I think the biggest issue here is that the game has limited scope being an electronic product designed, in part, to make money. It states in the manual that this game hopes to deliver to the widest audience possible by being a hack-and-slash and a plot driven RPG.
It also sounds like you felt restricted to complete everything that was optional. The game is free-form. Aside from a small percentage of main storyline, there is nothing else that you must do to complete the game. You don't have to help civilians, you don't have to steal, you don't have to hoard treasure, and you don't have to use skills you don't want to.
The game does have a lot of flaws, though, same as any other.
Item 2b: Now why should a survivor (thief) lose points by joining his favourite guild, and why do dogs change their minds after you join!
Your Reputation isn't your score, it's what people think of you. If you are known to be a theif, people will think less of you. And the dog attacked you because you didn't help the woman with the housing dispute.
Item 3: It is quite illogical to build a character of a divine thief that seeks a holy grail and saves people from evil.
There are books in the game that state "How will the Divine One decide what is good or evil, or will he select randomly?"
Item 3b: Once you take off that charmed item to repair it your maximum vitality and manna is automatically modified and wearing that charmed item again expands the maximum and you lose your previous vitality and manna magnitudes.
I agree that the bonus mana and health should appear and disappear with the donning and removal of the item. Of course, this means you can die by removing your helmet.
Item 4: the warrior must cast spells
Says who? There is no requirement for the Warrior to use skills outside of The Way of the Warrior. It might make it harder, but that is often the case with Warrior classes.
Item 4b: The design concept of reaching an experience level through “kills” after which you may learn bless is definitely ridiculous.
Perhaps you consider yourself a paladin, crushing the forces of evil?
Item 5: If it was decided for the game to build the quality of the divine one from scratch, then the design strategy should have divided the game several stages in which the main character begins with a specific weapon and armour set while seeking a specific better set to be able to advance to the higher stage while gaining experience.
Why should the equipment be set? All that says to me is that you should not have any choice in what you wear or wield. Did you mean something else?
Item 5b: I hope you did not steel from Lanilor’s house while he was frozen
Nope, I took the broken sword Juram offered me and beat the skeletons with that. They gave a perfect excuse for you not having any equipment, the healer that saved your life couldn't carry it.
Item 6: Solving riddles should automatically increase intelligence not only experience points and eating food should increase strength. The mileage the character walks should increase stamina accordingly and proportionally while running and combat increases the value of agility.
Not a stupid idea and it has worked in other games such as Quest for Glory and Dungeon Siege. You could have combat increase Strength and Agility. I think the idea is that a lot of these attributes are interelated. Through a lot of travel and turmoil, you can increase any of your stats, logically. People will often increase the ones they use most anyway. It's taking away another freedom, though.
Item 8b: I only suggested the timing of introducing a new weapon to enjoy learning the differences.
That would be good. I actually liked the idea that over-powered weapons were included at the start of the game. It's more realistic to have the weapons spread evenly, but you have to learn to use them first.
Item 10: Imps are best hunted by a ranged weapon with high destructive enhancements such as poison and fire or explosives but the holy weapon is restricted to being a sword or a dagger!
That's fair. There should be a greater range of what can be made holy. Perhaps you should offer a weapon of your choosing (along with the components required for the ceremony) and the stats of that weapon are reset to a preset unique to that weapon (eg. The Holy Axe is different to The Holy Sword, but The Holy Axe never changes).
Item 11: The magic spell of hell-spikes is a must use with some characters because targeted attack is impossible!
??? I haven't finished the game yet, but so far holding CTRL has solved any of those problems for me. Is there anyone in particular?
Item 14: The Larian armour is a cute idea but very amateurish and spoils the quality of the game.
That's the whole point of easter eggs. They're cute. The fact that it can play such a big part in the game is a let down though.
Item 14b: You lose your teleporter in there which is a very dear price for a silly enhancement of armour.
Why didn't you use it from your backpack?
Item 15: Thus, the main character could have started out as an apprentice of alchemy as a boy or girl, then develop that character by a critical even that forces it to work as a helper in repairing weapons and during such a time listen and learn the tongue of traders.
But the openning movie and some story points during the game tell you that this was random and that you have no idea about you ever being marked. You start as a simple adventurer, not entirely helpless, drawn into this predicament.
Item 16: The armour of the dragon should be preset with the highest armour value and it should be a must before facing the Lord of Lies.
If you don't want the armour, why should you be forced to wear it?
Item 16b: The game could have been wonderfully built around acquiring that set of armour with leggings, boots, amulet and rings added; a demon could have been the black dragon and the mighty weapon could have been a very special Dragon Lance that reaches the heart of that dragon. The heart of the dragon magically turns into a gem that augments the powers of the armour for the final quest. You take the heart of the dragon you kill not a gem guarded by a dragon.
I like it!
Item 18: The transportation pyramids are some kind of cure to the very bad story line because the hero is forced to occupy a house by force and use it as a store for stolen items and dropped money as well as a place to sleep to restore health and manna.
I don't live in a house (in the game). I bought it for the experience, but I don't live there. My stash sits in a broken barrel next to Geoff's Blacksmithery. I don't sleep, either. True this isn't realistic, but adventurers often don't want to settle down in a house.
And the transportation pyramids are an alternative to the Town Portal or Rune of Return. People want these features. If you don't then throw the Pyramids into the river. You're not forced to use them.
Item 19: The cumbersome and unfounded travelling between cities, forests and towns is not a fabulous feature at all.
It is annoying, hence the transporter pads. Linear storylines are quite tired and I think it is great that you get to re-visit all of the people you come to befriend. I'm tired of games where you just leave your life behind because you progress the story. I think it will be a glorious day when I find an RPG with a dozen people that continue to expand and extend the story line into something massive. Each person can have more that one purpose in the game.
Item 20: The Stormfist castle episode is the most humiliating and ridiculous task that could fall on a hero forcedly. That particular part of the story is the worst part of all.
Yup. They want you to hate Janus, but at the same time, realise his power. This part of the game was a bit annoying. I hope it's a little less cumbersome next time.
Item 21: It depends on a case by case, but when you are forced to report, then at least the text that pops up should enable you from reporting but this is extremely buggy in this game.
Yeah, the quest stability was extremely poor.
Item 22: This is a “Dungeons And Dragons” strategy game that should be designed on riddles and combat and keeping it simple as a line that escalates in difficulty but this was not a successful accomplishment within Devine Divinity game.
Neverwinter Nights was the "Dungeons and Dragons" strategy game. This one is more Diabloesque. You're right about the difficulty though. It's too hard to judge where you are capable of going next.
Item w: The hero is forced to pick the lock of the quarantine backdoor even if the hero was not a thief!
Or you could ask for the key, which I've done every time.
Item x: Finding the three empty flasks was insignificant in the story and finding two cures rather than one for all is rather silly.
The three flasks help to tip you off about Dr. Elrath and whilst not vital, are a good story element. The two cures was one of the best things in the game becuase it brought forward the ethical dilemma that faced the healers at the start of the game with the two soldiers. This is a Role-Playing Game, not a means to mathmatically achieve higher numbers.
Item y: Too many design contradictions
Yeah. That bit was a lot of a downer.
Item z: The engineer could have demanded an item as a reward for his deeds but someone got greedy and took it.
I thought the Engineer's reasons weren't too bad. I agree that having short notice about the cash is bad, though. There are clues in the game about the curse. I found a picture of him with the writing (from memory) "THE ENGINEER IS A TRAPPED MAGE. HE IS NOT YOUR FOE IF YOU SET HIM FREE." Okay, in hind-sight, it tells you little of the quest. Perhaps if they expanded the text.
Epilogue
I know it sounds like we're pulling your opinions to crap, but we're just responding with ours. Your opinions do have meaning and merit. We all see different aspects of the game, and I'm going to keep pushing my ideas and get upset when they're not implemented.
Enjoy the forums, and hopefully RiftRunner!
