Larian Studios Forums Beyond Divinity (English) Technical Problems 1.41 has screwed up my game

First off, now my battlefield quests have $ERROR$ written on them instead of the item I'm supposed to find. Secondly, the death knights in act 1 in the patrol zone have lost their swords, so now they're attempting to punch me to death.

Sounds like you've got the same string problem that I have only in a different area. Good luck and check your conversation log as well to see if there are strings there too.

Noooo.... I have this problem too! This is frustrating me. I really don't want to start over so my battlefield quests will work. They all say $ERROR$ wherever the name of the quest item or enemy is, whether I'm talking to the quest-giver or looking at my quest log.

I'm not sure if the quests still work, I haven't yet gotten my new key for dungeon 2 (already second time I've restarted due to bug fixes). I'm guessing that they don't work without a new game. And these patches aren't supposed to affect our save games!

I loved Divine Divinity, and I WAS enjoying Beyond, but these bugs are starting to get under my skin. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/puppyeyes.gif" alt="" />

If I have to restart my game one more time due to game stopping bugs, the game's going back.

1.41 patch has given me $ERROR$'s in the quest log and conversation logs.

I seriously think I'm going to go play Divine Divinity. Beyond is no fun anymore. I'll wait till everything is ironed out rather than restarting a new game everytime they fix something (and break something else). I salute Larian for all their efforts to fix the problems for us, I hope everything is worked out soon so I can play Beyond bug-free.

I was just debating the same thing. The only problem I see is if all the bug finders decide to play another game for a month or two, all the bugs won't get fixed as they are created.

I don't know, there are a few people here who are bug finding maniacs. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/silly.gif" alt="" /> I'm sure they'd stick around while we go have a less traumatic gaming experience. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ROFL.gif" alt="" />

You know, one thing I've been wondering about a lot lately, is why on earth they did this whole "random" Battlefields thing in the first place. Here are the facts, as I understand them, someone please correct me if I'm wrong:

(1) The ground-level in the Battlefields is statically generated, it looks the same for everyone. The only difference is which quests you get from which merchant, but really it doesn't matter since they're all "kill this monster" or "retrieve this item".
(2) In the dungeons, the walls and containers (barrels etc) are all randomly generated, but it's basically always the same in that you have 2 levels of a certain size with a bunch of boring rooms, always with a bunch of the same monsters, then a 3rd level that's pretty small with 0-2 quest items/monsters in it.
(3) No monster respawns occur.
(4) As a result of trying to implement this "randomness" (which really just means random dungeon walls, when it comes down to it), the amount of bugginess in this game is utterly insane. Like 80%+ of the bugs in the game pertain to the Battlefields, and we've had attempt after attempt by Larian to fix them all, with little success thus far.

Would it not have been logical to just ditch this whole random dungeon walls thing, and create each of the Battlefields as a normal, static area?

Is there anyone who actually thinks the random dungeon walls in the Battlefields dungeons actually makes the game more replayable, or whatever? Yeah, I'm going to play the game over and over, because each time I do, the wall configuration in the Battlefields dungeons are different. Not only that, but this time instead of retrieving the bull's axe of the fox, I get to retrieve the cow's axe of the lemur or whatever. Excitement.

So, assuming everyone agrees that random dungeon walls don't make the game more replayable, what was really the point of this whole "random" bug-creating exercise?

I totally agree with you there. I don't really find the "random" battlefields random at all. I know when (IF) I ever complete the game I probably won't take advantage of the unlocked random battlefield "game". Playing many markedly similar battlefields in a row, each with a new lame set of quests with slightly changed names does not seem very stimulating for me either. The dungeons are boring as hell.

As far as I can tell, the entire battlefields things was put into the game very late in development. This is probably part of the reason for the insane bugginess. I like how it breaks up the gameplay though. When I get tired of the main game, I can go pick up some experience and loot in the Battlefield. Fine. But it doesn't need to be random because I'm probably only going to go through it once anyway. If it fixes the bugs, I say go for a static, not randomly generated version. By all means.

Personally I'm very intrigued by the idea of random dungeons and quests. They just need to be better implemented, and I agree that they should respawn. On the basis of playing with random dungeon generators that some brilliant folks have written for the Morrowind construction set, and playing lots of games with random dungeons, here are some suggestions:

Special rooms: have a few "special rooms" for each tileset. These can be designed as a whole, so they can be rich and detailed. Should contrast in style somewhat with the random elements, and look like a significant place, e.g. a temple, museum, or great hall. If you had five special rooms for each set and used a random chance of getting one, two or three special rooms, you'd still be getting surprised after several levels of that type.

Small special levels: extra down stairs leading to special levels with boss and treasure. The four small levels you got to via floor tiles in Divine Divinity's starting catacombs would be an excellent example of what I have in mind here.

Mix up the tilesets: if the tiles are the same size, should be possible to have a level which has areas in different tilesets. Might need special transition (doorway) tiles for this, but otherwise not too hard to do.

Random bosses with special drops. Make them stand out and associate them with the special room types.

Special treasure chests. Associate with special room types.

Entrances need some attention <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" /> I like the "rainbow pit", but every tileset needs its own stairs graphic. And who ever heard of going into a hole in the floor to get to the level above?

Should be less predictable where the quest goal will be. Permit them to occur in any of the special rooms/levels, for instance.

Ideally, of course, more complex quests... currently we have "get item" and "kill beast/get item". Adding just a few more quest templates would make a much richer system, e.g.:

- find a clue (NPC, note) which sends you to another location/beast to get item (repeat one, two or three steps in chain)

- two (or more) merchants want the same item; quest reward depends on which merchant you give it to

- plot twist: sent to rescue an NPC, who unexpectedly turns out to be an enemy

And so on.

I agree also. The random battlefield generator seem to me like a last minute attempt at capturing some of Diablo's flare. In theory, random dungeons with random loot is good, but the way it's implemented here is just window dressing.

The suggestions in the post above are great! I'll add a few also:

1. Random should mean just that. Make the entire dungeon random. Why always a dilapidated 3 floor building? Throw in a multi-level cave, or crypt, etc.

2. Change the level of the monsters to be somewhere around the characters current level. I know most people really need the extra XP from these places, but I'm an example of one who hasn't. Both my chars are warrior templates so I've had very little trouble with fighting. When I decided to hit the BFs late in Act 2, everything was way under my levels.

3. Make a more challenging experience by changing up the monster types. Every BF seems to have a Melee monster, a range monster and a caster. Yawn! How about one level having all casters?

Unrelated suggestion: Give us a permanent loot chest to store stuff in!! It should move from act to act and BF to BF.

all excellent thoughts. if the randomizer is worked on, and several to all of the suggestions given somehow implemented, i think it will be fine.

and for those who absolute sticklers about having something new that is more appealing than the "bland" randomness that is currently there. (which i agree, if its that way toward the end battlefields, one questions the replayability)

of course i admit that the surface of battlefield act 2 is better than act 1, but ... i haven't seen the dungeons yet.

so anyway back to my point

eventually, a scenario/campaign creator/editor would not be a bad idea simply because it would encourage various gamers to create. what follows would be these items, posted on a central website for download and feedback etc. as i have seen in some other games, i think this one would be a hit. but it has to be done over time and with care, in addition to the improved randomizer, in order to appeal to more divinity starved masses.

this user defined editor would obviously fix the issues certain people have with the randomizer, provided they proceed to be proactive about creating the very thing they are wanting.

<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" />