Larian Studios Forums Divinity - Original Sin Divinity Original Sin - Beta List of suggestions/issues/bugs- Alpha 1.0.167

I've been playing the latest (March 7) Alpha build, and am having a blast! I just wanted to post a list of suggestions/issues/bugs based on my experience so far. The suggested changes to gameplay may be too much to implement this late in the development cycle, but in my opinion, would greatly improve the game overall. As for the suggested changes to the user interface, many focus on the inventory and trading systems, which I think have a lot of room for improvement.

Anyway, I'm sure some of these suggestions and issues are already being considered or have been mentioned elsewhere on the forums, but take 'em or leave 'em. Thanks, Larian!


GAMEPLAY SUGGESTED CHANGES
--No more randomized loot - all loot found on enemies, in the game world (especially in containers such as crates, barrels, and chests), and (to an extent) in merchant trading inventory should be hand-placed to make sense with the surrounding context - see also my more detailed post later in this topic
--A crafting recipe book/log (containing only recipes learned by reading in-game books) would be cool
--An in-game bestiary (possibly updated the more a player encounters each enemy type) would also be cool
--The NPC crime reaction/hearing range system needs work - I killed Cecil and Victoria with spells, then went outside city hall and massacred 5 guards and a citizen on the doorstep, and the only reaction from the citizens in the nearby plaza was a -5 attitude adjustment; these people should be fleeing, cowering, alerting guards, etc. - I also robbed the harbor warehouse by sneaking (with no points in the skill) only a foot behind the back of the guard; I can almost understand how he can't see me, but it's unbelievable that he can't hear me

USER INTERFACE SUGGESTED CHANGES
--An inventory "junk bag", where the player can place items for later sale - see the later Avernums/Avadons
--A key ring to store all keys within a single inventory slot
--The ability to stack more item types - especially lockpicks, but pretty much anything really
--A function to auto-sort inventory by type, value, etc., perhaps through an icon/button in the "All" inventory category
--The inventory screen size should be expanded to allow easier management
--The player's standard inventory display should be arranged/sized identically to the player's inventory trading display - this would make it easier to determine which of several similar items (one of which may be hotkeyed) you're actually selling
--Left-clicking (rather than left-clicking-and-holding) on an item should allow you to pick it up to enable easier inventory sorting
--The ability to scroll up/down within the inventory screen while "holding" an item with the mouse pointer - if you try this currently, the item is no longer "held"
--Merchants should be able to repair currently equipped items
--All weapons should include a note as to whether they are one-handed or two-handed in their tooltips
--The order in which you scroll through inventory/character screens should follow the currently selected character portrait order - i.e., if Roderick's portrait is at the top of the left side of the screen, followed below by Jahan, then Scarlett, when clicking through inventory/character screens, the order should be Roderick-Jahan-Scarlett, not Roderick-Scarlett-Jahan
--Showing the "base" value of all stats/skills/abilities in parentheses next to the current total value would make it easier to judge the effects of other stats and equipped gear on these values, though the detailed mouseover tooltip info should also be left as is - see Avernum: Escape From the Pit for an example
--Left-clicking an unreachable location or unusable object shouldn't re-center the camera on the player
--ALT should be more consistent in its highlighting of items - valuable items such as keys and diamonds are consistently displayed via ALT (which I personally really like, though this should definitely be an optional feature to please other players who enjoy pixel-hunting), but less valuable items such as skulls, empty bottles, and shells aren't
--All custom map markers should be fully editable/delete-able
--Objects/containers/items "owned" by NPCs should be very clearly marked as such

ISSUES/BUGS
--Very high memory usage (per Task Manager process list) may be the cause of periodic Windows 7 crashes (every hour or so)
--Some items don't stack with other identical items as they should - e.g., some - not all - skulls, apples, herrings, roasted pork dishes, mugs of beer, etc.
--All items in merchants' trading inventory should already be identified - or when not, should allow player to attempt to identify merchants' unidentified items without having to purchase them first
--Quests in the quest log shouldn't revert to "flashing" (to indicate the addition of new information) every time you load a game
--Player "experience" and "next level" values sometimes change arbitrarily after reloading a game
--The two main players often have more vitality points than their maximum after reloading a game
--"Level-up" icons sometimes incorrectly appear over player/companion portraits after reloading a game
--Pathfinding for companions/henchmen needs work - e.g., when leaving a city gate, the door often closes behind the controlled player, leaving companions stuck behind
--The player can no longer talk with Cecil after he goes upstairs to the library
--Sam's collar isn't removed from the player's inventory at the end of the related quest
--Sometimes there are two copies of Arhu in his studio at the same time - the human and cat "versions"
--It's possible to interact with "hidden" NPCs by targeting spells, moving environment objects, etc. - e.g., Billeh Gahr before he officially reveals himself, the skeletons in the Pontius Pirate battle before they emerge, etc.
--Characters shouldn't be able to block attacks while fallen - this happened once when I attacked a Cyseal guard

- Why there are unidentified things in the merchants Inventory?

- the game seems much harder now, because you get only 1 point per Level! Why?
How to learn now, this most unneeded but interesting things like repair, barter .. lookpick?
All points you need to collect for some simple Level up in spellcasting or "Way of the ... ".

Why you don't give one fighting point, and one social point per Level?

Allow me to add mysuggestions to your splendid list!

But first:

Well, I think merchants generally should not sell any un-identified items, simply because it would be awkward to have a conversation like this:
You: "This sword here strikes my fancy. What does it do?"
Merchant: "I have no idea. I sell stuff that I don't know what it's good for. It could be epic. Or utter crap. I dunno. I have literally no idea what I'm selling here, but does 500 gold sound okay to you?
You: "What kind of merchant are you exactly, again?"
Merchant: "I am a weapons specialist."

Unless, of course, it is a scenario wherein it makes sense for the merchant (maybe a trader of curiosities?) not to know, what exactly he is selling:
You: "What's this curiosity?"
Random Villager: "I dunno, I found it in a creepy cave."
You: "Looks magical. Can I buy it?"

Considering this, I'm not completely against merchants selling un-identified items, but it does have to make sense.

Gameplay Suggestions
-In the recent Kickstarter Update in regard to alcoholic beverages it says:

Well, why not? I suggest that drunkenness actually does buff your charm value in the stat screen, while acutually heavily debuffing your charm without letting the player know, just like in real life. This could lead to awkward-awesome gameplay moments of players failing to charm NPCs.
-->To make this a bit more role-playing-style, I further suggest that a little alcohol does actually give you a legit charm buff.

-In the KS update it does also say:

Well, if I'm spouting nonsense here, please ignore this suggestion, because I don't play the alpha to avoid spoiling the game to myself, but wouldn't having some kind of idiot mob in the game (bugs or zombies without a master maybe) be rather nice?

Alex and Neanikos - I totally agree that merchants shouldn't carry unidentified items in the first place - changed my original post! And I like your other ideas too. Cheers -

*(possible) spoiler*

When going up the stairs in Cyseal the first time, I spotted a (I think) new hatch and chest. I 'tactically retreated' there with my Rogue. My other char did join me, but could not get out of there because no 'reload'. So I had to commit (which is ok btw) But *spoiler* going up to the well can end up in a fight with both the southern and the western undead there. Which, given the early stage in the game, is to much. This also let's me end up at the outside of Cyseal, which is kinda difficult at lvl 2. Although I guess this might be caused by playing the alpha often and finding things much quicker by now .

might wanne check the dual encounter and/or the early encounter of the hatch. Kinda very difficult if you happen to end up there I notice (although I think first timers wont be able to get there)

Well, unless it makes sense, of course. Like a trader of curiosities or someone who found an artifact but doesn't possess any expertise in these matters.




Thanks a lot!

Hi not sure if this has been suggested already. But when trading with a NPC. The player should be able to "right-click" his inventory and have the item move to the trading block vs. click and drag which becomes a real tedious task in a game with a lot of inventory/loot.

Thanks.

Hey bigironvault - I agree the inventory and trading interface needs some major work, but just FYI, you can simply double-left-click an item to transfer it to the trade block (no need to drag).

Please fix it so that it does not pan the camera (lock the camera) when I'm talking with an NPC. Sometimes I might accidentally move my mouse cursor away after I click a conversation choice.

You can just left click on an item to move it into the trade column (no need to double click).

Just wondering - is there a slightly newer build 1.0.167 out there? A couple other forum topics mention it, but the current version on Steam is 1.0.166.

Steam should have updated to 1.0.67; try verifying local files for the game, or log out of Steam and back in.

Dah... I was in offline mode in Steam, so I didn't see the update. Thanks Raze! So does anyone know what was changed in build 1.0.167 vs. 1.0.166?

Thanks for the info. I guess to me it is not intuitive as to loot one item you right-click and you have to left-click in trade for one item. No big deal now. Thanks!

Yeah, the current inventory management system is kind of funky. Anyway, no problem!

So now I've hit a major bug - after offering to show me the upstairs library, Cecil heads up. But now that I've gone up, he's just standing in one spot, and hovering the mouse over him no longer gives me the option to talk with him. I can attack him or tick him off by stealing stuff, but he still won't start a regular conversation. Has anybody seen this bug, and if so, are there any tricks/cheats to fix/reset him? (Of course, I expected I'd run into something like this, but I really wanted to try to finish some quests with him.) Thanks!

That bug with Cecil apparently happens if you talk to him before Charlene comes downstairs, ask him to show you the library, and then Charlene comes downstairs and then goes back up when you approach. I don't know if there is any way to fix the problem.

Thanks Raze - too bad, but that's what I figured.

OK, two last questions - is there anywhere in the current alpha build to buy/find novice-level spells? Also, does anyone know how to access/use the "debug/console" mode, assuming there is one in the alpha? (I'd just like to mess around with editing player stats).

Just a quick one here:

An assassination attempt with poisoned drinks.
An attempt at socializing ends badly. Someone you meet in a bar who seems quite friendly, maybe a bit too friendly, invites you to a drink. It's a strong beverage and when you finally notice the bitter note it is far too late and yur view is already blurring.

I suggest an assassination attempt on the player with a poison effect that is strong enough to potentially kill the characters. It would also matter whether both or just one character drank from the poison, so one might help the other instead of both dying in horrible agony. Never trust strangers and always set up a safety phone call when dating strangers.


Wishing Well

I assume there will be a wishing well in the game? If so, I humbly ask you consider to add the following wish options:

1) Asking for a cup of water.
2) Pouring some especially strong dwarven ale into the well in order to make it drunk, influencing the outcome of the players' wishes (maybe the well will screw up your wishes in a hilarious way? Or just increase the outcome.) or even tricking the well into granting two wishes.


Cloistered Youth

Does the game have some "revealing spell" of any sort? Because if so, here's my idea for a rotten easter egg you don't want to find.

The player may encounter an unusually cloistered and exceptionally shy youth. Beyond that, there is nothing unusual... Unless you cast a spell of revealing (or trigger some other sensible way of unveiling), wich will reveal the horrible truth that the poor kid has been possessed by a demon that ate away on its soul and is now waiting for an opportunity to find a new host. The demon immediately leaves the kids and attacks the player(s) in pursuit of a new host and to dispose of all witnesses.
->>If You are particularly sadistic, you might wish to have some kind of progression in the poor youth's mental decline, complete with nightmares etc. Joyous and happy at first, the a slow progression towards the tormented kid I described above, one step further each time you walk by the house and talk to the family or something.
->>>Maybe make the demon taunt the family by recounting the memories of the child. >:D


Sages debating

Make two or more sages of different races debate various topics, like, for example: What does the ideal society look like? Does the heart actually pump blood? What is a soul? Who has it and who doesn't? What's the the shape of the world and what is its place in the universe? What is the sun made of? When is it permissable to kill? What rights do women, children and other races have?


Sexist behaviour:
Unless already planned/implemented, make some sexist NPCs that will behave differently depending on the gender of the player character, both in a positive and in a negative way.
Women for example might be more inclined to share secrets with another woman or even to befriend another woman than it would be the case with men. Men might be more easy to charme by a woman, or they might be more willing to help out, or they might be machos, the list goes on and on.


The Mercenary from beneath Aleroth:

If it makes sense geologically: In Divine Divinity, beneath Aleroth in the catacombs, we meet a mercenary doomed to undeath because he failed to protect his client. Maybe our protagonists could meet this guy while still alive before his fateful failure, bragging about his skills ald valour.

Interesting ideas, Neanikos! I just don't think you should get your hopes up too much about the devs adding new quests at this point in development... maybe for the next game?

I already suspected this, so I mainly described simple encounters that do not necessarily have to be independent quests, although the poison attack for example could be integrated into other quests. After all, I do not play the alpha, because I want to avoid spoilers*, so I don't know how far the game has progressed so far.

(*I want to send a "Thank you!" towards the alpha players, that are helping out Larian.)