the signal at Ffarquhar's eastern end says "GO" in the game but the signal arms are all at a stop aspect. This seems to only happen when going up to the quarry, when going around the balloon loop it works fine. Is this normal operation?
