I think one of the overall issues is that Larian isn't really paying attention to whether or not the game world makes sense. There are a lot of little sloppy mistakes and missteps which suggest that they haven't thought through a bunch of stuff.
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The bridge thing is a fair point, although there isn't really an presence on the island threatening the fort. The skeletons are territorial, but they aren't exactly laying siege.
There is one other thing to consider though before adding in stuff to the bridge gate. That encounter is also tied to the Paladin Cork encounter through the patrolling guard.
If she just covers in fear while you solve the fight... what happens with her then?
If she survives the fight, she just refuses to move, continuing to quake in terror. That's even easier to script than having her follow the player around or escape, and it doesn't come with the inevitable follow-up question: "Why can't we lead other prisoners to an island escape?"
Its not only that you get your collar off for such an easy single fight. They can easily adjust that so you need to win more fights.
The even bigger problem is that there is someone who can easily break the unbreakable magic collars on which the whole intro into the story and a lot of its main plot is based on!
And that she doesnt take off her own collar or collars from other prisoners and those fighters underground!
Which are in the prison itself!
Now, if they were actually planning some sort of revolt or escape so they are waiting for the right moment i could accept that... but there is no such thing even hinted at.
But that would require such revolt to be scripted which is a huge amount of work.
So - the best way to solve all these issues is to move that underground arena somewhere outside of the prison and into the other part of the island. Plenty of old ruins to do so and it would make sense in the plot as it is that only those who prove to be capable enough to reach that part of the island are even allowed to fight in such a contest.
Additionally that would open the possibility for the player to get rid of the collars without forcing him to side with the Seekers.
Well, Voidwoken ARE attracted to Sourcerers. Some people in Fort Joy might believe that it's best to keep the collars on than be eaten by those. Others might not see any real hope of escape even if they left the boundaries of the fort (and they might be right since apparently the only way off for US is to steal the Magister's flagship which no doubt has a troop contingent on it.
I do not think that is strictly necessary to move the arena elsewhere, or that moving it elsewhere makes any more sense than leaving it in prison. This island is not a friendly place, there are no settlements on it except the Fort and Seeker Camp. Why are there people in the middle of nowhere on an undead infested island having arena pit fights for fun?
I suspect that if you don't have your collars off by the time you get on the boat to escape the island, something you find on the magister's ship will remove the collars off of anyone who still has them, and that will be unavoidable. That will make sense because as a Magister ship which can transport prisoners, it will certainly have the facilities for putting on and removing collars. At least that's how I would design it. So I suspect siding with the Seekers will be optional in any case.
Thats basically a false equivalence fallacy and a strawman argument since i dont argue for any kind of "ultimate realism" simulator.
Whats worse, that kind of fallacious argument can be leveled against any feature in the game, including the problem of guards being telepathic about your escape.
All right, that was the wrong argument for me to make. I shall make a different one. (However, part of my argument against psychic guards is that they do NOT serve any reasonable gameplay purpose.)
What i argue for is internal consistency and internal logic which would improve the narrative and the gameplay of the game.
You just cant have a prison which is supposed to be an actual concentration camp cut off from the world - where trading is no different then in an ordinary city - and think it sill make any sense at all.
I have agreed that the prison economy should work differently. I complained vigorously about the useless paintings which were somehow worth a lot of gold to prisoners, and I have suggested in the past that
food and medical supplies should be high-value items. I don't think that
I disagree, though, with your premise that having no stores or stores which sell only garbage would improve the gameplay. The way enemies health and armor scales up, a character using out-of-date weapons is little more than dead weight in a fight. Especially at early levels.
They would need to put in a LOT of pre-placed items of all sorts all over the place.
The things as they are now make this "prison":
1. A place that has as many holes for escape as a swiss cheese. (pun intended)
2. A place where high level items are traded freely as if there is some kind of supply of those and its not an island cut off from the world.
3. Place where guards actually dont have any problem with prisoners who are supposed to be dangerous Source wizards running around in high level and even epic gear, and in possession of high level weapons.
4. A place and where the collar which is supposed to be a "Very Bad Thing" that suppresses magic abilities - does no such thing AND can be removed in five minutes.
And we are supposed to buy this is some kind of evil dangerous prison/concentration camp place?
Is that a joke?
1. And what exactly are you suggesting? Removing a lot of options and choice so that there is only one or two viable possibilities of escape?
2. Absolutely 100% necessary for gameplay which isn't incredibly frustrating and will make half the players quit before reaching level 4.
3. See 2.
4. It is not supposed to suppress "magic". It is supposed to suppress SOURCE. Which attracts Voidwoken and such. It's pretty clearly spelled out. Or do you expect the game should let you roll up a mage and then tell you "sorry you can't cast spells until level 6"?
The first encounters you run into are not difficult at all.
Bullshit. Unless they've substantially changed them from the last patch, which I doubt, even the first fight between the party at the same level as the skeletons was quite difficult. You need decent gear to handle those fights, and you're suggesting that you have no good gear in the prison, and no vendor outside the prison until after you beat those skeletons with your poor quality sticks.
Plus this is a game where you can have a huge varieties of party configuration, so difficulty is quite variable.
