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First of all: Divinity Original Sin is already a great game and one of the best games I've played in the last years. So don't get me wrong, this topic is not about "complaining" or "whining", not at all. It's my feedback after playing the game for more than 40 hours in beta and for more than 70 hours after release. It's sole purpose is to give Larian input what could be improved in the game to make it even better. Why not striving for perfection? wink

I will tackle design issues, smaller and bigger fixes, usability improvements and polishing.

Let's start:

1) New and improved journal for better orientation/questing

I don't know if many of you have played Inquisitor. It's an old-school RPG which combines (bad) Diablo-like combat with traditional quest-driven open storytelling. The game has huge amounts of text, many dialogues and it is very similar in terms of "strictly no hand-holding" in terms of quests and orientation. But Inquisitor has in that respect one important element: on top of the normal journal with only the brief quest description it also features a kind of "personal diary" in which the lead character notes every hint he could get for solving his quests. (* I've put a screenshot of this second journal at the end of this post so that you can follow me.), e.g. when he finds certain quest relevant items or when he talks with people who have information about locations or other people or whatever.

I would really recommend Larian to look into this game and think about a similar second journal for D:OS. Right now the game not only offers little to none hand-holding, it also refuses to give proper information in the journal. If you read a note for example, the information won't be available at a central place to look it up, no, you have to search the note in your inventory again. Dialogues with NPCs won't be stored at all (at least it's deleted when you leave the game). It would be a great tool to have a second diary in which stuff like dialogues with NPCs and animals, notes/books you've read, information you've gathered on the fly or items you've found. Forcing the player to go searching for their own stuff is a design decision and I have no problems with it. But then you should give players proper information and not force them to deal with a clunky inventory and with writing down things of their own (without knowing whether they are important or not). Hardcore old-school is cool, but it should be fair and there are obviously solutions to improve the system in place imo.


2) Hotkey for the hotbar and more hotbar space

Well, this is kind of obvious and was demanded several times now. I don't know who at Larian thought that clicking on a really, really small icon at least once in almost every turn in combat was a good idea. Of course browsing through your hotbars need a hotkey to improve usability. On top of that 30 spots for spells, skills and items are not enough for late-game characters. Ranger for example can use 23 different arrows alone. Now add some skills and many some spells and items on top of that and well, the space is filled. So please give us more than only three hotbars (five should imo be enough) and made them browable with an hotkey.


3) Add "repair all" and "identify all" for the whole party


That's again a usability issue. Right now identifying and repairing stuff is just tedious because you have to click on each equipped item in order to repair it. That's a lot of unnecessary and NOT fun clicking work which could be done with only one click instead. It's even worse if you want to repair stuff from other party members. In that case the only a little less tedious trick is to drag a repair hammer to your hotbar and then click on each equipped item of your party member (without that you have to actually deequip the items and send them to the other character, repair them, and send all back). So please, Larian, this stuff is not fun. And everything which is not fun shouldn't be in the game. I'm not talking about the system in general but about the clickfest coming with it. Just give us an option in the dropdown menu of the repair/identify tool to "repair all" and to "identify all" (which should apply on the items/gear of every linked party member).


4) Apply sneak command to every linked party member

Some problem as in #3: usability. It's kind of stupid that only the directly controlled player goes into sneaking mode if you are still linked to other party members. Sneaking while your other party members follow you makes of course absolutely no sense. You naturally delink your sneaky character before. If you want your whole party to sneak there is absolutely no reason to apply the sneak command on each character individually. So please, Larian, if I press sneak mode, put all linked party members in sneak mode. If I want to go sneaking alone, I delink the char first anyway.


5) Enable shared gold between linked characters

And another usability issue: bartering. Right now the game treats every character of your group individually, ignoring the fact that you as player have control over the whole group. So you for example can't buy a bunch of arrows for your ranger if only your melee has a lot of money but your archer none. You have to move money or items for or after a bartering operartion which is completely unnessary. Of course I know that this was made because of co-op. But think about that: I don't speak about the whole party. I speak about LINKED characters. Linked characters are always the players one player controls so there is no reason why these character should have their own gold stash. This is just a tedious mechanic which doesn't enhance the gameplay experience but makes it more clunky without any benefit.


6) Enable walking on the map

And...another usability issue or possiblity for improvement: add the option to move your party on the map. In this game you travel a lot and walking speed isn't exactly really high. It would be a nice feature for convenience to be able to control your party on the region map with a better oversight. That would be especially useful for areas you've already cleared of all enemies.


7) Add inventory sorting filter for "item type"

Honestly, I don't understand that. Why making a filter for weight but not for item types? I can understand the "latest" filter and the "value" filter but weight? Please, Larian, add a filter that sorts the inventory according to item types (e.g. armour, weapons, spells/scrolls/skills, ingredients, consumables, arrows, miscelanous). The different tabs are ok but they don't help much for crafting. An ingredients tab is kind useless if you want to combine an ingredient with a weapon. Right now you have to do most crafting in the general tab of the inventory which can become really tedious if your inventory is full with dozens of different items. Right now, inventory navigation takes a lot of time that isn't much fun and I don't think that this is something that can't be improved.


8) Relocate crafting/blacksmithing notifications to the actual inventory screen

When you try to craft or smith something and lack the proper skill in the inventory a message above the currently controlled char appears that their skill is too low. Unfortunately this note is rather badly placed since you do crafting in the inventory and it's tedious to move around the inventory all the time in order to be able to see your character and investigate whether they arbe able to craft a certain item or not. Please relocate the "skill lacking" note to the inventory at the exact place where you wanted to combine two items.


9) Display equipment comparison of each party member in bartering

This was again already mentioned multiple times by other users. If you want to buy new gear for party members the comparion functionality only compares shop items with the gear the currently controlled character wears. This is unintuitive and tedious and should be changed. Items in shops should be compared to the currently selected character in the bartering menu.


10) Make quest items unsaleable and undisposable and give them a special tab

I've read a lot of complaints that people lost their quest relevant items (e.g. the reveal scroll for Evelyn's cave). That's very disappointing in every game and should be avoided by design. Even if you haven't lost the item it's sometimes very tedious to search a single item in an inventory which contains 100 items or more. So imo it would be a good ideda to add another inventory tab for "quest items". Every item in this tab shouldn't be saleable or disposable. You should only be able to send them from one character to another and you should be able to easily find these items in their own inventory tab without being forced to dig though your whole inventory (which is the opposite of fun imo).


11) Disable crafting if no further improvement is possible

Right now you can for example combine essences of the same element multiple times with the same armour and it always shows the crafting process bar and the essence disappears. But the armour can only be improved once with every essence. After that the essence is just waisted without and further improvement and the game pretends by showing the crafting process bar that the crafting process would be successful. Imo crafting shouldn't be possible if no further improvement is possible. Or give at least a note that it doesn't help anything. If not people have to find out "the hard way", being forced to reload the game or just waste the ingredient.


12) Add legendary/unique stuff to boss drops and treasure chests

The whole loot system in the game is based on randomness. In general this is kind of cool because you never know what you get. The problem right now is that bosses or treasure chests don't offer really better items than random chests or merchants. That takes away from the satisfaction to defeat an enemy or find a treasure chest. There should be at least a (much) bigger chance to find good stuff there or Larian should just add unique items to certain containers/boss drops. Maybe they should think about a second pool of random items which only contains legendary and unique items that can only be dropped by bosses or found treasure chests while normal chests and merchants are filled by another pool of random items which contain only normal, magical and rare items.


13) Disable the random system for spells and ingredients at merchants

As much as I like the random loot system I think it's a great disservice for certain items, namely spell- and skillbooks and ingredients. Right now it's incredibly difficult to find certain spell-/skillbooks at merchants for no apparent reason. In fact the system forces or motivates a lot of people to reload the game over and over until they get the skill-/spellbook they want to find. This is especially true for melee/ranger and rogue skillbooks which can't be crafted with scrolls. Some skills are literally gone later in the game and if you decide to respec your character you probably find out that some spells/skill are just not available anymore. This should be fixed. People should have a chance to get new skills and old skills without being forced to reload the game over and over. Same is true for ingredients (sinew is a famous example).


14) Fix the trigger for the attack on the Homestead in Phantom Forest

Right now entering the Phantom Forest by clicking on one of the two bridges in the Luculla Forest triggers the attack on the homestead. While the homestead is under attack you can't find new rooms there which can even cause that you won't find NPCs like the secrets trader or the respec trader until very, very late in the game when you don't need them anymore. This is especially true if you triggered the attack "too early" without knowing that this leads to the Homestead being on hold (you don't know that the respec and the secret guys are there in your first playthrough) until you solve this very quest. Imo the script for the attack on the Homestead should be triggered when you enter the northern-eastern area of Luculla Forest and not when you enter Phantom Forest (which is counter-intuitive because you just entered a new area just to travel back to the old). And it probably shouldn't block the activation of new portals in the Homestead.


15) Disable rot infection in Hiberheim

This is easily one of the most annoying things in the whole game. There is at least one item (a wand/staff) in Hiberheim which inflicts rot on every character that has the item in the inventory. The problem is that you can be infected quite early in Hiberheim without having found out about rot before (if you enter Hiberheim before being in Silverglen). That way you can play for many hours in Hiberheim, constantly suffering from rot without knowing how to cure it. But instead you are constantly forced to heal this character which is very tedious. So please disable rot infection from every possible item in Hiberheim.


16) Disable multiple pets (for kickstarter backers)

This maybe only applies to kickstarter backers witha a personal pet. If you can't summon a permanent (which means non-vanishing) pet, just continue reading with point 17.
Right now every char in the party can summon the pet. At the same time. So you can summon four permanent animals, all looking the same, all four with the same name. I think the problem is quite obvious. It's not only incredibly OP but also very immersion-breaking. Please limit the personal pet to one at the same time. This is already powerful enough.


17) Add a dialogue option in Cyseal for information about the region

That's again an issue for beginners or people who need/want a little be more guidance without using quest markers or stuff of that kind. But right now there is absolutely NONE information about areas of the game. I would recommend at least for the first area in Cyseal a dialogue option (maybe for Aureus who also gives you most of the regional quests) which tackles the environment. I think of something like that.

Char: "What could you tell me about the surroundings of Cyseal and the enemies there?"
Aureus: "My scouts have told me that the undead are especially strong in nubmers and dangerousness in the north and the east. In the west the situation should be better but I heard of some scattered groups of undead rambling through the countryside. On the beach in the south-west there is the ork army which is proably not as dangerous as the undead in the north and east but mor dangerous than the undead in the west."

Of course my writing skill is limited here but you should get the picture. Just enable the player to gather some information where to head out first without being forced to experience it "the hard way". That might be cool for the hardcores among us, but the complete lack of any guidance can be very frustrating for beginners and people not used to old-school games from 15 years ago.


18) Add sarongs made for non-intelligence based classes/chars

I've played this game for more than 100 hours now but I haven't found a useful sarong yet that doesn't have at least an intelligence requirement of 6 or 7. There is basically no magical sarong for melees, rangers and rogues in the whole game. This is very strange since every character can wear a sarong. Every other gear spot offers items which can be useful for every class while the sarong spot only offers items which are in fact solely useful for wizards/priests (or every intelligence based class/char). That makes little sense to me and renders the gear spot (almost) completely useless for a fraction of possible chars.


19) Add endgame content to the game (lvl 20 bosses)

I think the game is pretty linear. You can't find any enemy in Cyseal for example which has a level above 10, no enemy in Hiberheim above level 13 and no enemy in Luculla Forest above level 16. I wish there would be some super high-level enemies/bosses hidden everywhere in the world (maybe in small dungeons) which you can't fight (at least not without a realistic chance) until very late in the game. Just think for a second about Kangaxx, the undead super hard lich, in BG 2. This enemy was just hidden in a crypt in the middle of Athkatla. You could basically enter the crypt at a very low level just to be ripped to pieces. But that caused a certain effect: you remembered that special enemy and while following the story and leveling up you always though about your chances to go back and kick this stupid lich in the ass. There is a certain charm to find secrets and enemies in levels that you can't defeat early and for which you have to come back later in the game. In Divinty: Original Sin ther is absolutely no reason to return to Cyseal after you've entered Luculla Forest and that's pretty sad. Let's take for exaple the source abomination in the Black Cove which can only be found with Pontius's key for the big gate. Why not making this enemy level 18-20? Players would probably think "WTF? Are you freaking kidding me..." They would be defeated several times until they give up. But they will all swear to come back and take the final revenge later and find all the high-level loot hidden there. There is no such element in D:OS right now. End game content is exclusively limited to the north of Phantom Forest. That's kind of disappointing (and could be improved).


20) Make endgame content more difficult/balanced

There is a certain degree of diffuclty decline built in this game. Most fights above level 14-15 are way too easy because the player's party has become too powerful. Mages have superiour group control with almost sure disabling spells, rangers are jack-of-all-trades who can charm almost every enemy and melees are effective killers with immunites against every element and high damage output, especially when properly buffed. While you are kind of forced to use summon early in the game up until level 10-14 you barely use them afterwards because you just don't need to. I personally think that the game lacks some challenge in the end game which is caused by overpowered spells and skills, overpowered resistancies and too harmless enemies. Healing potions at the same time become completely useless once you've reached level 10-12 because they only heal a very small amount of health (in the end game they heal less health points that you lose in average by a single blow). You don't need any potions in combat anyway later in the game. You don't need any scrolls (apart from those which you use for spellbook crafting once). Don't get me wrong, it's still fun to play and not TOO easy. But it's definitely easier than the first 20 hours in the game, of course because you both know the systems and tactics better and because your party gets slightly overpowered with enemies being too harmless. I think the game would profit from at least more dangerous high-level enemies who put out at least doube the damage they do know on average (especially on level 16-20).



So, that was my top 20 right now. Feel free to discuss and share your own thoughts and experiences. But please do it in a civilized way. And sorry for the LONG post... smile


*Screenshot from the "personal diary" in Inquisitor
[Linked Image]

Last edited by LordCrash; 09/07/14 11:47 PM.

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Lots of great suggestions in here, especially numbers 19 & 20. Some high level, tough bosses located throughout the game would be very cool. I personally hate it how the game just ends so abruptly after the defeating the final boss...I felt like I wasn't done with my characters yet.

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LordCrash, I agree with all of that. Your suggestions are great quality of life improvements without breaking immersion or destroying the "old school" feel of this game. Essentially, they'll help bring an old school cRPG into the new age so to speak.

Yours is a very well thought out list and something I hope Larian takes a serious look at. And all of this is not to say that D:OS is a wonderful game!

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UI scale would be nice, nothing powerful just a percent for full shrinkage

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Horrible suggestions. Most of them heavily break the fourth wall only for your personal laziness ease of use issues - while if there is any problem with a few features mentioned it can be solved differently and in better ways.

Several are mass market features that belong somewhere else.


1, 2 and 7 could be done i guess but the rest would distort the game into a game made by some other company.

3 - I dont want to repair all and identify all. I want to choose what and when. By a single character that can do it. I want to take the item from another character inventory and transfer it to the one with enough lore and have him other identify them and then give them back.

4 - Not necessary, characters that sneak go alone and the rest dont follow them.

5 - The game should not know there is some "player" controlling everything. Internal consistency should be more important. The gold is fine as it is and it is easy to transfer it. I like that characters are individuals separated by this and other such smaller features.

6 - No. Walk "yourself". Maps are actually small. In case there are enemies around this could lead into all sorts of problems and ultimately into a RTS movement over map. Horrible suggestion.

8 - Could be solved by notifications being displayed always on top.

9 - I dont want to see comparisons of all characters but only those i select instead.
I dont want to have huge list with several items covering my screen.
I want to choose what and when instead of having it all automated just because you cannot be bothered.

10 - Quest items cannot be sold. the rest is your fault or any players fault. learn to think for yourself.

11, - A hint or explanation in the crafting recipe book about it would be enough.

12, 13 - No. Randomization is good - you should not be guaranteed you will always get the best items, biodrone. This game is not about loot, does not exist so you can "get the best loot".

14, 15, - I havent gotten there yet but it sounds like you wont to avoid some consequences in a fake way. No. Learn to live with your choices.

16 - No. Not your business to decide or even suggest.

17 - Maybe.

18 - There are sarongs for everyone in the game, you just didnt get any. Probably the loot tables need to be rechecked so more diverse ones drop out for more players.

19 and 20 - yes. If it would fit with the overall story, setting, world etc.



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Originally Posted by TheBubblerum
UI scale would be nice, nothing powerful just a percent for full shrinkage

Agreed.


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Originally Posted by Hiver
Horrible suggestions. Most of them heavily break the fourth wall only for your personal laziness ease of use issues - while if there is any problem with a few features mentioned it can be solved differently and in better ways.

Several are mass market features that belong somewhere else.


1, 2 and 7 could be done i guess but the rest would distort the game into a game made by some other company.

3 - I dont want to repair all and identify all. I want to choose what and when. By a single character that can do it. I want to take the item from another character inventory and transfer it to the one with enough lore and have him other identify them and then give them back.

4 - Not necessary, characters that sneak go alone and the rest dont follow them.

5 - The game should not know there is some "player" controlling everything. Internal consistency should be more important. The gold is fine as it is and it is easy to transfer it. I like that characters are individuals separated by this and other such smaller features.

6 - No. Walk "yourself". Maps are actually small. In case there are enemies around this could lead into all sorts of problems and ultimately into a RTS movement over map. Horrible suggestion.

8 - Could be solved by notifications being displayed always on top.

9 - I dont want to see comparisons of all characters but only those i select instead.
I dont want to have huge list with several items covering my screen.
I want to choose what and when instead of having it all automated just because you cannot be bothered.

10 - Quest items cannot be sold. the rest is your fault or any players fault. learn to think for yourself.

11, - A hint or explanation in the crafting recipe book about it would be enough.

12, 13 - No. Randomization is good - you should not be guaranteed you will always get the best items, biodrone. This game is not about loot, does not exist so you can "get the best loot".

14, 15, - I havent gotten there yet but it sounds like you wont to avoid some consequences in a fake way. No. Learn to live with your choices.

16 - No. Not your business to decide or even suggest.

17 - Maybe.

18 - There are sarongs for everyone in the game, you just didnt get any. Probably the loot tables need to be rechecked so more diverse ones drop out for more players.

19 and 20 - yes. If it would fit with the overall story, setting, world etc.




Hiver what is wrong with quality of life improvements? An identify all/repair all option is simply a time saver. It is something the player will do anyway, why not make it an option?

In case you're missing the OPTIONAL point, a player will not be forced to identify/repair all. You can still play the game as you are now, by identifying and repairing each item individually. Is there a particular reason that you think this option shouldn't exist? It does not break the game, it does not give a player an unfair advantage, it does not make the game "noob friendly" or "easy". It simply eliminates tedium for those that wish it. You can still choose when and where and what you identify or repair individually.

I see no problem with shared gold either. It is another tedious process to shift gold to another character. Why is this necessary? Baldur's Gate and other "old school" RPGs had shared gold. I would say however that in co-op mode this should be disabled. But in single player I see no issue with this.

Additionally, the game may not be about loot, but in case you haven't noticed, there is loot in the game. Why should defeating bosses not award you with better loot than opening a random chest or crate? It would seem goofy to get the "Legendary Axe of World Ending" from a crate next to a building, but a butter knife from a boss.

I have no clue where you're coming from with the move on map issue. Again, why shouldn't a player be able to move using the map? If they run into a group of enemies that is there fault for not paying attention. Other than that, it is simply a multitasking thing. Let a player do it. If you don't want to, don't. Simple.

As for the pets, why is that not his business to suggest? This is an open forum, he can make any damn suggestion he pleases.

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Great post. Though I'm not sure about some of the "usability" suggestions, because all that little annyoing things have some charm of the oldchool RPGs, I strongly agree with 19&20. Even on hard difficulty, late game is just too easy. I would really, really love to see more powerful bosses. Most memorable things in BG2 for me, were Kangaxx, Firkraag and Shadow Dragon fights. I was thinking about those bastards for the whole playthrough, trying to kill them every time I leveled up, and when I finaly succeded, it was sooo satisfying.

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Originally Posted by Shaki
Great post. Though I'm not sure about some of the "usability" suggestions, because all that little annyoing things have some charm of the oldchool RPGs, I strongly agree with 19&20. Even on hard difficulty, late game is just too easy. I would really, really love to see more powerful bosses. Most memorable things in BG2 for me, were Kangaxx, Firkraag and Shadow Dragon fights. I was thinking about those bastards for the whole playthrough, trying to kill them every time I leveled up, and when I finaly succeded, it was sooo satisfying.


I think there is a certain charm in those "old school quirks" as well. But why not allow a player the option? I personally would probably not use an identify all option. Just a weird thing with me. I would however, likely use a repair all option.

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Originally Posted by Shaki
Great post. Though I'm not sure about some of the "usability" suggestions, because all that little annyoing things have some charm of the oldchool RPGs

Well, I agree that this whole micromanagement is indeed part of the "charm" and I surely don't want it to completely disappear. I just want the parts which can imho be more tedious than charming to be improved. If you've only played the game for 5 or 10 hours most of that stuff likely doesn't seem that releveant. But after 50 or even 100 hours in which you've done the same repetitive things over and over again, you'll possibly notice that their charm only lasted so long. As someone else mentioned above, even the old Infinity engine games had features like shared gold for example. Old-school shouldn't be a substitute for clunky imo. wink


@JoeBart
I agree that "repair all" is more useful/pressing than "identify all". But basically it's the same process.

Last edited by LordCrash; 10/07/14 01:49 AM.

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Identify all is one of my Diablo pet peeves. They built this wonderful double discovery moment where you got the thrill of seeing a magic drop and then got to wonder over it's ability, couldn't use it right away - maybe had to choose which item to use your last scroll on or to spend an identify fee on and then they entirely nerfed it with free ID (Stay awhile....) and then a group ID all. It panders to the meta-game of farming and ignores the RPG aspects entirely.

Edit: Magic used to mean something! Dammit!

Last edited by bargeral; 10/07/14 01:56 AM.
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Originally Posted by bargeral
Identify all is one of my Diablo pet peeves. They built this wonderful double discovery moment where you got the thrill of seeing a magic drop and then got to wonder over it's ability, couldn't use it right away - maybe had to choose which item to use your last scroll on or to spend an identify fee on and then they entirely nerfed it with free ID (Stay awhile....) and then a group ID all. It panders to the meta-game of farming and ignores the RPG aspects entirely.

True, but D:OS's identification system already isn't based on consumable scrolls. You only need to click on an item that never disappears or breaks and always works (actually you have to click at least three times per item to identify it). An identify all button or option to use in the topdown menu from your identifying glass wouldn't change the basic system in any way. You never travel in the "fear" of only having one identification scroll left like in Diablo...

But as I said, identification is the lesser "problem". Repairing is imo the bigger issue.

But then again - as I've said in my initial post - we only speak about possibilities here. The game already works well. wink

Last edited by LordCrash; 10/07/14 02:00 AM.

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Originally Posted by LordCrash
Originally Posted by Shaki
Great post. Though I'm not sure about some of the "usability" suggestions, because all that little annyoing things have some charm of the oldchool RPGs

Well, I agree that this whole micromanagement is indeed part of the "charm" and I surely don't want it to completely disappear. I just want the parts which can imho be more tedious than charming to be improved. If you've only played the game for 5 or 10 hours most of that stuff likely doesn't seem that releveant. But after 50 or even 100 hours in which you've done the same repetitive things over and over again, you'll possibly notice that their charm only lasted so long. As someone else mentioned above, even the old Infinity engine games had features like shared gold for example. Old-school shouldn't be a substitute for clunky imo. wink


@JoeBart
I agree that "repair all" is more useful/pressing than "identify all". But basically it's the same process.


Agreed that it is essentially the same process. And I'm not against either (though I'm sure we agree on this smile )

Since this is a single player game I see no reason not to allow a player to experience the game as they wish within certain constraints (I.E. the game becomes so easy as to eliminate any challenge or sense of discovery whatsoever). If a player wants to identify all, why not let them? If their character possesses the requisite skill, it simply eliminates tedium. As you've said, after multiple playthroughs and/or hours, some things can be downright laborious. Simple quality of life improvement for menial tasks should be a boon to a player. The ability to click multiple times to repair items does not make one a better player or add to story immersion.

I don't think any of your suggestions break or detract from the spirit of the game. For the most part, they give a player more options, which should always be appreciated.

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You two shouldn't represent your own personal devolved superficial thinking as truths.

Nor you should speak for other people, using strawman arguments to bolster your nonsense arguments.


Neither of those things are tedious or clunky.

They are such only to you - personally. That you have the right to think does not actually mean whatever you think is therefore valuable or true.


This is not about any kind of superficial notion of "charm" either. You only leaped to grab onto that term because it diminishes the actual role of these things into some sort of personal preference and implied nostalgia - which is all crap you want to push in as relevant.


Quote
Since this is a single player game I see no reason not to allow a player to experience the game as they wish within certain constraints (I.E. the game becomes so easy as to eliminate any challenge or sense of discovery whatsoever).


Where in this sentence is the internal coherence and consistency of the setting, the story, the game and its specific gameplay? Where is the importance of the world and characters in it compared to those cheap metagaming desires of two spoiled, devolved lard-asses?

How does one character identify items others are holding exactly?
How does one character fixes all items at once?

And how the fact it would be an "option" doesnt detract from the structure as it is now and effect it has on players view and relation to the game world?

Doesnt matter, right? BECAUSE YOU SAY SO! Lets just push the whole party into a blender and remove any individuality from any of them, because some joebart says thats better and not so laborious. And because some biodrone who thinks ass deffect 3 is a great game - great - not good, not even ok, (and that would be a laughable, extreme karma destroying thing to say) but GREAT RPG no less - would think this would be less "tedious and laborious" to him personally and his opinion is great because he can think.


Without ever explaining how or why.


Its not enough that such psychological failures distorted a whole genre into a flood of always the bloody same games, but you need to come here and turn it into that same crap. Bit by bit. Not because youre evil... but because you are just that limited and ignorant.


Quality of life improvements? What the flying fuck do you mean by that?
Whose life?
What quality? How is that an improvement of anything and why should anyone care what you just "think" about any of that nonsense?


What "options" does any of this "give" ? Option to you to get your way?

Is there anything at all behind those declaratory empty statements except vacuum of your heads?


...



btw, there is no chance in hell that you will get most of those wishes, especially 19 and 20, any time soon, if ever. Because the game is done. Its finished. You will only get patches, fixes and smaller corrections.

Nothing of any kind of bigger additions that would completely change the structure of leveling of different areas and the game scope.

The only way to see such additions now is through mods.


-


Kangaxx encounter was a cheap and boring encounter, a simple meaningless small dungeon that only worked well as a small addition to the whole, as a filler.

It had absolutely zero value in that game except that. It didnt affect anything, didnt change anything and could as well existed in another world completely.

Far, far from being the best small encounter and certainly nothing worth gushing over.


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LordCrash - I totally agree with most of your requests in the OP; I've been raising many of the exact same issues in the alpha and beta forums for some time now. In particular, as reviewers are also noting, the somewhat sloppy UI still needs work - there are several basic problems with inventory management, and I had posted requests for an "identify/repair all" feature months ago as well. Anyway, I'll just post the link to my latest list of UI improvement requests here, most of which have been around for quite a while: http://www.larian.com/forums/ubbthr...Main=42728&Number=510720#Post510720. Cheers!

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I'd kill for UI scale. It's so gigantic and I strongly prefer minimalistic aesthetics, I'd love to make it ~75% smaller.

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Absolutely agree about repairing and indentifying - the process is so tedious espessially combined with rather awful inventory UI, that most of the time i don't even bother with repairs and identification until i absolutely have to.

The game also should have special Hiver mode that makes every thing even more tedious: there should be no bartering window, inventories should be limited both by weight and by volume... I will report back with more Hiver mode suggestions later

Last edited by Goldseeker; 10/07/14 05:44 AM.
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Yeah, I'm actually holding off on starting the full game until they patch in better UI. I got really tired of the annoying repair/identify mechanic (and a few other things I posted about elsewhere) during the alpha and beta, and don't want junk like that to affect my experience with the real deal - especially as otherwise, it's shaped up to be such a fun game.

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Originally Posted by LordCrash

1) New and improved journal for better orientation/questing

Agreed. Though the Inquisitor way is bad too, since the amount of text eats all the important information. The things that SHOULD be in the journal are: What to do, where (general direction), and how (general info), WHO and WHERE wants this particular thing to be done.

Right now it's more like "Bob needs help finding a shrubbery." Wut?

Originally Posted by LordCrash

2) Hotkey for the hotbar and more hotbar space


Making the UI better is always a good thing.

Originally Posted by LordCrash

3) Add "repair all" and "identify all" for the whole party


GOD YES. Repair all! That is definitely needed. Don't know why it is not implemented already.

Originally Posted by LordCrash

4) Apply sneak command to every linked party member


I'm a bit on the fence on this one. If one of your characters is a ninja, should the rest of the party (cooks) be ninjaing too? It could cause more problems than it solves.

Originally Posted by LordCrash

5) Enable shared gold between linked characters

A toggle button would be nice.

Originally Posted by LordCrash

6) Enable walking on the map

Yes. This would be nice.

Originally Posted by LordCrash

7) Add inventory sorting filter for "item type"

Yes. And pleasepleasePLEASE KEEP the sorting order! DO NOT RETURN IT TO NULL every time you close the inventory.

Originally Posted by LordCrash

8) Relocate crafting/blacksmithing notifications to the actual inventory screen

Blacksmithing and crafting in general needs improvement.

Originally Posted by LordCrash

9) Display equipment comparison of each party member in bartering

Could be good. Not sure if the screen estate makes it possible, though.

Originally Posted by LordCrash

10) Make quest items unsaleable and undisposable and give them a special tab

This should ALWAY be in a game. If not unsaleable, then at least INFORM the player that he's/she's about to sell something important.

Originally Posted by LordCrash

11) Disable crafting if no further improvement is possible


Yes. Good suggestion.

Originally Posted by LordCrash

12) Add legendary/unique stuff to boss drops and treasure chests

Yup. All fine and dandy.

Originally Posted by LordCrash

13) Disable the random system for spells and ingredients at merchants

I'm fine how things are now...

Originally Posted by LordCrash

14) Fix the trigger for the attack on the Homestead in Phantom Forest

Not here yet, but good to know.

Originally Posted by LordCrash

15) Disable rot infection in Hiberheim

Yep.

Originally Posted by LordCrash

16) Disable multiple pets (for kickstarter backers)

Duupiduupiduu......

Originally Posted by LordCrash

17) Add a dialogue option in Cyseal for information about the region

Yes. General info about the level of enemies is important to know beforehand. Otherwise you just kill yourself and get the knowledge anyway. It's just not very realistic to have to die to get to know that "insert-someplace" is bad for your health.

Originally Posted by LordCrash

18) Add sarongs made for non-intelligence based classes/chars

Agreed.

Originally Posted by LordCrash

19) Add endgame content to the game (lvl 20 bosses)

More is better!

Originally Posted by LordCrash

20) Make endgame content more difficult/balanced

Perhaps.

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Originally Posted by Hiver
You two shouldn't represent your own personal devolved superficial thinking as truths.



I don't think they did.

Originally Posted by Hiver

Neither of those things are tedious or clunky.


Some of them definitely are.


Originally Posted by Hiver

This is not about any kind of superficial notion of "charm" either. You only leaped to grab onto that term because it diminishes the actual role of these things into some sort of personal preference and implied nostalgia - which is all crap you want to push in as relevant.


Where's all this coming from?! The game already runs on nostalgia! Your points about why something should NOT be changed are run on nostalgia!

Originally Posted by Hiver

Where in this sentence is the internal coherence and consistency of the setting, the story, the game and its specific gameplay? Where is the importance of the world and characters in it compared to those cheap metagaming desires of two spoiled, devolved lard-asses?


"When you know you can rip the arms off a person, you do not need to be an internet tough guy."

-Me

Originally Posted by Hiver

How does one character identify items others are holding exactly?
How does one character fixes all items at once?


Oh come on! They stand next to each other, point and ask. They throw stuff on the ground and say "Fix this."

wink


Originally Posted by Hiver

Doesnt matter, right? BECAUSE YOU SAY SO! Lets just push the whole party into a blender and remove any individuality from any of them, because some joebart says thats better and not so laborious. And because some biodrone who thinks ass deffect 3 is a great game - great - not good, not even ok, (and that would be a laughable, extreme karma destroying thing to say) but GREAT RPG no less - would think this would be less "tedious and laborious" to him personally and his opinion is great because he can think.


...Right now I'd suggest you should go get some air. Fast.

Originally Posted by Hiver

Its not enough that such psychological failures distorted a whole genre into a flood of always the bloody same games, but you need to come here and turn it into that same crap. Bit by bit. Not because youre evil... but because you are just that limited and ignorant.


I'm not so sure HE'S the ignorant one...

Originally Posted by Hiver

Quality of life improvements? What the flying fuck do you mean by that?
Whose life?
What quality? How is that an improvement of anything and why should anyone care what you just "think" about any of that nonsense?


....And there you go raging again like a twelve year old.

...

You aren't twelve, are you? wink

Originally Posted by Hiver

What "options" does any of this "give" ? Option to you to get your way?


Options to make the game more playable, less like an excel-sheet.

Originally Posted by Hiver

Is there anything at all behind those declaratory empty statements except vacuum of your heads?


Sigh.


Originally Posted by Hiver

btw, there is no chance in hell that you will get most of those wishes, especially 19 and 20, any time soon, if ever. Because the game is done. Its finished. You will only get patches, fixes and smaller corrections.


And THIS IS BECAUSE YOU SAY SO. Right?

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