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More customization of our characters, including quivers, backpacks, cloaks and different armour colours.

Also, make our companions in camp do more than just standing around and read some book or something. Make them walk around, talk to each other etc., so they feel more alive an real.

Last edited by Sigi98; 09/10/20 07:47 PM.
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Originally Posted by Dida
- Negative dex mods do not reduce the armor class while wearing armor. The whole idea behind dumping the dex stat is that you can use armor to make up for it. Plate provides 18 AC even with 8 in dex... not 17 due to the -1 score.


This is by 5e design, Heavy Armor specifically does not take into account your Dexterity Modifier, either it's bonus or penalty

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Thanks for compiling this great list! I'm going to try and avoid suggestions I've already seen, though I'll give a quick +1 to a lot of things, including especially party size (please pleas please Larian, change your mind about "committing" to just a few companions -- your own listed inspirational games both used 6-person parties. It won't break the game. It will be extra work.. but you're already doing that anyway. LET ME TAKE ALL MY FRIENDS).

Anyhoot, on to actual suggestions!

Please show more information on the character sheet panels. There are drop-down menus already, but even they don't contain much in the way of information. For example, I couldn't see the warlock invocations I'd taken, even though I knew I'd selected them (partially I wanted to make sure I had selected them, as Devil's Sight seems to not work on Wyll). Having more information about choices that are coming up would be good too. A preview of what's to come at later levels. I have the benefit of a lot of experience with D&D and fifth edition in particular. Many of your players don't have that and it can be tough to feel like you're really planning your character when you don't know what they'll be able to do. The increased information isn't going to bother those who won't care to see it, but it will be helpful for those who want to be more deliberate about plotting their characters' progressions without having to either buy a PHB or pull up D&D Beyond at the same time and pour over things.

If I fail a passive Perception check, don't tell me about it. This alerts me to the fact that there's something here I'm not seeing. A DM with players can (and should) keep track of their players' passive senses to compare them to traps and hidden foes. Watching my whole party whiff a Perception roll and then walk into a tripwire just makes me feel like a rube. Don't make me feel like a rube. And, then when I do notice something, I feel even cooler about it. Hurray! My ears/eyeballs work! Or Shadowheart's do or something.

I know Sven has mentioned the incoming (sometime) option to change the classes of NPCs. I am very much against this, though especially if Larian sticks to its guns about the locked party size being 4, it will be pretty necessary. Even if that isn't the case, I would desperately like to restat my NPCs from the ground up. Honestly, I'd like the ability to change some of their racial things too. Not change the race itself, but I mean Astarion having minor image as a cantrip makes sense thematically, but the spell isn't very useful and I'd rather give him some other cantrip. I also wish that variant human were a thing because both Wyll and Gale would benefit far more from that. And, I mean, you're using variant rules already (two subraces of drow? potions as a bonus action? everyone apparently has cunning action?), so surely this wouldn't be too tough to implement?

More tooltips and tutorials that you don't have to hunt down. I didn't know how to just sell something for gold. The button to do it looks like a scale above the "Barter" button, but there's no tooltip explaining what it does, and I at least didn't automatically think "oh that means gold for the item I put in the barter box." The hotbar is also a hot mess, but I think enough folks have probably remarked on this that it's a known issue. I like the idea of quick items (potions, scrolls, etc.) being its own "tab," then having separate tabs for spell slots. Click on my second level spell slots tab and I'll see all my second level spells I've prepared, as well as my first level ones cast at a second level slot. A rundown on spell slots would probably also be good for folks who have no idea what those are. I only knew to go looking for how to upcast magic missile or healing word because I've played D&D before. Folks who haven't aren't going to realize that's even a thing without you explaining it to them. I'm sure it's in the tutorials menu, but I shouldn't have to go to a separate menu to find out how the main resource of a class works. Your game should tell me when I first come across it. Give veterans the option to turn the tutorial pop-ups off.

Please give us an inventory autosort. For the love of God, Montresor.

Breaking my promise to not mention things others have brought up again to specifically call out sheathed weapons. I don't think I've ever seen anyone carry a rapier on their back. Except, perhaps, in Dragon Age and it looked just as ridiculous in that game too. It's even more absurd when it's, say, a dagger. If you're going to show us idle weapons on our person, do the same for shields, please. I'd honestly prefer no idle weapons showing to having every single weapon stored on the characters' backs.

I'm not sure this isn't in the works, but more voices for player-made characters would be nice. I would like more variety than "British" or "British but a little lower register."

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Originally Posted by Darth Rauko
- Add more companions, and a custom party from the beginning. link

- Turn-based/Real Time with Pause link

- A proper party size (5 or 6) link

- Alignment and reputation

- Party pathfinding and Party formations link

- how about weather conditions / dynamic weather (maybe storms), and see the times of the day happen, day and night cycle (dawn, dusk, midnight) very important in d&d and implemented in the old games (bg1&2)

- non-combat XP (Encounter XP (non-violent resolution)).

- Disable fasttravel on the minimap icon. Activate it only directly on runes (fasttravel points). Reduce fasttravelpoints radical, because we want to explore the map oldschool and dont want to teleport.

- Better inventory management

- Outline all usable spots on ALT

- Rework the restingsystem. Maybe two short rest?

- Got another presentation/UI one, a old one (pen paper feel) and new fonts

- Jumping only for rogues

- Fog of war

- Weapons: game should let player opt to use versatile weapons 1H or 2H regardless whether their offhand is empty or not. Longbows, shortbows, and crossbows all having the same range doesn't make sense. Longbows and crossbows should have a longer range than shortbows.




+ multiclass and dual class (for humans!)

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Originally Posted by Darth Rauko



+ multiclass and dual class (for humans!)


Dual class is a thing of the past in 5th edition! Everyone just multiclasses now and when you level up, you choose what class you're leveling, since XP is based on character level, not class level.

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Originally Posted by Darth Rauko
Originally Posted by Darth Rauko
- Add more companions, and a custom party from the beginning. link

- Turn-based/Real Time with Pause link

- A proper party size (5 or 6) link

- Alignment and reputation

- Party pathfinding and Party formations link

- how about weather conditions / dynamic weather (maybe storms), and see the times of the day happen, day and night cycle (dawn, dusk, midnight) very important in d&d and implemented in the old games (bg1&2)

- non-combat XP (Encounter XP (non-violent resolution)).

- Disable fasttravel on the minimap icon. Activate it only directly on runes (fasttravel points). Reduce fasttravelpoints radical, because we want to explore the map oldschool and dont want to teleport.

- Better inventory management

- Outline all usable spots on ALT

- Rework the restingsystem. Maybe two short rest?

- Got another presentation/UI one, a old one (pen paper feel) and new fonts

- Jumping only for rogues

- Fog of war

- Weapons: game should let player opt to use versatile weapons 1H or 2H regardless whether their offhand is empty or not. Longbows, shortbows, and crossbows all having the same range doesn't make sense. Longbows and crossbows should have a longer range than shortbows.




+ multiclass and dual class (for humans!)


In D&D 5e, its all just multiclassing, and multi classing isn't like in 2e. it's closer to dual classing, except you can freely keep increasing either classes level, and you don't start XP back at 0 again.

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Originally Posted by Darth Rauko


+ multiclass and dual class (for humans!)


Now you are talking about 2nd edition rules. ^^ But the 5e multiclassing system is both easier to use, and more effective and not restricted to specific races. If you are unfamiliar with how it works in 5e there are just two simple things to keep track of.
1. Every class levels at the same rate, rogues dont level faster than others and so on.
2. When you have enough XP to level up you can take the new level in any class in any order. You never loose any old class features while leveling up a new class, and you dont "leave" a class behind when starting a new one. You can start as lv1 fihter, then pick up a level as rogue, and then go back and take another level of fighter.

To figure out what stuff your character has you just total the stuff from each class you have taken, so if you do as the example above you would have a lv3 character that has the abilities of a lv2 fighter + a lv1 rogue. (it is slightly more complex but that is a close aproximation of how it works.)

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A suggestion someone made elsewhere that I really liked was to make failed perceptionchecks invisible.

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Could we please see both equipped ranged AND melee weapons at the same time?
I hate it when weapons appear and disappear from characters.
Also, if the melee weapons could be sheathed at the hip that would be much better.
It's a bit strange to see a rapier or short sword, or other one-handed weapons stored on the character's back.
Finally, some more visual customization that would be very welcome would be cloaks and backpacks.
I know this stuff is hard and time consuming to implement, but in my opinion these small visual details would set the game apart as a next-generation title.

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Originally Posted by KnuX
Could we please see both equipped ranged AND melee weapons at the same time?
I hate it when weapons appear and disappear from characters.
Also, if the melee weapons could be sheathed at the hip that would be much better.
It's a bit strange to see a rapier or short sword, or other one-handed weapons stored on the character's back.
Finally, some more visual customization that would be very welcome would be cloaks and backpacks.
I know this stuff is hard and time consuming to implement, but in my opinion these small visual details would set the game apart as a next-generation title.



+1

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Stealth combat once combat has already begin by someone else should not allow another character to continue to stay stealth and act as if out of combat.

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As suggested by @kasakoff, spears and quarterstaffs are lacking their versatile trait.These two weapons are the only versatile simple weapons available to non-martial classes, which makes them extra special. (Link to the topic in this forum)

Last edited by nottu2584; 09/10/20 10:20 PM.
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Ouch, already 9 pages...

Forgive me, I only read the first page. My understanding is that the first post will be updated from time to time to keep up with new ideas / system ?

Here's part of my list then :

1 - Silent main protagonist
I don't think it will be added but it's a big one for me. I don't mind having only 1 or 2 voices to chose from at the creation, but having my main character standing still looking concerned without emitting a sound is really disturbing ! Especially since there is a close up on him everytime he has to talk !
It's also disturbing in a AAA game of 2020 / early 2021 ! For exemple mass effect have full voice (male & female) on each of the 4 usual dialogue options in every conversation... and it's from 2007!!!

2 - Silent companions
Same for them : I remember my companions engaging each other, and engaging with me about pretty much everything since Baldur's Gate 1, even more in BG2 (anomen/keldorn, aerie/korgan, jan jansen/everyone, etc.) It was also a very good part in DAO (Morrigan/Mabari :D) and of course Mass Effect.
=> Talking companions during dialogues and in random parts of the game is a real bonus for immersion. Right know it looks like I have ragdolls with me.

3 - Camp empty
Right now, the camp is just a mini map with few rollbeds and companions standing still. Once again, the comparison with other game (the class base in BG2, the Normandy in mass effect, the stronghold in POE.... even DAO, with the cinematic talks and the merchant) is not good. If it's only to switch companions go back to BG2 with companions having a life, a goal and that could be hired at specific places. If not, they need to flesh out the place and interaction between the companions and us !

4 - team movements
It's already on the first message, so very quickly :
- need to automatize some movements outside fights (like jumping an obstacle for all members of the party)
- need to spread out the members of the party, there is often collision at the begining of combat because of it.

5 - Wallhack scouting !
Another already in the first message :
I can see through walls in dungeon, so even without trying too, i can see hidden rooms, or enemies beyond close doors :-/ kinda ruins the thing. => fog of war...

6 - First companions are all mean...
I know there will be more companion in the final game, but right know the first 4 are all bastards.
- Shadowheart is an heartless priest... of Shar
- Laezel is straight out comptentuous & mean
- Astarion is straight out try to murder us
- Gale is straight out pompuous and arrogant...
I mean : ok, if everyone hate me, I won't want to play with them... so I won't want to play the game.
=> Huge need to balance between mean and nice characters encounter, to avoid people quitting the game after 2h saying "ok, fuck you too, i quit" : Companions = friends. Right now it just feel like having mercenaries.






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J'aime le fromage.

Tout le monde aime le fromage grin

Last edited by Bubusse; 09/10/20 10:28 PM.
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Moved my own list of suggestions and feed back. found here maybe?? http://forums.larian.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=684752#Post684752

I have compiled some of my own feedback and suggestions for you to gaze upon. I will first state what I am reviewing, then proceed to tell you my view, followed at times by 5e rules and how it fits. This game may very well be the first time anyone has jumped into a D&D setting and they are getting over whelmed and confused.

1. Ranger beastmaster - currently your using the same animals for beastmaster and familairs. This is per the rules incorrect, it maybe a place holder atm still it's incorrect. Familairs are non combat animals that can be used for scouting for the most part. Animal companions are combat animals that grow alongside their rangers. In 5e the rules make this subclass useless. Having to sacrifice your own actions to attack with the pet. I personally house rule it as a seperate party member, to bring the animal companion alive, and make them useful.

2. Racial Cantrips = The dancing lights seems a place holder to me it's in a couple different racial cantrips, much the other being thaumaturgy. I posted about the drow and why I feel it's need to be changed and why. The same goes for the others, many of the races in 5e with an extra 'cantrip' type thing utilize up to a level 2 spell, with set amount of uses. These 'cantrips' fit in with the flavor of the Race. Currently the cantrips really don't fit the race, drow have no need or use for dancing lights to use drow as an example.

3. Tutorial/ship = If this is a tutorial area it needs to be fleshed out, explaining many of the games mechanics. Currently it is simply the basics that are familair to every rpg fan, such as movement, camera control. There is no explanation on how concentration works (only able to focus on one con spell at a time. more with certain items etc.) Nor does it explain how to active something like Witchbolts every round activation. Some explanation is needed to discribe the way your using difficulty and boosts from skills. Ie. A perception check all we see is the number rolled on the dice, from my view it seems your putting the boosts, or negatives from skills into the difficulty of the roll. A starting difficulty of 15 is lowered to 10 if you have a skill of +5, if so this is confusing for people in the game.

4. Buttons/inventory/toolbars = Many of the buttons for instance the way you go individual inventories vs what you have in everyones inventory is far to small. The toolbars for your 'hot items' gets stuck in battle and the buttons to shrink it or enlarge it are to small. I'm unsure what several of the buttons do do to their size.

5. Alt key = Unsure if this is a bug, or is working as intended, yet it is only showing certain items. Bodies, etc. Things like plates, clams, barbed container (pretty much junk that gives 1 gp and has weight) are not showing up. I can see to reduce clutter on screen, or make someone look around yet I personally like to snag everything even if it's just to examine them then toss them away.

6. Cut scenes involving movement = several of the cut scenes show you approaching an item, or person yet when it ends your in the exact spot you started from. Unsure if bug, or intended, or if it's a code thing. This has me shaking my head do to me not knowing why. Yet if possible it would be nice to end up where your at on the cutscene.

7. Companions = OMG the moment La'ezol opened her mouth she earned the nickname Bitchy Wench! I love to hate her, and hate to love her. Great job. Not only on her but the others as well, they actually feel different, and so far eachs actions reflect their personality.

8. Us = If I saved him and he doesn't show up in my camp I will bloody cry!!! My favorite character so far. Cause I'm wierd like that.

9. Witchbolt and other activation spells = The per round activiation for this is buried in your hot bar along with potions scrolls etc. It's far to easy to lose expecailly for ones like me who pile scrolls onto their wizards. I feel it should be more prevalent perhaps like the round click it pops up somewhere near there large enough to attract attention, or have a brief tutorial stating this is where you reactive a spell per round. Currently I find myself having to dig, and search.

10. Story so far = The moment Chosen showed up in dailogue my desire to continue playing died a litt...okay it nearly killed me. I didn't uninstall hoping that it's not going to be the typical only you can do this yada yada. It's to over done. What happened to normal people doing extradonary things (sorry I can't spell) which is the basis of D&D. Your a normal person that evolves into a powerful force. NOT this prophecy states that a child will be born to rule the galaxy. This is a pet peeve of mine, I know probably to late to change it, and I may be in the minority. Just food for thought.

11. Dual wielding = Is currently broken any one handed weapon can be dual wielded per 5e rules. Atm daggers, and short swords seem to be the only ones capable of this. The off hand is automatic in game (not 100% on this) yet in 5e it would use your bonus action. (could just be code issue). This is fine with me, what isn't fine is I can only dual wield daggers, and short swords I've noticed. I can't dual a longsword or dagger, a Rapier and dagger, a battle axe and dagger. It's just dagger dagger, shortsword dagger, shortsword shortsword. (May be on the to do list.)

12. CG and cutscenes = Needs work on some can tell your working on it. Those that are complete are looking really good, and the transition is rather nice, not an eye sore. What does bother me is listed below


A. = Gale if your playing a female says the exact same thing as if your playing a male. Yet he goes out of his way deliver a flirting remark to Shadowheart, what my female is chopped liver!! Seriously though his character feels to be a flirty type from his interchange with Shadowheart.

B. = The cutscene with Fang Elf (Al, or whatever his name is. I like him just forget his names spelling) where is the other (usually Shadowheart is with you) member of your party? Like seriously Miss I'm the only important one (Shadowheart) is the completely missing. A cry of watch out, or even having her come to your aid, an interchange between Fang boy (Al) would be nice. Maybe Al tells her 'Back off" or something short and sweet. Right now it is immersion breaking to me.

13. Writing = The writing is rather good you can tell each line is so far flowing naturally with a few minor things that have been listed by others. I'm enjoying it immensely and can almost feel how each character is saying things that the character would without it coming off as forced, or incoherent.

14. Attacking a thrall upon the ship. Here I'm not a 100% sure about why it happens. So you attack a thrall on the ship just after the cutscene where the dragon breaks off the front. Everything attacks you so far so good I can see this. Yet in the drained cleric room, just after you see the imprisoned Shadowheart there is another intellect devourer that attacks you. Maybe he was psionically connected to the other one you kill b4 Shadowhearts room. Yet if you don't attack the thralls it leaves you alone. Unsure why this is, yet to me it feels kinda iffy.

15. Super awareness of AI = See above for explanation. Unsure if there are other moments like above, it could be code, or whatever again I'm unsure as to the why. What I do know is it is mind boggling to me how something half way across a map knows you attack and murdered all of it's buddies, when ALL of them where killed. No witnesses, total massacre and yet JoJo the goblin/druid/whatever knows you did it. If there is a reason for it, okay cool. If there is not please just don't make it like this.

16 = All the containers = I like these it adds more tactical feel to the play, if it's tastefully done. Tastefully done as in if they make sense to be there, not just to add another tactical option when in truth it makes no sense for them to be there. Odd chemicals on an Illithid ship, okay cool I can see it. Barrels of oil in random places in the middle of a ruin.... ..... ..... why by Lloth are they there? is it by the adventuring party? Why are the carrying around that much lamp oil? They plan on staying a year in there? Why'd they pay that much for it when they'll probably have to leave it behind?

17. Familairs = I am sure it will be changed, yet currently I'm not a fan of the choices. Most seem more geared towards neutral or good characters, not towards evil aligned characters. Not played much with them so thats my only view.

18. Game balance = So far I've only gotten through to the Druid Grove, do to me creating different characters and builds. Trying out different approaches to each fight/scene etc. With all my parties I'm not really challenged. The closest I came to a party wipe is my wizard falling repeatedly in the halfling fight, when I had a party of Warlock, Shadowheart, Fang Elf, and Gale the flirt. I know it's on normal and your watching statistics that are reported to you. Also know others are struggling. (put the last two in to explain to others that yes I understand) just feedback.

Thank you for reading this, any questions feel free to contact me vie forum mail, or my email (which I don't check all that much). So far I am really enjoying the game would love it but CHOSEN.

sincerely yours

Clavis Darkheart (not shadowheart but darkheart, born long before Shadowheart came into being.)

Last edited by clavis; 09/10/20 10:36 PM.
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Originally Posted by Eremitae
I'm not sure If anyone mentioned that yet, as this thread is too huge to read through. But I have a few improvement suggestions, which would really improve the game immersion:

1) More attention to the companions in the cut scenes. There is a scene where my main character weas blown away buy a wind, and others were just staying a few steps behind, staring around.

2) Add interactivity into the cut scenes. if I am travelling with a party I would like to see all of them looking around a crypt or interacting with a main character within a cut scene, dropping a few lines, not just the main character doing everything.

And as we are playing DnD game:

3) Why is character alignment feature completely missing? I really liked having moral/order-related dialogue options depending on character's alignment in Neverwinter Nights games, for ex.


+3 on all that hehe

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Originally Posted by clavis

10. Story so far = The moment Chosen showed up in dailogue my desire to continue playing died a litt...okay it nearly killed me. I didn't uninstall hoping that it's not going to be the typical only you can do this yada yada. It's to over done. What happened to normal people doing extradonary things (sorry I can't spell) which is the basis of D&D. Your a normal person that evolves into a powerful force. NOT this prophecy states that a child will be born to rule the galaxy. This is a pet peeve of mine, I know probably to late to change it, and I may be in the minority. Just food for thought.


hmm... in Baldur's gate, you're litteraly the son of a god XD
But I agree, the jesus-like guy, that's an overused rope. Might be too late to change that though

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1. Display Grid for Combat - Look at Wasteland 3's system. Grid pops into existence at the start of combat, goes away after. Please tighten up the grid as well. At the moment, the 'area' for area of effects spells shows the underlying grid system and it shows why it makes combat feel so janky. They are so small that you even have tenth of a feet measured out. That shouldn't exist in 5e and it makes it extremely difficult to judge whether you might be in an AoE or not. The 'area' for AoE effects should be static. You can see great examples of this in Wasteland 3, PKM, etc.

2. Movement Indicator - Please give a better movement indicator. I often can't even see the 'line' because of all the surface effects or camera position. More importantly, I can't tell whether I'll be in range for a standard attack or not. Lastly, account for Difficulty Terrain. At the moment, when I start movement and it says I'll end up somewhere (with a yellow indicator for difficult terrain), but after I click I stop short because of the Difficult Terrain. Have it show the final movement location *before* confirming movement.

4. Rename "Backstab" to "Flanking" - Because that's what it is. Directional Facing doesn't exist in 5e, and it is clearly another port of a DoS effect. Make it so "Flanking" doesn't require you to be 'behind' your target, just on the roughly opposite side of them from another friendly character. With how janky the grid movement system is, it is impossible to tell whether you'll be in the 'backstab' position because you didn't port over the DoS backstab indicator. Flanking is an Optional Rule per the DMG, so use that.

5. Change Bonus Action Combat Tricks into Actions - Change all of the 'extra' combat options you added (Jump, Shove, Dip, etc.) to require you to use your Action, rather than Bonus Action. Having them be Bonus Actions right now severely diminishes the value of class features like a Rogue's Cunning Action, a Monk's Ki, spells like Misty Step, etc. Having a spellcaster Disengage from an enemy that has ran into melee with them should be a big sacrifice for the magic user, either in using their Action to Disengage, or by using a leveled spell.

6. More than 1 Follower - Allow for more than 1 'follower' per character. Right now, if a Ranger takes the Find Familiar Option, and then later selects Beast Master, they've just made their Find Familiar option completely useless because they can't use both at the same time. I've already had the game bug out and have both on screen so the engine can handle it. This will become more relevant as higher level spells become available like Conjure Animals, Animate Dead, etc.

7. Versatile Weapon Review - Add a button for switching between 1 and 2 hands for a Versatile weapon. For example, I might want my Ranger to wield his Longsword in 1 hand to take advantage of his Dueling Fighting Style. At the moment that's impossible without forcing him to equip a Shield. Tied to this is you need to check the rules for which weapons are Versatile (Spears, Quarterstaffs, etc.)

8. Spell Effects Polish and Removing Screen Shake - Please do another pass on your spell effects. Remove the screen 'shake' for when you select a spell but before you target it. Again, I know this particular effect is a DoS port and you like the effect, but it makes it really hard to argue that the game is an actual spiritual successor to the BG series. For example, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zcu4KFZOKtM here are a multitude of spells being cast in the BG series. Each has their own feel to them (especially within different spell schools) based on the words used, colors, motions, etc. Right now, each spell in the game has a very 'samey' feel to them because of that obnoxious effect upon selection. It overrides everything else that's done to make spells feel different.

9. Add the Grapple Function - You clearly love forced movement (Shove as a BA and significantly stronger than 5e rules normally allow), so I'm surprised this wasn't already implemented. Grapple check to prevent movement until broken (or magic is used like Misty Step), and ideally then able to move the Grappled creature at half-speed (unless too big to grapple in the first place).

10. The British Are NOT Coming - Unholy hells did Larian only hire British voice actors and tell them not to try something, anything different? Seriously, this is just inexcusable. In the opening 1 minute of BG II we get about 4 different accents. There's no excuse why Elf, Human, Halfling, Goblin, Tiefling, and literally everyone else I've encountered in a game as diverse as D&D to *all* have British accents. Once you realize that, it just breaks immersion completely in dialogued cut scenes.

11. Redo Party Selection Mechanics - I'm sorry, but even in DoS and DoS 2 the party selection and movement mechanic was terrible. I can't count the number of times I had my party accidentally start combat or trigger traps because I forgot to 'unchain' them or whatever. The chaining system never worked well. Just go back to Shift + F1, F2, etc or highlighting in a box who you want to select on screen. It worked in BG 1, BG 2, IWD, Wasteland 3, PKM, and literally every other non-Larian RPG, and it did not work in DoS 1/2. Please change it.

12. Stylized Party Portraits - Come on, this was a huge deal in the BG series. The stylized portraits gave a lot of life to characters, even if their gear didn't necessarily match up. Right now the portraits are terrible and look like bland in-game models. There is so much of the UI ported from DoS, changing to stylized portraits would go a long way towards shifting the 'feel' of the game towards BG 3, rather than DoS 3.

13. Sanitize the DoS-only Ported Items - For example, Trap Kits. There is no such thing as a trap kit in D&D. You either use your Thieves' Tools or just a regular check. Same for Tongs, Hammers, etc. They are even the same in-game model right now, again shifting that needle towards looking like DoS 3 instead of BG 3.

14. Sanitize the DoS-only Ported UI Elements - For example, the Lockpicking progress bar. Have it be a rolled check, you already have that system in place. Change the hotbars to allow for selecting a spell level and seeing what's available, rather than having to slot every single spell based on spell level. Having 6+ Cure Wounds at higher level is going to be a PITA.

15. Remove 'Swiss Army Knife' Items to Enhance Character/Playthrough Uniqueness - Right now pretty much every utility spell has an 'infinite cast' item somewhere in the game. Speak with Animals, Speak with the Dead, Protection from Good/Evil, etc. This makes it so item hunting is more important than making meaningful character choices. Yes you *could* take that damaging spell....but then you might be missing out on being able to speak to that sus looking red cow over there. Those sort of meaningful choices are core to D&D.

16. Adjust Combat Ranges - Right now the game heavily, *heavily* favors Ranged combat. Fixing the free Disengage/Jump as a Bonus Action into requiring your Action would help this a lot, but just in general it is really hard to get into melee combat given how far away most fights start taking place, especially fights that are automatically triggered rather than by the enemy seeing you.

17. Fix Dual Wielding Thief Rogue - They can currently make 2 Bonus Action attacks. While I get that "Thief" rogues in 5e don't translate well to a cRPG, that is just broken.

18. Make Ladders/Climbing Cost Movement - Right now you can climb a ladder, vines, rock faces, etc. for free, without using any movement. This shouldn't be the case, as there are specific rules in 5e that make it cost double movement and even sometimes an Athletics/Acrobatics check. This also makes certain races/spells/items more valuable because they are capable of ignoring those restrictions.

19. Tone Down Enemy 'Special' Attacks - Sometimes a goblin is just a goblin. They aren't lugging around scrolls, 7 vials of alchemists fire, etc. Having every fight involve tons of mechanics from enemies just diminishes the value of when those 'special' attacks actually happen. Not every fight has to be special, sometimes it's just expending resources or for RP flavor.

20. WIZARDS SHOULDN'T BE ABLE TO LEARN ALL SPELLS - Sorry for the caps, but Wizards can only learn spells already on the Wizard's spell list. As much as I love having Bless and Healing Word on my Wizard, that isn't possible without Multiclassing or taking certain feats. I'm assuming this is actually a bug?

21. Only Certain Spellcasters Can Use Scrolls - Per the rules of 5e, most scrolls can only be read by a class that has the spell on their available spell list. They need to make a Spell Casting Ability Modifier Check (i.e. a straight Charisma for Sorcerers and Bards, Int for Wizards, Wisdom for Clerics) to cast spells from a scroll that are higher than they currently have access too (like a level 4 Wizard trying to use a scroll of Fireball to cast the spell). There are some specific scrolls that can be used by everybody (Scrolls of X Protection). This is another change to help the game feel like BG rather than DoS, because in the BG games that the way it worked, and it's how it works in 5e.

22. Ritual Casting - Self explanatory. Probably needs some balancing (longer ritual spells might trigger a random enemy encounter). But a Wizard shouldn't have to burn a spell to summon a familiar.

23. Identify Spell - Self explanatory. Identify an item was a key part of BG. Has a component cost (albeit not expended).

24. Spell Component Costs - Some spells are supposed to cost money to cast as a balancing feature, such as Find Familiar. Introduces a massive shift in the value of certain spells and how much you want to protect your familiar at early levels.

Last edited by Isaac Springsong; 09/10/20 11:32 PM.
Joined: Oct 2020
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Originally Posted by Isaac Springsong
1. Display Grid for Combat - Look at Wasteland 3's system. Grid pops into existence at the start of combat, goes away after. Please tighten up the grid as well. At the moment, the 'area' for area of effects spells shows the underlying grid system and it shows why it makes combat feel so janky. They are so small that you even have tenth of a feet measured out. That shouldn't exist in 5e and it makes it extremely difficult to judge whether you might be in an AoE or not. The 'area' for AoE effects should be static. You can see great examples of this in Wasteland 3, PKM, etc.

2. Movement Indicator - Please give a better movement indicator. I often can't even see the 'line' because of all the surface effects or camera position. More importantly, I can't tell whether I'll be in range for a standard attack or not. Lastly, account for Difficulty Terrain. At the moment, when I start movement and it says I'll end up somewhere (with a yellow indicator for difficult terrain), but after I click I stop short because of the Difficult Terrain. Have it show the final movement location *before* confirming movement.

4. Rename "Backstab" to "Flanking" - Because that's what it is. Directional Facing doesn't exist in 5e, and it is clearly another port of a DoS effect. Make it so "Flanking" doesn't require you to be 'behind' your target, just on the roughly opposite side of them from another friendly character. With how janky the grid movement system is, it is impossible to tell whether you'll be in the 'backstab' position because you didn't port over the DoS backstab indicator. Flanking is an Optional Rule per the DMG, so use that.

5. Change Bonus Action Combat Tricks into Actions - Change all of the 'extra' combat options you added (Jump, Shove, Dip, etc.) to require you to use your Action, rather than Bonus Action. Having them be Bonus Actions right now severely diminishes the value of class features like a Rogue's Cunning Action, a Monk's Ki, spells like Misty Step, etc. Having a spellcaster Disengage from an enemy that has ran into melee with them should be a big sacrifice for the magic user, either in using their Action to Disengage, or by using a leveled spell.

6. More than 1 Follower - Allow for more than 1 'follower' per character. Right now, if a Ranger takes the Find Familiar Option, and then later selects Beast Master, they've just made their Find Familiar option completely useless because they can't use both at the same time. I've already had the game bug out and have both on screen so the engine can handle it. This will become more relevant as higher level spells become available like Conjure Animals, Animate Dead, etc.

7. Versatile Weapon Review - Add a button for switching between 1 and 2 hands for a Versatile weapon. For example, I might want my Ranger to wield his Longsword in 1 hand to take advantage of his Dueling Fighting Style. At the moment that's impossible without forcing him to equip a Shield. Tied to this is you need to check the rules for which weapons are Versatile (Spears, Quarterstaffs, etc.)

8. Spell Effects Polish and Removing Screen Shake - Please do another pass on your spell effects. Remove the screen 'shake' for when you select a spell but before you target it. Again, I know this particular effect is a DoS port and you like the effect, but it makes it really hard to argue that the game is an actual spiritual successor to the BG series. For example, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zcu4KFZOKtM here are a multitude of spells being cast in the BG series. Each has their own feel to them (especially within different spell schools) based on the words used, colors, motions, etc. Right now, each spell in the game has a very 'samey' feel to them because of that obnoxious effect upon selection. It overrides everything else that's done to make spells feel different.

9. Add the Grapple Function - You clearly love forced movement (Shove as a BA and significantly stronger than 5e rules normally allow), so I'm surprised this wasn't already implemented. Grapple check to prevent movement until broken (or magic is used like Misty Step), and ideally then able to move the Grappled creature at half-speed (unless too big to grapple in the first place).

10. The British Are NOT Coming - Unholy hells did Larian only hire British voice actors and tell them not to try something, anything different? Seriously, this is just inexcusable. In the opening 1 minute of BG II we get about 4 different accents. There's no excuse why Elf, Human, Halfling, Goblin, Tiefling, and literally everyone else I've encountered in a game as diverse as D&D to *all* have British accents. Once you realize that, it just breaks immersion completely in dialogued cut scenes.

11. Redo Party Selection Mechanics - I'm sorry, but even in DoS and DoS 2 the party selection and movement mechanic was terrible. I can't count the number of times I had my party accidentally start combat or trigger traps because I forgot to 'unchain' them or whatever. The chaining system never worked well. Just go back to Shift + F1, F2, etc or highlighting in a box who you want to select on screen. It worked in BG 1, BG 2, IWD, Wasteland 3, PKM, and literally every other non-Larian RPG, and it did not work in DoS 1/2. Please change it.

12. Stylized Party Portraits - Come on, this was a huge deal in the BG series. The stylized portraits gave a lot of life to characters, even if their gear didn't necessarily match up. Right now the portraits are terrible and look like bland in-game models. There is so much of the UI ported from DoS, changing to stylized portraits would go a long way towards shifting the 'feel' of the game towards BG 3, rather than DoS 3.

13. Sanitize the DoS-only Ported Items - For example, Trap Kits. There is no such thing as a trap kit in D&D. You either use your Thieves' Tools or just a regular check. Same for Tongs, Hammers, etc. They are even the same in-game model right now, again shifting that needle towards looking like DoS 3 instead of BG 3.

14. Sanitize the DoS-only Ported UI Elements - For example, the Lockpicking progress bar. Have it be a rolled check, you already have that system in place. Change the hotbars to allow for selecting a spell level and seeing what's available, rather than having to slot every single spell based on spell level. Having 6+ Cure Wounds at higher level is going to be a PITA.

15. Remove 'Swiss Army Knife' Items to Enhance Character/Playthrough Uniqueness - Right now pretty much every utility spell has an 'infinite cast' item somewhere in the game. Speak with Animals, Speak with the Dead, Protection from Good/Evil, etc. This makes it so item hunting is more important than making meaningful character choices. Yes you *could* take that damaging spell....but then you might be missing out on being able to speak to that sus looking red cow over there. Those sort of meaningful choices are core to D&D.

16. Adjust Combat Ranges - Right now the game heavily, *heavily* favors Ranged combat. Fixing the free Disengage/Jump as a Bonus Action into requiring your Action would help this a lot, but just in general it is really hard to get into melee combat given how far away most fights start taking place, especially fights that are automatically triggered rather than by the enemy seeing you.

17. Fix Dual Wielding Thief Rogue - They can currently make 2 Bonus Action attacks. While I get that "Thief" rogues in 5e don't translate well to a cRPG, that is just broken.

18. Make Ladders/Climbing Cost Movement - Right now you can climb a ladder, vines, rock faces, etc. for free, without using any movement. This shouldn't be the case, as there are specific rules in 5e that make it cost double movement and even sometimes an Athletics/Acrobatics check. This also makes certain races/spells/items more valuable because they are capable of ignoring those restrictions.

19. Tone Down Enemy 'Special' Attacks - Sometimes a goblin is just a goblin. They aren't lugging around scrolls, 7 vials of alchemists fire, etc. Having every fight involve tons of mechanics from enemies just diminishes the value of when those 'special' attacks actually happen. Not every fight has to be special, sometimes it's just expending resources or for RP flavor.

20. WIZARDS SHOULDN'T BE ABLE TO LEARN ALL SPELLS - Sorry for the caps, but Wizards can only learn spells already on the Wizard's spell list. As much as I love having Bless and Healing Word on my Wizard, that isn't possible without Multiclassing or taking certain feats. I'm assuming this is actually a bug?

21. Only Certain Spellcasters Can Use Scrolls - Per the rules of 5e, most scrolls can only be read by a class that has the spell on their available spell list. They need to make a Spell Casting Ability Modifier Check (i.e. a straight Charisma for Sorcerers and Bards, Int for Wizards, Wisdom for Clerics) to cast spells from a scroll that are higher than they currently have access too (like a level 4 Wizard trying to use a scroll of Fireball to cast the spell). There are some specific scrolls that can be used by everybody (Scrolls of X Protection). This is another change to help the game feel like BG rather than DoS, because in the BG games that the way it worked, and it's how it works in 5e.

22. Ritual Casting - Self explanatory. Probably needs some balancing (longer ritual spells might trigger a random enemy encounter). But a Wizard shouldn't have to burn a spell to summon a familiar.

23. Identify Spell - Self explanatory. Identify an item was a key part of BG. Has a component cost (albeit not expended).

24. Spell Component Costs - Some spells are supposed to cost money to cast as a balancing feature, such as Find Familiar. Introduces a massive shift in the value of certain spells and how much you want to protect your familiar at early levels.


Agreed to almost everything.

Just a note on your point 16, I think that removing the jump/disengage will actually make it harder for mellee to get into fights.
Even so, I am in favor of separating those two actions.

Another note on the same topic... How do you propose they adjust combat range?
Because, unless most hostile enemies wait patiently for you to walk to their side, or you're always full on sneaking with a rogue, people will always call you out and get ready to fight from as far as they can communicate.

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I mean is every enemy always staring at the exact door you came through. Or around cliffs of through dark? :P

Joined: Oct 2020
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Summarized suggestions
1. Spellcasting UI by spell level separate from the hotbar.
2. Spells/abilities that can only target self or have no target should activate in one click.
3. Shared party inventory/bartering.
4. Left alt toggle option.

Spellcasting UI
I saw a few people mention this but it needs to be repeated. Spells currently take up too much space in your hotbar. By level 3 I already have more spells/abilities/useful items on my hotbar where I have to scroll to a second page. This problem will get way worse as you continue to level up.

I think a much more elegant solution would be to have your available spells (prepared spells for casters such as clerics, druids, wizards etc.)/(known spells for casters such as bards, warlocks, etc.) show up when you click the spell slot rectangles above the movement bar. So if you wanted to cast sleep, you'd click Spell Slot I, then click sleep, then target and cast it. For spells upcast at a higher level, for example casting sleep with a level 2 slot, sleep should show under Spell Slot II, perhaps in a separated position above your normal level 2 spells. If you adopted this method a cantrip rectangle should be added as well.

I think this would really clean up the interface and if players wanted to they could still hotkey spells they use very regularly and have the rest of them organized just a few clicks away. A less elegant solution would be to allow you to cast spells from the spell UI (default hotkey K) but it would be pretty unintuitive since it shows all your character's spells at once.

Self Target/No Target Spells/Abilities
Spells and abilities which can only target yourself, for example Mage Armor or Dash, should not require you to click the button and then click yourself/a random spot on the screen. I find this very unintuitive and inconsistent as abilities like hide happen immediately. I've watched streams of new players who struggle using Dash because they click it and nothing seems to happen.

Shared Party Inventory
Micromanaging weight and bartering was extremely frustrating in DOS1&2 and remains frustrating in BG3. Please just have a shared inventory that uses the combined carry weight of your party.

Left Alt Toggle
Let players enable an option to toggle left alt on or off instead of having to hold it down 90% of the time. Once again I found this very frustrating in DOS2 and would love if this option was made available in BG3. I understand not everyone wants to see all the tool tips all the time but for those of us who do a toggle would be greatly appreciated. Also I agree with the several other suggestions that anything clickable (and not hidden) should show up when left alt is pressed down/toggled on. In addition, an option to hide empty containers/bodies (instead of marking them as empty) would be very welcome as well.

Last edited by Patryn; 10/10/20 12:20 AM.
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