Hmmm... in the case of the plague, I'd always wondered about this:
should the player attain a high level of alchemical + intelligence skill, couldn't he work together with the other healers to duplicate the solution?
Also, IF for example he had a high level of intelligence and was good at making people talk, couldn't he interrogate Elrath and make him spill the beans on how to create another cure potion?
Finally, if you'd a high level of lockpicking + trap skill, couldn't the formulae for the cure potion be locked up somewhere?
Of course not! What would be the fun in that? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/stupid.gif" alt="" />
Übereil
It looks like we've got different ideas about fun. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />
Finding a way to supply everyone who needs it with a potion would render the whole "moral dilemma" meaningless. In fact, it would no longer be a dilemma at all! The whole point of a dilemma is that it´s a no-win situtation. In modern terms: You have 2 people who need a heart-transplant, and only 1 suitable donor. Who gets to live, and who must die?
You do have one point however: If there would be conceivable ways to escape the dilemma (e.g. by appropriating the formula somehow in the example above) it would feel like the game says: "Nope, someone has to die, stealing the formula would be chickening out of the dilemma, so I´m not allowing you to do that." This would make the whole situation feel contrived, and should be avoided at all costs. In other words: If you include moral dilemmas, you better make sure that they are TRUE dilemmas, and that no "correct" solution exists within the context of the game-world (whether the game allows you to use them or not).
Hey, nobody said that designing these things would be easy... <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />
