Naesh

Perhaps. Suppose that technology has already advanced far enough for teleporters to become a commodity. Everybody uses it, everybody is comfortable with it. But one question was never answered fully. Is that really you that comes out on the other end of the tube? Every single time you go through the teleporter there is a foreboding feeling that perhaps you are killing yourself in the process. But since everybody uses it, eventually, you will come to terms with such doubts. Then one day someone discovers for certain, that (even though quantum cloning is not possible) the teleporter makes copies, disintegrating the original in the process. Now use 'teleportation spell' instead of teleporter. Or 'reincarnation of souls'. There is a lot of places where they could go with this approach. Your observation on this is excellent. Faith has always been presented as a virtue, when it is doubt that leads to certainty.

In the context of PoE souls exist, and there is in fact a field of study called Animancy dedicated to studing it, also see here for more information about it. Thanks. Then my question becomes: exacly what is a soul? What do you leave behind? Is it really the essence of your being or something different? Do people only wish it was their consciousness that remains behind? Perhaps consciousness is exactly what dies when you perish and what you leave behind is not your essence at all, but something else, something like...

Some magical mexican standoff would be fun to watch. It is the second opponent to shoot that has the advantage, so no one wants to go first. This works without powerful enemies as well.

Is the all-powerful creature that we obey actually the manifestation of a god or not? Is it a manifestation of some other god then? Problem is, a separate game could be based on these questions and i guess the developers already have a concept in mind. Anyway, i like your way of handling divine sorcery. Part of such an initiation ritual could be, for example, drinking a very-very slowly killing poison, that significantly and permanently alters the conciousness of the priest. And as time passes more things change in the body and the divine powers become enhanced. My favourite question is of course this: are souls real? Or are they just the result of an inner defensive mechanism, trying to deny the animal nature of men and the insanely cruel reality, that only the flesh exists and nothing is beyond that? Is the concept of soul just the result of trying to maintain self-value, the illusion of control?

That's good to hear. But perhaps there still might be some room for improvement in presenting the different cultural values. For example, take the forgotten realms setting. The drow cultural standard is to look out only for your own advancement and gain. You would expect that each drow feels that he / she is the most valuable thing in the universe. Yet, they worship Lolth. I suppose they gain favors from her in exchange, but then it's not really a worship, more like a business. Is the theatrics really necessary? What i'm really trying to say here is that in real life it would be very hard to place two entirely different cultures on a two dimensional spectrum. But that's whats happening with the drow here: they are evil, so they only look out for their own gain. But everybody has to worhip some god, so let make them worship an evil god. Different cultures are different. One could argue that based on their achievements some are more superior than the others, but to a simple traveler the cultural differences show themselves in unorthodox forms of wisdom found in the societal rules. Both cultures have to be working (to some extent) or they would have already been assimilated by a superior one ages ago. Anyway, it's just a game. But i'm eagerly waiting for it's release. Once i have my hands on it, i'm probably going to spend the first week planning my ingame character. Heheheh.

Yes, thank you. Primary, not primitive.

In BG the purpose of temples was to provide the player with a means to heal, resurrect and identify. This function seemed a little bit redundant to me, provided that there were easier ways to do this. Reload the game instead of resurrect a party member and rest instead of going to a temple to heal yourself. I was thinking on how to make this aspect of the game / world a little bit better and i came up with the following ideas. Let's make a religion system, which is not characterized by the act of *worship*, i.e. the undermining of your own self-respect in order to gain the favor of some "higher" force or entity. In this system priests represent domains more than they are agents of their gods. A little psychology could be used here. Say, for example, that a loved one of the pc is lost. Feeling unable to protect this person the pc (or a companion of the pc), would probably be subject to some nasty rage and guilt - pretty intense, destructive emotions. In this situation a priest (of a god whose domain is rage) could provide means for coping with these intense emotions. The priest could explain to the character that it is natural to feel this way and perhaps could provide him / her with means to get these feelings out of their system more easily. By helping to perform rituals, for example. In essence, what i'm proposing is a pantheon of gods, who represent different perspectives of the human nature. The priests could be avatars (some kind of primitive specialist psychologists) of the corresponding domains instead of agents of malevolent (or ignorant) higher forces. Or, perhaps both. So, only those could be priests who understand (or try to understand) the inner workings of the human nature, specializing to a corresponding domain. You see, the main difference between the usual approach and mine is the message. Usually, religion tells to people that they are subject to the whims of higher forces, but they can gain the favors of these forces by appropriate ways of worship. Either donating large amounts of coin to the temple or carrying out the will of the corresponding higher force does it. The message is that you are worthless therefore you better obey (or else). While my kind of religion (where actually man created the gods and not vice versa) helps people cope with an insanely cruel world around them. So, my kind of priests do not rob people of their self-value, of their illusion of control, but try to restore and protect it. I believe that a perfect mixture of these two approaches naturally yields some nasty power struggles, quest-hooks, and of course, they provide a degree of immersion into a fantasy world, where the feelings of the characters are (almost) real, and their beliefs are quite similar to the beliefs of the denizens of ancient primitive cultures. Where folks sacrificed cows to let the winter pass quickly, or to let the hunt be succesful, you know what i mean. So, i propose that when the party enters a temple and talks to a priest, then - in addition to the usual options of healing and resurrection - they would have the option to talk to the priest (who might join them later perhaps) about what they encountered on their journey and whatnot. The priest then could tell a tale with some moral content or lesson, perhaps could give them a quest or perform a ritual. This could easily lead to very comical or depressing situations. Opinions?

How about an option that enables the game to change the style of the ui depending on the circumstances? For example, when the party is in a forest, the ui could look "wooden", but when the party is deep in a dungeon it could look like it's made from stone. Or, when the overall hp of the party is low, the ui could have blood splatters on it, around the profile pictures. (nothing over the top)

I have one more idea, it's a sidequest. The main character could be killed somewhere in the story. It would be nice to make this event look like it's avoidable, when it isn't. So, the place of the actual event should vary from play to play. After the pc is killed, the rest of the party proceeds with the story, everyone for their own reasons. (so, the player will control them) There could be someone to step into the shoes of the pc and become the leader of the party. Later they find out, that the main pc wasn't actually killed, but trapped into an other dimension / something, so they go and save him. Once it's done, everything is back to normal.

This creature can easily be made into a trap for those players who like to resolve conflicts without bloodshed. The longer you converse with a Bronycholus, the weaker you will be at the actual fight (if there ever will be one - if you talk too much, it's over for the pc). Of course, a Bronycholus might want to have lengthy discussions with you. Nice.

It's not exactly a small, easily implemented idea, but having a learnable language (even with a small amount of words) contributes greatly to the lore. So, i would like to see a quest involving speaking this language, for instance at multiple choice conversations the text could appear in this language. The player could translate it using the manual of the game (or better: a thin dictionary that comes with the game).

Void spider This creature exists in places no one can look at. At the bottom of chasms, at the depth of endless caves, in cascets and chests buried and forgotten many years ago. The void spider builds it's ethereal web across the planes, connecting only places like that. Once an animal looks at a void spider, it escapes through it's web, often pulling the onlooker with him to an other place no one can look at. It is said that once a void spider pulls you with it, you will be lost across the planes and never find a way to home again.

Shadowsnake This creature is basically an invisible snake. Only the shadow of this creature is visible to the careful observer. By it's nature, it avoids light and likes dark places where it's completely invisible. It lays it's eggs in the heads of sleeping animals. Once the eggs hatch, the hatchlings start to eat up the host before leaving. Symptoms range from a rapidly changing, unstable personality and memory loss to paralysis. Resting in places this creature frequents is very dangerous, but a campfire mostly keeps it away. Clearing an area of shadowsnakes is advised before resting.

Voracious eater A fluffy, furry, cute little creature that looks and behaves just like an ordinary puppy. It barks happily, wailing it's tail as it follows you around, lightening the mood of those around it. But it's not a puppy. It's a doppleganger imitating a dog and unfortunately for you, this creature is not vegetarian. By it's nature, the voracious eater sucks away the luck of those around it. So, as long as you keep it around, all your rolls will be disasterous. Plus, it emits a sweet scent that marks you as prey for the other monsters. They will attack you in greater numbers, more viciously than ever. Even the peaceful herbivores will attack you on sight. Once the other monsters are done with the dirty work, this cute little creature will happily dig into your spilled guts and intestines, feeding it's belly. Once it's hungry again, the voracious eater proceeds to find a good spot (a popular trade route perhaps) to latch onto an other sucker that comes along. Merchants beware. The party has a chance of survival only when the pc realises the true nature of this creature before it lures in a greater horde of monsters from the wilderness. Once the pc knows about this dirty little trick, he/she might want to try to kill it. Bad choice. Considering that some party members might be more emotional than others, they might get overly attached to the little bugger and convincing them of the grim truth wont be an easy task. They might even go as far as to try to defend this creature from the pc. Indeed, the best way to get rid of the voracious eater might be to pass it on to someone else, a trading caravan or an other adventurer party with more people perhaps....

Yes, that could lead to very comical situations. I want to add to the "reactive NPC portraits" part that much of human communication is done through the so called "metacommunication", i.e. facial gestures and such. So, a couple of facial gestures could add a lot of possibilities to storytelling. Just look at how much facial gestures can enhance a joke: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZF5I3ggYquA

How about a quest involving a curse that makes the pc forget the meaning of words? The pc would be unable to read.... not just road signs, but the descriptions of the stuff in the inventory, etc. ( Better to remember which potion is which. ) Conversations would appear in gibberish. Multiple-choice banters during this curse might turn out quite funny. The pc could be warned that he/she was cursed and told what the curse does beforehand, but the actual curse should kick in at the worst moment possible (during diplomatic negotiations or something like that). Of course, once the curse is lifted, the player should be able to read back from the journal what he actually said.... or the pc could just ask the party members. Or a curse that affects the choices during conversations. The player can choose what the the pc would say, but there is no guarantee that he/she will actually say that.

Bloody fights, to some customisable extent, going from chopping limbs, incinerating, freezing, electrocuting foes, to no gore at all. The player does not start with a map, the pc has to buy / obtain one. Different kind of maps using different kind of textures (old, new, burned, etc), covering different areas with different precision. Fake maps. Treasure maps. Buried treasure. Of course, all this could be made compatible with the usual automap feature. Multi-layered puzzles with *real* *replay* *value* or at least some random element. Some rare, really-really hard puzzles of this kind with fitting rewards. An optional quest involving a shapeshifter serial-killer and some really-really hard detective work. More optional quests of similar kind. Dynamic economy. To some reasonable extent, of course. How about dealing with issues related to the economy system more explicitly? ( An idea: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malthusian_catastrophe ) How about dealing with the issues of war more maturely? E.g. it provides jobs, helps dealing with the overpopulation problem.... but i guess the theme of the game might not go well with this.... Maybe.... a multi-layered disease system? A few slowly healing broken bones here and there might force the pc to go with a different party for some time.... or to reload.... A disguise system? It might be a fun challenge to disguise the party as traveling merchants or hunters or something.... maybe a crime-and-disguise-system in bigger cities? Reactive npc portraits. The portraits of the party members might display their emotional status / health. This way a poisoned party member looks pale and sick. A wounded party member might have a bloody nose, a few bruises. A party member on the verge of death looks like someone who is about to die. The portrait of an angry party member should look... angry. The same with scared. Etc. Portrait variety. The portraits of the party members might change based on a random variable (and time) as well. The same party member might use different portraits depicting the same status. How about party members who shave regularly? (or just in cities / at inns?) They might slowly grow a beard while adventuring and get shaved once the party rests at an inn. The women might look unkempt while on journey for a longer time, sleeping outdoors, etc. and get back to normal once the party rests at an inn. But maybe this is overdoing it.

It was a bit annoying in DA:O that there were not many spell-combos.... I wanted a magic mechanics which gives you (besides the usual spells) lots of simple, cheap and seemingly useless spells that you can put together in a certain sequence to get some mighty fine spell-combo.... all while heavily relying on common sense, of course. Intelligence of the character could limit the length of the spell-sequencer he/she can use. And how many combos the character can keep in his/her head.

Interesting. I like the idea that crafting, enchantment, alchemy and spell research could make the gaming experience more robust and immersive. Extending on this carefully could make a game that easily devours your soul. However! You have to think about that games like Baldurs Gate tend to be quite lenghty. (But never lenghty enough. ) Do you really think that you will enjoy the same minigames after you are, say, 20-30 hours into the game? What about this idea - crafting, enchantment, alchemy, spell research.... *micromanagement*.... Not minigame, but *micromanagement*! It's not annoying, because it's just micromanaging your character in a greater detail and that's part of the usual rpg recipe. Your character could be a smith or an alchemist prior to the adventure, so it makes sense to assume that he/she can fix some simple armor or make a healing potion from some herbs. As for spell research.... i don't know. It works fine for me how bg handles magic. Don't get me wrong, i see the possibility of a great weird-energy-mixing spellsystem working out but.... it's very easy to go wrong here. What about many combo-spells instead? Grease can catch fire.... things soaked in water might feel funny when electrified.... things like that.....

So, in theory, i could dress up as a beggar in a crowded city, leave the laptop running for the night and the next day i will find that i am filthy rich?

I enjoy (smaller) villains more who are a bit disturbed and clearly suffering from something that happened to them. I like finding out why these people became what they are now. Then i can stop them out of pity rather than hate. But these type of villains would not be good crpg material.

I liked the portraits in Baldurs Gate 1 as opposed to Baldurs Gate 2. (Compare the bg1-2 portraits of Jaheira for example. ) I hope portraits will be moddable / replacable. When i played bg2 the first thing was for me to replace the bg2 portraits with fitting photoshopped cosplayers portraits from the web. Much better experience. Anyway, i trust in the decision of the devs. I hope they will consider making multiple portraits of characters, depending on their physical and emotional status (health, for example). I want the portrait of a poisoned companion to look sick. When someone is on the verge of death they could look a bit roughed up, a bleeding nose is not necessarily too distasteful. By "emotional status" i mean that the portraits could change depending on what they feel at the moment - if they are frightened they should look frightened, etc. Plus, you could include multiple different portraits of the same status - and then use one based on a random variable. Not too much effort and there would be a variety in this too. If you think about it we will look at these portraits for a really great amount of time. Small effort - big improvement. Plus, i want the option to import a custom portrait for my character. Yeah. This will be fun.

Giant space hamster companion? NOnonononono... please... no.... What about something alien-resembling instead (but still antropomorphic)? Like the race of chiana from farscape? Please don't put any races from the tini ninja turtles in pe... ...no humanoid rats or turtles...

You live, so you have desires. (And you - not always, but - usually desire the things that are under you nose. ) You make an effort to get them, to fulfill your desires. And then you will desire something else and the cycle goes on until you die. When i got enough gold to buy that badass sword that i chose (and not the game chose instead of me) i went and bought it - i felt satisfaction. When in a similar situation i went and cheated to get the necessary gold, the game quickly became empty and disappointing. I guess there might be a similar driving force behind the want of possible romance options. Either way, you put some cool stuff under the player's nose and let them chose. Let the player acquire his choice through his / her own effort. The worth of the stuff acquired is reflected in this effort. The story works in the same way - a story is good when i *want* to know how it can and will continue. In this case the various possibilities and branches of the storyline are the "cool stuff" that's put under the players nose. If there is a grand villain there also should be a grand desire in the player to defeat him. When this desire feels somehow forced - 'cause a lack of choices for example - the entire thing becomes uninteresting. I just won't care. Exploring the world will be more fun than defeating the villain. In skyrim i like exploring more than going after alduin. Actually i don't care about alduin. I just complete the storyline for the sake of completion. Exploring is much more fun in that game.

Actually it's my first time hearing from him. Gonna' check it out.