I think what Swen meant, Hiver, was that the Magisters dialogue is going to try to remove the word prisoners. I almost asked him "WTF?" myself, until I caught the "though for all practical purposes they are [prisoners]" part. I don't think Swen was trying to say "no the Sourcerors are not prisoners and if you players think they are you are mistaken", I think he meant that the Magisters are trying to convince the prisoners that they are not prisoners by avoiding using that word.
I think i got it right.
The discussion was about whether our guys should have weapons that early, considering the situation. And as he himself says the situation is they are prisoners.
So in that sense, im agreeing with anyone who said the "prisoners" who are actually prisoners should not have any weapons right there at the start regardless if anyone calls them prisoners or not.
Even if magisters would try to pretend they are not prisoners - which is pretty silly considering the situation being colared like a dog and everything - they would still not leave weapons on everyone. Because nobody is there voluntarily. It just looks... silly. And its not actually necessary for any reason at all.
Btw, if players dont get weapons, that would make starting the game with high stealing and lockpicking skills feel very rewarding right away.
I can't say that I agree with removing items from prison merchants though. I understand that it's not especially immersive either, but removing items would be extremely impractical for fun gameplay. It would make the early game quite tedious. They would have to add a LOT of extra sidequests and stuff to compensate,
I dont think so, because its not about removing the items - but moving them someplace else. They can just use the NPCs and magisters that are there already and maybe add just a few smaller subquests which will also serve to better present characters that are there, the situation or the overall plot.
I mean, if i was doing it i would do a few more additional things to increase the sense of that starting vulnerability of imprisonment and lack of any "normal world" commodities, but i know that would be too much for Larian so im not even going to mention those.
Considering there are several easy ways out of the fort that you can find really quickly - players wont really be stuck inside the fort that long anyway.
So in a few smaller subquests (those void turtles, aligators, the whatshisname... that zombified yarrow guy, Mago...Migo... the elves in the cave, to name a few) you can place just enough of better items to go through the fort and escape (plus you get the xp for doing them and so level up) and then you can dose better items through first encounters in the forest. And then better ones as you explore further. As usual rpg progression goes. You dont need well stocked traders in a prison - on an isolated - concentration camp - black magic ruins infested with monsters - island.
All im saying is that it can be done, its not anything complicated or demanding any big changes.
I dont think they will do it, but... im just sayin it would be nice and it would fit with the whole story. The better and more believable the sense of " a prison" - the better feeling of accomplishment players get for escaping, or sneaking through and looting and whatnot.
And opposite of that for reverse.
I agree, the Captain has nothing good on the body, and it should have something. Maybe add that extra 50 gold after you make all the dishes and such worth 0 gold.
Yeah, something. Doesnt need to be anything epic. A weapon, maybe a piece of equipment, some gold, maybe a recipe book with some specific funny recipe... not just a lemon.
btw, sometimes when i get close there would be some kind of explosion and fire surface would spread over the stairs too, sometimes it wouldnt happen. Fire tends to disappear quickly, possibly because of rain - so if they would add a few items more to the capn, they could make that surface last longer (add oil or something so it doesnt disapear after five seconds) or maybe be some other kind (poison, oil burning) so it can serve as a small additional tutorial on how to handle surfaces.
I also kinda agree that the "HEY YOU SHOULD REALLY GO BACK TO RESCUE THE PRISONERS" bit is a bit hamfisted, largely because that is the first thing I tried to do after Wendigo killed everyone. Everyone there was non-responsive. So when I got on deck, I did the logical thing and said "screw everyone, let's just go". The game thinks that was wrong.
The game may think its bad, but there is just a cosmetic difference in dialogues when you get back, as far as ive seen. Everyone survives anyway and they still join with you.
i would also like to save those kids, Larian. At least some of them.
True, you naturally try to revive everyone just after wendigo situation, but you just cant - because. (because you need to run into that choice later on)
Which makes that later pushing to return back a bit counterintuitive and not organic but obviously forced.
I think like it would be better is that after Wendigo goes nuts, the way back to the previous room is totally blocked by flaming debris and you cannot go back. That would make it the "Go back for the other prisoners" bit feel better and more reasonable.
That and maybe there would be some actual need, some obstacle you can solve only with everyone being there so you have an actual plausible reason for returning down.
It could be maybe a bunch of voidwoken on deck or maybe just some debris and you get a hint "if i get more people to help i could go through this."
Maybe the escape boat was thrown onto the deck and you certainly cannot lift it alone, for example.
I cant say i liked that we are lowering the boat right infront of the Kraken jaws there so if that whole thing is changed that would not be necessary.
It would be cool if it would instead lift up (as it does if you go back) and start pulling the whole ship under, breaking it, and you all need to jump into the escape boat that is on the deck - thinking it will float after the big ship is destroyed, (one of the NPCs or companions yells "quick, jump into the escape boat!!") but the whole storm and the ship breaking just toss you all around... and you wake up on the beach.
Doesnt need to be all animated either. Just two nice illustrations as the game loads the island would be enough.
I just checked this, and the range still seems pretty decent, but if you like it too, great.
Wait! Then it may have been a bug. Damn it.
I have to try again but when i played it had a range of just a couple of meters around the caster, so you had to come really close to the body of someone to actually resurrect them.
If this isnt in i suggest its made so!
Yeah i know, crybabies will cry about it. But look, we now get xp even if we are dead unlike before, and its really a huge advantage over enemies anyway, (only a few special high level ones use it) so it wouldn't hurt if at least the range was constrained.
That's how the preset builds are set up. Pyromancer on the Ranger is only for haste apparently. I don't really know what the designer was thinking giving Contamination to the Fighter who will be standing in the enemy's blood or their own most of the time. Fortify does make sense for the tanking of damage, but they should get another Warfare skill instead of Contamination.
In Ifans case its not the preset, because when you meet him he is a wayfarer. But when i tell him to change into full ranger he still gets second skill.
I dont mind it that much, its a good combination really, and i usually play hybrids but i guess the ... new players might be confused poor little delicate flowers they are.
I dont find much use for that contamination skill with Red Prince either. Since he already has that flaming dragon spell as his personal skill, a secondary skill point in pyromancy would be a better fit as a starting mix of skills then Geo for him as a character.
As it is you can get both him and Ifan with secondary geo skills by default. Not that fun or imaginative.
