Nerezza

Not sure if this has already been covered but I would really love to see the old character information implemented again. Being able to check what % of kills a party member has made, strongest enemy killed etc seems like a small thing but it was a really cool feature. I'd even like to see this expanded on somewhat if possible. Maybe have a big codex of monsters that gave you a description of each with a nice bit of artwork that got unlocked when you killed it. You could even incorporate this so that the more creatures you kill of that type the more information is unlocked. By the time you've killed 50 odd skeletons you've pretty much summed up that smashing them with a blunt object is the best way to go.

^ This

I personally find it really annoying when games end up having one or two “Best Game Items” for each type of item. It offers little reason to use anything else because doing so will be at the cost of your characters effectiveness. I would like to see a large variety of item types that have specific uses for specific circumstances. I’d also like to see some value being given to clothing type armour. In games like TES there was no point to wearing clothing aside from an aesthetic novelty. It would be nice to see NPC’s react differently to you depending on what you are wearing. For instance, you’re wandering around town wearing full plate and wielding swords / axes / flails – people are going to be a bit more wary of you (unless you are known). If you walk around wearing normal clothing however people are going to be a bit more relaxed around you (or more prone to start a fight!).

I’d say a mixture between manual pausing and auto-pause. I generally set auto-pause to activate under the following conditions: Enemy sighted Trap found Character injured These are the major events that I don’t want to miss, which may happen if I am relying solely on manual pausing. Auto-pause when enemy sighted allows me to assess the situation and devise a plan to act accordingly. Auto-pause when a trap is found is to me 100% essential. Gives me the chance to stop my idiot party from prancing through deathtrap. Auto-pause when character is injured can be a life saver. It gives me a chance to get that member out of harm’s way and patch them up if necessary. I’ll manually pause as well for other situations, but those three are my golden rule for the auto-pause function.

What about a certain type of random encounter that has specific impact upon the game world? For example, each city has designated trade routes running between them. On these trade routes caravans travel back and forward between destinations. These caravans may be attacked by random mobs and you may have the chance of assisting them. The real world implications of this are numerous. Firstly, a caravan that is attacked and not assisted will mean a shortage of supplies being delivered to its destination. This may decrease the availability of goods at that location and drive prices higher. Secondly, you could simply take advantage of the situation, kill the mobs and take the loot for yourself. Thirdly you could even attack these caravans yourself, essentially making you a bandit. This would make you wanted by authorities but would provide you with material rewards. Another example may be smaller settlements being attacked by mobs. Each settlement would have its own militia to fend off the attackers however they may not always succeed. This could result in settlements being totally destroyed if no assistance is provided by the player. A player might assist in defending a settlement, then pursue the attacking, let’s say goblins, back to their lair. This would then involve a dungeon crawl to destroy their leader and scatter their forces. I think in this way, these kinds of encounters don’t feel like generic task based or combat based situations. The encounter would have actual implications to the game and provide you with the satisfaction, or grief, of your decisions within said encounter. I’m certainly not proposing that this kind of encounter be the be-all-end-all encounter system, but it could be implemented to add more depth and value to the game. Also, I think it would be a nice touch to have some encounters dependant on the game time. It may be typically unsafe to travel between towns by night for example, as bandits and highwaymen are more frequent. This would also bring more meaning to the day / night system.