calabi

Neither, your quests should be so patently obvious you dont need to log it.

One thing I dont want it to be too cluttered. When I first played Baldurs Gate I explored every area before the City and eventually got to the city and saw how big it was and got fed up. Things can be too big and overwhelming. Tons of quest givers asking you to do this that and the other all over the place, thats not fun. It would be interesting to have a more focused game. Like for instance you can have only five quests at a time(seeing as thats roughly as much we can remember). Only once you've done one does a new one become potentially available. It would make managing large areas more manageable. Because in some games you want to explore a new area, but every few meters you end up dumped with a new quest, and so end up with about fifty quests. Or maybe just get rid of the whole quest npc's dotted about all over the place? You need money so have to go to certain persons to get jobs similar to the Witcher. You wouldnt really wander around aimlessly, just hoping to stumble upon someone that wants you to do something. It appears this game is going to have some purpose, your character is after something arent they? They wouldnt be too distracted from that, going off in the middle of their quest to find the grail to do a million random strangers a million random favours(there would at least have to be good reasons). I think JRPGs do this well. They know that a big journey has to feel like a long journey. They love to have lots of little filler areas which seem to serve no purpose. Like stairs that seem to go on forever with nothing in them but it adds to the flavour. They can be large but they are still focused, the side quests flow into or slightly off of the main story.

I voted for. The rewards you get for killing things should be there stuff, the loot and gold. Or maybe you get knowledge that makes you better at killing those specific creatures. I prefer all avenues to be viable. This doesnt sound like a grindy diablo type game, but a story led one with interesting choices.

Well everything has to have limits. You have it all coded and explained story wise. It might be interesting that if you take to many healing potions in a short time you could end up poisoned, dead or worse. You swallow too many different potions you end up debilitated. Craft for too long your character has temporary insanity. You can have an unpredictable effect after a predictable set circumstance. If players want to step over that line where they've been told bad things are going then it is up to them and the consequence is theirs. These limits can easily be indicated in the game. Even if no gameplay elements at least couldnt we have some crazy npc alchemists. Story elements would even be great, where the cures are worse than the diseases. Got constipation, take a sip of this metallic liquid type substance, oh they died a week later nevermind it wasnt me.

I'd like to see a treatment of the subject that follows its namesake at least in some ways. Alchemy in Skyrim isnt really alchemy, its cooking or herb mixing for instance. Alchemy is messing with dangerous substances. Its messing with mercury and other poisonous substances. If it doesnt make you dead or crazy in the long term then its not really alchemy in my opinion. There's a great amount of history of this. If your going to use its name why is that the only as far as it goes with games. I'm sure there are reasons why that is, but wouldnt it be interesting if some of its real world history and context came into play?

Great post I dont agree with one thing entirely though. Characters should aways stroke the players ego. Some great games have down right annoying characters and have been better for them. Yuffie in Final Fantasy VII. One of the end lawyers in Phoenix Wright the first game. I think it would be interesting for your companions to seem to have a life of their own and motivations of their own. What about a companion setting you up and betraying you? Annoying characters in movies and tv series are some of the best most memorable.

How about Sentient Virus's or Bacteria.

I have to agree I am tired of Tolkein derivatives. Asian developers seem to get along fine without referencing some story some guy wrote along time ago. The trick is you dont need to have a ton of details. There are plenty of options for races. How about Neanderthals, and our other extinct bethren. Maybe call Neanderthals something different though because that has lower inteligence connotations, when their is no evidence that they were. Theirs enough variety in the ordinary human and social forms even.