Larian Studios Forums Divinity 2 - Ego Draconis (English) Divinity 2 - Ego Draconis [Suggestions] Divinity II: Flames of Vengeance

One more thing.

Chests that are hard to reach or get (like four levers chest in Broken Valley and others) should really contain something unique. Going through all this troubles to get some crappy stuff is wrong. This secret treasures should be more rewarding in the sense that they should give something that you can't get anywhere else. Like Skill\stat books or unique items. Otherwise it just dont worth the effort.

i would like to see unsheathed weapons after cinematics <_< its really annoying trying to survive until you can get fight back.

And another thing! (I just seem to come up with random stuff lately) XD

Battle Tower - I think it is a great idea, but still should be more developed (maybe a bit similar to the Overlord game where you can upgrade your Citadel change its interior and exterior etc) I think it is really nice that you can have a fortress of your own where you can retreat and rest create some stuff or even play some mini-games (which of course should be rewarding - like getting some of the Maxos powers or artefacts after comp;liting some kind of a trial or puzzle solving etc.) Arena is a nice idea too - to be able to fight some monsters (maybe even check the Necromancers work - whether the creatures he create are as strong as he tells you for example).
Crafting should be included - I want to be able to really make weapons and armour, no just enchant it (especially if I have the best smith in Aleroth!).
Summoning should be more diversed - why cant we summon some wild animals or other creatures except for demon, spirit and undead.
Also some strategic component (as a minigame) could be included - for example somebody attacks your tower and you need to defend it - you can use you necromancers powers to summon zombies and other undead (by the way - zombies should be scary and look like dead people and not only as some strange constructs with pickaxes instead of arms - but this is interesting too) etc... Hope you got my idea.

Top Level Enchantments - Leaving aside the Healing Aura ones, top level enchantments require Malachite Gems to use. But the benefit you get for that is pitiful. Malachite Gems are extremely rare, you're unlikely to see more than 14 in a game, but the Level 10 enchantments aren't noticeably better than a level 9 enchantment. There are a few possible fixes for this:

1) Make the Level 10 enchantments a LOT better. When I can get a +24 Melee Damage enchantment for basically nothing, there's no reason to waste a gem to go to +27. But if instead, the Level 10 was +39, 15 points higher, that might be something to think about. THe higher the boost, the more tempting the enchantment is.

2) Have your runners be able to search for Malachite Gems. The problem with this is that it still theoretically makes this rare commodity an infinite supply, but it can be balanced out a bit if you make the searching more difficult and less worthwhile by using any of these:
a) Increase the amount of time the runner is away - instead of coming back on your next return to the tower, they come back on your third visit to the tower. Gems are rare, so taking longer to search is reasonable.
b) Increase the chances of injury when searching for Malachite Gems. The longer you're in the field, the higher the chances of injury.
c) Only one Malachite Gem can be found per run. This should keep them valuable.
d) There's only a 5% chance that you'll find a gem on a run. So, for every 20 times you send a runner out (and they return uninjured), you might find one Malachite gem.

That should keep Malachite Gems hard to find. But please also make the enchantments more useful.

I had 22 malachite gems before the hall of echoes, after giving 2 to the blind philosopher and using 4 throughout the game for level 10 healing aura enchantments (which require a malachite gem at any level).

Malachite veins should always have a malachite gem. It is relatively easy to get 1 or even 2 gems by reloading (3 or 4 require patience or luck), but not everyone is going to want to do so.

Thank You for Your reply. This might help alot. But what about situations when i have f.e. 37 apples or gems and I want to sell them with one click without scrollig etc. Is it possible (on PC)
Regards

Greetings,

I've read through quite a bit of suggestions since I started playing this game, trying to avoid as many "spoilers" as possible unless I couldn't figure it out (or didn't want to take the time to figure it out). And since the good people at Larian (my hat is off to all of you--love your work) actually read these forums and genuinely care about what we, the players, think, I'm giving my "two cents" worth.

* Like many, I'd like to be able to fight land mobs while in dragon form. A way to balance--and this occurred to my while reading through forum-- could be that in dragon form you can only take out the mob boss (and maybe a healer and two shaman? *big grin*). When getting to Orobas Fjords, the imp mobs that have like 3-4 shaman along with 3-4 melee fighters was ridiculous! Several reloads, sometimes, because they'd kill me so fast, even with my "pet." Maybe in dragon form the entire mob couldn't be taken out, but if either the disposables (henchman--low levels, you know, any Tom, Dick or Harry will do *wink*) or the bosses could be taken out in dragon form, then finish off the rest in human form. I personally like being able to switch forms at will- it'd be nice for there to be more usefulness to it.

* Definitely keep the storyline going! I was happy to read that the add-on would be a seamless continuation!

* It's been mentioned before, but worth mentioning again, especially when part of the "tips" is to be careful of the decisions you make: Make there be consequences for actions! One example already given was the farmer's wife and Derk (the blacksmith). In the first Divinity, you had "Reputation" points, that were adjusted according to actions you took. It would seem that could and should be implemented with the add-on and D3(?), because it's already part of the Divinity story/world.

* I miss the risk of thieving! One of the only games where you "might get caught" thieving that I've played is the first Divinity! I loved that aspect, as was disappointed that it wasn't part of Divinity 2. Again, this is something that was already part of the story/world from the beginning-- maybe this falls in the category of consequences for actions.

* Recipes: Very frustrating to not know what's already been learned, what's needed for certain recipes (while you're out and about, or buying from a vendor). Please incorporate what is already partly in the game in the add-on: being able to see what's needed. As has already been suggested, a tab showing what you've already learned would also be very helpful-- and can still incorporate the ingredients list.

* The rewards. I was rather disappointed at getting unique items at nearly the end of the game (last 2-5 levels). It was great fun trying to find all the pieces of the sets, but so late in the game that it's practically useless (unless, of course, this gets carried over into the add-on). Still it would be nice to see small sets (say, a jewelery set) earlier-- maybe (if mind reading is still a feature in the add-on) there's a rich character (not unlike the wealthy of Verdistis & Merchants all over) who has a jewelery set stashed in various places of his home/property that you can find only through mind-reading. Just an example.

* Most of the tips for this game concerned the battle tower, which you don't get until nearly the half-way point. I'd hate to think this was a design flaw-- seems more like it was due to time constraints. I'm not saying that the "big deal" should come super early or easy, but.... I hate to do this, but I must refer to another game for an example (I really hate doing this kind of comparison, but I don't know how else to explain). The Battle Tower of Ego Draconis is similar to the gaining of the Horadric Cube in Diablo 2 (I play the expansion). It's primary purpose is as a quest item that must be had to complete Act II (of 5 acts, w/ the expansion). It is difficult to get, but so rewarding-- and the rewarding doesn't stop. There are all sorts of formulae that can be utilized throughout the entire game! For Ego Draconis, I was very expectant for getting the Tower, and somewhat disappointed in how little I 'needed' it later in the game. For future reference, something this important and supposedly a "key role" of the game should be more useful (in my opinion).

* I'm guessing most of the writing has been done for the add-on... Still, something I noticed with Ego Draconis is the 'skewed' time-line (or so it seems to me). The people of Dragon Cliff have been waiting for Orobas for several decades? I loved the appearance of Buad... but how old is that guy? And the blind man who discovered how to live for a thousand years.... Mardaneus (that crazy, lovable coot) passed away.... I'm guessing that there's going to be some kind of time passage while the "hero" is in the Hall of Echos (trying to not put any spoilers), but I hope to see/feel less time-line discrepancies.

* Bigger world. What's up with that little heart-shaped place in the upper right of the map? I thought that was going to come into play (like, it's the heart of the dragon, so maybe the battle tower was there.... or maybe that's where the remaining REAL dragons escaped to... or???). The world is small and seems constricted, especially with flying ability, and the obliteration of Broken Valley, Aleroth, Rivertown, etc. Where are the Dwarves? What happened to them? Did Zix-Zax "the Almost Wise" escape the poisoning of Broken Valley? Maybe Zix-Zax finds Maxos and they are the ones to rescue Divine & my character? *BIG smile* On that note, I'm assuming we'll get to meet this mysterious Maxos-- perhaps he became Damian's pet in his greed for power? So many possibilities!

On a final note, I'd like to see the add-on as only an expansion... and to leave room for Divinity 3! You have done a great job with the Divinity world-- I love the humor, the storyline is fantastic, an immersible world, to be sure. Divinity is in my top 3 "LOVE" to play RPGs. Keep up the great work. Take the time needed to make a great add-on, and a great 3rd Divinity ("Rise to Power"!). I think the true fans of Larian Studios are willing to wait for an awesome, replayable game that doesn't have bug issues and is expansive, and would prefer that over a half-done, "hurry up and get it out" game. I'm willing to wait

Looking patiently forward to Flames of Vengance,

~~CierraShore
p.s.
I play PC games only-- we don't have any console games. I use the following, and haven't had too many problems:
Dell Vostro1720 (laptop)
Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU
T6570 @ 2.10 GHz, 2.09GHz, 2.99 GB RAM
NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GS (video card)
IDT High Definition Audio
and Windows XP OS

The game was originally designed to allow the dragon form to attack land opponents, but it required too much memory and had too much of a frame rate hit (see Lar's post in the topic Design ideas for Divinity 3 (mostly for Larian)).

Yes, Raze, I read much of that thread-- thanks for posting it, because that's how I got to it in the first place.

I have noticed my PC runs A LOT hotter (literally) when I'm in dragon form, so I can understand that. But computers are always getting faster & better, so I would hope that some things that couldn't be included previously can/will be included w/ the add-on and Divinity 3 *big grin* I keep in mind, as much to my ability as possible, not only a player's Point-of-View, but also from a writer/developer PoV (and my background in working w/ computers) while giving my suggestions. I realize that 1) I'm not the only player, 2) not everyone likes what I like in a game, or dislikes what I dislike in a game, 3) cost/profit is part and parcel of the business world, 4) that technology has limits, but is always progressing. The other thing I always remind myself--kind of a motto, I suppose one could say-- "Do not criticize something while having no suggestions for improvement." I apply this in most aspects of life, not just gaming/reviewing.

I've noticed you seem to be a hardcore fan of Larian & their games (which I am also, when it comes to the Divinity world), and the posts of yours I've read have been helpful and courteous-- thank you for that.

All best,
~~CierraShore

Perhaps in Divinity 3. Honestly, even in Divinity 1, Reputation meant basically nothing whatsoever. It was used precisely once, when asking Blake for a key to Nericon's garden, and even then just getting an invitation to Stormfist bypassed it. In Beyond Divinity, Reputation technically existed, but was only used for price adjustments at merchants, which was largely irrelevant.



Yeah, I'm not sure why they took this out in Beyond Divinity and Divinity 2. I guess they just didn't want the hassle of implementing consequences without breaking quests or focing you to fight NPC's, possibly breaking the game.




In Divinity 1, there's a book which mentions that Baud was a mage, and mages can live a very, very long time. Zandalor is 600-700 years old. The real question is Lord Seth - he was a warrior from Divinity 1, and he's still fight-capable 40, 60, 80 years later? (I don't remember how long this game takes place after Divinity 1).

As for Mardaneus

Stabby,

Thank you for setting timeline in perspective. I'm not all that familiar with out "fantasy" time works, so that explanation works better. And yes, while I was very happy to see Lord Seth again, and defeat him (to his delight)... it was.... strange.

It's been a while since I've played the first Divinity all the way through, and I've played at least one or two other games all the way through since then-- started some others but haven't been able to finish. I'd forgotten about the 'how' for Mardaneus.

For Nericon's Garden, it really didn't matter what rep you had-- Stormfist Castle seemed to be the "key" to being able to do that quest. I've played around with that part just to see, and that's what the evidence seemed to indicate. I still like how you get treated based on reputation, the guards start 'liking' you, complimenting and whatnot. For me, it added a feeling to the game, like I was really 'helping' the populace and making a difference-- something I found somewhat lacking in Ego Draconis.

I'm very glad to know I'm not the only one who misses "thieving"! In real life, I'm an overly honest person (my spouse says I'm too honest sometimes)-- so for me, even though I align with "good" even in games... I just can't help to be a little naughty when it came to that great benefit! I learned 'strategies' (if you could call them that), when to steal, what had to be done before being able to thieve, etc. So much fun.

What do you think about my idea of 'stealing' a jewelry set from a rich merchant or maybe the Champions or something? Am I alone on this idea?

Have a great day/night.

CierraShore

CierraShore,

that about "thieving": I have the same feeling like you have !

In DD (and other games) you must keep attention if a NPC doesn't see you while stealing some of his/her possessions.
Or in DD you can learn the skill Pickpocket

I like Turtles.....