I think one mayor problem is that exp are like a drug. Some people will do everything to get them. In divinity2 I killed every animal for 1exp, even if I need a million exp for the next level. (Thank you for the killer rabbit, it was the only thing that stopped me for a while).
The good thing about bloodlines or deus ex is, that your reward depends on how much your actions overlap with the intentions of the quest giver, NOT on how many things you have killed to get there.
I would like if there are several quests that partly exclude each other. So killing everybody is one option but it will prevent you from finishing some other quests.
example: There is a castle and in the castle is a party:
- The black ring wants you to kill the king and you get a bonus reward if you kill everybody and nobody escapes. (Some people will try to run when they see combat)
- The merchant guild wants you to talk to some people on the party. They want new laws or better prizes.
- The thief guild wants you to sneak in, steal something and get out again without being seen.
Min maxers will find their way to get max exp (talk to person A,B,C, sneak past guards D,E,F and kill person G and H when nobody is looking). But you cannot make every quest giver happy and get tons of exp for killing everything.
I think a real RPG schould be more than a combat simulator and you should have several ways to approach a situation.
Prof. Dr. Dr. Mad S. Tist
World leading expert of artificial stupidity.
Because there are too many people who work on artificial intelligence already
