On the subject of stats propposed in kickstarter update.
1. I will try to argue that perception is unnecessary.
Chance of successful hit can be determined by speed and dexterity(with different weights based on weapon you're using).
Sight and hearing can be determined by constitution(which is a health stat so it seems obvious).
Discovering traps and finding treasures and secrets should not be stats based in my opinion. Divine Divinity and Divinity II showed that it's possible.
2. Luck(secondary stat) can be removed.
I never understood this stat and do not know anyone depending on it. It's very obscure. RPG is fun because of experimentation. And you cannot experiment with luck. You can have bad luck with high luck and good luck with low luck. If you make luck too powerful it can break the game. If you make it not relevant then why include it at all.
3. Equipment. Armor should not depend on any stat. You should be able to wear armor if you can carry it. So magical armor can just reduce the weight.
4. Weapon scaling. I also hope that weapons and armor will NOT depend on your level. I like the idea of bows depending on strength. Basically I like the idea of weapons scaling with different stats. For example
knifes could scale with speed
crossbows, halbers and some swords with dexterity
axes, maces and some swords with strength.
5. Also what do you think about completely respeccing of character stats and skills within game? I think it should cost money. It provides a lot of experimentation and RPG genre is all about it.
6. You could also think about throwing away level system and replacing it with continuous progression. Because level system is only used to make stat increments more accessible. E.g. in level system you get level up and can increment strength by 1, in continuous progression you can at any time increment strength if you have N points of XP. You can also determine very easily from your existing level system the amount of XP needed for every level of continuous progression upgrades.
7. I also like when dialog trees show which dialog options follow from high stats. I think it should be transparent. Maybe even show throws as an option.
This is a really great post, I agree with a lot of what you say.
1. Perception does seems like an unnecessary primary skill when you have Dexterity, Intelligence and Speed.
2. Luck is useful for tabletop RPGs where you can use it to modify a dice roll, in a computer game it's not a straightforward but if they can implement something clever it could be interesting. Perhaps for example if you only narrowly fail a test then there could be a luck-based probability you will still pass it.
3. I agree mostly but perhaps there should be a skill to wear armour to reduce action points penalty. I do think heavy armour should have s strength dependence but as you say, "if you can carry it".
4. My thoughts exactly.
5. I think they said there will be an option but it will be expensive. As you say RPGs require experimentation so I don't think it should be too costly, otherwise you'll end up wanting to restart the game to improve your optimisation.
6. This is another idea I like and have thought about before, to improve as you use rather than arbitrarily assigning an improvement of one after a certain point. eg. if you keep swinging a heavy sword after a time your strength increases, etc. I know Dungeon Siege sort of used this.
7. Hadn't thought about that, really nice idea.
I hope more people read what you wrote!
