Larian Studios Forums General Suggestions suggestions for Divinity 3

So a while ago i made a thread with all my opinions and ideas on the "Divinity 2 The dragon knight saga" Forum and i narrowed my ideas down to the best ones and ones that could be implemented into divinity 3


so here are my ideas for divinity 3:

1. Have elements of the story's from all divinty games, so maybe in divinity 3 you have to search the wreckage of the Raven, or talk to the princes spirit, maybe get his Jetpack (From Dragon commander).

2. Have import save games from divinty 2 DKS, if not i would atleast want to import the core of my character, like his/her face, voice, that kind of thing.

3. People are debating weather it should be the divine to take down damian, i say have the divine tag along in certain plot quests, while playing as the dragon knight, because everyone wants to be the dragon right? that is what attracted people to your booth at E3, right? a dragon with a jetpack?
maybe on top of what i just said, have a co-op story mode, separate from the single player, but maybe for co-op have one player as the dragon knight and have the other the divine, and to compensate for the dragon knight being able to fly, maybe the divine can sprout wings, he is a demigod after all.

4. Bring Rhode back. Have a proper confrontation, Maybe be able to romance her? (whatever gender your character may be)

5. Make the dragon form a bit more useful, but dont change it around much as it was good, i just barely saw any combat in my dragon form, maybe have respawning enemies?

6. Have more than 1 skill tree for the dragon form.

7. Be able to land in dragon form and attack enemies on the ground.

that's all the ideas i have for now, if i think up any more ill edit this post and add more in

You're making it sound like it's already decided Div3 is going to be an 'improved version' of The Dragon Knight Saga, while we already know very well Larian has never produced the same game twice before (ok BD was quite similar to DD, but there were enough differences, including the main character).

Not that I'd regret having the Dragon Slayer again, but having it completely the other way around of the 'to be expected' gameplay might do even better. Thus there are 3 questions we should ask ourselves:

1) Should div3 be a DKS or DOS kind of game? Alternatives? Hybrids?

2) Who should be the hero(ine)? If a new character would be introduced, it might be more fun if this was to be an anti-hero? Besides, we haven't heard much from the non-human races in DKS. No offense, but I believe there's a certain degree of racism within Larian Studios

3) What time setting will it be? Starting the game just after the moment of Igerna's death or several years, decades later? In case of a new hero(ine) it could even start a while BEFORE the ending of DKS and catch not too late.

Here is one last idea. Who said anything about taking down Damian? There's a reason there are story writers at work in game studio's: we don't always want to see what was obvious happen. Remember the ending of Ego Draconis (wich was kind of funny to me, as I imagined the other player's reactions)

These suggestions are for Divinity 3 and possibly other future divinity games...Please work off of these ideas and even modify them to fit into the landscape of future divinity games...

- Include more epic battles

- Reward player with epic spells near the end of the game to deal with those epic battles (This idea comes
from playing Neverwinter Nights) Some type of epic spells I'd want to see...

* Ambrosia of the Gods - Regenerate a huge amount of health per second for X seconds (Reference to ambrosia
comes from mythological lore...A powerful spell similar to health regeneration comes from playing Dark
Heart of Uukrul)

* Aegis/Shield of the Gods - Complete Invulnerability to all damage for X seconds (The reference to the
Aegis comes from mythological lore)

* Divine Concealment - Complete Invisibility for X seconds even when attacking (and no mana drain).

* Stasis Field of The Gods - All enemies in the area cannot move for X seconds (The idea for the stasis
stasis field comes from playing Starcraft)

* Lightning Storm of the Gods - All enemies in the area take huge amounts of damage for X seconds from X
lightning bolts (The idea for a lightning storm came from playing Age of Mythology)

* Summon Titan/Dragon/Dragon Knight/Demon Lord/Archdemon/Archangel/Divine Champion of the Light/Collosus/
Lord of the Light/Behemoth (The inspiration for this idea came from a summon dragon spell in Neverwinter
Nights, playing Master of Magic, playing the Dark Heart of Uukrul, and playing Titan Quest).

- Perhaps create some sort of divine intervention from a god or several gods in future divinity games.

- On the lighter side, include a leprechaun in the game (The inspiration for this idea comes from playing
Age of Wonders)

- In Beyond Divinity, there were no magical spells doing shadow damage. Perhaps in the future, create a
spell or several spells that will do shadow damage.

- Create an alarm system or some type of surveillance when navigating through rooms/dungeons (This idea
came from playing Deus Ex).

- Give consistent and balanced power to all skill types. (I might be wrong with what I am about to say here
because I have not completed DKS). In Ego Draconis, it seems as if the magic skills and ranger skills are
more powerful than the priest skills, dragon slayer skills, and warrior skills. I'd suggest making the
priest skills, warrior skills, and dragon slayer skills just as powerful as the ranger skills and magic
skills. When players go through the game again, they will be encouraged to try out other skills from a
different classification because those skills are also just as powerful against all enemies and can stand
on their own. Perhaps keep this in mind for future divinity games.

In a party system, the idea above might not apply. Some players like the idea of giving more weaknesses to different classes to encourage more diversity in the group. One member's strengths can cover the weaknesses of another member.

Again I'd like to emphasize:

Please work off of these ideas and even modify them to fit into the landscape of future divinity games...

- Divine Feast (taken fro D&D) : The ability to roast potatos in a pan, similar to the roasting of meat in Gothic 1.

The only difference would be a temporary bonus of this meal (like in the D&D rules).

The main difference to the D&D thing would be a) it's size (a pan, nothing more, or a ccooking pot, or a small kettle) and b) its profanity.


- Divine Punishment (a smaller version of that just went into a short story I wrote a month ago) : A hearty smack on the head of those who dare to say that "I don't believe in you !". Can only be done after this was actually heard by the God !
No damages to the opponent, but causing some dizziness for a certain amount of time. Definitively NOT lethal ! - Rather like a teacher being too angry over his or her pupil.

(Which implies that - if there are other Gods walking throuugh Rivellon as well, they would have these two "abilities" s well, since they are "common knowledge" among the Gods there - at least among those who regularly meet (readable in the short story to Beyond Divinity by Leather_Raven).

One more suggestion:

Supply a diverse number of starting positions in the beginning of the game, whether rpg or strategy...(This would be a spinoff or modification from Dragon Age Origins and Civilization)

that might be a good idea, but i don't know how it would work

Well...The idea/suggestion is to incorporate different gameplay elements which will maximize replayability. One example of an rpg that attempts to do this is Dragon Age Origins. People who like a game will think "I want to play this again and again."

Perhaps this can happen if there are many popular skill/ability combinations. The idea is not to have just one powerful spell, skill, or ability. Games can have many enjoyable, powerful spells, skills, and abilities and still be challenging. This feature alone could add more replayability.

Another feature could involve creating different personal relationships which create some type of attachment.

In Beyond Divinity, for example, it would have been interesting to be able to dialogue more with the Death Knight and create a more personal story with the character. This feature could then make way for several different ending sequences in the final stages of the game.

An established personal relationship with the Death Knight (Damian) in Beyond Divinity, for example, could have affected the ending of the game in many different ways. The personal relationship might have been unsatisfactory, needing improvement, average, good, very good, or even excellent. Each of these results could have then caused Beyond Divinity to have a unique ending and it would have also partially spurred replayability.

This kind of setup could have also had future ramifications for any Divinity games coming up which would feature Damian. The character defeating Damian in Beyond Divinity can show up again in future Divinity games and exert some significant effect on the storyline.

Replayability in a game could once again include a good number of starting conditions in different starting locations every time someone begins a new game. Something like this was done in Dragon Age Origins. I wish other rpg games would do something like this as well. Alpha Centauri, another popular strategy game, includes these in an attempt to create replayability: "a random 3D world generator, unlimited strategies, five paths to victory, six levels of difficulty." Many other popular strategy game have this type of setup as well.

All of the features above can be adapted and modified to future Divinity games whether they're rpg or strategic in nature.

P.S. In future Divinity games, include epic fights with different types of powerful Dragons on the ground. Perhaps melee, use some arrows, and/or maybe even throw some spells against a dragon or two.

Also include the option to fight as a dragon against powerful human fighters, mages, rangers, and other monstrosities in the Divinity Universe.

One more suggestion is to include more quests with multiple solution paths.

For example, if there are 90 quests in the game and each quest has 5 different solution paths, that's going to create many different solutions. This is also assuming that a player tries to find an alternative way to solve the same quest every time they start a new game.

Maybe this might seem overwhelming but definitely include more quests having different solutions to increase replayability.

Also, if possible, include an option to redistribute attribute points.

One more idea is to include something like Chaos magic in the game. This type of magic could show itself in the environment. If it is in the environment, it has random, unpredictable effects.

Some evil monsters might be able to wield it. It might be some type of magic coming from the Lord of Chaos itself. This could let the player see how expansive and pervasive the Lord of Chaos is when it comes to his power.

Perhaps the player character can also wield it with unpredictable results. If it comes in contact with the player, effects can be negative, neutral, or positive.

Maybe even come up with an antithesis to Chaos magic and something which counterbalances power sourced from the Lord of Chaos. Have chaos effects present in dungeon environments, outside environments, alternative realities, parallel dimensions, etc...

Chaos magic can serve to add more random effects/events to the game, create new challenges for powerful characters, make the game look more interesting, make the game more unpredictable, and keep the player on his/her toes.

For the person playing the game, this gameplay feature staves off boredom. Even those who replay the game over and over again will never know what to expect and they're more likely to stay engaged with what's happening.

I was reading Swen's blog and he mentioned wanting to give player the experience he had when playing Ultima VII. He's probably referring to a state called flow.

What is flow?

Flow = "the state in which people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter; the experience itself is so enjoyable that people do it even at great cost, for the sheer state of doing it."

So...the ideal (on some level) in gameplay experience is often to create a state of flow and maximize the length of time a player spends in this state.

"To achieve flow in a task (or in-game), the following should exist:

- The task/game must have clear goals/quests and actions needed to overcome obstacles

- Immediate feedback is needed to see whether actions work or do not work in relation to achieving the goal/quest

- The challenge and skills required to reach the goal/quest must be aligned but it has to stretch the person. It has to be hard enough to keep the person in a state of complete attention but not too difficult to the point where a person is discouraged and gives up."

If a task in-game or in life is too much of a challenge, flow is broken and attention breaks away. If a task in-game or in life is too easy, the person might not be too interested with what's happening and focus on something else. Theoretically, the task needs to be somewhere in the middle in terms of difficulty. This is the "sweet spot" which is most likely to create the experience of flow.

Riding this fine line in a game is often subjective. What's difficult for one person is easy for another. What's easy for one person is difficult for another.

So, how might this apply to gameplay experience? There should be something to encourage the player if he/she finds something too difficult. If he/she finds a certain part of the game too easy, something's gotta be there to snap him/her out of complacency.

Of course, he/she can also be given the freedom to adjust difficulty level with great precision. It's gotta fit the individual player. In many games, however, this adjustment only applies to combat. It doesn't spread to other parts of the game.

The player can have no problem with combat but might experience excess ease/difficulty in solving quests, finding items, or relating to other characters. This also potentially breaks up the flow experience. And, the situation here is more difficult to moderate because it's also subjective. The issue lies around modifying difficulty or letting the player do so in order to facilitate the flow experience.

Opposing questions to consider...How can potentially frustrating moments in-game experienced by excess difficulty be minimized to keep flow in place? At the same time, how can a developer minimize moments in the game where things are too easy? Too much ease can also break up the flow experience. If this issue is resolved skillfully, the player feels a greater sense of flow throughout the game.

Okay...I hope maybe some of this information will benefit game developers. Perhaps it'll provoke or spark more ideas to help improve gameplay experience. Or maybe, it spurs further research. Please see reference below and related resources on "flow" for more information...

Reference

Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience

Author: Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

I'd like to see the return of melee weapons which do elemental and magic damage. Visually, I'd like to see those weapons emanate magical energy.

Example:

A weapon w/ fire damage visually emanates fire and it can be seen on the screen.

A weapon w/ lightning damage visually emanates electricity and it can be seen on the screen.

Every time the weapon scores a successful hit, the player can see enemies being lit on fire or being electrocuted.

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When possible, make recurring encounters with npc's, monsters, and interactive objects seem less repetitive.

Uhm, as I see in Dragon Commander release info maybe this will just be useless, but I want to see again all the lore lizard knight orders from the first chapter of the saga, I liked it the idea "to be" a dragon in Divinity II and I know why there is this change from Divine Divinity, but a mounted air combat will be realy amazing in my opinion, and it's coherent with the Divinity universe as well;
With that I think that it's easy to create some superb element or situation that someone write first of me, you did it well in Divinity II with the second end and the fortresses battle, why not in this third chapter?
It's just an opinion and a suggest of course, good work!

I would like to see the Lizardmen back in general.

Just to say that the Priest skills ARE at least of the same power as other skills

Now, on topic with suggestions for Divnity III :

1) First of all I believe the best rpg is the one that give the most possibilities so almost every rpg-gamer can have pleasure playing the rpg !
A) different ways to solve Quests : via pure combat or via dialogs without combat OR a way between and of course the quests are unique, some simple/short, other long and a real mindblowing task to solve !
B) An example; Repair gear : some don't like it items going "total loss", other like it because it's more "real" items you use going to hell after a hard time of slashing, piercing, ... :
maybe import some "spell" the gamer can find (linked on a quest or hidden place?)? A spell to make a specific item (one or a few more favorite items?) unbreakable ! Or a skill to make better gear (hardened metal) that strengthen all his/her gear for a way more long time (double/triple as long as normal?).
Or, for the one who like to trade, a merchant who sells a magic hamer or a spell, also linked with a quest (example : remind me of the merchant in DD who only give the key to Nericon's Garden if your reputation is high enough!)
You see, many many possibilities just for 1 feature in a rpg! Need another example ?

C) Combat : I love the combat in Divnity II more than in DD because it's way less hack'n'slash (a "clic-feast" or in other words : a button smashing ). Sometimes it's fun to hack'n'slash with your brains on zero ... but this become fast boring (at least for many rpg gamer, I believe) . So imo DKS gives the gamer more "tactical ways" to start/end a battle via lovely skills ! (love the combination "Priest skills" with Ranger or Warrior of Mage skills !! Fantastic, especially playing a Warrior Priest ! Please never stop implementing the Priest skills, they're Amazing, Great !
It's Fun at least to play as a Priest !
Now further on with it Joram, to the point ...
I like to see more interaction with the surrounded landscape & combat. For example it will be nice you can attrac enemies to a place you want and then they fall in a troll pit or something ... Or a small mountain path you let tumble down several rocks that damage the enemies or make them afraid (or more angry, charm them and they're even more powerful and a better help (adrenaline in their veins!) ...
But the on contrary some intelligent enemies can do the trick on you !! So beware of all traps !! This make the game even more exciting !

D) I just about more suggestions ... till next time !

A few constructive thoughts, if you're going to make a game as long as DKS there needs to be more plot, more dialogue, more interaction with other characters. A lot of RPG's present the player with this odd situation where you're this super powerful character on a great mission but you seem unusually concerned with doing petty little odd jobs for every minor NPC you encounter. You're a great dragon knight but you spend an awful lot of time helping someone recover a few pigs, delivering a letter, etc. Seriously, does all that require the time and attention of a dragon knight ?

Also, one of the things that distinguishes a great RPG is memorable individual boss fights. DA:O is a great example of that.Broodmother, Father Kolgrim, Arl Howe, etc. But in DKS the bosses pretty much look the same and act the same as everyone else, just more hit points and more power. Black Ring Generals look just like every other Black Ring character and all of those characters are pretty much identical. Same with demons, goblins etc. And boss fights tend to be distinguished just by throwing huge numbers of minor minions at you while you run around trying to do something gimmicky like pulling a couple of levers.

And you need larger areas to explore and more variety of areas. Orobas Fjords isn't really a coherent map, it's a series of relatively small disconnected areas. And a lot of those areas are similar. Taking out one flying fortress is interesting, by the fourth one I'm really wanting something different.

There are other issues, particularly having to do with gameplay, but I think it all comes down to a basic sort of issue.According to a doc I saw, much was cut from DKS because the original plan was over-ambitious. So in the long run a less ambitious plan might result in a more focused, more polished final game. Quantity of time spent playing the game is not a measure of quality. DKS could have used some editing, the sort of creative attitude it expresses would stand out more if it was more focused.

I say this as a fan of the game who has played it twice and spent over 250 hours on it. And I think that there is a great game to be made by the people at Larian but DKS has the feel of a work in progress, a work that was considerably modified over the course of a long period of development, with those modifications coming about because of problems with potential publishers, time and budget constraints. etc. I would like to see a great game come out of that but I think that has more to do with refining what was original and attractive in DKS than with going off on other tangents.

For me this mean "kill the Larian works", just to point something, in the Divinity there is always something strange and simply focused on the irony, this is why I love the Larin works, otherwise I'll play a regular copy-paste RPG with some side quest made it to start at point A and end with kill/rescue at point B with some epic congratulation in the dialogue, I'm full of this "classic" and "eroic" situation after a lot of RPG games.



Maybe because the flying fortess generals are an Order just like the Black Knights, the Lizard/Dragon Riders/Knights or the Death Knigths? For me this is coherent, BioWare had always done the same work since Never Winter Night, the games are planty of the same models with some variation of textures, in DA: O the boss fights are all the same, there is a tank that is under the boss, a DPS, a Priest and so on just like all the party RPGs or MMORPG, and also there are just few variation of "wereable objects", for example in NVW there're just 12 kind of swords with a lot of texture variation, good fantasy bah..
To return at this game, DKS have some orginal boss fights, the deamon in the well for example or the flying goblin, they're fine battles at high difficulty, but if they return to the origins, this will be great, just an example in Divine Divinity there is an interesting dragon/lizard knights hunting, or some strange/original boss fight with a special reward..



And so on.



It's a part of a continent not the entire continent, so why I must have a lot of variation in a small region of the entire world? o.o
For the next Divinity capter i want to see the oldest area, the Black forest, the dwarf city and other locations.



Maybe it's true or maybe not, depend of what kind of game each of us want, for me it's good enough if i think that they had a lot of trouble and used the Gamebryo as game engine better then Bethesda did with her engine for Oblivion, you call yourself a fan of the saga, but you ignore the lore resulting to the past Divinity games and make comparisions with DA:O with that sentence "Also, one of the things that distinguishes a great RPG is memorable individual boss fights. DA:O is a great example of that", they're so different and it's true that is a matter of taste, but you contradict yourself;
Even if my words sound contrasting, I've fear to see an evolution of Larian to the mainstream users/market, why that? Because there are alot of rpgs offering the same things from years, same serious/stories storys, same gamplay and I don't want to see the Divinity lore destruction for that :\

I don't see any reason why side quests can't be better connected to the main quest. Side quests should help to develop the character and the games broader themes.A long RPG should be more than the standard thing where you are the mighty chosen one who will defeat the great evil threatening the land after you get through 40 hours of XP grinding. The game needs additional and more complex themes, not just "let's stop the plot for twenty hours while the hero runs around mowing every lawn in Rivellon,helping every NPC get his cat out of a tree, etc." None of these kinds of quests develops the character or any larger theme, it's mainly just time-filling, OK for a while but monotonous after youv'e run back and forth around the same area numerous times.



In DKS by about two thirds of the way in I had masses of weapons, armor and jewellery items, most of which were of little use. There wasn't any point in selling them either because I amassed so much gold, and because there aren't a lot of merchants in the game and little to buy. I would generally find one good weapon and stick with it, the Wild Dwellers bow, the Bow of Orobas, the Bow of the Leopard, etc. Beyond a certain point in DKS I was sending pretty much everything to my Battle Tower storage chest, never to be seen again, and after a while I wasn't even bothering to loot much at all. The loot aspect of the game didn't work that well, what's the point of gathering fifty weapons when youv'e found one good one that works for you ? And at least in Neverwinter Nights my limited set of weapons did some serious elemental damage.




Because you aren't going to ever see much of the continent, it's just an abstract concept. So from the point of view of the player the areas you are confined to are the world. In DKS the caves, fortresses, etc. are all very similar. I really liked Dragon Age 2 and did two playthroughs of it but one of the things it was criticized by so many people for, justifiably, was it's copy/paste, endlessly recycled environments. So if you just have a series of unconnected small areas I think that you need to try and inject as much variety as possible.



It's true that you can't realistically compare the two things given the differences in resources between Bioware and Larian but Larian did originally start out with a pretty ambitious concept, then had to scale that back quite a bit. It was they who had to sit down and seriously consider the differences between a game like DA:O and the kind of game they could create with their more limited resources. But large or small, a lot of the same basics apply. A good boss fight should be an exam on everything we've learned about the game up to that point. And the boss should be a more distinctive character who may be of the same order as others but who clearly stands out, like Legate Lanius in Fallout: New Vegas, one of the toughest boss fights I've ever encountered.

I do understand what your'e saying but I don't see these kinds of suggestions as making the Larian games more mainstream, just more accessible and engaging. I'm not a big fan of Two Worlds 2 but it was an improvement over the first one. And in DA 2 the combat was improved a lot over the first game with faster, more well-animated spellcasting, amongst other things. My point is that a Divinty 3 should improve on the earlier games rather than looking to go off in new directions, like RTS.

Sure because in DA it's more "mature"? Please, don't mistake the old and good Tolkien story for something of actual and new, DA as for me it's overrated, if I want to play a game just like your desire I'll play The Witcher or Gothic, games underated on the other half of the ocean, and this isn't so bad, they're more deep then more overrated games, but return to Divinity II, a sane irony isn't enough mature? i prefer to see something of orginal and new against something already saw over and over again form more of 10 years.


This is in part true, but on the last post you talked about the "mighty" Dragon Knight, so if you're the Dragon Knight, why do you have less power? It's a contradict from your side, and, for what regards NWN, earnest do you think that such laziness justified the creators? They have the best artists, why do i pay that product if it offer to me less, I prefer to se a comparison between artworks, ideas and the actual game contents, not a lot of "sand castles" and even more weapons choise made an RPG nay more choise there're more the free of how to play I have more the game is an RPG, but this is a personal opinion.



I hope that you played Divine Divinity and Beyond Divinity too, in otherwise this statement is a nonsense.




In Divinity II vocal expression made an NPC the boss, some combat tricks or some puzzle behind him, not a different uniform only, and Larian it's a small/medium company, if you know the past trouble that they got i don't think that you will talking about publisher or similar things, from determinate points Divinity II was a miracle just like was Divine Divinity with his corrective patch, the american dream isn't the european one, Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning pointed high, what end it did? It's failed, Obsidian was near the hole too, any comparision is useless, too much difference in the all sectors, this is a suggestion topic not a comparision one



Agree with the RTS direction, but who know maybe the will do a great work;
In my opinion people need a little refresh of the genre with something new and more tactical/thought gameplay style, we're going too close to the Action and this isn't good, more action--> less rpg, of corse this is always a personal opinion.

I've the feeling some of you don't give constructive thoughs, but rather start giving comments on all that isn't good ...imo that are not constructive thoughts !
Suggestions ?

D) I like to see different ways to gain stat- or skillpoints. Some examples :
1) you meet a NPC do help him/her with a quest, going together fighting side by side and so you "learn" an ability that NPC is very good in >> you gain 1 level in that skill OR you ask that NPC how you can learn a little bit faster the skill he/she can so nice and properly ... then another quest he/she gives you to prove that you're worth it to learn for free his/her skill (maybe a very special skill?). Other possibilities are, of course, also nice (give me some if they plop up in your mind ).
2) A boss fight : by finding the enemy's "most weak spot" you gain a point in Intelligence, for example ! But the boss has more than one weak spot and only 1 is the most weakest, so it isn't that easy, understand ?
3) If you succeed to break in a castle and you can reach a certain place (high tower room or deep into a catacomb!) unseen you gain a point in Stealth (skill) or dexterity OR both ?
I think it's great this is linked on a quest.
4) If you can succesful damage/kill enemies after you lay a trap or you attracted them so they fall in a gap or step on a pressure plate that activate a piercing spear or something ... after a certain amount of success with this you gain a point in Intelligence & dexterity (for example).
5) Through a quest finding a well hidden place/room you meet a NPC who gives you a new quest that leads you to another well hidden place you must try to find ... their you meet a group of NPC you can choose which of them serve you till he/she dies (alla Gremory Block in DD) because that hidden place is an entrance of a big dungeon, deep under the ground, miles away from the sunlight .. a place you can find other hidden places where lives NPC's like a Lovely Witch or a Fearless Magican, a Frightened Giant, a Crafty Creature, a Evil Elf, etc etc ... all with new quests for you or little tasks to solve ... and in the meanwhile you hope to find a way out of this doomed dungeon of silly things ...

Okay, enough for this post !
I hope some of my ideas can bring up other nice ideas in the minds of everyone ... especially the Librarians ... changed name after a loooong study day ... knowlegde from books, you know ?

@Lar_q give me new ideas writing his last article Land Ahoy !

Ariadne's thread is not only a great help for solving Sudoku's, but also for the AI (Artificial Intelligence) by making games !

But why not including in a rpg a quest where you (as gamer) need to solve the puzzle/quest with Ariadne's Thread ? (and certainly a Book in the game tells the story about Ariadne!)
Making such a quest it's imo very important the player can go a path to try if that path is the solution OR has a "dead end" and if it ends nowhere, the player has the possiblility to "reset"(via talking to NPC again, via pulling a lever again, via ... be creative, more is possible, I'm sure!) that dead end path and start from that point(so via "backtracking") onwards ... WITHOUT TO BE FORCED TO RELOAD a previous savegame !! Otherwise it will be very annoying the player must each time reload because he/she comes to a dead end !
Now I'm thinking about a Maze, a very difficult maze where it's important the player must make notes or (more fun!) the palyer has the possibility to drop something (an apple or a banana, a gem or a goldcoin?) at the start of another intersection of roads/paths/corridors ...

But not only a maze can offer good quests regarding Ariadne's thread.
Thinking of Bellegar his poetic rhymes for example: it's maybe fun to include a big quest wherein the player must find out the correct sollution of the last phrase of one of Bellegar's rhymes via asking NPC's about what they know (and what are clearly "failures" you can cancel (overstrike them)) or via reading in books or reading on a board, a wall, a rock, a tree, etc ... or after almost killing an enemy(or persuade a NPC) on your path he/she leave a message or his/her say finally the truth after all the lies ...
It will even more great if it's possible to make a RANDOM quest solution, so if the player replay the game it's again a NEW logic puzzle to solve !!
Don't know if this can be ?!?
But not make this kind of quest as a part of the main quest because not all rpg players love solving puzzles ... .
And if the player find the solution reward him/her well ! With an extra area to explore (easter egg like in DD!), a very nice reward or even more than one reward only ONE the player can chooce, regardless his/her "build", but each reward give a satisfying gift for many kind of builds ...
or an extra NPC to trade with (and sells stuff you've never seen before !!) ...
The possiblities are legio, I am sure

D3 Should have save game transfer! From.... DC!

I can already see it (Thousands of years have past D2 Dragon Knight is long dead and ancient evil awakens or something...) but "EVIL SOMETHING" is not the only one to awaken! OUR DC DK Also awakens after thousand years of slumber (or something...) and if your choises from DC would matter it would be cool (Well i understand that it would be hard for your studio BUT GUYS YOU HAVE TALLENT KEEP GOING AT YOUR OWN PACE AND EVENTULY BIOWARE EA AND EVERYONE ELSE WILL BE LEFT BEHIND IN THE DUST!!!) and he should be powerfull from the start (i'm really tired of pussy heroes that everyone mocks.. would be great for a change to have a hero whos scary and even the bad guys are afraid of...

Imagine! OPENING CUTSCENE ... ... ... (ANCIENT EVIL AWAKENS, NO DK LEFT, NO ONES AROUND WHO CAN HELP etc... enemy troops are pillaging ancient temple wich was build for ancient DK hero AND... They screw up and activate somekind of mechanism and OUT DC hero is awaken! (ANCIENT KING, ANCIENT DRAGON KNIGHT, WHO ONCE COMMANDED LEGIONS! AND RULLED OVER Humans,elf,drarfs etc...) Here should star tutorial... after you deal with enemy marouders you walk out of the temple and "EVIL SOMETHING" apears before you! and dialoge should go like... (ohh almost forgot or DC DK face should be like a rock! his face should show expierience, courage etc.. well basicaly he should not be afraid of anything! and should alvays remain calm and confident... heroes that go like "ohh my god o what will we do? shout die...) onto dialog...


("EVIL SOMETHING" apears before DK as he exit his tomb/temple and they stare at each other for some time...)

"EVIL SOMETHING" : I sense power in you... who are you?
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"DK" (CONFIDENT,AND CALM) : If you want to know ones name you should start by introducing yourself or have people forgoten such simple courtesy...
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"EVIL SOMETHING" : (INTRODUCES Him/Herself in a realllllllyyy arogant way and then goes like) well i dont really care who you are.. you have power and that more than a reason to kill you... can't have anyone interfiring with my plans... (THEN he/she uses someking of a realy powerful magic and tries to kill DK "eHmmm This is still a cutscene!" BUT.... OUR DK (CONFIDENT,AND CALM) Looks around watching magic that "EVIL SOMETHING" cast and just as it is about to hit him HIS BEGIN TO GLOW RED and magic is deflected/nullified easy... "EVIL SOMETHING" is shocked....
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"DK" : Hmmm was that supposed to kill me? Begone you worm... "Eyes begin to glow red "DK" cast powerfull magic... "EVIL SOMETHING" flees as a chicken in the last moment! and our DK continues forward (CONFIDENT,AND CALM) to town/city where he learns that "EVIL SOMETHING" and his armys are attaking etc and goes on a quest to stop him/her! while hi/she sit's on her/his trone shaking in her/his boots trying to figure out who DK is sending her/his retainers after him..

People should act normal toward DK as long as they dont know who he is when they realise they should be like "OOOOH crap that's THE GUY, THE Dragon Knight" well you get the point :))
Story could be made even more interesting with quest like you awakaning/resurecting your own servant that are in slumber/death - building your home/tower/castle and custumazing it - AND MAYBE... FINDING A WAY TO RESSURECT other DK well basicali returning Dragon Knights to rivelon for Divinity 4

BASICALY I WANT A HERO WHO IS NOT A PUSSY AND WHO COULD WIPE THE FLOOR WITH "EVIL SOMETHING" It's just that he dosn't get the chance before the ending :)))

OHHHHH crap i should write movie stories :DDD OR MAYBE I'm JUST INSANE

SORRY FOR MY BAD ENGLISH i'm Russian...

I don't know if there would be much left of Rivellon if Damian were allowed 'thousands of years' before being confronted, unless maybe the Divine One sacrifices himself to banish or imprison him, and the Black Ring goes into hiding.

In any case, it would be great to eventually get another RPG with a dragon knight main character.


Welcome to the forum.