Why does everyone have to know everything about the game the first time they play it, and not have to actually figure anything out? While it is certainly possible to miss the trade icon (especially if someone had never played a Divinity game before), it isn't that hard to find, either.
I just want to jump in here and explain something. Earlier I pointed out that Hiver's criticism is flawed and irrelevant, and there are multiple reasons for that:
1) For example, he brought up Arhu selling shields at the city gate. Well, Arhu's inventory is randomized, and there is not always a shield available for sale. For example, in the game I have Arhu sells a lot of cloth gear, staffs, and magic books. No shields.
2) Upon starting a game, a new player might say this:
"I'm trying to customize my character and can't seem to select my starting equipment. Am I doing this wrong or does this game just suck?" What a new player will definitely
not say is this:
"I'm trying to customize my character and can't seem to select my starting equipment. But that's ok, because even though I've never played this game before my ability to see the future has shown me that there's going to be a sword available in a crate before the orc-fight, and I can always check Arhu and the other vendors for gear when I arrive at the city, which I somehow know will be shortly after starting. Thank goodness for my mutant superpower of precognition, or else this whole starting equipment situation might have proved vexing!"You see, Hiver's argument is largely from the perspective of a player who has played Divinity : OS many times, who knows where to go to obtain what and roughly when it can be obtained. And that's fine and dandy, but completely not helpful. Because this is not knowledge a new player has or should be expected to have, and so it's silly to argue what the game eventually provides in time for a problem that players will run into immediately at character creation.
