Larian Studios Forums Divinity - Original Sin Divinity - Original Sin - General Wishlist

Hello,

So I'm new here (though I've been following the game almost since its announcement), and though I don't like to intervene on forums, I feel it's time to do so. The game is in an advanced state of development and we can reasonably give ideas without influencing the developers too drastically (fans might have good ideas, but I don't believe these ideas should systematically be followed, to preserve the identity of the game).
This game have such potential, it would be an heresy not to share ideas. Who know, maybe it can help.
A lot of ideas I wanted to share have already been proposed anyway, so I won't contribute much to the subject.

Here we go :

- Treasure hunts, with load of secrets, traps and powerful hidden skills (which could only be used once or twice a
day, given their power).

- A Coliseum where you can fight powerful opponents (and, why not, other players). You could place bets on fight, establish rules (with penalties if they're infringed), recruit new henchmen, win rare items/skills, which could be part of a treasure hunt side quest.
I guess you understood where the idea comes from (Final Fantasy).

- We don't know much about combats. When about to hit an enemy, do we know how much chances we have to hit it (in %) or is it an unknown parameter ?
Are there different kinds of positionning (height), and can it influence the chances of hitting ? Can you use items during combats, and if yes can you give them to your partner while fighting ?

- You said there would be no mini-games (Project Update #9, I quote "(27 min) No mini-games. Lockpicking will be item based and dexterity based.".
Will it be possible to design mini-games through the editor, or does it require a modification of the game coding ?
Talking about the editor, I assume you can design your own combination of items with it, may they emanate from the Vanilla game or from mods, right ?

- I might have missed it somewhere, but is the magic only elemental ? Aren't there neutral spells ? I believe it would allow a much more creative content to provide us with non-elemental affiliated magics (I'm not only talking about the wizard but also the warriors/survivors, who can use Source magic as well)

- You said we can "sneak". How does it work ? Are there stealth sequences ? That would be awesome ! But then, how does it work ? NPCs have a radius of sight, right ? Of hearing as well I believe. Are there indications regarding this radius in-game, or do we need to guess it by ourselves ?

- The possibility to become a merchant, to develop a commercial empire. With your money, it could be interesting to help people...
Or to become a tyrant, to corrupt people, buying real estate, to expel citizen not buying their rent...
Ok, maybe it's too much. We're not playing a SimCity-like game after all.
But the idea of doing something else with your money than just buying equipment should be considered in my opinion.

- J747L talked about the editor on page 2, to which you answered that "The way our story system is set up allows you to link as much levels as you want together and still put them together in one storyline".
I might have misunderstood it, but does it means that 2 people can share their works and put it as a single campaign ?
Ex: 2 or more people want to make a huge campaign, so they split the work. Person A works on the northern part of the map, person B works on the southern.
Can they, at the end of the day, gather all what they've done into one single file ? If yes, how ? By "copy-pasting" everything that has been modified on a given scale ?
If not, well that's definitely something I'd want to see in the editor.

- Stabbey pointed out the balance of the skills on page 3, I support this as well. Please don't give us skills "for beginners"
that we will put aside by the end of the game because they're not powerful/useful anymore.

- Lurker, still on page 3, mentioned the possibility to spare ennemies, I must admit that would be awesome IF it has consequences.

- Kein on page 4 asked for a card game (taking the example of FF8, which I loved as well), I support this idea, it'd be cool to add such a side quest/activity, on the model of the good old FF VIII/FF IX where you had to hunt for cards. It wasn't just for the fun of dueling NPC, it also had a point since you could create rare items from them (though I must admit, I never did, I loved my cards too much to sacrifice them).
If you don't want to make such a complex system, it's okay, but a simple card game system would be good anyway, since it would add a basis on which modders could work, if they want to make their own card game (be it another simple one or a more complex one on the model of FFs).
Well, I'm thinking of the cards, but it doesn't mean another system of collectibles would not do the job.
However, considering you've excluded the presence of mini-games, I guess it won't be taken into account.

- Still on the good ideas, the mistakes. Flixerflax talked a bit about it on page 5. I completely agree with him, there should not be errors which you could undo. You should have to deal with it, and progress despite your faults/behavior. The system of failure/success often ruin the fun of playing in my opinion, making you feel you have to complete the game in one single way.

- As for "boundaries", stressed by Arhu on page 5, on the example of Zelda, the idea is awesome, I truly wish it could be integrated but I don't think it reasonably could.
Let me explain : In such games as Zelda/Metroid/Metroidvanias, you're not controlling an almighty being.
You might be extremely powerful by the end of the game, for sure, even godlike, but it's really a deep-end achievement.
Taking the example of Zelda, there's this rock you can't move. Link will need his gauntlets to lift it and throw the rock away, granting him the access to a new area.
In Divinity, you're imbued with elemental powers since the beginning, though they might be "nerfed" and not deal much damage. There's a fire blocking the path ? You summon a rain.
A rock ? Telekinesia.
A tree ? Fire.
You need to interact with a distant object ? Here's this long range spell/weapon.
There aren't much situation in which you could reasonably be blocked by such trivial things, since you powers make you an almost godlike entity. So unless you put a huge obstacle on the path which your magic could not influence, I don't see how such an idea could be implemented on the world. If you can lift a moutain, what keep you from throwing a village in the ocean ?
Now, I think it could be by-passed with objects somehow immuned to magic, but there need to be a solid explanation as to why there are such immunities.
You can also play on space and time (dungeons-only, to keep the world free from these kind of... Drastic changes).
Anyway, I'm not creative, if there can be plausible boundaries, I wouldn't spit at it.



Ok, enough for today.

P.S. : I almost forgot, big support for the Abbey 2.0 !