Hello, dear Larian.
In this thread I’m going to talk about things mostly related to the camp, its mechanics, its place in the narrative. As always with suggestions.
1. The Campsites placing and design.The campsites are still disconnected from the rest of the world. Making them look like the environment where we hit the button solved the problem only partially, there are many other aspects of it and there are some other possible improvements.
So… for a start let’s call existing Mini Camps: Wilderness, Temple, Cave, Underground, Underdark.
1.1. The variety of the Mini Camps is lacking. Our characters are still “being forced to partake in marathon hikes just to go to bed” in many areas. And in some cases the Mini Camps could be assigned to more or less areas for better effect.
A) The Wilderness should be automatically assigned only to Ravaged Beach, Chapel Entrance and the area around the Druid Grove . Add more small campsites for further areas of the map like The Risen Road (a grotto), Blighted Village (an interior), etc.
B) The Cave should be used for the whole Druid Grove and Secluded Cove, not only Druid Grove interiors. If we have a cosy cave right inside the area, why would we leave it and go somewhere else?
C) The Underground should not be assigned to cellars in Blighted Village. We may enter a cellar first, then get in the caves under it, so having the Underground campsite way before we find a way underground seems strange. As well as it is strange to choose to go underground for camping while standing in a cellar with some furniture and a fireplace or furnace.
D) The Underdark could use some changes to it in the different parts of the area. The existing campsite visually suits all parts of the Underdark but it also looks like the exact same very distinctive spot, while the area itself seems to be too big and dangerous to go back and forth to the same camping spot.
1.2. There are no entrances to the campsites on the map. So they still seem to be pocket dimensions instead of actual places.
Please, add those entrances (doors, narrow passages, etc.). The areas with many levels should get some kind of corridors and stairs leading from different levels to the same entrance to the campsite. Also it may add to immersion if instead of teleporting in a camp with the most suitable design, we would teleport to the nearest camp that we already found. Imagine that we are not only placing the camps on the map, but also turning them into checkpoints.
1.3. The Temple campsite has no possible location in both areas which are using it. Please, add some space that could contain it in both areas.
1.4. The Wilderness campsite has no possible location on the map and has a bit too different landscape design compared to the majority of the Wilderness itself.
A) Make the river wider and put the Wilderness campsite on a peninsula something like 100 metres away from our current landing spot. And add a narrow passage that would lead from the Wilderness camp to our current landing spot at the shore.
OR
B) Put the Wilderness campsite on the opposite river bank and make the rest of the map accessible by a flimsy boat. This option is a bit trickier as later you will need to somehow explain how the NPCs and especially pets will get to the camp. Maybe they should wait for us until evening on the shore near our boat to go with us.
1.5. The camp gets way to many things we do not have and don't get anywhere. The sleeping bags, the tents, the table, the chests are all popping out of nowhere one after another.
A) Make it all exist only in the Wilderness campsite and be there from the very start. The Wilderness camp should originally belong to someone else, who probably perished at the Crash Site. So it was their usual camping site and their stuff. You may even add a note from one of the original camp owners explaining the magical properties of the traveller chest(s).
B) Add some sleeping bags that we would need to take with us to use in other camps.
C) Any other camping sites should have only the most basic camping stuff like sleeping bags and bonfire.
2. Dialogues about and in the camp.2.1. In all dialogues we keep on talking about our camp as if there is only one permanently existing campsite. Also it tends to exist and be ours even before we take a long rest for the first time ever. So let's make the Wilderness campsite the first main campsite and introduce it to us ASAP... And some kind of spot on our way to the Moonrise towers should turn into the second main campsite to back up the idea of travelling further. For the Underdark route it can be the Selune Temple part of it.
A) Change our landing spot to the Wilderness campsite. Our glorious landing may be even the reason the original owners left the camp. Anyway our distance from the Nautoloid seems to be wrong considering that we fall separately and have different weight and falling angle.
B) Make sure we give our spare companions and campsite companions more specific direction than "my camp".
C) Make our spare companions and campsite companions stay in that campsite. It will also help us to make the game prioritise the companions we want for certain cutscenes.
D) Add a cutscene moment that would show or mention our movement from the first main camp to the next.
2.2. Many campsite dialogues could win a lot if streamlined in one bigger camping cutscene that would start after hitting the long rest button. Some of them are already starting as if by our companion's initiative, some as if one right after another.
A) Add some camping activities to the campsite dialogues to show that it all happens by the way. For example we could bring some brushwood to the bonfire when Gale greets us with "Go to Hell".
B) After we are done talking to the first companion, show us a premise to conversations with others and let us choose to whom we are going to talk next. Of course if a certain companion takes the initiative in the conversation the choice should be skipped. For example when Shadowheart asks us what we were talking about with someone else she should approach us herself on our way from that someone else.
2.3. Celebrating in our camp makes no sense (why are we forced to host a party in our name?), creates additional problems with the camp environment (corpses) and slightly breaks the story (who the hell called Kagha? how they all managed to start without us?).
A) Move the celebration to the Groove. At the same point when an NPC usually tells us that we should go to our camp for celebration, the NPC should tell us that we should wait a bit while they prepare the celebration.
B) Add a moment before the battle at the Groove or the celebration itself when we would be able to call our spare companions and campsite companions to the Groove. If we are calling them before the fight they should participate in it either under our control, or under AI control if we go against their wishes.
C) After we are done with waiting and calling companions the next visit to the Groove should start the celebration cutscene. It also may look better as one big cutscene with all the dialogues and choices instead of many small ones.
2.4. The night when everyone feels sick is quite a bland experience without Lae’zel. Other companions certainly should have reactions suitable for their characters, but not weaker reactions. It’s their lives at stake after all. Here examples how their reactions could evolve:
- Astarion could go all paranoid expecting the PC to attempt to put Astarion out of his misery. This may create some hostility, hiding attempts and lies.
- Shadowheart, who seems to feel fine compared to some of the others, could decide that she is not turning but the others are turning. This may lead to an attempt to leave the camp or get rid of the sick ones.
- Gale could use his common approach by trying to fix things with magic and a "friendly mephit".
- Wyll, who also doesn't feel that bad but also a “nice” guy, could try to be helpful with restraining the others.
2.5. Some of the camp conversations seem to have too dodgy triggers or be easily overridden/postponed by other conversations. And while for some of these conversations it's understandable and the story may flow smoothly without them, with some it adds up to the point when we never talk to certain companions or the order of their conversations gets broken. So some of those triggers and overrides should be revised and tweaked. For example:
- Astarion doesn't really need us to find the dead boar or do something else for his attempt to bite us, more like he needs to give in to his craving for humanoid blood and that's just a question of time, but he certainly needs to tell us about his vampirism before mentioning Casador as his sadistic master. The only thing that should depend on finding the boar is mentioning the boar.
- Lae’zel waited 1 more night before talking to me about the Kith’rak, because I met Fezzerk with Wyll on the same day. So Wyll made Lae’zel wait. No one should postpone their personal conversation with us just because someone else has it as well.
2.6. Rafael appears a bit too early in the plot. It seems the conversation with Nettie is the trigger for his first appearance but as a result it often happens to be just the second night of our adventures when we barely got to know our companions or even didn’t get a chance to recruit some of them. It sometimes postpones some conversations which are clearly meant to be the first nights with our companions. Plus it’s not quite a logical consequence of the conversation with Nettie. Yes, we got a lead on a healer, it also could be Ethel, Zorru, Gut… all the other leads are as good as Nettie and Halsin at that point. And us having 1 lead or 10 leads or 0 leads actually changes nothing for Rafael since he is there just to tease. And he probably would love to tease the whole party. So I would bind his trigger to the moment when we would at least talk to each of available companions and spend a night or two after that.
2.7. I’m really sad that the Shadowheart Ultimatum scene got cut out entirely. It was beautiful in it’s own way, it was adding some weight to our role as the main hero of the story. And in the new scene that replaced it Shadowheart seems to be too calm for someone who was avoiding all possible dangers a few days alone and now says that we need each other, and we seem to be not the main hero but someone who is recruited by the main hero. I understand that the old scene won't work with the place of the artefact in the plot anymore. So, please, find a middle ground between those 2 scenes:
A) If we didn’t recruit her previously, make Shadowheart look more nervous and exhausted and let her mention how the artefact led her to us or something like that. Let her come to the camp in a distressed state as before if we don’t go to the Goblin camp or any other point that triggers the new scene soon enough.
B) Change Shadowheart moves when the artefact is activated so it won’t look as if she’s intentionally using it. She may struggle against it because she doesn't yet understand what it’s doing. She may look more as if she is temporarily possessed by the artefact and it makes her move the needed way. She may even mention it afterwards.
3. Сamp followers and pets.3.1. Withers… he shouldn't even be one. He would look and work as a mysterious death-related figure much better if he would appear near us only when someone in the party is dead or when he has his own reasons. Along with making Revivify and Resurrection scrolls much more rare and closer to 5E D&D this can fix many little plot holes (existing ones and potential ones).
A) Make Withers spawn near us if we have dead companions in the party even if we met him already.
B) Make him always revive our dead companions for a price, never trade with us. Also it could be an interesting addition if the price would go up after some time or depending on companions approval rating as a reminder about his first question.
3.2. Volo provides no reason why he joins our camp. He could return to the Grove or go travelling all by himself like he did before.
A) Make him give us some real reason to take him with us or explain why he wants to go with us. And allow us to refuse.
OR
B) Don't make him one of our camp followers at all and return him to the Grove.
3.3. Halsin. While originally his presence is justified by his intention to go to the Moonrise towers and help us to find the cure, later it starts to look like a poor excuse because he just sits in the camp being useless.
A) Turn him into a temporary companion for Underdark.
OR
B) Make him perform some guarding function in our new main camp.
3.4. The pets seem to appear only at Wilderness camp, while they are supposed to find us by our smell and we may not visit that camp for days. So we either should appear at all suitable camps or we should lead them there a bit differently. Maybe a more intentional questlike approach will suit the situation here. We may give them the smell and then get an objective to go afoot to our main camp.
4. Camp supplies and resting mechanics.4.1. Current Camp Supplies mechanic doesn't really compliment other mechanics of the game, it only adds to the inventory management and compulsive looting. So here some ideas on how to develop it into something more instead of scrapping all together:
A) Make sure that food is not randomly and lavishly spreaded around but has logical sources and distributors. If it's true that the Grove’s supplies are depleted or Kagha is doing her best to make it look like that then Aaron shouldn't sell any food or his prices for both buying and selling should go way up. If the Blighted Village was destroyed a century ago then we shouldn't find any food there unless goblins brought some. Create some leads to each source of supplies. Like now Shadowheart is telling us that we may find supplies in the ruins, there should be more similar moments. Practically finding food should turn into more of a reoccurring mini-quest than simple looting and buying.
B) If possible make an option for simplified representation of looted food. Under simplified I mean ignoring all details and staking everything that falls in one category together, like meat is meat, it doesn't matter pork or veal. So with this option being turned on instead of a pork loin, a bacon and a beefsteak in separate cells we should have 3-4 pieces of meat staked in one cell in our inventory. I’m suggesting this as only an option for the sake of preservation of small roleplay moments for those who want them.
C) Turn Camp Supplies into smaller Dry Rations. 1 dry ration = 3 nutrition points with 0.5kg.
D) Make fresh food more nutritious than dry rations. 0.5kg of fresh food = 4 nutrition points. But also make all food spoil in 2 long rests after looting/buying/cooking. Spoiled food should just disappear from our inventory and containers (or we may have a button). You can add a detail here making our character say something like "Oh, this is all spoiled and rotten, I should just throw it away" or even add getting rid of spoiled food as one of those camping activities in cutscenes from 2.2.
E) Allow us to craft dry rations from fresh food with loss in nutrition points. 4 nutrition points of fresh food = 1 dry ration.
F) Make the amount of nutrition points needed for full long rest dependent on the number of people in the camp. 1 person = 5 nutrition points. And allow us to get rid of unwanted companions without waiting for plot reasons or need to smack them till they hate us, as in “I don’t like you, you’re useless, go away”.
G) Give all drinks including water a low nutrition value that would supplement the nutrition value of 0.5kg of food or rations to supper for 1 person. 1 cup of a drink = 1 nutrition point. 1 bottle of a drink = 2 nutrition points. And allow us to refill bottles at fresh water sources.
H) Give Goodberry it’s proper nutrition value of 5 nutrition points. And If it’s possible then exclude characters who ate Goodberry during the day from the needed nutrition counter in the evening.
4.2. Short rest looks too much like a magic button that heals even in the middle of potentially dangerous nowhere. And if the game will get an actual time flow and a short rest will skip one hour, as it should, it will look a bit strange and disconnected from the game reality if it will keep on working the exact same way in overall.
A) Allow short rest only in areas which are somewhat ready for a rest. Druid Grove and Goblin Camp, uninhabited and formerly inhabited caves and houses.
B) Add a small sequence of resting animations after hitting the button.
C) Allow some camp dialogues to be a part of a short rest. It should be those dialogues that do not require the camp environment and do not imply that we are going to sleep. Astarion mirror scene for example.
5. Minor camp mechanics.5.1. Please, stop spawning dead party members in the camp after being killed by going out of the map borders. Those blood pools on sleeping bags are not cool and that dead body teleportation goes against any immersion. Replacing options:
A) Leave them where they are. Withers can reach them anywhere anyway.
OR
B) Spawn them near one of those who are still alive. At least we would be able to play-pretend that we dragged them to the spot from the place where they fell.
OR
C) Spawn them in some predetermined point in each area.
5.2. Traveller chest in the camp works against encumbrance mechanics, game world consistency and immersion. But it’s also too valuable a QoL element to simply remove it. And actually D&D has objects and spells with some similar properties. So here are options:
A) Replace the chest with one of those similar objects with their correct properties. All-Purpose Pocket Dimension, Bag of Holding or an artefact with Secret Chest spell.
OR
B) Give the Traveller chest it’s own more detailed properties and a place in the lore. It may have a certain maximum holding capacity. It may not be able to accommodate everything, for example a spear should be too long for it if the chest is not connected to some kind of a demiplane. It may actually be connected to a demiplane. We may need to carry some little pendant to be able to send things in the chest. And It can be the very recent invention of some Wizard.
)
