Larian Studios Forums Divine Divinity (English) Suggestions Drink/Eat and sleap

I do agree that this game should not be confused with adnd however there is more to spell casting concept in adnd then just what you think of. As you know spells are inscribed by runes into your spell books. And those runes them-selves if succesfully inscribed are magical not bare ink. They posses the power of the magic with in their writing. They posses a greater power much greater than you can ever imagine and once a mage possessing the true power to understand reads those he taps the power of the magic into his mind. It is just like a match once you light it burns with a great fire and then dies out in a certain time. If you want a new fire you have to pull out a new match relight, note that you can not use the old match again just like you can't use the same spell you have used before. It is not just mere words that you memorize the power you tap into your body. And a forth 4level spell takes about 8 pages if you wonder how long it is 0th level spells are 1 page and others are double their spell level. Even barely memorizing it would be hard. I hope I could clear that out. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/suspicion.gif" alt="" />

good thought but wouldnt that make it too reralistic? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />

mabee it shoud be like that withthe more complicated spells like elemntal hail and fade from sight.

Well its all a matter of personal taste. They both have great assets.

The memorizing adds somewhat more difficulty and realism into the gameplay.
You would be required to think (as mages are supposed to be good at that) it all thoroughly before heading into combat.

While a manapool and standby spells give somewhat more faster game action.

What i think would be a good comprimise is to combine these two in such a way that you have to memorize what spell you are going to use and then when the situation comes that you'd be able to use that spell untill your manapool runs low. the number of spells able to memorize will be dependent on character lvl's and class. So that a warrior would be able to memorize say 2 spells on lvl 20 and say an archmage memorize 6 spells at the same lvl.

Hmmmmm but i am getting a little <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/offtopic.gif" alt="" /> here, what i also think is that sleeping shouldnt heal a character instantly to max hp. Say when you have a broken leg you wont expect it to be healed the very next day now do you? You should heal only a couple of hp. If ya want to heal more hp either go see a healer (gives a good excuse to use these lads efectively) or cast a healing spell. Mana however is a complete different story though since mana is more based on your mental capacity's and the reason you run low is because your mind is getting tired. When a person wakes up the next morning he should be mentaly fresh again (that is if he had a normal nights rest). And foods and drinks? I think you should need that to stay alive. In gameterms: If ya dont eat or drink your body starts deteriorating. In other words you start losing hp slooooooooooowly. See how you like it the way you treat your character in the game. Try to survive for 4 day's and nights in a row without even 1 sandwich or glass o water <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" />
So maybe an hunger/thirst bar can add more excitement in the game aswell as more realism (skip the peeing and poopin part, lets yust say they do such a thing when they go <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/sleepey.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />) Well so far my suggestion <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" />
Hope ya'll like the concept.

Toodles <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wave.gif" alt="" />

mmm v. good i like it.
and if u dont eat or drink ten it starts getting faster and faster dropping

I like the idea of having to eat and rest for multiple reasons. However after I've read the entire thread I started to think that cRPG's like DD are supposed to be a heroic saga and the ideas here are close to making it something more like Sims, which most people probably wouldn't be happy about. So my idea is - implementing food/starvation factor but making eating automatic. I've seen it once and it worked perfectly fine - the player brought rations and once in a few hours their number decreased until there were none in the inventory. Thanks to that you felt that there is a food/starvation factor in the game, but you weren't forced to drag and drop the food into your character's mouth three times a day. Also different sorts of rations could be available - basic rations would only keep you up and running while luxury food (for example different sorts of fruit) would be more stuffing or would temporarily increase a certain attribute, etc.

Now I'm going to be a bit <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/offtopic.gif" alt="" /> here, but I haven't found any thread about that and it has something to do with food (frankly, not much). In almost all cRPG games I am sooner or later irritated by the amount of money my "yet no so powerful" character carries in the inventory. Right now in DD I'm still no big hero and I have about 40 000 pieces of gold on me. Putting aside the fact that carrying that amount of gold should make one's back ache, it is kind of funny. Money was usually made of material that had some value (now we have money made of paper but that is a different story) and wasn't as easily obtainable as sand whilst whenever I think of the amount of money I'm carrying I start to ask myself whether rivers of gold flow through Rivelion. I understand that the value of money in the game is based on food (one piece of food costs one coin) so my proposal is - making rations come in packs of for instance fifteen. That could make the prices of all items decrease a bit: basic food for five days = one coin, good knife = five coins, and so on.

Well, enough of day dreaming for now. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" />
PS. I apologize for all the spelling mistakes that I've made (there are probably at least a few of them).

First, Welcome, mate. I saw you registered for a couple of days but since this is your first post, welcome <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wave.gif" alt="" />


Sims is not only eating and I don't mind micromenage my character. If you played games like Quest for Glory or Arx Fatalis, you would see how eating is implimented. In the latter, you even have to cook the food and you can make bread out of water, flour and bake it on fire!

I don't really like that idea. What if I want to starve my character? Better if the character himself says he's hungry (like in Arx Fatalis).

It's interesting how in most games food rises stats. You don't become a superhero by eating meat or something. What if you eat a special diet (let's say you eat two oranges, one apple and two pieces of meat) you get addition to your stats after a week? Like +1 constitution or something? Eat healthy :0).


Money isn't exactly based on food. Money adds to the fun. The more money you have, the greater the hero is. For example I had about... 400 000 when I played.
Maybe <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/riftrunner.gif" alt="" /> could have some kind of a bank or maybe a special purse which contains all the money instead of scattering it arround?


Didn't find them yet ;0).

Thank ye for the welcome. However unnecessary it may be it's still very nice. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />



Well actually I did play QFG and I found it rather enjoyable. It's a shame I can't buy it anywhere these days. I find the possibility of baking bread, fishing and other things like that interesting to say the least as long as you are not forced to do that.



Hmm, You said something about QFG earlier and as far as I recall it had automatic usage of food. I didn't take into account there may be players-sadists among fans of Divinity. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" /> That leaves us with the non automatic method though that has killed a few games in it's time as far as I know (It's hard to balance between good realism and player irritation).



You don't become a superhero thanks to your diet, however food does have effect on both Your physical and mental capabilities. And slaying a dragon isn't going to make you better in picking locks, is it? Your idea has in my opinion one weak point - temporary effect stops easily (when your character stops eating fish which boost his/hers intelligence the effect is instantly terminated) but the idea with stats growing not temporarily is harder to reverse. If my character eats healthy he does get a bonus to his stats but what when he stops doing that and starts eating anything he can get shouldn't that bad diet have some effect as well?



Let's say you are right about money being the indicator of your power, that does make sense after all. But can't the money be more valuable? It is golden after all. I like it when money has big value and when being rich means having 400 coins rather than having 400 000. Handling it is not such a problem, to me the problem is simply the impression that in a country in which 400 gold coins is nothing, gold must be as common as sand. Make the money wooden or copper and then let it be even 40 000 000 000, but when it is golden?



That makes my self-confidence rise. ;-) Maybe this time you can find some.

Can you believe I sold my copy on ebay?! I still cry on cold black nights. Like this: <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cry.gif" alt="" />
<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" />


Really?! Then I didn't notice because I always bought 100 fruit rations at the beginning of the game and ate one when I needed stamina recovery. Indeed it's very difficult to balance the fun factor against realism. Not only realism often makes the game duller and more difficult but also many people play games because they're different from the real world.


I meant permanet stat boost but now when you mention that bad diet should decrese stats, I see I was wrong. It would be too difficult to impliment besides not that useful. *Sigh* best RPG system ever: QFG. I still got the antalogy but I couldn't run QFG4 even on Win98: the game crashed when passing the slimy tree after the first cave.


Indeed. I too wondered how comes a merchant sells it's gods for several hundred gold when a peasant earns only a couple from selling his crops... Yet not a single game had other currency than it's default one. No copper or silver besides gold. So think of game-gold as copper ;0).


Ran spellcheck. The only word Word didn't recognise was CRPG and Rivellon.

Say, you're not from arround Russia, are you? Your name makes me think of my country...

And can You believe I lost my copy?



Players have different attitude towards realism. I personally pity the lack of some things in many games though I understand why the games cannot be as realistic and non-linear as I'd wish. Nevertheless Larian could have allowed sitting in chairs in Divinity - I know it's useless, but I can't get over the fact that my female warrior is incapable of sitting. (yes, I know I'm day dreaming, and that would be at least six useless animations, but still...) <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" />



I have to agree with you here - QFG's system as primitive as it may seem was very good. If anybody would ever come up with a way to make the thing run on new computers, and Sierra would release it as a freeware that would be fantastic. But QFG aside, we are talking of DD here. It seems stat boosting connected with eating has to stay as it is now (food does temporarily make one of your stats rise). But I am still pro the idea of making the food/starvation factor that would appear in future games. That would (all other aspects aside) make exenses appear in a hero's everyday life.



Really? I seem to remember a few games that had currency from other metal than gold (including of course QFG which had two sorts of coins - more valuable golden, and less valuable copper or silver). It would be nice (from my point of view), if Larian would reconsider making money in it's future games either more valuable, or crafted out of a different material. A small thing it is, but in my opinion details create the atmosphere and good quality of a game.



Maybe that's because I run the spellchecker before posting something? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" />



That depends what is your definition of "around"...

Lost your copy? Hmm...

Alright. Maybe not arround but in?

Rather around than in. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" /> I'm form Poland actually, does that ring a bell to You?

Well, I do know where Poland is situated, I am not THAT bad in geography.
Polish and Russian languages are very similar, you know?

i had a friend from Lichtenstein once...his name was Jannos. and his last name was lichtenstein.... <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/think.gif" alt="" />
we used to eat cow tongue and drink polish spirits.... Ahh what fun.... <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" />

is there a place called lichtenstein in poland? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ouch.gif" alt="" />
...he didn't live in a castle! DoH!!

Hope neither of You gentlemen minds me writing only one post, but considering we are going absolutely <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/offtopic.gif" alt="" /> here I think that's the best thing to do, so:

DEATHATTHEDOOR, You might be good at geography and still not know where Poland is situated, trust me. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" /> I do know that both languages are quite similar in sound (Russian does however have a Cyrillic alphabet unlike Polish), after all both of these languages come form one Slavic language group. Why am I explaining that to You <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/question.gif" alt="" />, from what You wrote it seems You come from Russia. Hmpf, silly me. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" />

Jurak, as far as I know Lichtenstein isn't a part of Poland - there are it's a independent country situated between Austria and Switzerland with a capital in Vaduz. Plus there is a city by that name in Germany. Check a map of Europe for details. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" />

Now that all is staled and I've done a mess of the topic, time to go back to the subject.

I think it is kinda neat that Poland diud not exist on a map between (I think...) WWI and WWII

<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/offtopic.gif" alt="" />
He's right, you know.
<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />
<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/offtopic.gif" alt="" />

There is just one thing I have to say and I promise I will stay silent.
Setharmon, if by any chance You were referring to me (considering the fact You quoted me....) then just for the future - I'm 100% female <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" />
Carrie, wrong - my country wasn't visible on the map of Europe between 1795 and 1918 and then was occupied by the German army between 1.09.1939 and 1945. But nevertheless your knowledge is still surprisingly high. And "neat" isn't the most suitable word in my opinion, but that is a subject for a long and boring story. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" />

I think we've had enough of this - I do not wish to be banned because of constantly going off topic, this is a Divine Divinity forum after all.

On the topic of coins, you could have many different types worth different ammounts. You could also add weight to them. Then you have the problem that I heard one DM forced onto his players.

He made all treasure drops in Copper Pieces. The players had to decide whether to take the items or the treasure. How much is it going to upset players when they can't pick up coins because they're in such small denominations, yet weigh so much. I think they'd be better off leaving just gold coins, but adding weight to them. How much do you carry and how much do you stash? Gems would also have a better meaning now as they are light weigh sources of money. How good a deal are you getting on your gems?

I knew it! "Boginka" means goddess in Polish, no :0)?
<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wave.gif" alt="" />

HandEFood , making multiple sorts of coins could prove to be a bit troublesome, since some sort of money exchange would have to appear.
Adding weight to coins in Larian's games as long as there would be teleporter pyramids makes almost no sense. Most players have one pyramid in their rest/stash place and the other on them so whenever the dilemma of being unable to carry all the loot appeared, they would simply drop their pyramid and take a few trips "there and back", put their loot in one of the multiple chests and barrels, and happily go forward. The existence of weight would only make a difference to those players that like all sorts of realistic though useless things in games.
DEATHATTHEDOOR, yes that's right Boginka does mean Goddess in Polish. I wouldn't expect anyone to know that, I applaud You! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" />