[color:"yellow"]WARNING: Post contains spoilers! Please don't read if you have not played the game[/color] Lego:
the clumsy interface. If you’re going to provide for two characters to be run simultaneously, you MUST also provide a way for us to switch between these characters to facilitate healing potions, spell use, etc. And NO, the pause (spacebar) is NOT an acceptable alternative.
This may work fine for those of you (us) that don’t mind taking a break to plan strategy, heal, etc. – but those of us who prefer to win ‘on the fly’ are horribly cheated. To us, using the pause is like playing a timed chess match and being able to call timeout whenever you please. Not good.
Hm, I like playing in peace - so the spacebar or another possibility to stop the game flow and let me think/act/choose as I was accustomed to in turn-based games is suitable for the way I like to play. "On the fly" puts me under stress. I needed time to understand and use the interface, but I'm not a great hotkey fan (except for inventory, map etc.) As I dislike hack&slash, and therefore avoided the battlefields, my chars were pretty weak, so I needed the space bar. I liked the icon idea for active skills/spells, so I could choose in peace.
About interface in general => this is strictly subjective now: it's part of the game fun/challenge for me to find out how a game works. I love controls, meddling with them and getting aha-effects. I like to experiment and enjoy my progress in this. Clumsy? Hm, strange, if I can't cope with something, I consider myself clumsy and try to improve. Just my approach towards a game.
The interface isn’t only NOT intuitive; it simply doesn’t work in some regards
No, it isn't intuitive - if intuitive is meant as => understood at the first glance. I liked the challenge to understand it.
Personally, I like rpgs with only one character to control (and to maximize their profile).
Same here, therefore I tried this for my main char and restricted myself to very few skills and spells. The amount of abilities on the skill tree was huge, so I required discipline. I liked the lack of skill points, as not to overpower my char.
If Div had not given me the opportunity to buy books and therefore learn a lot of spells, I would have restricted myself there, too.
The skills are cluttered and without documentation, far too dependant upon trial and error. Singlehand, doublehand, and single with shield? All for a sword? Okay, I can live with this – but now let’s add shadow swords as a separate option and NOT have shadow as a separate option for bows. Hmmmm. Consistency please.
I think, the weapon options were a bit too many. It wasn't all about swords - it was about melee weapons in general. I was glad not to need additional shadow points for my bow as well. But you are correct, the missing shadow/bone option for ranged weapons is inconsistent.
A near total lack of documentation. If you don’t go to the forums, good dang luck understanding alchemy, holy water, no lockpicking, luck, making permanent potions, quests that don’t show up or show up repeatedly (I could go on and on…).
I'll leave out lockpick, as this is a bug (hopefully fixable?) - the quest log is unsatisfactory for quests. The German version showed up quests (specially in Act 3). About the manual => I agree, alchemy should have been explained better - or a NPC should have informed within the game about plants/holy water. About luck => hm, what would you have liked? An explanation about exact percentage? How important it is to have both chars with the same value?
Hm, the non-linearity in Div caused problems - the linearity in BD causes problems. How to explain this to a gamer without destroying the game flow? A message such as "item required"? In the way of: "main quest, caution, leads to the next act"? True, it's not obvious that a sentence from the DK to disguise yourself is crucial for Act 1 - or that giving the alchemy ingredients to the alchemist in Act 2 leads to Act 3. How to know that the char's request to leave the world of Act 2 occurs by fulfilling the help request of the chieftain's son? Though he SAID: I will help you to leave if..." Hm, maybe different coloured speech options? Or maybe different coloured log entries?
The way the plot was designed (in acts) - would you have preferred the possibility to return to previous acts? Gee, I can see my char wandering through all acts and not knowing how to proceed then. And it would not have been logical: the Citadel was blown up, if I used the bomb. How to include the possibility if I had merely used the key? What's the point in roaming over Act 2 after most have been killed?
Isn't it "logical" to go a linear way to escape from this world act per act and return home?
the unique (green) items not being finished, the numerous bugs in gameplay, at least 2 battlefield keys not even in the game, etc.
Agreed - I would have preferred no special items in this case - and the lacking BF keys were not good, as Act 4 does not allow entry into the 6th dungeon.
I'm not qualified to press a game into a percentage - my lines are:
is the game fun for me?
does the plot keep me hooked?
is the world detailed, does it have atmosphere? Humour?
Can I identify myself with my char? (most important for me)
Do I develop emotions for this world, the NPC? Do I wish to take sides?
Is there a lot to explore? Solve? Read? Decipher? Admire?
Are there strange things puzzling me, do I want to understand?
It did in BD for me. Is it a good game? Nope, just the game suitable for my playing style. Is it a bad game? Nope, just not suitable for other playing styles.
Kiya
PS: the game needs another patch IMO - but not one including more (partly excluding) gamer wishes/features such as those introduced into the 1.40er versions. I wish for a logical quest log, closing the leaks that lead chars into the In-Between-World - quest bugs - crashes, hanging cut scenes some still encounter, lockpick etc. And maybe a readme file, explaing what was not included into the manual (alchemy, skill descriptions come to my mind).
Edit: There IS one feature I would like to have added => a warning, if I click on an animal by accident and am in combat mode (like in Act 1 with the rats) - but I do not know how complicated this will be.
2nd edit: voice acting => I prefer to play without voice, as I tend to stress dialogue differently as a voice would. And I consider my own fantasy voice mostly superior to the fix one. Same goes for reading a book instead of watching the movie <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" /> => again strictly subjective.