Larian Studios Forums Divine Divinity (English) Suggestions Combat systems

In my opinion as a consultant, the future is for the Larian ACTION combat interface.
An artificial intelligence decision maker is demanded to construct a unit scenario for the immediate battle zone. Let us say the hero is a mage with a spell of shock wave at hand as a special move.
When surrounded by as many as six enemies crowding his immediate vicinity his special move could be that shock wave to throw his enemies far enough to give him more time to cast spells on one by one at choice.
So the mage may not only have a targeted spell to cast by left clicks but also a circularly non-targeted spell to hit the immediate zone. The main character need not be a mage but selecting a spell into the special move should be handled as non-targeted. Weapon selector box must be a separate issue related to the left mouse button directly. As in <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/div.gif" alt="" /> the CTL button allows auto targeting the weapon so the shift button could be used for auto targeting spells. The clicking of the right button of the mouse may have three modes as well.
For a melee weapon the result of a right click should depend on the number and distribution of enemies in the immediate circle (battle zone) and rather than swinging an axe or a sword haphazardly, the hero may perform an entertaining move that depends on his/ her level of experience with that weapon, such as a samurai with a sword at a high level would perform an exceptional series of moves to cut down his enemies.
A right click with a shift should apply the non targeted spell circularly outwards, while the right click with a CTRL button should allow a sleek move with a combination of spell casting and weapon application whichever is best for the hero. My suggestions here are based on my experience with <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/div.gif" alt="" /> and a futuristic outlook yet basically I am being concerned about giving commands to a single character.
If your game design shall allow a party command interface then the issue is much more complex than to decide blindly without having enough information about that party in number and characteristics.
Also I would like to see the mouse click on items being enhanced.
The left mouse button may be used for TAKE item command, while the right mouse button for USE item command.
The mouse cursor may be greatly enhanced by morphing appropriately to indicate the possible actions when it is coincident to an item or a location.
For example, when the mouse pointer is on a closed door it should morph to indicate if opening that door was possible and to use the left mouse button for opening a door while the right mouse button for closing it.
This means that if I am in the way of the door and I wish to close it, my hero character should automatically clear the way to close the door on a mouse right click.
The combat systems are diverse and depend on the level of ZOOMING in on the action.
In KARATE on the Commodore Amiga one would control the character to perform on of forty different moves which demanded a special game controller pad. This is not what DIVINITY II or RIFTRUNNER is planning on. So you basically have SIX alternative commands by combining either a shift or a control key with either of the mouse buttons, to keep things as simple as possible.
You could have two boxes rather than one for selecting the current weapon set so that one could use a ranged weapon along with a melee weapon. Similarly we could implement two boxes for selecting the targeted spell type and the non targeted spell type.
All passive skills should never show up in combat selection pallets but rather in the skills learned panel.
Good luck with your game design and I hope that you succeed this time. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" />

succeed this time? imho, they succeeded quite nicely with Divinity.

<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/up.gif" alt="" />
<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" />
Indeed, my sarcasm was a teaser.
<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" />
People who know me tease me by calling me Professor Perfection AKA P.P.
I am a sincere fan of <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/div.gif" alt="" /> and I wish its game design to be rather perfect.
Success was really meant to be for producing the perfect game not just 'a' game.

I think that Divinity II is such a perfection-contender [color:"red"] IFF [/color] the fan’s criticism was taken seriously but with a grain of salt.
My posting identity is DAD.
You may wish to consider my ID as initials for Drink AND Die. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" />
Also Deadly And Dangerous is fine.
But really it is much better if you consider that it stands for Dungeons And Dragons. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" />
If all fails, I am simply 'dad' due to my age and experience. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />
<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mage.gif" alt="" />
I never meant to sound rude if that is how you have taken it.
Cheers. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wave.gif" alt="" />

Bitter as alway, friend?

Highlight the sword and press CTRL+F1 and then highlight the bow and press CTRL+F2. If you have a shield and your sword is single handed, you'll automatically equip a shield in the offhand while pressing the bound F1.
Although I cannot argue I would't mind to have Passive Skills remouved from 2nd action choice. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/silly.gif" alt="" />

You drink a potion called Shadow or cast a spell for fading out of sight to travel unseen.
But if you were a survivor and you wish to drink the shadow potion to get the keys from the desk in a police station, the moment you issue any command every guard in the area shall be on your head because you are not allowed to do anything else than walk or run when you are invisible. Thieves hate this game you know. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" />
So there must be a rule that drinking the shadow potion is for travelling unseen and undetected. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/question.gif" alt="" />
Nevertheless the game designer breaks that very rule when you are allowed to detonate a package of explosives and poison a well while being in a shadow mode. So this is what we call "game design as you go."
No rules set and no story to begin with. And Shrimpo might have been a stagnant design in the graphics stock that never found an application to include it.
The synchronisation of sound effects and the fabulous graphic animations saved the honour of this game.
The programming is very good indeed, so brain-storming-meetings must have been behind this final concoction of sub-quests and extra elements. Captain Alex sends you to Mitox who offers you the chance to be a hero but at that stage you are too weak to confront the Orcish hordes. So the only chance you have is to sneak in, so they add the mining tunnel out of no where mining tar without miners and putting some Orcs for you in your way to enjoy the hacking and slashing. You are not allowed to be a shadow across locations, so you must use the upper ground as a shadow or the underground tunnel as a kamikaze. Run, run and pause then apply the explosives and let the clip finish your job. You jump into the shaft and no one follows you of course. Therefore the alternative was to reach those two mission-locations as a shadow, so let us make a shadow-potion that could never be used elsewhere because it was created for those two scenes only.
GIVE ME A BREAK.
You are not allowed to use any spells inside the castle or Iona’s dungeon because THAT would spoil the tender rules of a want-to-be story.
While you and Zandalor may not use magic in evil places Janus and his faction could pop into holy grounds and cast electric spells and kill council members! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/question.gif" alt="" />
Yet when you return as a divine one you can cast spells in the darkest dungeons and the stronghold of the devil. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/question.gif" alt="" />
GIVE ME ANOTHER BREAK. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" />
The rules of this game are as tight as a sieve. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/down.gif" alt="" />
It is called INCONSISTENCY. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/down.gif" alt="" />
And it sucks. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/down.gif" alt="" />
WARCRAFT III is a closed quest architecture, but <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/div.gif" alt="" /> is an open quest architecture so the confusion of forcing a bad story line on an open architecture is totally inconsistent and irritating.
Alternatively, if there was a story with multiple endings, the hero could have chosen to get married with the Elfish couple and abandon the quest until his/ her new home is attacked and his/ her spouse gets killed.
So in revenge, the hero returns to the story line of the Devine one if he/ she did not choose that line willingly.
Multiple sets of armour and weapons designed as a matching fashion could have been far more pleasing.
Rangers hate metal armour and prefer the light leather for greater agility and metal armour is seen to come enchanted with increased agility! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/question.gif" alt="" />
Colour and fashion matching of boots, leggings, belt and armour should be set up far from being at random as seen in this game. Why shouldn’t I find a complete set of an ancient ranger’s armour and long bows, or a complete set of a famous knight hardly earned but available?
I can go on and on but enough was said so let me be.
Cheers. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wave.gif" alt="" />

By your post's lenght, I can really see you're a game addict <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" />.
However, Divine Divinity has many things inspired from Diablo. The items, for example: there are infinity of RANDOM, computer generated items. Was the computer told "hey, compy-dude, don't make plate which raise agility, ok?"? No he wasn't. Also if you don't want your ranger to wear plate, don't! Find yourself a nice suit of armor other than plate, maybe charm it a bit... It's not like someone imposes you to wear plate, no?
Now I agree it sucks that you cannot cast spells or attack people in Stormfist castle or such. I would've loved if you could try to kill Janus even if it was impossible (Janus phase out or something). Or, for example, I would've just kill the guards who don't want me to enter the cellar. But then again, compare DD to Diablo: Diablo sold like hot cakes during ice age, still you couldn't kill anyone who wasn't a foe. Also Diablo didn't have convesations. Oh, suuure, you could *listen* but you couldn't say anything!
There are sets of armor: for example you take Plate Mail + Plate Grieves + Closed Helm + Tournament Shield... Actually in Diablo you got bonuses if you weared an entire armor set. Can't say I will cry if Larian won't include that feature in <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/riftrunner.gif" alt="" />.
And Warcraft 3... No offence, DAD, but I don't think WIII had the charms WII could propose. I didn't like the game much. Note that it was an RTS with minor RPG elements, whereas Divine Divinity is a true RPG. You cannot compare the two, in my opinion. Yeah, I agree, there was some level when you explored a dungeon, but EVERYONE there was an enemy. It was like pointless clicking.
Anyway, be happy <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wave.gif" alt="" />

yes, how do Janus and his friends pop up, and that was the reason of the shadow potion??? stupid, could have spent the time for a flyin' potion, that makes ya' fly, and that would have been better then a shadow potion, 'cause I want to steal somethin' and I drink it, and then I crouch down, and i open the chest, and I put out my greedy littel' hands and try to stuff those jewels in my pockets, and like 7 guards come down on me screeaming at me and...
what about the dwarves? they don't know what is going on in the war, and they never fight,o r the soldiers, u go up to 'em, and they say, 'yeah, I'm worreid about the orcs'blahblahvlah, I just spent an hour killin' 'em all, they're ALL DEAD! d-e-a-d, dead. and they complain about the war. and no wonder they're worried, when I run back to camp, with 10 heavy orcs, 1 ginat heavy orc, 5 heavy orc archers, 10 heavy orcs, and stuff, and they run in and start attackin' the troops (casue I'm gone) there's like 40 soldiers there, and I go invisibble (thnx shadow potion, grr) and like 6 orcs go on one guy, and this soldier takes out 1 and dies, an this happens, so I'm fed up, this army sux!

then I see like 1 heavy orc, on one soldeir, oh, he'll win, simple, look back, a min later, he fricken' dies! I have to save the camp from diasteer, they suck! man, hte army couldn't have been better. uggh.

<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/party.gif" alt="" /> pb <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/party.gif" alt="" /> me <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/party.gif" alt="" /> yea <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/party.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/birthday.gif" alt="" /> (sorry, ahad to do that, just made p-b)

This is extremely serious now.
I mean, NO kidding.
Soccer is a game, and basketball is yet another game.
You can tell which game is it by something we call the rules and the set-up of the game.
In soccer pushing the ball with your hand is foul while in basket ball you must push it by hand but if you did with your foot it is foul.
OK.
So what makes a freaking GAME?
RULES.

NO RULES = NO GAME.

Now please play <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/div.gif" alt="" /> again and keep an eye on the freaking RULES then when you find out that what you believe to be the rules are broken too often you shall begin to understand my agony.

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

Hi DAD,

I think following the rules too much hampers creativity quite heavy. Maybe the reason why the Divine One can cast spells is because the Black Ring members contain a trait called "hubris." "Hubris" or overconfidence is the weakness of many evil characters. Their inflated ego causes them to make bad decisions. Perhaps that is why some people will not feel sorry for them when they come to a grisly end. Anyway, the Black Ring members did not ward the area to prevent the Divine One from casting spells because they thought they could destroy him/her easily in a fight...They thought wrong..That's one possible explanation I came up with. Who knows what the real reason is...

Thanks, <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/up.gif" alt="" />

Hi Lockmar.

Thank you for reading me and for your logical explanation.
I still hold on to my complaints concerning the rules of the game (not the rules of the alleged pseudo-story).
We may find whatever reasons for breaking the rules but it does not change the fact that the rules were broken.
After you kill the executioner, go to the end of the prison and find a guard.
Beside that guard there is a locked door.
Try opening that door and tell me what is upstairs or try to go to that DESIGNED place at all at any time.
Another location is that on the left side of the same screen behind the wall with the three chests.
If it was never intended, for us the players, to go there at all, then why was the trouble of creating them?
Let me guess.
There was a good story that had to be cut down many times to fit into three CDs or a single DVD.
Production decisions sucks.
If it was up to me, I would have sacrificed half of the silly weapons and armour to give space.
I would have made plates, spoons, dirks, water mugs and stone pots as well as flower pots all non selectable and inseparable from the background as much as many other scene objects to reduce item space.
I would have forsaken the silly Shrimpo ‘quest’ if we may call it a quest at all.
I should be able to investigate the castle, open doors, steel treasures and all, but if I decided to go into a critical area prematurely I should face the consequences of that scenario and perhaps die too early and reload the game to avoid such a mistake. The only reason I can think of that prevents Zandalor from casting spells and getting imprisoned is to investigate the sword of lies to the depth of finding where it should have been and getting trapped behind the magical door and within the magical walls that imprisoned the fragment of the soul of chaos all those years. The quest to free him should include finding a very tricky point to click on the wall after removing an item to reveal it to bypass the magic password. I did not invent this but rather concluded it from the written story that came with the game. There was a young mage called Ralph who died inside that magic chamber after being possessed by the demon of the sword. There was a wall section that was a heavy stone door that was locked by the duke Ferol at the request of his possessed childhood friend.
In Iona’s dungeon there was no need for the white cat to save my a.s.s. I could kill the two Orcs by magic spells and get the key by telekinesis.
While saving Gameou, there was no need to get frozen and get saved by Zandalor altogether as it makes no sense and no difference. I should have been able to find the morphing wand and the key and figure out how to restore him.
In that way, there was never a good reason to cripple the hero as it had been done and prevent the magic spells unfoundedly.
In that way of remedy the rules could have been set in a formidable manner.
The accumulation of spells is also imperative as a rule, because a mage has the power to cast combined spells to ensure hitting a weak point. And while being a shadow and casting spells a mage is most powerful against foes that have no magic powers of true-vision.
Just imagine the need to investigate a document under the nose of guards while being invisible and you should realise that action of ‘take and use’ item while a timed shadow spell is active should have been implemented.
Rule consistency makes the RPG a haven for RPG gamers not to mention addicts as myself.
Well enough ranting for today, I think. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" />

Cheers.

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

I prefer rules that allow me freedom in developing my char as I want her to be:
the armour/equipment/weapon I find best (my mage deserves the best plate armour <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" /> ) - not being regulated by a completion bonus
the class combo I want her to be - not being regulated again (I played as rogue/paladin in NWN, grinned all the time <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" /> = Machiavellistic approach)
Being able to pick skills from all classes was something I enjoyed tremendously in Div - same for armour/weapons = not the class but my stats defined if she could wear it.
Combat system: I prefer the turnbased mode, so Div was a good compromise IMO for action gamers and cautious ones like me (looking at monster resistances and then browsing my spell book in peace) - I'm playing this game the first time as warrior = it's boring for me, but I know others like it, that's ok for both sides, right? So, I hope, Div2 and RR will contribute to both fractions: action and sissies like me <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" />

I am sorry for the agony you feel, DAD - but I've had a lot of frustration in games where I had to swallow class restrictions - let's call it even? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" />

Inconsistency: Yes, I agree on that in general, but the double measure rule for Janus in the castle (no magic) and him entering sacred grounds was logical IMO. If the gamer could kill Janus, how would the Divination ritual work then afterwards? As you see, I don't question the storyline from an outer view, but try to find logic within the storyline = different approach, right?

A rule I'd recommend: Freedom - but this is impossible in toto IMO. It had really amazed me to which ideas gamers came in Div, specially those liking to play the "bad guy". Within this scale I then can create my own "rules/restrictions".

A rule I'd like: consequence, meaning this = if gamers prefer a certain gameplay and kill NPC's needlessly, busting quests then/not getting them: This should not be called a bug then, just logical consequence resulting out of own deeds and choice (e.g. Sword in the Stone, killing merchants, healers etc.)

Let's face it: Even if rules are there, gamers will always find a way to outwit them - even the best imagination of a programmer/developer/story writer team will not dream up all possibilities a gamer can come up with, hm? <whispering> Humans are imperfect <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" />
Kiya, already practising dodge skill

Lacking knowledge in Anglo-american debate rules I don't contribute much - but I still enjoy reading your posts <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wave.gif" alt="" />

Hi DAD,


Game interaction was another important goal of the game designers. That's why they included so much.


Personally, I thought the Shrimpo quest was fine. I'm thinking that it was similar to the Easter Egg because the game designers wanted their names to be a part of the game. It adds a personal touch for them and as a player, I think it makes the game more interesting once you realize this.


Some other possible reasons why Zandalor is prevented from casting spells is because he is so powerful and also because of evil's very nature. The Black Ring likes to assert itself as being more powerful by disabling Zandalor's magic but the group would rather torture Zandalor at the right moment first before killing him as a way of mocking him to the extreme. I don't think Zandalor would have been foolish enough to get himself trapped within the magical walls.

What if someone doesn't have the poison cloud spell? I don't think it was the original intention of the game designers for you to be able to use poison cloud to kill the black dragon. Poison cloud was never meant to be a required spell. If it was, I don't think Arhu would have saved you. As a larger point, the game was designed to create a lot of freedom in my opinion. If you didn't have the means to escape because you were lacking certain skills or spells, then it was okay. Telekinesis is not required either. Again, there's no way for you to escape that special freeze spell. That spell was meant to show you that the Black Ring and evil forces at work in the game were as powerful or maybe even more powerful than the good forces. If evil does lose a war, it is almost always due to an excessive amount of ego rather than a lack of power. This is the theme in many stories where good and evil clash. These are just some more of my theories.

Thanks for the discussion, <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/up.gif" alt="" />

Hi Kiya.
It was a pleasure for me too to read your posts.
I also do respect the opinions of others even if we agree to differ.
We ARE different in general but we also seek our similarities that bring us together to become fans of this game, right? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" />
Even though I am obviously a male, I prefer my hero to be a female.
Females are more Divine by nature. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" />
Thus, I would love to see my hero in the best armour too. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" />
A wish there was a very sexy armour-set that allows my hero to kill all male foes while they are busy leering. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" />

Restrictions:
I never meant to endorse any restrictions.
I only wished that rules come natural without forcing silly freedom that neither makes sense nor comes handy in the game itself.

Items:
In the real history of the Middle Ages, any warrior would wear a dagger or two along with the major melee weapon which was preferably a war axe or a sword of choice. Other weapons did exist of course but they were less popular for lonely rangers. Lances and spears are not for heroes but for war ranks standing side by side or mounted knights charging at full speed.

If the combat rules made the damage of weapons vary by proximity, then daggers could be most useful if a hero could lose a sword and be close enough to a foe.
Under the current rules of DD daggers are wimpy tools good only for pealing apples. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" />

Calling it even:
I like that. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/delight.gif" alt="" />
It is a very cute idea to wash my suffering by the idea of the suffering of others although it is not fair to either of us to suffer at all.

Inconsistency:
If you were reading all my posts, you would have noticed that I held exactly your opinion but in different words. I said that the current game design shortcomings are a logical consequence of the bad internal story line.
IOW you found logic concerning the design solutions to handle the bad story line. I agree on that, hence there is no different approach at all here.

Freedom and playing the bad guy:
Turnoff the lights Yanez, says the survivorett! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" />

Consequences:
Agreed.

Let's face it:
Visual and audio professionals produce the basic materials for inclusion by programmers into the game.
Programmers follow the directions set by a game director/designer whose job is to correlate the audiovisual material with the story line, which must be rewritten by a RPG scenarist.
The story itself is the backbone of the artistic product, but the scenarist is the most important mind in a game creation. It is the scenarist’s imagination that sets the background locations and the events that take place in the game. When a good story is converted to a scenario the director could order the graphics and the audio effects that make the material for the programmers to knit together into a marvel of simulation.
It is the primary responsibility of the GAME DIRECTOR to set the rules of the game to comply with the scenario and produce a consistent product.
Divine Divinity never had a well written story line, a clear and consistent scenario or ever had a dedicated Game Director, and I think that “Swen” (LAR) is an amateur genius/ tyrant who held all the teams captive in his dungeon to produce his half-cooked genius ideas.
No offence intended here, but I have the mental powers to read all this through my 36 completions of this game.
If I am wrong let Swen post a reply saying that I was wrong and correct me, but I am almost sure that if he reads my posts he shall be very surprised as to how I found out all this information.
The answer is very simple, I am DAD. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" />

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

Except for Textadventures - imagine by the Word.

Mmmm... Text adventures. Memories of Zork Zero.

Were you trapped in a cave since 1986[?]
If you mean the added feature of the ancient style with text windows having a multiple choice response text just like what we have in <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/div.gif" alt="" /> then I do not get your point because that part is a simple and direct compliance with the scenario, which includes a script of course.

Larian Studios obviously did a lot of scripting as well as a concocted scenario in which locations were decided. Aleroth, the farmlands, River-town, Verdisitis, black forest, the Dwarven Halls, the Imps’ deserted castle and all the dungeons of the major episode before divination. Then the wastelands and the final mazes came as an extension that stands alone. The choice of the scenery locations is a straight forward decision taken from the original story line events that took place before the game time period, which is quite satisfactory. It is also related to homelands of the seven races and the related teleporters, scrolls etcetera.
The story line that I did not have the honour of reading is related to the unfounded existence of your hero of choice and the development of such a character. We may all guess of course that once a healer brings in the hero into Aleroth the hero is subjected to mild quests for healing the two patients and curing Mardaneous.
But before the hero clears up her/ his small world she/ he encounters the murder of George, to which no answer could be found within Aleroth forcing our character to leave the gates. Then the hero is forced to communicate with Seth and take the order of the escort consequently.
So the concoction sets the hero to choose seeking the murder quest or assembling an escort which leads to the two famous branches of demolish and poison for Mitox.
Yet before the hero could reach the bridge, she/ he is forced once again to die and be saved by Zandalor and get acquainted. Zandalor adds two more destinations to the hero’s list of choices, the cursed abbey and the dwarven bread inn. Yet the one quest added there is finding all the teleporters leaving it quite open for other than Elfish and Human scrolls but the dwarven scroll was logically to be available at the dwarven inn.
A very simple story based on a mysterious marking of three characters is initiated here.
The minor episode of Aleroth is a stand alone story.
The hero is subjected to the knowledge of being a marked one.
Assume that the hero forgets about seeking teleporter scrolls, the murder, the plague and the abbey while seeking Zandalor to find out about being marked. The hero drops the side quests and seeks the major line.
Informed that Zandalor did not return from the Stormfist castle and trying to reach him the hero is rejected without an invitation forcing a minimum of two quests of heroism related to Mitox.
So let us follow this line.
The hero gets an invitation and enters the castle too early and loses the teleporting pyramids.
The hero then gets humiliated and kicked out.
From thence, seeking the sewers and entering the castle from below the sequence forces the hero to end up at the council and face the mission of gathering the six members.
For Kroxy, the hero must finish up the Crusade on the Orcish camp.
For Mardaneous, a skirmish at Aleroth.
For the Imp, an adventure in a magical realm.
For the lizard, a minor skirmish in Verdisitis.
For the Elves, a good quest in the south of the black forest.
For the dwarves, a rather complex quest that includes the dragon armour but mainly it is in the dwarven halls and the dwarven village.
So the whole idea was to fabricate a story line that subjects the hero to the six races after being extremely irritated by Janus.
The council members kill the hero to send him to the gods who reconstruct the divine one and send him back to the wastelands to fight the demons and save the world.
This is briefly the reticulated dependencies of the story line that has neither strong causality nor strong foundation but it works for this type of open architecture game some how.

The hero has no roots, only a destiny for no known reason else than the will of the gamer.
There is not a single sub-quest (else than mentioned) that dictates seeking for a profound relation to the simple story line.

Up to this point all is forgiven.
Now study in detail the implementation of the details and find out that too many events were illogically forced to keep that simple story line intact, and I ma very sure that most of it was modified during debugging and quality tests of the game because the crippling of spells occasionally (breaking the rules) and the inconsistency of domination of powers (unfounded events) and the forced cut scenes (very irritating out of thin air catastrophes) are all symptoms of problems related to keeping up with a very poor story line the details of which was constructed as the game was developed and never before.

Due to all of that, the dialogues and the multiple choice response texts came feeble and shallow aiming in the dark and I could never blame the editors of the text for such shallowness if they never had a high quality story to begin with and a professional scenario to work on. In fact, it reflected great talents due to the partial success achieved.

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

I don't mean to offend you, friend, but WHY are you saying all this?
If I regroup all your posts, I could publish a book, why are you using your free time to write humongous posts about the flaws of a game which:
- You still like
- Many other people love
- Was published a while ago
- Will have a sequel soon.
I would propose to wait for <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/riftrunner.gif" alt="" /> and compare the 2 games later. Plus sometimes you seem to repeat your arguments. I am surprised that a professor would even play computer games, not only discuss them. Still, it's only my opinion and I am only a person. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wave.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/freak.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/alien.gif" alt="" />

<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/badsmile2.gif" alt="" />
A retired former professor please.
A freaking wealthy and retired former professor who is fed up with the imperfection of the real world and finds ultimate pleasure in RPG.
<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/badsmile2.gif" alt="" />

I do go to a sports club occasionally to avoid building up fat. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" />
I love chocolate, coffee and smoking.
So why do I say all this!
I need to guide the producers of my favourite games to make what my very selfish self demands, my good friend.
I can stop smoking and drinking coffee but I cannot stop playing fantasy games or eating the best chocolates. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" />
One of the times in which I finished the game, I started it as a female warrior and did not stop or sleep until I finished the game.
Now spell CRAZY three times. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" />

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

Haha!
Now I clearly see that some people never get old <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" />.

Well met DAD!
hey dad do you use a voice translator to type all your posts...or not? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" />
<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/up.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" />
ya jest can't take the kid outa the man!! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" />