Larian Studios Forums Divinity - Original Sin Divinity - Original Sin - General Comprehensive list of changes I would like to see.

I really like this game, but it has some issues that a lot of us seem to agree on. I was thinking a lot about what this game needs today, and I decided it would be nice to have a post where we can document and discuss what we want. Most of this stuff is not new, but I'll start with my list:

1) Elemental resistances. These should be decided by a resistance "rating" rather than flat percentages. Flat percentages just result in us being nearly invincible in the second half of the game, which is boring. With ratings, you can implement diminishing returns so it's very difficult to get over, say, 80% resistance to any element. You can also make it so each point of rating is less effective at each higher level, while higher level gear has higher ratings, encouraging us to update our gear. We should only be immune to or absorbing elements with special traits such as zombie. Physical armor is already done with a "rating" so I'm surprised elements were not done the same way.

2) Sneak 5. We shouldn't be able to strike and then re-stealth in the same turn. It basically makes us invincible (as with the resistances above). I propose that attacking from stealth "marks" the character as spotted that turn, meaning he/she can't re-stealth. This makes sense because striking out of nowhere would definitely attract attention. This would give the AI a turn to attack us in between stealth attacks in most cases, and leaping away or otherwise creating distance after attacking would remain a valid strategy.

3) Invisibility. We shouldn't be able to just steal ANYTHING or bypass ANY fight with invisibility. The AI should be able to use its own "hearing" stat to detect our presence and somehow respond. Perhaps if we walk too close to a monster and it "hears" us, a nearby caster would be able to cast a spell to detect us and force us into combat. Some powerful creatures (demons, shamans, seers) or those sensitive to vibrations (spiders, earth elementals) should also be able to detect us and enter combat. This would help the developers control which fights should and should not be easily avoidable or "cheesable." And, if you stole using invisibility right in front of a mage, you might get caught with a detection spell, or the townsperson would call the city guard which may include a mage that can see you. I would even be fine with removing invisibility if the potential countermeasures are too much work. It doesn't belong in a game with no countermeasures.

4) Tweaks to the AI. The AI, at least in the case of opponents of human-like intelligence, should know not to throw poison at zombies or fire at fire elementals. They also shouldn't throw all their spells at a summoned spider just because it is there. They need more of the spells already present in the game to present a challenge at later levels. Enemy pyromancers, for example, should sometimes use purifying fire on my protection shields or healing spells...which brings me to my next point.

5) Elemental shield spells. I really don't think these things are working correctly. They all seem to create an ablative shield equal to my current HP against ALL damage types, in addition to their other effects. This makes us nearly impossible kill once we have a healthy hp pool, since these spells also have a pretty low cooldown. The ablative portion of the spell should only shield me against the element appropriate for the spell, and it should be a flat amount based on caster level, instead of mirroring my hp.

6) Attacks of opportunity. Intelligence based skills and ranged attacks should set these off. Being engaged in close combat should really matter.

7) Leech. Rename this to vampire, with the following effects: adds some fire vulnerability (25%?), but you can no longer bleed because your body actively attracts blood, (Prevents abusing your own blood with bloodletting or the like to full heal) but you heal significantly as you walk over blood and consume it. This removes the main exploit with the skill, and the drawback makes it more in line with zombie and more interesting.

8) Rework the Tenebrium skill. This one is pretty obvious. Tenebrium handling should probably be a free talent. However,I could see a separate Tenebrium crafting skill that would influence the amount of damage added to weapons by Tenebrium bars.

9) An enforced hardcore/ironman mode. The only options in this mode are to save and quit, or continue. There is no save-scumming and party wipes are permanent. Yes, you could probably get around it by crashing the game or outright resetting your computer, but I think having an actual mode for hardcore players would really raise the re-playability value of the game and inspire me to do some runs. Especially if some of the game's exploits are fixed and it gets harder.

What do you think? Am I off-base? Do you have any ideas?