Locke03

I like a lot of the ideas presented here, but I think the trap to avoid is making everything anachronistic. If slavery is culturally acceptable om the in-game world, it should be treated as such and not be all "hint hint, nudge nudge this is wrong". If the abolitionists are committing acts of terrorism, treat them as such and not as misguided heroes. Is the slave trader a legitimate businessman? Treat him as such as well and not some secret monster. Same goes for any of the other '-isims', allow the ideas to be present but don't try to railroad the player into a specific line of thought. Show, don't tell, and leave the player to figure it all out on their own. ::Edit:: Also something that could be played around with: Seeing how souls are persistent and eternal, or at least outlasting the bodies they currently inhabit(?), I'd like to see something along the lines of persistent karma and individuals having to reap the consequences of previous lives be they good or bad and irrespective of how good or bad they may be in their current life.

I picked "Other", "Other", and "Yes". I would like to see a major difference between divine/cleric and arcane/wizard spells, not just a pool of different spells but completely different mechanics of using them. I would like to see a more in-depth and complex spell system than I've seen so far. I would like to see high-level wizards be massively powerful and capable of single-handedly changing the outcome of large battle by using the correct spell at the correct time. As far as mechanics go (for arcane spells specifically, I've not given a lot of thought to divine spells as I rarely play cleric-type characters), a combination of different methods are something I have been thinking about. Divide up the spells into different classes and have each class work differently. e.g. A low-level tier set of simple spells that can be rapidly cast and are always available once learned but do little damage or have a minimal effect. These could be used as a mage's basic attacks. A mid-level tier of spells that can be used instantly but require some preparation beforehand, such as writing them into scrolls made of a specific material with a specific ink. Give mages a special scroll case inventory that holds a fair but limited number of scrolls. A high-level tier of game-changing spells that require one to combine a number of possibly expensive and/or rare reagents in the field. Have a core set of specific reagents (2 or 3 maybe) that form the core of the spell and then another set (1 or 2) that can be used to modify the core spell with a few positive and negative effects. As an example and low-tier spell might be a small bolt of electricity that does damage but has no other or a very minor effect, a mid-tier spell might be an ice spike that does a fair bit of damage to a single target and freezes it in place for a few seconds, and an upper-tier spell would be something like a firestorm that could do massive damage over a lager area that almost insures that anything caught in it is dead. Something else I hope to not see is a slavish devotion to "balance" that often irritates me in other games. A mage caught unawares and unprepared should have little chance against a blade wielding assailant while a line of soldiers facing down an experienced wizard head-to-head should quickly find themselves cooked in their armor. Every class should not be usable for every situation. I'd rather have a wizard that sits unused in small battles so I can bring out the nuclear option when need, than have that damage spread evenly over all situations.

I'd rather not see drow/dark elves in the sense that I'd rather not see any inherently evil or good races. The aesthetics of the drow are fine and I actually like them quite a bit, but to be honest their background, society, and pretty much everything about how they are and their motivations are ridiculous and completely unbelievable. I's much rather see races/societies shifted far more towards neutrality and and everything else determined more on an individual level or at least a much smaller scale than an entire species.

Pretty much this. I like to customize my character even if it is only superficial. If it has an effect on the game itself, than that's all the better, but a good character creation experience does a lot to color how I feel about the game afterwards, especially early on. A less good game (NWN) will draw me in more than a superior game (The Witcher) if I feel that, on some level, I have invested something of myself into the character I'm playing.

Arctic and desert with environmental exposure issues and a requirement for proper equipment or suffer a quick death. I like environments that are more than just a static background to look at while everything else happens.

One easy way to get a sense of urgency into a game without making it a race to a game-over screen would be having to deal with the consequence of the player dragging their feet, as was alluded to earlier. Race against time to stop the invasion of the countries capital and you took too long? Then make that one of the story branches. Obviously this can't be done forever as eventually the evil MacGuffin will destroy everything and nothing will be left, but it could be done a few times until the player is put in a situation they can no no longer get out of. I think Wing Commander did this pretty nicely. Fail to save that ship taking reinforcements to the planet? Looks like that planet fell and your side got pushed back, and everything just got harder. Screw up too many times and eventually end up in a situation that ends with a scripted death and a bad ending.

I'd like to see something like the Darlock from MOO. Stealthy, xenophobic, shapeshifters with unknown motives. Visually I think the silicoids (or some form of non-organic species) or the psilons from MOO2 could work as well.