Well I finished Divine Divinity and here’s what I have to say: I’m playing it again!
In the meantime, here are some of my humble suggestions for a sequel:
World:
Make the world seamless a-la Ultima VII. It’s ok if some parts are on a separate map (i.e. dungeon, sewers, cave etc.). While Divine Divinity certainly does not skimp on the size of the geography, having Verdistis and the Dark Forest on separate maps somewhat ruined the contiguous feel of the game world.
Interactivity:
Object & Environment interactivity are great. More of this would be better! Raise a drawbridge or burn a tree! Combine two items together to make something new!
NPCs:
Give them schedules. Have merchants that lock up at night and open in the morning. For people who don’t like the idea of schedules because it’s an inconvenience or they don’t like the idea of a NPC quest-giver moving around, have a checkbox in the options menu that the player can check to ‘turn off’ NPC schedules – special scripted events excepted of course…
Weather:
More varied weather. How bout a dust storm or a blizzard and the shadows of clouds passing along the ground?
Traveling:
How about landmasses separated by an ocean so that the player can at some point acquire a ship and travel to locations unattainable without a ship? The player would sail the ship around himself and explore the world as he would on foot as opposed to the ship being only some kind of ‘fast travel’ mechanism.
Gambling:
Remember Buccaneer’s Den in Ultima VII? You could gamble there at the various games of chance. It was a lot of fun.
Gold/Banks:
Make it harder to acquire gold in the game. Create banks where you can earn interest and store your items.
Again, I had a blast playing DD, it is one of the best CRPGs I’ve played since Ultima VII. Great Job Larian!
