so here's my 5 Eurocents to the issues at hand (I read Vometia's opening post to get an overview of what is being discussed already, but I can't/won't read through all 15 pages of the thread + x other related threads right now). Everything is ofc my very own subjective opinion even though I write (MUST BE DONE, NEEDS TO BE CHANGED, stuff like that) like I own the place. Calm down, I just want to keep it easy and straight.
OVERALL ASSESSMENT: I like the game (story, characters, flair, look) a lot and I am a happy early-accessor, player and fan. What bugged me, though, (besides the glitches and somewhat static facial expressions - my Drow warlock looks perpetually surprised) was that there are quite a few instances where something happens or needs to be done that pulls me out of the game-flow (for this, see my QUALITY OF LIFE section). Meaning the game requires me to invest quite a bit of time not into conversations, decisions, murderings or any other kind of action, but inventory and hot bar management.
GAMEPLAY: 1. You can enter turn-based-mode with one character, sneak up to an enemy, backstab it, then remain in combat with that char, select another out-of-combat-char and sneak up to the surviving (OUTRAGEOUS) victi...ENEMY again in real-time while the mob is stuck in turn based. that is HIGHLY ABUSIVE and kinda lame and counter to what turn-based is supposed to achieve, methinks. If turn-based is true for one char, it should be true for all chars. or at least it auto-switches into turn based when you enter a 30m range (or sth like that) irrespective of having been seen or not.
QUALITY OF LIFE STUFF: 0. "Add to wares" should not be character specific but global. At least, it would be possible to make this optional and make the game balance the weight/value of the "junked" items between all characters. And at the trader, the currently selected Character is the one that sells ALL-THE-WARES. I get that this is counter to the 5e and Pathfinder Die-hard fans but in terms of inventory management, this would help alot. 0.1. ALSO: Introduce "Straight to Junk/Wares" button when finding new stuff. There is no need to deal with these kinds of items twice when you ONLY want to sell them.
1. Issue: hot-bar management; Idea: in options, enable the player to auto-assign ALL useables to a specific hot bar section (like "Auto-assign all scrolls to hot bar 5" - "Auto-assign all spells/cantrips to hot bar 1" - stuff like that. I would use it, because as it is now, the system requires me to invest a few minutes every other hour because I pick up so much stuff 1.1. Related to this is the fact that the hot bar relocates after you open another window/pop-up or basically anthing happens. This resulted in me drinking all kinds of liquids mid-fight although I wanted to press the button above. Hot bar should be static and fixed. 1.2. Introduce a new button: "Clear current hot bar section" 1.3. Introduce a new button (or better: a hotkey somewhere close to WASD): CHAIN ALL PARTY MEMBERS / UNCHAIN ALL PARTY MEMBERS. right now, I have to do it manually for each char and the sneaky way I play it this time results in a few seconds of having to deal with this, each time I want to do (explore, set up ambush, sneak) anything. This button would increase the speed, better my...THE PLAYERS comfort, and keep the player immersed/in the action. System as is always pulls me out of immersion because of the tedious dragging and dropping of the portraits.
2. Issue: no selection rectangle; Idea: yeah, i want a rectangle. 2.1. The selection-rectangle is clearly missing in party control. I couldn't find any options for formations neither or give positional commands to my troupe even when they are chained. Maybe I am blind, but I haven't intuitively found it after 13 hours 2.2. It's also missing in the inventory when I want to mass-transfer items to another char. 2.3. Current version is too tedious and reminds me of Neverwinter Nights 1 and 2. Didn't like that part of those games. I want control over my unit....CHARACTERS and my stuff.
3. Issue: Fast Travel not clickable on the map. Idea: I know, there is the list on the right, but why not also fast-travel when clicking on the way points. like in DOS2.
4. Issue: character portraits Sometimes (as in very often) the game doesn't accept my clicks on the portraits down-left. it seems to me it requires a "strong" (difficult to explain) click on them. Should be easier.
5. Issue: Party Management and general oversight 5.1. Any speech or info that is the result of any kind of check-roll (failed or passed) should be "re-"readable. I had a few situations in which one of my chars found something/passed some check, but I was somewhere else with my screen, so I had no idea what happened. This could be kept in the dialogue ("Dialogue and Check-Roll(" section of the Journal. 5.1.1. RELATED TO THIS: Approval changes should either be completely hidden (eg. for any kind of super hardcore mode - meaning player has to know or understand the statements and visual cues of the other chars) or has to be completely transparent: I assassinated the initial goblin ambush in blighted village and only saw approval changes pop up for like a third of a second, but I had and still have no clue what my party members thought about pre-emptively slaying goblins. I have no chance to read or check what actually happened and how they were influenced.
5.2. Apply Hex (and all other abilities that can target different stats) needs some visual cue what kind of stat you actually lower. system as is, is not intuitive because I see the Apply Hex icon and then i see it five times more without any visual differences between the targeted stats
6. Issue: Where is my XP-bar? Am I blind or isn't there any?
OTHER STUFF I READ IN VOMETIA'S OPENER THAT I AGREE WITH: 1. Path Finding: safest vs quickest route. Right now the chars GLADLY take fall damage to get to some point quickest. Safer route better. 2. Space bar and conversation. Yeah, like skip-only, no convo-choice selection 3. One-liner NPCs should not get the cinematic treatment 4. Active party of at least 5 members. I know, this messes with the balancing MASSIVELY but in terms of fun and engagement: The more the merrier. also with 4 members you always lack one essential char. or leave someone useful at camp when there is no reason (at least I can't see any besides "Balancing"). I was angry when DA:O did this (NVN1+2 where awful in this regard) and D:OS and D:OS 2 kept it. I'm not a fan.
I hope someone reads this and it helps at least a bit! Bye
Last edited by WildesBison; 11/10/2007:05 PM.
Relax before you do stupid stuff - like get a new graphics card when you don't know how many PCIe cables you got left.
