After some gaming with different characters of different classes and different races, I would like to give some feedback on the game. Please keep in mind that this is a personal view which may or may not differ from your point of view.
As English is not my mother tongue, please bear with me. Thank you.
Excellent:
Choice and diversity in the dialogue, especially the replayability through different "paths" and options for different classes and races.
Good
General implementation of the DnD system with necessary adaptations to a computer game,
although with some flaws in detail (e.g. differentiation between the subclasses of the druid with reference to the distinction between each other, use of the spell scrolls by everyone and the like)
Story and content so far.
Cudos on the ranger at least at lower levels. Hopefully at higher levels it will remain on the same level which is to be seen. Has become a cool class but again some subclasses still need tweaking. Wasteland Wanderers in particular are looking for improvement.
„Special“ actions in general, like sprinting, jumping, hiding etc. (special note on jumping see below).
Okayish
Discovery system -
While making discovery dependant on the perception roll is generally good in my book, the rigid and sometimes extremely restricted radius and the open die roll on perception trials have been found wanting.
A good DM is characterized precisely by the fact that she/he hides whether there was something to discover or not. The obvious hint, hey there's something here, with failed perception trials out in the open unfortunately spoils a lot.
And some things should be discoverable only for a char with knowledge in the needed field of expertise, just like it is in dialogue (e.g. for dwarves with stone sense etc.), or at least such chars should have a much easier check.
Jumping in general is cool, but unfortunately clearly overdone! Superman sends his regards.
Not so good:
The restriction of the players in their actions:
Hey here is a cliff. I have several ropes so I could climb down tying them together...unfortunately not.
Hey, there's a guard arround. Maybe I could distract him by throwing an object „into the
bushes“...unfortunately not.
Hey, that's too heavy but we are a group, so we can lift it together...no, unfortunately not.
Well, but certainly we can move it with a quaterstaff as lever...no unfortunately not
Oh, a broken canoe and a lot of barrels and other stuff, so we could fix that and go for a row on the river - even if only to the place in the crypt where the ladder comes down...no, unfortunately not.
I want to get across the river, how about cutting down a tree...no unfortunately not.
I want to get to this healing potion which is out of reach, how about climbing on a chair...no unfortunately not, you are only allowed to sit on it.
Disarming traps without tools (of course at increased difficulty)...no unfortunately not
Artificially triggering traps by throwing something into them...no unfortunately not
This is something in general that I can only describe as the broken promise.
When Sven was talking about Baldur's Gate, he said something like...“whatever you can think of, we want to make it happen that you can do it. Well, that's the second biggest disappointment in the game for me, the greatest, which is somehow closely connected will follow.
Let's get to the "can be done this way, but then it sucks" point:
Let's get to my biggest disappointment of all, even though that is of course closely coupled with the above disappointment I just mentioned:
Railroading exploration everywhere you look. Let me try to elaborate
There's a flat rock, I'm sure I can walk over it: Thou shallst not pass
But surely with jumping: Thou shalt not pass
Somehow I have to get there and see it: Thou shalt not pass
Can I look behind this waterfall: Thou shallst not pass
Can I walk around on the crashed nautiloid: Thou shalt not pass
Can I get on this „mountain“ to get an overview of the surroundings: Thou shalt not pass
Can I climb this wall, maybe with climbing tools to sneak past the guard: Thou shalt not pass
Whenever you want to investigate/do something, you are forced to think, run etc. in the given paths. This is incredibly frustrating.
Is it really so very impossible to create a more open world, with more freedom.
I can understand the limitation from open world to areas, but to then create these very areas with so much constraint and so little freedom is, I can't put it any other way than "poop".
It's exactly what makes a really bad DM.
Yet it would be so "simple" although somhow work intense:
Assign certain properties to each material.
e.g. assign to stone, metal, water, wood, etc.
the properties hardness, flash point, acid solubility, roughness, etc.
This results in a characteristics matrix which, when assembled into objects, is composed accordingly and expanded if necessary. Examples:
Rock: add stability (holds bomb to crumbles easily), structure (from smooth=unclimbable to strongly structured and fissured=easily climbable),...
Tree: add floatability (density), load bearing capacity as a function of diameter, flexibility, moisture content (flammability issue), etc.
This results in a colorful bouquet of property matrices, which you can fall back on again and again in the most diverse situations and which could give you the freedom in the game, which I had wished for so much and - after Sven spoke about exactly this topic - had hoped for.
Don't get me wrong, it's a great game and I have a lot of fun with it, but it is very much an opportunity gone amiss to set standards in terms of freedom and creativity that would make a game the best game in generations, a game that will be remembered decades from now, a benchmark game that future games will be compared with.
As for this hope, I can only say...no, unfortunately not.