Battle mode, movement and interactions changes.
1. Battle mode, turn-based mode and moving in the battle.
1.1. We should be able to move through friendly or smaller character's space as in D&D 5E.
It's really frustrating when just because of initiative order one of our own companions totally blocks our way to some area, as if he stands there with widespread hands saying "You shall not pass!". Even more frustrating when a little rat is being considered as an obstacle. So, please, fix it. Perfect if with proper animation applied, not just clipping through.
1.2. We should be able to stand up on our turn at the cost of half of our movement points and even attack with disadvantage if we are prone. As in D&D 5E.
Being prone doesn't include being unconscious so we actually can act and stand up on our own. And without those abilities fights with enemies like bulette are way too difficult.
1.3. Please, make the whole party enter battle mode if one of the party members entered it, doesn't matter what.
It's one of the greatest exploits and annoyances at the same time, which persists from D:OS. On one side we can start a fight with only one character and then come with the rest of our characters on our terms on that one character turn. On the other side if the rest of our characters are nearby, but in stealth, it all turns into a mess with them not rolling for initiative and not participating in the fight till we manage to switch to them and make them participate.
1.4. Create a big field of turn-based mode or even put all the world/current area on turn-based mode when we are fighting.
Turn-based mode supposed to give us precise control over our character in a fight, not make us slower than the rest of the world. But at the moment it does both. I probably beat a record for fast thinking and using controls, when I was killing a group of goblins in one room before a goblin from another room would enter at his normal walking speed. Add here rats and squirrels running in the middle of a fight at their normal speed, when we are supposed to be able to throw them… and you get the whole picture.
1.5. Add the formation scheme, which should be applied when we start the battle in a chained group.
You had this feature in D:OS1-2, but it would be great to improve it a bit:
A) Do not use the same formation for march. On the march we would want to have our character with the highest perception going first. In combat we would want our heaviest melee fighter to be closest to the enemies.
B) Allow us not just choose the scheme, but apply particular characters to particular spots. Some inspiration can be taken in Dragon Age: Origins. It had a separate formation interface with a scheme made of spots and a list of our characters, which we could drag in their spots.
1.6. Create some kind of smooth transition between ended battle and peaceful state for cases when we have downed or dead characters.
We should be able to help our fallen comrades before any after-battle conversations will start and regroup. It probably can be done by leaving us in turn-based mode, but to back up certain scenarios like Gale's death or no opportunity to revive dead characters, we should be able to exit that state unlike with normal battle mode.
1.7. Please, allow us to split climbing between 2 turns.
Sometimes our characters end their turn near some climbing spot with some movement points left, but not enough to climb the whole way. So we waste the points.
It also may be an interesting addition to give advantage on attacks against a character which stuck halfway climbing between turns.
2. Moving outside the battle.
2.1. Characters should break formation to go through narrow passes.
At the moment characters are trying to keep "diamond" formation, which leads 2 of them to “fight” for each narrow pass. They clip through each other when climbing, one of them always steps in a surface effect if we are going through some narrow clear line...
2.2. Do not move characters in a chained group unless the leading one moves away from the rest.
If the distance between characters is growing, they should run faster than usual for a few seconds to catch up and make the formation. But if the distance isn't changing or it is closing, they should stay where they are. Better if the distance will be measured from the closest character or some virtual point in the middle of the group. Also changing the leading character shouldn't count as change of distance.
2.3. Please, teach our characters to jump one by one when in a chained group, with no need to give the command to jump to each one of them.
It may be done in one of 2 ways:
A) When we move in a chained group use the jumping distance of our character with the shortest jumping distance. When we use the jump and make enough steps to clear the landing spot, the next character jumps from the same starting spot to the same landing spot. Then again a few steps, next jumping character. Similar to how characters are climbing at the moment, but with jumps instead of climbs in between.
B) After we jump with one character, the next one should attempt to jump from the same spot in the same direction. If something makes it impossible for him, he steps back and says what caused the problem: "Too far", "No place for me there"... In the same time other characters do their attempts, using their jumping distance.
3. Interactions.
3.1. Make sure we stay in control of who does the talking even if an NPC initiates the dialog.
My main character released Halsin, Halsin says “thank you” to Shadowheart just because she’s closer. I’m... loading last save to make sure my main character will stand closer next time. That’s the perfect example of the problem. Possible solutions:
A) If “Conversation and cutscenes 2.5” implemented with possibility to change who’s talking, treat the party as a whole at the start of every such conversation. All characters should stand in a group or around the place with no one sticking out too much and then we should make a click to choose who’s talking and that character moves in the spot-light with rest moving to their normal space slightly behind. That would be the perfect version, because in the example above it could be Shadowheart, who released Halsin.
B) Do not allow NPC to initiate a dialog, but make them do a “bark” to let us know that they have something to say.
An exception can be made for cases when we are not supposed to answer and the NPC talks to the whole party anyway.
C) Default all such talking to our main character. It’s somewhat the worst version, but at least our main character will be the shining star most of the time.
3.2. Please, teach our characters to actually carry objects instead of carefully throwing them around.
The implementation should look like this:
We get a button for "carry/put down". We use it on an object that we can move, but cannot put in our inventory. After that the object floats moving with our character (perfect if with proper animation). The character is slowed if the weight of his inventory plus carried object weight is bigger than his carrying capacity. NPC can react accordingly if the object is stolen. But the character can go in different areas and go through unlocked doors by pushing them without losing the object. And we can attach objects that way to the whole group and move them all together. When we are done with carrying the object, we just click the same button to put it down and choose a spot close to our character. It should solve 2 problems: 1) not being able to carry something to another area; 2) can carry only with one character at once.
